下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。请根据文章的内容，从每题所给的4个选项中选择l个最佳答案，涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
31、根据材料，回答31-36问题。
Effects of Environmental Pollution
If pollution continues to increase at the present rate, formation of aerosols (浮质) in theatmosphere will cause the onset (开始) of an ice age in about fifty years' time. Thisconclusion, reached by Dr S. I. Rasool and Dr S. H. Schneider of the United States GoddardSpace Flight Centre, answers the apparently conflicting questions of whether an increase in thecarbon dioxide (二氧化碳) content of the atmosphere will cause the Earth to warm up orincreasing the aerosol content will cause it to cool down. The Americans have shownconclusively that the aerosol question is dominant.
Two spectres haunting conservationists have been the prospect that environmental pollutionmight lead to the planet's becoming unbearably hot or cold. One of these ghosts has now beenlaid. because it seems that even an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphereto eight times its present value will produce an increase in temperature of only 2℃. whichwould take place over several thousand years. But the other problem now looms larger thanever.
Aerosols are collections of small liquid or solid particles dispersed in air or some othermedium. The particles are all so tiny that each is composed of only a few hundred atoms.Because of this they can float in the air for a very long time. Perhaps the most commonlyexperienced aerosol is industrial smog (烟雾) of the kind that plagued London in the 1950sand is an even greater problem in Los Angeles today. These collections of aerosols reflect theSun's heat and thereby cause the Earth to cool.
Dr. Rasool and Dr. Schneider have calculated the exact effect of a dust aerosol layer justabove the Earth's surface in the temperature of the planet. As the layer builds up, the presentdelicate balance between the amount of heat absorbed from the Sun and the amount radiated fromthe Earth is disturbed. The aerosol layer not only reflects much of the Sun's light but alsotransmits the infrhred (红外线的) radiation from below. So, while the heat input to thesurface drops, the loss of heat remains high until the planet cools to a new balanced state.
Within fifty years, if no steps are taken to stop the spread of aerosols in the atmosphere, acooling of the Earth by as much as 3.5℃. seems inevitable. If that lasts for only a few years itwould start another ice age, and because the growing ice caps at each pole would themselvesreflect much of the Sun's radiation it would probably continue to develop even if the aerosollayer were destroyed.
The only bright spot in this gloomy forecast lies in the hope expressed by Dr. Rasool and Dr. Schneider that nuclear power may replace fossil fuels in time to prevent the aerosol contentof the atmosphere from becoming critical.
The author's main purpose in writing the article is to warn of__________
A.warm weather
B.hot weather
C.a new ice age
D.a new iceberg
32、 The word "spectres" in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to__________
A.pollution.
B.carbon dioxide
C.aerosols
D.ghosts
33、 We learn from the third paragraph that__________
A.London was plagued with rats in the 1950s
B.London is covered with smog today
C.London was polluted by smog in the 1950s
D.Los Angeles is as heavily polluted today as London was in the 1950s
34、 What will happen if the dust aerosol layer develops__________ ?
A.The Earth will get extremely hot.
B.The balance between the amount of heat absorbed from the Sun and the amount lost could hardly be maintained.
C.The light of the Sun could no longer reach the surface of the Earth.
D.Infrared radiation could no longer be transmitted from the Earth to outer space.
35、 The only way to stop the spread of aerosols in the atmosphere, according to Dr.Rasool and Dr. Schneider, is to use__________
A.fossil fuels
B.electric power
C.nuclear energy
D.coal power
36、根据材料，回答36-41问题。
Musical Robot Companion Enhances Listener Experience
Shimi, a musical companion developed by Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology,recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback.The smartphone-enabled ( 智能手机支持的), one-foot-tall robot is billed as an interactive"musical friend".
"Shimi is designed to change the way that people enjoy and think about their music," saidProfessor Gil Weinberg, the robot's creator. He will unveil the robot at the June 27th GoogleI/O conference in San Francisco. A band of three Shimi robots will perform for guests, dancingin sync with music created in the lab and composed according to its movements.
Shimi is essentially a docking station with a "brain" powered by an Android phone. Oncedocked the robot gains the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user's mobiledevice, In other words, if there's an "app" for that, Shimi is ready. For instance, by using thephone's camera and face-detecting software, Shimi can follow a listener around the room andposition its "ears", or speakers, for optimal sound. Another recognition feature is based on rhythm and tempo. If the user taps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone's musical libraryand immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestions. Once the music starts, Shimidances to the rhythm.
"Many people think that robots are limited by their programming insthuctions," said MusicTechnology Ph. D. candidate Mason Bretan, "Shimi shows us that robots can be creative andinteractive. " Future apps in the works will allow the user to shake their head in disagreement orwave a hand in the air to alert Shimi to skip to the next song or increase/decrease the volume.The robot will also have the capability to recommend new music based on the user's songchoices and provide feedback on the music play list.
Weinberg hopes other developers will be inspired to create more apps to expand Shirni'screactive and interactive capabilities. "I believe that our center is ahead of a revolution that willsee more robots in homes. " Weinberg said.
Weinberg is in the process of commercializing Shimi through an exclusive licensingagreement with Georgia Tech. Weinberg hopes to make the robot available to consumers by the2013 holiday season. "If robots are going to arrive in homes, we think that they will be thiskind of machines -- small, entertaining and fun, " Weinberg said. "They will enhance yourlife and pave the way for more intelligent service robots in our lives.
Which of the following is NOT true according to the first three paragraphs__________?
A.Shimi is a one-foot tall robot.
B.Shimi is the creator of the musical companion.
C.Shimi is a docking station (对着站) with a "brain" powered by an Android phone.
D.Shimi can gain the sensing and musical generation capabilities of the user's mobile device.
37、 What does Shimi do if the user taps a beat__________?
A.It stores the beat in the musical library.
B.It transmits the beat to the docking station.
C.It Positions its speakers for optimal sound.
D.It selects a perfectly-matched song.
38、 Compared with those robber limited the programming, Shimi is__________
A.same
B.similar
C.identical
D.different
39、 What is the prediction of Weinberg about Shimi__________?
A.Shimi can be applied to all types of smart phones.
B.Shimi will bring more fun to the human lives.
C.Shimi will be appreciated by all users.
D.Shimi will be commercialized by the end of 2012.
40、 What can we infer from the last paragraph__________?
A.The research center is developing a stronger and more versatile Shimi.
B.Georgia Tech. will develop more apps for Shimi.
C.Shimi is not yet technologically ready for commercialization,
D.Robots such as Shimi are created for large corporations rather than homes.
41、根据材料，回答41-46问题。
Researchers Discover Why Humans Began Walking Upright
Most of us walk and carry items in our hands every day. These are seemingly simpleactivities that the majority of us don't question. But an international team of researchers,including Dr. Richmond from GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences have discoveredthat human walking upright , may have originated millions of years ago as an adaptation tocarrying scarce, high-quality resources. The team of researchers from the U. S., England,Japan and Portugal investigated the behavior of modern-day chimpanzees as they competed forfood resources, in an effort to understand what ecological settings would lead a large ape -- onethat resembles the 6 million-year old ancestor who shared in common with living chimpanzees --to walk on two legs.
"These chimpanzees provide a model of the ecological conditions under which our earliest ancestors might have begun walking on two legs, " said Dr. Richmond.
The research findings suggest that chimpanzees switch to moving on two limbs instead offour in situations where they need to monopolize a resource. Standing on two legs allows themto can'y much more at one time because it frees up their hands. Over time, intense bursts ofbipedal activity may have led to anatomical changes that in turn became the subject of naturalselection where competition for food or other resources was strong.
Two studies were conducted by the team in Guinea, The first study was conducted by theteam in Kyoto University's " outdoor laboratory" in a natural clearing in Bossou Forest.Researchers allowed the wild chimpanzees access to different combinations of two different typesof nut -- the oil palm nut, which is naturally widely available, and the coula nut (可乐果),
which is not. The chimpanzees " behavior was monitored in three situations: (a) when only oilpalm nuts were available , (b) when a small number of coula nuts were available, and (c)when coula nuts were the majority available resource. "
When the rare coula nuts were available only in small numbers, the chimpanzeestransported more at one time. Similarly, when coula nuts were the majority resource, thechimpanzees ignored the oil palm nuts altogether. The chimpanzees regarded the coula nuts as amore highly-prized resource and competed for them more intensely.
In such high-competition settings, the frequency of cases in which the chimpanzees startedmoving on two legs increased by a factor of four. Not only was it obvious that bipedalmovement allowed them to carry more of this precious resource, but also that they were activelytrying to move as much as they could in one go by using everything available -- even theirmouths.
The second study, by Kimberley Hockings of Oxford Brookes University was a 14-monthstudy of Bossou chimpanzees crop-raiding, a situation in which they have to compete for rateand unpredictable resources. Here,35 percent of the chimpanzees' activity involved some sort ofbipedal movement, and once again, this behavior appeared to be linked "to a clear attempt tocarry as much as possible at one time.
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the first two paragraphs__________?
A.Many people question the simple human activities of walking and carrying items.
B.Chimpanzee's behaviors may suggest why humans walk on two legs.
C.Human walking upright is viewed as an adaptation to carrying precious resources.
D.Our ancestors have something in common with those modern-day chimpanzees.
42、 Dr. Richmond conducted the experiment with the purpose of finding__________
A.when humans began walking on two legs
B.What made our ancestors walk upright
C.what benefits walking upright brought to our ancestors
D.how walking upright helped chimpanzees monopolize resources
43、 Kyoto Universitry's study discovered that chimpanzees__________
A.regarded both types of nut as priced resources
B.preferred oil palm nuts to coula nuts
C.liked coula nuts better than oil palm nuts
D.ignored both types of nut altogether
44、 Why did the chimpanzees walk on two limbs during Kyoto University's experiment__________?
A.Because they imitated the human way of walking just for fun.
B.Because they wanted to please the researchers to get more coula nuts from them.
C.Because they wanted to get to the nut-rich forest faster -- by walking that way.
D.Because they wanted to carry more nuts with two free limbs.
45、 What can we infer from the reading passage__________?
A.Chimpanzees are in the same process of evolution as our ancestors were.
B.Chimpanzees are similar to humans in many behaviors.
C.Walking on two limbs and walking on four limbs each have their advantages.
D.Human walking on two legs developed as a means of survival.
