We produce 500 billion of plastic bags in a year worldwide and they are thrown away polluting oceans, killing wildlife and getting dumped in landfills where they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for a solution.
The 16-year-old Canadian high school student, Daniel Burd, from Waterloo Collegiate Institute, has-discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade(降解) in as few as 3 months, a finding that won him first prize at the Canada Wide Science Fair, a ＄10,000 prize, a ＄20,000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue.
Burd’s strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms (微生物). If those microorganisms could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.
With this goal in mind, he grounded plastic bags into a powder and concocted(调制) a solution of household chemicals, yeast(酵母) and tap water to encourage microbes growth. Then he added the plastic powder and let the microbes work their magic for 3 months. Finally, he tested the resulting bacterial culture on plastic bags, exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control. Sure enough, the plastic exposed to the live bacteria was 17% lighter than the control after six weeks.
The inputs are cheap, maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide.
“Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have piles of plastic bags falling on top of me. One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags. The answer: not much. So I decided to do something myself.” Said Daniel Burd.
Daniel Burd won first prize at the Canada Wide Science Fair because .
A. he found a new kind of microorganism
B. he contributed much to environmental protection
C. he found a way to degrade plastics in shorter time
D. he could encourage microbe growth in an easier way
Daniel Burd exposed one plastic sample to dead bacteria to .
A. make the live bacteria work better B. test how effective his method was
C. know which bacteria worked faster D. control the temperature in the process
Maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because .
A. plastics can get hot easily B. microbes can produce heat themselves
C. much carbon dioxide is produced D. the temperature can be controlled
Daniel Burd got his idea from .
A. his school textbook B. the failure of researchers
C. his everyday work D. the practice of other people
科目：高中英语 来源：湖北省荆州中学2009-2010学年度高二下学期期中考试英语试卷 题型：阅读理解
E
It is true that good writers rewrite and rewrite and then rewrite some more .But in order to work up the desire to rewrite, it is important to learn to like what you write at the early stage.
I am surprised at the number of famous writers I know who say that they so dislike reading their own writing later that they even hate to look over the publishers’ opinions .One reason we may dislike reading our own work is that we’re often disappointed that the rich ideas in our minds seem very thin and plain when first written down .Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker suggest that this fact may be a result of how our minds work..
Different from popular belief ,we do not usually think in the works and sentences of ordinary language but in symbols for ideas (known as “mentalese”), and writing our ideas down is an act of translation from that symbolic language .But while mentalese contains our thoughts in the form of a complex tapestry (织锦)，writing can only be composed one thread at a time .Therefore it should not be surprising that our first attempt at expressing ideas should look so simple .It is only by repeatedly rewriting that we produce new threads and connect them to get closer to the ideas formed in our minds.
When people write as if some strict critics (批评家) are looking over their shoulder, they are so worried about what this critic might say that they get stuck before they even start. Peter Elbow makes an excellent suggestion to deal with this problem. When writing we should have two different minds. At the first stage, we should see every idea, as well as the words we use to express it, as wonderful and worth putting down. It is only during rewrites that we should examine what we excitedly wrote in the first stage and check for weaknesses.
68. What do we learn from the text about those famous writers?
A. They often regret writing poor works
B. Some of them write surprisingly much.
C. Many of them hate reading their own works
D. They are happy to review the publishers’ opinions.
69. What do people generally believe about the way human minds work?
A. People think in words and sentences.
B. Human ideas are translated into symbols.
C. People think by connecting threads of ideas.
D. Human thoughts are expressed through pictures.
70. What can we conclude from the text?
A. Most people believe we think in symbols.
B. Loving our own writing is scientifically reasonable.
C. The writers and critics can never reach an agreement.
D. Thinking and writing are different stages of mind at work.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2011-2012学年江苏省安宜高中高一第一学期期中考试英语试卷 题型：阅读理解
When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it’s far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got to come up with some better ideas to help them.
I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers（便携式电脑）for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia.
The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it will be covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won’t be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle（把手）so that children can wind（摇）the computer up to give it extra power when needed.
These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children’s education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children’s education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.
Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and, probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals（目标）at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to “kill two birds with one stone”, and that is always a good thing.
1 : Some new and better ways to help developing countries
| Traditional way | Giving money to help them meet the most important basic 2 such as food and medicine. | ||
| New ideas | Making cheap laptop computers for children there | 3 | Nicholas Negroponte |
| Reason | His 4 to a school in Cambodia | ||
| Features | 1. Being covered in rubber 2. Running 5 electricity 3. Being able to access the Internet | ||
| 6 | Less than $100 | ||
| Purposes | 1. To help 7 children 2. To help people solve problems | ||
| 8 old mobile phones for reuse | 9 | Throwing away old mobile phones easily creates waste, which does ___10 to the environment. | |
| Goals to achieve | We’ll reduce the waste; meantime, we will help others. | ||
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科目：高中英语 来源：2013-2014学年山东省山师附中高三11月期中学分认定考试英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
What if we could replace oil with a fuel which produced no pollution and which everybody had equal access to?The good news is that we can, In fact, we are swimming in it—literally.
Hydrogen is one of the building blocks of the universe ,Our own sun is basically ,a big ,dense cloud of the stuff ,And hydrogen can be used to create electricity for power ,heat and light.
The problem is that hydrogen is everywhere and nowhere at the same time , It does not exist as a material on its own ,but is always part of something else, So it has to be separated before it can be used.
Most commercial hydrogen in use now is created from natural gas , As oil will start to run out in around the year 2030.,it makes sense to produce as much hydrogen as possible as soon as we can ,But natural gas supplies will also begin to run out soon after, Another source is needed.
Researchers are now using electricity to make water into hydrogen ,Companies are working on the problem in their own areas ,The first commercial hydrogen ,”fuel cells”for computers and mobile phones have already come on to the market ,Auto companies have also invested over US ＄2billion in the production of hydrogen fuelled cars
Thd nations of a hydrogen fuelled planet would not fight over evergy recourses, There would be a great reduction in pollution ,The only by-product of creating hydrogen is pure drinking water—something that is very scarce in many parts of the world ,But that is not where the good news ends, Once the costs of producing hydrogen have been brought down ,it will possibly provide power for a third of the Earth ‘s population that has no electricity.
And electricity creates wealth, In South A frica over the last decade there has been a large programme of electrification, Thanks to the programme, people do not have to spend their days looking firewood to burn for heat, And with electric light , they can work long into the night.
Some scientists see radical changes in the way the human race co-operates, Hydrogen creates clectricity, and is also created by it. With dual use fuel cells, everyone who consumes energy could also produce it ,Late at night, a man drives home in London and connects his car into the “world-wide hydrogen web”, which it supplies with electricity ,A few hours later, a man in Beijing uses that electricity to power the hydrogen cell in his car, Hydrogen could be the first democratic energy source.
Like all dreams of the future, it seems very far away, But the threat of war and terrorism in the Middle East has made governments and businesses more aware of the need to edn oil dependency and spend more time and money on hydrogen resource, So maybe the threat of war is not a completely bad thing for the future of the human race.
1.What does the underlined word “it”in the last but one paragraph refer to?
A、wealth B、hydrogen C、electricity D、fuel
2.What is the problem with using hydrogen as energy?
A、It has by-products
B、It has to be separated from other materials
C、It will make energy too cheap
D、It is too far away from us
3.Why does the author give the example in the last but one paragraph?
A、To tell us that we produce energy while using hydrogen power
B、To tell us that hydrogen power does not produce pollution
C、To show hydrogen power can stop war
D、To show hydrogen power is cheap
4.What is the author’s attitude about the future?
A、skeptical B、negative C、indifferent D、positive
5.What is the passage mainly about?
A、war and energy
B、the future of hydrogen as an energy resource
C、the disadvantages of oil
D、How to end war
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届辽宁盘锦市高二第一次阶段考试英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
It is true that good writers rewrite and rewrite and then rewrite some more. But in order to work up the desire to rewrite, it is important to learn to like what you write at the early stage.
I am surprised at the number of famous writers I know who say that they so dislike reading their own writing later that they even hate to look over the publishers’ opinions. One reason we may dislike reading our own work is that we’re often disappointed that the rich ideas in our minds seem very thin and plain when first written down. Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker suggest that this fact may be a result of how our minds work.
Different from popular belief, we do not usually think in the works and sentences of ordinary language but in symbols for ideas (known as ‘mentalese’ ), and writing our ideas down is an act of translation from that symbolic language. But while mentalese contains our thoughts in the form of a complex tapestry (织锦)，writing can only be composed one thread at a time. Therefore it should not be surprising that our first attempt at expressing ideas should look so simple. It is only by repeatedly rewriting that we produce new threads and connect them to get closer to the ideas formed in our minds.
When people write as if some strict critics (批评家) are looking over their shoulder, they are so worried about what this critic might say that they get stuck before they even start. Peter Elbow makes an excellent suggestion to deal with this problem. When writing we should have two different minds. At the first stage, we should see every idea, as well as the words we use to express it, as wonderful and worth putting down. It is only during rewrites that we should examine what we excitedly wrote in the first stage and check for weaknesses.
1.What do we learn from the text about those famous writers?
|
A．They often regret writing poor works. |
|
B．Some of them write surprisingly much. |
|
C．Many of them hate reading their own works. |
|
D．They are happy to review the publishers’ opinions. |
2.What do people generally believe about the way human minds work?
|
A．People think in words and sentences. |
|
B．Human ideas are translated into symbols. |
|
C．People think by connecting threads of ideas. |
|
D．Human thoughts are expressed through pictures. |
3.What can we conclude from the text?
|
A．Most people believe we think in symbols. |
|
B．Loving our own writing is scientifically reasonable. |
|
C．The writers and critics can never reach an agreement. |
|
D．Thinking and writing are different stages of mind at work. |
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科目：高中英语 来源：山东省济宁市2010届高三下学期第二次模拟考试英语 题型：阅读理解
第三部分：阅读理解(第一节20小题，第二节5小题；每小题2分，满分50分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。
When we think about giving help to developing countries,we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals ,buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies.These seem to be most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. We have to come up with 想出）some better ideas to help them.
I was very surprised, then ,when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers for children in developing countries.A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia.
The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in shops. One difference is that it will be covered in rubber(橡皮,橡胶) so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. As electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle(手柄) so that children can wind (转动)the computer up to give it extra power when needed.
These special laptop computers will cost less than $100 and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production.The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately,but by improving children's education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.
Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and,probably in many other countries too,millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year.The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we shall be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to " kill two birds with one stone ", and that is always a good thing.
56. It's an excellent idea to recycle old mobile phones because _______.
A. it reduces waste and can help others
B. it prevents waste and can earn lots of money
C. it can send the waste produced by developed countries to other countries
D. it is good for the environment and very educative for phone users
57. The author gives the example of Mr. Negroponte's cheap computers _______.
A. to show what high tech can bring us.
B. to illustrate the kindness of people in the developed countries
C. to show how to find business opportunities in developing countries
D. to give an example of how to help developing countries
58. Which of the following statements is TRUE about Mr. Negroponte's cheap computers?
A. His computers don’t need any power to function well.
B. His computers are covered with rubber so that they are very cheap.
C. His computers will help children in developing countries to have better education.
D. His computers will help people in developing countries to find all the solutions.
59. Which of the following can be usedｏreplace the underlined word in paragraph３？
|
A．blow |
B．turn |
C．push |
D．lift |
60. Where does this passage probably come from?
A. A magazine B. A newspaper C. A lecture D. An advertisement
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