PASSAGE 42

Crystal Ear

　?One day a friend asked my wife Jill if I wanted a hearing aid. " He certainly does," replied Jill. After hearing about a remarkable new product, Jill finally got up the nerve to ask me if I#39;d ever thought about getting a hearing aid. "No way," I said. "It would make me look 20 years older." "No, no, "she replied. "This is entirely different. It#39;s Crystal Ear!"
　　Jill was right. Crystal Ear is different-not the old-styled body worn or over-the-ear aid, but an advanced personal sound system so small it#39;s like contacts for your ears. And Crystal Ear is super-sensitive and powerful, too. You will hear sounds your ears have been missing for years. Crystal Ear will make speech louder, and the sound is pure and natural.
　　I couldn#39;t believe how tiny it is. It is smaller than the tip of my little finger and it#39;s almost invisible when worn. There are no wires, no behind -the-ear device. Put it in your ear and its ready-to-wear mold fits comfortably. Since it#39;s not too loud or too light, you may even forget that you#39;re wearing it! Use it at work or at play. And if your hearing problem is worse in certain situation, use Crystal Ear only when you need it.
　　Hearing loss, which typically prior to teenage years, progresses throughout one#39;s lifetime. Although hearing loss is now the world#39;s number-one health problem, nearly 90 percent of people suffering hearing loss choose to leave the problem untreated. For many millions, treating hearing loss in a conventional way can involve numerous office visits, expensive testing and adjustments to fit your ear. Thank to Crystal Ear, the " sound solution" is now convenient. Almost 90 percent of people with mild hearing loss, and millions more with just a little hearing dropoff, can be dramatically helped with Crystal Ear. Moreover, its superior design is energy-efficient, so batteries can last months. Crystal Ear is now available to help these people treat their hearing loss with a small hearing amplifier.
練習(xí):
1. Why did the writer refuse to wear a hearing aid at first?
A) It looked old-styled.
B) It was too costly.
C) He did not get the nerve to wear one.
D) It would make him look like an old man.
2. Which of the following about the features of Crystal Ear is NOT true according to
Paragraph 2?
A) It is sensitive and powerful
B) It is inexpensive.
C) It is small in size.
D) Its sound is pure and natural.
3. According to Paragraph 3, Crystal Ear is very convenient and
A) you can wear it any time you like.
B) You can even clean it yourself.
C) It can signal where it is in case you cannot find it
D) You can even wear while swimming.
4. What does the writer say about hearing loss？
A） About 90 percent of people suffer hearing loss.
B） Hearing loss is the world#39;s most frequent health problem.
C） About 10 percent of people wear hearing aids.
D） It is one of the most painful diseases in the world.
5. Why do many people leave their hearing problem untreated according to Paragraph 4?
A) They suffer only mild hearing loss.
B) Crystal Ear is not yet available in many places.
C) An conventional way of treating it is very troublesome.
D) They don#39;t want to look like old people.

Key: DBABC

PASSAGE 43

Will Quality Eat up the U.S. Lead in Software?

　?If U.S. software companies don#39;t pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye. Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry. Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top U.S. quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.
　　Already, of the world#39;s 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating in the world, seven are in India. That#39;s largely because they have used new methodologies rejected by American software specialists. For example, for decades, quality specialists, W. Edwards Deming and J. M. Juran had urged U.S. software companies to change their attitudes to quality. But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the U.S. -but not in Japan. By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was grabbing market share with better, cheaper products. They used Deming#39;s and Juran#39;s ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs. In U.S. factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%. In software, it still is.
　　Watts S. Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance. But his advice was seldom paid attention to. He retired from IBM in 1986. In 1987, he worked out a system for assessing and improving software quality. It has proved its value time and again. For example, in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60% of total software production costs. It fell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10%.
　　Like Deming and Juran, Humphrey seems to be wining more praises overseas than at home. The India government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai, India.
　　Let#39;s hope that U.S. lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.
EXERCISE:
1. what country has more highest-rating companies in the world than any other country has?
A) Germany.
B) The U.S.
C) Brazil
D) India
2. Which of the following statements about Humphrey is true?
A) He is now still an IBM employer.
B) He has worked for IBM for 37 years.
C) The US pays much attention to his quality advice.
D) India honors him highly.
3. By what means did Japan grab its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?
A) Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.
B) Its advertising was most successful.
C) The US hardware industry was lagging behind .
D) Japan hired a lot of India software specialists.

4.What does the founding of the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute symbolize?
A) It symbolizes the US determination to move ahead with its software
B) .It symbolizes the India ambition to take the lead in software.
C) It symbolizes the Japanese efforts to solve the software quality problem.
D) It symbolizes the Chinese policy on importing software.
5.What is the writer worrying about?
A) Many US software specialists are working for Japan.
B) The quality problem has become a worldwide problem.
C) The US will no longer be the first software player in the world.
D) India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US.

Key:D D A B C

PASSAGE 44

High-speed Rail on Track

　?If an agreement signed in a Germany works out, travelers of this Asian city may one day be able to zip from the downtown area to its new airport on a train riding a stream of magnetic energy at speeds up to 500 kilometres per hour.
　　The 40-kilometers-trip ---now sometimes a long hour journey when the traffic is heavy-could be cut to less than 10 minutes.
　　Such are the goals of a costly project designed to help to "shorten" the distance between the city center and the suburban busy airport by making it easier and faster to carry travelers to and back from the airport.
　　The mayor of the city and Germany#39;s Thyssen Krupp AG worked out an agreement in Berlin only several days ago that lays the groundwork for the magnetic levitation train line. They signed a commitment to carry out a feasibility study on the project and outlined the city#39;s intention to import German technology. The project, once completed and acceptable to the two business parties, will be a double-win: the German company can benefit from exporting its technology and the city receiving German technology can improve its traffic and further strengthen its position as a cosmopolis.
　　Called Maglev for short, the system under discussion makes use of a high-speed train levitated above a guideway and propelled by magnetic fields. The project has been in the talking stage for several months.
　　Hans Ueberschaer, German#39;s ambassador visited the city together with Harmut Heine, representative of Thyssen Krupp. They had an initial discussion with the mayor there about the prospect of the project. The talks were believed to be constructive and paved the way for the future talks in Berlin, where a commitment was reached.
　　Sources familiar with the talks estimated that the project would cost US$723 million, which would cover everything from land use fees and rail construction to train cars. Completion date is 2005. A joint venture company is to be established for the project.

EXERCISE:
1. Who paved the way for further negotiations in Berlin?
A) The mayor
B) Both the German ambassador and the mayor.
C) The German ambassador.
D) The representative from the German company.
2. What was the signed commitment mainly about?
A) Finalizing the payment of US$723 million.
B) Establishing a joint venture company.
C) Conducting a feasibility study.
D) Outlining the German company#39;s intention to export its technology.
3. What is the main feature of Maglev?
A) The Maglev train "floats" above the guideway and zip to its destination.
B) The Maglev train zips to its destination on the railway.
C) The Maglev train zips to its destination on a double guideway.
D) The Maglev train can carry more passengers than the electric train.
4. How large will be the success rate of the agreement signed by the two business parties according to the passage?
A) It is very likely that the city will have a German-built Maglev line.
B) It is very likely that Krupp will ban the export of its technology.
C) It is very likely that the city cannot afford the high payment.
D) It is very likely that the city will turn to buy US technology.
5. What type of writing do you think this passage belongs to?
A) An article on popular science.
B) An article taken from a transportation book.
C) A commercial contract.
D) A news report.

KEY:B C A A D

PASSAGE 45

Unidentified Flying Object

　?Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) is any object or light, reportedly sighted in the sky, that cannot be immediately explained by the observer. Sightings of unusual flying objects date back to ancient times, but UFOs (sometimes called flying saucers) became widely discussed only after the first widely publicized U.S. sighting in 1947. Many thousands of such observations have since been reported worldwide.
　　At least 90 percent of UFO sightings can be identified as conventional objects, although time-consuming investigations are often necessary for such identification. The objects most often mistaken for UFOs are bright planets and stars, aircraft, birds, balloons, kites, aerial flares, peculiar clouds , meteors, and satellites. The remaining sightings most likely can be attributed to other mistaken sightings or to inaccurate reporting, tricks, or delusions, although to disprove all claims made about UFOs is impossible.
　　From 1947 to 1969 the U.S. Air Force investigated UFOs as a possible threat to national security. A total of 12,618 reports were received, of which 701 reports, or 5.6 percent, were listed as unexplained. The air force concluded that "no UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security". Since 1969 no agency of the U.S. government has had any active program of UFO investigation.
　　Some persons, however, believe that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft, even though no scientifically valid evidence supports that belief. The possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations is not the stumbling block; most scientists grant that intelligent life may well exist elsewhere in the universe. A fully convincing UFO photograph has yet to be taken, however, and the scientific method requires that highly speculative explanations should not be adopted unless all of the more ordinary explanations can be ruled out.
　　UFO enthusiasts persist, however, and some persons even claim to have been captured and taken aboard UFO#39;s. No one has produced scientifically acceptable proof of these claims. Behavioral scientist Carl Sagan once proposed that "certain psychological needs are met by belief in superior beings from other worlds".
1. What is the significance of the UFO sighting in 1947 according to the passage?
A) It was the first evidence showing the existence of intelligent life outside Earth.
B) It helped to explain some sightings of unusual events occurring in the sky.
C) It aroused widespread interest in unidentified flying objects in the sky.
D) It started off a new era of flying saucers in the United States.

2. The second paragraph of the passage focuses on
A) some explanations about UFO sightings.
B) different kinds of UFOs reported.
C) people#39;s negative reaction to UFOs.
D) interesting claims made about UFOs.

3. According to the passage, which of the following about the UFO investigation by the U.S. Air Force is NOT true?
A) About 84 percent of the UFO reports received were explained.
B) UFOs were once regarded as a potential danger to national safety.
C) There was no evidence that the U.S. was being threatened by the reported UFOs.
D) No hard evidence supported the existence of UFOs.

4. According to the passage, the belief that some UFOs are spaceships from some extraterrestrial civilizations
A) has been supported by a convincing UFO photograph.
B) would be accepted if it met the requirements of the scientific method.
C) has been regarded as some kind of creative thinking.
D) Has ruled out other explanations about the origin of UFOs.

5. Why did Carl Sagan think there are so many UFO enthusiasts?
A) The belief in UFOs gives them psychological satisfaction.
B) The explanation that UFOs are only conventional objects is not attractive.
C) They are strongly influenced by science fiction and science fiction films.
D) Curiously makes them accept the speculative explanations about UFOs.

Key: CCABA

PASSAGE 46

Pollution around the House

　?Scientists are closely concerned with the structure of buildings and with the quality of building materials. The World Health Organization (WHO) observes that the introduction of air conditioning and energy conservation measures have been accompanied by growing problems of indoor air quality. Some pollutants arise from insulation products, some from moving cars, and others from modern housing materials. As many Europeans spend up to 90% of their lives in buildings, the health effects of the indoor climate are very important.
　　Some construction materials, including fibreboard, insulation foams and certain glues(for man-made wood floor boards, for example), gives out organic products such as formaldehyde. Heat and humidity increase the release of formaldehyde and the gas seriously harms the eyes. Paint, lacquer, etc. can also release dangerous gas into indoor air.
　　Construction materials can cause serious damage, especially when they contain asbestos. Asbestos is naturally present in rock formations worldwide. It belongs to a family of mineral substances composed of solid, non-combustible fibres. These properties make asbestos a highly sought-after construction material. As early as 1931, however, public health officers in the United Kingdom revealed the connection between breathing in asbestos dust and such diseases as lung cancer.
　　The land on which a building is sited may also contribute to pollution. Some kinds of granite or similar rocks contain traces of radium. As it breaks down, this naturally radioactive element produce some kind of radioactive gas that goes through tiny cracks in walls, floors and building materials, and makes its way into the building and the rooms. The better the homes are insulated, the more is the dangerous gas in indoor air. The main effect of this dangerous gas on health is to increase the risk of lung cancer.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
A) Some building materials pollute indoor air.
B) Some factors cause indoor air pollution.
C) Asbestos can cause lung cancer.
D) The land on which houses are built contributes to indoor pollution.
2. Why are Europeans particularly concerned with building materials?
A) Lots of building materials there are radioactive.
B) They stay home up to 90% of their lives.
C) They have a high rate of lung cancer.
D) They spend most of their time indoors.

3. Why is asbestos a sought-after building material?
A) It is a kind of insulation foam.
B) Asbestos will not give out dangerous gas.
C) This material is not easy to catch fire.
D) It is rarely present in rock formations.

4. What research results did a health organization in the UK announce in 1931?
A) Kinds of dangerous building materials used indoors.
B) The connections of the use of granite with lung cancer.
C) The relationship between polluted indoor air and lung cancer.
D) The relationship between asbestos and disease.

5. Why should we be careful about the land on which a building is to be sited?
A) To determine whether the land is firm enough for a building to be sited on.
B) To make sure that the land contains no radioactive material.
C) To make certain that the land releases no formaldehyde or other gases.
D) To check whether it contains any combustible materials.

Key : ADCDB

PASSAGE 47
Food Fright

　?Experiments under way in several labs aim to create beneficial types of genetically modified (GM) foods, including starchier potatoes and caffeine-free coffee beans. Genetic engineers are even trying to transfer genes from a cold-winter fish to make a frost-resistant tomato.
　　A low-sugar GM strawberry now in the works might one day allow people with health problems such as diabetes to enjoy the little delicious red fruits again. GM beans and grains supercharged with protein might help people at risk of developing kwashiorkor. Kwashiorkor, a disease caused by severe lack of protein, is common in parts of the world where there are severe food shortages.
Commenting on GM foods, Jonathon Jones, a British researcher, said: "The future benefits will be enormous, and the best is yet to come".
　　To some people, GM foods are no different from unmodified foods. "A tomato is a tomato," said Brian Sansoni, an American food manufacturer.
　　Critics of GM foods challenge Sansoni#39;s opinion. They worry about the harm that GM crops might do to people, other animals, and plants.
　　In a recent lab study conducted at Cornell University, scientists tested pollen made by Bt corn, which makes up one-fourth of the U.S. corn crop. The scientist sprinkled the pollen onto milkweed, a plant that makes a milky juice and is the only known food source of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. Within four days of munching on the milkweed leaves, almost half of a test group of caterpillars had died. "Monarchs are considered to be a flagship species for conservation." said Cornell researcher Linda Raynor. "This is a warning bell."
　　Some insects that are not killed by GM foods might find themselves made stronger. How so? The insecticides used to protect most of today#39;s crops are sprayed on the crops when needed and decay quickly in the environment. But GM plants produce a continuous level of insecticide. Insect species feeding on those crops may develop resistance to the plants and could do so in a hurry, say the critics. Insects may also develop a resistance to the insecticide Bt.
　　At the forum on GM food held last year in Canada. GM crops that have been made resistant to the herbicide might crossbreed with wild plants, creating "superweeds" that could take over whole fields.
　　So where do you stand? Should GM food be banned in the United States, as they are in parts of Europe? Or do their benefits outweigh any of the risks they might carry?
1. Paragraphs 1,2&3 tries to give the idea that
A) GM foods may bring about great benefits to humans.
B) We cannot recognize the benefits of GM foods too early.
C) GM foods may have both benefits and harm.
D) GM foods are particularly good to the kwashiorkor patients.

2. Why is the case of the pollen-sprayed milkweed citied in Paragraph 6?
A) It is cited to show GM foods can kill insects effectively.
B) It is cited to show GM foods contain more protein.
C) It is cited to show GM foods also have a dark side.
D) It is cited to show GM foods may harm crops.

3. What happens to those insects when not killed by the spray of insecticide?
A) They may lose their ability to produce offspring.
B) They may have a higher ability to adapt to the environment.
C) They move to other fields free from insecticide.
D) They never eat again those plants containing insecticide.

4. Which of the following statements concerning banning GM foods is true according to the passage?
A) Underdeveloped countries have banned GM foods.
B) Both Europe and the U.S. have banned GM foods.
C) Most European countries have not banned GM foods.
D) The United States has not banned GM foods.

5. What is the writer#39;s attitude to GM foods?
A) We cannot tell from the passage.
B) He thinks their benefits outweigh their risks.
C) He thinks their risks outweigh their benefits.
D) He thinks their benefits and risks are balanced.

Key: ACBDA

PASSAGE 48

Diabetes

　?Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into your body cells. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn#39;t make enough insulin or can#39;t use its own insulin well. This problem causes glucose to build up in your blood.
You may recall having some of these signs before you found out you had diabetes.
　　*Being very thirsty.
　　*Urinating a lot - often at night
　　*Having unclear vision from time to time.
　　*Felling very tired much of the time.
　　*Losing weight without trying.
　　*Having very dry skin.
　　*Having sores that are slow to heal.
　　*Getting more infections than usual.
　　*Vomiting.
　　Two main types of diabetes are Type 1 and Type 2. Another type of diabetes appears during pregnancy in some women. It#39;s called gestational diabetes.
　　One out of ten people with diabetes#39; has Type 1 diabetes. These people usually find out they have diabetes when they are children or young adults. The pancreas of a person with Type 1 makes little or no insulin. People with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin every day to live.
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