A laser-powered robotic climber has won $900,000 in a competition designed to stimulate technology for a future elevator to space.
Building a space elevator would require fixing a cable on the ground near Earth’s equator and deploying (部署) the other end thousands of kilometers into space. The centrifugal (离心的) force due to Earth’s spin would keep the cable tight so that a robot could climb it and release payloads into orbit.
Building a space elevator would make for cheaper trips into space than is possible using rockets. To achieve that end, NASA offered $2 million in prize money in a competition called the Power Beaming Challenge, in which robotic climbers, powered wirelessly from the ground, attempt to climb up a cable as fast as possible.
Now, a robotic climber has made a prize-winning ascent worth $900,000, making it the first to win money in the competition, which has occurred annually since 2005. The winning climber was built by a team called Laser Motive, based in Seattle, Washington. Like the other two vehicles in the competition, it used solar cells to absorb energy from a ground-based infrared (红外的) laser.
On Wednesday, Laser Motive fired up its laser, powering the climber to climb 900 meters up a cable. The climber reached the top in just over 4 minutes, for an average speed of 3.7meters per second. The team’s climber repeated the achievement at a slightly higher speed of 3.9 meters per second on Thursday. On Friday, two other teams failed in their final attempted climbs. That means Laser Motive will receive the entire $900,000 NASA set aside for climbers that could make the climb faster than 2 meters per second. The remaining $1.1million in NASA prize money was reserved for climbs faster than 5 meters per second, which none of the competitors was able to achieve.
Though a space elevator remains a distant prospect, NASA is thrilled about its technological advances. It is now interested in wireless power transmission for other applications, like sending power to lunar rovers travelling in shadowed craters (阴影环形山), where solar energy is unavailable.
1. What do we know about the Power Beaming Challenge?| A．It offered prize money to support NASA. |
| B．It was powered wirelessly from the ground. |
| C．It was a competition first launched in 2005. |
| D．It was the first to win money in the competition. |
| A．3.7 meters per second. | B．3.9 meters per second. |
| C．2 meters per second. | D．5 meters per second. |
| A．Because it may stimulate unexpected applications. |
| B．Because it demonstrates the possibility of space traveling. |
| C．Because it can send lunar rovers to travel in shadowed craters. |
| D．Because it can generate power when solar energy is unavailable. |
| A．“Space Elevator” Wins $900,000 NASA Prize |
| B．Laser Motive Unveils Its Secret Technology |
| C．A Robotic Climber Rides an Elevator to Space |
| D．Space Elevator Stimulates the Advance of Technology |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Traditional surgical procedures require surgeons to make large incisions(伤口) in a patient’s body in order to gain access to the internal organs. It was once common for heart surgeons, who perform highly specialized and complex procedures, to make long incisions in a patient’s chest and then split the breastbone to reach the heart. Patients who undergo surgery are often at the risk of infection, as bacteria can infect the cut in the skin. In addition, there is often a lengthy recovery period.
A surgical technique known as “keyhole surgery” has become more common in recent years. In general, the surgeon will make a couple of small incisions around the area where the operation is going to be performed. Tubes are pushed into the holes, and a tiny camera, which is called an endoscope, is put into the body. The camera is attached to a large monitor screen that is positioned so that the doctor can see it while he performs the operation. In addition to the camera, doctors also push their tiny surgical instruments through the tubes. The awkward part of keyhole surgery is that it is counterintuitive; that is to say, if a surgeon wants to move the tool to the left, he or she must push it to the right.
Other advancements in technology are also being used today in the OR (operation room). A new machine called the “da Vinci Surgical System” has been tested in hospitals in the U.S.. Unlike keyhole surgery, the da Vinci’s robot’s moving parts are designed to imitate the natural hand and wrist movement of a surgeon, thus providing better control and sensitivity. The system is controlled by a surgeon from a console(控制台). Sitting at a console a few feet from the patient, the surgeon can perform an operation by holding and moving highly sensitive pads that enable him or her to control the instruments. The area of the body on which the surgeon is working is enlarged on a screen, which is attached to the console. This gives surgeons a realistic three-dimensional view of the area — similar to what they would see during a traditional surgical procedure.
Although the da Vinci Surgical System is undergoing some trials for some procedures, it has been welcomed as revolutionary by many surgeons. Patients with serious illnesses must still undergo major surgery, but the smaller incisions and less invasive procedures typically mean that a shorter recovery time is needed. In some cases, the patient’s stay in the hospital has been cut in half when the da Vinci Surgical System was used. On the downside, some operations have taken up to fifty minutes longer because surgeons are inexperienced at using the new technology. As surgeons become more familiar with the machines, the time needed for surgical procedures is likely to decrease.
1. What can be learned about the traditional surgery according to the passage?| A．The cost of the traditional surgery is very high. |
| B．It often leaves a large wound in a person’s body. |
| C．Long incisions are made in a patient’s chest. |
| D．The incision is often infected after the operation. |
| A．It requires the use of long, thin tools and a tiny camera. |
| B．The doctor can not view the inside of the patient’s body clearly. |
| C．The direction in which a doctor moves the surgical tools is reversed. |
| D．An endoscope has to be inserted into the patient’s body in advance. |
| A．requires that a surgeon make more small incisions on a patient |
| B．reduces the amount of time it takes to perform a surgical procedure |
| C．allows the surgeon to use the surgical instruments more sensitively |
| D．eliminates the need for surgeons to make large incisions on patients |
| A．the challenges brought about by new technology |
| B．the benefits and drawbacks of the da Vinci Surgical System |
| C．the reflections on the development in medical science |
| D．the application of new technologies in modern surgery |
【推荐2】It’s a moment that has been decades in the making. The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier space observatory of the next decade, was successfully launched on December 25, 2021. Since 2004, thousands of scientists, technicians and engineers from 14 countries have spent 40 million hours building the telescope. Now, Webb is ready to help us understand the origin of the universe and begin to answer key questions about our existence, such as where we came from and if we’re alone in the universe.
The Webb telescope comes equipped with a mirror that can extend 6.5 meters — a massive length that will allow the mirror to collect more light from the objects it observes once the telescope is in space. The more light the mirror can collect, the more details the telescope can observe. The mirror includes 18 hexagonal gold-coated sections and each is 1.32 meters in diameter.
The telescope includes a five-layer sunshield which will unfold to reach the size of a tennis court and protect Webb’s giant mirror and instruments from the sun’s heat — because they need to be kept at a very cold negative 188 degrees Celsius to operate.
The Webb telescope will look at every phase of the universe history, including the first glows after the Big Bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Its capabilities will enable the mnirror observatory to answer questions about our own solar system and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13. 5 billion years ago.
The telescope will also take a closer look at a selection of exoplanets to peer inside their atmospheres, if they have them, and help answer questions about how the planets formed and evolved. Data collected by the telescope can tell scientists if methane, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide is in the atmosphere. The gases within these alien atmospheres could reveal the very building blocks of life.
Webb will begin to collect data and its first images later in 2022. The initial year of Webb’s observation will provide the first opportunity for a diverse range of scientists around the world to observe particular targets.
1. What is the mirror mentioned in the passage used for?| A．Decorating the telescope. | B．Collecting light. |
| C．Protecting the instruments. | D．Observing details. |
| A．20 years were spent building the telescope. |
| B．The telescope is equipped with five sunshields. |
| C．It began to collect data and images in early 2022. |
| D．It will observe the galaxies, stars and planets in the universe. |
| A．Exoplanets. | B．Atmospheres. | C．Questions. | D．Scientists. |
| A．The origin of the universe. | B．NASA’s latest space program. |
| C．The James Webb Space Telescope. | D．Scientific observation of the space. |
Yellow Robot deliver snacks to your home
A robot makes its way back to a supermarket after making a delivery during a demonstration in Beijing.
Along a street on the outer edges of Beijing, a yellow and black cube about the size of a small washing machine moves leisurely to its destination. This “little yellow horse” is a delivery robot, transporting daily essentials like drinks, fruit and snacks from the local store to the residents. Equipped with GPS system, cameras and radar, the robot is seen by its creator as the future of logistics(物流) in China.
“The weak point is that it can’t deliver directly to the door like a human.” said one customer, who does not live on the ground floor. “But it is still quite practical. The robot delivers relatively quickly.”
The robot takes off for Chinese customers’ love of cashless payments and smartphone shopping. China is the world’s biggest online shopping market with more than half of its population making at least one smartphone purchase per month, according to professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Whether buying electronics, toilet paper or clothes, Chinese customers are used to simply tapping a button on their smartphone and getting a home delivery.
To get a delivery via the “little yellow horse”, customers select the desired products, tap in the address and pay via their phone. Then, the supermarket staff place the items in the robot.
Liu Zhiyong, founder and CEO of Zhen Robotics, which manufactures the robot, sees a bright future for his creation. “At the moment, there are 100 million packages delivered every day in China. It will be one billion in the future,” Liu said. “ There will not be enough humans to make the deliveries. We need more and more robots to fill this gap and reduce costs.” These costs are especially high in the last kilometer of a delivery.
1. What is the yellow robot equipped with? (no more than 8 words)2. What is the weak point of the yellow robot? (no more than 12 words)
3. Why is the robot popular with Chinese people? (no more than 12 words)
4. What does the underlined word “manufactures” mean in the passage? (no more than 1 words)
5. What do you think of the invention of the yellow robot? Why? (no more than 20words)
【推荐1】The Sequoia National Park in California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains is best known for the Giant Forest, a collection of 2,000 trees that includes half of the Earth’s largest and longest-living trees. This past weekend, the ancient wonders came dangerously close to being burned by the KNP Complex Fire. But thanks to resourceful firefighters, the precious treasure has been saved.
The firefighters had taken the standard measures of clearing brush and setting controlled fires long before the fire began heading toward the Giant Forest. But they knew more needed to be done. On September 17, 2021, they took the unusual step of covering the base of some of the oldest trees with protective aluminum “blankets”. High on the list was General Sherman, the world’s largest tree by volume. The park officials believed the specialized foil(锡纸)would help block some of the heat from the fires and enhance the natural insulation(隔热)provided by the ancient trees’ thick bark. They were right!
On Sunday, September 19, 2021, the officials reported that the extra prevention measures, which also included 24-hour timed sprinklers(洒水装置)on General Sherman and the nearby park buildings, had worked. Jack Owen, a spokesman for the KNP Complex Fire Information Office, said, “There are no trees that have been burned yet, as far as in the Giant Forest. Firefighters are pouring everything they can into it as long as it’s safe. That area is looking good.”
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the rest of the national park. The KNP Complex Fire has burned through 21,777 acres. Meanwhile, the Windy Fire, which started further south on the Sierra slopes on the same night, has burned over21, 598 acres. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and allow firefighters to gain control of the massive fires, which are now beginning to threaten nearby communities.
1. What did the firefighters first do to protect the Giant Forest from fire?| A．Cover it with specialized foil. |
| B．Put it on the list of protective steps. |
| C．Set up a fire prevention belt around it. |
| D．find out the features of the complex fire. |
| A．To stop some heat from the fire from developing. |
| B．To stop the fire from spreading. |
| C．To keep tree roots from losing water. |
| D．To test the survival ability of the trees. |
| A．Firefighters are ready to leave the area. |
| B．General Sherman is relatively safe. |
| C．Nearby buildings have been abandoned. |
| D．Some trees in the Giant Forest have been cut down. |
| A．Worried. | B．Optimistic. | C．Discouraged. | D．Unconcerned. |
【推荐2】The Australian Outback town of Quilpie is home to 800 people. The town hoped its offer of free land might draw five new families to the community. In less than two weeks, the town has received more than 250 requests for information about the offer from around Australia and other countries around the world. The town leaders came up with the idea to deal with a housing shortage. The lack of housing made it difficult to fill jobs in the remote area of western Queensland state. People who buy land, build a house on it for less than 560,000 dollars, and live in it for six months can receive a 9,400 dollars payment, known as a grant. A block of land in Quilpie, about 1,000-square meters, sells for around the same amount as the grant. It means the town is effectively giving the land away.
The idea for the grant offer came from Justin Hancock, head of the town council. The 30-year-old spent six months in a retirement (退休) home when he first arrived in Quilpie this year because of the area’s housing shortage. Quilpie has recently needed workers in healthcare and education. It also needs people who can fix cars and prepare meat and many other kinds of workers. Questions about the free land program came from as far away as Britain, India, and New Zealand. But home buyers need to be Australian citizens or permanent (永久) residents to be a candidate for the grant.
Hancock said recently that getting five new families to the area would be a big success. “To see the interest,” he added, “it was a little overwhelming (难以处理的事情).” Real estate prices have increased greatly across much of Australia throughout the coronavirus crisis. Lockdowns in the largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, and low interest rates have sent people to search for larger homes in smaller towns. Most of the interest in coronavirus-free Quilpie has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers to the east. But there is also interest from Melbourne, Newcastle, and Western Australia state. Both young families and retired people are considering the Quilpie move. They have different reasons. “People who are coming out of lockdown (锁定) are saying I want wide open spaces, and we have plenty of that,” Hancock said.
The area that Quilpie is in, known as a shire, covers 68,000 square kilometers. Two grants will be received by Quilpie locals, one by council employee Tom Hennessy, 23, and his 24-year-old school teacher fiancee (未婚妻), Tessa McDougall. The couple bought a block of land in August. “I love Quilpie. It’s a great place. Everyone’s friendly,” Hennessy said. Hennessy was born in Quilpie and his fiancee came a year ago from Brisbane.
1. Why does Quilpie attract so many people to live here?| A．Quilpie has a lot of abandoned houses. |
| B．Good jobs can be found in Quilpie. |
| C．Quilpie is close to the capital of Australia. |
| D．Quilpie offered the land free of charge. |
| A．To have a villa of your own in Australia. |
| B．The real estate has to be $20 million. |
| C．Applicants need to recommend five families to move to town. |
| D．Must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. |
| A．房产 | B．性质 | C．情况 | D．遗产 |
| A．boring | B．disappointing | C．full of happiness | D．dissatisfying |
【推荐3】This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers (young people aged from 13-19) from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected-much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that were usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. “Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”
1. The whole exchange program is mainly to ________| A．help teenagers in other countries know the real America |
| B．send students in America to travel in Germany |
| C．let students learn something about other countries |
| D．have teenagers learn new languages |
| A．There is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings. |
| B．There are a lot of outside activities. |
| C．Students usually take 14 subjects in all. |
| D．Students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car. |
| A．A better education should include something good from both America and Germany. |
| B．German schools trained students to be better citizens. |
| C．American schools were not as good as German schools. |
| D．The easy life in the American school was more helpful to students. |
| A．Praised. | B．Regretful. | C．Ignorant. | D．Blameful. |
【推荐1】The American space agency NASA says a spacecraft has entered the sun’s outermost atmosphere for the first time. Scientists announced that Parker Solar Probe traveled through the solar atmosphere’s outer edge, known as the corona (日冕). They described the entry as a successful touch on the sun.
Unlike Earth, the sun does not have a solid surface. Instead, it is a superheated ball of material held together by gravity and magnetic (磁的) forces. The temperature of the corona is so high that the sun’s gravity cannot hold on to it and some solar material escapes from it and goes into space, which causes the solar wind. The solar wind is the flow of charged pieces, known as plasma.
Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 which mainly studied the solar wind. The sun is actually a magnetic variable star with solar activity happening nearly periodically. Scientists said being able to study the solar wind and the corona close up could help them better understand “the way the activity causes changes to the planet we live on”.
“We can actually see the spacecraft flying through the coronal structure during a total solar eclipse (日全食),” Nour Raouafi, the project scientist, said, adding that it took them a few months to examine information from the spacecraft and to confirm the result and that the evidence used included data on magnetic fields and the solar wind, as well as images. Scientists reported Parker Solar Probe successfully went in and out of the corona at least three times.
The Parker team said early data also suggested the spacecraft may have entered the corona during its ninth close approach in August, but a further study is needed to make a confirmation. The spacecraft is expected to keep getting closer to the sun and diving deeper into the corona until its final orbit, planned for 2025.
1. What do we know about the solar wind from the text?| A．It affects the corona’s temperature. | B．It functions as the surface of the sun. |
| C．It is caused by magnetic forces. | D．It comes from the sun’s outer atmosphere. |
| A．To find out why solar activity happens. |
| B．To know how solar activity influences Earth. |
| C．To get more evidence of the solar wind. |
| D．To take measures to control the solar wind. |
| A．Confused. | B．Doubtful. | C．Cautious. | D．Favorable. |
| A．Spacecraft Touches the Sun for the First Time |
| B．Parker Uncovers the Secrets of the Solar Wind |
| C．NASA Brought New Discoveries about the Sun |
| D．Parker Is Designed to Reach the Sun in 2025 |
【推荐2】Humans have been living and working on the space station for over 20 years. Their meals are packaged, though sometimes astronauts receive fresh treats from resupply missions. The longer that packaged food is stored, the more it loses nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin K.
Astronauts have successfully grown 10 different crops on the space station since 2015 and had the chance to sample (品尝) each one. The International Space Station hosted a party for astronauts on Friday as they celebrated the harvest of the first chili peppers (辣椒) grown in space. The crew finally had a chance to taste the peppers after initially kicking off the plant experiment on the space station in July.
Plant Habitat-04 is one of the most complex plant experiments on the orbiting laboratory to date because peppers take much longer to grow than the previous experiment plants. After growing for four months, the peppers were harvested on Friday.
Peppers provide a great source of vitamin C, as well as other key nutrients. Pepper plants self-pollinate (自花授粉), so they are easy to grow, and they are a pick-and-eat crop that doesn’t have to be cooked. They are also safe to eat raw.
A side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their taste and smell, so spicy or well-seasoned foods are a favorite. Adding fresh greens or peppers to the menu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals. But growing and tending to the plants can also produce other benefits.
Astronauts have described the joy from seeing — as well as smelling and caring for — leafy green plants on the space station that remind them of Earth.
“Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health,” said Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for the experiment. “We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with colors and smells helps to improve astronauts’ well-being.”
1. How is the food astronauts eat on the space station?| A．Always fresh. | B．Lack of nutrients. |
| C．Never tasty. | D．Full of vitamins. |
| A．The technology. | B．Growing process. |
| C．The varieties of plants. | D．Growing time required. |
| A．Peppers are delicious. | B．Peppers can improve memory. |
| C．Peppers help prevent diseases. | D．Peppers can restore appetite. |
| A．The Fun of Growing Chili Peppers in Space |
| B．The Agricultural Goal in the Space Mission |
| C．The First Chili Peppers Grown in Space |
| D．The Chili Peppers Used in the Space Mission |
【推荐3】NASA (美国航空航天局) is looking for a new way to get its precious Mars samples back to the earth. Those samples are being collected by the Perseverance rover in Mars’Jezero Crater, which hosted a lake and a river delta billions of years ago. Getting the samples is one of NASA’s top science goals. Studying unspoiled Red Planet material in well-equipped labs around the world could reveal key insights into Mars, including whether it has ever hosted life.
The agency has had a Mars sample return (MSR) structure in place for some time now, but repeated delays and cost overruns seem to have made the original plan hard to realize. “The bottom line is that $ 11 billion is too much, and not returning samples until 2040 is unacceptably too long,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said during a call with reporters. That price tag is the upper-end estimate calculated by an independent review board. A team from within NASA analyzed those September results, determining that the agency won’t be able to get Perseverance’s samples back to Earth until 2040 with the established structure.
NASA is now seeking a new way forward in an attempt to cut costs and get the samples here sooner. Saving money will aid other agency science projects, and speeding up the timeline could help the agency plan out manned Mars trips.
The wheels on the new plan are already turning. NASA is asking the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California — its lead facility for robotic planetary exploration — and other agency research centers for innovative MSR ideas. NASA will hold an industry day and accept proposals. The goal is to have enough information on hand by late fall or early winter to begin charting a new path forward on MSR. MSR remains a top priority for NASA, despite the difficulty of the task. After all, no country has ever launched a rocket from the surface of another planet, though three countries have launched from the moon.
“I think it’s fair to say that we are committed to bring back the samples, for this is an important national objective.” Nelson said.
1. What’s the main function of paragraph 2?| A．To draw readers’ attention to this topic. |
| B．To warn the readers of a possible failure. |
| C．To stress the importance of Mars samples. |
| D．To introduce some background information. |
| A．Efficient. | B．Impractical. | C．Sensible. | D．Conservative. |
| A．The current method is costly and takes too long. |
| B．The current method is too risky and unreliable. |
| C．It takes a sophisticated container to convey the samples. |
| D．The samples have been spoiled and need to be handled differently. |
| A．NASA’s huge project |
| B．MSR, a promising plan |
| C．NASA’s Mars sample return plan calls for overall adjustments |
| D．NASA’s campaign to return Mars Samples to Earth is on hold |
