You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to endure almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.

　When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean on June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the box's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.

　In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the box was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.

　Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can stand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.

1.What does the author say about the black box?

A．It is an indispensable device on an airplane.　

B．The idea for its design comes from a comic book.

C．Its ability to avoid disasters is incredible.

D．It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.

2.What does the underlined word in the 3rd paragraph mean?　

A．witness           B．experience        C．resist　           D．ensure

3.Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

A．New materials became available by that time.

B．Too much space was needed for its installation.

C．The early models didn't provide the needed data.

D．The early models often got damaged in the crash.

4.What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.

B．There is still a good chance of their being recovered.　

C．They have stopped sending homing signals.

D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

 

第三节：完型填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30）

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、和D)中，选出可以填人空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Eleven-year-old Angela was attacked by a rare    36   involving her nerve system．She was unable to walk and her movement was   37   in other ways as well．The doctors did not hold much   38   of her ever recovering from this illness．They   39   she'd spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair．They said that few, if any, were able to come back to    40   after suffering from this disease．The little girl was   41  ．There, lying in her hospital bed, she would swear that she was   42   going to be walking again someday．

She was moved to a specialized   43   hospital in the San Francisco Bay area．Whatever   44   could be applied to her case were used．The doctors were attracted by her undefeatable spirit．They taught her about imaging about seeing herself walking．If it would do   45   else, it would at least give her hope and something   46   to do in the long waking hours in her bed． Angela would work as hard as possible in physical treatment, and in exercise sessions．But she worked just as hard lying there faithfully doing her   37   , visualizing herself moving, moving, moving ！

One day,   48   she was attempting, with all her might, to imagine her legs moving again, it seemed as though something   49   happened: the bed moved! It began to move around the room! She   50   out, "Look what I'm doing! Look'．Look! I can do it'．I moved! I moved!"

Of course, at this very moment everyone else in the hospital was screaming, too, and running for   51   People were screaming, equipment was   52   and glass was breaking．You see, it was the recent San Francisco earthquake．   53   don't tell that to Angela．She's   54   that she did it．

And now only a few years later, she's back in school, on her own   55  ．No crutches, no wheelchair．You see, anyone who can shake the earth between San Francisco and Oakland can defeat a little disease, can't they?

36．A．problem   B．disease         C．accident    D．error

37．A．reduced    B．avoided       C．restricted  D．forced

38．A．thought    B．idea          C．opinion     D．hope

39．A．predicted  B．prepared      C．admitted   D．decided

40．A．active       B．normal        C．alive     D．confident

41．A．fearless     B．peaceful       C．patient      D．stainless

42．A．probably   B．approximately  C．sincerely   D．certainly

43．A．recovery   B．experiment       C．practice    D．exercise

44．A．schedules  B．instructions      C．supports    D．treatments

45．A．something B．anything      C．nothing     D．everything

46．A．admirable B．interesting     C．optimistic D．appropriate

47．A．training    B．imaging       C．expectation      D．performance

48．A．however   B．after         C．just      D．as

49．A．useful       B．regretful      C．surprising D．disgusting

50．A．screamed  B．laughed       C．spoke       D．sang

51．A．ground     B．cover         C．ceiling      D．bed

52．A．accelerating     B．running    C．appearing  D．falling

53．A．For      B．So            C．But      D．Or

54．A．convinced B．supposed      C．realized    D．accepted

55．A．parts     B．legs          C．body     D．role

 

Founded in 1764 by French traders, St. Louis today is the fifteenth largest urban area in the United States. There are many attractive destinations for touists．

★American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog

Dog lovers who visit St. Louis won’t want to miss this 14,000-square-foot museum. Inside are over 500 paintings，prints, watercolors，and a variety of other dog art objects.

The Museum is open year round，Tuesday through Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday 1 PM to 5 PM. Admission is ＄5 for adults，＄2.50 for seniors, and ＄1 for children up to 14.

★Anheuser Busch Brewery

The Anheuser Buxch Brewery tour is not just for beer lovers．The tour includes the historic Brew House．Then the tour continues to the modern Bevo Packaging Plant. The best will be the Budweiser Clydesdale stables. The tours are always free．

★Gateway Arch

Designed by Eero Sarinen and Hannskari Bandel, it took over two years and 900 tons of stainless steel to build. It is the tallest of the country’s National Monuments. The Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. About one milion people per year come to the top of the Arch, where there is an observation platform providing a great view of the city.

★The St. Louis Zoo

First version of the St. Louis Zoo opened in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair, but in the century since it has grown into one of the chief zoos in the world. The passenger train takes visitors around the Zoo，which contains over 9,000 animals of over 800 species.

The Zoo is open every day but Christmas and New Year，with summer hours of 8 AM to 7 PM，and hours the rest of the year of 9 AM to 5 PM．Admission to the Zoo is free．

1.If a senior high school student plans to visit American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog with his parents and his five-year-old brother，he has to pay ______．

A．＄8.5            B．＄12             C．＄13.5            D．＄16

2.If you are interested in how to make beer，you can visit ________．

A．The St. Louis Zoo

B．Anheuser Busch Brewery

C．Gateway Arch

D．American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog

3.Which of the following statements about Gateway Arch is TRUE?

A．People can see the city clearly on the top of the Arch.

B．It was designed by two famous Italian architects.

C．It took 900 tons of stainless steel and cement to build.

D．It is the largest of the country ‘s National Monuments.

4.If you plan to visit the St. Louis Zoo, you can go there _____.

A．on New Year ‘Day

B．on ChristmasDay

C．at 5:30 p.m. in winter

D．at 8:30 a.m. in summer

 

You never see them, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.

When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.

In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to（易遭受）impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.

Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft.

Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1, 2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.

1.What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?

A．Data for analyzing the cause of the crash.

B．The total number of passengers on board.

C．The scene of the crash and extent of the damage.

D．Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash.

2.Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

A．New materials became available by that time.

B．Too much space was needed for its installation.

C．The early models often got damaged in the crash.

D．The early models didn't provide the needed data.

3.Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?

A．To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.

B．To caution people to handle them with care.

C．To make them easily identifiable.

D．To obey international standards

4.What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A．There is still a good chance of their being recovered.

B．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.

C．They have stopped sending homing signals.

D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

 

Founded in 1764 by French traders, St. Louis today is the fifteenth largest urban area in the United States. There are many attractive destinations for touists．
★American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog
Dog lovers who visit St. Louis won’t want to miss this 14,000-square-foot museum. Inside are over 500 paintings，prints, watercolors，and a variety of other dog art objects.
The Museum is open year round，Tuesday through Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday 1 PM to 5 PM. Admission is ＄5 for adults，＄2.50 for seniors, and ＄1 for children up to 14.
★Anheuser Busch Brewery
The Anheuser Buxch Brewery tour is not just for beer lovers．The tour includes the historic Brew House．Then the tour continues to the modern Bevo Packaging Plant. The best will be the Budweiser Clydesdale stables. The tours are always free．
★Gateway Arch
Designed by Eero Sarinen and Hannskari Bandel, it took over two years and 900 tons of stainless steel to build. It is the tallest of the country’s National Monuments. The Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. About one milion people per year come to the top of the Arch, where there is an observation platform providing a great view of the city.
★The St. Louis Zoo
First version of the St. Louis Zoo opened in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair, but in the century since it has grown into one of the chief zoos in the world. The passenger train takes visitors around the Zoo，which contains over 9,000 animals of over 800 species.
The Zoo is open every day but Christmas and New Year，with summer hours of 8 AM to 7 PM，and hours the rest of the year of 9 AM to 5 PM．Admission to the Zoo is free．
【小题1】If a senior high school student plans to visit American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog with his parents and his five-year-old brother，he has to pay ______．

A．＄8.5

B．＄12

C．＄13.5

D．＄16

【小题2】If you are interested in how to make beer，you can visit ________．

A．The St. Louis Zoo

B．Anheuser Busch Brewery

C．Gateway Arch

D．American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog

【小题3】Which of the following statements about Gateway Arch is TRUE?

A．People can see the city clearly on the top of the Arch.

B．It was designed by two famous Italian architects.

C．It took 900 tons of stainless steel and cement to build.

D．It is the largest of the country ‘s National Monuments.

【小题4】If you plan to visit the St. Louis Zoo, you can go there _____.

A．on New Year ‘Day

B．on ChristmasDay

C．at 5:30 p.m. in winter

D．at 8:30 a.m. in summer