What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生学) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鸟). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!
【小题1】The first paragraph is written to_____.

A．start a discussion	B．make a brief summary
C．introduce the topic of the text	D．test readers' knowledge on science

【小题2】Why did Janine Benyus set up the Biomimicry Institute?

A．To honor the Wright Brothers.

B．To show her recent inventions.

C．To gather talented people for her research.

D．To explore the link between nature and technologies.

【小题3】We know from the text that the Biomimicry Institute _____.

A．earns a lot by giving classes on biomimicry	B．tells people about their technologies
C．gives free support to scientists	D．teaches children about birds

【小题4】The author gives the two examples at the end of the text to show _______.

A．biomimcry works harmoniously with nature	B．the fast development of modern technology
C．how biomimcry changes our life	D．how nature inspires scientists

【小题5】What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Biomimicry is widely used in the world.

B．People copy nature to create new technologies.

C．The Biomimicry Institute was set up for science.

D．Birds play an important part in new technologies.

American magician David Blaine left the glass box in which he had lived for 44 days without food on October 19, 2003. Hundreds of people came to watch the end of his starvation experiment, which has become one of London’s main tourist attractions.
Looking thinner and darker, 30-year-old Blaine was taken out of his box over the River Thames and immediately went to hospital. He was then slowly reintroduced to food, a process doctors say could be life threatening. He had been drinking only water since September 5.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Blaine first became known as a street magician in the early 1990s. He soon found himself doing magic tricks in bars for the likes of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his super model friends.
Over the last decade Blaine has become famous with a combination of breathtaking magic and clever tricks aimed at getting a lot of attention. In 1999, he was buried in a coffin (棺材) for one week and, in 2000, he spent 62 hours in a giant block of ice. Last year he stood on top of a 25-meter pillar (柱子) in the center of New York for 35 hours before jumping into a pile of boxes.
“I think a lot of people are unable to accept that they’re able to do what they can do,” he said. “They don’t realize we can survive. The human being is an amazing creation.”
But he seems to have suffered from spending so long in the glass box. He said that at times he was unable to see, had serious back pains and lost his sense of taste.
【小题1】It is         for David Blaine to eat food after such a long starvation.

A．pleasant

B．delicious

C．dangerous

D．important

【小题2】Having spent such a long time in the glass box, he suffered the following EXCEPT that         .

A．he had become blind	B．he had serious back pains
C．he lost his sense of taste	D．he was in weak health

【小题3】Which of the following can best describe David Blaine?

A．Serious.

B．Adventurous.

C．Smart.

D．Crazy.

【小题4】Which of the following is NOT true about David Blaine?

A．Blaine immediately went to hospital after he was taken out of his box.

B．Blaine was born and brought up in England.

C．In Blaine’s opinion, people can create a wonder.

D．Blaine didn’t have any food for 44 days.

The Louvre Museum is one of the largest, oldest, most important and famous museum in the world. It is famous for holding several of the world’s most valuable works of art. Its collections’ number is over 380,000 objects, though not one of the world’s largest collections, arguably one of the finest. The art treasures of the Louvre Museum cover 5,000 years and are displayed in over 10 kilometers of galleries. The oldest artifact in the museum is 9,000 years old. Mona Lisa(1503-1506), painted by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. The artist’s use of very deep space in the background with a half-length portrait is typical of Renaissance painting style. This painting hangs in the Louvre, Paris. It is one of the most famous collections in the Louvre.

On November 8th, 1793, the Louvre was opened as a public museum.

It is open from 9 am to 6 pm all days except Tuesdays. The entrance fee is 7.5 before 3 pm. It is free under 18 years old. The Louvre Museum in Paris had a record number of visitors in 2005. About 7.3 million people visited the art museum in 2005.

1. After reading the first paragraph, we can come to the conclusion that ____.

A．The Louvre Museum is the only largest, oldest, most important and famous museum in the world

B．The Louvre Museum has the world’s largest collections

C．The oldest artifact is over 9,000 years old

D．The Louvre Museum is priceless

2.Which of the following statements is true?

A．Mona Lisa is typical of Renaissance painting.

B．Mona Lisa is painted by a Canadian.

C．Light space in the background is used in Mona Lisa.

D．All the above.

3. Which of the following statements leads us to the conclusion that The Louvre Museum is popular?

A．The art treasures of the Louvre Museum cover 5,000 years.

B．It is famous for holding several of the world’s most valuable works of art.

C．The Louvre Museum in Paris had a record number of visitors in 2005.

D．The entrance fee is 7.5 before 3 pm.

 

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) ____ birds kept in cages in order to have the pleasure of setting them free.

A．is said to be buying	B．is said to have bought
C．had said to buy	D．has sad to have bought

 

The research carried out by the University of Bad in Italy could help prove hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients ease discomfort and pain.

     A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology

Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered

most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as

Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to look at either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped(????) a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been stuck by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were

viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when looking at the ugly paintings

or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced resoonse to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.

      While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients,Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.

      The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that

beaufiful surroundings could aid the healing process.

      "Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their artistic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist."Beauty boyiously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. I think these results show that more research is needed into the field how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."

      Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticellis Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero." These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.

1.The underlined word "alleviate" in the fifth paragraph probably means"______".

    A.cure                 B.ease             C.improve             D.kill

2.How many artists have been mentioned in the passage?                     

    A. 4.                  B. 5.              C. 6.                 D. 7.

3. Which of the following is TURE about the view of Prof de Tommaso's?

   A. Beautiful surroundings could help to heal sufferings completely.

   B. Hospitals must take their artistic aspects into consideration first.

   C. Ugly surroundings will surely make the pain worse.

   D. Both music and beauty can reduce pain in hospital patients.

4.From the last paragraph, we know that_______.

   A. some artists' paintings were beautiful, so they were masterpieces

   B. only art experts could judge they were masterpieces or not, though ugly

   C. the artists mentioned above were not really art masters.          

   D. some of them were art masters, while others were not.

5.Which of the following is the suitable title for the passage?

   A. Beautiful surroundings can ease pain.              

   B. Ugly paintings could be masterpieces.

   C. More research should be done in he field.             

   D. Latest environmental research.