A Battery’s Worst Nightmare(噩梦)

     Portable electronics that can be carried about easily are only as good as their batteries and, let’s face it, batteries aren’t very good, especially when compared with, say, petrol, which packs 100 times a battery’s energy into an equal space. That’s why a large group of mechanical engineers (centered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but with partners at other universities and companies) are hard at work in an effort to replace batteries with a tiny engine that runs on fuel. Imagine a battery-free life!When the fuel runs out in your laptop or mobile phone, you just fill up and go.

    The engine, about the size of a ten-cent coin, starts with a combustion chamber (燃烧室) that burns hydrogen (氢). Its tiny parts are etched onto silicon wafers (硅片) in the same manner that computer parts are imprinted onto integrated circuits (集成电路). The first engine is made up of five wafers. And since these wafers could be produced in much the same way as computer chips, they could probably be produced quite cheaply.

     But the devil in all this nice detail is efficiency(效率). Tiny engine parts don’t always behave like their scaled-up parts of the first engine. Something between the parts can slow down the work, according to Columbia University professor Luc Frechette, one of the engine’s designers. Extreme heat from the combustion chamber is also a problem, often leaking to other parts of the engine.

    The scientists’ goal is to create an engine that will operate 10 times better than batteries do. Frechette says that a complete system, with all parts in place and working, will be set up in the next couple of years, but commercial models aren’t available until at least the end of the next ten years. 

1..

. According to the passage, the title suggests that ________.

    A. batteries should be greatly improved           B. petrol will be used instead of batteries

    C. the time of batteries will be gone forever    D. pollution caused by batteries must be prevented

2..

 What’s the meaning of the underlined word “devil” (In Paragraph 3)?

     A. Problem.　           B. Advantage.　        C. Invention.　                 D. Technique.

3..

 What can we infer from the passage?

A. The new invention doesn’t need any fuel. 

B. The new engine has been produced in quantity.

    C. The new invention is much cheaper than the battery.

    D. The new engine needs to be improved before it’s on sale.

4..

. What is the main purpose of this passage?

    A. To introduce a new invention to readers.        B. To persuade readers not to use batteries.

    C. To show us how the new invention works. 　　D. To declare when the engine will be on sale.

 

 (江苏省启东中学2007高考最后冲刺练习A篇)

A Battery’s Worst Nightmare (噩梦)

Portable electronics that can be carried about easily are only as good as their batteries and, let’s face it, batteries aren’t very good, especially when compared with, say, petrol, which packs 100 times a battery’s energy into an equal space. That’s why a large group of mechanical engineers (centered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but with partners at other universities and companies) are hard at work in an effort to replace batteries with a tiny engine that runs on fuel. Imagine a battery-free life! When the fuel runs out in your laptop or mobile phone, you just fill up and go.

The engine—about the size of a ten-cent coin—starts with a combustion chamber (燃烧室) that burns hydrogen (氢) . Its tiny parts are etched onto silicon wafers (硅片) in the same manner that computer parts are imprinted onto integrated circuits (集成电路). The first engine is made up of five wafers. And since these wafers could be produced in much the same way as computer chips, they could probably be produced quite cheaply.

But the devil in all this nice detail is efficiency（效率）. Tiny engine parts don’t always behave like their scaled-up parts of the first engine. Something between the parts can slow down the works, according to Columbia University professor Luc Frechette, one of the engine’s designers. Extreme heat from the combustion chamber is also a problem, often leaking to other parts of the engine.

The scientists’ goal is to create an engine that will operate at 10 percent efficiency —that is, 10 times better than batteries operate. Frechette says that a complete system, with all parts of place and working, will be set up in the next couple of years, but commercial models aren’t like until at least the end of the next ten years.

1. According to the passage, the title suggests that ________

       A. batteries should be greatly improved      

B. petrol will be used instead of batteries

       C. the time of batteries will be gone forever  

D. pollution caused by batteries must be solved

2. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “devil” in paragraph 3?

       A. problem　  B. advantage　       C. invention　 Ｄ. technique

3. What can we infer from the passage?

       A. The new invention doesn’t need any fuel.

       B. The new engine has been produced in quantity.

       C. The new invention is much cheaper than the battery.

       D. The new engine needs to be improved before it’s on sale

4. What is the main purpose of this passage?

       A. To introduce a new invention to readers.

       B. To persuade readers not to use batteries.

       C. To show us how the new invention works.

       D. To declare when the engine will be on sale.

完形填空

　　“You can learn English more efficiently（效率高地）if you spend 20 minutes a day for a week than if you spend two hours a day. “This is what a teacher usually says when he tells his students _____1_____ allot（分配）their time. But is it true?

　　

　　Suppose you have a bucket _____2_____ a small hole in its bottom. Now you are asked _____3_____ the bucket with the water in a basin. If you are too little a boy to lift the basin _____4_____ water, you are sure _____5_____ use of a bowl or something alike. You will dip out the water from the basin with the bowl and _____6_____ it into the bucket. You may dip from the basin again and again. However, you will soon _____7_____ that as soon as you pour a bowl of water into the bucket, most of the water leaks out through the _____8_____, so you are _____9_____ able to fill up the bucket this way.

　　On the contrary, if you are an adult, you will undoubtedly _____10_____ the basin and pour the whole basin of water into the bucket at once. Now, the bucket is full. Though the water in it is also leaking out, you at least have filled up the bucket with water. If you want _____11_____ the bucket full, you only _____12_____ add a bowl of water now and then.

　　The same is true of English learning. Let us _____13_____ a simple example If you learn 10 new words today, you are most likely to remember nine _____14_____. But if you try to learn 30 words today, though you may forget _____15_____ more than one word, you may still be able to remember 11 or 12 words tomorrow.

　　Day in and day _____16____, you will be able to remember a large number of words, _____17_____ you may forget some of them.

　　In short, the more time you spend at a time, the more you will learn on the whole, Of course, _____18_____ time you spend each time must be _____19_____ the limit that you do not exhaust（使筋疲力尽）_____20____ .

　　

　

(1)A.what 　　 to		B.when 　　 to	C.why 　　 to	D.how 　　 to
(2)A.with		B.on	C.about	D.in
(3)A.filling 　　 up		B.to 　　 pour	C.to 　　 fill up	D.pouring
(4)A.of 　　 full		B.filling 　　 with	C.full 　　 with	D.full 　　 of
(5)A.making		B.to 　　 make	C.to	D.of
(6)A.throw		B.pour	C.dip	D.catch
(7)A.see		B.watch	C.look 　　 at	D.find
(8)A.hole		B.bowl	C.bucket	D.basin
(9)A.easily		B.slowly	C.never	D.fast
(10)A.put		B.rise	C.place	D.lift
(11)A.to 　　 remain		B.remaining	C.keeping	D.to 　　 keep
(12)A.can		B.have 　　 to	C.must	D.may
(13)A.take		B.make	C.do	D.think
(14)A.yesterday		B.tomorrow	C.ago	D.before
(15)A.bit		B.little	C.fairly	D.far
(16)A.away		B.out	C.ago	D.before
(17)A.but		B.though	C.however	D.in 　　 spite
(18)A.the 　　 amount of			B.the 　　 more
C.the 　　 number of			D.a 　　 great deal of
(19)A.in	B.within		C.among	D.inside
(20)A.yourself	B.oneself		C.myself	D.the 　　 learner

If _____ the same treatment again, he’s sure to get well.

　 A. giving 　 B. give  C. given 　 D. being given

Mr.Morgan　can　be　very　sad＿＿，though　in　public　he　is　extremely　cheerful．

A)by　himself   ?B)in　person?    C)in　private    ?D)as　individual