Question

New software is able to analyze exactly how many hairs there are in a patch of skin and could help in testing the effectiveness of baldness(禿頭) treatments and depilatory(脫毛的) creams, say Australian researchers.

Researchers from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences in Sydney report their findings in the November issue of the journal Skin Research and Technology.

The software, developed with a UK company, will make it easier for researchers developing hair removal creams to accurately assess how well they work, says Dr Pascal Vallotton.

"Up to now they were counting the number of hairs that survived after treatment by hand. That's hard work and it's difficult because you may count a hair twice or you may miss it." he said.

The software relies on images captured by a small flatbed scanner(掃描儀) pressed onto the skin. Using a mathematical algorithm(算法), the software then identifies and traces each individual hair based on an understanding of a hair's unique features, such as its relative straightness.

The software is able to distinguish between hairs and other features on the skin such as wounds or moles(痣).

"Our skin irregularities(不規(guī)則) make it difficult to say this is a hair or this is a mole," Dr Vallotton said.

Comparison between earlier and later images can also determine if hair is growing quickly or slowly, he says.

Unfortunately, to check the accuracy of the software, the researchers still had to adopt the old-fashioned method of counting hairs, helped by volunteers from neighboring labs who put their skins on the line for science.

"We had 12 volunteers, mostly from neighboring labs, and we acquired images of hair before and after treatment," Dr Vallotton said.

To ensure an accurate count, the individual hairs had to be marked off as they were counted, but after such a laborious process, the researchers were pleased to discover the software results were comparable to the manual(手工的) count.

Dr Vallotton says the software could also be useful in testing the effectiveness of balding(禿頭的) treatments and counting or tracing substances other than hairs, that are long and thin and otherwise difficult to image.

 

64. What do we know about the new software?

A. It has replaced human labor completely.           B. It is mainly used to detect hair problems.

C. It can be used for develop new medicine.          D. It can be used to test medical treatments.

65. What plays a key role in counting the number of hairs with the software?

A. A scanner.                                           B. A calculator. 

C. A hair's unique feature.                          D. A mathematical algorithm.

66. What did the 12 volunteers do in the experiment?

A. They counted the hairs by hand.                 B. They divided the hairs into parts.

C. They controlled laborious process.              D. They offered their hair for experiment.

67. Which is the best title of the text?

A. Do you think it is possible to count hairs?       

B. New software makes counting hairs easy.

C. Australians find new treatments for baldness.  

D. New software is found in Britain and Australia.

Answer 1

64. D. 推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章的第1至3段的內(nèi)容可知，這種新的軟件可用于數(shù)某塊皮膚上的毛發(fā)的數(shù)量、還可輔助檢驗治療禿頭和脫毛霜的效果。因此可判斷D的陳述符合文章原文的意思。

65. A. 推理判斷題。 根據(jù)第五段的內(nèi)容可知，這種新的軟件主要依賴掃描儀在皮膚上拍攝的圖像，根據(jù)頭發(fā)的特點使用數(shù)學(xué)計算方法識別頭發(fā)，因此掃描儀的作用是至關(guān)重要的。

66. D. 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章的9至11段可知，為了驗證這種新軟件的準確性，研究者采用了過時的數(shù)頭發(fā)辦法。他們請到12名志愿者參與試驗，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)軟件得到的結(jié)果可與人工數(shù)頭發(fā)的結(jié)果相似。第九段中的helped by volunteers from neighboring labs who put their skins on the line for science一句表明志愿者提供自己的頭發(fā)作為實驗品。

67. B. 主旨大意題。全文的屬于新聞報導(dǎo)，主要介紹澳大利亞和英國的研究者研制出的一種新的軟件，它可以分析出某人的頭發(fā)的數(shù)量。因此B項的陳述揭示出了文章的重要內(nèi)容。