8.When you think about math,you probably don't think about breaking the law,solving mysteries or finding criminals.But a mathematician in Maryland does,and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal (揭示) the identity of the criminal.It's long been believed,for example,that criminals will break the law closer to where they live,simply because it's easier to get around in their own neighborhood.If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area,they may look for a suspect who lives near the crime scenes.So,the farther away from the area a crime takes place,the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O'Leary,a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland,says that this kind of approach may be too simple.He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal's home base by combining these patterns with a city's layout (布局) and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets-that is,the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob.Because these stores are along roads,the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are.O'Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city.His program also includes information about the people who live in the city,and information about how a criminal's patterns change with age.It's been shown,for example,that the younger the criminal,the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software,but O'Leary's uses more math.The mathematician plans to make his computer program available,free of charge,to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime.O'Leary says that criminology-the study of crime and criminals-contains a lot of good math problems."I feel like I'm in a gold mine and I'm the only one who knows what gold looks like,"he says."It's a lot of fun."
61.To find criminals,police usuallyD.
A.check who are on the crime scene
B.seek help from local people
C.depend on new mathematical tools
D.focus on where crimes take place
62.O'Leary is writing a computer program thatC.
A.uses math to increase the speed of calculation
B.tells the identity of a criminal in a certain area
C.provides the crime records of a given city
D.shows changes in criminals'patterns
63.By"I'm the only one who knows what gold looks like",O'Leary means that heC.
A.is better at finding gold than others
B.is the only one who uses math to make money
C.knows best how to use math to help solve crimes
D.has more knowledge of gold than other mathematicians
64.What do you know about O'Leary according to the passage?B
A.He is a man full of impractical imagination.
B.He is a man full of self-confidence.
C.He is a man who is talkative but lazy.
D.He is a man who doesn't like mathematics.
65.What is the main idea of the text?A
A.Math could help police find criminals.
B.Criminals live near where crimes occur.
C.Crime records could be used to fight crime.
D.Computer software works in preventing crimes.
分析 本文是一篇科教类阅读,主要介绍了Maryland的一位数学家利用数学知识来帮助警方寻找犯罪分子.
解答 61-65 DCCBA
61题答案:D考查细节推理,根据原文第二段的So,the farther away from the area a crime takes place,the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.因此离犯罪发生地越远,同一个犯罪分子犯罪的可能性就越小.可知警方寻找犯罪分子的常用做法是"关注犯罪的事发地点",故本题答案为D选项.
62题答案:C考查细节推理,根据原文第四段The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets及O'Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city.可知本题答案为C选项.
63题答案:C考查细节推理,O'Leary将利用数学知识来研究犯罪学比喻自己在金矿中寻找黄金,而且自己最知道"黄金"是什么样;这里的"寻找黄金"指的是"解决犯罪问题";故本题答案为C选项.
64题答案:B考查细节推理,根据文章最后一句"I'm the only one who knows what gold looks like"可知O'Leary是一个很自信的人,故本题答案为B选项.
65题答案:A考查主旨大意,文章主要讲的是数学知识可以用来帮助警方寻找犯罪分子;故本题答案为A选项.
点评 本文是一篇科教类阅读,题目涉及多道细节理解题,做题时结合原文和题目有针对 性找出相关语句进行仔细分析,结合选项选出正确答案.推理判断也是要在抓住关键句子的基础上合理的分析才能得出正确的答案.