We recognize our friends’ faces. And we’re not alone. Many social animals can identify individuals of their own species by features of their faces. That's important, because they need to be able to change their behavior depending on who they meet. And a recent research has shown that some species of monkeys, birds, and domesticated (家养的) animals can even tell different faces apart by looking at photographs alone.
Ethologist Léa Lansade of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment did an experiment to find out how well horses can recognize individual people in photographs.
She and her team first taught the horses how to “choose” between two side-by-side pictures by touching their noses to a computer screen. The horses were then shown photos of their present keeper alongside faces of unfamiliar humans. They had never seen photos of any of the people before. The horses correctly identified their current keeper and ignored (忽视) the stranger’s face about 75%of the time. In fact, even though the horses didn't get it right every single time, they were at least as correct in picking out their earlier keeper as they were at identifying their present one.
The results suggest that not only can horses differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar human faces, they also naturally understand that photographs are two dimensional representations (二维呈现) of real life, without any other intimations such as smell or sound. And they’re even better at this than our oldest animal parter, the domestic dog.
In addition, horses seem to have a strong long-term memory for human faces, like their long lifespan and history of domestication. In future experiments, the researchers would like to test whether looking at photos of people that they have had bad experiences with in the past might cause horses to act anxious or even avoidance. So maybe think twice before doing anything that might give a horse a long face.
1. Why did researchers show the horses both the keeper’s photos and the strangers’?| A．To find out what horses would do in the experiment. |
| B．To see why horses could recognize the keeper in the pictures. |
| C．To test whether horses could recognize the strangers in pictures. |
| D．To study to what degree horses can make out different people in pictures. |
| A．Clues. | B．Differences. |
| C．Photographs. | D．Senses. |
| A．Whether horses can live longer than other animals. |
| B．Whether horses can remember human's faces for a long time. |
| C．Whether horses can show their emotions at the sight of photos. |
| D．Whether horses are better at recognizing photos than other animals. |
| A．To talk about animals’ species. |
| B．To explain animals’ facial features. |
| C．To show animals’ behaviour for adaptation. |
| D．To introduce animals’ ability to identifying faces. |
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【推荐1】Colorado officials will stick to a plan to kill some mountain lions and bears to support the state’s dropping mule deer (长耳鹿) population.
Wednesday’s vote permits organizations to kill up to 25 black bears and 15 mountain lions per year in the central and western parts of the state. The project will run for three years, to be followed by a six-year study of how deer populations respond to fewer predators(捕食者).
The population of Colorado’s mule deer has suffered a puzzling, years-long drop to about 450,000, which state officials said was about 110,000 fewer than there should be. A 2014 state study tied it to seven causes, including predators, whose number has greatly increased in recent years.
Some experts, however, said the state should focus first on the human-led destruction(破坏) of mule deer habitat(栖息地). “The drop of the mule deer population is obviously not a simple problem with simple causes,” Brian Kurzel, director of the National Wildlife Federation, said. “By far, the greatest problem—the one that I think deserves the most attention in any science-based study—is habitat quantity and quality.”
Kurzel pointed out that the U.S Bureau of Land Management recently agreed to create 15,000 new oil and gas wells somewhere in western Cororado, which was often called “the mule-deer factory”. There, the number of mule deer has fallen to about 30,000 from more than 100,000 in the early 1980s. Though state officials have known oil and gas development affects the population of mule deer, they didn’t go against the plan.
Other causes like building highways, population growth and human activities are also curbing the mule deer population, according to the study.
State Parks and Wildlife officials don’t necessarily disagree. They started a $4.5 million program as a way to gather research for later decisions.
1. Why do Colorado officials want to have so many mountain lions and bears killed?| A．To stop them hurting people. |
| B．To leave more habitat for mule deer. |
| C．To stop the mule deer population from dropping. |
| D．To help researchers carry out a three-year-long study. |
| A．Protecting their habitat. | B．Providing enough food for them. |
| C．Reducing the number of their predators. | D．Asking the government to make an effort. |
| A．limiting. | B．ensuring. | C．increasing. | D．protecting. |
| A．Decisions will be made in one year. |
| B．Habitat loss is the main cause of the drop. |
| C．Human activities aren’t responsible for the drop. |
| D．It’s too early to say what exactly caused the drop. |
【推荐2】The similarities between elephant and human behaviour have been a curiosity to scientists worldwide. These huge beasts are not so different from us. Their devotion to their family is just as powerful as the friendships between humans. In order to prevent future elephant attacks, people must first understand the similarities between elephants and themselves.
Because deaths are felt so deeply in elephants, memories of people harming or killing elephants are not forgotten. Due to the UgandaTanzania War in Africa, poaching (偷猎) elephants increased during the 1970’s and continued, despite government restrictions. However, ecologists like Eve Abe did not see this as simple poaching; they saw it as a “mass destruction”. Elephants that have witnessed the murder of a matriarch, are more likely to become violent and attack humans. Many aggressive elephants do not act without reasons; they are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). At their young age, humans invaded their life, killed their parents, and ultimately destroyed their peaceful environment. More and more calves live neglected lives without a mother figure, and have to become a parent early for survival. Humans that have a difficult childhood or early family life also suffer from aggression and pain. Young elephants have been known to have “nightmares”, waking up suddenly and screaming. These are clearly signs of stress, as males grow up to be increasingly hostile (敌对的) to humans and target certain villages where painful experiences have occurred.
Although many see elephants as massive, violent, and simpleminded animals, their social structure is not unlike many human societies. Humans and elephants have been on parallel paths. However, if people continue practising ignorance over the cruel treatment of these creatures, then collision will become inevitable.
Cruel treatment of elephants still goes on, but by understanding the similarities between us, it can be stopped.
1. What is advised to do in order to stop the hostile behaviour of elephants?| A．Take good care of the young elephants. |
| B．Understand the similarities between elephants and humans. |
| C．Carry out the government restrictions. |
| D．Stop harming or killing the group members of elephants. |
| A．A young elephant. | B．A male elephant. |
| C．A strong elephant. | D．A mother elephant. |
| A．Young elephants will grow up to be violent easily. |
| B．Sometimes young elephants are forced to grow up. |
| C．Humans and elephants have the same social structure. |
| D．Elephants attack villages when painful experiences occur. |
| A．Because early family life counts. |
| B．Because signs of stress have to be stopped. |
| C．Because they will be aggressive when they grow up. |
| D．Because humans and elephants are on parallel paths. |
【推荐3】Researchers have found, for the first time plants letting out sounds when they are stressed. According to a study a team of scientists recorded tomato and tobacco (烟草) plants producing sound frequencies which humans cannot hear in stressful situations—such as when they experienced a lack of water or their stems (茎) were cut.
Previous research has shown that plants respond to stress by producing several visual and chemical signals. For example, stressed plants may differ in color and shape compared to unstressed plants. Meanwhile, some are also known to let out things in response to drought (干旱) or being eaten.
The latest study, meanwhile, is the first to identify plants making sounds which can be detected over a distance. The team detected the tomato plants made 35 sounds an hour on average when they were exposed to drought conditions, while the tobacco plants produced 11. When the stems of the plants were cut, the tomato plants made 25 sounds an hour on average and the tobacco plants produced 15. As a comparison, unstressed plants made less than one sound per hour on average, according to the study.
The team say that while they only tested tomato and tobacco, it’s possible that other plants could also produce sounds, adding that the latest findings could have an influence on agriculture. “Plant sound production could offer a new way for monitoring crops water state—a question of key importance in agriculture”, the authors wrote in the study more precise irrigation can save up to 50 percent of the water cost and increase the production.
“In times when more and more areas are exposed to drought due to climate change, while human population and consumption keep increasing, effective water use becomes even more important for food security”, they said “Our results, showing the ability to distinguish between drought-stressed and control plants on the basis of plant sounds, open a new direction in the field of precision agriculture.”
1. Which of the following best describes plants’ response to stress in the study?| A．Sing. | B．Laugh. |
| C．Cry. | D．Sigh. |
| A．Humans can hear the sound produced by plants. |
| B．Stressed and unstressed plants look the same. |
| C．Plants in stressful situations make the fewest sounds. |
| D．Stressed tomato plants make more sounds than tobacco. |
| A．Lower the cost. | B．Better the quality. |
| C．Monitor climate change. | D．Control the pests. |
| A．Science. | B．Health. |
| C．Education. | D．Culture. |
【推荐1】As race season approaches, many runners have the same goal: go faster. But in a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers show that speeding up might require us to resist our natural biology. By combining data from runners monitored in a lab along with 37,000 runs recorded on wearable fitness trackers, scientists have found that humans’ natural tendency is to run at a speed that conserves caloric loss—something that racers seeking to shave time off their miles will have to get over.
The research group have been studying the mechanics of running in labs for 15 years but hadn’t gotten a chance to study running in the wild before. “We joined the two datasets to gain new insights and combine the more messy wearable data with the gold standard lab experiments to learn about how people run out,” says co-author Jennifer Hicks.
What surprised the team was the consistency they found across the combined datasets. “We had assumed earlier that people ran faster for shorter distances and then would slow their pace for longer distances,” says first author Jessica Selinger. But this wasn’t the case. Most of the runners analyzed stuck with the same speed, whether they were going for a short run or a long one over ten kilometers.
From an evolutionary (进化) standpoint, it makes sense that people would run at the speed that uses the least amount of energy. This caloric conservation is something that has been observed across the animal kingdom. But humans’ reasons for running have changed, and if the goal is speed, there are some tricks runners can use.
Listening to music with a faster pace has been shown to help speed up stride (步伐) frequency, which increases running speed. In addition, picking faster running partners can give you a boost.
Hicks hopes that having large pools of fitness data from wearables will help researchers gain insights about populations. “You can look at connections with the built environment and access to leisure resources and start to layer all of that data to really understand how to improve physical activity and health more broadly,” says Hicks.
1. What do the racers have to overcome during the race?| A．Energy consumption. | B．Muscle loss. |
| C．Weakness of humanity. | D．Lack of nutrients. |
| A．People would run in the wild rather than in labs. |
| B．People adjust their speeds to different distances. |
| C．People run at a constant speed regardless of distance. |
| D．People possess enormous potential for running faster. |
| A．To offer tips on speed increase. |
| B．To evaluate the advantages of running. |
| C．To explain the importance of fast running. |
| D．To reveal the change in human running goals. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Critical. | C．Doubtful. | D．Favorable. |
【推荐2】We experience the full range of emotions during the final scenes of the movie trilogy, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Watching Frodo being surrounded by the fire we hold our breath; we overjoy when Gandalf saves him. So what’s going on? There must be a special kind of movie magic that makes us care about what we know isn’t real. As it happens, there is a special kind of magic, but it’s not in the movie. It’s in the minds of people who watch it. Dr. Brian Schwartz, professor of the University of Chicago, believes this magic is especially potent when we watch movies on the big screen.
“What happens first,” he argues, “is that you give up control. The movie is in control.” In normal life our brains are like tractor beams (牵引光束), busy taking in any information that seems important or interesting. This is called the attentional system. But as the characters come alive on screen, we stop sensing our body. Psychologists call this kind of mental state “flow”: when our attention is completely absorbed in one activity and there isn’t any juice left in our attentional system to take in any more information. We are effortlessly swept along in the currents of the ride. This is why we love the movies: it’s like going on a roller coaster (过山车) for the brain.
However, there’s something else magic at work here too: in a movie theater, as we give up control, our sense of reality changes. Deep down we know that what we’re seeing is make-believe, but because we’re not going to act upon it, because it doesn’t have a direct physical bearing upon us, we don’t test if it is real. It’s like that part of our brain goes on a temporary vacation. Something else is happening in the brain to make this possible too. The mind has different abilities, and each one has a distinct place in the brain. Our knowledge that we’re only watching a movie happens in the front part of our brain. But emotions come from the limbic system (边缘系统), in the back of the brain. Even though our front brain knows that a movie isn’t real, the back brain never gets the message.
It’s a sad fact that the intensity of the emotions that movies produce in us may be decreasing. At home, or on our smart phones, movies are wonderfully convenient. But watching in this way limits their magic because we’re in control; we have the power to stop the film or fast forward bits we don’t like. “If you’re not giving up control to the movie,” Schwartz says, “you’re getting a thinned-out movie experience.” More control might be more convenient, but it won’t mean more magic. Surely, we deserve better than that, and Frodo does too.
1. What can be inferred from this passage?| A．Distinct parts of our brain are interactive. |
| B．Movies on phones can take us to the state of flow conveniently. |
| C．The limbic system can help us sense the reality. |
| D．Going to theaters creates better viewing experience. |
| A．To demonstrate the strong feeling of the attentional system. |
| B．To explain the filmmaking techniques used by directors. |
| C．To describe psychological methods involved in seeing a movie. |
| D．To illustrate the excitement that a movie can provide. |
| A．Subjective. | B．Complicated. | C．Effective. | D．Temporary. |
| A．Emotions out of Control | B．Different Choices of Moviegoers |
| C．Your Brain on Movies | D．The Rise of Movie Theaters |
【推荐3】Last night's meteor (流星) shower left many people in Emerald Valley dissatisfied. They gathered in the suburbs of the city with heavy telescopes, expecting to watch the brightly burning meteors passing through the sky. However, what they found was a sky so brightened by the city's lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead.
“My family was so frustrated,” admitted town resident Duane Cosby, “We wanted to make this an unforgettable family outing, but it turned out to be a huge disappointment.”
Astronomers—scientists who study stars and planets—have been complaining about this problem for many years. They say that light pollution prevents them from seeing objects in the sky that they could see quite easily in the past. They call on people and the government to take measures to fight against it.
Besides professional and amateur (业余的) star observers, there is yet a population that suffers even more from light pollution. This population consists of birds, bats, frogs, and snakes etc. For example, outdoor lighting severely affects migrating(迁徙的)birds. According to the International DarkSky Association, “100 million birds a year throughout North America die in crashes with lighted buildings and towers. ”
Countless animals injuries and deaths result from the use of artificial lighting. Clearly, people enjoy the benefits of lighting their evenings, but some scientists think it can be harmful to humans, too. They worry that exposure to light while sleeping can increase people's chances of getting cancer.
Emerald Valley is only one community that is becoming aware of the negative effects of light pollution. For years, Flagstaff, Arizona has enforced lighting rules in its city in order to help astronomers with their observations. Similar efforts have been made worldwide, and a movement is underway to remind us to turn off lights when we are not using them, so that other creatures can share the night.
1. It happened last night that ________．| A．the city's lights affected the meteor watching |
| B．the meteors flew past before being noticed |
| C．the city’s lights show attracted many people |
| D．the meteor watching ended in a social outing |
| A．birds may take other migration paths |
| B．animals' living habits may change suddenly |
| C．varieties of animals will become sharply reduced |
| D．animals' survival is threatened by outdoor lighting |
| A．reduce the chance of getting cancer |
| B．create an ideal observation condition |
| C．ensure people a good sleep at night |
| D．enable all creatures to live in harmony |
| A．Saving wildlife is saving ourselves. |
| B．Great efforts should be made to save energy. |
| C．Human activities should be environmentally friendly. |
| D．New equipment should be introduced for space study. |
【推荐1】A humanoid robot can relay video and touch sensations to a person wearing a haptic (触觉内) feedback suit and a virtual reality (VR) headset hundreds of kilometres away, offering away for people to attend events without travelling.
The iCub 3 robot is a 52-kilogram, 125-centimetre-tall robot with 54 joints across its body. Its head contains two cameras where a human’s eyes would be, and an Internet-connected computer where the brain would go. Along with the cameras, sensors covering its body send data to the robot’s “brain”. These sensations are then reproduced on a suit and VR headset worn by a remote human operator.
When the operators react to what they see and feel, the suit’s sensors pick up the movements and the robot matches them. “The key is to translate every signal and bit of digital data that can be sent through the network.” says Stefano Dafarra, who was part of the iCub3 team. There can be a small delay of up to 100 milliseconds to capture and transmit the visual shots, but the operator can case this by moving slightly slower than normal.
The team demonstrated the robot at the Venice Biennale, where it wandered through an exhibition while its operator stood 290 kilometres away in Genoa. Dafarra hopes people will use the iCub3 to attend events remotely, reducing the need to travel. “But at present, a fall could be hugely damaging to the robot, and it’s uncertain whether it could stand up again on its own," he says.
“iCub3 is an interesting robot and offers clear advantages from the previous versions.” says Jonathan Aitken, whose laboratory owns a prior version of the robot. However, he is disappointed that the team wasn’t clear in its research about the data transmission requirements of the new version of the robot. “It would be good to know just how much data was required, and what the upper and lower bounds were.” he says.
1. What’s the principle behind the humanoid robot?| A．It conveys sensations to the wearer and acts accordingly. |
| B．It receives commands from an operator through the Internet. |
| C．The cameras take pictures and then interact with the sensors. |
| D．The computer in the robot processes the data and gives orders. |
| A．Medical consultation. | B．Sports events. |
| C．Outdoor workouts. | D．Virtual tourism. |
| A．It fails to appeal to potential investors. |
| B．Its performance hasn’t been evaluated clearly. |
| C．Its present version still requires to be updated. |
| D．Its transmission of data came across technical problems. |
| A．Humanoid robots with sense of touch catch on |
| B．iCub 3 robot combines with VR to benefit more people |
| C．Humanoid robots let people see and feel things remotely |
| D．New advances in technology enable people to travel at work |
【推荐2】No one can deny that the idea of the metaverse (元宇宙) has started to spread to the unknown lands.
The wish of metaverse as a shared universe where people from across the world can play, learn, share, and even work together is futuristic (未来派的). Busy streets filled with stores, parks, and people can all be recreated in the metaverse, but the technology is still not something that every person can easily access.
Another step toward mainstream recognition lies in the realism of the metaverse experience. The introduction of VR and AR into the metaverse will certainly go a long way in making the experience feel far more realistic than it does with a keyboard and mouse.
We’ve already seen interesting crossovers (转型) that tested the limits of the metaverse. Travis Scott held a virtual concert in an online game that was attended by over 12 million people. Even though The Sandbox, an upcoming metaverse, isn’t live yet, Snoop Dogg, a crazy supporter of metaverse, already owns his land in it and lets people buy VIP passes to visit his big house in the future.
Zuckerberg believes that the future of the internet lies in the metaverse and he even went as far as to call it the successor to mobile internet. Whether that is true still remains to be seen. However, one thing is for sure — it’s difficult to deny that the metaverse is no longer a wild idea pulled straight out of a science fiction film. Facebook/Meta has just added fuel to a fire that has already been burning, and in a few years, we may be seeing the metaverse used in ways we haven’t even thought possible before.
1. Why is the technology hard to access?| A．Negative voice. | B．Less realistic experience. |
| C．Dull introduction. | D．Less practical expectation. |
| A．He goes in for buying lands. | B．He gets attached to the metaverse. |
| C．He attends a virtual online concert. | D．He enables people to visit his house. |
| A．Promising. | B．Profitable. | C．Unmeasured. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．It comes across obstacles. | B．It aims at the film industry. |
| C．It promotes social progress. | D．It enjoys a high reputation. |
【推荐3】Finland was known as a rather quiet country. Since 2008, the Country Brand Delegation (国家品牌代表团) has been looking for a national brand that would make some noise to market the country as a world-famous tourist destination. In 2010, the Delegation issued a “Country Brand Report,” which highlighted a host of marketable themes, including Finland’s famous educational system. One key theme was brand new: silence. As the report explained, modern society often seems intolerably loud and busy. “Silence is a resource,” it said.
Silence first appeared in scientific research as a control or baseline, against which scientists compare the effects of noise or music. Researchers have mainly studied it by accident, as physician Luciano Bernardi did in his study of the physiological (生理学) effects of music. “We didn’t think about the effect of silence,” he said. Bernardi observed two dozen test subjects while they listened to six musical tracks. He found that the impacts of music could be read directly in the bloodstream, via changes in blood pressure, carbon dioxide, and circulation in the brain. “During almost all sorts of music, there was a physiological change with a condition of arousal (兴奋),” he explained.
This effect made sense, given that active listening requires attention. But the more striking finding appeared between musical tracks. Bernardi and his colleagues discovered that randomly added stretches of silence also had a great effect, but in the opposite direction. In fact, two-minute silent pauses proved far more relaxing than either “relaxing” music or a longer silence played before the experiment started. The blank pauses that Bernardi had considered irrelevant, in other words, became the most interesting object of study. Silence seemed to be heightened by contrasts, maybe because it gave test subjects a release from careful attention. “Perhaps the arousal is something that concentrates the mind in one direction, so that when there is nothing more arousing, then you have deeper relaxation,” he said.
This finding is reinforced by neurological (神经系统的) research. Relevant research shows when our brains rest quietly, they integrate external and internal information into “a conscious (意识的) workspace.” Freedom from noise and goal-directed tasks, it appears, unites the quiet without and within, allowing our conscious workspace to do its thing to discover where we fit in.
Noora Vikman, a consultant on silence for Finland’s marketers, knows silence well. Living in a remote and quiet place in Finland, she discovers thoughts and feelings that aren’t detectable in her busy daily life. “If you want to know yourself, you have to be with yourself, and discuss with yourself, and be able to talk with yourself.”
1. Why does the author mention the Country Brand Report in Paragraph 1?| A．To present how Finland viewed silence. |
| B．To highlight the need of noise in Finland. |
| C．To explain why Finland issued the brands. |
| D．To indicate the authority of the Delegation. |
| A．It challenged the calming effect of music. |
| B．It emphasized the role of silence between sounds. |
| C．It illustrated the loss of attentiveness after silence. |
| D．It stated brains’ information processing in the quiet. |
| A．doubtful | B．supportive | C．disapproving | D．unconcerned |
| A．Silence: A Limited Resource | B．Silence: A Misunderstood Tool |
| C．Silence: The Unexpected Power | D．Silence: The Value by Contrasts |
【推荐1】Recently according to a new research, humans have had a link to starches (含淀粉的食物) for up to 120,000 years — that’s more than 100,000 years longer than we’ve been able to plant them in the soil during the time of the ice Age’s drawing to an end. The research is part of an ongoing study into the history of Middle Stone Age communities.
An international team of scientists identified evidence of prehistoric starch consumption in the Klasies River Cave, in present-day South Africa. Analyzing small, ashy, undisturbed hearths(壁炉) inside the cave, the researchers found “pieces of burned starches” ranging from around 120,000 to 65,000 years old. It made them the oldest known examples of starches eaten by humans.
The findings do not come as a complete surprise — but rather as welcome confirmation of older theories that lacked the related evidence. The lead author Cynthia Larbey said that there had previously only been genetic biological evidence to suggest that humans had been eating starch for this long. This new evidence, however, takes us directly to the dinner table, and supports the previous assumption that humans’ digestion genes gradually evolved in order to fit into an increased digestion of starch.
Co-author Sarah Wurz said, “The starch remains show that these early humans living in the Klasies River Cave could battle against their tough environment and find suitable foods and perhaps medicines. And as much as we all still desire the tubers (块茎), these cave communities were gilling starches such as potatoes on their foot-long hearths. They knew how to balance their diets as well as they could, with fats from local fish and other animals.”
As early as the 1990s, some researchers started to study the hearths in the Klasies River Cave. Scientist Hilary Deacon first suggested that these hearths contained burned plants. At the time, the proper methods of examining the remains were not yet available. We now know human beings have always been searching for their desired things.
1. When did humans begin to farm starches?| A．After the Ice Age. | B．After the Middle Stone Age. |
| C．About 20,000 years ago. | D．About 100,000 years ago. |
| A．Starch diet promoted food culture. | B．Starch diet shaped humans’ evolution. |
| C．Starches had a variety of functions. | D．Starches offered humans rich nutrition. |
| A．They were smart and tough. | B．They preferred plants to meat. |
| C．They were generally very healthy. | D．They got along with each other. |
| A．Great Civilization of South Africa | B．The Evolution of Foods in History |
| C．Starches--the Important Food of Today | D．Big Findings--the Starches in Ancient Times |
【推荐2】Modern buildings are set up on a large scale in the city. Should they be allowed to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. All historical buildings are not attractive. However, there may be other reasons — for example, economic reasons — why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to be the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed?
In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my hometown where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.
It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old ones too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative （保守的）and do not like change.
Although we have to respect people's feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move things forward. If we always reproduced what was there before, we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different, even though that might be the more risky choice.
1. What is the author's view of historical buildings in Paragraph 1?| A．Some of them are unattractive. |
| B．Many of them are too old to preserve. |
| C．They don't offer the historic feel of an area. |
| D．They are more pleasing than modern buildings. |
| A．We should reproduce the same old buildings. |
| B．Buildings shouldn't fit in with their surroundings. |
| C．Some old buildings have reduced the interest of the area they are in. |
| D．No one knows why people are against new buildings. |
| A．destroy old buildings |
| B．put things in a different place |
| C．respect people's feelings |
| D．choose new architectural style |
| A．To explain why people dislike change. |
| B．To warn that we could end up living in caves. |
| C．To answer the questions people show great interest in. |
| D．To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas. |
【推荐3】The British government declared that a ''proper piece of work'' was being carried out to look into the possibility of linking Scotland to Northern Ireland via a bridge spanning the Irish Sea. At the moment, the leading candidates for the locations of the route are Portpatrick on the Scottish coast and Larne on the Northern Irish coast.
Length aside, there are a number of other significant challenges that such an enormous project would raise. For example, there’s the depth of the sea, which at times reaches 300 metres, and the large spans that would be required to let any ships pass under the bridge safely, explained Ian Firth, a structural engineer at the Institution of Civil Engineers.
''One solution might be to use floating foundations. '' he said. ''You have a floating pontoon(水上浮台) held below the surface of the water.You still have to get down there and drill holes in the rock down below, but you're now just tying it down with some cables. Then the floating platform is held below the waves----you don't want it at the surface because then you’re getting wave action and tidal action. You stand your bridge structures on those floating platforms. That’s the sort of thing that potentially could be doable. ''
Even so, such a structure would still leave those travelling across it at the mercy of high winds and heavy rain, even taking into account any weather shielding measures that could be fitted. However, there may be another solution.
''There's another type of floating structure, a submerged(水下的) floating tunnel. It’s not through the rock but under the water, '' said Firth. ''You attach it down, shall we say 20 metres below the water, so that ships can go happily across the top of it, but the thing is actually floating. If you're in your car, you’re driving, in effect, through a tunnel. That is a very interesting, and I think really quite potentially practical solution. ''
But it's early days and there are many factors to consider, such as the ability of the transport links either side of the crossing to cope with additional traffic, and the fact that it may be more efficient to upgrade the existing ferry infrastructure, before any kind of design work could begin.
''At the moment it is an idea and not much more than that. To begin with, we'd need a pre-feasibility study which looks at what the options are so that we can actually frame the range of a feasibility(可行性) study, '' said Firth, ''After that people like me could go away and turn over what the options are. I believe it's possible. But 'possible' and 'affordable' are two different things. I’m not trying to put numbers to it, but it is eye-wateringly expensive, and nothing like it has been attempted before. But we're in the business of finding solutions to challenges. We civil structural engineers are good at that kind of thing. ''
1. From Paragraphs 1 and 2, engineers may focus efforts on the ______ of the bridge-to-be.| A．cost | B．location |
| C．structure | D．reliability |
| A．It is impossible to build a bridge on floating platforms. |
| B．It takes much labor to tie floating platforms with cables. |
| C．Wave and tidal action can easily destroy floating platforms. |
| D．Traffic flow will be subject to severe weather conditions. |
| A．Bridge construction is more of an assumption than a detailed plan. |
| B．Engineers have reached a consensus on the feasibility of the project. |
| C．They are trying to update the structural design to control costs. |
| D．Previous similar attempts do help them draw up a feasible plan. |
| A．Why not float? |
| B．A bridge too far? |
| C．Overlooking the Irish Sea |
| D．Meeting new Scottish friends |
