The basics of infrastructure design

It is rightly pointed out various intellectuals that the lifestyle of today is vastly different from that of the earlier times especially in terms of its pace. Lifestyle of today is remarkably fast paced and so in order to catch up with such a pace of life, the adoption of smart and time saving methods is of real significance. Well, the highways have certainly contributed in this direction and have made our lives a lot easier. Thanks to the modern flyovers and expressways, a single route can be accessed by twice the number of vehicles at the same time.

These facilities and supplies have made our lives double free but it needs to be realized that designing and constructing it is a very complex and a long process. You have to hold fast to the various rules of designing, government standards and most importantly, their safety and usability for the people. In the end it is a joint effort of a number of skilled engineers, scientists and statisticians. The material that is used in the construction is finalized after it undergoes certain tests for evaluating their qualities like hardness, roughness, thickness and all that is required. 

Some of the points you have to take care of while laying an infrastructure design are as follows:

The basic layout (布局) of the road — At this level of planning, various civil engineers have meetings to figure out the basic requirements of the road like thickness of the asphalt (沥青), the size of lanes, distance to be covered, degree of curves and much more. These fundamental points help them decide the further line of action.

The prior steps — Before any work is stated over the basic plan layout, there are various preparations to be made like placing road signs, the removal of trees that may prove to be dangerous in the event of a storm or other natural causes, the positioning of fire hydrants (消防栓) based on special designs to be useful when required, etc.

Inclusion of safety barriers — The safety barriers are placed on almost all roads and highways that are made over or near to rivers and cliffs. These barriers keep the vehicles from moving into the traffic in instances of accidents. These should also be designed in advance of placing them on a road and the design should be such that it makes minimum impact upon the people sitting in the car. These include supplies like side rails and light poles.

Asphalt pavement marking — It is the process of using a reflective material to indicate various important points on the road like lanes, turns, passing areas, two way and one way roads.

Though the smooth and wide highways constructed in big cities seem to be very attractive for the drivers, the ease of use is also the cause of accidents. Cars rushing at extremely high speeds and insecure change of lanes are a common sight on the highways. With the help of novel infrastructure design engineers, we can make the best possible use of highways. If these are designed properly and sign boards are placed at the required points, a number of road accidents can be avoided.

Exploit your parking space
An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to £200 or £300 a week. Put an advertisement（广告）for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark.
Rent（出租）a room
Spare room? Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed “rent a room” program, you won’t have to pay any tax on the first £4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.
Make money during special events
Don’t want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money, Grashpadder can advertise your space.
Live on set
Renting your home out as a “film set” could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.
Use your roof
You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing  solar equipment(around￡14,000), and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.
【小题1】If you earn ￡5000 from renting a room in one year, the tax you need to pay will be based on ______.

The Internationa1 Space Station allows astronauts to live in space for extended amounts of time, enabling them to explore the outside universe and conduct many experiments. However, nothing like that exists for our oceans, and thanks to the high water pressure, ocean researchers are able to explore what lies undersea for very short periods of time.

They are therefore never able to fully explore the deep inside areas of our oceans. However, if French architect Jacques Rougerie has his way, that will change soon.

Jacques has designed a ship that will allow researchers to spend a long period of time observing the sea life and conducting experiments. The huge l67ft. ship, named ‘Sea Orbiter’, consists of two areas—one above the water where the scientists and crew will live, and a lower pressurized deck (甲板), where scientists will be able to spend as much time as they wish. Since it is powered by sea currents and wind, he expects it to drift (漂流) along the oceans slowly, taking about two years to circumvent the globe.

Jacques will make their life as comfortable as possible in the ship. Besides being equipped with the latest sailing tools and communication equipment, the ship will also have a gym, a television and a DVD player! And these guys will not be eating freeze-dried food like astronauts. Instead, Jacques, an accomplished chef, plans on cooking them delicious meals every day.

The biggest problem to this giant ship is the cost, which is expected to be over $500 million—per ship! However, Jacques, who strongly believes that the secrets of our oceans may be the key to solving global warming and a vital supply for food and medicine in the future, is confident he will be able to convince governments all over the world to help out, and expects to start construction on not one, but four or five of these amazing ships soon!

1.Why can’t ocean researchers explore the deep oceans for a long time?

A. Because they can’t stand the high water pressure.

B. Because it’s too cold in deep ocean.

C. Because time for experiments is too limited.

D. Because it’s dangerous to observe the sea life.

2.The underlined word “circumvent ” probably means      .

A. fly away     B. go around     C. travel through     D. move into

3.From the fourth paragraph we can learn that      .

A. Jacques intends to design the ship mainly for sightseeing and traveling

B. living a comfortable life helps to do the ocean research quickly

C. it’s much more expensive to eat freeze-dried food

D. researchers on Jacques ’ ship will live more comfortably than astronauts

4.In Jacques’ opinion, which of the following is not the purpose of the undersea research?

A. To find supply for food in the future.

B. To find supply for medicine in the future.

C. To draw governments’ attention to the construction of the ship.

D. To solve the global warming.

5.Which of the fol1owing would be the best title for the text?

A. Sea Orbiter—the ship of the future

B. A new way to explore the deep oceans

C. A great architect—Jacques Rogerie

D. Travel around the globe in Sea Orbiter

With smart phones taking the world by storm, a phone that can only send and receive voictcal1s and text messages may seem like a relic from a bygone age. Yet in East Africa, simple phones like these are changing the face of the economy, thanks to the mobile money services that are spreading across the region. Using the text--messaging function built into the GSM system(全球通) used by most cell phone networks, these services al1ow people without a bank account or credit card to use their/phone as an electronic wallet that can he used to store, send or receive cash.
It works like this: you pay cash to your loca1 agent who then tops up your mobile money account using a secure form of text messaging. That money can be transferred to another person by sending a message to their cell Phone account.
Fur some the system is a lifeline. ''If I didn’t have my mobile Phone, I would be very poor," says Neyasse Neemur, a mother of four chi1dren who lives in northern Kenya. .”Now I can sell fish.” Neemur took up fishing in Ju1y last year, but making money from it was a little tricky, especially as Turkana peop1e do not usually eat fish. A truck from Ethiopia to Tanzania passes through her vi1lage once a week, and she arranged to have the driver transport the fish several hundred ki1ometers south to market in   Kisumu, where relatives sell the fish.
"I get the money transfer immediately.” says Neemur . "Then I can pay for my children to go to school and for vegetables and beans," she adds, "so I don't need to eat fish."
According to the Central Bank of Kenya, payments worth around l billion Kenyan shillings($13 million) per day were transferred through Kenya’s mobile money systems in 2009, equaling the country’s credit card transactions(业务). The bank expects mobile money transfers to overtake credit cards in 2010.
63. In Paragraph l the author uses "simple phones" to _______________________.
A. make a comparison   B. introduce a topic   C. describe a scene   D. offer an argument.
64. What can we learn about the simple phones in East Africa?
A. They might help the local peop1e apply for a bank account.
B. They will replace the banks completely in the near future.
C. They Provide a safe means for the locals to do business.
D. They can do nothing except send and receive calls or messages.
65. The word “It” in the third paragraph refers to _____________________.
A. the GSM system                B. the mobile money service
C. the credit card service             D. the cell phone networks
66. The story of Neyasse Neemur suggests that ___________________.
A. the mobile money service plays a key role in the locals life
B. Neemur uses her mobile phone to contact her customers
C. her relative' tricks Turkana people to eat the fish they sell
D. the Bant of Kenya helps her improve her living condition