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Wash Your Clothes with a Cup of Water?

    A washing machine that uses only a cup of water to carry a full wash, leaving clothes completely dry, has been developed by British inventors. Researchers say the technology, which uses less than 2 percent of the water and energy of a traditional machine, could save billions of liters of water each year.

   The machine works by using thousands of plastic chips— each about half a centimeter in size—to absorb and remove dirt. Around 20 kilos of the chips are added to each load, along with a cup of water and detergent（洗涤剂）. During the washing cycle, the water is heated to help dissolve the dirt, which is then absorbed by the plastic chips. The inventors say the chips should be removed at the end of each wash, but can be used up to 100 times.

    The technology, called Xeros, is already being compared to the Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner, which revolutionized the home cleaning industry when it was first introduced to the public in the mid-1990s.

    If adopted by many homes across the UK, the machine could save billions of liters of water each year. According to the research, washing machine use has risen by 23 percent in the past 15 years, up from three times a week in 1990 to an average four times now. The average UK household uses most 21 liters of water daily on clothes washing. Nationally, this equals to approximately 455 million liters of water a day — enough to fill 145 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Although the Xeros is now in the design and testing stage, the inventors say they are in talks with a commercial partner. The machine could be in the market as early as next year. Tests have produced quite astonishing results. “We’ve shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick while using a tiny fraction of the water used by traditional washing machines,” said one of the inventors.

An expert said, “This is one of the most surprising and remarkable technologies I’ve had in recent years. Xeros has the ability to save billions of liters of water per year and, we believe, the potential to revolutionize the global laundry market.

64. Compared with the traditional washing machine, the most outstanding feature of the Xeros is that _________.

A. it doesn’t need any detergent

B. it saves a large amount of water

C. it can remove all sorts of everyday stains

D. the plastic chips can be removed at the end of each wash

65. The writer supports his idea with __________ in Paragraph 4.

A. examples    B. words     C. data       D. imagination

66. What do we know about the Xeros from the passage?

A. It will be quite cheap as the plastic chips can be used up to 100 times.

B. It’ll take the place of the Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner in future.

C. The plastic chips play an important role in absorbing and removing the dirt.

D. It isn’t in the market now because no investors are willing to develop it.

67. What is the writer’s attitude toward the new technology in this passage?

A. Positive.         B. Opposed.        C. Indifferent.     D. Doubtful.

British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow. in soil con??taining salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive farms once more.

Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University’s School of Biological Sciences,. have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty. The pairs have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Bio??logical Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty condi??tions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice.

It is estimated that each year more than 10 million hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts(防碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated by the heat, leaving, salt deposits behind.

Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.

To overcome these problems. Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants’ growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resul??ting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.

Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food for the poorer countries of the world.

4. Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true?

A. They are students at Sussex University.  B. They are rice breeders.

5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage?

A. Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.

B. The water table has gone down after droughts.

C. Sea level has been continuously rising.

D. Evaporation of water leaves salt behind.

6. The word "affect" in Paragraph 5 could be best replaced by________.

A. influence                B. effect                 C. stop                     D. present

7. The attitude of the author towards the research project is________.

A. positive                 B. negative             C. suspicious             D. indifferent

When water is boiling, steam can be seen ______ from it.

D
Both warm-blooded and cold-blooded desert animals have ways to escape the desert heat. Warm-blooded desert animals, such as rats and mice, rest during the day, often staying in cool underground burrows. At night they search for food. Animals that are out during the day, such as cold-blooded lizards and snakes, are active only for short periods. As their body temperature rises, these reptiles move into the shade in order to cool down. In the early evening, when the sun grows weaker, the reptiles become more active and begin their search for food again.
Getting enough water to survive is a major problem for all desert animals. Some desert animals, such as the kangaroo rat and the related jerboa, get water only from the food that they eat. Because these animals eat mainly dry seeds, they must survive on a tiny amount of water.
Most deserts have only a small number of frogs and toads because these animals must be near water to survive. Yet even these creatures have adapted to desert conditions. When small amounts of water collect in temporary streams, the desert-living frogs and toads become active. After a rainfall, they lay their eggs. The eggs grow into tadpoles in a few days and into adults in just four weeks. When the puddles dry up, the adult frogs or toads dig into the ground. Their metabolism(新陈代谢) slows, and they stay beneath the ground until the next rain, which may be as good as a year away. Until then, their bodily activities continue at a reduced rate.
The camel---often called the ship of the desert---is one of the most successful desert animals. Camels can go for long periods without water, but eventually they must drink. When water becomes available to them after a long drought, they may drink 95 liters of water or more. When water is not available, what helps camels survive the desert heat is the fat stored in their humps. A camel’s hump contains about 12 kilograms of fat. Fat is rich in hydrogen. As the fat is digested, hydrogen from the fat combines with oxygen in the air that the camel breathes. The result is H2O, or water. Each kilogram of fat that a camel digests produces about a liter of water.
71. Desert animals are usually more active at night because ______.
A. it is cooler at night           B.it is easier to find water
C.they like the dark            D. they are less likely to be attacked at night
72. Which of the following desert animals can get water only from the food?
A. The camel.       B. The kangaroo rat.     C. The frog.      D. The toad
73. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the desert animals rest during the day.
B. All the desert animals don’t rest during the day.
C. Cold-blooded desert animals don’t rest during the day.
D. None of the cold-blooded desert animals go out during the day.
74. The title for this passage could probably be ________.
A. Hot Deserts                         B. Desert Animals
C. How Desert Animals Get Water         D. Ways To Escape the Desert Heat
75. The underlined word “burrows” in the first paragraph can be replaced by _________.
A. holes     B. caves     C. rooms      D. Openings

Scientists who discovered a new way of generating electricity from water say they may have come across an alternative source of clean energy to rival wind and solar power.

The breakthrough, which scientists say is the first new way to generate electricity in 160 years, could lead to batteries that use water instead of poisonous substances.

The scientists made the discovery when they were investigating what happens when tap water is forced through extremely narrow glass tubes. Water squeezed down the tubes, each of which was narrower than a tenth the thickness of a human hair, generating a small electric current that ran the length of the tube. To produce a larger electric current, the team tried forcing water through a glass water filter(滤水器)that contained thousands of narrow channels lined up side by side. “When we took a syringe(注射器)of water and squeezed it through the filter, we got enough power to light a light bulb,” said Larry Kostiuk of the University of Alberta in Canada. “The harder you push the syringe, the more electric current you get.”

The current is produced because of an effect in the glass tubes. When they are filled with water, positively charged ions(阳离子)fixed in the tubes are washed away, leaving a slight negative charge on the glass surface. When water is then forced along the tube, the surface repels negatively charged ions in the water while positively charged ions are attracted down the tube. The result is a net flow of positively charged ions that sets up an electric current.

According to Dr Kostiuk, no one has ever thought to use water to produce electricity in this way. “The last time someone came up with a way of generating electricity was Michael Faraday in 1839,” he said. “So this is the first new way of generating electricity in 160 years, which is why we are so excited about it.”

Dr Kostiuk says water batteries might one day be used to power mobile phones and calculators, but admitted that the engineering challenges might make other applications more realistic. “You’d need to be sure it wouldn’t leak, and you’d need to make sure it wouldn’t freeze,” he said.

More likely would be to install the electricity-generating devices where water is already being pumped, such as at city water filtration sites, he said. “It could compete with wind and solar power,” he added.

1.What does the passage mainly want to tell us about?

A. A kind of solar power discovered by scientists.

B. A kind of new energy source found in tap water.

C. The breakthrough to generate electricity 160 yeas ago.

D. A kind of new battery invented without poisonous substances.

2.The underlined word “repels” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.

A. rejects       B. identifies         C. attracts         D. rebels

3.Why were the scientists extremely happy about their new discovery?

A. They were the first to find a new way to produce electricity.

B. They could make an electric current to light a light bulb.

C. Their discovery could be used to invent water batteries.

D. Their discovery was made 160 years earlier than Faraday’s.

4.What can we infer about potential water batteries?

A. They must be used to power mobile phones and calculators.

B. They have some possible disadvantages like water leaking.

C. They would be needed greatly at city water filtration sites.

D. They would be better than wind and solar power.