Bexley Middle School
eighth-graders won the grand prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future
City Competition (TM) on Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C. They competed with 37 other schools across the country.
The students
qualified for the national competition by winning a regional competition on
Jan. 17 in Columbus. By winning the national event, the students earned an all-expenses paid trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., according to a Bexley
school district news report.
Future City aims to
stir (激发)
interest in science, technology, engineering and math among young people.
Bexley team members were Tom Krajnak, Abby Sharp, Wyatt Peery, Elizabeth Maher,
Aaron Hutchinson and Truman Haycock. They work in teams under the guidance of a
teacher, Margaret Englehardt, and a volunteer engineer, Mark Sherman, design
and build a city of tomorrow. Mayor John Brennan presented the students during
a recent Bexley City Council meeting. Each team in the Future City competition
plans its city using Sim City software and creates a model to show a physical
representation of one section of the city. Team members must write both an
essay about the yearly theme and an abstract about their city. They also must
make a presentation to judges.
Focusing on
eco-responsibility, the Bexley team built “Novo-Mondum,” an Icelandic city in
the year 2171. Krajnak said the team’s project included a new water system for
each resident unit and a 500-word essay on using bacteria to purify water. “We
used our essay and abstract (摘要) to build a model,” he said. “It was hard to organize which
building would go where, what each building does and how to make it look good.”
Englehardt said her
students did a good job answering impromptu (即席) questions during the regional competition.
“They can think on their feet,” she said. Principal Harley Williams said the
school is very proud of the students’ performance.
1... From the passage we can
learn that the grand prize winners will _________.
A. receive scholarship for further
studies
B. get a free trip to Space Camp in Huntsville
C. earn a large sum of money for their
designs
D. be admitted to universities without exams
2..The goal of the Future City
competition is to _________.
A. make the Sim City software
popular
B. test the students’ knowledge of city planning
C. select future engineers from young
students
D. make students become interested in engineering
3.. Each team must do the
following EXCEPT _________.
A. write brief abstracts describing their
city
B. present and defend their designs before judges
C. build a future city in Iceland by
themselves
D. create model cities using the Sim City software
4.. According to Margaret
Englehardt, the students _________.
A. always stand still in the
competition
B. react very quickly to the questions
C. prepare for the questions in
advance
D. take pride in the advisers’ performance
5.
