Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
“Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles.” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
【小题1】BCI is a technology that can ________.
| A．help to update computer systems |
| B．link the human brain with computers |
| C．help the disabled to recover |
| D．control a person's thoughts |
| A．By controlling his muscles. |
| B．By talking to the machine. |
| C．By moving his hand. |
| D．By using his mind. |
| A．scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair |
| B．computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair |
| C．scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair |
| D．cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair |
| A．Switzerland, the BCI Research Center |
| B．New Findings About How the Human Brain Works |
| C．BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled |
| D．Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries |
【小题1】B
【小题2】D
【小题3】C
【小题4】C
解析试题分析：大脑能不能直接和电脑机器连接起来并控制？最近科学家们研究出一种“脑控轮椅”。病人戴上特定的帽子就可以通过思考和想法操控轮椅。也许这是一项福音。
【小题1】细节理解题。由“scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.”可知BCI就是为了让人脑来直接连接电脑并控制。故选B。
【小题2】 细节理解题。由“In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand.”可知，Tavella用移动左右手的想法来控制轮椅。故选D。
【小题3】推理判断题。由倒数第二段可知，信号从头皮传到帽子，再由电脑控制轮椅。故选C。
【小题4】主旨大意题。全文主要是在介绍BCI这一新发明并强调对残疾病人的巨大帮助。故选C。
考点：科普类短文阅读。
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Downing the last drop of an expensive famous brand H2O as well as remembering to throw the empty bottle in the recycling bin, makes you feel pretty good about yourself, right? It shouldn’t. Even when the bottles are recycled, there are all kinds of other consequences of swallowing bottled water, says Melissa Peffers, the air-quality program manager for Environmental Defense.
The containers are often filled in faraway lands, then shipped from abroad, and stored in refrigerators at your local store. Compare that with the influence on environment of turning on your tap, filling a glass, and drinking up!
Anyone who is choosing bottled water for health reasons is misguided, says Peffers, “Most bottled water is just tap water.” And what comes out of your tap is carefully monitored to follow the strict rules. Consider another fact that bottled water is surprisingly expensive, especially when compared with the alternative, which is almost free, and it is astonishing that America’s desire for bottled water seems impossible to satisfy, reaching nearly 30 billion bottles a year.
“My parents’ generation never had bottled water,” says Isabelle Silverman, an Environmental Defense legal adviser. She has made a commitment to going bottle free. “You don’t need to fetch it home from the store, and it’s cheaper,” she adds.
Bottled water’s role as a status symbol needs to change, Peffers points out. So when a waiter at an expensive restaurant offers “And what’s your drink?” that’s no reason to forget your conviction(信念). “Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I’ll have tap.’ Say it loud enough that the other tables nearby can hear you,” Peffers says. “And then spend that money on a dessert.”
【小题1】In the first paragraph, the underlined sentence “It shouldn’t.” suggest that people _______.
| A．shouldn’t feel pleased with finishing the water in the bottle. |
| B．shouldn’t feel good about drinking an expensive brand H2O. |
| C．shouldn’t be pleased with just recycling empty bottles. |
| D．shouldn’t be satisfied with drinking only bottled water. |
| A．as safe as bottled water | B．morel likely to be polluted |
| C．healthier than bottle water | D．less convenient than bottled water |
| A．making bottled water free | B．giving up bottled water |
| C．recycling use water bottles | D．providing free water containers |
| A．To encourage them to set an example for others to follow. |
| B．To advise them to save the money for one more dessert. |
| C．To remind them to be aware of their social status. |
| D．To persuade them to speak confidently in public. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
What will people die of 100 years from now? If you think that is a simple question, you have not been paying attention to the revolution that is taking place in bio-technology(生物技术). With the help of new medicine, the human body will last a very long time. Death will come mainly from accidents, murder and war. Today’s leading killers, such as heart disease, cancer, and aging itself, will become distant memories.
In discussion of technological changes, the Internet gets most of the attention these days. But the change in medicine can be the real technological event of our times. How long can humans live? Human brains were known to decide the final death. Cells(细胞) are the basic units of all living things, and until recently, scientists were sure that the life of cells could not go much beyond l20 years because the basic materials of cells, such as those of brain cells, would not last forever. But the upper limits will be broken by new medicine. Sometime between 2050 and 2100, medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or so, people will be able to take medicine to repair their organs ( The medicine, made up of the basic building materials of life, will build new brain cells, heart cells, and so on—in much the same way our bodies make new skin cells to take the place of old ones.)
It is exciting to imagine that the advance in technology may be changing the most basic condition of human existence, but many technical problems still must be cleared up on the way to this wonderful future.
【小题1】According to the passage, human death IS now mainly caused by____.
| A．diseases and aging | B．accidents and war |
| C．accidents and aging | D．heart disease and war |
| A．medicine | B．the Internet | C．brain cells | D．human organ |
| A．heart disease will be far away from us |
| B．human brains can decide the final death |
| C．the basic materials of cells will last forever |
| D．human organs can be repaired by new medicine |
| A．human life will not last more than 120 years in the future |
| B．humans have to take medicine to build new skin cells now |
| C．much needs to be done before humans can have a longer life |
| D．we have already solved the technical problems in building new cells |
| A．Aging | B．Accidents | C．Cancer | D．Heart disease |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Expensive and new gloves allow chatterboxes（话匣子）to take the term “handsfree” to a new level—by talking into them as they make a call. The gloves are known as “Talk to the Hand” and cost £1,000 a pair. They fixed a speaker unit into the thumb and a microphone into the little finger that can be connected to any mobile handset using Bluetooth.
Artist Sean Miles designed the new gloves that double as a phone in part of his project that shows the possibilities of gadget recycling. He uses outdated gloves and combines them with parts from mobile handsets recycled through O2, which commissioned（承担）the project. Mobile phone users will be able to keep their hands warm while they chat without taking their phones out of their pockets or handbags.
Mr Miles designed two pairs of the new gloves—one in pink and the other in brown and yellow. They will appear in an exhibition this July and visitors will be able to win the gloves. If demand is high, they will then be produced on a larger scale. O2 Recycle, which backed the project, estimates that there are already 70 million unused mobile handsets in the UK. The service pays up to £260 to those who recycle gadgets including phones, handheld consoles, MP3 players and digital cameras.
Designer Sean Miles hopes his work will get people thinking about recycling. The 41-year-old said, “I hope that my ‘Talk to the Hand’ project will get people to think again about the waste created by not recycling gadgets. If a few more people recycle their gadgets rather than send them to trash, I think this project will have fulfilled its aim.”
Bill Eyres, head of O2 Recycle, urges people to recycle their phone responsibly. He said, “There’s a pressing need for all of us to look at outdated handsets, and all the gadgets that we move on from or upgrade each year. Whether they are consoles or cameras, we should think of them as a resource that we need to recycle responsibly rather than throw them away.”
【小题1】The underlined word “O2” in Paragraph 2 is probably the name of ______.
| A．an artist | B．a company | C．a mobile | D．an exhibition |
| A．in the exhibition |
| B．from Mr Miles |
| C．when they are mass produced |
| D．after they recycle the gadgets |
| A．promote the technology of IT |
| B．enable people to talk to their hands |
| C．raise people’s awareness of recycling |
| D．attract visitors’ attention in the exhibition |
| A．New mobiles that are fashionable. |
| B．Outdated handsets that are upgraded. |
| C．Outdated gadgets that can be used for recycling. |
| D．New gloves that can be used for making phone calls. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A victim of climate change
A polar bear's dead body found on the Arctic island of Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway, has shocked experts who say climate change may be to blame for the death. The starved polar bear in Norway was said to be in good bones by the time a group of explorers came across its body in July．
The bear is thought to have been heading north in a desperate search for sea ice that would allow it to hunt for seals．"From his lying position in death, the bear appears to simply have starved to health in April when the Norwegian Polar Institute examined and labeled it． However, the animal was reduced to skin and bones and died where he dropped," polar bear expert Dr. Ian Stirling, a professor at the University of Alberta said, "He had external suggestion of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone．"
Stirling believes the bear starved to death as a result of a lack of sea ice which the animals use as a platform for hunting seals． That may also explain why the 16-year-old male bear was found about 155 miles north of where it was seen in April．
Arctic sea ice reached a record low in 2012, according to a report released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that pointed to continued signs of climate change．
The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently classifies polar bears as vulnerable on its Red List of Threatened Species．
【小题1】How did Stirling know the reason for the death of the polar bear?
| A．By the food he ate． | B．By doing further experiments． |
| C．By observing other polar bears． | D．By his lying position in death． |
| A．easily hurt | B．difficult to hunt |
| C．dangerous | D．amazing |
| A．Favorable． | B．Uncaring． |
| C．Doubtful． | D．Concerned． |
| A．A novel． | B．A guidebook． |
| C．A news report． | D．An advertisement． |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The smallest animal with a backbone（脊椎） known to science, a fish from the carp family, has been discovered in the peat swamps （沼泽）of Indonesia. Mature（成熟的）females of the fish species （种类）Paedocypris reach just 7.9mm in length.
The species was discovered in the highly acidic (酸性的) peat swamps of the Indonesian island of Sumatra by a team led by Ralf Britz, a zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London.
“This is one of the strangest fish that I’ve seen in my whole career,” Dr Britz said. “It’s tiny, and it lives in acid. I hope that we’ll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.”
The species lives in dark tea-colored swamp waters, which are 100 times more acidic than rainwater. Although these swamps were once thought to be inhabited by very few animals, recent research has shown that they are home to a highly different range of species that occur nowhere else.
The peat swamps were damaged by forest fires in 1997, and are also threatened by agriculture. The scientists behind the discovery said that several populations of Paedocypris had already been lost.
“Many of the peat swamps we surveyed（调查）throughout South-East Asia no longer exist,” Dr Britz said. “Populations of all the miniature（微型的）fish of peat swamps have decreased or disappeared.”
Details of the discovery are published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B.
【小题1】64.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Strangest Fish |
| B．Acidic Peat Swamps |
| C．Strange Species |
| D．The Smallest Backbone Animal |
| A．It lives in highly acidic rainwater. |
| B．The species lives in the acidic waters of dark tea-coloured swamps. |
| C．It was put in the Natural History Museum in London. |
| D．Its habitat disappears completely. |
| A．many places where these animals lived have been damaged |
| B．the population of the specieshas increased |
| C．there are many animals in the acidic peat swamps today |
| D．agriculture doesn’t affect the living space of these animals |
| A．the habitat will be more after a period of time |
| B．many peat swamps that they surveyed have already survived |
| C．he wants to find more miniature fishes before their habitat disappears |
| D．he wants to have further research |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes(性别) are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve(神经) tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation(创造) and the expression for emotions(情感). In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by a smaller number of nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain are.
【小题1】Which of the following is the best title of the article?
| A．Research on the Brain |
| B．Men and Women are Different in Brain |
| C．People’s Different Brains |
| D．Who Are Better, Boys or Girls |
| A．The different brains make |
| B．Sex makes |
| C．The different experiences make |
| D．The influences(影响) of society make |
| A．mathematics | B．physics | C．English | D．chemistry |
| A．The left side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls. |
| B．The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys. |
| C．Men are better than women in all things. |
| D．The area in girls used for language skills develops better. |
| A．is the same as women’s |
| B．is different from women’s |
| C．is larger than women’s |
| D．is twice as large as women’s |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
In the late 1970’s,many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems ，and new steel — and — glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Some ecologists (生态学家）pointed out that a number of tall buildings in a city often overburden public transportation.
Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers of electric power and water. In just one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City itself has already raised the top daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kw — enough to supply the entire city of Albany in New York area for a single day.
Glass—walled skyscrapers can also be especially wasteful. The heat loss ，or gain， through a wall of half 一 inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical ordinary wall filled with bricks or board. In order to decrease the pressure on heating and air — conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double—layered glass ，and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that could reduce glare (强光）as well as heat gain. However, mirror — walled skyscrapers may raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings as well.
Skyscrapers put a severe pressure on a city's sanitation (卫生）facilities, too. If fully occupied, the towers just within the central area of New York would alone produce 2. 25 million gallons of waste water each year^—as much as the city size of Stanford， Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109，000.
【小题1】The underlined phrase“ lavish consumers ”in the 2nd paragraph probably means ____
| A．trash producers | B．great spenders | C．pressure makers | D．poor customers |
| A．show how skyscrapers manage to lessen their pressure |
| B．explain why skyscrapers can control its air conditions |
| C．describe further how wasteful skyscrapers could be |
| D．present the stability of skyscrapers in modern buildings |
| A．central New York skyscrapers are a large waste water producer |
| B．the central area of New York is as large as the city of Stanford |
| C．more than 109，000 people live in the skyscrapers in New York |
| D．New York produces 2. 25 million gallons of waste water each year |
| A．positive | B．doubtful | C．grateful | D．negative |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Mark and his brother Jason both were looking at the shining new computer enviously. Jason was determined not to go against their father’s wishes but Mark was more adventurous than his brother. He loves experimenting and his aim was to become a scientist like his father.
“Dad will be really mad if he finds out you’ve been playing with his new computer” Jason said, “He told us not to touch it.”
“He won’t find out,” Mark said, “I’ll just have a quick look and shut it down.”
Mark had been scolded before for touching his father’s equipment. But his curiosity was difficult to control and this new computer really puzzled him.
It was a strange-looking machine — one his dad had brought home from the laboratory where he worked. “It’s an experimental model,” his father had explained, so don’t touch it under any circumstances.” But his father’s warning only served to make Mark more curious. Without any further thought, Mark turned on the power switch. The computer burst into life and seconds later, the screen turned into colours, shifting and changing, and then two big white words appeared in the centre of the screen: “SPACE TRANSPORTER.”
“Yes!” Mark cried excitedly, “It’s a computer game. I knew it! Dad’s only been pretending to work. He’s really been playing games instead!” A new message appeared on the screen:
“ENTER NAMES
VOYAGE １
VOYAGE ２
Mark’s finger flew across the keyboard as he typed in both of their names.
“INPUT ACCEPTED.
START TRANSPORT PROGRAM.
AUTO-RETRIEVE INITIATED(自动回收程序已启动).”
The screen turn even brighter and a noise suddenly rose in volume.
“I think we’d better shut it off, Mark,” Jason yelled out in terror, reaching for the power switch. A beam(光束) of dazzling white light burst out of the computer screen, wrapping the boys in its glow(光芒)，until they themselves seemed to be glowing. Then it died down just as suddenly as it had burst into life. And the boys were no longer there. On the screen, the letters changed：
“TRANSPORT SUCCESSFUL．
DESTINATION: MARS.
RETRIEVE DATE: 2025
【小题1】Why did Mark touch the computer against his father’s warning?
| A．He wanted to take a voyage. |
| B．He wanted to practice his skills. |
| C．He was so much attracted by it. |
| D．He was eager to do an experiment. |
| A．In an electronic factory |
| B．In a computer company |
| C．In a scientific research center. |
| D．In an information processing center. |
| A．a computer game | B．a company website |
| C．a software producer | D．an astronomy program |
| A．He was afraid of being scolded. |
| B．He didn’t like the loud noise and light. |
| C．He didn’t want to play games. |
| D．He was afraid something dangerous might happen. |
| A．They were blown into the air. |
| B．They were sent to another planet. |
| C．They were hidden in the strong light. |
| D．They were carried away to another country. |
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