Earthquake survivors trapped in rubble could one day be saved by an unlikely rescuer: A robotic caterpillar that burrows its way through debris. Just a few centimeters wide, the robot relies on magnetic fields to propel it through the kind of tiny crevices that would foil the wheeled or tracked search robots currently used to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. The caterpillar’ s inventor, Norihiko Saga of Akita Prefectural University in Japan, will demonstrate his new method of locomotion at a conference on magnetic materials in Seattle. In addition to lights and cameras, a search caterpillar could be equipped with an array of sensors to measure other factors—such as radioactivity or oxygen levels—that could tell human rescuers if an area is safe to enter. The magnetic caterpillar is amazingly simple. It moves by a process similar to peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction that moves food down your intestine. Saga made the caterpillar from a series of rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid consisting of iron particles, water, and a detergent-like surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of the fluid. Each capsule is linked to the next by a pair of rubber rods. The caterpillar’ s guts are wrapped in a clear, flexible polymer tube that protects it from the environment. To make the caterpillar move forwards, Saga moves a magnetic field backwards along the caterpillar. Inside the caterpillar’s “head“ capsule, magnetic fluid surges towards the attractive magnetic field, causing the capsule to bulge out to the sides and draw its front and rear portions up. As the magnetic field passes to the next capsule, the first breaks free and springs forward and the next capsule bunches up. In this way, the caterpillar can reach speeds of 4 centimeters per second as it crawls along. Moving the magnetic field faster can make it traverse the caterpillar before all the capsules have sprung back to their original shapes. The segments then all spring back, almost but not quite simultaneously. Saga plans to automate the movement of the caterpillar by placing electromagnets at regular intervals along the inside of its polymer tube. By phasing the current flow to the electromagnets, he’ 11 be able to control it wirelessly via remote control. He also needs to find a new type of rubber for the magnetic capsules, because the one he’ s using at the minute eventually begins to leak. But crawling is not the most efficient form of locomotion for robots, says Robert Full of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert in animal motion who occasionally advises robotics designers. “If you look at the energetic cost of crawling, compared to walking, swimming or flying, crawling is very expensive, “ he says. Walking, on the other every step, energy is conserved in the foot and then released to help the foot spring up. Saga acknowledges this inefficiency but says his caterpillar is far more stable than one that walks, rolls on wheels or flies. It has no moving parts save for a few fluid-filled rubber capsules. Biped robots and wheeled robots require a smooth surface and are difficult to miniaturize, and flying robots have too many moving parts. “My peristaltic crawling robot is simple and it works, “ he says.

Gene therapy and gene based drugs are two ways we could benefit from our growing mastery of genetic science. But there will be others as well. Here is one of the remarkable therapies on the cutting edge of genetic research that could make their way into mainstream medicine in the coming years. While it’ s true that just about every cell in the body has the instructions to make a complete human, most of those instructions are inactivated, and with good reason: the last thing you want for your brain cells is to start churning out stomach acid or your nose to turn into a kidney. The only time cells truly have the potential to turn into any and all body parts is very early in a pregnancy, when so-called stem cells haven’t begun to specialize. Yet this untapped potential could be a terrific boon to medicine. Most diseases involve the death of healthy cells—brain cells in Alzheimer’ s, cardiac cells in heart disease, pancreatic cells in diabetes, to name a few; if doctors could isolate stem cells, then direct their growth, they might be able to furnish patients with healthy replacement tissue. It was incredibly difficult, but last fall scientists at the University of Wisconsin managed to isolate stem cells and get them to grow into neural, gut, muscle and bone cells. The process still can’t be controlled, and may have unforeseen limitations; but if efforts to understand and master stem cell development prove successful, doctors will have a therapeutic tool of incredible power. The same applies to cloning, which is really just the other side of the coin. True cloning, as first shown with the sheep Dolly two years ago, involves taking a developed cell and reactivating the genome within, resetting its developmental instructions to a pristine state. Once that happens, the rejuvenated cell can develop into a full-fledged animal, genetically identical to its parent. For agriculture, in which purely physical characteristics like milk production in a cow or low fat in a hog have real market value, biological carbon copies could become routine within a few years. This past year scientists have done for mice and cows what Ian Wilmut did for Dolly, and other creatures are bound to join the cloned menagerie in the coming year. Human cloning, on the other hand, may be technically feasible but legally and emotionally more difficult. Still, one day it will happen. The ability to reset body cells to a pristine, undeveloped state could give doctors exactly the same advantages they would get from stem cells: the potential to make healthy body tissues of all sorts, and thus to cure disease. That could prove to be a true “miracle cure“.

A =The Imperial Palace B =The Temple of Heaven C =Potala Palace D =Jokhang Temple Which palace or temple ... is the spiritual center of Tibet? 【P1】______ is circular in the northern part while square in the southern part? 【P2】______ presents the largest and most complete ensemble of traditional architecture? 【P3】______ covers a building space of 90 thousand square meters? 【P4】______ is the oldest one among the four in the text? 【P5】______ can present the visitor the significance of Heaven Kitchen? 【P6】______ is a combination of architectural styles from Han, Tibetan and Nepalese? 【P7】______ was the religious and political center of old Tibet? 【P8】______ is along with many comparatively small buildings on either side? 【P9】______ presents an edict signed with the Great Fifth’ s handprint? 【P10】______ A The Imperial Palace What strikes one first in a bird’ s-eye view of Beijing proper is a vast tract of golden roofs flashing brilliantly in the sun with purple walls occasionally emerging amid them and a stretch of luxuriant tree leaves flanking on each side. That is the former Imperial Palace, popularly known as the Forbidden City, from which twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties ruled China for some 500 years—from 1420 to 1911. The Ming Emperor Yong Le, who usurped the throne from his nephew and made Beijing the capital, ordered its construction, on which approximately 10, 000 artists and a million workmen toiled for 14 years from 1406 to 1420. At present, the Palace is an elaborate museum that presents the largest and most complete ensemble of traditional architecture complex and more than 900, 000 pieces of court treasures in all dynasties in China. Located in the center of Beijing, the entire palace area, rectangular in shape and 72 hectares in size, is surrounded by walls ten meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. At each corner of the wall stands a watchtower with a double-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. The main buildings, the six great halls, one following the other, are set facing south along the central north-south axis from the Meridian Gate, the south entrance, to Shenwumen, the great gate piercing in the north wall. On either side of the palace are many comparatively small buildings. Symmetrically in the northeastern section lie the six Eastern Palaces and in the northwestern section the six Western Palaces. The Palace area is divided into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Palace. The former consists of the first three main halls, where the emperor received his courtiers and conducted grand ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence. At the rear of the Inner Palace is the Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation. B The Temple of Heaven The Temple of Heaven was initially built in Yongle Year 18 of the Ming Dynasty(in 1420). Situated in the southern part of the city, it covers the total area of 273 hectares. With the additions and rebuilding during the Ming, Qing and other Dynasties, this grand set of structures look magnificent and glorious; the dignified environment appears solemn and respectful. It is the place for both Ming and Qing Dynasty’ s Emperors to worship Heaven and pray for good harvest. The northern part of the Temple is circular while the southern part is square, implying “sky is round and earth is square“ to better symbolize heaven and earth. The whole compound is enclosed by two walls, dividing the whole Temple into inner and outer areas, with the main structures enclosed in the inner area. The most important constructions are the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, the Circular Mound Altar, Imperial Heaven, The Imperial Vault of Heaven, Heaven Kitchen, Long Corridor and so on, as well as the Echo Wall, the Triple-Sound Stone, the Seven-Star Stone and others of historic interest and scenic beauty. The Temple of Heaven is a comprehensive expression of the unique construction techniques from Ming and Qing Dynasties; it is China’ s most treasured ancient architecture; it is also the world’ s largest architectural complex for worshipping heaven. In 1998, it was included in the “list of the world heritages“ by the United Nation’ s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. C Potala Palace In 641 , after marrying Princess Wencheng, Songtsen Gampo decided to build a grand palace to accommodate her and let his descendants remember the event. However, the original palace was destroyed due to a lightening strike and succeeding warfare during Landama’ s reign. In the seventeenth century under the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Potala was rebuilt. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama expanded it to today’ s scale. The monastery-like palace , reclining against and capping Red Hill, was the religious and political center of old Tibet and the winter palace of Dalai Lamas. The palace is more than 117 meters(384 feet)in height and 360(1, 180 feet)in width, occupying a building space of 90 thousand square meters. Potala is composed of White Palace and Red Palace. The former is for secular use while the latter is for religious. The White Palace consists of offices, dormitories, a Buddhist official seminary and a printing house. From the east entrance of the palace, painted with images of Four Heavenly Kings, a broad corridor upwards leads to Deyang Shar courtyard, which used to be where Dalai Lamas watched operas. Around the large and open courtyard, there used to be a seminary and dormitories. West of the courtyard is the White Palace. There are three ladder stairs reaching inside of it, however, the central one was reserved for only Dalai Lamas and central government magistrates dispatched to Tibet. In the first hallway, there are huge murals describing the construction of Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple and the procession of Princess Wencheng reaching Tibet. On the south wall, visitors will see an edict signed with the Great Fifth’ s handprint. The White Palace mainly serves as the political headquarter and Dalai Lamas’ living quarters. The West Chamber of Sunshine and the East Chamber of Sunshine lie as the roof of the White Palace. They belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama respectively. Beneath the East Chamber of Sunshine is the largest hall in the White Palace, where Dalai Lamas ascended throne and ruled Tibet. D Jokhang Temple Jokhang Temple is the spiritual center of Tibet. Everyday pilgrims from every corner of Tibet trek a long distance to the temple. Some of them even progress prostrate by body length to the threshold of the temple. Pilgrims fuel myriad of flickering butter lamps with yak butter, or honor their deities with white scarves(Kha-btags or Hada)while murmuring sacred mantras to show their pieties to the Buddha. It lies at the center of the old Lhasa. Built in 647 by Songtsen Gampo and his two foreign wives, it has a history of more than 1, 300. It was said that Nepal Princess Tritsun decided to build a temple to house the Jowo Sakyamuni aged 12 brought by Chinese Princess Wencheng. Princess Wencheng reckoned according to Chinese astrology that the temple should be built on the pool where the Jokhang now locates. She contended that the pool was a witch’ s heart, so the temple should be built on the pool to get rid of evils. The pool still exists under the temple. Then goats were used as the main pack animals, as is the reason the city is called Lhasa. The construction took 12 months. However it was originally small and had been expanded to today’ s scale in later dynasties. When the Fifth Dalai Lama took reign, large-scale reconstruction and renovation had been done. The temple is a combination of Han, Tibetan and Nepalese architectural techniques. Visitors will see sphinx and other weird and sacred sculptures.

When a consumer finds that his purchase has a fault in it, what is the first thing he should do?When a consumer finds that an item she or he bought is broken or in some other way does not reach the standard of the manufacturer’s claim for it, the first step is to present the warranty, or any other records which might help, at the store of purchase. In most cases, this action will produce results. However, if it does not, there are various means the consumers may use to gain satisfaction. A simple and common method used by many consumers is to complain directly to the store manager. In general, the “higher up“the consumer takes his or her complaint, the faster he or she can expect it to be tackled. In such a case, it is usually settled in the consumer’s favor, assuming he or she has a just claim. Consumers should complain in person whenever possible, but if they can not get to the place of purchase, it is acceptable to phone or write the complaint in a letter. Complaining is usually most effective when it is done politely but firmly, and especially when the consumer can demonstrate what is wrong with the item in question. If this cannot be done, the consumer will succeed best by presenting specific information as to what is wrong, rather than by making general statements. For example, “ The left speaker does not work at all and the sound coming out of the right one is unclear“ is better than “this stereo does not work“. The store manager may advise the consumer to write to the manufacturer. If so, the consumer should do this, stating the complaint as politely and as firmly as possible. But if a polite complaint does not achieve the desired result, the consumer can go a step further. She or he can threaten to take the seller to court or report the seller to a private or public organization responsible for protecting consumers’ rights. Complain personally to the manager. Threaten to take the matter to court. Write a firm letter of complaint to the store of purchase. Show some written proof of the purchase to the store.

In which state was Emily Dickson born?Now, let me first give you a brief introduction to the American poet, Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson was America’ s best-known female poet and one of the foremost authors in American literature. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Dickinson was the middle child of a prominent lawyer and one-term United States congressional representative, Edward Dickinson, and his wife, Emily Norcross Dickinson. From 1840 to 1847 she attended the Amherst Academy, and from 1847 to 1848 she studied at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary(now Mount Holyoke College)in South Hadley, a few trips to Boston for eye treatments in the early 1860s, Dickinson remained in Amherst, living in the same house on Main Street from 1855 until her death. During her lifetime, she published only about 10 of her nearly 2, 000 poems, in newspapers, Civil War journals, and a poetry anthology. The first volume of Poems of Emily Dickinson was published in 1890, after Dickinson’ s death. Although few of Dickinson’ s poems were formally published during her lifetime, she herself “published“ by sending out at least one-third of her poems in the more than 1 , 000 letters she wrote to at least 100 different correspondents. Dickinson’ s method of binding about 800 of her poems into 10 manuscript books and distributing several hundred of them in letters is now widely recognized as her particular form of self-publication. She also read her poems aloud to several people, including her cousins Louise and Frances Norcross, over a period of three decades. Well, that’ s all about her life. Now shall we concentrate on her famous poem, “ Success is Counted Sweetest“. Michigan. Ohio. Massachusetts. Washington.

Where was the letter probably placed many years ago?Today we take it for granted that the mail will be delivered daily at our door. But many years ago it might have been placed in a tree trunk or underneath a rock. In the early days of the mail no one could be sure about where or when it would arrive. At the southern tip of Africa there was once a post office under a rock. In the old days the route from England to India was around the Cape of Good Hope. The journey was stormy and dangerous. It took six long months. Sailors often wished to send mail home, but they seldom met ships bound back to England. So at the cape the sailors would go ashore. They headed for a certain large stone. On the stone were scratched the words “Look hereunder for letters. “ They would leave their letters there, knowing that the next homeward-bound ship would stop and pick them up. There was another post office like this at the southern tip of South America. During the gold rush days, boats sailed around Cape Horn to California. At Cape Horn was a keg nailed to a post. Boats coming from the east coast would send a small boat ashore to this post office. They picked up any letters in the keg. At the same time they mailed letters home that boats sailing east could pick up. In the state of Washington stands the stump of a huge cedar. It, too, was once a post office. Settlers needed a place for the mail carriers to leave their letters. Their houses were so widely scattered that the mail carrier could not reach all of them, and the post office was far away over rough roads. So the settlers found a tree that stood where several trails crossed. They cut the tree down ten feet from the ground, hollowed it out, and covered it with a roof. Inside, they nailed a row of wooden boxes. Each box was marked with a family’ s name. The mail carrier could leave letters there for everyone for miles around. For the first few years after the English colonists came to America, there was no regular postal service. People gave their letters to any traveler who happened to be going in the right direction. Often they gave them to a peddler or a traveling shoemaker. When the traveler reached the town where the letter was going, he might stop at an inn. He would leave the letters there. But there they stayed until the person they were addressed to happened to come by and stopped at the inn. What about places like Virginia where there were very few inns? People who wished to send letters would leave them at one of the large plantations. The owners of the plantation would then send the letters on to a neighbor. The neighbor would do the same. It was a slow mail system. After many years, regular mail carriers on horseback were hired. They went from one big town to another. Between New York and Boston, for example, there was one “postrider“ a month. He traveled only by day and took two weeks for the trip. Often the postrider left all the mail for a whole town at a crossroads store. It still took many weeks for a letter to reach the person it was addressed to. Finally, about two hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin was made postmaster for all the colonies. His first act was to make a long journey to find out the best routes for carrying the mail. Then he set up a line of post station between the northern and southern colonies. He ordered his postriders to travel by night as well as by day. Franklin’ s postriders could carry more letters in a shorter time from one colony to another. The letter service helped the young American colonies learn more about each other. They learned that they were all interested in the same things. This gave them the feeling of unity that later helped them win their independence. In time, the nation set up its own government. But there were still only seventy five post offices in the whole country. Between cities along the coast, mail was sent in sailing boats. But most letters were carried from one post office to another in stagecoaches. Trips were three times a week in summer and twice a week in winter . The stage stopped in all towns. Large and small. It stopped fifteen minutes in a small town and two hours in a larger one. But still the people of the town might reach the post office too late to catch the stagecoach. Sometimes, too, the drivers forgot the mail or even lost it. It still took a week for news to go from Washington D. C. to New York. Today an airmail letter can travel across the world in much less time than that, let alone the e-mail through computers. A modern post office handles more mail in a day than the colonial carriers handled in a whole year. You know that the letter you send will go anywhere you want it to go, and whenever.

Earthquake survivors trapped in rubble could one day be saved by an unlikely rescuer: A robotic caterpillar that burrows its way through debris. Just a few centimeters wide, the robot relies on magnetic fields to propel it through the kind of tiny crevices that would foil the wheeled or tracked search robots currently used to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. The caterpillar’ s inventor, Norihiko Saga of Akita Prefectural University in Japan, will demonstrate his new method of locomotion at a conference on magnetic materials in Seattle. In addition to lights and cameras, a search caterpillar could be equipped with an array of sensors to measure other factors—such as radioactivity or oxygen levels—that could tell human rescuers if an area is safe to enter. The magnetic caterpillar is amazingly simple. It moves by a process similar to peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction that moves food down your intestine. Saga made the caterpillar from a series of rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid consisting of iron particles, water, and a detergent-like surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of the fluid. Each capsule is linked to the next by a pair of rubber rods. The caterpillar’ s guts are wrapped in a clear, flexible polymer tube that protects it from the environment. To make the caterpillar move forwards, Saga moves a magnetic field backwards along the caterpillar. Inside the caterpillar’s “head“ capsule, magnetic fluid surges towards the attractive magnetic field, causing the capsule to bulge out to the sides and draw its front and rear portions up. As the magnetic field passes to the next capsule, the first breaks free and springs forward and the next capsule bunches up. In this way, the caterpillar can reach speeds of 4 centimeters per second as it crawls along. Moving the magnetic field faster can make it traverse the caterpillar before all the capsules have sprung back to their original shapes. The segments then all spring back, almost but not quite simultaneously. Saga plans to automate the movement of the caterpillar by placing electromagnets at regular intervals along the inside of its polymer tube. By phasing the current flow to the electromagnets, he’ 11 be able to control it wirelessly via remote control. He also needs to find a new type of rubber for the magnetic capsules, because the one he’ s using at the minute eventually begins to leak. But crawling is not the most efficient form of locomotion for robots, says Robert Full of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert in animal motion who occasionally advises robotics designers. “If you look at the energetic cost of crawling, compared to walking, swimming or flying, crawling is very expensive, “ he says. Walking, on the other every step, energy is conserved in the foot and then released to help the foot spring up. Saga acknowledges this inefficiency but says his caterpillar is far more stable than one that walks, rolls on wheels or flies. It has no moving parts save for a few fluid-filled rubber capsules. Biped robots and wheeled robots require a smooth surface and are difficult to miniaturize, and flying robots have too many moving parts. “My peristaltic crawling robot is simple and it works, “ he says.

Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $ 26 a barrel, up from less than $ 10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979 -80, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time? The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term. Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past. Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries has reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP(in constant prices)rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil man in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, its oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $ 13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25 -0. 5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed. One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist’ s commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70% and in 1979 by almost 30%.

Supermarket shoppers have never been more spoilt for choice. But just when we thought traditional systems of selective farming had created the most tempting array of foods money can buy, we are now being presented with the prospect of genetically created strains of cabbages, onion, tomato, potato and apple. It may not tickle the fancy of food purists but it fires the imagination of scientists. Last week they discovered that the classic Parisian mushroom contains just the properties that, when genetically mixed with a wild strain of mushroom from the Sonora desert in California, could help it grow en masse while at the same time providing it with the resilience of the wild strain. 【R1】______ “ We have found a way of increasing the success rate from one to 90 per cent. This is just one of the many products that, according to skeptics, are creating a generation of “Frankenfoods“. The first such food that may be consumed on a wide scale is a tomato which has been genetically manipulated so that it does not soften as it ripens. 【R2】______ Critics say that the new tomato—which cost $ 25 million to research—is designed to stay on supermarket shelves for longer. It has a ten-day life span. Not surprisingly, every-hungry US is leading the search for these forbidden fruit. By changing the genes of a grapefruit, a grower from Texas has created a sweet, red, thin-skinned grapefruit expected to sell at a premium over its California and Florida competitors. For chip fanatics who want to watch their waist-lines, new high-starch, low-moisture potatoes that absorb less fat when fried have been created, thanks to a gene from intestinal bacteria. The scientists behind such new food argue that genetic engineering is simply an extension of animal and plant breeding methods and that by broadening the scope of the genetic changes that can be made, sources of food are increased. Accordingly , they argue, this does not inherently lead to foods that are less safe than those developed by conventional techniques. But if desirable genes are swapped irrespective of species barriers, could things spiral out of control? “Knowledge is not toxic, “said Mark Cantley, head of the biotechnology unit at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , “ It has given us a far greater understanding of how living systems work at a molecular level and there is no reason for people to think that scientists and farmers should use that knowledge to do risky things. Clearly, financial incentive lies behind the development of these bigger, more productive foods. But we may have only ourselves to blame. In the early period of mass food commerce, food varieties were developed by traditional methods of selective breeding to suit the local palate. But as suppliers started to select and preserve plant variants that had larger fruit, consumer expectations rose, leading to the development of the desirable clones. Still, traditionalists and gourmets in Europe are fighting their development. 【R3】______ Even in the pre-packaged US, where the slow-softening tomato will soon be reaching supermarkets, 1, 500 American chefs have lent their support to the Pure Food Campaign which calls for the international boycott of genetically engineered foods until more is known about the consequences of the technology and reliable controls have been introduced. In the short term, much of the technology remains untested and in the long term the consequences for human biology are unknown. Questions have arisen over whether new proteins in genetically modified food could cause allergies in some people. 【R4】______ Then there are the vegetarians who may be consuming animal non-vegetable proteins in what they think is a common tomato, or the practicing Jew who unknowingly consumes a fruit that has been enhanced with a pig’s gene. As yet, producers are under no obligation to label “transgeneic“ products. Environmentalists worry that new, genetically engineered plants may damage natural environment. A genetically engineered pest-resistant strain of plant that contacts with a native strain, for example, could turn them into virulent weeds beyond chemical control. Animal welfare groups worry about the quality of life of farm animals manipulated so that they produce more meat, milk, and eggs but which may suffer physical damage in the process. 【R5】______ Many of these fears spring from ignorance. And although it is hard to separate the paranoia from the benefits, the fact remains that genetic engineering offers ways of solving serious medical and agricultural problems. A. Western farmers have already bred cattle with more muscle than a skeleton can carry. B. Supporters say the tomato, unsurprisingly called Flavr Savr, will taste better because it will be able to mature on the branch longer. C. Consumer opposition means that there are genetically manipulated foods on the German markets, and the Norwegian government has recently put research into genetically engineered foods on hold. D. For example, if a corn gene is introduced into a wheat gene for pest resistance, will those who are allergic to corn then be allergic to wheat? E. “ Mushrooms in the past were almost impossible to cross, “ says Philippe Callac, one of the three scientists working on the mushroom. F. Genetic engineering will interfere with the balance of nature.

John was in a nursery school for one year.M = Martin J = John M: Did you go to a state primary school? J: Yes, I did. I went to a nursery school first at the age of four, but this was totally voluntary. There was a good kindergarten in our neighbourhood, so my parents decided to send me there for a year. M: Can you still remember it? J: Yes, I have faint, but very pleasant memories of it. It was a delightful place, full of fun and games. As in most nursery schools, work—if you can call it that consisted of story telling, drawing, singing and dancing. M: You probably don’t remember, but you must have missed it when you left—you know, when you went to the Infant School at five. J: I suppose I must have, but you know, right up to the age of seven, school life was very pleasant. It was only later in Junior School we began to have more formal lessons and even worry about exams. M: Really? Did you have to take exams at that age? J: Yes, we used to then. We had to take an exam at the age of eleven called the “eleven-plus“ to see what kind of secondary school we would get into. But this exam is slowly disappearing nowadays. M: There are four main types of secondary school, aren’t there? J: Yes. Most of the brighter children go to a grammar school, some go to a technical school, and the majority go to a secondary modern. And then there are the comprehensive schools which cater for all levels of academic ability. These are becoming more and more important. M: I must say I find your educational system rather complicated, and to make matters worse, you call your private schools public schools! J: Yes, I suppose it is very confusing. But like so many other things in Britain, our educational system is deeply rooted in tradition and yet it’s changing all the time. M: Really? In what ways is it changing? J: Well, in almost every way. For instance, there is a very strong movement now towards comprehensive schools, where all children go for their secondary education no matter what their ability or background. There are already many of these schools, and many children are no longer tested by examination at the age of eleven to be placed in schools according to academic ability. And then again, public schools will probably become part of the state system some day. M: But won’t the wealthy always be in a privileged position? They’ll always be able to send their children to the best private schools in the country. J: Not necessarily. If independent schools join the state system and we do a-way with the idea of grammar schools for the clever and secondary modern schools for those less bright, then every child should have an equal opportunity to do well and to go on to higher education. TRUE FALSE

When was the American Football Association founded?The Unied States of America is a founding member of the International Football Association. In 1913 the American Football Association was founded with over 7, 000 registered clubs and 1. 4 million players. In history the U. S. team entered the finals of the World Cup four times and gained the third place in the first World Cup. But since the 4th World Cup USA has paid more attention to the Olympic Games and American football. The head coach of the U. S. team now is from Yugoslavia, the 57-year-old coach moved to Mexico twenty-one years ago and later he became the head coach of Mexico’s National Team. After that he left for an even smaller country, Costa Rica. Before long, he became well-known all over the world. On March 7th, 1991, he faced the biggest challenge in all his life to lead the U. S. team. The American Football Association spent a year building a football field in California for him. And in two years’ time his team defeated the teams of Ireland, England and Portugal. Thus the U. S. team entered with ease into the finals of the World Cup. And as the host, it entered automatically into the first circle in 1994. In 1913. In 1930. In 1914. In 1917.

Children who grip their pens too close to the writing point are likely to be at a disadvantage in examinations, 【C1】______to the first serious investigation into the way in which writing technique can dramatically affect educational achievement. The survey of 643 children and adults, ranking from pre-school to 40-plus, also suggests【C2】______ pen-holding techniques have deteriorated sharply over one generation, with teachers now paying far【C3】______attention to correct pen grip and handwriting style. Stephanie Thomas, a learning support teacher【C4】______findings have been published, was inspired to investigate this area【C5】______ he noticed that those students who had the most trouble with spelling【C6】______ had a poor pen grip. While Mr. Thomas could not establish a significant statistical link【C7】______pen-holding style and accuracy in spelling, he【C8】______find huge differences in technique between the young children and the mature adults, and a definite【C9】______between near-point gripping and slow, illegible writing. People who【C10】______their pens at the writing point also show other characteristics【C11】______ inhibit learning, 【C12】______as poor posture, leaning too【C13】______ to the desk, using four fingers to grip the pen【C14】______than three, and clumsy positioning of the thumb(which can obscure【C15】______is being written). Mr. Thomas believes that the【C16】______between elder and younger writers is【C17】______too dramatic to be accounted for simply by the possibility that people get better at writing as they grow【C18】______. He attributes it to a failure to teach the most effective methods, pointing out that the differences between【C19】______ groups coincides with the abandonment of formal handwriting instruction in classrooms in the sixties. “The 30-year-old showed a huge diversity of grips, 【C20】______the over 40s group all had a uniform ’ tripod’ grip. “

Write an article titled as “Knowledge Economy“. You should write it according to the following outline. Outline: (1)A new knowledge economy age is coming near. (2)What is “knowledge economy“. (3)The knowledge economy age presents both opportunities and challenges to us.

From this passage, we can learn that______.

According to this passage, which is not true about the construction of the robotic caterpillar?

The meaning of the word “peristalsis“ in Paragraph 3 is similar to______.

Comparing the robotic caterpillar and the other robots, which of the following is not true?

The passage is mainly about______.