英语科技文选自考2010年04月真题及答案解析

Early Education

It is increasingly common to hear people referring to “the nanotechnology industry”, just like the software or mobile phone industries, but will such a thing ever exist? Many of the companies working with nanotechnology are simply applying our knowledge of the nanoscale to existing industries, whether it is improving drug delivery mechanisms for the pharmaceutical industry, or producing nanoclay particles for the plastics industry. In fact nanotechnology is an enabling technology rather than an industry in its own right. No one would ever describe Microsoft or Oracle as being part of the electricity industry, even though without electricity the software industry could not exist. Rather, nanotechnology is a fundamental understanding of how nature works at the atomic scale. New industries will be generated as a result of this understanding, just as the understanding of how electrons can be moved in a conductor by applying a potential difference led to electric lighting, the telephone, computing, the internet and many other industries, all of which would not have been possible without it. While it is possible to buy a packet of nanotechnology, a gram of nanotubes for example, it would have zero intrinsic value. The real value of the nanotubes would be in their application, whether within existing industry, or to enable the creation of a whole new one.

What the present change will turn out to be will depend on______.

What Peter Cochrane says chiefly means that________.

It is implied in the second paragraph that_________.

In terms of the scale of change, the author considers the present change_____.

(B)

     Futurologists have not been very precise about how, and how much, digital media will change our lives. Most comment has focused on the expectation that consumers will soon be able to use their TV or PC to shop, bank and order movies from their armchair. Commentators envisage more dramatic changes to everyday life. Nicholas Negroponte, director of MIT’ s Media Lab, believes that a key development over the next five years will be the “personalization” of the computer, with wearable devices such as a wrist-mounted TV, computer and telephone. Peter Cochrane, head of research at British Telecom, looks further ahead, asking us to “imagine a virtual reality interface, with your visual cortex flooded by information from spectacle-mounted or contact lenses augmented by directional audio input, tactile gloves and prosthetic arms and fingers that will give you the sensation of touch, resistance and weight”.

     Historically, enthusiasts for new technologies have usually been overoptimistic about the speed of change. Most new technologies take longer to be adopted by the general public than these enthusiasts expect, although there have been exceptions: once they had reached critical mass, VCRs and mobile phones took off faster than most experts predicted. Arguably, everyday life in the advanced economies changed more between the 1880s and the 1930s than in the last fifty years or, possibly, the next. Nevertheless, it is valid to talk about a digital “revolution”, since the extent of change is dramatic by any standards and digital technology is its biggest single driving force. Even if the enthusiasts overstate how quickly things will change, they may turn out to be right about the scale of that change.

Which of the following statements best describes the conclusion of the severaldifferent experiments?

What is the one of the implications of the discovery of FIT genes?

What can be said about FIT1 and FIT2 according to the passage?

(A)

      In discovering the genes responsible for storing fat in cells, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have answered one of biology’s most fundamental questions.

     Scientists had previously identified the genes responsible for synthesizing fat within cells. But the genes governing the next step—packaging the fat inside a layer of phospholipids and proteins to form lipid droplets—have long been sought, and for good reason.

     “Storing fat in lipid droplets appears crucially important for enabling cells to use fat as an energy source,”says Dr. David Silver, assistant professor of biochemistry at Einstein. He and his colleagues identified two genes that are crucial for packaging fat into lipid droplets. They called the genes FIT1 and FIT2 (for Fat-Inducing Transcripts 1 and 2). Both genes code for proteins that are more than 200 amino acids in length, and the two genes are 50 percent similar to each other. The amino acid sequences of the FIT proteins do not resemble any other known proteins found in any species, indicating that the FIT genes comprise a novel gene family.

       The researchers conducted several different experiments to confirm the roles of FIT1 and FIT2 in fat storage. In one experiment, they overexpressed both FIT1 and FIT2 genes in human cells. While the rate of fat synthesis stayed the same in both “overexpressed” and control cells, the number of lipid droplets in the “overexpressed” cells increased dramatically, between four- and six -fold.

     Using a different tactic to evaluate FIT function, the researchers next “knocked down” FIT2 in mouse fat cells. Their reasoning: If FIT2 is indeed essential for lipid droplet formation, then suppressing FIT2 expression should abolish lipid-droplet accumulation. Examination of these fat cells for lipid droplets revealed that ceils with suppressed FIT2 expression had a drastic reduction in lipid droplets.

     Finally, the researchers carded out a similar FIT2 “knock down” experiment in a whole animal—the zebrafish. Zebrafish eggs were injected with a segment of DNA designed to interfere with FIT2 expression. Then, to induce lipid droplet formation in zebrafish larvae, free-swimming six-day-old larvae were fed a high-fat diet for six hours. Although the larvae had exhibited normal feeding behavior, examination of their livers and intestines revealed a near-absence of lipid droplets.

     “These lines of evidence supported our conclusion that FIT’ genes are necessary for the accumulation of lipid droplets in cells,” says Dr. Silver. “Now that we’ve identified the genes and the proteins they code for, it should be possible to develop drugs that can regulate their expression or activity. Such drugs could prove extremely valuable, not only for treating obesity, but for alleviating the serious disorders that arise from obesity including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.”

What is the passage mainly concerned with?

The phrase “knocked down” in line 1, para 5 is closest in meaning to_______.

be bound up with

account for

opt for

take...for grand

an array of

31、父亲让我选职业，我选择当律师。

32、人类的未来与生命科学的发展密切相关。

33、由于提供了一系列统计数字，他的论证更有说服力了。

34、农民占全国人口的大多数。

35、我认为修建新路是理所当然的。

The technological and scientific age in which we live can accordingly be regarded as both positive and negative. It is positive because of the hopes aroused by science as a result of the progress made in the therapeutic treatment, the relief of human suffering, the improvement of individual and collective welfare, and the creation of forms of culture which the mass of the population can enjoy or which offer increased scope for individual freedom. It is negative because of the increasing duality of the societies in which we live. Inequalities exist not only between rich countries and poor, between those which have research centers and industries and those which do not, but also within each national or cultural community.

raised      retrieved       into             provides         by        sheet         examines         deposited

        New research challenges the generally accepted belief that substantial ice sheets could not have existed on Earth during past super-warm climate events. The study (23) researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego(24)strong evidence that a glacial ice cap, about half the size of the modern day glacial ice (25), existed 91 million years ago during a period of intense global warming. This study offers valuable insight(26)current day elimate conditions and the environmental mechanisms for global sea level rise. The new study(27) geochemical and sea level data(28)from marine microfossils (29)on the ocean floor 91 million years ago during the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum. This extreme warming event in Earth’s history(30)tropica locean temperatures to 35-37℃ (95-98.6°F), about 10℃18°F warmer than today, thus creating an intense greenhouse climate.

I____________ an old friend of mine at the gas station.

Dependence on alcohol often ____________ unhappiness in the home.

He said this____________ his action.

The general began his army life as a private soldier and____________ as ruler ofhis country.

When production gets ____________,a hologram of each newly manufacturedpropeller is superimposed on the hologram of the defect-free model.

They are trying to find a solution that ____________all the problems.

After the star ____________fuel, the outer portion explodes, forcing the core of the star to collapse.

It is harmful to my health, and ____________, it is no good to my work.

I didn’t think Jack and John had anything____________.

Companies are required to____________ monthly financial statements to theboard.

What results have____________ your talk?

flaw 完美地

emerge from               wind up                      bump into

in the justification of           what’s more          under way

be applicable to              run out of                    in phase

stem from                     in common                  submit to

Light lines occur where the light waves are____________.

compressed 超高度压缩的

sense 感觉的

culture 水产养殖

quality 定性的

subject主观的

spring 子孙;后代

instinct 本能地

reverse 不可逆转性

mathematics 数学家