vii. Response of a Hypnotized Person
viii. The Dangers of Hypnotism
ix. Hypnosis and Memory
x. Growth of Interest in Hypnotism
1. Paragraph B
2. Paragraph C
3. Paragraph D
4. Paragraph E
5. Paragraph F
Questions 6 - 8
In the following summary of the reading passage, fill in the blanks with one word each from the list below. Write your answers in boxes 6 - 8 on your answer sheet.
Hypnotism has traditionally been used as a form of 6 . But recently scientists have begun to study this 7 seriously. They are becoming convinced that hypnotism can be used not only to relieve physical pain but also as an adjunct to 8 .
List of Words
1. subjects 2. entertainment 3. behavior 4. information 5. phenomenon
6. psychotherapy 7. suggestion 8. memory 9. morphine
Questions 9 - 13
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? In boxes 9 - 13 write:
YES if the statement agrees with the information given
NO if the statement does not agree with the information given
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this
9. Scientists have found out what makes some people easier to hypnotize than others.
10. A person who does not recoil from the smell of ammonia is not deeply hypnotized.
11. Hypnotism can be a substitute for anesthesia.
12. Hypnotism can slow the action of part of the brain.
13. More doctors are learning the technique of hypnotism.
练习三
Almost everyone with or without a computer is aware of the latest technological revolution destined to change forever the way in which humans communicate, namely, the Information Superhighway, best exemplified by the ubiquitous Internet. Already, millions of people around the world are linked by computer simply by having a modem and an address on the "Net", in much the same way that owning a telephone links us to almost anyone who pays a phone bill. In fact, since the computer connections are made via the phone line, the Internet can be envisaged as a network of visual telephone links. It remains to see in which direction the Information Superhighway is headed, but many believe it is the educational hope of the future.
The World Wide Web, an enormous collection of Internet addresses or sites, all of which can be accessed for information, has been mainly responsible for the increase in interest in the Internet in the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the "Net" was comparable to an integrated collection of computerised typewriters, but the introduction of the "Web" in 1990 allowed not only text links to be made but also graphs, images and even video. A Web site consists of a "home page", the first screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be had to other subject related "pages" (or screens) at the site and on thousands of other computers all over the world. This is achieved by a process called "hypertext". By clicking with a mouse device on various parts of the screen, a person connected to the "Net" can go travelling, or "surfing" through a web of pages to locate whatever information is required.
Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your institution, your company's products or simply yourself, is what the Web and the Internet is all about. And what is more, information on the Internet is not owned or controlled by any one organisation. It is, perhaps, true to say that no-one and therefore everyone owns the "Net". Because of the relative freedom of access to information, the Internet has often been criticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in the hands of young computer users. This perception has proved to be largely false however, and the vast majority of users both young and old get connected with the Internet for the dual purposes for which it was intended-discovery and delight.
TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
a. Everyone is aware of the Information Superhighway. T F NG
b. Using the Internet costs the owner of a telephone extra money. T F NG
c. Internet computer connections are made by using telephone lines. T F NG
d. The World Wide Web is a network of computerised typewriters. T F NG
e. According to the author, the Information Superhighway may be T F NG
the future hope of education.
f. The process called 'hypertext' requires the use of a mouse device. T F NG
g. The Internet was created in the 1990s. T F NG
h. The "home page" is the first screen of a "Web" site on the "Net". T F NG
i. The media has often criticised the Internet because it is dangerous. T F NG
j. The latest technological revolution will change the way humans T F NG
communicate.
第十课时
练习四
The Australian political scene is dominated by two major parties that have quite different political agendas. However, the policies of the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party have become much more difficult to tell apart in recent years. In fact, it would be true to say that both parties consist of conservative, moderate and radical elements, and therefore the general public is often perplexed about which party to vote for. Nonetheless, it is usual to find that an Australian will lean towards supporting one of these two parties and remain faithful to that pary for life.
The Labor Party was formed early in the twentieth century to safeguard the interests of the common working man and to give the trade unions political representation in Parliament. The Party has always had strong connections with the unions, and supports the concept of a welfare society in which people who are less fortunate than others are financially, and otherwise, assisted in their quest for a more equitable slice of the economic pie. The problem is that such socialist political agendas are extremely expensive to implement and maintain, especially in a country that, although comparatively wealthy, is vast and with a small working and hence taxpaying population base. Welfare societies tend towards bankruptcy unless government spending is kept in check.
The Liberal Party, on the other hand, argues that the best way to ensure a fair division of wealth in the country is to allow more freedom to create it. This, in turn, means more opportunities, jobs created etc., and therefore more wealth available to all. Just how the poor are to share in the distribution of this wealth (beyond being given, at least in theory, the opportunity to create it) is, however, less well understood. Practice, of course, may make nonsense of even the best theoretical intentions, and often the less politically powerful are badly catered for under governments implementing "free-for-all" policies.
It is no wonder that given the two major choices offered them, Australian voters are increasingly turning their attention to the smaller political parties, which claim to offer a more balanced swag of policies, often based around one major current issue, Thus, for instance, at the last election there was the No Aircraft Noise Party, popular in certain city areas, and the Green Party, which is almost solely concerned with environmental issues.
TRUE/FALSE/NOT/GIVEN
a. Policies in support of the concept of a welfare society are costly. T F NG
b. Australians usually vote for the party they supported early in life T F NG
c. The Labor Party was formed by the trade unions. T F NG
d. Radical groups are only found within the Labor Party. T F NG
e. The Liberal Party was formed after the Labor Party. T F NG
f. Welfare-based societies invariably become bankrupt. T F NG
g. According to the author, theories do not always work in practice. T F NG
h. Some Australian voters are confused about who to vote for. T F NG
i. The No-Aircraft-Noise Party is only popular in the city. T F NG
j. The smaller parties are only concerned about the environment. T F NG
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14 - 27 which are based on Reading Passage 2.
NEW PLAN FOR AFRICAN REVIVAL
A African leaders have been working to make their Millennium Action Plan (MAP) for African recovery more attractive to investors and providers of financial support from outside the continent. The plan is the brainchild of Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, who wanted a way of bringing to life his vision of an "African renaissance."
B The mood of the UN millennium summit last year suggested that the world might be ready to help. Later, Tony Blair let it be known that he wanted a plan for Africa to feature in his second term as Britain's prime minister, but that he also wanted the initiative for this plan to come from Africa, and that he would then respond.
C This is what is happening. Mr Mbeki will, with the help of Mr Blair, present the plan to the G8 summit in Genoa later this year. The plan's central thesis is that Africa's development depends on its full involvement in the global economy, and that this requires a mixture of reform in Africa and assistance from other countries. The most important reforms are: establishing peace, and more democratic government; respecting human rights; investing in people by giving them better health and education; diversifying economies, and encouraging trade both within Africa and with the outside world; combating disease and boosting new technologies.
D In return for the promised reforms, the plan asks the developed world for more debt relief, the removal of trade barriers and the ending of its farm subsidies. Aid is low on the agenda, being mentioned only in the last few pages. However, some African leaders, represented by Mr. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, strongly believe that it is their right to claim more aid from the developed world in compensation for past exploitation.
E But in Africa, as in other parts of the Third World, any program that does not address the question of debt repayment is doomed to failure. In many countries in Africa governments are collecting billions of dollars from their people and giving the sums to Western governments and banks in loan repayments. Little is left for health care and education even when there is an emergency such as the one of AIDS. Last year, African countries paid $15 billion in foreign debt. But the debt keeps on growing. It is now estimated to stand between $315 billion and $375 billion.
F According to the World Bank report titled "African Development Indicators", the African people face problems in all aspects of life. One is poverty. About 300 million people, almost nearly half of the continent's population survives on less than 65 cents a day. The average GNP is US $492, but in 24 countries it is less than $350. Ethiopia's GNP is below $100; the Democratic Republic of Congo, less than $110; Burundi, less than $120; and Sierra Leone, less than $130. Most of the poor people are constantly moving to urban areas and swelling the population in town and city slums. Another is health care. This is one of the areas where the IMF and World Bank policies have had a huge impact. Governments have been forced to slash health care funding, and the result is shown by the increased infant mortality rates. Countries that had made some progress in reducing infant mortality rates in the 1960s and 1970s are now faced with increased mortality rates. Mortality rate in Africa is 10% but on average about 151 of every 1,000 children die before the age of 5. Very small improvement has been made on this. Developing countries have mortality rates ranging from 6 to 8. On top of this, the AIDS epidemic is having a disastrous effect on life expectancy. The third problem is poor education. Illiteracy levels remain at 41%, on average. For women the number is at 49%. In some countries, the progress made in the 1960s and 1970s is being reversed, because the high cost of education is cutting the school enrolment levels and as well as increasing dropout rates.
G Zambia, host to the upcoming Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit, has called for "concerted action" to deal with these problems. "The challenges that our founding fathers sought to address 38 years ago remain alive and relevant in today's world," Zambian Vice-President Enoch Kavindele told the OAU's council of ministers. Part of this "concerted action" is a move to integrate the OAU into a more comprehensive body to be called the African Union (AU). The AU, modeled loosely on the European Union, is the idea of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. It will consist of an executive, a central bank, a monetary fund, a parliament and a court of justice. In another move, Mbeki is pushing for the merger of the MAP with the Omega Plan. The latter, spearheaded by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, has set goals and defined financial means to narrow infrastructural gaps. The merger plan will be presented to the upcoming OAU summit.
Questions 14 - 19
Reading Passage 2 has 7 paragraphs (A - G). State which paragraph discusses each of the points below. Write the appropriate letter (A - G) in boxes 14 - 19 on your answer sheet.
Example Answer
The debilitating effect of debt of Africa. E
14. The problems ordinary Africans face
15. Efforts to find a unified voice for Africa
16. Demand for aid from rich countries
17. Proposed reforms to be undertaken by African countries
18. The new plan to attract more funding for Africa
19. A favorable international response
Questions 20 - 23
Which of the ideas below are associated with the following people? In boxes 20 - 23 write
M if the idea is associated with Robert Mugabe
T if the idea is associated with Thabo Mbeki
G if the idea is associated with Muammar Gaddafi
20. A proposal to attract more investment in Africa
21. The developed world owes compensation to Africa
22. Africa should copy the European Union.
23. "African renaissance"
Questions 24 - 27
Using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS answer the following questions. Write your answers in boxes 24 - 27 on your answer sheet.
23. What did Blair want Africans to do?
24. What is the biggest problem faced by people trying to help Africa?
25. Why has the life expectancy dropped drastically in Africa?
27. What strategy have African leaders adopted to solve their problems?
总结 NG题的八大考点
一 原文及题目只提到单件事物或状态的only题，答案是NG
二 题目就事物的本质进行是非对错判断，而原文是第三者评述或感知答案是NG
三 原文提到AB两事物，而题目涉及两者的比较关系，原文没有在同一段落内表述，答案NG
四 AB两事物在题目中是比较关系，而原文只提到其中任何一部分，答案NG
五 原文任何设问句不做回答，而题目进行了是非对错判断，答案NG
六 原文有发誓、许诺、决心等动作状态限定词，而题目去除以上的限定成分，答案是NG
七 原文仅仅表明题目状态的将来推测，而题目就将来状态做肯定与否定判断，答案是NG 1 time will tell 2 future will prove
八 原文就规定时间内特定地域，特定范围，做出是非判断，而题目特意模糊了以上特定因素，而转为一贯是非判断，答案是NG
练习五
The need for a satisfactory education is more important than ever before. Nowadays, without a qualification from a reputable school or university, the odds of landing that plum job advertised in the paper are considerably shortened. Moreover, one's present level of education could fall well short of future career requirements.
It is no secret that competition is the driving force behind the need to obtain increasingly higher qualifications. In the majority of cases, the urge to upgrade is no longer the result of an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The pressure is coming from within the workplace to complete with ever more qualified job applicants, and in many occupations one must now battle with colleagues in the reshuffle for the position one already holds.
Striving to become better educated is hardly a new concept. Wealthy parents have always been willing to spend the vast amounts of extra money necessary to send their children to schools with a perceived educational edge. Working adults have long attended night schools and refresher courses. Competition for employment has been around since the curse of working for a living began. Is the present situation so very different to that of the past?
The difference now is that the push is universal and from without as well as within. A student at secondary school receiving low grades is no longer as easily accepted by his or her peers as was once the case. Similarly, in the workplace, unless employees are engaged in part-time study, they may be frowned upon by their employers and peers and have difficulty even standing still. In fact, in these cases, the expectation is for careers to go backwards and earning capacity to take an appreciable nosedive.
At first glance, the situation would seem to be laudable; a positive response to the exhortation by a former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, for Australia to become the "clever country". Yet there are serious ramifications according to at least one educational psychologist. Dr Brendan Gatsby has caused some controversy in academic circles by suggesting that a bias towards what he terms "paper" excellence might cause more problems than it is supposed to solve. Gatsby raises a number of issues that affect the individual as well as society in general.
Firstly, he believes the extra workload involved is resulting in abnormally high stress levels in both students at secondary school and adults studying after working hours. Secondly, skills which might be more relevant to the undertaking of a sought-after job are being overlooked by employers interviewing candidates without qualifications on paper. These two areas of concern for the individual are causing physical and emotional stress respectively.
Gatsby also argues that there are attitudinal changes within society to the exalted role education now plays in determining how the spoils of working life are distributed. Individuals of all ages are being driven by social pressures to achieve academic success solely for monetary considerations instead of for the joy of enlightenment. There is the danger that some universities are becoming degree factories with an attendant drop in standards. Furthermore, our education system may be rewarding doggedness above creativity; the very thing Australians have been encouraged to avoid. But the most undesirable effect of this academic paper chase, Gatsby says, is the disadvantage that "user pays" higher education confers on the poor, who invariably lose out to the more financially favoured.
Naturally, although there is agreement that learning can cause stress, Gatsby's comments regarding university standards have been roundly criticised as alarmist by most educationists who point out that, by any standard of measurement, Australia's education system overall, at both secondary and tertiary levels, is equal to that of any in the world.
TRUE/FALSE/NOT/GIVEN
a. It is impossible these days to get a good job without a qualification T F NG
from a respected institution.
b. Most people who upgrade their qualifications do so for the joy T F NG
of learning.
c. In some jobs, the position you hold must be reapplied for. T F NG
d. Some parents spend extra on their children's education because T F NG
of the prestige attached to certain schools.
e. According to the text, students who performed bally at school T F NG
used to be accepted by their classmates.
f. Employees who do not undertake extra study may find their T F NG
salary decreased by employers.
g. Australians appear to have responded to the call by a former T F NG
Prime Minister to become better qualified.
h. Australia's education system is equal to any in the world in the T F NG
opinion of most educationists.
第十一课时
练习六
Over 120 years ago, the English botanist J.D. Hooker, writing of Australian edible plants. suggested that many of them were "eatable but not worth eating". Nevertheless, the Australian flora, together with the fauna, supported the Aboriginal people well before the arrival of Europeans. The aborigines were not farmers and were wholly dependent for life on the wild products around them. They learned to eat, often after treatment, a wide variety of plants.
The conquering Europeans displaced the Aborigines, killing many, driving others from their traditional tribal lands, and eventually settling many of the tribal remnants on government reserves, where flour and beef replaced nardoo and wallaby as staple foods. And so, gradually, the vast store of knowledge, accumulated over thousands of years, fell into disuse. Much was lost.
However, a few European men took an intelligent and even respectful interest in the people who were being displaced. Explorers, missionaries, botanists, naturalists and government officials observed, recorded and, fortunately in some cases, published. Today, we can draw on these publications to form the main basis of our knowledge of the edible, natural products of Australia. The picture is no doubt mostly incomplete. We can only speculate on the number of edible plants on which no observation was recorded.
Not all our information on the subject comes from the Aborigines, Times were hard in the early days of European settlement, and traditional foods were often in short supply or impossibly expensive for a pioneer trying to establish a farm in the bush. And so necessity led to experimentation, just as it must have done for the Aborigines, and experimentation led to some lucky results. So far as is known, the Aborigines made no use of Leptospermum or Dodonaea as food plants, Yet the early settlers found that one could be used as a substitute for tea and the other for hops. These plants are not closely related to the species they replaced, so their use was not based on botanical observation. Probably some experiments had less happy endings; L.J. Webb has used the expression "eat, die and learn" in connection with the Aboriginal experimentation, but it was the successful attempts that became widely known. It is possible the edibility of some native plants used by the Aborigines was discovered independently by the European settlers or their descendants.
Explorers making long expeditions found it impossible to carry sufficient food for the whole journey and were forced to rely, in part, on food that they could find on the way, Still another source of information comes from the practice in other countries. There are many species from northern Australia which occur also in southeast Asia, where they are used for food.
In general, those Aborigines living in the dry inland areas were largely dependent for their vegetable foods on seed such as those of grasses, acacias and eucalypts. They ground these seeds between flat stones to make a coarse flour. Tribes on the coast, and particularly those in the vicinity of coastal rainforests, had a more varied vegetable diet with a higher proportion of fruits and tubers. Some of the coastal plants, even if they had grown inland, probably would have been unavailable as food since they required prolonged washing or soaking to render them non-poisonous: many of the inland tribes could not obtain water in the quantities necessary for such treatment. There was also considerable variation in the edible plants available to Aborigines in different latitudes. In general, the people who lived in the moist tropical areas enjoyed a much greater variety than those in the southern part of Australia.
Question 1 - 7
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 1 - 7 write:
YES if the statement reflects the writer's claims
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVES if there is no information about this in the passage
1. Most of the pre-European Aboriginal knowledge of wild foods has been recovered.
2. There were few food plants unknown to pre-European Aborigines.
3. Europeans learned all of what they knew of edible wild plants from aborigines.
4. Dodonaea is an example of a plant used for food by both pre-European Aborigines and European settlers.
5. Some Australian food plants are botanically related to plants outside Australia.
6. Pre-European Aboriginal tribes closer to the coast had access to a greater variety of food plants than tribes further inland.
7. Some species of coastal food plants were also found inland.
练习四
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1 - 14 which are based on Reading Passage below.
GETTING GIRLS ON-LINE
When Nancy Leveson, now a computer science professor at the University of Washington, was teaching math at a California high school, her best student also happened to be one of the prettiest and most popular girls around. And when the girl got the highest score on a test, Leveson thought nothing of announcing the achievement while handing back the papers. As soon as the class ended, though, the distraught student approached. She begged her teacher never, ever to embarrass her like that again.
The incident happened nearly 20 years ago, but Leveson notes that little has changed. Now, as then, too many teenage girls feel uncomfortable and even unwelcome in the realms of math, science and computing. Research shows that girls who are gifted in these subjects in elementary school begin to shy away from them by the seventh grade. Eventually, they convince themselves that these are male domains. "By saying only men are good at these things, you make the women who are good at them seem like freaks," says Leveson.
Increasingly, however, educators are trying to reverse the process by retraining teachers and redirecting students. Funded with more than $1 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and seven corporations, Computer Equity Expert Project (CEEP) showed 200 math and computer-science teachers how to recognize and eliminate gender bias in their classrooms. CEEP urged teachers to bring more girls into the world of computers by setting up mentoring programs with older students and having girls-only days at the school computer labs.
Both public and private schools are trying to close the technology gap. Because girls tend to do better in the sciences without the distraction of boys, three California schools have started girls-only math classes over the last two years, with promising results. Other schools are hooking up with colleges for help and inspiration.
But however wonderful the subject looks in high school, interest often diminishes in college, where women earned only 30% of the undergraduate degrees awarded in computer science in 1991, and 16% in engineering in 1993, as opposed to medical school, where women make up 36% of total enrolment. The proportion shrinks still more at the doctoral level, where women receive only 15% of computer science PhDs and under 10% of engineering PhDs.
Many college women are turned off by the macho swagger of technojocks at schools like MIT, where staying awake for three days to perfect a piece of software is seen as a test of virility. That kind of attitude "sets cultural parameters not just for MIT but for the intense nature of the computer culture everywhere," says Steven Levy, author of Hackers: heroes of the Computer Revolution. As a result, it's hard to find female role models in computer science.
To keep women interested in the field, Nancy Leveson and a colleague from the University of British Columbia spearheaded a program that will match 20 female undergraduates with faculty mentors around the country this summer, thanks to a $240000 grant from the NSF.
In Rochester, NY, the Rochester Institute of Technology's Women in Science, Engineering and Math mentoring program aims to spark high school girls' career interests by linking 140 girls and professional women in a computer network. Coordinators, who hope to extend the four-month program to three years, note the intense interest shown by girls and women. "I can't keep the mentors away," says Carol O'Leary, who helped set the program up. "I was looking for 40, and I have 67. Women are anxious to give of themselves."
Eventualy, these computer educators would like to make gender-specific programs obsolete, but that will happen only when computer-science education becomes more creative, according to Paula Rayman, director of Pathways for Women in the Sciences, a research program at Wellesley College. By way of example, Rayman points to her 9-year-old daughter, Lily, whose fourth-grade class at the Bowman Elementary School in Lexington, Mass., is learning several sciences under the guise of bicycle repair. The kids aren't just fixing bikes but ingesting knowledge about mechanics, scientific history and the physics of motion. They're also using their computers to generate charts, graphs and databases. Children of both sexes are eager to work with computers because the machines are revealed as both entertaining and useful, not just as a source of boring drills or violent games, which girls usually find unappealing.
"When it comes to girls and computers," says Rayman, "we've found that there are three ingredients for user-friendliness: hands-on experience, teamwork and relevance." These ingredients, of course, would increase anyone's mastery of computers, as well as the usefulness of the machines. By trying to do a better job of teaching girls, computer scientists may learn quite a lot themselves.
Questions 1 - 4
Choose the appropriate letters A - D for each question and write them in boxes 1 - 4 on your answer sheet.
1. Nancy Leveson is
A. the girl who got the highest score on a test.
B. a university professor.
C. a high school teacher of math.
D. one of the prettiest girls in school.
2. Females generally do best at math and science
A. up to seventh grade.
B. when they feel comfortable and welcome in the course.
C. when they are teenagers.
D. when they can compete with males.
3. CEEP is
A. providing funds for teacher training.
B. redirecting students.
C. banning boys from the computer labs.
D. helping more girls study computers.
4. Which of the following is true about women studying in university?
A. 10% studying engineering got PhDs.
B. 36% of total enrolments are in medical school.
C. 16% of undergraduate engineering degrees were awarded to women.
D. 30% studying computer science in 1991 got degrees.
Questions 5 - 8
Four individuals are mentioned in the Passage. For whom are the following statements true?
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 5 - 8 on your answer sheet.
NL Nancy Leveson SL Steve Levy
PR Paula Rayman CO Carol O'Leary
Example Answer
Use to teach mathematics NL
5. has a daughter
6. helped organize the mentor program
7. wrote a book
8. is head of mentor program
Questions 9 - 14
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 9 - 14 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
9. The overwhelmingly male computer culture repels many women.
10. The Rochester Institute of Technology is organizing a three-year mentoring program for girls.
11. Special computer programs are being written for women.
12. Women are often anxious about themselves.
13. Physics and history are two of the main subjects taught at Bowman.
14. Computer scientists are likely to learn a lot from teaching girls.
练习一
Putrescible sanitary and kitchen wastes are discharged into the ocean but must be processed in accordance with regulations set by the Federal government. This material is diluted rapidly and contributes to the local food chain, without any risk of nutrient oversupply. All solid waste material must be brought ashore.
The cuttings are sieved out of the drilling fluid and usually discharged into the ocean. In shallower waters they form a low mound near the rig; in deeper water a widerspread layer forms, generally within one kilometre of the drillsite, although this depends on a number of factors. Some benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms may be smothered, but this effect is local and variable, generally limited to within about 100 metres of the discharge point. Better-adapted organisms soon replace them and storm-driven wave activity frequently sweeps away the material.
Drilling fluid is also discharged directly into the ocean. Most of the common constituents of water-based fluids used in Australia have low-to-nil toxicity to marine organisms. Some additives are toxic but are used in small concentrations and infrequently. The small amounts of heavy metals present are not absorbed into the bodies of marine organisms, and therefore it is unlikely that they would pose a problem for animals higher up the food chain. Field studies have shown that dilution is normally very rapid, ranging to 1,000-fold within 3 metres of the discharge point. At rivoli-1 well in Exmouth Gulf, the input was chemically undetectable 560 metres away.
Oil-based drilling fluids have a more toxic component, and discharge to the marine environment is more significant. However, they are used only rarely in Australia, and the impact remains relatively local. At Woodside's North Rankin A Platform offshore Western Australia, the only facility currently using oil-based fluids, the discharge is diluted 2,000-fold within 1 kilometre downcurrent, and undetectable beyond 200 metres either side.
In the event of a discovery, the presence of a permanent production facility and the discharge of "produced water" are additional concerns. Produced water is the water associated with the oil or gas deposit, and typically contains some petroleum, dissolved organic matter and trace elements. Most produced water is effectively nontoxic but, even when relatively toxic, is quickly diluted to background levels. The impact occurs mainly within about 20 metres of the discharge point, but is observable in some instances for about 1 kilometre downcurrent. Government regulations limit the oil content allowed to be discharged, and the produced water is treated on the platforms to meet those specifications. The discharge points are carefully selected to maximise dispersion and dilution, and avoid any particularly sensitive local environments.
Ultimately the best test of the real environmental effect of drilling and producing operations may be the response of the environment to the fixed production platforms. In many areas the platforms quickly become artificial reefs, with the underwater supports of the platforms providing a range of habitats, from sea-bottom to surface, and quickly colonised by a wide range of marine plants and animals.
Questions 1 - 8
Using the information in the passage, identify each type of waste described below. In boxes 1 to 8 on your answer sheet, write
SK-1 if the statement refers to sanitary and kitchen wastes which decay
SK-2 if the statement refers to solid sanitary and kitchen wastes
C if the statement refers to cuttings
DW if the statement refers to drilling fluid-water-based
DO if the statement refers to drilling fluid-oil based
PW if the statement refers to produced water
Note: each indicator may be used more than once. An example has been done for you.
Example This waste is one thousand times weaker at a point three metres from where it enters the ocean.
Answer DW
1. This waste must not be discharged into the ocean.
2. This waste may contain heavy metals and toxic additives.
3. This waste can be used as a food source by marine organisms.
4. This waste is produced at only one location in Australian waters.
5. This waste consists of solids which are usually deposited on the ocean floor near the drilling rig.
6. This waste may sometimes cause problems due to its petroleum content.
7. This waste consists of substances very slightly poisonous or not poisonous at all to sea life, although substances added to it may be more harmful.
8. Because this waste contains oil, its discharge is carefully controlled to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.
练习二
The composition of landfills is also strikingly different from what is commonly believed. In 1990 US survey people were asked whether particular items were a major cause of garbage problems. Disposable nappies (baby diapers) were identified as a major cause by 41 per cent of the survey respondents, plastic bottles by 29 per cent, all forms of paper by six per cent, and construction debris by zero per cent. Yet Garbage Project data shows that two per cent of the volume of landfills and plastic bottles less than one percent. On the other hand, over 40 per cent of the volume of landfills is composed of paper and around 12 per cent is construction debris.
Packaging—the paper and plastic wrapping around goods bought—has also been seen as a serious cause of pollution, but while some packaging is excessive, the Garbage Project researchers note that most manufacturers use as little as possible, because less is cheaper. They also point out that modern product packaging frequently functions to reduce the overall size of the solid-waste stream.
This apparent paradox is illustrated by the results of a comparison of garbage from a large and socially diverse sample of households in Mexico City with a similarly large and diverse sample in three United States cities. Even after correcting for differences in family size, US households generated far less garbage than the Mexican ones. Because they are much more dependent on processed and packaged foods than Mexican households, US households produce much less food debris. (And most of the leaves, husks, etc. that the US processor has removed from the food can be used in the manufacture of other products, rather than entering the waste stream as is the likely fate with fresh produce purchased by households.)
One criticism made of Western societies is that the people are wasteful, and throw things away while they are still useable. This, however, does not seem to be true. Garbage Project data showed that furniture and consumer appliances were entering the solid waste stream at a rate very much less than would be expected from production and service-life figures. So the researchers set up a study to track the fate of such items and thus gained an insight into the huge informal and commercial trade in used goods that rarely turns up in official calculations and statistics.
The Garbage Project's work shows how many misconceptions exist about garbage. The researchers are therefore critical of attempts to promote one type of waste management, such as source reduction or recycling, over others, such as incineration or landfilling. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and what may be appropriate for one locality may not be appropriate for another.
Questions 1 - 3
Below are some of the wrong ideas that the passage states people have about garbage. Match each misconception I - IV with TWO counterarguments A - M used in the passage to argue against them. Write the appropriate letters A - M in boxes 1 - 3 on your answer sheet.
MISCONCEPTIONS
Example
I. Landfills are dangerous because they are full of germs and chemicals.
II. Household items, like disposable nappies, are a major cause of garbage problems.
III. Packaging is wasteful, and causes excess garbage.
IV. Western societies waste many useable items.
COUNTERARGUMENTS
A 40% of landfills is paper
B perishable items are often almost unchanged, even after long periods of time
C People throw away furniture and consumer appliances
D processing and packaging cuts down on other garbage
E chemicals become less dangerous after 20 years
F disposable nappies make up less than 2% of landfills
G fresh food creates less waste debris
H chemicals do not spread far in landfills
I plastic bottles are a bigger waste problem than nappies
J there are many businesses that collect and resell things people no longer want
K manufacturers cut their costs by using as little packaging as possible
L household goods constituted a smaller than expected part of solid waste
M people use fewer disposable nappies now than in past years
Example Answer
Counter arguments for Misconception I: B & H
Counter arguments for Misconception II : ________(1)________
Counter arguments for Misconception III : ________(2)________
Counter arguments for Misconception IV : ________(3)________
练习三
It looks as if it came straight from the set of Star Wars. It has four-wheel drive and rises above rocky surfaces. It lowers and raises its nose when going up and down hills. And when it comes to river, it turns amphibious: two hydrojets power it along by blasting water under its body. There is room for two passengers and a driver, who sit inside a glass bubble operating electronic, aircraft-type controls. A vehicle so daring on land and water needs windscreen wipers—but it doesn't haven any. Water molecules are disintegrated on the screen's surface by ultrasonic sensors.
This unusual vehicle is the Racoon. It is an invention not of Hollywood but of Renault, a rather conservative French state-owned carmaker, better known for its family hatchbacks. Renault built the Racoon to explore new freedoms for designers and engineers created by advances in materials and manufacturing processes. Renault is thinking about startlingly different cars; other producers have radical new ideas for trains, boats and aeroplanes.
The first of the new freedoms is in design. Powerful computer-aided design (CAD) systems can replace with a click of a computer mouse hours of laborious work done on thousands of drawing boards. So new products, no matter how complicated, can be developed much faster. For the first time, Boeing will not have to build a giant replica of its new airliner, the 777, to make sure all the bits fit together. Its CAD system will take care of that.
But Renault is taking CAD further. It claims the Racoon is the world's first vehicle to be designed within the digitised world of virtual reality. Complex programs were used to simulate the vehicle and the terrain that it was expected to cross. This allowed a team led by Patrick Le Quement, Renault's industrial-design director, to "drive" it long before a prototype existed.
Renault is not alone in thinking that virtual reality will transform automotive design. In Detroit, Ford is also investigating its potential. Jack Telnac, the firm's head of design, would like designers in different parts of the world to work more closely together, linked by computers. They would do more than style cars. Virtual reality will allow engineers to peer inside the working parts of a vehicle. Designers will watch bearings move, oil flow, gears mesh and hydraulics pump. As these techniques catch on, even stranger vehicles are likely to come along.
Transforming these creations from virtual reality to actual reality will also become easier, especially with advances in materials. Firms that once bashed everything out of steel now find that new alloys or composite materials (which can be made from mixtures of plastic, resin, ceramics and metals, reinforced with fibres such as glass or carbon) are changing the rules of manufacturing. At the same time, old materials keep getting better, as their producers try to secure their place in the factory of the furture. This competition is increasing the pace of development of all materials.
One company in this field is Scaled Composites. It was started in 1982 by Burt Rutan, an aviator who has devised many unusual aircraft. His company develops and tests prototypes that have ranged from business aircraft to air racers. It has also worked on composite sails for the America's Cup yacht race and on General Motors' Ultralite, a 100-miles-per-gallon experimental family car built from carbon fibre.
Again, the Racoon reflects this race between the old and the new. It uses conventional steel and what Renault describes as a new "high-limit elastic steel" in its chassis. This steel is 30% lighter than the usual kind. The Racoon also has parts made from composites. Renault plans to replace the petrol engine with a small gas turbine, which could be made from heat-resisting ceramics, and use it to run a generator that would provide power for electric motors at each wheel.
With composites it is possible to build many different parts into a single component. Fiat, Italy's biggest car maker, has worked out that it could reduce the number of components needed in one of its car bodies from 150 to 16 by using a composite shell rather than one made of steel. Aircraft and cars may increasingly be assembled as if they were plastic kits.
Advances in engine technology also make cars lighter. The Ultralite, which Scaled Composites helped to design for General Motors, uses a two-stroke engine in a "power pod" at the rear of the vehicle. The engine has been developed from an East German design and weighs 40% less than a conventional engine but produces as much power. It is expected to run cleanly enough to qualify as an ultra-low emissions vehicle under California's tough new rules.
Questions 1 - 6
These five companies are mentioned in Reading Passage 1. Which company is each of the following design features associated with?
Write the letters of the appropriate company in boxes 1 - 6 on your answer sheet.
SC if it is Scaled Composites
R if it is Renault
GM if it is General Motors
F if it is Fiat
B if it is Boeing
1. a power pod
2. electronic controls
3. a composite body
