We’ve heard about radiation from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan reaching American shores. Experts say so far there is no reason to worry, and point out that we meet radiation every day. Where and how? NPR’s Renee Montagne posed that question to Peter Caracappa, a radiation safety officer and professor of nuclear engineering.
MONTAGNE: How many things emit radiation?
Dr CARACAPPA: Well, radiation and radioactive material is a part of nature. So everything that’s living has some amount of radiation coming from it—a very small amout. Plus there’s radiation in the ground and the air.
So the extremes are uranium in the soil to bananas?
Yes.
By the way, why do bananas have radiation?
Bananas have a lot of potassium(钾). And a small amount of potassium naturally is called potassium 40, which is radioactive
What’s the difference between radiation that’s harmful and not harmful?
Well, the term radiation can apply to a lot of different things. But the harmful radiation is ionizing(离子)radiation. It has enough energy that it can make chemical changes in material. We could get ionizing radiation from an X-ray, for example. It’s the kind of radiation that causes cancer.
The broader definition of radiation includes a lot of things that we call non-ionizing radiation. That includes everything like radio waves and visible light and your microwave.
So what then is the largest contributor of ionizing radiation?
For the natural sources of ionizing radiation, actually the biggest chunk of that tends to come from radon(氡), which is a radioactive material that is present in the air. It can become a concern when it builds up in low-lying areas of homes like basements.
Would it be fair to say that most people do not need to worry about the danger of being exposed to radiation?
I would say that the everyday exposure to radioation that we meet contributes an extremely tiny risk to our life or to our health compared to all of the other risks that we meet in our day-to-day life.
小题1:We can infer from the first paragraph that radiation is______.| A．rare | B．powerful | C．dangerous | D．common |
小题2:The passage may be _______.| A．an interview | B．an argument | C．a talk show program | D．a science report |
小题3:Whether radiation is harmful or not depends on______.| A．whether it has a small amount of potassium | | B．whether it changes chemical in materials. | | C．whether it has energy to change materials | | D．whether it is visible in life |
小题4:The purpose of writing this passage is to _______.| A．advise on how to protect us from radiation | | B．analyze what causes radiation in daily life | | C．warn people of the danger of radiation | | D．expect people not to fear everyday radiation |
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小题1:D
小题2:A
小题3:B
小题4:D |
试题分析：文章通过一次采访报道介绍了放射性的辐射是很普遍的现象，人们没有必要过于担心。
小题1:D 推理题。根据第一段第二行Experts say so far there is no reason to worry, and point out that we meet radiation every day.说明在我们的生活中放射性是很常见的事情，故D正确。
小题2:A 推理题。根据第一段最后两行NPR’s Renee Montagne posed that question to Peter Caracappa, a radiation safety officer and professor of nuclear engineering.说明Montagne在采访一名核方面的教授，故这是一次采访活动，A正确。
小题3:B 推理题。根据倒数第六段But the harmful radiation is ionizing(离子)radiation. It has enough energy that it can make chemical changes in material.说明当这样的离子有足够的能量产生化学反应的时候，就对人体有害了，故B正确。
小题4:D 主旨大意题。根据文章的主题段第一段可知在日常生活中放射性随处可见，是一种很普遍的现象，人们没有必要过去担心。故D正确。
点评：科普类短文是考生感觉难度较大的短文，因为文章中的生词较多，理解起来有一定的难度，在阅读时要培养猜测词义的能力和推理能力。 |
核心考点
试题【We’ve heard about radiation from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan reaching 】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
Joker found one of the biggest diamonds in the world right in his own back yard. He sold the stone to a diamond dealer for over three hundred thousand dollars. In New York, the diamond was resold---this time for almost eight hundred thousand dollars. The true value of a diamond is never known until it has been cut. Once cut successfully, its value can increase a thousand times. It"s easy to understand why the owner of Joker"s diamond went to the best diamond cutter he knew, Kaplan. The cutter studied the diamond for twelve whole months.
When he felt he was ready to start work, he discovered a flaw (瑕疵) . He had to begin his calculations all over again, or he might have made the stone useless. Six months passed, and Kaplan finally said to the owner, “I am ready to start my work. There will be one excellent diamond that will be comparable one excellent diamond of first-class quality (质量) " Kaplan waited a few more days until he felt he was in the best physical and mental (精神的) condition(条件) possible. He picked up his tools (工具) and held his breath as he made the diamond exactly as he promised.
小题1:Joker found one of the biggest diamonds in the world_________.| A．in a minute | B．at the foot of a big mountain | | C．in his own back yard | D．in a garage (汽车库) |
小题2:A diamond dealer is a person ___________.| A．in the diamond business | B．who stole diamonds | | C．who cuts diamonds | D．who sells diamonds |
小题3:When the diamond was resold,____________.| A．the dealer lost a lot of money | | B．Joker made some more money | | C．the dealer got 800, 000 dollars | | D．Kaplan got 800,000 dollars |
小题4:The owner of the diamond thought that if the diamond was cut successfully it might be worth_________.| A．$ 300, 000 | B．$ 500,000 | | C．$ 300, 000 | D．$ 800,000,000 |
小题5:Kaplan studied the diamond for____________.| A．more than one and a half years | | B．more than half a year | | C．over eight months | | D．more than nineteen months |
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Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age !
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change your clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk , and it knows the milk is old . In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve(袖子). Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli , “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example --what will be the next?
小题1:We can learn from the text that in the future__________.| A．people will never get old | | B．everyone will look the same | | C．red will be the most popular color | | D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
小题2:What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?| A．Milk will be harmful to health. | | B．More drinks will be available for sale. | | C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. | | D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
小题3:What is the text mainly about?| A．Food and clothing in 2035. | | B．Future technology in everyday life. | | C．Medical treatments of the future. | | D．The reason for the success of new technology. |
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I spent two months with an American family last year when I studied in America．It is said that “The best house is in the U.S.A．， the best wife is in Japan and the best food is in China．”So I took 36 and pleasure to 37 “the best food” for my American family．Each day，regardless of my poor skill of cooking，I performed my play in 38 way：changing the dishes’colour，the meat’s type or the soup’s style．Thus，my American friends could discover the 39 of eating Chinese food． Because of my“ 40 ” job，I was often rewarded by their 41 of appreciation , such as “very tasty”，“excellent”etc．But the joke was here： yesterday， I cooked Sichuan－style 42 for dinner．I was 43 at my achievement．When all the family members arrived at the table，they first looked 44 at the fish，then looked at me． “Why do all the fish have their 45 ？” they asked，“It’s horrible！” Horrible or beautiful？ I don’t know． But I 46 know that fish heads are delicious. The 47 is the best part of fish； in 48 only the respectable guest can have the special 49 of enjoying it． Another 50 thing is：the American friends often said to me“ 51 ”as they 52 fruits or other things． According to Chinese tradition，I would simply smile in answer to their kindness 53 actually helping myself to any of the food. 54 ，I said “help yourself” to them whenever I brought home fruits．Dear me，no matter how much or how often I brought home food， as long as it was nice to their taste，they 55 hesitated to use their hands to “help themselves” until all was finished．
| 小题1: | | A．worry | B．attention | C．delight | D．pride |
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| 小题2: | | A．buy | B．fetch | C．cook | D．leave |
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| 小题3: | | A．their | B．a new | C．the same | D．a simple |
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| 小题4: | | A．way | B．joy | C．trouble | D．importance |
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| 小题6: | | A．expressions | B．sentence | C．doing | D．smile |
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| 小题8: | | A．praised | B．pleased | C．bad | D．surprise |
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| 小题9: | | A．pleasedly | B．excitedly | C．surprisedly | D．worriedly |
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| 小题10: | | A．bones | B．flesh (人肉) | C．tails | D．heads |
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| 小题11: | | A．do | B．will | C．want to | D．should |
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| 小题12: | | A．tail | B．head | C．soup | D．flesh |
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| 小题13: | | A．fact | B．China | C．USA | D．the West |
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| 小题14: | | A．honour | B．seat | C．table | D．plate |
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| 小题15: | | A．real | B．exciting | C．interesting | D．easy |
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| 小题16: | | A．please help us | B．excuse me | C．help yourself | D．eat them please |
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| 小题17: | | A．brought home | B．wanted | C．were buying | D．were eating |
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| 小题18: | | A．not | B．but not | C．without | D．nor |
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| 小题19: | | A．At last | B．Above all | C．After all | D．In return |
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| 小题20: | | A．usual | B．often | C．never | D．had |
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Psychologists(心理学家) have known that what"s going on inside our head affects our senses. For example, poorer children think coins are larger than they are, and hungry people think pictures of food are brighter. Professor Remi Radel wanted to investigate(look into) how this happens -- whether it"s right away, as the brain receives signals from the eyes, or a little later, as the brain"s higher-level thinking processes get involved.
Radel chose 42 students and each student was told to arrive at the lab at noon after three or four hours of not eating on the day of the test. Then they were told there was a delay. Some were told to come back in 10 minutes; others were given an hour to get lunch. So half the students were hungry when they did the experiment and the other half had just eaten.
For the experiment, the participant looked at a computer screen. One by one, 80 words flashed on the screen. A quarter of the words were food-related. After each word, the person was asked how bright the word was and asked to choose which of two words they"d seen -- a food-related word like gateau (cake) or a neutral (中性的) word like bateau (boat).
Hungry people saw the food-related words as brighter and were better at identifying food-related words. Because the word appeared too quickly for them to be reliably seen, this means that the difference is in perception (直觉), Radel says—it"s not because of some kind of processing happening in the brain after you"ve already figured out what you"re looking at.
"This is something great to me, that humans can really realize what they need or what they hope for, to know that our brain can really arrange for our motives and needs," Radel says. "There is something inside us that selects information in the world to make life easier.”
小题1:The purpose of Radel"s research is to let us know ____.| A．how our thinking has effect on our senses happens | | B．what it is the good time for students to have lunch | | C．whether poorer children think coins are larger than they are | | D．whether hungry people think pictures of food are brighter |
小题2:In the experiment 20 words that flashed on the screen had something to do with “____”.| A．boat | B．food | C．mind | D．weather |
小题3:Which of the following is true about the experiment?| A．The students should stare at the words in the book. | | B．Each word appeared slowly in order that the participant could read it exactly. | | C．After each word flashed on the screen, the person was asked to finish two tasks. | | D．On the day of the test, all the students were very hungry because of the delay of their lunch. |
小题4:What does the new study find?| A．Actually our brain can arrange for our motives and needs. | | B．In the experiment the brain was totally controlled by the senses. | | C．People who had just eaten saw all the words more clearly than hungry people. | | D．The participants saw the words look different long after the brain dealt with the information. |
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Everybody hates rats. But in the earthquake capitals of the world—Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey—rats will soon be man’s new best friends.
What happens after an earthquake? We sent in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can’t get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.
How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat’s brain gives a signal (信号). This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat’s brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.
Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University,New York, says, “‘Robots ’noses don’t work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that.” Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don’t need electricity(电)!
The “rat project” is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Corps in Scotland says, “It would be fantastic. A rat could get into spaces we couldn’t get to and a rat would get out of it if it wasn’t safe.” Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).
小题1:In the world earthquake capitals, rats will become man’s best friends because they can .| A．take the place of man’s rescue jobs | | B．find the position of people alive who are trapped in buildings | | C．serve as food for people alive who are trapped in buildings. | | D．get into small spaces |
小题2:In doing rescue jobs, .| A．rats smell better than dogs | | B．dogs don’t need to be trained to smell people | | C．robots’ sense of smell can be affected by other smells around | | D．rats can see in the dark and smaller than robots |
小题3:Rats have all the following advantages EXCEPT that .| A．they are more fantastic than other animals | | B．they are less expensive to train than dogs | | C．they don’t need electricity | | D．they are small and can get into small places |
小题4:After reading the passage we can know .| A．at present rats have taken the place of dogs in searching for people | | B．the “rat project” has been completed | | C．people are now happy to see a rat in a building | | D．now people still use dogs and robots in performing rescues |
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