题目内容
For computer users, there is no bigger excitement than tossing out your old PC and upgrading to a newer, faster and cleaner machine. With hardware designers like Intel, pushing newer, faster products every year, and new software requiring even more powerful machines, companies and consumers have little choice but to go along.
But this rapid turnover is having a serious effect on the planet. Producing a personal computer consumes large quantities of natural resources. A recent study by the United Nations estimates the energy required to produce a single new computer is equivalent to nearly two barrels of oil. And that doesn't include the 22 kg of chemicals or the 1,500 kg of water used in the manufacturing process.
In fact, pound for pound（均等地）, the process for making a car is about 500% more efficient than that for making a computer. That doesn't matter so much 20 years ago when personal computers were few and far between, but times have changed. These days, computers are found nearly everywhere and sales continue to grow. The number of PCs in use topped one billion in 2002.
Waste in production is only half the problem. Old computers, especially the monitors, are full of dangerous substances, which need to be carefully recycled. The problem is sure to expand over the coming years as users replace their boxy CRT monitors with LCD flat displays.
Europe now requires that 70% of parts from old computers be recycled, but the study’s authors say that’s also part of the problem. The solution, they insist, is for governments and companies to encourage people to use their computers longer, and upgrade rather than replace. But considering that much of the world’s recent economic growth has come from spending on computers and information technology, that advice may sound like wishful thinking.
What do computer users have to do every few years according to the passage?
A. Push newer, faster products.
B. Produce more powerful machines.
C. Consume large quantities of natural resources.
D. Upgrade to a newer, faster computer.
What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. The pound. B. The process.
C. The car. D. The computer.
We can infer from the last paragraph that ____.
A. governments and companies will surely encourage people to use their computers longer
B. governments and companies will probably encourage people to replace their personal computers
C. the world's economic has been growing without people's spending on computers and information technology
D. all parts from old computers are now recycled in Europe
The purpose of writing this passage is ____
A. to encourage companies to push newer, faster personal computers
B. to encourage people to design more new software
C. to encourage people to save their personal computers
D. to encourage people to spend more money on computers and information technology
【小题1】D
【小题2】B
【小题3】B
【小题4】C
解析:
略
In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics. It’ s teaching I children the ignored art of writing with a fountain pen. There is no clicking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart ’s Melville Junior School，although there is a full range of facilities(设施）for computer lessons and technology isn ' t being ignored. The school' s headmaster believes the old -fashioned pens have helped strengthen the academic performance and self-respect of his 1，200 pupils.
Many famous museums throughout the world can offer you good chances to admire art. Washington, D.C has the National Gallery of Art，Paris has the Louver, London, the British Museum. Florida International University(FIU) in Miami also shows art for people to see. And it does so without a building, or even a wall for its drawings and paintings.
FIU has opened what it says is the first computer art museum in the United States. You don’t have to visit the University to see the art. What you need is just a computer linked to a telephone. That’s enough.
You can call the telephone number of a University computer and connect your own computer to it. All of the art is stored in the school computer. It is computer art, produced electronically by artists on their own computers. In only a few minutes, your computer can receive and copy all the pictures and drawings.
Robert Shostak is director of the new computer museum. He says he started the museum because computer artists had no place to show their work.
A computer artist could only record his pictures electronically and send the records, or floppy discs, to others to see on their computers. He could also put his pictures on paper. But to print good pictures on paper, the computer artist will have to need a very expensive laser printer.
Robert Shostak says the electronic museum is mostly for art or computer students at schools and universities. Many of the pictures in the museum are made by students. Mr Shostak said the FIU museum will make computer art more fun for computer artists because more people can see it. He says artists enjoy their work much more if they have an audience. And the great number of home computers in America could mean a huge audience for the electronic museum.
【小题1】The main purpose of this text is to give information about____________.
| A．famous museums throughout the world |
| B．an electronic art museum in Miami, U.S.A |
| C．art exhibitions in Florida International University |
| D．the latest development in computer art in the USA |
| A．some records or floppy discs |
| B．a computer and a printer |
| C．your own pictures and drawings |
| D．a computer connected by telephone line |
| A．Paintings drawn by computer |
| B．Different styles of paintings |
| C．Some very traditional paintings |
| D．Drawings done by students of FIU |
| A．FIU wanted to encourage computer scientists |
| B．Robert Shostak decided to help computer artists |
| C．art students needed a place to show their works |
| D．computer scientists wanted to do something about art |
| A．art students |
| B．computer owners |
| C．exhibits in the museum |
| D．those who will enjoy art |
Last month, students from one hundred and three universities in eighty-eight countries took part in an international computer programming contest, which took place in Harbin, China. Three-person teams from each school had five hours to solve eleven real world problems.
The students first listed the problems in order of difficulty. Then they figured out the requirements of each. They designed ways to test their solutions. And they wrote the needed software systems. Even the winning team from Shanghai Jiaotong University in China was not able to solve all the problems within the given limit. Stanford’s team solved five problems and finished in fourteenth place. Stanford was one of twenty-one American universities that took part in the contest this year.
The official name of the Battle of the Brains is the ACM International Collegiate Contest. The first final competition was held in 1977 at the Association for Computer Machinery Computer Science Conference. Today, a network of universities holds area competitions that send the winners to the world finals, now organized by IBM.
Contest spokesman Dong Heintzman says the world champions receive prizes and scholarships. They are also guaranteed an offer of employment or internship(实习) with IBM. He said, “We have had past world champions that IBM has gone and employed in our Zurich research laboratory and are now working on some of the leading edge materials in science and physics. We have a world finalist from China who’s been working on the Watson Supercomputer that in the near future will be playing Jeopardy(一种超级计算机名称)against the best Jeopardy players in the world. So this competition is an opportunity to be recognized and to be recruited(招聘) by some of the top technology and research firms around the world.”
【小题1】 From the first paragraph we can figure out there were _______ programmers taking part in the contest.
| A．3 | B．88 | C．246 | D．a lot of |
| A．the winners will be offered a job in IBM |
| B．this contest provides a chance for the universities |
| C．this competition is held every four years |
| D．many big companies are short of programmers |
| A．The Best Top Contest |
| B．The Battle of the Brains |
| C．The Difficult Competition |
| D．Courage and Wisdom Needed |