A

　　Have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs？We all use them，often without noticing what we’re doing.

　　I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week，and I said “I’ll_pencil_it_in_my_diary”，and my friend said “You must ink it in”，meaning that it was a firm arrangement!

　　Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology.An obvious example is the word “fax”．We all got used to sending and receiving faxes，and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we’d fax it immediately.Then along came emails，and we were soon all emailing each other madly.How did we do without it？I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.

　　Also，my computer and its software have produced another couple of new verbs.On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I’ll want to look at again.And I can do the same thing on my PC，but there I don’t bookmark；I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”，so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun this time.

　　Now my children bought me a mobile phone，known simply as a mobile and I have to learn yet more new verbs.I can message someone，that is，I can leave a message for them on their phone.Or I can text them，write a few words suggesting，when and where to meet，for example.How long will it be before I can mobile them，that is，phone them using my mobile？I haven’t heard that verb yet，but I’m sure I will soon.Perhaps I’ll start using it myself!

　　4.“I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means________.

　　A．it was a firm arrangement

　　B．it was an uncertain arrangement

　　C．the arrangement is written as a diary

　　D．he prefers a pencil to a pen

　　5．A website address can be easily found if it has been________for the author.

　　A．emailed

　　B．messaged

　　C．favorited

　　D．texted

　　6．Which of the following has not been used as a verb，yet?

　　A．message

　　B．pencil

　　C．email

　　D．mobile

　　7．The best title for this passage is“________”．

　　A．New Verbs from Nouns

　　B．New Technology and New words

　　C．The English Language

　　D．Technology and Language

　　Robots have proved to be valuable tools for soldiers, surgeons and homeowners hoping to keep the carpet clean. But in each case, they are designed and built specifically for the job. Now there is a movement under way to build multipurpose machines-robots that can move about in changing environments such as offices or living rooms and work with their hands.

　　All-purpose robots are not, of course, a new idea. “It’s been five or 10 years from happening for about 50 years,” says Eric Berger, co–director of the Personal Robotics Program at Willow Garage, a Silicon Valley organization. The delay is in part because even simple tasks require a huge set of capabilities. For a robot to fetch a mug, for example, it needs to make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensors–laser scanners identifying potential blocking objects, cameras searching for the target, force feedback in the fingers that grasp the mug, and more. Yet Berger and other experts are confident that real progress could be made in the next decade.

　　The problem, according to Willow Garage, is the lack of a common platform for all that computational effort. Instead of enlarging the capabilities of a single machine, everyone is designing robots and the software to control them, from the ground up. To help change this, Willow Garage is currently producing 25 copies of its model PR2 (for “Personal Robot 2”), a two–armed, wheeled machine that can switch off the electricity, open doors and move through a room. Ten of the robots will stay in–house, but 10 more will go to outside research groups, and everyone will share their advances. This way, Berger says, if you want to build the robotic equivalent (等同物) of a Twitter (推特网站), you won’t start by constructing a computer. “you build the thing that’s new.”

　　31．The robots are mentioned to do some specific jobs EXCEPT in

　　.

　　A．battle fields B．operation room

　　C．people’s houses D．wild fields

　　32．The multipurpose robot may be identified as a machine that

　　.

　　A．can move about in changing environments and work with their hands

　　B．can make sense of data gathered by a variety of sensors

　　C．has a huge set of abilities to finish all the simple tasks

　　D．has identifying laser scanners, searching cameras and force feedback

　　33．According to Willow Garage, we will make real progress in building all-purpose robots if ___________ .

　　A．everyone is designing robots and the software to control them

　　B．they can produce 25 copies of its model PR2

　　C．people can enlarge the capabilities of a single machine

　　D．people can start by constructing a computer

　　34．Willow Garage is currently producing 25 copies of its model PR2 so as to _________ .

　　A．design robots and the software to control them

　　B．change the way of new robot construction research

　　C．open doors and go to outside research groups

　　D．go through the room and stay in-house

　　35．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

　　A．To build all-purpose robots is an absolutely new movement under way.

　　B．Building all-purpose robots was delayed because of its complexity.

　　C．The idea to build all-purpose robots appeared about 50 years ago.

　　D．Everyone will share their advances for they are all-purpose robots.

　　?

　　C

　　?A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

　　“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.

　　They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

　　While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.

　　Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

　　?

　　72. The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

　　???A. they had no model in their mind???????????????

　　B. they did not have sufficient time

　　???C. they had no ready-made components?????????

　　D. they could not assemble the components

　　73. It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

　　???A. consists of a flight device and a control system

　　???B. can just fly in limited areas at the present time

　　???C. can collect information from many sources

　　???D. has been put into wide application

　　74. Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

　　???A. The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

　　???B. Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

　　???C. There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

　　???D. Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

　　75. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

　　???A. Father of Robotic Fly?????????????B. Inspiration from Engineering Science

　　???C. Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect????????

　　D. Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

　　A

　　语篇解读：　英语中有许多词汇涉及词性的活用，本文就介绍了人们在生活中经常将“名词动词化”这一现象。

　　4．解析：　句意猜测题。从文章中第二段的“...You must ink it in...a firm arrangement！”可知，“You must ink it in”表示“这是一个确定的安排”，故画线部分表示“这是不确定的安排”，所以选B项。

　　答案：　B

　　5．解析：　事实细节题。由文章中第四段的“And I can do the same...I don’t bookmark；I favorite...”可知选C项。

　　答案：　C

　　6．解析：　事实细节题。由文章最后一段的“How long will it be before I can mobile them...”可知mobile尚未被动词化，所以选D项。

　　答案：　D

　　7．解析：　主旨大意题。第一段是本文的主题段，故A项“由名词转化而来的新动词”做标题最合适。

　　答案：　A【文章大意】本文叙述了多功能机器人的研究和制造。多功能机器人能够用他们的手在不断变化的环境里四处移动。多功能机器人的发展需要不断扩展它的多功能。为了建造新的机器人，Willow Garage生产了25份PR2以备研究。

　　【答案】D

　　【 解析】推理判断题。根据Robots have proved to be valuable tools for soldiers, surgeons and homeowners hoping to keep the carpet clean.可知机器人可在战场，手术室和个人家庭中使用，因此没有提到野外，故选D。

　　【答案】A

　　【 解析】细节理解题。根据multipurpose machines-robots that can move about in changing environments such as offices or living rooms and work with their hands.可知多功能机器人能够用他们的手在不断变化的环境里四处移动。因此选A。

　　【答案】C

　　【 解析】推理判断题。根据Instead of enlarging the capabilities of a single machine, everyone is designing robots and the software to control them, from the ground up.可知问题是每个人不是扩大机器人的功能而是从头开始做，这样阻碍了机器人的发展，因此要想建造多功能机器人，就得开发机器人的多功能。故选C。

　　【答案】B

　　【 解析】推理判断题。根据This way, Berger says, if you want to build the robotic equivalent (等同物) of a Twitter (推特网站), you won’t start by constructing a computer. “you build the thing that’s new.”可知Willow Garage生产25份PR2是为了建造新的机器人，这样改变了新机器制造研究的方法。故选B。

　　【答案】C

　　【 解析】推理判断题。根据All-purpose robots are not, of course, a new idea. “It’s been five or 10 years from happening for about 50 years可知多功能机器人的想法已经出现了50年。故选C。??72—75??CBDC

　　D

　　Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent(聪明的) than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of

　　“grey matter” and

　　It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.

　　There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!

　　The differences begin when fetuses(胎儿) are about mine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children ad young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier (障碍物) before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors(祖先) ,among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.

　　If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it.” says a biologist.

　　57. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

　　A. Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s

　　B. Grey matter plays the same role as white matter.

　　C. Grey matter controls thinking in the brain.

　　D. Both sexes have the same amount of white matter.

　　58. What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?

　　A. Women prefer doing many things at a time.

　　B. Men do better dealing with one job at a time.

　　C. Women do not need to tell directions.

　　D. Men have weaker spatial abilities.

　　59. Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?

　　A. Young boys may be stronger than young girls.

　　B. More women take up jobs requiring speech skills

　　C. Women may have stronger feelings than men.

　　D. Our ancestors needed more spatial skills.

　　60. What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?

　　A. Defensive.

　　B. Persuasive.

　　C. Supportive.

　　D. Objective.

　　答案：57.B

　　58.D

　　59.D

　　60.A