After many tiring……from city to city, Atwood thought there must be a better way to do them . She hired some technical experts and started her own company in 2004. Together they designed the LongPen. Here’s how it works: The author writes a personal message and signature on a computer tablet(手写板) using a special pen. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan can talk with each other via webcams(网络摄像机) and computer screens
Work on the LongPen began in Atwood’s basement(地下室). At first, they had no idea it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The device went through several versions, including one that actually had smoke coming out of it. The investing finally completed, teat runs w ere made in Ottawa, and the LongPen was officially launched at the 2006 London Book Fair. From here , Atwood conducted two transatlantic book signings of her latest book for fans in Toronto and New York City.
The LongPen produces a unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time. It has several other potential applications. It could increase credit card security and allow people to sign contracts from another province. The video exchange between signer and receiver can be recorded on DVD for proof when legal documents are used.
“It’s really fun”, said the owner of a bookstore, who was present for one of the test runs. “Obviously you can’t shake hands with the author but there are chances for a connection that you don’t get from a regular book signing..
The response to the invention has not been all favorable. Atwood has received criticism from authors who think she is trying to end book tours. But she said, “It will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t afford it.”
1. Why did Atwood decide to invent the LongPen?
A.To set up her own company. |
B.To win herself greater popularity. |
C.To write her books in a new way. |
D.To make book signings less tiring |
A.I copies the author’s signature and prints it on a book. |
B.It signs a book while receiving the author’s signature. |
C.The webcam sends the author’s signature to another city. |
D.The fan uses it to copy the author’s signature himself. |
A.It has been completed but not put into use. |
B.The basement caught fire by accident. |
C.Some versions failed before its test run. |
D.The designers were well-prepared for the difficulty. |
A.To draft legal documents. |
B.To improve credit card security |
C.To keep a record of the author’s ideas. |
D.To allow author and fan to exchange videos |
A.Atwood doesn’t mean to end book tours. |
B.Critics think the LongPen is of little use |
C.Bookstore owners do not support the LongPen |
D.Publishers dislike the LongPen for its high cost |
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【推荐1】Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density(密度)”, said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”
Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.
1. Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?A.He teaches chemistry at MU. |
B.He is working on a nuclear energy source. |
C.He developed a chemical battery. |
D.He made a breakthrough in computer engineering. |
A.to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used |
B.to show chemical batteries are widely applied |
C.to introduce various energy sources |
D.to describe a nuclear-powered system |
A.get rid of the radioactive waste |
B.test the power of nuclear batteries. |
C.reduce the damage to lattice structure. |
D.decrease the size of nuclear batteries |
【推荐2】You wait 50 years for a flying car,and then three come along at once.First up is Vahana:an airbus project to develop batterypowered,single- seater aircraft,designed to follow predetermined routes,only changing directions to avoid accidents.Propellers(螺旋桨)on the wings will let it take off and land without a runway.
Second,Dubai recently announced plans to use self-controlled air taxis as a way to beat the terrible traffic jams.The Volocopter is an electric multi-copter with 18 propellers and a fully self-controlled system.It’s essentially a self-controlled aircraft with two seats and up to 30 minutes of flying time.
But,if you want something more like the flying cars of 1950s science fiction,try Urban Aeronautics’ Fancraft.The Israel-based company wants to realize the dream of”an aircraft that looks like the classic vision of a flying car:doesn’t have a wing,doesn’t have a propeller that can be seen,and can fly exactly from point to point,”says Janina Frankel-Yoeli,Urban Aeronautics’ vice president of marketing.Earlier flying cars needed runways to take off and land which was,as Frankel-Yoeli says,”not much better than owning a car and an aircraft.”To go from point to point requires vertical take-off and landing,but for many years that could only be done by helicopters or larger aircraft.Urban Aeronautics’ solution is to use light but powerful engines,lightweight materials,and a self-controlled system.Their fan design-propellers housed in some special tubes-is powerful but unstable,so the Fancraft would be challenging for a human to fly without any help.Instead,computer-aided control technology takes over the tiny,quick changes required to keep the car stable at speeds of 160km/h or more.
But don’t be glad too early yet.The main problem to a sky full of flying cars is rules.Not only will every aircraft need to pass strict safety tests,but a new system of air traffic control will be needed to deal with 3-D traffic jams above people who are not aware of what is happening in the sky.NASA is already working on that.Tests have shown that multiple unmanned(无人的) flying cars can communicate with each other to avoid accidents.In the meantime,flying cars will mainly be reserved for emergency services and a few VIPs.
1. Vahana is different from the Volocopter in that____A.it is power-free |
B.it is self controlled |
C.its routes are fixed |
D.its propellers can be seen |
A.going straight up or down |
B.flying high and fast |
C.going across back or forth |
D.flying quietly and safely |
A.NASA helps flying cars to communicate. |
B.There will be no traffic jams if cars can fly. |
C.Rules for flying cars have already been made. |
D.It is unusual for ordinary people to use flying cars. |
【推荐3】Cultivated (培育) meat, also known as lab-grown meat, has been cleared for sale in the US.
Upside Foods and Good Meat, two companies that make “cultivated chicken”, said that they have gotten approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to start producing their cell-based proteins. Good Meat said that production is starting immediately. Cultivated meat is grown in a giant vat (缸), much like what you’d find at a beer factory.
Last week, both companies revealed that the USDA approved labels for their products. In March, Good Meat received a“no questions”letter from the FDA, confirming the product’s safety for sale in the US. Upside Foods also received one in November. Both the USDA and the FDA are overseeing the growing cultivated meat market. CEO of Good Meat, Josh Tetrick, described the approval as a major milestone for the company, the industry, and the food system. Upside founder Uma Valeti called the approval “a giant step forward towards a more sustainable future”.
Good Meat, which has been selling its products in Singapore, advertises its product as “meat without slaughter (屠宰)”, a more humane approach to eating meat. Supporters hope that cultivated meat will help fight climate change by reducing the need for traditional animal agriculture, which emits greenhouse gases. The company previously announced a partnership with chef José Andrés to introduce the product to a Washington DC restaurant, although the launch time remains uncertain. As production increases, Good Meat may explore cooperation with other restaurants or supermarkets.
Upside is planning to introduce its product at Bar Crenn, a San Francisco restaurant, but did not share a launch date yet. Selling at Bar Crenn should help Upside learn more about how chefs and diners feel about the product. Eventually, the company plans to work with other restaurants and make its products available in supermarkets. For now, it is holding a contest to allow curious customers to be among the first to try the product.
1. What is the potential benefit of cultivated meat?A.Higher safety for eating. |
B.Lower costs for restaurants. |
C.Positive impacts on climate change. |
D.Improvements in traditional animal agriculture. |
A.Both have partnerships with international chefs. |
B.Both are involved in producing lab-grown meat. |
C.Both declared a launch date of their cultivated meat. |
D.Both received FDA approval for worldwide distribution. |
A.Diners have access to free products from Upside. |
B.Curious customers will become the main force of buying. |
C.Upside will evaluate the responses of chefs and diners to its product. |
D.Upside will conduct a survey among diners about their paying ability. |
A.The benefits of cultivated meat. |
B.The research on cultivated meat. |
C.The approval and prospect of cultivated meat. |
D.The history and processing of cultivated meat. |
【推荐1】We all know that unpleasant feeling when we’re talking about something interesting and halfway through our sentence we’re interrupted. But was that really an interruption? The answer depends on whom you ask, according to new research led by Katherine Hilton from Stanford University.
Using a set of controlled audio clips (录音片段), Hilton surveyed 5, 000 American English speakers to better understand what affects people’s perceptions of interruptions. She had participants listen to audio clips and then answer questions about whether the speakers seemed to be friendly and engaged, listening to one another, or trying to interrupt.
Hilton found that American English speakers have different conversational styles. She identified two distinct groups: high and low intensity speakers. High intensity speakers are generally uncomfortable with moments of silence in conversation and consider talking at the same time a sign of engagement. Low intensity speakers find it rude to talk at the same time and prefer people speak one after another in conversation.
The differences in conversational styles became evident when participants listened to audio clips in which two people spoke at the same time but were agreeing with each other and stayed on topic, Hilton said. The high intensity group reported that conversations where people spoke at the same time when expressing agreement were not interruptive but engaged and friendlier than the conversations with moments of silence in between speaking turns. In contrast, the low intensity group perceived any amount of simultaneous (同时) chat as a rude interruption, regardless of what the speakers were saying.
“People care about being interrupted, and those small interruptions can have a massive effect on the overall communication,” Hilton said. “Breaking apart what an interruption means is essential if we want to understand how humans interact with each other.”
1. What does Hilton’s research focus on?A.What interruptions mean to people. |
B.Whether interruption is good or not. |
C.How to avoid getting interrupted. |
D.Why speakers interrupt each other. |
A.Record an audio clip. | B.Answer some questions. |
C.Listen to one another. | D.Have a chat with a friend. |
A.It’s important. | B.It’s interesting. |
C.It’s inefficient. | D.It’s impolite. |
A.Human interaction is complex. |
B.Communication is the basis of life. |
C.Interruptions promote thinking. |
D.Language barriers will always exist. |
【推荐2】The Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院) fire has been put out, but its spire (尖顶) and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. “What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.”
But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely through a video game called Assassin’s Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.
The idea of making digital models of ancient buildings to save their data dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital model has great useful value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics.
Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
1. How can one still see the damaged parts of Notre Dame in Paris?A.Through a virtual video game. | B.By conducting comprehensive repairs. |
C.By reading relevant literature. | D.By repairing a large number of photos. |
①By advancing the AR gaming technology. ②By scanning the buildings.
③By building 3D models with diverse photos. ④By measuring all the parts exactly.
A.①②④ | B.①②③ | C.②③④ | D.①③④ |
A.Allow one to understand these historical heritage sites through personal experience. |
B.Preserve existing cultural heritage and store useful information. |
C.Enable historical sites to regain international certification through online traffic. |
D.Improve the utilization of mobile phones by appreciating historical heritage. |
A.A Plan for Architects to Reproduce A New Notre Dame |
B.A Desire for A Virtual Video Game to Repair Notre Dame |
C.The Era Calls for A Better Technology to Improve Notre Dame |
D.Virtual Way to Save Architectural Heritage |
【推荐3】In a world where “no news is good news” and good news is not news, the media doesn’t tell stories of good behavior very often, but gives a long description of conflicts instead. However, a new study suggests that good news can actually encourage good actions.
The study examines the warm, encouraging feeling we get from watching someone act with courage or kindness — a feeling known as “moral elevation (道德提升).” In the study, researchers explored whether people are encouraged to do good by simply watching the news on acts of kindness. They also tried to determine whether common acts of kindness would be enough to get fallings of morals elevation, or whether the actions had to be special or amazing.
People read articles and watched videos describing acts of common or uncommon kindness. Some read about an organization that creates neighborhood gardens, while others saw a music video showing how the singer helped poor communities around the world. People then had the chance to give money to others or keep it for themselves.
The results show that hearing about these good actions made people more likely to give away their money — but these actions must be amazing or special good actions, not just everyday acts of kindness. What’s more, people who saw themselves as highly moral people were likely to give money more often than those who did not.
This study has important influences on the news media, which likes to report negative events more often than positive ones. The results show that even a small change by the media could have deep influences. “We have every reason to believe that even a week stimulus (激励), like a story of moral goodness, can bring out moral elevation,” write the authors. So, if the news were to report no good actions more often, perhaps we would see a deep influence among readers.
1. What does the media think of the news on good actions?A.It is too rare. | B.It is of no value. | C.It is difficult to get. | D.It is more popular. |
A.Who is likely to enjoy good news. | B.Why people like good news more. |
C.What kind of news people like best. | D.How people can be influenced by good news. |
A.When they’ve known about special good actions. |
B.When they’ve hope to encourage others by kind acts. |
C.When they’ve been helped by others in daily life. |
D.When they hear about people who do good actions. |
A.Traditional media still has a place nowadays. |
B.Readers should choose to read good news more. |
C.People should be encouraged to do good actions. |
D.Making right news choices is important to the media. |