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 (展示) 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.

46. 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

47 .How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?

　 A. By controlling his muscles.                                 B. By talking to the machine.

C. By moving his hand.                                    D. By using his mind.

48.Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?

　 A. scalp → computer → cap →wheelchair

　 B. compute → cap → scalp →wheelchair

　 C. scalp → cap → computer →wheelchair

　 D. cap → computer → scalp →wheelchair

49.The team will test with real patients to ________.

　 A. make profits from them                              B. prove the technology useful to them

C. make them live longer                                        D. learn about their physical condition

50.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

　 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

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 (展示) 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.

46. 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

47 .How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?

　 A. By controlling his muscles.                                 B. By talking to the machine.

C. By moving his hand.                                    D. By using his mind.

48.Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?

　 A. scalp → computer → cap →wheelchair

　 B. compute → cap → scalp →wheelchair

　 C. scalp → cap → computer →wheelchair

　 D. cap → computer → scalp →wheelchair

49.The team will test with real patients to ________.

　 A. make profits from them                              B. prove the technology useful to them

C. make them live longer                                        D. learn about their physical condition

50.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

　 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

People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy—one plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs.  Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later, which this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and received seven years later, he or she could enter a second grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.

Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped or, as the case might be bumped into concepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to concede that quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short stout glass into a tall thin one.

Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers--the idea of aloneness, a prerequisite for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table—is itself far from innate.

　　 1. What's the main idea about this passage?

　　　　 A. The use of mathematics in child psychology.

　　　　 B. Trends in teaching mathematics to children.

　　　　 C. The development of mathematical ability in children.

　　　　 D. The fundamental concepts of mathematics that children must learn.

　　 2. It can be inferred from the passage that children normally learn simple counting——.

　　　　 A. soon after they learn to talk 

B. after they reach second grade in school

　　　　 C. by looking at the clock

　　　　 D. when they begin to be mathematically mature

　　 3. According to the passage, when small children were asked to count a pile of red and blue pencils they——.

　　　　 A. counted the number of pencils of each color

　　　　 B. counted only the pencils of their favorite color

　　　　 C. guessed at the total number of pencils

　　　　 D. subtracted the number of red pencils from the number of blue pencils

　　 4. What does the word “They” (Para. 3, Line 5) refer?

　　　　 A. Children　　    B. Pencils　　    C. Mathematicians  　　 D. Studies

 

People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of children develop so early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy—one plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs.  Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table and, a bit later, which this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonable to expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth and received seven years later, he or she could enter a second grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.

Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped or, as the case might be bumped into concepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to concede that quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short stout glass into a tall thin one.

Psychologists have since demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers--the idea of aloneness, a prerequisite for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table—is itself far from innate.

　　 1. What's the main idea about this passage?

　　　　 A. The use of mathematics in child psychology.

　　　　 B. Trends in teaching mathematics to children.

　　　　 C. The development of mathematical ability in children.

　　　　 D. The fundamental concepts of mathematics that children must learn.

　　 2. It can be inferred from the passage that children normally learn simple counting——.

　　　　 A. soon after they learn to talk 

B. after they reach second grade in school

　　　　 C. by looking at the clock

　　　　 D. when they begin to be mathematically mature

　　 3. According to the passage, when small children were asked to count a pile of red and blue pencils they——.

　　　　 A. counted the number of pencils of each color

　　　　 B. counted only the pencils of their favorite color

　　　　 C. guessed at the total number of pencils

　　　　 D. subtracted the number of red pencils from the number of blue pencils

　　 4. What does the word “They” (Para. 3, Line 5) refer?

　　　　 A. Children　　    B. Pencils　　    C. Mathematicians  　　 D. Studies