Do you suppose Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time, really did fools experiments? Or did he do experiments that were so simple and basic that other people just thought they were foolish?

　　Sometimes, people think they already know the answer to a question or the solution (解决办法) to a problem. Sometimes, they really do know an answer or a solution, but without thinking they are important.

　　Charles Darwin didn’t settle for (满足于) just thinking he knew something. And, he believed all things could be important however simple they seemed to be.

　　Suppose you drop sheets of paper that are of exactly the same size and shape. If you drop them at the same time in the same place, they will fall in the same way. Now make one of the sheets of paper into a tight (紧的) little ball and let it drop along with the other sheets. What happens? You have done an experiment that is so simple that you might think it couldn’t be worth anything.

　　But this simple experiment is important. It explains part of our present-day understandings of physics, ideas that were worked out long ago by Galileo and Newton. And these understandings set aside some of ancient Greek physics.

Scientist sometimes stops to look at very simple things and to think very hard about them. Even the simplest idea, which we might think is foolish, can shake the foundations of science.

1. The passage tells us that Charles Darwin ____.

　　A. was a great English scientist

　　B. always liked doing the experiments that others thought difficult

　　C. thought even the simplest thing was important

　　D. didn’t get well with others

2. The phrase “set aside” most probably means____ .

　　A. throw away      B. store up

　　C. put to use        D. realize

3. The author of the passage tries to ________.

　　A. convince us that Charles Darwin, Galileo and Newton are the greatest scientists in the world

　　B. draw the conclusion that basic sciences are simple things

　　C. prove that two sheets of paper, with the same size and shape, will fall at the same speed

　　D. draw our attention to everyday happenings around us

4Which of the following is TRUE?

　　A. Darwin really did fools experiments.

　　B. According to some people Darwin did foolish experiments.

　　C. It is believed by all the people that things could be important though they seemed to be simple.

　　D. Galileo and Newton worked out ancient Greek physics.

When products made in factories _____, they are thrown away as garbage.

　　A. come to an end    B. are put to use

　　C. are used up       D. wear out

Many a time, Bob failed to find a job_____ his skills can be put to use. So the situation______ he can’t change worried him deeply.

A．which, where      B．that, which         C．where, that        D．that, where

    PITTSBURGH – For most people, snakes seem unpleasant or even threatening. But Howie Choset sees in their delicate movements a way to save lives.

    The 37-year-old Carnegie Mellon University professor has spent years developing snake-like robots he hopes will eventually slide through fallen buildings in search of victims trapped after natural disasters or other emergencies.

     Dan Kara is president of Robotics Trends, a Northboro, Mass.-based company that publishes an online industry magazine and runs robotics trade shows. He said there are other snake-like robots being developed, mainly at universities, but didn’t know of one that could climb pipes.

     The Carnegie Mellon machines are designed to carry cameras and electronic sensors and can be controlled with a joystick(操纵杆). They move smoothly with the help of small electric motors, or servos, commonly used by hobbyists in model airplanes.

     Built from lightweight materials, the robots are about the size of a human arm orsmaller.   They can sense which way is up, but are only as good as their human operators, Choset added.

    Sam Stover, a search term manager with the Federal Emergency Management Agency based in Indiana, said snake-type robots would offer greater mobility than equipment currently available, such as cameras attached to extendable roles.

   “It just allows us to do something we’ve not been able to do before,” Stover said,   “We needed them yesterday.”

     He said sniffer dogs are still the best search tool for rescue workers, but that they can only be used effectively when workers have access to damaged buildings.

     Stover, among the rescue workers who handled the aftermath (后果) of Hurricane Katrina, said snake robots would have helped rescuers search flooded houses in that disaster.

     Choset said the robots may not be ready for use for another five to ten years, depending on funding.

72. Which institution is responsible for the development of Choset’s robots?

A. Robotics Trends.        B. Pittsburgh City Council.

C. Carnegie Mellon University.      D. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

73. Choset believes that his invention ______.

A. can be attached to an electronic arm               B. can be used by hobbyists in model airplanes

C. can find victims more quickly than a sniffer dog

D. can sense its way no better than its operators

74. By saying “We needed them yesterday” (paragraph 7), Stover means that snake-like robots _____.

A. could help handle the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

B. would have been put to use in past rescue work

C. helped rescuers search flooded houses yesterday

D. were in greater need yesterday than today

75. What is the text mainly about?

A. Snake-like robots used in industries.                     B. Snake-like robots made to aid in rescues.

C. The development of snake-like robots.            D. The working principles of snake-like robots.

Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean water and economic growth, and as a result it has become difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it or the way the concept is put to use. This is especially true in agriculture, where sustainable development is often taken as the measure of progress without a proper appreciation of historical and cultural perspectives.
　　To start with, it is important to remember that the nature of agriculture has changed markedly throughout history, and will continue to do so. Medieval agriculture in northern Europe fed, clothed and sheltered a mainly rural society with a much lower population density than it is today. It had minimal effect on biodiversity, and any pollution it caused was typically localized. In terms of energy use and the nutrients captured in the product it was relatively inefficient.
　　Contrast this with farming since the start of the industrial revolution. Competition from overseas led farmers to specialize and increase yields. Throughout this period food became cheaper, safer and more reliable. However, these changes have also led to habitat loss and to reducing biodiversity.
　　All this means that agriculture in the 21st century will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th. This will require thorough thinking. For example, we need to move away from the idea that traditional practices are certainly more sustainable than new ones. We also need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be “zero impact”. The key will be to abandon the rather simple and static(稳定的)measures of sustainability, which centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage. Instead we need a more dynamic interpretation, one that looks at the pros and cons of all the various way land is used. There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield: energy use, environmental costs, water purity, carbon footprint and biodiversity. It is clear, for example, that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from Spain to the UK is less than that of producing them in the UK with additional heating and lighting. But we do not know whether lower carbon footprints will always be better for biodiversity.
　　What is important is recognizing that sustainable agriculture is not just about sustainable food production.
【小题1】How do people often measure progress in agriculture?