题目内容
The air bag is a piece of safety equipment in cars. It was first designed by John W. Hetrick in 1952. Like many inventions, he came up with the idea as a result of an event that had occurred in his life. He says:
“In the spring of 1952, my wife, my seven-year-old daughter, Joan, and I were out for a Sunday drive in our 1948 Chrysler Windsor. About three miles outside Newport we were watching for deer jumping across the road. Suddenly, there was a large rock in our path. I hit the brakes and we went into a ditch(壕沟).
“As I applied the brakes, both my wife and I threw our hands up to keep our daughter from hitting the car. There was soft mud in the ditch, so the car wasn’t damaged, and no one was hurt.”
“During the ride home I couldn’t stop thinking about the accident. I asked myself,‘Why couldn’t some object come out to stop you from striking the inside of the car?’As soon as I got home that night I drew some sketches(草图). Each evening for the following two weeks, I’d add or reduce something from the sketches.”
Hetrick applied an event he had observed while in the Navy to the design of the air bag. He was repairing a torpedo(鱼雷) which had a cloth covering. When the compressed(压缩的) air that was in the torpedo was let out, the covering was suddenly filled with air and was shot to the ceiling.
With this knowledge, he developed his design until he was able to obtain a patent on the invention on August 5, 1952. The idea was similar to the air bag designs of today. Compressed air is stored in a container and when a traffic accident occurs and the car slows down at a rapid enough rate, the air will be released into the air bag. The idea was ingenious, but Hetrick’s air bag never would have functioned properly. It was really a breakthrough, but it would require years and years of designing and testing by some top car designers before it could be used
- 1.
The car accident Hetrick was involved in ______.
- A.damaged his car
- B.happened in 1948
- C.was caused by a deer
- D.caused no harm to his family
- A.
- 2.
Hetrick’s experience in the Navy______.
- A.turned out to be dangerous
- B.was helpful to his invention
- C.involved designing torpedoes
- D.inspired him to design an air bag
- A.
- 3.
The underlined word “ingenious” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.
- A.creative
- B.ridiculous
- C.crazy
- D.complex
- A.
- 4.
What do we know about the air bag Hetrick designed?
- A.It came into use in the 1950s
- B.It performed perfectly in car accidents
- C.It prepared the way for air bags nowadays
- D.It took Hetrick about two months to develop it
- A.
- 5.
The text is mainly about______.
- A.the great inventor Hetrick
- B.The invention of air bags
- C.a terrible car accident
- D.road safety in the 1950s
- A.
试题分析:这篇文章讲的是气囊是如何发明的。一方面是John W. Hetrick自己的一次车祸,还有在海军的经历都促使他发明了气囊。
1.细节题:从第三段的句子:There was soft mud in the ditch, so the car wasn’t damaged, and no one was hurt.”可知那次车祸中没有人受伤。选D
2.细节题:从倒数第二段的句子:Hetrick applied an event he had observed while in the Navy to the design of the air bag. 可知他在海军的经历对这个发明是有帮助的。选B
3.猜词题:从前面的句子:Compressed air is stored in a container and when a traffic accident occurs and the car slows down at a rapid enough rate, the air will be released into the air bag. 可知这个想法很有创造力。选A
4.细节题:从最后一段的句子:The idea was similar to the air bag designs of today. but it would require years and years of designing and testing by some top car designers before it could be used.
可知他的发明为现在的气囊设计做了准备。选C
5.主旨题:从第一段的句子:The air bag is a piece of safety equipment in cars. It was first designed by John W. Hetrick in 1952. Like many inventions,可知这篇文章讲的是气囊的发明。选B
考点:考查历史类短文
点评:这篇文章讲的是气囊是如何发明的。这篇阅读理解集中考查了细节题,要求考生仔细阅读全文,做好相应的标志,以提高阅读的效率和速度,做题时要审清题干,发觉和把握试题中有效的提示性信息,确认命题的角度、阅读范围和答题方式。
We hear with our ears, right? Yes, but scientists have known for years that we also hear with our eyes. In a study published in 1976, researchers found that people combined both auditory cues(听力提示) and visual ones,like mouth and face movements, when they heard speech.
A new study that looks at a different set of sensory cues adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests such combination is natural. In a paper, Bryan Gick and Donald Derrick report that people can hear with their skin.
The researchers had volunteers listen to spoken syllables. Meanwhile, they connected the volunteers to a device that would blow a tiny puff (气流) of air onto the skin of their hands or necks. The syllables included “ba” and “pa”, which produce brief puffs from the mouth when spoken, and “da” and “ta,” which do not produce puffs. They found that when listeners heard “da” or “ta” while a puff of air was blown onto their skin, they considered the sounds as “ba” or “pa”.
Dr. Gick said the findings were similar to those from the 1976 study, in which visual cues defeated auditory ones — volunteers listened to one syllable but thought it another because they were watching a video of mouth movements corresponding to the second syllable. In his study,he said,cues from sensory receivers on the skin defeated the ears as well. “Our skin is doing the hearing for us,” he said.
Dr. Gick noted that it would normally be rare that someone actually sensed a puff of air produced by another, although people might occasionally sense their own puffs. “What’s so persuasive about this particular effect,” he added. “is that people are picking up on this information that they don’t know they are using.” That supports the idea that combining different sensory cues is natural.
Dr. Gick said the finding also suggested that other sensory cues might be at work in speech perception(知觉) — that, as he put it, “we are these fantastic perception machines that take in all the information available to us and combine it faultlessly.”
【小题1】“Da” or “ta” were considered as “ba” or “pa” when __________.
A.they were spoken quickly |
B.puffs of air were blown onto the listener’s skin |
C.they were pronounced using a special device |
D.they were made with face movements |
A.Humans combine different sensory cues through experience. |
B.Dr. Gick’s new study is more important than the one in 1976. |
C.People sometimes can sense their own puffs when speaking |
D.Only auditory and visual cues are at work in speech perception. |
A.We Can Hear with Our Skin |
B.Our Visual Cues Is Doing the Hearing for Us |
C.Facial Expressions Are Important |
D.We Are Fantastic Machines |