题干

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
【小题1】The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.
A.they had no model in their mind
B.they did not have sufficient time
C.they had no ready-made components
D.they could not assemble the components
【小题2】It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.
A.consists of a flight device and a control system
B.can just fly in limited areas at the present time
C.can collect information from many sources
D.has been put into wide application
【小题3】Which of the following can be learned from the passage?
A.The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.
B.Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.
C.There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.
D.Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.
【小题4】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.Father of Robotic Fly
B.Inspiration from Engineering Science
C.Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect
D.Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study
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同类题1

   Skywriting is a form of advertising in which a pilot is bound to spell out a brief slogan or catchphrase in letters formed by smoke. In general, a customer would choose a specific place and time for the skywriting to appear. The message would only last as long as winds are relatively calm and the sky is clear. Single plane skywriting has largely been replaced by multi-plane "skytyping" , a computer-controlled method involving puffs of smoke from a row of aircraft.

The first official skywriting show took place over New York City in November of 1922. A skywriting pioneer and Royal Air Force(RAF)pilot named John Savage sat with the president of the American Tobacco Company, George Hill, as a fellow RAF ace pilot named Captain Cyril Turner flew into position over New York City. Captain Turner spelled out "HELLO USA CALL VANDERBILT 7200" in white smoke. Over47,000 people called the number, which happened to be the Vanderbilt Hotel where George Hill was staying. Hill became convinced that the skywriting advertisements would work well to promote his Lucky Strike cigarettes.

Skywriting continued to grow in popularity as both an advertising medium and a personal message service. Customers could request anything from "Eat at Joe's" to "Will You Marry Me?"Messages and slogans would naturally have to remain short, but even a simple phone number could produce a lot of curious potential(潜在的)customers for a small investment.

The development of the national highway system after WW Ⅱ spelled the beginning of the end for the skywriting industry. Instead of posting a few words in the sky, advertisers could now fill entire billboards with all sorts of pictures. Thousands of captive audience would pass by these new advertising signs every day, unlike the precious few who would come across a typical skywriting message. Many aerial(空中的)advertising companies turned to permanent banners(横幅)pulled behind low-flying aircraft instead.

Some skywriting is still performed today, although only a select number of pilots have the skills necessary for the job.

【小题1】What do we know about skywriting?
A.It is made up of smoke and clouds.
B.It is performed by computers at present.
C.It appears where the pilot wants.
D.It is a kind of ad made in the sky.
【小题2】The third paragraph suggests that skywriting ________.
A.satisfied all of the needs of customers
B.was an effective advertising style
C.appealed to few customers
D.ended up with a message service
【小题3】Why did advertisers give up skywriting?
A.Because skywriting was too expensive to advertise.
B.Because planes were greatly reduced after WWⅡ.
C.Because billboards could attract more audience.
D.Because it wasn't easy to do such a thing.
【小题4】What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
A.Why people need skywriting
B.How to do skywriting
C.When it is good to do skywriting
D.What skywriting is

同类题3

   According to a recent report, about 15% of the people in the UK are members of gyms. But are they more likely to be fit?

A study found that gym members were 14 times more active than people who didn’t belong to any health club. Gym members did six hours more exercise a week, and this activity did make them fitter than non-gym members. They also spent less time sitting down every day than non-gym members. The results were the same for men and women.

The study included 405 people between the ages of 30 and 64, and the main characteristics of those who were gym members were the same as those who were not. ''But gym members did more training than non-gym members, '' said the lead author, Elizabeth Schroeder of the University of Illinois.

While it might seem clear that gym members exercising more are healthier than non-members, Schroeder says this has not been directly shown before. However, the study is only designed to show a tie between gym membership and more exercise. It may be that active people like to join gyms. In the study, people who exercised as much as gym members were also in good health.

You can get the same benefits wherever you exercise. This study shows a gym membership can make you do more exercise, but other research shows that exercising outside has other help. Outdoor activities can make you feel happy about life—especially if you run through a forest.

Outdoor exercise is also more enjoyable than going to the gym. The first five minutes of outdoor exercise is especially helpful in making people feel good. But Schroeder says that a gym may also encourage greater exercise because it can be social and fun.

【小题1】What did the new study find out?
A.Gym members had healthier eating habits.
B.There were fewer women gym members than men.
C.Gym members did at least eight hours of exercise a week.
D.Gym members were more active than non-gym members.
【小题2】In the study, researchers studied ____________________.
A.some sports lovers
B.405 gym members
C.people from different age groups
D.30 gym members and 64 non-gym members
【小题3】Which of the following will Elizabeth Schroeder agree with?
A.Women should do more gym exercise.
B.We should be careful with outdoor training.
C.Outdoor exercise is better than gym exercise.
D.It is easier to keep exercising if you go to the gym.

同类题4

Internet use appears to cause a decline in psychological well-being(安康), according to research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less frequently, the two-year study showed. And it wasn’t that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually appeared to cause the bad feeling.
Researchers are puzzling over the results, which were completely contrary to their expectations. They expected that the net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others.
The fact that Internet use reduces time available for family and friends may account for the drop in well-being, researchers suggested. Faceless, bodiless “virtual”(虚拟的)communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversation, and the relationship formed through it may be shallower. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world via the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives.
“But it’s important to remember this is not about the technology  per se; it’s about how it is used,” says psychologist Christine Riley of Intel, one of the study’s sponsors. “It really points to the need for considering social effects in terms of how you design applications and services for technology.”
【小题1】The best title for this passage would be ________.
A.Internet may Cause Depression
B.The Dark Side of Internet
C.How to Use Technology Properly
D.The Importance of Psychological Well-being
【小题2】Internet use may cause a decline in psychological well-being because ________.
A.people who were already feeling bad spend more time on the Internet
B.Internet users thought the world was wider than it really was
C.people were too eager to turn the “virtual” communication into reality
D.people have less time for actual communication with their family and friends
【小题3】What does the underlined Latin word “per se” (in Para. 5) mean?
A.probablyB.absolutely
C.oneselfD.itself
【小题4】What’s the tone of the passage?
A.Optimistic.B.Critical.
C.Objective.D.Pessimistic.

同类题5

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项,选项中有两项为多余选项。People, like all living things, need food. Food gives us the nutrients our bodies need.【小题1】    .Energy is needed to carry out the life processes.Our bodies cannot use the nutrients or energy in food unless the food is changed. The changing of food into a form the body can use is called digestion.What does digestion do? 【小题2】 Digestion also changes the chemicals of food. It changes large, complex food molecules(微粒)into smaller, simpler ones.【小题3】Digestion takes place in the digestive tract. The digestive tract is a long, winding tube in your body. If stretched out, the digestive tract would be more than 9 meters (30 feet) long.What are the parts of the digestive tract? The parts of the digestive tract are: the mouth, the food pipe , the stomach, the small intestine(肠),and the large intestine.There are many organs along the digestive tracts, such as the liver. 【小题4】The digestive tract and the other digestive organs make up your digestive system.Food enters the body through the mouth. Waste materials (undigested food) leave the body through the anus(肛门).The anus is at the end of the large intestine.Digestion is a step-by-step process.【小题5】 It takes food from one to two days to pass through the entire digestive tract.
A.It also gives us energy.
B.It does not take place quickly.
C.Where does digestion take place?
D.Does the food also give us much strength?
E.Digestion breaks down large pieces of food into smaller pieces.
F.These organs are not part of the digestive tract, but they help in digestion.
G.Although they don't belong to the digestive tract, they help us fight diseases.