A Battery’s Worst Nightmare(噩梦)
Portable electronics that can be carried about easily are only as good as their batteries and, let’s face it, batteries aren’t very good, especially when compared with, say, petrol, which packs 100 times a battery’s energy into an equal space. That’s why a large group of mechanical engineers (centered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but with partners at other universities and companies) are hard at work in an effort to replace batteries with a tiny engine that runs on fuel. Imagine a battery-free life!When the fuel runs out in your laptop or mobile phone, you just fill up and go.
The engine, about the size of a ten-cent coin, starts with a combustion chamber (燃烧室) that burns hydrogen (氢). Its tiny parts are etched onto silicon wafers (硅片) in the same manner that computer parts are imprinted onto integrated circuits (集成电路). The first engine is made up of five wafers. And since these wafers could be produced in much the same way as computer chips, they could probably be produced quite cheaply.
But the devil in all this nice detail is efficiency(效率). Tiny engine parts don’t always behave like their scaled-up parts of the first engine. Something between the parts can slow down the work, according to Columbia University professor Luc Frechette, one of the engine’s designers. Extreme heat from the combustion chamber is also a problem, often leaking to other parts of the engine.
The scientists’ goal is to create an engine that will operate 10 times better than batteries do. Frechette says that a complete system, with all parts in place and working, will be set up in the next couple of years, but commercial models aren’t available until at least the end of the next ten years. 
【小题1】.
. According to the passage, the title suggests that ________.

 Ladies and gentlemen, I have the great ________ of introducing our speaker for tonight.

A. pride　　　B. advantage　　　C. privilege　　　D. insight

Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive（主管的） circle, beauty can become a liability.

　　While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.

　　Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.

　　Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.

　　All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.

　　Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the "manly"qualifies required.

　　This is true even in politics, "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently, " says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates（候选人）. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.

　　The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.

　　The word "liability" most probably means ________.

　　A. disadvantage　B. advantage　　　C. misfortune　　 D. trouble

　Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness________

　　A. turns out to　be a disadvantage to men

　　B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

　　C. has as little effect on men as on women

　　D. affects men and women alike

　　It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often________.

　　A. practical　　　B. supportive　　 C. old - fashioned　D. one - sided

　　The author writes this passage to ________.

　　A. give advice to job - seekers who are attractive

　　B. discuss the disadvantages of being attractive

　　C. demand equal rights for women

　　D. state the importance of appearance

Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive (欺骗)? When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can give you a false picture.

　　For example, some might say, “I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery (彩票). It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”

　　This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only one was a winner. He’s really a big loser!

　　He didn’t say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.

　　Some politicians often use this trick. Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(对手) says, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” that’s true. However, and honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”

　　Advertisers(广告商) will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say, “Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache.” It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.

This kind of deception happens too of often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.

How much did the lottery winner lose?

　A. One hundred dollars.        B. Two hundred dollars.

　C. Three hundred dollars.       D. Four hundred dollars.

We may infer that the author believes people should _______.

　A. buy lottery tickets        B. make use of half-truths

　C. not take anything at face value   D. not trust the Yucky Company

What do the underline words “net gain” in Paragraph 5 mean?

　A. final increase              B. big advantage

　C. large share                 D. total saving

What can we know from the example of the Yucky Pill advertisement?

　A. False statements are easy to see through.  B. Half-truths are often used to mislead people.

　C. Doctors like to act in advertisements.     D. Advertisements are based on facts.

A Battery’s Worst Nightmare(噩梦)

     Portable electronics that can be carried about easily are only as good as their batteries and, let’s face it, batteries aren’t very good, especially when compared with, say, petrol, which packs 100 times a battery’s energy into an equal space. That’s why a large group of mechanical engineers (centered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but with partners at other universities and companies) are hard at work in an effort to replace batteries with a tiny engine that runs on fuel. Imagine a battery-free life!When the fuel runs out in your laptop or mobile phone, you just fill up and go.

    The engine, about the size of a ten-cent coin, starts with a combustion chamber (燃烧室) that burns hydrogen (氢). Its tiny parts are etched onto silicon wafers (硅片) in the same manner that computer parts are imprinted onto integrated circuits (集成电路). The first engine is made up of five wafers. And since these wafers could be produced in much the same way as computer chips, they could probably be produced quite cheaply.

     But the devil in all this nice detail is efficiency(效率). Tiny engine parts don’t always behave like their scaled-up parts of the first engine. Something between the parts can slow down the work, according to Columbia University professor Luc Frechette, one of the engine’s designers. Extreme heat from the combustion chamber is also a problem, often leaking to other parts of the engine.

    The scientists’ goal is to create an engine that will operate 10 times better than batteries do. Frechette says that a complete system, with all parts in place and working, will be set up in the next couple of years, but commercial models aren’t available until at least the end of the next ten years. 

1..

. According to the passage, the title suggests that ________.

    A. batteries should be greatly improved           B. petrol will be used instead of batteries

    C. the time of batteries will be gone forever    D. pollution caused by batteries must be prevented

2..

 What’s the meaning of the underlined word “devil” (In Paragraph 3)?

     A. Problem.　           B. Advantage.　        C. Invention.　                 D. Technique.

3..

 What can we infer from the passage?

A. The new invention doesn’t need any fuel. 

B. The new engine has been produced in quantity.

    C. The new invention is much cheaper than the battery.

    D. The new engine needs to be improved before it’s on sale.

4..

. What is the main purpose of this passage?

    A. To introduce a new invention to readers.        B. To persuade readers not to use batteries.

    C. To show us how the new invention works. 　　D. To declare when the engine will be on sale.