难度B／A级
    Air Pollution Cloud Measured on Both Sides of Pacific
    Scientists watched closely last spring as a haze of pollution, which had been tracked by satellite as it crossed the Pacific Ocean，settled over a large swath of North America from Calgary, Canada，into Arizona．Now it appears that，for the first time, researchers on both sides of the Pacific took detailed measurements of the same plume，a cloud that contained Gobi desert dust as well as hydrocarbons from industrial pollution．
    Heather Price，a University of Washington doctoral student in chemistry, found that the amount of light reflected by the particles in the air was more than 550 percent greater than normal for that time of year．The mass of Asian air contained elevated levels of all pollutants measured．
    Price said，“but the only thing that came close to being alarming was the level of particulate Matter.”
    The haze that settled across the western part of the country was widely reported by the news media，and it was measured as far inland as the ski slopes of Aspen, Colo.
    Readings on the western side of the Pacific came from the Aerosol Characterization Experiments, a project aimed at understanding how particles in the atmosphere affect Earth’s climate. Additional measurements were taken in the same region at the same time under a project sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration．
    Knowing the pollution was approaching Washington state，Price loaded sensing equipment aboard a rented Beechcraft on April 1 4 and flew to Neah Bay on the state’s Northwest coast．Taking samples at various levels from 15，000 feet to 20，000 feet in altitude，she monitored  quantities of dust，ozone，carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons．“From my copilot’s seat．the dust  was thick enough to see with the naked eye．”Price said．
    Now she’s trying to correlate her findings with those of the two research teams operating on the other side of the Pacific，where at one point the pollution plume was larger than Japan．The huge size of the cloud showed up clearly in satellite images that gave Price plenty of warning the haze was on its way．“You can see these two blobs coming out of the deserts of Mongolia and growing over Asia，then getting swept out over the ocean and finally setting over North America,”
    she said. She intends to continue measuring air samples off the Washington coast and will be looking for air masses with evidence of pollution originating somewhere other than Asia. “We’d  like to see if we can get a signature of pollution coming from Europe because computer models suggest that European sources also can be transported across the Pacific，” she said．“However, we expect that sources in Europe will contribute less than Asian sources．”
    练习：
    1.The haze of pollution mentioned in the first paragraph is a cloud
    A) of moisture over Calgary, Canada．
    B) developing over Pacific Ocean．
    C) of industrial pollutants．
    D) of desert dust and hydrocarbons．
    2.One of the Prices’S findings (Paragraph 2)about the particles of the air is that
    A) they contain more pollutants than normal particles．
    B) they move much faster in high altitudes than in low altitudes．
    C) they are finer and lighter than normal particles．
    D) their ability to reflect light is much than stronger．
    3.What did Price not do during her research?
    A) She rented a Beechcraft．
    B) She used her sensing equipment aboard the Beechcrah．
    C) She collected samples of pollutants on the Northwest coast for further tests．
    D) She tested quantities of chemicals in the air．
    4.According to the last paragraph，which of the following statements about the two research  teams is true?
    A) The two research teams whose findings Price correlates hers with are based in Asia．
    B) Price corrects some inaccurate data provided by the two teams operating in Asia．
    C) Price is working with the two research teams in Japan．
    D) The two teams in Asia volunteer to correlate their findings with Price’s．
    5.Which of the statements is closest in meaning to the sentence“…，we expect that sources in Europe will contribute less than Asian sources．”？
    A) Pollution is expected to be less serious in Europe than in Asia．
    B) Pollution is studied in more depth in Europe than in Asia．
    C) Pollutants coming from Europe are not the main source of pollution in North America．
    E) Pollutants coming from Europe are the main source of pollution in North America．
    第五部分：补全短文（每题2分，共10分，建议在10分钟以内完成）
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    难度B／A级
    Robotic Highway Cones
    A University of Nebraska professor has developed robotic cones and barrels．____1____ They can even be programmed to move on their own at any particular part of me day，said Shane Farritor, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Nebraska．
    For example，if workers arrived at 6 a.m.，the cones could move from the side of the highway to block off the lane at that time．____2____ “It just seems like a very good application for robots，”Farritor said．“The robotic cones would also help remove people from hazardous jobs on the highway putting barrels and cones into place，”Farritor said in a report on his creation．
    ____3____ This fund allowed Farritor to work on the project with graduate students at Nebraska and his assistant Steve Goddard．
    The robots are placed at the bottom of the cones and barrels and are small enough not to greatly change the appearance of the construction aides．“It would look exactly the same，”Farritor said．“Normally there’s a kind of rubbery, black base to them．____4____”
    Farritor has talked with Officials from the Nebraska Department of Roads about how the robots would be most useful to what they might need．
    The robots could come in handy following a slow．moving maintenance operation，like painting a stripe on a road or moving asphalt，where now the barrels have to be picked up and moved as the operation proceeds．“That way you don’t have to block off a 10-mile strip for the operation,”Farritor said．
    While prototypes have been made．they are not in use anywhere．Farritor said he has applied for a patent and is considering what to do next．____5____He is also thinking about marketing the robots to roads departments and others across the country wh07 may benefit from them．


    词汇：
    cone／n．圆锥体
    hazadous／adj．有危险的
    aide／n．辅助用具
    rubbery／adj．类似橡胶的
    strip／n．条，带
    asphalt／n．沥青
    prototype／n．原型
    patentt／n．专利权
    练习：
    A．And they can return to the original place at the end of the day．
    B．He is thinking about starting a small business．
    C．Farritor was“Inventor of the Year”in 2003．
    D．Work on the idea began in 2002 using a National Academy of Sciences grant．
    E．We replace that with a robot．
    F．These robotic cones and barrels can move out of the way，or into place，from computer commands made miles away．