出自:大学英语B2252
One of the key challenges in urban architecture over the next 50 years will be figuring out how to squeeze vast numbers of additional people into urban areas that are already extremely crowded. London, for example, will somehow have to deal with a projected 100,000 extra inhabitants every year until 2016. The current plan of building new “satellite towns” of the city causes a lot of problems —but architecture think tanks are working on ambitious solutions that go vertical instead of horizontal in search of space.
In terms of population density, London is one of the least crowded major cities in the world— four times fewer people per square kilometer than Paris, for example, six times fewer than New York and eight times fewer than Cairo. But the fact remains that the city’s population is growing at a rapid rate, and horizontal expansion into the surrounding areas is eating up increasingly important agricultural land, as well as worsening all the transport problems that come with urban growth.
Popular Architecture would propose a radically different solution. The proposal is to go up wards, with vertical towers of considerable size, each representing an entire new town by the time it’ s completed. Each tower would be 1500 meters high. Beyond mere accommodation, each tower would function as an entire town unit, with its own schools, hospitals, parks and gardens, sports facilities, business areas and community spaces. The population density of such a tower could help lower the individual energy requirements of each inhabitant, reducing the ecological impact of the population as a whole.
The village towers are considered as hollow tubes, with large holes to allow light and air through the entire construction. Occasional floor discs spread throughout the height of the building will give inhabitants large central areas in the middle of the tube to use as gathering spaces。
While the building itself is unlikely ever to be seriously considered for construction—imagine the number of elevators it would need, let alone the safety implications of open areas at such heights and with such wind exposure—the concept can serve as a conversation-starter for urban planners looking to face the challenges of the current and coming centuries.
B-31.One key challenging task for urban architects in future is to_______.
A、build new satellite towns
B、work out ambitious plan
C、design less crowded cities
D、accommodate more inhabitants
学生答案：D
32、阅读B-31题干中Passage One材料，完成本题。
B-32.Which of the following cities has the largest population density?
A、Cairo
B、Paris
C、London
D、New York
学生答案：A
33、阅读B-31题干中Passage One材料，完成本题。
B-33.Horizontal expansion not only wastes land, but makes it hard for London to____.
A、handle its safety problems
B、resolve its transport issues
C、control its population growth
D、measure its population density
学生答案：B
34、阅读B-31题干中Passage One材料，完成本题。
B-34.The vertical tower would represent an entire new town in itself because______.
A、it is energy-saving
B、it is cost-effective
C、it is self-sufficient
D、it is comfort-orienteD
学生答案：C
35、阅读B-31题干中Passage One材料，完成本题。
B-35.For city planners today, the idea of building a vertical tower can become______.
A、a topic for fun
B、a shocking reality
C、a modest proposal
D、a source of inspiration
学生答案：D
Passwords are everywhere in computer security. All too often, they are also ineffective. A good password has to be both easy to remember and hard to guess, but in practice people seem to pay attention to the former. Names of wives, husbands and children are popular. “123456” or “12345” are also common choices.
That predictability lets security researchers (and hackers) create dictionaries which list common passwords, useful to those seeking to break in. But although researchers know that passwords are insecure, working out just how insecure has been difficult. Many studies have only small samples to work on.
However, with the cooperation of Yahoo!, Joseph Bonneau of Cambridge University obtained the biggest sample to date—70 million passwords that came with useful data about their owners.
Mr Bonneau found some interesting variations. Older users had better passwords than young ones. People whose preferred language was Korean or German chose the most secure passwords; those who spoke Indonesian the least. Passwords designed to hide sensitive information such as credit-card numbers were only slightly more secure than those protecting less important things, like access to games. “Nag screens” that told users they had chosen a weak password made virtually no difference. And users whose accounts had been hacked in the past did not make more secure choices than those who had never been hacked.
But it is the broader analysis of the sample that is of most interest to security researchers. For, despite their differences, the 70 million users were still predictable enough that a generic password dictionary was effective against both the entire sample and any slice of it. Mr Bonneau is blunt: “An attacker who can manage ten guesses per account will compromise around 1% of accounts.” And that is a worthwhile outcome for a hacker.
One obvious solution would be for sites to limit the number of guesses that can be made before access is blocked. Yet whereas the biggest sites, such as Google and Microsoft, do take such measures, many do not. The reasons of their not doing so are various. So it’s time for users to consider the alternatives to traditional passwords.
B-36.People tend to use passwords that are_______.
A、easy to remember
B、hard to figure out
C、random numbers
D、popular names
学生答案：A
37、阅读B-36题干中Passage Two材料，完成本题。
B-37. Researchers find it difficult to know how unsafe passwords are due to _______.
A、lack of research tools
B、lack of research funds
C、limited time of studies
D、limited size of samples
学生答案：D
38、阅读B-36题干中Passage Two材料，完成本题。
B-38. It is indicated in the text that__________.
A、Indonesians are sensitive to password security
B、young people tend to have secure passwords
C、nag screens help little in password security
D、passwords for credit cards are usually safe
学生答案：C
39、阅读B-36题干中Passage Two材料，完成本题。
B-39. The underlined word “compromise” in Para. 5 most probably means ______.
A、comprise
B、compensate
C、endanger
D、encounter
学生答案：C
40、阅读B-36题干中Passage Two材料，完成本题。
B-40. The last paragraph of the text suggests that__________.
A、net users regulate their online behaviors
B、net users rely on themselves for security
C、big websites limit the number of guesses
D、big websites offer users convenient access
学生答案：B
John Lubbock, a British member of the Parliament, led to the first law to safeguard Britain’s heritage—the Ancient Monuments Bill. How did it happen?
By the late 1800s more and more people were visiting Stonehenge for a day out. Now a World Heritage Site owned by the Crown, it was, at the time, privately owned and neglected.
But the visitors left behind rubbish and leftover food. It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones’ foundations, weakening them. One of the upright stones had already fallen over and one had broken in two. They also chipped pieces off the stones for souvenirs and carved pictures into them, says architectural critic Jonathan Glancey.
It was the same for other pre-historic remains, which were disappearing fast. Threats also included farmers and landowners as the ancient stones got in the way of working on the fields and were a free source of building materials.
Shocked and angry, Lubbock took up the fight. When he heard Britain’s largest ancient stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire was up for sale in 1871 he persuaded its owners to sell it to him and the stone circle was saved.
“Lubbock aroused national attention for ancient monuments,’’ says Glancey. “At the time places like Stonehenge were just seen as a collection of stones, ancient sites to get building materials.”
“Lubbock knew they were the roots of British identity. He did for heritage what Darwin did for natural history. ”
But Lubbock couldn’t buy every threatened site. He knew laws were needed and tabled the Ancient Monuments Bill. It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners, a radical idea at the time.
For eight years he tried and failed to get the bill through parliament. Finally, in 1882, it was voted into law. It had, however, been watered down; people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government. But what it did do was plant the idea that the state could preserve Britain’s heritage better than private owners.
Pressure started to be put on the owners of sites like Stonehenge to take better care of them.
B-41. According to the text, Stonehenge in the late 1800s was______.
A、a royal property
B、utterly neglecteD
C、legally protecteD
D、 a public property
学生答案：B
42、阅读A-41题干中Passage Three材料，完成本题。
B-42. One stone in Stonehenge fell over because __________.
A、rats weakened its foundation
B、farmers cut it to build houses
C、visitors carved pictures into it
D、visitors chipped pieces off it
学生答案：A
43、阅读A-41题干中Passage Three材料，完成本题。
B-43. Lubbock proposed a bill to_________.
A、push people to learn history
B、ensure government function
C、enforce ancient site protection
D、push visitors to behave properly
学生答案：C
44、阅读A-41题干中Passage Three材料，完成本题。
B-44. When the bill was voted into law in 1882, it had been made less________.
A、severe
B、biased
C、implicit
D、complex
学生答案：A
45、阅读A-41题干中Passage Three材料，完成本题。
B-45. This text is mainly about________ .
A、a famous British Parliament member
B、the value of ancient heritages in the UK
C、 the history and protection of Stonehenge
D、the origin of the Ancient Monuments Bill
学生答案：D
Late last year, I needed to transport some furniture from our house in Sussex to my son’s flat in central London. I should have paid a man to do it for me, but foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a van and drive it myself. It was a Ford Transit 280, long and wide; you couldn’t see out of the back. You never really knew how close you were to anything else on the road.
Reversing in my home yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. At least I owned the shed.
I loaded up the furniture and set out. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I steered the huge van through ever-shifting lanes, across oncoming vehicles, between distances of buses, at last to Charlotte Street.
Here, I found an available parking space. As I reversed into it, I noticed three people at a pavement cafe waving to me. I got out, trembling violently, like one who has just endured a stormy Atlantic crossing. “You’ve shifted the car parked behind you three feet,” they said, and it be longed to a disabled person. I examined the car. There were white scratches along its front bumper. It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the stem gaze of the three, I left an apologetic note on the damaged car’s windscreen, giving my phone number.
I unloaded the furniture, dripping with sweat. Wanting only to escape the monster, I drove the van back to its base on the Edgware Road. On arrival, the hire man told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. “Just charge me,” I cried, still shaking with fear. He gazed at me with understanding. No doubt he’d witnessed others in this state before. “How about I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive her back?” he asked.
He danced the great van through the traffic so casually that it would have shamed me if I had not been so grateful.
B-46. The writer felt regretful that he had ______.
A、hired someone to drive for him
B、asked his son to do the delivery
C、rented a small van for his goods
D、delivered the furniture himself
学生答案：D
47、阅读B-46题干中Passage Four材料，完成本题。
B-47. On his way to Charlotte Street, the writer felt______.
A、Frightened
B、Annoyed
C、Relaxed
D、Excited
学生答案：A
48、阅读B-46题干中Passage Four材料，完成本题。
B-48. In the parking lot, the writer_______.
A、saw a disabled man
B、ran into his friends
C、hit another vehicle
D、examined his van
学生答案：C
49、阅读B-46题干中Passage Four材料，完成本题。
B-49. The writer uses the word “monster” ( para.5) to refer to _______.
A、the bad experience
B、the heavy furniture
C、 the guy at the base
D、the vehicle he drove
学生答案：D
50、阅读B-46题干中Passage Four材料，完成本题。
B-50. Watching the hire man drive, the writer felt _______.
A、doubtful
B、grateful
C、ashamed
D、worried
学生答案：B
Have you ever wondered how acceptable it is to hug or touch someone? While it may sound safe to avoid all physical contact so as not to offend anyone, the lack of touching might imply cold attitudes or indifference in interpersonal relationships.
So, what should we do? The simple answer is thoroughly learn unique cultural norms for physical contact.In nonverbal communication terminology(术语), physical contact and the study of touching are generally referred to as haptics.
Haptics in communication often suggest the level of intimacy. They are usually classified into two groups: high-contact and low-contact.
Asia and quite surprisingly the United States, Canada, and Britain belong to low-contact cultures. People from the rest of the world such as Latin America, are considered to be in high-contact cultures, where they tend to expect touching in social interactions and feel more comfortable with physical closeness. Despite the classification, there are more complex factors such as relational closeness, gender, age, and context that can affect how someone views physical contact.
One common French custom of greetings is cheek-kissing, but it is mostly restricted to friends, close acquaintances, and family members. While cheek-kissing for Latin Americans is also a universal greeting form, it does not require such a high degree of relational closeness. However, gender matters more for them because check-kissing often only happens between women or a man and a woman but not two men.
In contrast, in certain Arabian, African, and Asian countries, men can publicly hold hands or show physical affection as signs of brotherhood or friendship while these behaviors may suggest a romantic relationship in other parts of the world. Although men’s touching is more normal in these cultures, physical contact between persons of opposite sexes who are not family members is negatively perceived in Arabic countries.
These factors could definitely affect the degree to which someone is comfortable with tactile(触觉的) communication and physical intimacy. Therefore, if you are someone who loves to show physical affection,you should not be afraid to show it or drastically change your behaviors —just ask for consent beforehand!
1、What does the writer say in the first paragraph about physical contact?
A、Its role in interpersonal relationships is getting increasingly important.
B、It is becoming more acceptable to many who used to think it offensive.
C、Its absence might suggest a lack of warmth in interpersonal relationships.
D、It might prompt different responses from people of different social backgrounds
学生答案：C
2、What does physical contact in communication suggest?
A、What social class people belong to.
B、How civilized the communicators are.
C、What family background people come from.
D、How close the communicators’ relationships are.
学生答案：D
3、What do we learn about people in high-contact cultures?
A、They are sensitive to the way people express their emotions.
B、They take touching as a cultural norm in social interactions.
C、They attach great importance to close ties among people.
D、They tend to be more open in interpersonal relationships.
学生答案：B
4、What do we learn about social customs in Arabian countries?
A、Men can show friendship in public through physical affection.
B、Non-traditional romantic relationships are simply unacceptable.
C、Physical contact between unfamiliar people is negatively perceived.
D、People of different ages and genders show affection in different ways.
学生答案：A
5、What does the writer tell us to do concerning tactile communication?
A、Lay emphasis on nonverbal communication.
B、Learn to use appropriate body language first.
C、Pay attention to the differences between genders.
D、Take other people’s preferences into consideration.
学生答案：D
From climate change to the ongoing pandemic(大流行病) and beyond, the issues facing today’s world are increasingly complex and dynamic.Yet solving problems like these requires new approaches that extend beyond traditional ways of thinking. A study led by Yale Professor of Psychology, Paul O’Keefe, found that having a growth mindset (思维倾向) of interest may spark this type of innovation.
Professor O’Keefe established in earlier studies that people hold different beliefs about the nature of interest. Those with a growth mindset of interest tend to believe that interests can be developed and cultivated, while those with a fixed mindset of interest tend to believe that interests are inherent (与生俱有的) and simply need to be “found.” Building on these findings, the latest research examined how a growth mindset of interest can boost integrative thinking across the traditional disciplinary boundaries of arts and science.
For example, in one task, research participants were instructed to create new college majors by combining two or more existing academic arts or science programs at their university. After coding and analyzing the ideas they generated, the team found that people with a growth mindset of interest were more likely to bridge programs across the arts and science to create new majors like computational economics rather than creating majors that drew from only one of those areas,like computational chemistry.
As Professor O’Keefe pointed out, “This research provides a useful direction for organizations whose products and services call for integrated and creative solutions. Take smartphones for example. You need not only computer science and engineering knowledge,but also an understanding of psychology and visual design to create a better product. Employees with a growth mindset may be more likely to devise innovative ideas that bridge multiple areas of knowledge to achieve better solutions.”
The benefits of a growth mindset of interest may also extend to those seeking employment. This is a pressing issue because many people are becoming unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a growth mindset of interest can help job seekers expand their interests and become more adaptable to different fields,and take the initiative to learn new skills.
1、What does the writer say about the world today?
A、It faces problems that are getting more varied and complicated.
B、It has done away with many of the traditional ways of thinking.
C、It is undergoing radical and profound changes.
D、It is witnessing various types of innovations.
学生答案：A
2、What did Professor O’Keefe find in his earlier studies?
A、People’s interests tend to change with age.
B、People’s interests determine their mindsets.
C、People are divided about the nature of interest.
D、People of different ages have different mindsets.
学生答案：C
3、What is the focus of Professor O’Keefe’s recent research?
A、How boundaries can be removed between arts and science disciplines.
B、How feasible it is to create new disciplines like computational economics.
C、How students in arts and science view the two types of mindset of interest.
D、How a growth mindset of interest can contribute to cross-disciplinary thinking.
学生答案：D
4、What does the writer want to illustrate with the example of smartphones?
A、Hi-tech products are needed in interdisciplinary research.
B、Improved technology gives birth to highly popular products.
C、Making innovative products needs multidisciplinary knowledge.
D、Hi-tech products can boost people’s integrative thinking.
学生答案：C
5、What is the writer’s suggestion to those who are seeking employment?
A、Learning practical skills.
B、Broadening their interests.
C、Staying safe in the pandemic.
D、Knowing their pressing issues.
学生答案：B
A. transplant B. solution C. gradually D. transport E. elemental
F. conflict G. continually H. mobile I. couples J. agricultural
K. including L. compromise M. requires N. primary O. consisting
The typical pre-industrial family not only had a good many children, but numerous other dependents as well—grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Such “extended” families were suited for survival in slow paced（） societies. But such families are hard to （）. They are immobile. Industrialism demanded masses of workers ready and able to move off the land in pursuit of jobs, and to move again whenever necessary. Thus the extended family shed its excess weight and the so-called “nuclear” family emerged—a stripped-down, portable family unit （） only of parents and a small set of children. This new style family, far more （）than the traditional extended family, became the standard model in all the industrial counties. Super-industrialism, however, the next stage of eco-technological development, （）even higher mobility. Thus we may expect many among the people of the future to carry the stream lining process, a step further by remaining children, cutting the family down to its more （） components, a man and a woman. Two people, perhaps with matched careers, will prove more efficient at navigating through education and social status, through job changes and geographic relocations, than the ordinarily child-cluttered family. A（）may be the postponement of children, rather than childlessness. Men and women today are often torn in （） between a commitment to career and a commitment to children. In the future, many （）will side step this problem by deferring the entire task of raising children until after retirement.