The Coolest InventionsAn Oceans Vacuum(吸尘器)Th...

The Coolest Inventions

An Oceans Vacuum(吸尘器)

There’s a collection of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s bigger than Texas and growing. The way to clean it up now is to catch it with nets. That is both costly and slow. Instead, the Ocean Cleanup Project proposes a 62-mile-long floating barrier that would use natural currents to trap trash. If next year’s trials succeed, a full cleanup operation would aim to start in 2020. It could reduce the trash by 42% over 10 years.

Easy-On Shoes

In 2012, Matthew Walzer, a high school student with a disability, sent a note to Nike. “My dream is to go to college,” he wrote, “without having to worry about someone coming to tie my shoes every day.” Nike assigned a design team to the challenge. This year, they came out with their solution: the FlyEase. The basketball shoe can be fastened with one hand. A pair of Nike FlyEase shoes sells for $130.

An Airport for Drones (无人机)

As Amazon, Google, and others get ready for drone delivery service, there is one big question: What kinds of home bases will their drones have? Rwanda, in Africa, may have the answer. There, workers will soon start work on three “drone ports”. The goals is to make it easier to transport food, medical supplies, electronics, and other goods through the hilly countryside. Construction is set to be completed in 2020.

1.What’s the advantage of the Oceans Vacuum?

A. It can be put into wide use soon　　 B. It can grow year by year

C. It can tear plastic into pieces　　 D. It can be a money-saver

2.What do we know about Nike?

A. It provides customer-friendly services

B. It is designing new shoes frequently

C. It offers free shoes to the disabled

D. It responded to Matthew’s request passively

3.Why is Rwanda setting up “drone ports”?

A. Because they are receptive to new technology

B. Because there are too many drones

C. Because they’re easier to construct than roads

D. Because road travel there is rough

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The Coolest Inventions

An Oceans Vacuum

There’s a collection of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s bigger than Texas and growing. The way to clean it up now is to catch it with nets. That is both costly and slow. Instead, the Ocean Cleanup Project proposes a 62-mile-long floating barrier that would use natural currents to trap trash. If next year’s trials succeed, a full cleanup operation would aim to start in 2020. It could reduce the trash by 42% over 10 years.

Easy-On Shoes

In 2012, Matthew Walzer, a high school student with a disability, sent a note to Nike. “My dream is to go to college,” he wrote, “without having to worry about someone coming to tie my shoes every day.” Nike assigned a design team to the challenge. This year, they came out with their solution: the FlyEase. The basketball shoe can be fastened with one hand. A pair of Nike FlyEase shoes sells for $130.

An Airport for Drones (无人机)

As Amazon, Google, and others get ready for drone delivery service, there is one big question: What kinds of home bases will their drones have? Rwanda, in Africa, may have the answer. There, workers will soon start work on three “drone ports”. The goals is to make it easier to transport food, medical supplies, electronics, and other goods through the hilly countryside. Construction is set to be completed in 2020.

1.What’s the advantage of the Oceans Vacuum?

A. It can be a money-saver.　　 B. It can grow year by year.

C. It can tear plastic into pieces.　　 D. It can be put into wide use soon.

2.What do we know about Nike?

A. It offers free shoes to the disabled.　　 B. It is designing new shoes frequently.

C. It provides customer-friendly services.　　 D. It responded to Matthew’s request passively.

3.Why is Rwanda setting up “drone ports”？

A. Because road travel there is rough.　　 B. Because there are too many drones.

C. Because they’re easier to construct than roads.　　 D. Because they are receptive to new technology.

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

The history of vacuum cleaners(真空吸尘器) in the UK dates back to the early 1900s.Hubert Cecil Booth started the first vacuum cleaner company in the UK, known as the British Vacuum Cleaner Company. It wasn’t long, however, before William Henry Hoover, who had already experienced success with his vacuum cleaners in America, made headway in the vacuum cleaner market in the UK and became more successful than Booth.

Hoover’s vacuum cleaners in the UK became such a success that ‘to hoover’ quickly became equal to vacuuming. Some of the earliest domestic vacuum cleaners in the UK used simple reusable cloth bag designs whereby the vacuum cleaner simply collected dust in the bag. Once the bag was full, you could empty and re-attach it to the vacuum cleaner.

For decades after their introduction, vacuum cleaners in the UK were a luxury item that only the upper class could afford. After World War II，however, they became common among the middle class.

This was especially true for vacuum cleaners in the UK, because the popularity of carpets means sweeping is not an easy or effective means of carpet cleaning.

In 1952, Hoover made the Constellation available to the public for the first time. Hoover designed it so that people could place the vacuum cleaner in the centre of the room and then work around it. After about 20 years of selling these vacuum cleaners in the UK, Hoover stopped the Constellation in 1975.

Advances to upright and cylinder(气缸) vacuum cleaners in the UK continued, enabling vacuum cleaners to become more efficient and effective. The 1990s saw the introduction of the first bagless domestic vacuum cleaners in the UK. Despite many industry fears consumers would not be prepared to pay the high price, bagless vacuum cleaners became a big success in the UK.

As for the future, vacuum cleaners in the UK are expected to become even more energy-efficient.

1.What can be inferred from the first paragraph?

A. Hoover entered the UK vacuum cleaner market before the 1900s.

B. Hoover’s vacuum cleaners were more advanced than booth’s.

C. Hoover’s vacuum cleaners were very popular in the UK market.

D. Vacuum cleaners were invented later in the UK than in America.

2.What was the cloth bag on the earliest domestic vacuum cleaners used for?

A. Decorating the vacuum cleaners.

B. Making the vacuum cleaners more efficient.

C. Lightening the vacuum cleaners.

D. Collecting dust.

3.What was the most remarkable characteristic of the Constellation?

A. It was only used by the upper class.

B. Its design allowed the user to work around it.

C. It was upright and it had a cylinder added to it.

D. Its price was extremely high at the time.

4.We can learn from the passage that bagless vacuum cleaners　 .

A. were so popular that they could fulfill all UK customers’ demands

B. were the most energy-efficient vacuum cleaners.

C. were not accepted by UK customers

D. were expensive when they made their first public appearance in the UK

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

It just may be the world’s most costly vacuum cleaner ( 吸尘器). The price of CleanSpace One is eleven million dollars. But yet, it has a big job to do. Recently, researchers in Switzerland said they planned to build this new cleaning machine.

CleanSpace One will not be for use in homes or businesses. It will be shot into space to help remove thousands of pieces of space junk floating around up there.

Last year, we reported on the problem of space junk. Over time, many unused spacecraft have hit each other far above the Earth. Big pieces break into thousands of small pieces. Sometimes they fall back into the atmosphere (大气层) and burn up. But when they do not, it creates big problems.

Scientists fear that if something is not done to remove these objects, it may soon become too dangerous to send people and machines into space. There is a large chance that they might hit some of this junk. So that is why the Swiss researchers are developing the new machine.

CleanSpace One is not really a vacuum cleaner. It will not be used to take away space junk. But scientists plan to move it close to an old satellite that is no longer being used. Then a claw-like instrument will catch the satellite, and force it back through the atmosphere. There, the satellite will be destroyed by the heat of friction (摩擦) with the air.

Researchers say that all they need to do is slow down the speed of some of these unwanted objects. Once they begin to move more slowly, they will fall back to the Earth. There is little chance that they will fall through the atmosphere and harm the people or things below.

1.Space junk is created when 　　　　　 .

A. unused spacecraft hit each other

B. people in space throw away rubbish

C. a new spaceship is sent up

D. an old spaceship creates friction with the air

2.What’s the danger of space junk?

A. It will pollute space.

B. It will hurt people on the Earth.

C. It will hit a spaceship.

D. It will burn in the atmosphere.

3.Unwanted objects will fall back to the Earth when 　　　　　　 .

A. they are made to move slowly

B. they meet other objects in space

C. they are not used for years

D. they are near the atmosphere

4.The passage is most probably a 　　　　　　　　　 .

A. science research paper　 B. science fiction story

C. newspaper ad　　　　　　 　　 D. science news report

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

February, 2015, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum (吸尘器) ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help. It surely isn’t what Stephen Hawking warned us that intelligent devices “mean the end of the human race”. But it does highlight one of the unexpected dangers of inviting robots into our home.

There are many examples of intelligent technology going bad, but more often than not, they involve cheating rather than physical danger.

Meanwhile, increasing evidence suggests that we, especially children, tend to tell our deepest, darkest secrets to human robots. So how do we protect ourselves from giving-away code?

Once you’ve invited a robot into your home, you need to manage your expectations. Movies and marketing may have told us to expect deep interaction with robots friends but we’ve still got a long way to go before they are as socially aware as described. Given the gulf between expectation and reality, it’s important to avoid being tricked.

The message is clear: as robots became increasingly connected to the internet, and able to respond to natural language, you need to especially cautious about figuring out who or what you are talking about.

We also need to think about how information is being stored and shared when it comes to robots that can record our every move. Some recording devices may have been designed for entertainment but can easily be adapted for more dangerous purposes. Take Nixie, the wearable camera that can fly off your wrist at a moment’s notice and take shots around you in the air. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such technology could be taken advantage of.

Most people protect their secrets in the presence of a recording device. But what happens once we get used to a robot around the house, answering every instruction and call? We may be at risk of letting our guard down, treating them as extended member of our family. If the technology around us is able to record and process speech, images and movement, or listen secretly to us, what will happen to that information? Where will it be stored？Who will have access? If our internet history can be a mirror, these details could be worth their gold weight to advertisement company. If we grow accustomed to having trustworthy robots getting into our daily lives, our words and deeds could easily become over-exposed.

So, what is the safest way to welcome robots into our homes, public spaces, and social lives? We should be cautiously optimistic that intelligent machines could become enriching companions, while acknowledging that we need to determine strict boundaries for robots.

We might think of expanding the reach of consumer protection agencies or creating new robot-centered policies. Advances in robots may call for a body responsible for the combination of robots with society. There should be someone to turn to should your robot commit a crime, steal your car… or try to eat your hair.

1.The hair-eating story in Paragraph 1 is intended to_________..

A.show the poor quality of the product B.warn us to keep far away from vacuum

C.introduce the topic of the discussion D.appeal to us to take pity on the victim

2.According to the writer, it is wise to_________..

A.tell our deepest, darkest secrets to human robots straightly

B.have deep interaction with robots friends eagerly

C.make robots more socially aware than they are described

D.manage our expectations and adjust our trust towards robots

3.The last two paragraphs are mainly about_________..

A.some reasons why we should be careful with robots

B.some background information of the writer ’s conclusion

C.some measures to be taken to deal with the problem

D.some conclusion drawn from a series of experiments

4.The writer’s attitude to our over-trusting robots can best be described as_________..

A.positive B.objective

C.optimistic D.critical

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Sharks have lived in the oceans for over 450 million years, long before dinosaurs appeared. There are now about 360 species of sharks, whose size, behavior, and other characteristics differ widely.

Every year, we catch and kill over 100 million sharks, mostly for food and for their fins. Dried shark fins are used to make shark fin soup, which sells for as much as $50 a bowl in fine Hong Kong restaurants. Other sharks are killed for sport and out of fear. Sharks are vulnerable(易受伤的) to overfishing because it takes most species 10 to 15 years to begin reproducing and they produce only a few offspring（后代）.

Influenced by movies and popular novels, most people see sharks as people-eating monsters. This is far from the truth. Every year, a few types of shark injure about 100 people worldwide and kill about 25. Most attacks are by great white sharks, which often feed on sea lions and other marine（海洋的） mammals. They sometimes mistake human swimmers for their normal prey, especially if they are wearing black wet suits.

If you are a typical ocean-goer, your chances of being killed by an unprovoked（非受挑衅而发生的）attack by a shark are about 1 in 100 million. You are more likely to be killed by a pig than a shark and thousands of times more likely to get killed when you drive a car.

Sharks help save human lives. In addition to providing people with food, they are helping us learn how to fight cancer, bacteria, and viruses. Sharks are very healthy and have aging processes similar to ours. Their highly effective immune system allows wounds to heal quickly without becoming infected, and their blood is being studied in connection with AIDS research.

Sharks are among the few animals in the world that almost never get cancer and eye cataracts（白内障）. Understanding why can help us improve human health. Chemicals taken from shark cartilage（软骨）have killed cancerous tumors in laboratory animals, research that someday could help prolong your life.

Sharks are needed in the world’s ocean ecosystems. Although they don’t need us, we need them. We are much more dangerous to sharks than they are to us. For every shark that bites a person, we kill one million sharks.

1.Which of the following is NOT a reason why people kill sharks?

A．People kill sharks for food.

B．People kill sharks for sport.

C．People kill sharks out of fear.

D．People kill sharks because they often attack swimmers.

2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．There are many different species of sharks, but only a few of them are dangerous to humans.

B．Sharks never get ill.

C．Sharks are a valuable resource for human.

D．Sharks play an important role in the ocean ecosystem.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A．movies have given people the wrong impression of sharks

B．most sharks are dangerous to humans

C．sharks will attack anyone who is wearing black

D．it is dangerous to swim in the ocean

4.The underlined word “prolong” in the last but one paragraph means ______.

A．save             B．protect           C．lengthen          D．improve

5.The best title for the passage would be _______.

A．Are Sharks Dangerous?                   B．Sharks And Humans

C．Sharks: Humans’ Friends                D．Sharks Help Save Human Lives

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Sharks have lived in the oceans for over 450 million years. There are now about 360 species of sharks, whose size, behavior, and other characteristics differ widely.

Sharks range in size from the 0.1 meter long dwarf-dog shark to the 18-metre long whale shark — the world’s biggest fish. The whale shark, like two other large shark species — the basking shark and the megamouth shark — are harmless to people because they feed on plants and small aquatic animals.

Sharks have extremely sensitive sense organs. Some sharks can detect the scent(气味) of decaying fish or blood even when it is diluted(稀释) to only one part per million parts of seawater. They can probably hear underwater sounds that originate as far as 3 kilometers away and can tell the direction from which underwater sounds are coming.

Sharks are key predators(肉食动物) in the world’s oceans, helping control the numbers of many other ocean predators. Without sharks, the oceans would be overcrowded with dead and dying fish.

Every year, we catch and kill over 100 million sharks, mostly for food and for their fins. Dried shark fins are used to make shark fin soup, which makes a profit for the sellers. Other sharks are killed for sport and out of fear. Sharks are vulnerable to overfishing because it takes most species 10 to 15 years to begin reproducing and they produce only a few offspring.

Influenced by movies and popular novels, most people see sharks as people-eating monsters. This is far from the truth. Every year, a few types of sharks injure about 100 people worldwide and kill about 25. Most attacks are by great white sharks, which often feed on sea lions and other marine mammals. They sometimes mistake human swimmers for their normal prey, especially if they are wearing black wet suits.

If you are a typical ocean-goer, your chances of being killed by an unprovoked(无缘无故的) attack by a shark are about 1 in 100 million. You are more likely to be killed by a pig than by a shark.

Sharks help save human lives. In addition to providing people with food, they are helping us learn how to fight cancer, bacteria and viruses. Sharks are very healthy and have aging processes similar to ours. Their highly effective immune system allows wounds to heal quickly without becoming infected, and their blood is being studied in connection with AIDS research.

Sharks are among the few animals in the world that almost never get cancer and eye cataracts. Understanding why can help us improve human health. Chemicals extracted from shark cartilage(软骨) have killed cancerous tumors in laboratory animals, and these chemicals may someday help prolong our life.

Sharks are needed in the world’s ocean ecosystems. Although they don’t need us, we need them. We are much more dangerous to sharks than they are to us. For every shark that bites a person, we kill one million sharks.

1.Which statement best expresses the main idea of the article?

A. There are many different species of sharks, but only a few of them are dangerous to humans.

B. Sharks are important to the ocean ecosystem and they are a valuable resource for humans.

C. Although some sharks are dangerous to humans, they can help save human lives.

D. Sharks always eat small fishes and they are an essential part of the world’s oceans.

2.Which question is NOT answered in the article?

A. How long does a shark live?

B. How many people are killed by sharks each year?

C. Why are sharks important in medical research?

D. What do humans kill sharks for?

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ______________.

A. movies have given people the wrong impression of sharks

B. most sharks are dangerous to humans

C. sharks will attack anyone who is wearing black

D. it is very likely that ocean-goers will be killed by a shark

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Would you like to explore the oceans? Do you want to find 1.than we imagine there? For Jacques Cousteau, the answer was “yes”. His career was a lifelong dream, and he is 2. (probable) the most famous ocean scientist in recent times,

Cousteau was born in France in 1910, Even 3.a child, he loved water, Cousteau was bright, 4.he got bored with school and began to cause trouble, His parents sent him to a strict boarding school. There, Cousteau finally 5. (challenge). He studied hard and did well in all his courses. In 1933, he served as a general officer in the French Navy. He also began to explore the life under the water. He worked 6.a breathing machine to stay under water longer. It was finished in 1943.

In 1948, Cousteau became a captain, and he had new duties, Even so, he continued to explore the oceans. Two years later, he became the president of the French Oceanographic Campaigns. He also bought a ship 7. (help) with his dives. But he 8. (need) a way to get money for his trips. To do that, he produced many films and published a number of books, His films include The Silent World (1956) and World Without

Sun (1996). One of his books is The Living Sea (1963),

In 1974, he founded the Cousteau Society, 9.function was to further oceanic research and encourage people to help protect the oceans and the life within them;

Cousteau won many honors for his work, 10. (include) the Presidential Medal of Freedom and membership in the French Academy in 1989.

高二英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

What do you think of the proposal that improvement ____ in the type of vacuum cleaner?

A. be made　　 B. will be made　　 C. would be made　　 D. has to be made

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

In February, 2015, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help. It surely isn’t what Stephen Hawking warned us that intelligent devices “mean the end of the human race”. But it does highlight one of the unexpected dangers of inviting robots into our home.

There are many examples of intelligent technology going bad, but more often than not, they involve cheating rather than physical danger. Meanwhile, increasing evidence suggests that we, especially children, tend to tell our deepest, darkest secrets to human robots. So how do we protect ourselves from giving-away code?

Once you’ve invited a robot into your home, you need to manage your expectations. Movies and marketing may have told us to expect deep interaction with robots friends but we’ve still got a long way to go before they are as socially aware as described. Given the gulf between expectation and reality, it’s important to avoid being tricked.

The message is clear: as robots became increasingly connected to the internet, and able to respond to natural language, you need to especially cautious about figuring out who or what you are talking about.

We also need to think about how information is being stored and shared when it comes to robots that can record our every move. Some recording devices may have been designed for entertainment but can easily be adapted for more dangerous purposes. Take Nixie, the wearable camera that can fly off your wrist at a moment’s notice and take shots around you in the air. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such technology could be taken advantage of.

If the technology around us is able to record and process speech, images and movement, or listen secretly to us, what will happen to that information? Where will it be stored? Who will have access?

So, what is the safest way to welcome robots into our homes, public spaces, and social lives? We should be cautiously optimistic that intelligent machines could become enriching companions, while acknowledging that we need to determine strict boundaries for robots. There should be someone to turn to should your robot commit a crime, steal your card... or try to eat your hair.

1.The hair-eating story in Paragraph 1 is intended to 　　　　　 .

A. introduce the topic of the discussion

B. show the poor quality of the product

C. appeal to us to take pity on the victim

D. warn us to keep far away from vacuum

2.According to the writer, it is wise to 　　　　　 .

A. put a cautious trust in robots

B. make robots more socially aware

C. have deep interaction with robots

D. tell our secrets to robots straightly.

3.The underlined word “gulf” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to 　　　　　 .

A. trust　　 B. distance

C. technology　　 D. advantage

4.The writer’s attitude to our complete trust in robots can best be described as 　　　　　 .

A. positive　　 B. objective

C. critical　　 D. pessimistic

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析