Plastic is one of the most important technological discoveries of the 20th century. However, it may soon be replaced. The new development- liquid wood- can replace plastics in all branches of modern-day industries.

Plastic as a material enjoys the biggest demand in the modern world, but it does have a number of drawbacks. First and foremost, plastic isn’t recyclable. Secondly, it contains toxins (毒物) helping develop cancerous diseases. Finally, it’s made of oil and oil reserves aren’t endless.

The liquid wood technology is likely to replace plastic and providing mankind with new materials for many years ahead. Norbert Eisenfreich, a senior researcher at the Faunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Germany (ICT), said that arboform, the new material, is made of lignin(木素质）, which can be obtained from soft tissues of wood. Once mixed with several other matenals, it turns into solid and non-toxic alternative for plastics.

ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann said the wood-working industry separates wood into three basic components, including lignin. Lignin isn’t used for the production of paper. Specialists of ICT mixed lignin with several natural materials and thus invented the material which could be melted and molded (铸型）.

When solid, arboform looks like plastic and possesses tho qualitie of polished wood. It can be used for the production of any items. Arboform is already used for the production of car parts which require extra strength. In addition, liquid wood can be recycled repeatedly. The material preserved all of its qualities even if it’s reprocessed ten times.

However, the new invention doesn’t enjoy an extensive use due to the high content of sulfur(硫) in it. German researchers are sure to reduce the amount of sulfur by 90% very soon to make arboform usable for home needs.

71. According to the passage, plastic        .

A. helps us to reduce the use of petrol

B. helps to protect our environment in some way

C. does harm to our society in some way

D. has been replaced by the newly discovered material

72. What’s the advantage of arboform over plastic?

A. It is easier made from natural oil.

B. It is more widely used in household

C. It is recyclable and friendly to environment.

D. It contains no poisonous materials.

73. The underlined word “altemative” in Paragraph 3 means        .

A. lignin or arboform                                B.soft tissues of wood

C. plastics or wood                                    D. mixture of several materials

74. It can be concluded that German researchers will focus their future work firstly on     .

A. the material’s extensive use                    B. the content of sulfur in arboform

C. the production cost of arboform                     D. the qualities of liquid wood

75. The main purpose of the text is to     .

A.introduce liquid wood which will replace plastic

B.show readers how to produce arboform

C.advertise the new material-arboform

D.advertise new products made of arboform

Watercolour is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colours found in the earth with water.

       Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolour. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster (灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolour painting in the world.

       The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolour was used mainly for doing sketches (草图) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolour as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolour had a remarkably strong attraction for them.

       The popularity of watercolour continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolour, producing such well-known watercolour artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.

The purpose of the passage is to introduce _____. 

A. the gradual weakness of fresco painting

B. oils’ power or influence over watercolour

C. the discovery of watercolour in England        

D. the start and development of watercolour

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries the artists thought _____.

A. watercolour was softer, and thus better

B. oil painting lasted longer, and was better

C. watercolour wasn’t fit for finished works

D. watercolour was too hard to use in any works

According to the passage, watercolour painting was put back in England because ____

A. it was easy to use outdoors                            B. it was a strong medium

C. it was extremely bright in colour                   D. it was suited to popular tastes

What would the next paragraph most probably deal with?

A. The works of famous US watercolour artists  B. Modern American oil painters

C. The weakness of oils as popular paints          D. Techniques of producing watercolour

Hawaii has planned to be the first U.S. state to roll out（正式推出）electric car stations statewide --- a move towards weaning the islands off oil.
Hawaii, which is far away from the U.S. mainland, imports foreign oil for almost 90 percent of its energy needs. One–third of that oil is used to power cars and buses on island streets. This move will help Hawaii meet its goal of reducing fossil fuel use by 70 percent by 2030.
Better Place, a Palo Alto, California-based company, will build the car recharging stations and provide recharged batteries for electric cars. The company will purchase renewable energy --- such as wind power --- from Hawaiian Electric Co.
Better Place picked Hawaii for the first statewide rollout in part because the islands are a contained environment, with few vehicles (车辆) coming in and out. Better Place would need to build a bigger network across several states to serve some mainland markets. Hawaii also has rich renewable energy resources, including wind, solar and wave power. This is important because Better Place won’t use oil. Better Place plans to recharge its batteries at night with power from Hawaii’s wind farms. That power normally goes unused because of Hawaii’s low nighttime energy needs.
Hawaii is an ideal place to show off Better Place technology because the state welcomes over five million tourists each year from the U.S. mainland, Japan, Canada and the rest of the world. “If we can get them into electric cars when they rent, we do two great things,” Shai Agassi, Better Place’s founder and chief executive officer, said. “One, we avoid emissions （排放物）; two, we use the opportunity to educate them, to teach them in Hawaii how it needs to be done in the rest of the world.”
However, Hawaii doesn’t expect to spend any money to improve the network. Maybe it needs to offer tax breaks or other ways to encourage people to buy electric vehicles when they are first offered.
【小题1】
The underlined part “weaning the islands off oil” (in Para 1) probably means _________.

Watercolor is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colors found in the earth with water.

Fresco(壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolor. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster(灰泥). Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo's heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world.

The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go down-hill, and for the next several centuries watercolor was used mainly for doing sketches(素描) or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolor as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for the outdoors and also small, private pictures. The softness of watercolor had a remarkably strong attraction for them.

The popularity of watercolor continued to grow until in the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolor, producing such well-known watercolor artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.

What is the passage mainly about?

A.The gradual weakness of fresco painting.

B.Oils having more power or influence over watercolor.

C.The rediscovery of watercolor in England.

D.The start and development of watercolor.

The first watercolor artists were ______.

A.early cave men                                      B.Italian fresco artists

C.Flemish masters                                     D.English artists of the 18th century

In 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought ______.

A.watercolor was more costly, but was better

B.oil painting lasted less long, but clearer and brighter

C.watercolor was not suitable for finished works

D.oil painting was difficult to use

According to the passage, watercolor painting was put back in England because ______.

A.it was easy to use outdoors                      B.it was a strong medium

B.it was extremely bright in color               D.it was well suited to popular tastes

What would the next paragraph most probably deal with?

A.The works of famous American watercolor artists.

B.The weakness of oils as popular paints.

C.Techniques of producing watercolor.

D.Modern American oil painters.

Everywhere you look, large quantities of information in the world are pouring. This data flood is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life. It has great potential for good — as long as consumers, companies and governments make the right choices about when to restrict the flow of data, and when to encourage it.
A few industries have led the way in their ability to gather and take advantage of the data. Credit-card companies monitor every purchase and can identify cheats with a high degree of accuracy. Stolen credit cards are more likely to be used to buy hard liquor than wine, for example, because it is easier to overlook. Insurance firms are also good at combining clues to spot doubtful claims: dishonest claims are more likely to be made on a Monday than a Tuesday, since policyholders (保险客户) who stage accidents tend to assemble friends as false witnesses over the weekend. By combining many such rules, it is possible to work out which cards are likeliest to have been stolen, and which claims are untrue. By analyzing “basket data”, supermarkets can make promotions to appeal to particular customers’ preferences. The oil industry uses supercomputers to help them before drilling wells.
But the data flood also poses risks. There are many examples of databases being stolen: disks full of social-security data go missing, laptops loaded with tax records are left in taxis, credit-card numbers are stolen by online purchase. The result can be privacy made public, identity stolen and cheats permitted large space. Rather than owning and controlling their own personal data, they very often find that they have lost control of it.
The best way to deal with the data flood is to make more data available in the right way, by requiring greater transparency in several areas. First, users should be given greater access to and control over the information held about them, including whom it is shared with. Google allows users to see what information it holds about them, and lets them delete their search histories or modify the targeting of advertising, for example. Second, organizations should be required to disclose details of security breaches (安全漏洞), as is already the case in some parts of the world, to encourage bosses to take information security more seriously. Third, organizations should be subject to an annual security check, with the resulting grade made public (though details of any problems exposed would not be). This would encourage companies to keep their security measures up to date.
64. What is the best title for this passage?  
A. Information Flood             B. Benefits of Data Flood
C. Harms of Data Flood          D. How to Use Data in a Right Way
65. From the passage we can infer that _____.
A. lots of data are lost because of hardware problems
B. online purchases are becoming more and more popular
C. credit cards are not so secure to use and will go out of use very soon
D. insurance firms have to investigate before they confirm their policyholders’ claims
66. Which of the following is the writer’s opinion about how to deal with the data flood?
A. Personal information should be used for public benefits.
B. The users should be given the right to access public information.
C. Companies should update their measures to guarantee their data safety.
D. Organizations should keep their resulting grade of security checks unknown to the public.
67. From the passage we can conclude that _____.
A. the data flood makes peoples’ life less convenient and more expensive
B. companies and insurance firms are responsible for the data flood
C. the information flood is more useful to organizations than to individuals
D. the information flood has both positive and negative influence on modern life