Every year landslides {滑坡} cause 25 to 50 deaths and $1.5 billion in damage in the United States.They account for 15 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in Europe.And in Decem??ber, a single event killed more than 200 people in the Philippines.Sending workers to stabilize (加固) mountainsides using steel bars and cement (水泥) can help prevent disaster, but it introduces new difficulties.Shaking drills produce harmful dust and loosen heavy, dangerous debris (米屑)."It's quite a risky job," says Giorgio Pezzuto of D'Appolonia, an engineering company in Italy.

D'Appolonia, working with eight other companies, may have an answer:  a three-ton robot called Roboclimber."The idea is to operate a machine far away that can drill without a hu??man being on board,'" says Pezzuto, manager for the project, which is supported by the European Commission.Engineers claim that the machine will be faster and cheaper than manual labor.The robot, a large radio-controlled four-legged me??chanical spider (蜘蛛), has cost at least $2 mil??lion so far.The final product should be able to climb unstable mountainsides, drill holes, insert bars and cement, and collect data on the slope' s stability.Testing should begin in May.

The underlined word "event" (in Paragraph l) refers to ___.

A.landslide         B.machine C.earthquake       D.flood

The purpose in writing this text is ___..

A.to tell people how serious the damage caused by landslides is

B.to tell people that sending workers to sta??bilize mountainsides is a risky job

C.to introduce a product that can be used to stabilize mountainsides

D.to show people how to use a new product

What does the robot look like?

A.A human being. B.A spider.C.A truck.       D.A drill.

The biggest advantage of this product is that_________.

A.it will be faster and cheaper than manual labor

B.it can climb mountainsides, drill holes, insert bars and cement

C.it can collect data on the slope’s stability

D.it can drill without a human being on board

A serious problem for today’s society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.

First, employers should take the responsibility for their retried employees. To make this possible,  a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must  take life long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.

Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.

In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately , as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable  answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.

One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some workplaces especially for the elderly where they are independent.

To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.

What is the passage mainly about?

A. The problem faced by the old in society.

B. Why we should take responsibility for the old.

C. How we can improve the lives of the old

D. Where the old can go to get their pensions.

According to the passage, how can the government help to improve the lives of retired people?

A. Set aside some profits to help people with problems after they retire

B. Increase saving levels of people during their working years

C. Increase the discounts for food and transport for the old

D. Make available pensions for those who have retired

The underlined word “viable” most probably means ____.

A. impossible   B. practical   C. usefull   D. successful

What can be concluded from the passage?

   A. Taking care of the old is mainly an issue of money

   B. Employers should allow their workers to retire at a later age

   C. Becoming independent should be the goal of most old people

   D. There is no single solution to the problem of the old

What is the writer’s main purpose of writing this article?

   A. To point out the need for government supporting for old people

   B. To make general readers aware of the problems of retired people

   C. To discuss some possible solutions to an important social problem

   D. To instruct retired people on how they can have a happier life.

 0  30189  30197  30203  30207  30213  30215  30219  30225  30227  30233  30239  30243  30245  30249  30255  30257  30263  30267  30269  30273  30275  30279  30281  30283  30284  30285  30287  30288  30289  30291  30293  30297  30299  30303  30305  30309  30315  30317  30323  30327  30329  30333  30339  30345  30347  30353  30357  30359  30365  30369  30375  30383  151629 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网