Text 1 Data has a habit of spreading. It slips past military security and it can also leak from WikiLeaks. It even slipped past the bans of the Guardian and other media organisations involved in this story when a rogue copy of Der Spiegel accidentally went on sale in Basle, Switzerland. Someone bought it, realised what they had, and began scanning the pages, translating them from German to English and posting up-dates on Twitter. It would seem digital data respects no authority, be it the Pentagon, WikiLeaks or a newspaper editor. Individually, we have all already experienced the massive changes resulting from digitisation. Events or information that we once considered momentary and private are now accumulated, permanent, public. Governments hold our personal data in huge databases. It used to cost money to disclose and distribute information. In the digital age it costs money not to. But when data breaches happen to the public, politicians don't care much. Our privacy is expendable. It is no surprise that the reaction to these leaks is different. What has changed the dynamic of power in a revolutionary way isn't just the scale of the databases being kept, but that individuals can upload a copy and present it to the world. To some this marks a crisis, to others an opportunity. Technology is breaking down traditional social barriers of status, class, power, wealth and geography—replacing them with an ethos of collaboration and transparency. Leaks are not the problem; they are the symptom. They reveal a disconnect between what people want and need to know and what they actually do know. The greater the secrecy, the more likely a leak. The way to move beyond leaks is to ensure a strong managing system for the public to access important information. We are at a key moment where the visionaries in the leading position of a global digital age are clashing with those who are desperate to control what we know. WikiLeaks is the guerrilla front in a global movement for greater transparency and participation. It used to be that a leader controlled citizens by controlling information. Now it's harder than ever for the powerful to control what people read, see and hear. Technology gives people the ability to band together and challenge authority. The powerful have long spied on citizens as a means of control, now citizens are turning their collected eyes back upon the powerful. This is a revolution, and all revolutions create fear and uncertainty. Will we move to a New Information Enlightenment or will the strong resistance from those who seek to maintain control no matter the cost lead us to a new totalitarianism? What happens in the next five years will define the future of democracy for the next century, so it would be well if our leaders responded to the current challenge with an eye on the future.
1. The story about leak from WikiLeaks suggests that digital data is
5. According to the last paragraph, "enlightenment" to "totalitarianism" can be described as
A."trusting information" to "fearing information".
B."publicizing information" to "centralizing information".
C."embracing the challenge of digitalisation" to "being frightened by digitalisation".
D."being cost-oriented during digitalisation" to "being result-oriented during digitalisation".
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。末段第二句提出疑问:我们会进入一次新的信息enlightenment,还是来自那些试图维持控制者们不惜代价的强烈抵制会把我们引领至新的totalitarianism?第四句进一步指出,未来的民主究竟如何将会在未来五年里逐步明朗。由此可推知,totalitarianism指少数人控制信息,enlightenment指信息公开化、民主化,B项符合文意。其他项是利用原文词汇fear, uncertainty, respond to...challenge, no matter the cost捏造的干扰。
Text 2 Lonely people, it seems, are at greater risk than the gregarious of developing illnesses associated with chronic inflammation, such as heart disease and certain cancers. A paper published last year in the Public Library of Science, Medicine, shows the effect on mortality of loneliness is comparable with that of smoking and drinking after examining the results of 148 previous studies and controlled for factors such as age and pre-existing illness. Steven Cole of the University of California, Los Angeles, thinks he may know why this is so. He told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C., about his work studying the expression of genes in lonely people. Dr. Cole harvested samples of white blood cells from both lonely and gregarious people. He then analysed the activity of their genes, as measured by the production of a substance called messenger RNA. This molecule carries instructions from the genes telling a cell which proteins to make. The level of messenger RNA from most genes was the same in both types of people. There were several dozen genes, however, that were less active in the lonely, and several dozen others that were more active. Moreover, both the less active and the more active gene types came from a small number of functional groups. Broadly speaking, the genes less active in the lonely were those involved in staving off viral infections. Those that were more active were involved in protecting against bacteria. Dr. Cole suspects this could help explain not only why the lonely are iller, but how, in evolutionary terms, this odd state of affairs has come about. The crucial bit of the puzzle is that viruses have to be caught from another infected individual and they are usually species-specific. Bacteria, in contrast, often just lurk in the environment, and may thrive on many hosts. The gregarious are therefore at greater risk than the lonely of catching viruses, and Dr. Cole thus suggests that past evolution has created a mechanism which causes white cells to respond appropriately. Conversely, the lonely are better off ramping up their protection against bacterial infection, which is a bigger relative risk to them. What Dr. Cole seems to have revealed, then, is a mechanism by which social environment reaches inside a person's body and tweaks its genome so that it responds appropriately. It is not that the lonely and the gregarious are genetically different from each other. Rather, their genes are regulated differently, according to how sociable an individual is. Dr. Cole thinks this regulation is part of a wider mechanism that tunes individuals to the circumstances they find themselves in.
1. What risk may lonely people run according to the first paragraph?
4. What can we know about viruses and bacteria from the fourth paragraph?
A.Viruses often remain hidden in the environment.
B.Bacteria are passed to other people by the infected individual.
C.The lonely people can catch viruses more easily.
D.Viruses pose a greater threat to the gregarious than bacteria.
A B C D
D
[解析] 细节题。根据题干信息定位到第四段。根据本段前三句可知,病毒只有通过另一个已被感染此病毒的人才能传染给某个人,并且病毒通常有其一对一的特殊宿主。相比之下,细菌经常潜伏在周围环境中,并且宿主众多。所以爱交际的人比孤独的人更易感染病毒。由此可见,病毒较之细菌对爱交际的人的威胁更大,故D项为正确答案。原文提到经常潜伏在周围环境中的是细菌,而不是病毒,故A项错误。B项描述的是病毒的传染方式。C项与原文中的The gregarious are therefore at greater risk than the lonely of catching viruses描述矛盾。
5. What message does Dr. Cole seem to convey by the mechanism?
A.The lonely people differ in genes from the gregarious people.
B.Sociability can adjust a person's genome and make it work properly.
C.The lonely people can become sociable if they regulate their genes.
D.Individuals have to find their own ways to adapt to the environment.
Text 3 Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just "mental noise"—the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is "off-line." And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better, "It's your dream," says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center. "If you don't like it, change it." Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep—when most vivid dreams occur—as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system (the "emotional brain") is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. "We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day." says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don't always think about the emotional significance of the day's events—until, it appears, we begin to dream. And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep. At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or "we wake up in a panic," Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep—or rather dream—on it and you'll feel better in the morning.
1. Researchers have come to believe that dreams
A.can be modified in their courses.
B.are susceptible to emotional changes.
C.reflect our innermost desires and fears.
D.are a random outcome of neural repairs.
A B C D
A
[解析] 细节题。根据第一段中one leading authority says...可知,一名著名权威人士提到,梦这种异常强烈的精神活动是可以被我们自己有效控制的。卡特赖特说“梦是你自己的,如果不喜欢,就改变它”。由以上几点可知,研究人员认为,梦在形成过程中“能够被改变”,故选A项。
2. By referring to the limbic system, the author intends to show
Text 4 To paraphrase 18th-century statesman Edmund Burke, "all that is needed for the triumph of a misguided cause is that good people do nothing". One such cause now seeks to end biomedical research because of the theory that animals have rights ruling out their use in research. Scientists need to respond force-fully to animal rights advocates, whose arguments are confusing the public and thereby threatening advances in health knowledge and care. Leaders of the animal rights movement target biomedical research because it depends on public funding, and few people understand the process of health care research. Hearing allegations of cruelty to animals in research settings, many are perplexed that anyone would deliberately harm an animal. For example, a grandmotherly woman staffing an animal rights booth at a recent street fair was distributing a brochure that encouraged readers not to use anything that comes from or is tested in animals—no meat, no fur, no medicines. Asked if she opposed immunizations, she wanted to know if vaccines come from animal research. When assured that they do, she replied, "Then I would have to say yes." Asked what will happen when epidemics return, she said, "Don't worry, scientists will find some way of using computers." Such well-meaning people just don't understand. Scientists must communicate their message to the public in a compassionate, understandable way—in human terms, not in the language of molecular biology. We need to make clear the connection between animal research and a grandmother's hip replacement, a father's bypass operation, a baby's vaccinations, and even a pet's shots. To those who are unaware that animal research was needed to produce these treatments, as well as new treatments and vaccines, animal research seems wasteful at best and cruel at worst. Much can be done. Scientists could "adopt" middle school classes and present their own research. They should be quick to respond to letters to the editor, lest animal rights misinformation go unchallenged and acquire a deceptive appearance of truth. Research institutions could be opened to tours, to show that laboratory animals receive humane care. Finally, because the ultimate stakeholders are patients, the health research community should actively recruit to its cause not only well-known personalities such as Stephen Cooper, who has made courageous statements about the value of animal research, but all who receive medical treatment. If good people do nothing there is a real possibility that an uninformed citizenry will extinguish the precious embers of medical progress.
1. The author begins his article with Edmund Burke's words to
A.call on scientists to take some actions.
B.criticize the misguided cause of animal rights.
C.warn of the doom of biomedical research.
D.show the triumph of the animal rights movement.
A B C D
A
[解析] 推断题。本题关键词为Edmund Burke's words,通读全文发现篇首的话在篇尾得到了呼应:If good people do nothing, there is a real possibility that an uninformed citizenry will extinguish the precious embers of medical progress. 一首一尾的呼应突出了这篇文章的中心:呼唤科学家们采取行动,切勿让人们的无知阻碍了医学的发展。所以应该选A项。B项错误的原因在于没有抓住文章的中心要义。C、D项无中生有。
2. Misled people tend to think that using an animal in research is
A.cruel but natural.
B.inhuman and unacceptable.
C.inevitable but vicious.
D.pointless and wasteful.
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。本题关键词为Misled people, using an animal in research。从前两段和第三段的最后一句中,可知受到误导的人们认为用动物做研究是残酷的、不可思议的。所以B项最符合原文。A项cruel(残忍的)正确,但是natural(自然的)不对,正相反,人们认为那是非常不合情理的。C项inevitable but vicious(不可避免的,但含有恶意的)也不正确。D项pointless and wasteful(毫无意义的,且浪费的),实际上,人们的反对态度很强烈。D项虽无原则上的错误,但是不如B项更贴近原文意思。
3. The example of the grandmotherly woman is used to show the public's
A.discontent with animal research.
B.ignorance about medical science.
C.indifference to epidemics.
D.anxiety about animal rights.
A B C D
B
[解析] 例证题。根据关键词grandmotherly woman、show the public's定位至第二段。这个例子说的是一位老太太向大家散发传单,号召大家不要用任何来自于动物或在动物身上试验过的东西。当问及是否反对使用疫苗时,老太太并不知道疫苗是从动物研究中得来的。她认为,若疫苗也来源于动物,那么就不应使用疫苗,流行病自有科学家们用计算机来解决。可见老太太对科学的无知。而她的这种无知是很普遍的。第二段最后一句话感叹:Such well-meaning people just don't understand. (这些好心人压根就不明白)。所以答案为B项。A项表述与主题不符,C项表述错误,D项无中生有。
4. The author believes that, in face of the challenge from animal rights advocates, scientists should
A.communicate more with the public.
B.employ hi-tech means in research.
C.feel no shame for their cause.
D.strive to develop new cures.
A B C D
A
[解析] 细节题。根据关键词the challenge from animal rights advocates、scientists,定位至第三段。从Scientists must communicate their message to the public in a compassionate, understandable way...可知,正确答案为A项。C项无中生有,B、D项表述错误。
5. From the text we learn that Stephen Cooper is
A.a well-known humanist.
B.a medical practitioner.
C.an enthusiast in animal rights.
D.a supporter of animal research.
A B C D
D
[解析] 推断题。根据关键词Stephen Cooper,定位至最后一段。Finally, because the ultimate stake-holders are patients...Stephen Cooper, who has made courageous statements about the value of animal research...从这句话中,可知Cooper是个名人,也是患者,他曾经高度赞扬过动物研究的价值。所以,可以推断出他是支持动物研究的。答案是D项。A项表述错误,B项原文并未提及,C项与原文意思相反。
Text 5 Many are aware of the tremendous waste of energy in our environment, but fail to take advantage of straightforward opportunities to conserve that energy. For example, everyone knows that lights should be switched off when no one is in an office. Similarly, when employees are not using a meeting room, there is no need to regulate temperature. Fortunately, one need not rely on human intervention to conserve energy. With the help of smart sensing and network technology, energy conservation processes such as turning off lights and adjusting temperature can be readily automated. Ultimately, this technology will enable consumers and plant managers to better identify wasteful energy use and institute procedures that lead to smarter and more efficient homes, buildings and industrial plants. Until now, wires and cables for power and connectivity have limited the widespread adoption of sensor networks by making them difficult and expensive to install and maintain. Battery-powered wireless networks can simplify installation and reduce cost. But their high power consumption and the corresponding need for regular battery replacement has made wireless networks difficult and costly to maintain. Nobody wants to replace hundreds or thousands of window sensor batteries in a large building on a regular basis. The promise of wireless sensor networks can only be fully realized when the wiring for both the data communication and the power supply is eliminated. Doing so requires a true battery-free wireless solution, one that can utilize energy harvested directly from the environments. To facilitate the widespread deployment of wireless sensor networks, Greenpeak has developed an ultra-low-power communication technology that can utilize environmental energy sources such as light, motion and vibration. This technology, employing on-board power management circuits and computer software to monitor energy harvesters and make the best use of harvested energy, enables sensors to operate reliably in a battery-free environment. Wireless sensor networks deployed in our offices and homes will have an enormaous impact on our daily lives, helping to build a smarter world in which energy is recycled and fully utilized. These wireless platforms, equipped with advanced sensing capability, will enable us to better control our lives, homes and environment, creating a truly connected world that enables people worldwide to live in a more comfortable, safer, and cleaner environment.
1. By "human intervention" (Para. 2), the author refers to
A.the reduction of great energy waste in the environment.
B.the grasping of straightforward opportunities available.
C.acts like turning off lights when no one is in the room.
D.the adoption of smart sensing and network technology.