Until recently, the “science of the future” was supposed to be electronics and artificial intelligence. Today it seems more and more likely that the next great breakthroughs in technology will be brought through a combination of those two sciences with organic chemistry and genetic engineering. This combination is the science of biotechnology.

   Organic chemistry enables us to produce marvelous synthetic(合成的) materials. However, it is still difficult to manufacture anything that has the capacity of wool to conserve heat and also to absorb moisture. Nothing that we have been able to produce so far comes anywhere near the combination of strength, lightness and flexibility that we find in the bodies of ordinary insects.

   Nevertheless, scientists in the laboratory have already succeeded in “growing” a material that has many of the characteristics of human skin. The next step may well be “biotech hearts and eyes” which can replace diseased organs in human beings. These will not be rejected by the body, as is the case with organs from humans.

   The application of biotechnology to energy production seems even more promising. In 1996 the famous science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, many of whose previous predictions have come true, said that we may soon be able to develop remarkably cheap and renewable sources of energy. Some of these power sources will be biological. Clarke and others have warned us repeatedly that sooner or later we will have to give up our dependence on non-renewable power sources. Coal, oil and gas are indeed convenient. However, using them also means creating dangerously high levels of pollution. It will be impossible to meet the growing demand for energy without increasing that pollution to catastrophic(災(zāi)難性的) levels unless we develop power sources that are both cheaper and cleaner.

   It is attempting to think that biotechnology or some other “science of the future” can solve our problems. Before we surrender to that temptation we should remember nuclear power. Only a few generations ago it seemed to promise limitless, cheap and safe energy. Today those promises lie buried in a concrete grave in a place called Chernobyl(切爾諾貝利), in the Ukraine. Biotechnology is unlikely, however, to break its promises in quite the same or such a dangerous way.

 

68.According to the passage, the science of the future is likely to be __________.

   A. electronics    B. biotechnology    C. genetic engineering   D. nuclear technology

69. Organic chemistry helps to produce materials that are __________.

   A. as good as wool                            B. as good as an insect’s body 

   C. not as good as natural materials       D. better than natural materials.

70. According to the passage, it may soon be possible__________.

   A. to make something as good as human skin   B. to produce drugs without side effects

   C. to transplant human organs                        D. to make artificial hearts and eyes

71. In 1996, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that ___________.

   A. biological power sources would be put into use soon

   B. oil, gas and coal could be repeatedly used in the future

   C. dependence on non-renewable power sources would be reduced soon

   D. the Chernobyl disaster would happen in two years

72. What do we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. Biotechnology can solve all our future energy problems.

   B. Biological power is cheaper than nuclear power.

   C. Biological power may not be as dangerous as nuclear power.

   D. Biological power will keep all its promises.

練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the Ice Age and, until recent times, unknown to man. It is a great landmass with mountain ranges whose extent and elevation are still uncertain. Much of the continent is a complete blank on our maps. Man has explored, on foot, less than one percent of its area.

Antarctica differs fundamentally from the Arctic regions. The Arctic is an ocean, covered with drifting packed ice and hemmed in by the landmasses of Europe, Asia, and North America. The Antarctica is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia combined, centered roughly on the South Pole and surrounded by the most unobstructed water areas of the world—the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

The continental ice sheet is more than two miles high in its center; thus, the air over the Antarctica is far more iced than it is over the Arctic regions. This cold air current from the land is so forceful that it makes the nearby seas the stormiest in the world and makes unlivable those regions whose counterparts (配對(duì)物) at the opposite end of the globe are livable. Thus, more than a million persons live within 2, 000 miles of the North Pole in an area that includes most of Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia—a region rich in forest and mining industries. Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry or settlement.

66. The best title for this passage would be________ .

A. Iceland

B. Land of Opportunity

C. Utopia at Last

D. The Unknown Continent

67. At the time this article was written, our knowledge about Antarctica was______.

A. very limited                                                 B. vast

C. fairly rich                                                    D. non-existent

68. What’s the fundamental difference between Antarctica and the Arctic?

A. The Arctic is an ocean while Antarctica is a continent.

B. The Arctic is inhabited by people while Antarctica is uninhabitable.

C. The Arctic is covered with ice while Antarctica is surrounded by water.

D. The Arctic is surrounded by continents while Antarctica is bordered by oceans.

69. The Antarctica is made uninhabitable primarily by________.

A. ice                                                                     B. calm seas

C. cold air                                                              D. lack of water

70. According to this article,________ .

A. 2, 000 people live on the Antarctica Continent

B. a million people live within 2, 000 miles of the South Pole

C. weather conditions make settlements impractical

D. only a handful of natives inhabit Antarctica

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:2012-2013學(xué)年甘肅省武威第五中學(xué)高二9月月考英語試卷(帶解析) 題型:閱讀理解

The name England comes from the words “Angle land”.The Angles were people who came from northern Germany in the 5th and 6th centuries,after the Romans had left.The French name for England is Angleterre,which also means “Angle land”.There were also invasions (侵略) of southern England by Saxons and Jutes (people from another part of northern Germany).English people are sometimes called Anglo­Saxons.The Celts who used to live in this area were forced to move back into Scotland,Ireland,Cornwall and into Western France (the area known as Brittany).
England at first became a series of kingdoms,the strongest of which was Wessex (the name comes from West­Saxon).The names of many of the areas in England come from this period—for example,the name Sussex comes from South­Saxon,Essex from East­Saxon,and East Anglia from East­Angle.The Vikings then came from Denmark,and later the Normans invaded from France. Eventually England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland were united,forming the United Kingdom.
The English language is the main language spoken throughout England,although there are many different accents.It can be difficult to know how to spell or to pronounce some English words,because the language has been influenced by Latin and Greek (languages used at the time of the Romans,and used in religion and education until recent times),German (the language of the Angles,Saxons and Jutes),F(xiàn)rench(the language of the Normans),Gaelic/Scots (Celtic languages) and Danish (the language of the Vikings).
There are now many people throughout the United Kingdom who speak a foreign language either as their first or second language;mainly due to immigration (移民) from Europe or the Commonwealth (countries which used to be part of the British Empire).
【小題1】According to the first paragraph,which of the following statements is NOT true?

A.The Romans were forced to leave England when the Jutes attacked there.
B.The Celts used to live in England but left for some reason.
C.Southern England once was attacked by Saxons and Jutes.
D.Angles and Saxons came from different parts of northern Germany.
【小題2】In the history of England,________once was the strongest kingdom.
A.SussexB.Wessex
C.EssexD.East Anglia
【小題3】What can we learn from the third paragraph?
A.English words are hard to spell and to pronounce.
B.England had been invaded by most of the countries of Europe.
C.The English language was influenced by several foreign languages.
D.It’s hard for people who have different English accents to communicate.
【小題4】Why do many people in the UK speak a foreign language nowadays?
A.Because they are required to learn a foreign language at school.
B.Because they plan to live outside the UK in the future.
C.Because they have moved from other countries.
D.Because they have worked in other countries.
【小題5】The author writes this passage to________.
A.tell the history of England
B.tell how the United Kingdom was formed
C.introduce the main spoken language throughout England
D.tell the origin of the name of England

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:2013-2014學(xué)年高考二輪復(fù)習(xí)訓(xùn)練:專題3 動(dòng)詞與動(dòng)詞短語英語試卷(解析版) 題型:完型填空

The cultures of the East and the West really disting?uish from each other a lot.This is because the culture systems are two separate systems ____.

The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two countriesChina and India.Both of the two cultures are gestated(孕育) by ___.In Chinathe mother river is the Yellow River ___ the Indian one is the Hindu River.These two cultures were ____ for several thousand years and formed their own styles.Then in the Tang Dynasty of China,the Chinese culture ____ went overseas to Japan,____ into the Japanese society and ___ the Japanese culture nowadays.Though a bit different from the Chinese oneit ____ to the same system.

When the two mother rivers gave birth to the eastern culture,another famous culture was ____ on the Mesopotamian Plain(美索不達(dá)米亞平原)—the Mesopotamian Civilization.This civilization later on developed into the cultures of the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.And these two are well?known as the ____ of the European culture.____ the Chinese culturethe European one also ____ waters.When the colonists of England ____ in America,their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean.So the American culture doesn’t ___ from the European one a lot.

At the same time,the ____ of the language systems adds to the cultural differences.In the East,most languages belong to the pictographic(象形文字的) languages while the Western languages are ____ based on the Latin systemfor example,the one I’m using to write this paper.

Other factors like human race difference ____ as well.However,___ the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West,the two cultures seldom ___ until recent centuries.____ they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference(干擾) from the other.

1.A.above all? Bon the whole

Cin all? Din no case

2.A.mountains? Bplains

Clakes? Drivers

3.A.or? Bfor

Cwhile? Dwhen

4.A.developed? Bimproved

Ccreated? Dprotected

5.A.suddenly? Bquietly

Cgradually? Dnaturally

6.A.mixed? Bchanged

Cdecided? Dforced

7.A.expanded? Binterrupted

Cinfluenced? Dshaped

8.A.comes? Bbelongs

Camounts Dadds

9.A.brought up? Bcarried out

Cgiven out? Dpicked up

10.A.result? Bsign

Cbase? Dcontent

11.A.Via? BExcept

CWith DLike

12.A.affected? Bspread

Ccrossed? Dformed

13.A.joined up? Bwent up

Cbroke down? Dsettled down

14.A.come? Bsuffer

Cresult? Ddiffer

15.A.difference? Bdevelopment

Cappearance? Dfeature

16.A.properly? Bpartly

Csimply? Dmostly

17.A.last? Bcount

Creduce? Dchange

18.A.in terms of? Bdue to

Cas to? Din case of

19.A.transform? Bdisplay

Ccommunicate? Ddistinguish

20.A.Furthermore? BMeanwhile

CTherefore DHowever

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:2012-2013學(xué)年福建尤溪一中高三畢業(yè)班校質(zhì)檢英語試卷(解析版) 題型:閱讀理解

The news that China bans time-travel TV dramas and movies got a lot of attention on the internet. Yet, time travel in China is a bit different from time travel in common sense.It is anything but science fiction and always goes backwards in time.There is minimum imagination involved--no ever-ending circles that mess up present and future, no advanced technology, no new social orders or new human forms from the twenty--whatever century, everything is a known historical fact when you travel through in China.

         It is not even called time travel; rather the Chinese people refer it as time crossover.Time crossover has been an extremely popular theme for online novels for years(in fact , it is an indispensible part of China’s online culture), and didn’t get picked up by TV and the big screen until recent two years.Most of time-travel dramas and movies are adapted from popular online novels and like in other cases adaptations are never better than the original books.

The main plot of time-travel novels or TV dramas can be very well summarized in one sentence: from nobody to somebody.Time travel in China is more about escaping from the reality than about realizing wild dreams.

In China , there is no need of time machine either.People travel backwards in time via the possession of antiques presence at historical places of interest encounter of life-threatening accidents or simple a look into the mirror.Some time-travel novels even start with “I wanted to go back to history so much that one morning when I opened my eyes I was back.” Technology is not relevant at all.

Though China is not short of histories to go back to, people have their own preferences and it is pretty much a gender (性別)thing.If the main character is male then he usually goes back to special times in history when he is able to help build up or tear up a dynasty.A typical example is A Step Into the Past(尋秦記), the first time-travel TV drama in China, which tells the story of how a SWAT member helps to unite China and build up Qin Dynasty .

On the other hand , female characters primarily go back to Qing Dynasty partly because Qing Dynasty has the most number of princes to fall in love with.Yongzheng Emperor is the favorite.As can be seen in Startling by Each Step(步步驚心), a Qing time crossover classic, a girl goes back to Qing Dynasty and falls in love with Yongzheng Emperor and his brothers.

1.As for time travel in China, which of the following ideas does the writer agree to ?

A.it is complicated and can be classified into science fiction.

B.it is often based on the familiar story in history.

C.it sometimes messes up the times and social orders.

D.it always occurs in any times but the time before.

2.The writing purpose of this passage is to           .

A.a(chǎn)nalyze why the time -travel TV dramas are banned in China

B.introduce the characteristics of the time-travel TV dramas in China

C.show the difference between time travel in China and in other cultures

D.a(chǎn)dvise people to watch the time-travel TV dramas in China

3.It can be inferred from the passage that           .

A.China now has banned any forms of productions about time travel

B.a(chǎn)dapted from online novels, time-travel TV and movie productions enjoy more praise

C.the main character always follows a set pattern in the time-travel TV dramas in China

D.a(chǎn)ll the time-travel productions are about heroes and their success

4.The news mentioned in the very beginning is intended to          .

A.prove author’s view    B.introduce the topic

C.give an example           D.work as a topic sentence

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英語 來源:四川省2010屆高三考前沖刺考試英語試題 題型:書面表達(dá)

 

第二節(jié):完型填空 (共20小題,每小題1.5分,滿分30 分)

閱讀下面短文,掌握其大意,然后從21--40各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)(A、B、C、D)中,選出能填入空格中的最佳答案,并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish(區(qū)別)each other a lot. This is because the culture systems are two separate systems____21___.

   The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are gestated(孕育) by ___22___. In China, the mother river is the Yellow River___23___ the Indian one is the Hindu River. These two cultures were ___24___ for several thousand years and formed their own styles. Then in Tang Dynasty of China, the Chinese culture___25___ went overseas to Japan, ___26___ into the Japanese society and ___27___ the Japanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different from the Chinese one, it ___28___ to the same system.

When the two mother rivers gave ___29___ to the eastern culture, another famous culture was brought up on the Mesopotamian Plain--- the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these two are well- known as the ___30___ of the European culture. ___31___ the Chinese culture, the European one also ___32___waters. When the colonists of England ___33___down in America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesn’t ___34___ from the European one a lot.

At the same time, the ___35___ of the language systems adds to the cultural differences. In the East, most languages belong to the pictographic languages while the Western languages are ___36___ based on the Latin system, for example, the one I ‘m using to write this paper.

Other factors like human race difference ___37___ as well. However, ____38___ the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom ___39__ until recent centuries.___40___ they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference (干擾) from the other.

21. A. above all                  B. on the whole        C. in all                                 D. first of all

22. A. mountains               B. plains                     C. lakes                 D. rivers

23. A. since             B. when           C. while                  D. as

24. A. developed         B. improved               C. created               D. protected

25. A. suddenly         B. quietly                    C. gradually          D. naturally

26. A. mixed              B. flowed          C. moved                    D. forced

27. A. expanded       B. enriched         C. influenced         D. shaped

28. A. comes              B. belongs       C. amounts             D. adds

29. A. birth                          B. way              C. root               D. origin

30. A. characteristics   B. sign            C. base                      D. content

31. As                       B. Unlike             C. With                 D. Like

32. A. passed                   B. spread          C. crossed           D. formed

33. A. fell                B. went           C. broke             D. settled

34. A. separate        B. grow         C. move               D. distinguish

35. A. difference        B. use                   C. appearance        D. change

36. A. properly            B. partly               C. simply              D. mostly

37. A. include            B. counts        C. depends           D. worked

38. A. in terms of      B. due to          C. as to                D. in case of

39. A. help                B. connect       C. communicate         D. meet

40. A. But                B. Because        C. So                             D. Yet

 

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案