Question

MOST of you may have heard about the Nobel Prize. But do you know the Ig Nobel Prize (搞笑诺贝尔奖)?The awards are given each year to 10 unusual achievements in science. It is to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.

This September the 2014 winners of the Ig Nobel awards came out! Research into why bananas are slippery(滑的) won the Ig Nobel for physics.

A team of scientists from Japan, tested 12 different banana skins. They then used sensors to measure the friction(摩擦力) between the slippery side of banana skin and the ground. They found that when someone steps on a banana skin, a special chemical, polysaccharide follicular gel(囊泡多糖凝胶), is set off. This chemical reduces friction by one-fifth. Later, scientists also compared banana skin with apple skin and orange skin and showed why apple and orange skins are not quite so dangerous. Friction was about 60 per cent higher on an apple peel.

Polysaccharide follicular gel is also found in the membranes (薄膜) where our bones meet. “This idea will help to design a joint prosthesis (人工关节),” Kiyoshi Mabuchi, the lead scientist, told the BBC news.

The Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine went to doctors from the Detroit Medical Center, US. They used salt pork to stop a young child’s nose bleed. Other interesting research includes whether owning a cat was bad for your mental health and looking at ugly art can be painful.

While Ig Nobel Prizes are mostly funny, great scientific breakthroughs(突破) can be made. In 2006, a team found that a type of mosquito(蚊子) is equally attracted to the smell of feet and cheese. As a result, mosquito traps were made using cheese to fight against malaria in Africa.

1.Ig Nobel Prize awards are mainly given for achievements in _____.

A. chemistry B. Science

C. medical research D. Arts

2.Which of the following is True about the banana skin research?

A. The test led to the invention of a joint prosthesis.

B. Stepping on apple and orange skins are not dangerous.

C. The test showed that apple skin is more slippery than banana skin.

D. The chemical inside the skin mainly causes the banana’s slipperiness.

3.Which research has won 2014 Ig Nobel for Medicine?

A. Looking at ugly art can be painful.

B. Salt pork can be used to treat nosebleeds.

C. Mosquitoes like the smell of feet and cheese.

D. The influence cats have on their owner’s mental health.

4.What’s the best title for this passage?

A. Fun science that makes people think

B. Science is dry and humorless but meaningful

C. Ig Nobel Prizes： Think First, Then Laugh

D. Ig Nobel Prize given out to silly scientists

Answer 1