entertain themselves, after engineers in Japan developed a musical road surface.
A team from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has built a number of "melody roads",
which use cars as tuning forks(音叉)to play music as they travel.
The concept works by using grooves(凹槽). They are cut at very specific intervals in the road
surface. The melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes.
Depending on how far apart the grooves are, a car moving over them will produce a series of high
or low notes, and designers are able to create a distinct tune.
Patent documents for the design describe it as notches(刻痕)"formed in a road surface so as to play
a melody without producing simple sound or rhythm and reproduce melodylike tones".
There are three musical strips in central and northern Japan-one of which plays the tune of a Japanese
pop song. Reports say the system was invented by Shizuo Shinoda. He scraped some markings into a
road with a bulldozer(推土机)before driving over them and found that they helped to produce all kinds
of tones.
The optimal speed for melody road is 44 kph, but people say it is not always easy to get the
intended sound.
"You need to keep the car windows closed to hear well," wrote one Japanese blogger. "Driving too
fast will sound like playing fast forward, while driving around 12 mph[20 km/h]has a slowmotion effect,
making you almost carsick."
B. grooves
C. spaces between intervals
D. bulldozers
B. how big the grooves are
C. the number of the grooves
D. the speed of the car
B. possible
C. best
D. suitable
B. drive slowly
C. open the windows wide
D. keep the windows closed
B. Melody Roads in Japan
C. A Musical Road Surface
D. A New Invention in Japan
age you ought to be growing away from your parents. You should be learning to stand on your own two
feet. But take a good look at the present rebellion. It seems that teenagers are taking the same way of
showing that they disagree with their parents. Instead of striking out boldly on their own, most of them
are clutching (紧握) at one another"s hands for reassurance.
They claim they want to dress as they please. But they all wear the same clothes. They set off in new
directions in music. But somehow they all end up huddled (聚在一起) round listening to the same record. Their reason for thinking or acting in thusandsuch a way is that the crowd is doing it. They have come out
of their cocoon (蚕茧) into a larger_cocoon.
It has become harder and harder for a teenager to stand up against the popularity wave and to go his
or her own way. Industry has firmly carved out a teenage market. These days every teenager can learn
from the advertisements what a teenager should have and be. And many of today"s parents have come
to award high marks for the popularity of their children. All this adds up to a great barrier for the teenager who wants to find his or her own path.
But the barrier is worth climbing over. The path is worth following. You may want to listen to classical music instead of going to a party. You may want to collect rocks when everyone else is collecting records. You may have some thoughts that you don"t care to share at once with your classmates. Well, go to it.
Find yourself. Be yourself. Popularity will come-with the people who respect you for who you are. That
is the only kind of popularity that really counts.
1. In this passage, the author wants to tell ________.
A. teenagers to try to pursue their real selves
B. readers to try to be popular with people around
C. parents to try to control and guide their children
D. people to try to understand and respect each other
2. The author disapproves of rebelling teenagers ________.
A. growing away from their parents
B. following the popularity trend
C. walking a new way on their own
D. turning to their friends for help
3.The phrase "larger cocoon" at the end of the second paragraph refers to ________.
A. the distractive and variable society
B. the dazzling music world
C. the parental care and love
D. the popularity wave in the society
注意:每个空格只填一个单词。
The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has an idea of its meaning.
However, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confusing, but everyone
should understand its meaning and objectives (目标). Just to make the explanation as simple as possible,
suppose science is defined as classified knowledge or facts.
Even in the true science, distinguishing fact from fiction is not always easy. For this reason great care
should be taken to distinguish between beliefs and truths. There is no danger as long as a clear difference
is made between temporary and proved explanations. For example, hypotheses(假设) and theories are
attempts to explain natural phenomena. From these positions the scientist continues to experiment and
observe until they are proved or discredited. The exact status of any explanation should be clearly
labeled to avoid confusion.
The objectives of science are primarily the discovery and later the understanding of the unknown.
Man cannot be satisfied with recognizing that secrets existing in nature of those questions are
unanswerable; he must solve them. Toward that end, specialists in the field of biology and related fields
of interest are directing much of their time and energy.
Actually, two basic approaches lead to the discovery of new information. One, aimed at satisfying
curiosity, is referred to as pure science. Sometimes practicalminded people miss the point of pure science
in thinking only of its immediate application for economic rewards. However, one should remember that
the construction of the microscope had to come before the discovery of the cell. The scientists devoting
their lives to pure science are not apologetic about ignoring the practical side of their discoveries; they
know from experience that most knowledge is eventually applied.
The other is aimed at using knowledge for specific purposes-for instance, improving health, raising
standards of living, or creating new consumer products. In this case knowledge is put to economic use.
Such an approach is referred to as applied science.
The 1.________ of science | |||||||||||||
2.________ of science | |||||||||||||
● To define science, we may 3.________ call it classified knowledge or facts. | |||||||||||||
● It is essential, though not 4.________, for us to distinguish fact from fiction. | |||||||||||||
Objectives of science | Science is 5.________ at discovering and understanding the unknown. | ||||||||||||
Two basic 6. ________ to new discovery | |||||||||||||
Pure science | Scientists, who may be blamed for 7.________ the practical side of their work, make discoveries out of 8.________. | ||||||||||||
9.________science | Knowledge is put to economic 10.________, for example, improving health, raising living standards and creating new consumer products. | ||||||||||||
完形填空 | |||||||||||||
Although in 1947 we were still very new to the atomic (原子的) age, we knew about mushroom | |||||||||||||
|