You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.
When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the back of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can resist massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.
【小题1】What does the author say about the black box?

A.It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.
B.The idea for its design comes from a comic book.
C.Its ability to resist disasters is incredible.
D.It is an indispensable device on an airplane.
【小题2】 What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?
A.Data for analyzing the cause of the crash.
B.The total number of passengers on board.
C.The scene of the crash and extent of the damage.
D.Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash.
【小题3】Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?
A.New materials became available by that time.
B.Too much space was needed for its installation.
C.The early models often got damaged in the crash.
D.The early models didn't provide the needed data.
【小题4】 Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?
A.To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.
B.To caution people to handle them with care.
C.To make them easily identifiable.
D.To conform to international standards.
【小题5】What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?
A.There is still a good chance of their being recovered.
B.There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.
C.They have stopped sending homing signals.
D.They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

About 90 percent of Chinese believe the polarization(分化) between the rich and poor is “serious” in China, according to a survey conducted by China Youth Daily. And more than 80 percent of the respondents(对象) surveyed said something must be done to narrow the expanding gap between the rich and poor, while 14.1 percent said it was necessary.

The polarization has aroused wide concern among the public in recent years. The State Development and Reform Commission(国家发改委) said the Gini Coefficient had reached 0.47 for China, up from o.29 two decades ago. Usually, a country with a number above 0.4 is warned to pay attention to the income inequality problem.

To find out the people’s view, the survey covered 10,250 respondents, between the ages of 20 and 30 with a college education and a monthly salary between 1,000 and 3,000 yuan. Surprisingly, most disagreed with the view of experts who claim the urban-rural difference is causing the widening gap. More than 70 percent of the respondents believed that “ the group of special interests” is the prime reason for the polarization, followed by “people in power” 68 percent, and “bosses” 50 percent.

Another unexpected finding is that almost all agreed that a good educational background and knowledge were not the decisive factors in gaining wealth. About 95 percent said rich people are not necessarily those who are able to speak English or have a college education.

Today in China, rich people , accounting for 10 percent of the population, control 45 percent of the total social fortune, and poor people, also 10 percent of the population, only control 1.5 percent, according to an investigation published by the National Bureau of Statistics last June.

1. It can be inferred that the Gini Coefficient ( in paragraph 2) would probably be _____.

   A. the unit used in advanced mathematics

   B. the degree of a country’s development

   C. the level of the citizen’s living standard

   D. a measure of income inequality

2. Experts hold the view that the main reason for the polarization is _____.

   A. the urban-rural difference             B. the group of special interests

   C. the people in power                  D. the bosses

3.Which of the following can show the correct proportion(比例) of the social fortune among population?

 

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

   A. Close the Gap between the Rich and Poor

   B. Surveys conducted by China Youth Daily

   C. Higher education, Higher pay

   D. Rich-Poor Divide Serious, Study Finds

 

Beijing, June 10 (Xinhua) --- Torrential (倾泻的) rains that troubled southern China for days have killed 66 people and resulted in 12 missing by 6:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. “Floods caused by heavy rains have affected about 294,800 hectares of crops, completely destroying 53,000 hectares of them,” said an official with the ministry. The floods have torn down 48,000 and damaged 94,000 houses in southern China, and forced about 591,000 people to move from their homes, the official said.

From Wednesday to Saturday, continuous torrential rains, mudslides and floods hit Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Fujian, affecting more than 8.97 million people. The disasters have caused an overall economic loss of more than 2.9 billion yuan, according to the ministry. The ministry has sent rescue teams to the disaster areas to assist relief work. In Guangdong, heavy rains have killed 18 people and left four missing by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to local authorities. A total of 1.72 million people were affected in the province.

Floods have damaged 49 roads in the seriously affected Meizhou City, of which 29 remained closed to traffic by 7:00 p.m. The number of people who died in floods in Guangxi has reached 13 and one remained missing by Sunday, according to local civil affairs authority. More than 1.97 million people have been affected after the floods caused by continuous heavy rains hit some 40 counties since Wednesday.

According to the local civil affairs bureau, 9,200 houses were knocked down and 75,181 hectares of crops were affected, resulting in 529 million yuan in direct economic losses. There are fewer rainstorms and the rain belt is moving out of Guangxi, but the water levels in major rivers will keep rising in next few days, according to the latest forecast of the region’s meteorological bureau on Sunday afternoon.

1. The underlined phrase “torn down” (para. 1) is closest in meaning to _______.

    A. knocked down     B. placed down      C. set down     D. torn open

2. In Meizhou city, 49 roads were damaged and by 7:00 p.m. only _______ roads can be used again after the repair work.

   A. 66     B. 29    C. 20     D. 19

3. Which of the following statements is true according to the news?

   A. Hubei is one of the provinces struck by the torrential rains.

   B. The floods have caused a total loss of nearly 3 billion yuan.

C. 13 people died in Guangdong province as a result of the floods.

D. The rain belt will remain in Guangxi in the next few days.

4. What’s the best title for this news story?

   A. A Disaster.   B. Heavy rains.    C. A Flood. D. Heavy rains in Southern China.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. The rainstorms are becoming stronger.

   B. The water levels in major rivers are to go down soon.

   C. The rainstorms are becoming less powerful.

   D. In the next few days, rainstorms will stay in Guangxi.

 

 

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