职称英语考试 理工类B级 考试小抄.doc

第六篇 Microchip Research Center Created A research center has been set up in this Far Eastern country to develop advanced microchip production technology. The center, which will start out with about US $14 million, will help the country develop its chip industry without always depending on imported technology. The center will make use of its research skills and facilities to develop new technology for domestic chip plants. The advent of the center will possibly free the country from the situation that it is always buying almost-outdated technologies from other countries, said the countrys flagship chipmaker.1 Currently, chip plants in this country are in a passive situation because many foreign governments dont allow them to import the most advanced technologies, fearing they will be used for military purposes. Moreover, the high licensing fees they have to pay to technology providers are also an important reason for their decision of self-reliance2. As mainstream chip production technology shifts from one generation to the next every three to five years3, plants with new technology can make more powerful chips at lower costs, while4 plants with outdated equipment, which often cost billions of dollars to build, will be marginalized by the maker. More than 10 chip plants are being built, each costing millions of US dollars.5 The majority of that money goes to overseas equipment vendors and technology owners mainly from Japan and Singapore. Should the new center play a major role in improving the situation in the industry,6 the country admits the US $14 million investment is still rather small. This country is developing comprehensive technologies. Most of the investment will be spent on set第六篇微芯片研究中心成立为了开发先进的微芯片生产技术，这个远东国家建立了一个研究中心，该中心启动资金为一千四百万美元，可以帮助该国开发自己的芯片工业，不必总是依赖于进口技术。该中心将会应用自己的研究技术和设施，为本国芯片厂家开发新技术。这个国家名列首位的芯片制造公司说，芯片中心的成立可能使这个国家摆脱从他国购买即将淘汰的技术的困境。由于许多外国政府担心先进技术会被用于军事目的，不允许这个国家的芯片生产厂家进口前沿技术，所以这些生产厂家处于一种被动局面。另外，由于这些芯片生产厂家必须向技术提供者支付高额的许可费，这也构成了他们决定要自力更生的一个重要原因。由于主流芯片生产技术每隔 35年就要进行更新换代，所以掌握了新技术的厂家就可以以较低的成本制造出较好的芯片，而那些耗费数十亿美元建立起的厂家，如果设备落后，也将会被生产商所淘汰。几个芯片厂正在建立之中，每个厂的造价都在几百万美元，其中大部分资金都流向了海外设备商和技术所有者主要是日本和新加坡。如果新建的芯片中心能在改变该国芯片行业的被动形势中起到重要作用，该国承认，一千四百万美元的投资仍是微不足道的。该国正在开发综合技术，大部分投资将用于与技术和知识产权所有者建立联盟。第一篇 Inventor of LED When Nick Holonyak set out to create a new kind of visible lighting using semiconductor alloys, his colleagues thought he was unrealistic. Today, his discovery of light-emitting diodes, or1 LEDs, are used in everything from DVDs to alarm clocks to airports. Dozens of his students have continued his work, developing lighting used in traffic lights and other everyday technology. On April 23, 2004, Holonyak received the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize at a ceremony in Washington. This marks the 10th year that the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has given the award to prominent inventors. “Any time you get an award, big or little2, its always a surprise.” Holonyak said. Holonyak, 75, was a student of John Bardeen, an inventor of the transistor, in the early 1950s. After graduate school3, Holonyak worked at Bell Labs. He later went to General Electric4, where he invented a switch now widely used in house dimmer switches5. Later, Holonyak started looking into how semiconductors could be used to generate light. But while his colleagues were looking at how to generate invisible light, he wanted to generate visible light. The LEDs he invented in 1962 now last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, and are more environmentally friendly and cost effective. Holonyak, now a professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics at the University of Illinois, said he suspected that LEDs would become as commonplace as they are today, but didnt realize how many uses they would have. “You dont know in the beginning. You think youre doing something important, you think its worth doing, but you really cant tell what the big payoff is going to be, and when, and how. You just dont know.” he said. The Lemelson-MIT Program also recognized Edith Flanigen, 75, with the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on a new generation of “molecular sieves,” that can separate molecules by size. 第十篇The Biology of MusicHumans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what is music, and how does it work its magic? Science does not yet have all the answers.What are two things that make humans different from animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that some animals can sing (and many birds sing better than a lot of people). However, the songs of animals, such as birds and whales, are very limited. It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments. 1Music is strange stuff. It is clearly different from language. However, people can use music to communicate things especially their emotions. When music is combined with speech in a song, it is a very powerful form of communication. But, biologically speaking, what is music?If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true.Sometimes people who suffer brain damage lose their ability to process language. However, they dont automatically lose their musical abilities. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer，had a stroke in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand，sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech. This shows that the brain processes music and language separately.By studying the physical effects of music on the body，scientists have also learned a lot about how music influences the emotions. But why does music have such a strong effect on us? That is a harder question to answer. Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College, London, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires special talent, practice, and physical ability. Thats why it may be a way of showing your fitness to be someones mate. For example, singing in tune or playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need a good memory to remember the notes. And playing or singing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves (or vice versa)， it may be a way of showing off.However, Millers theory still doesnt explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists，this is clearly an area that needs further research.第十篇音乐生物学人们把音乐作为一种高效的交流方式，在爱情中它也可能会起到重要的作用。但是音乐是什么？它又是如何起到神奇的效果？科学界还没有给出答案。哪两项事物使得人类不同于动物？一个是语言，另一个是音乐。当然一些动物会唱歌 (并且许多鸟唱得比很多人都好听) ，但是，动物的歌声是有限的，比如鸟类和鲸鱼。同样，是人类而不是动物开发出了乐器。音乐是个奇怪的东西，它与语言有明显的不同。但是，人们能够用音乐去传达尤其是情感。当音乐与歌曲中的语言结合在一起的时候，它就是一种强有力的表达方式。但是，从生物学来讲，音乐是什么？如果音乐与语言真的不同，那么我们应该在大脑的不同区域内对音乐和语言进行加工处理，科学证据也证实了这一点。有时，受过脑损伤的人会丧失他们处理语言的能力。但是，他们不会自动地丢失音乐才能。比如，维沙翁·舍巴林，一位苏联作曲家，在1953 年得了中风。他的大脑的左半边受到损害，他再也不能说话或是理解别人的话，但是他仍然能够谱曲，直到十年后他离开人世。另一方面，中风有时会使人们丧失音乐能力，但是他们仍然能够说话也能听懂别人的话。这就说明大脑是分别加了处理音乐和语言的。通过研究音乐在人身体上的物理效应，科学家也了解到许多关于音乐是如何影响情感的。但是，为什么音乐对我们有如此强烈的影响？这是一个更难回答的问题。伦敦大学学院的研究员杰弗里·米勒认为音乐和爱有紧密的关，音乐需要特殊才能、练习和体能。这也许是一种方式让你展示你适合做某人的伴侣。比如，按调唱歌或者弹奏乐器需要有很好的肌肉控制力。你也需要有好的记忆力来记住音符。能正确地演奏或者唱出这些音符也证明你的听力也非常好。所以，当一个男人唱给他心爱的女人时(反之亦然) 音乐就可能成为一种展示的方式。然而，米勒的理论仍然不能解释为什么声音的特定结合可以深深地影响我们的情感。对于科学家来说，这显然是一个需要深入研究的领域。*第二十二篇                         Real World RobotsWhen you think of a robot, do you envision a shiny, metallic device having the same general shape as a human being, performing humanlike functions, and responding to your questions in a monotone voice accentuated by high-pitched tones and beeps? This is the way many of us imagine a robot, but in the real world, a robot is not humanoid at all. Instead a robot often is a voiceless, box-shaped machine that efficiently carries out repetitive or dangerous functions usually performed by humans. Todays robot is more than an automatic machine that performs one task again and again. A modern robot is programmed with varying degrees of artificial intelligencethat is, a robot contains a computer program that tells it how to perform tasks associated with human intelligence, such as reasoning, drawing conclusions, and learning from past experience.A robot does not possess a human shape for the simple reason that a two-legged robot has great difficulty remaining balanced. A robot does, however, move from place to place on wheels and axles that roll and rotate. A robot even has limbs that swivel and move in combination with joints and motors. To find its way in its surroundings1, a robot utilizes various built-in sensors. Antennae attached to the robots base detect anything they bump into. If the robot starts to teeter as it moves on an incline, a gyroscope or a pendulum inside it senses the vertical differential. To determine its distance from an object and how quickly it will reach the object，the robot bounces beams of laser light and ultrasonic sound waves off obstructions in its path2. These and other sensors constantly feed information to the computer, which then analyzes the information and corrects or adjusts the robots actions. As science and technology advance, the robot too will progress in its functions and use of artificial-intelligence programs.*第九篇             Lightening StrikesThree years ago a bolt of lightning all but destroyed Lyn Millers house in Aberdeenwith her two children inside. “There was a huge rainstorm,” she says, recalling the terrifying experience. “My brother and I were outside desperately working to stop floodwater from coming in the house. Suddenly I was thrown to the ground by an enormous bang. _1_When I picked myself up, the roof and the entire upper storey of the house had been demolished. The door was blocked by rubble, but we forced our way in and found the children, thankfully unharmed. Later I was told to be struck by lightning is a chance in a million.” In fact, its calculated at one chance in 600,000. Even so, Dr Mark Keys of AER Technology, an organisation that monitors the effects of lightning, thinks you should be sensible. “I wouldnt go out in a stormbut then Im quite a careful person.” He advises anyone who is unlucky enough to be caught in a storm to get down on the ground and curl up into a ball, making yourself as small as possible.Lightning is one of natures most awesome displays of sheer power. _2_No wonder the ancient Greeks thought it was Zeus, father of the gods, throwing thunderbolts around in anger. 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, the American scientist and statesman，proved that lightning is a form of electricity, but scientists still lack a complete understanding of how it works._3_ Occasionally there are warning signs.Positive electrical charges streaming upwards from trees or church spires may glow and make a buzzing noise, and peoples hair can stand on end. And if you fear lightning, youll be glad to know that a company in America has manufactured a hand-held lightning detector which can detect it up to 70 kms away, sound a warning tone and monitor the storms approach.Nancy Wilder was playing golf at a club in Surrey when she was hit by a bolt of lightning. Mrs Wilders heart stopped beating, but she was resuscitated and, after a few days in hospital, where she was treated for bums to her head, hands and feet, she was pronounced fit again. Since that time，she has been a strictly fair weather golfer1. _4_ In fact, a golf course is one of the most dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm.The best place to be is inside a car!The largest number of people to be struck by lightning at one time was in September 1995 when 17 players on a football pitch were hit simultaneously. The most extraordinary aspect of the strike was the fact that 11 of the victimsseven adults and four childrenhad burn patterns of tiny holes at 3 centimetre intervals on each toe and around the soles of their feet.Harold Deal, a retired electrician from South Carolina, USA, was struck by lightning 26 years ago. He was apparently unhurt, but it later emerged that the strike had damaged the part of the brain which controls the sensation of temperature. Since then the freezing South Carolina winters havent bothered Harold, since he is completely unable to feel the cold._5_Since then the freezing South Carolina winters havent bothered Harold, since he is completely unable to feel the cold.Animals are victims of lightning too2Hundreds of cows and sheep are killed every year, largely because they go under trees. In East Anglia in 1918, 504 sheep were killed instantaneously by the same bolt of lightning that hit the ground and travelled through the entire flock. Lightning is also responsible for starting more than 10,000 forest fires each year world-wide.ting alliances with technology and intellectual property7 owners.  第六篇 How We Form First Impression 1 We all have first impression of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form an opinion about someone without really knowing anything about him or her aside perhaps from a few remarks or readily observable traits. 2 The answer is related to how your brain allows you to be aware of the world. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in how a persons eyes, ears, nose, or mouth are placed in relation to each other makes you see him or her as different1. In fact, your brain continuously processes incoming sensory information the sights and sounds of your world. These incoming “signals” are compared against2 a host of “memories” stored in the brain areas called the cortex system to determine what these new signals “mean.” 3 If you see someone you know and like at school3, your brain says “familiar and safe.” If you see someone new, it says, “new potentially threatening.” Then your brain starts to match features of this stranger with other “known” memories. The height, weight, dress, ethnicity, gestures, and tone of voice are all matched up. The more unfamiliar the characteristics, the more your brain may say. “This is new. I dont like this person.” Or else, “Im intrigued.” Or your brain may perceive a new face but familiar clothes, ethnicity, gestures like your other friends; so your brain says: “I like this person.” But these preliminary “impressions” can be dead wrong4. 4 When we stereotype people, we use a less mature form of thinking (not unlike the immature thinking of a very young child) that makes simplistic and categorical impressions of others. Rather than learn about the depth and breadth of people their history, inter