2012年高考英语阅读理解训练：科普小品类
(一)(2011·全国卷Ⅱ)
For those who study the development of intelligence (智力) in the animal world，self??awareness is an important measurement. An animal that is aware (意识) of itself has a high level of intelligence.
Awareness can be tested by studying whether the animal recognizes itself in the mirror, that is，its own reflected image (反射出的影像). Many animals fail this exercise bitterly, paying very little attention to the reflected image. Only humans, and some intelligent animals like apes and dolphins，have been shown to recognize that the image in the mirror is of themselves.
Now another animal has joined the club. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report that an Asian elephant has passed the mirror self??reflection test.
“We thought that elephants were the next important animal.” said Diana Reiss of the Wildlife Conservation Society, an author of the study with Joshua M. Plotnik and Fans B. M. de Waal of Emory University. With their large brains, Reiss said, elephants “seemed like cousins to apes and dolphins”．
The researchers tested Happy, Maxine and Patty, three elephants at the Bronx Zoo. They put an 8??foot??square mirror on a wall of the animals' play area (out of the sight of zoo visitors) and recorded what happened with cameras, including one built in the mirror.
The elephants used their long noses to find what was behind it, and to examine parts of their bodies.
Of the three, Happy then passed the test, in which a clear mark was painted on one side of her face. She could tell the mark was there by looking in the mirror, and she used the mirror to touch the mark with her long nose.
Diana Reiss said, “We knew elephants were intelligent, but now we can talk about their intelligence in a better way.”
1．What can mirror tests tell us about animals?
A．Whether they have large brains.
B．Whether they have self??awareness.
C．Whether they enjoy outdoor exercises.
D．Whether they enjoy playing with mirrors.
2．Why does the author mention apes and dolphins in the text?
A．They are most familiar to readers.
B．They are big favorites with zoo visitors.
C．They are included in the study by Reiss.
D．They are already known to be intelligent.
3．What made Happy different from Maxine and Patty?
A．She used her nose to search behind the mirror.
B．She recognized her own image in the mirror.
C．She painted a mark on her own face.
D．She found the hidden camera.
答案与解析
1.B 细节理解题。根据第二段第一句可知，通过研究动物是否在镜子中识别自己可以测试它们的自我意识。
2.D 推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句可知，作者提到猿和海豚是因为它们和人一样可以识别镜中自己的形象，是人们已知的有智力的动物；再根据第三段，一个亚洲象也通过了该测试，也加入到有智力的行列里，故选D项。
3.B 细节理解题。根据倒数第二段，三个大象中只有Happy通过了镜子测试，也就是说只有她能识别镜中自己的形象，因此这是她有别于其他大象的地方，故选B项。
(二)(2011·江苏高考)
According to the US government, wind farms off the Pacific coast could produce 900 gigawatts of electricity every year. Unfortunately, the water there is far too deep for even the tallest windmills (see picture) to touch bottom. An experiment under way off the coast of Norway, however, could help put them anywhere.
The project, called Hywind, is the world's first large??scale deepwater wind turbine (涡轮发电机). Although it uses a fairly standard 152??ton, 2.3??megawatt turbine, Hywind represents totally new technology. The turbine will be fixed 213 feet above the water on a floating spar ( see picture), a technology Hywind's creator, the Norwegian company StatoilHydro, has developed recently. The steel spar, which is filled with stones and goes 328 feet below the sea surface, will be tied to the ocean floor by three cables (缆索); these will keep the spar stable and prevent the turbine from moving up and down in the waves. Hywind's stability (稳定性) in the cold and rough sea would prove that even the deepest corners of the ocean are suitable for wind power. If all goes according to plan, the turbine will start producing electricity six miles off the coast of southwestern Norway as early as September.
To produce electricity on a large scale, a commercial wind farm will have to use bigger turbines than Hywind does, but it's difficult enough to balance such a large turbine so high on a floating spar in the middle of the ocean. To make that turbine heavier, the whole spar's centre of gravity must be moved much closer to the ocean's surface. To do that, the company plans to design a new kind of wind turbine, one whose gearbox (变速箱) sits at sea level rather than behind the blades (see picture)．
Hywind is a test run, but the benefits for perfecting floating wind??farm technology could be extremely large. Out at sea, the wind is often stronger and steadier than close to shore, where all existing off??shore windmills are planted. Deep??sea farms are invisible from land, which helps overcome the windmill??as??eyesore objection. If the technology catches on, it will open up vast areas of the planet's surface to one of the best low??carbon power sources available.
1. The Hywind project uses totally new technology to ensure the stability of ________.
A. the cables which tie the spar to the ocean floor
B. the spar which is floating in deep??sea water
C. the blades driven by strong and steady sea wind
D. the stones filled in the spar below the sea surface
2. To balance a bigger turbine high on a floating spar, a new type of turbine is to be designed with its gearbox sitting
________.
A. on the sea floor
B. on the spar top
C. at sea level
D. behind the blades
3. Wide applications of deepwater wind power technology can
________.
A. solve the technical problems of deepwater windmills
B. make financial profits by producing more turbines
C. settle the arguments about environmental problems
D. explore low??carbon power resources available at sea
答案与解析
1.B 细节理解题。根据第二段倒数第三句可知，该工程采用了全新的技术，是为了确保漂浮在深海水域中的圆材的保持稳定。
2.C 细节理解题。根据第三段最后一句可知，为了使较大的涡轮发电机能在圆材上保持平衡，公司计划设计新的发电机，其变速箱在海平面上。
3.D 细节理解题。根据最后一段最后一句可知，深海风能技术的广泛应用会在海洋上开发出可使用的最好的低碳能源之一。
(三)(2011·山东高考)
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.
1．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
2．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.
3．Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?
A. scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair
B. computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair
C. scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair
D. cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair
4．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
5．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
答案与解析
1.B 细节理解题。根据第一段可知，自20世纪70年代以来，科学家一直寻找途径能将人脑与电脑相连。BCI技术能帮助残疾人向机器发送指令。故此处B项正确。而C项只是部分正确，虽然能帮助残疾人，但却不能帮他们康复。
2.D 细节理解题。根据第三段可知Tavella只是思考动他的左右手就能操作这个轮椅。甚至当他观察这台机器时就能进行交流，也能用他的思想指导机器人工作。因此机器人是在人脑的思想支配下进行工作的。故D项正确。
3.C 细节理解题。根据第五段可知，首先研究人员为用户设计一种特殊的帽子，它会捕捉头皮发出的信号并将其传给电脑。电脑将这些信号进行分析翻译， 给监控下的机器人轮椅发出指令。机器人轮椅装有两部摄像头能识别信号路径中的物体，从而帮助电脑对人脑的指令作出反应。故此处C项正确。
4．B 推理判断题。根据最后一段第二句“One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from”可知，在患者身上进行实验是他们团队工作的一个目标，旨在证明这项技术对他们有益。故正确答案选B项。
5.C 主旨大意题。本文为科技说明文，开篇点题。介绍科学家研究的这项新技术BCI，对残疾人大有裨益。故正确答案为C项。
(四)(2011·安徽高考)
Think about the different ways that people use the wind.You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat.Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power sources (来源), as well as one of the oldest.Evidence shows that windmills (风车) began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC.They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power.
For many centuries, people used windmills to grind (磨碎) wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground.When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity.This allowed them to have electric lights and radio.However, by the 1940s when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used.
During the 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity.People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever.Then, wind was rediscovered, though it means higher costs.Today, there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.
1．From the text we know that windmills ________.
A．were invented by European armies
B．have a history of more than 2,800 years
C．used to supply power to radio in remote areas
D．have rarely been used since electricity was discovered
2．What was a new use for wind power in the late 19th century?
A．Sailing a boat.
B．Producing electricity.
C．Grinding wheat into flour.
D．Pumping water from underground.
3．One of the reasons wind was rediscovered in the 1970s is that ________.
A．wind power is cleaner
B．it is one of the oldest power sources
C．it was cheaper to create energy from wind
D．the supply of coal and gas failed to meet needs
4．What would the author probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
A．The advantages of wind power.
B．The design of wind power plants.
C．The worldwide movement to save energy.
D．The global trend towards producing power from wind.
答案与解析
1．C 细节理解题。根据第二段的“When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radio.”可推出，C项符合题意。
2．B 细节理解题。根据第二段的“When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity.”可知，B项符合题目要求。
3．A 细节理解题。根据第三段的“people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity”可知，A项符合题意。
4．D 推理判断题。第三段最后已提出现在全球已越来越多地使用风力发电，所以下一段应该要进一步推广使用风力发电，这是一种总体的能源发展趋势。故D项正确。
