Lesson 10

听力部分

听力练习

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“computer”在六级听力里出现。先听一段简单的小对话，试一试！

A. He's teaching a computer class.

B. He never earned a college degree.

C. He has decided to change his field of study.

D. He's taking a class to update his skill.

听力原文如下：

W: You're taking another computer class? I thought you've already had a degree in computer science.

M: I do, but the technology keeps changing all the time. This is the best way to keep up with it.

Q: What can be inferred about the man?

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

本课的主题“technology”在较长的英语专业八级听力段落题里出现。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，挑战一下吧！

1. The technology to make machines quieter ______.

A. has been in use since the 1930's

B. has accelerated industrial production

C. has just been in commercial use

D. has been invented to remove all noises

2. The modern electronic anti-noise devices ______.

A. are an updated version of the traditional methods

B. share similarities with the traditional methods

C. are as inefficient as the traditional methods

D. are based on an entirely new working principle

3. The French company is working on anti-noise techniques to be used in all EXCEPT ______.

A. streets

B. factories

C. aircrafts

D. cars

4. According to the talk, workers in “zones of quiet” can ______.

A. be more affected by noise

B. hear talk from outside the zone

C. work more efficiently

D. be heard outside the zone

5. The main theme of the talk is about ______.

A. noise-control technology

B. noise in factories

C. noise-control regulations

D. noise-related effects

听力原文如下：

As we all know, when machines work they give off a lot of noise, and the noise can sometimes be very unpleasant, or annoying. As a result, people have been trying to find ways to reduce noise. Although it may sound a bit strange to you all, one of the best ways to make machines quieter, in cars for example, may be to make them noisier. The source of this paradox is electronic anti-noise which creates sound waves to cancel out unwanted noise, such as rattles, blare, etc. Now although the idea dates back to the 1930s, it's only recently that advances in computer technology have made anti-noise a commercial possibility. Take France for example. Here industry spends a fortune to get rid of noise. We all know how unpleasant it is. Both people working in factories and ordinary people at home enjoying their leisure can be affected by noise. Delicate machines are affected by noise as well. The government has passed a lot of regulations concerning acceptable levels of noise.

Noise is costly to industry. In the first place, just following a single regulation can cost 1 to 2 billion US dollars in the textile industry, they say. Then secondly, of course, vibration can cause damage to machinery. Even very small vibrations can cause parts to wear out and equipment to fail. And naturally enough, this gets added on to the price of the products. About 5 to 15 % of the price of a product comes from noise and vibration costs, it's estimated.

At present, methods used to dampen down noise and vibration rely on techniques that are 30 or 40 years old. These usually involve wrapping the noisy or vibrating component in anything from cotton to concrete. But this is often expensive and inefficient.

The modern electronic anti-noise devices don't reduce sound. Instead, sound is used to attack sound. The trick is to hit these sound waves with other waves in a carefully controlled way. It may not be possible to eliminate noise completely, but engineers can build systems to eliminate specific kinds of noise and vibration. The new systems can deal with repetitive noise. This unfortunately means that there is not much that can be done about one-off noise, like someone trying to learn to play a trumpet. But they can handle fairly regular things like engine noise.

A French company has developed a technique which uses a microphone and a microprocessor. The processor measures the sound and directs a speaker to broadcast sound waves that are out of phase with the engine noise. The company claimed that it will make a car engine quieter, if not completely 100% silent. There are a number of other areas of application in the noisy industrial environment of today. One system which the company is developing aims to minimize the noise of aircraft engines and helicopter vibrations. Now anti-noise systems would be able to reduce noise in the cabin of an airplane to more acceptable levels.

Another area which affects ordinary households nowadays concerns the noise which electricity and gas suppliers create. The electricity companies spend a lot of money each year, cutting the harm of transformers, trying to quiet the noise and maintaining equipment that is constantly affected by vibration. If they can get rid of or even stop the vibrations, manufacturers can increase production speeds. But, of course, people working in noisy work places are perhaps more affected than anything by the effects of noise. Anti-noise can also create “zones of quiet” in noisy work places. To create such a zone, you do two things. First, microphones are suspended around the work place. Then speakers that produce out-of-phase sound waves can then be put close to the worker, under the desk or the machine. A company working in this area has tested this system and says that it cuts noise levels enough for somebody inside the zone to hear a conversation from another of the place. Yet, this is only one-way; shouts from the quiet zone could not be heard over the factory noise by those outside it, because the rest of the work place remains noisy. This is one of the anti-noise measures experimented with today. If this proves to be feasible in many work places, I'm sure it can contribute to the reduction of noise in factory workshops in the future.

听说练习

一级练习：听写填空［难度系数★］

本课的主题“industry”在段落听写练习里出现。在这里我们加大了段落听写题的难度，加入了口语练习，但录音的速度适当放慢了。依然是你熟悉的主题和词汇，先用听写填空的方式挑战一下吧！

_______________________________ is the manufacture of industrial machinery, ___________________________________ but including the making of __________________________________ for the service industry. Many computer companies ___________________________ as Silicon Valley, in the San Jose-Palo Alto area. _______________, which includes _______________________________ of fruit, vegetables, fish, and _______________, is another of the state's biggest industries. Included in this sector is _________________________, which _________________________________________________.

二级练习：口语复读与背诵［难度系数★★］

刚才段落听写练习的答案是“industry”主题的关键表达，一定要积累成自己的口语素材。在今后同类主题的听力口语考试中，回忆起来，从容应对。

第一步：看着上面的听力原文跟读一遍。

第二步：自己试着完整地背诵一遍。（计时3分钟，背诵开始…）

词汇部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课新学的词汇出现在六级、专业四级、考研考试中。这些词汇如果在题干里出现，是否减轻了你的阅读负担呢？如果在选项里出现（可它们不一定是正确选项），你能选对吗？试一试吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在1分钟内，本级测试限时9分钟，请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：penalty

1. The ______ majority of citizens tend to believe that the death penalty will help decrease the crime rate.

A. overflowing

B. overwhelming

C. prevalent

D. premium

［六级真题］

2. The court considers a financial ______ to be an appropriate way of punishing him.

A. option

B. duty

C. obligation

D. penalty

［六级真题］

3. Over the last fifteen years, running has become a popular ______ for 30 million participants of all ages.

A. fantasy

B. pastime

C. symposium

D. penalty

［六级真题］

考查词汇：predict

4. Various efforts have been made over the centuries to predict earthquakes, including observing lights in the sky and ______ animal behavior.

A. abnormal

B. exotic

C. absurd

D. erroneous

［六级真题］

考查词汇：rival

5. Although the two players are ______ in the tennis court, they are really good friends.

A. partners

B. enemies

C. rivals

D. companions

［六级真题］

考查词汇：constitute

6. Mary once ______ with another musician to compose a piece of pop music.

A. merged

B. collaborated

C. coincided

D. constituted

［六级真题］

考查词汇：rival

7. As an industry, biotechnology stands to ______ electronics in dollar volume and perhaps surpass it in social impact by 2020.

A. contend

B. contest

C. rival

D. strive

［考研真题］

考查词汇：note

8. We were pleased to note that the early morning delivery didn't ______ to the traffic jam of the busy city.

A. aid

B. amount

C. add

D. attribute

［考研真题］

考查词汇：constitute

9. Once a picture is proved to be a forgery, it becomes quite ______.

A. invaluable

B. priceless

C. unworthy

D. worthless

［专四真题］

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

本课新学的词汇在较难的GRE考试里出现，挑战一下吧！

临考情境模拟：每题控制在2分钟内，本级测试限时18分钟，请把计时器调到18分钟。计时开始！

考查词汇：trend

1. Until the current warming trend exceeds the range of normal climatic fluctuations, there will be, among scientists, considerable ______ the possibility that increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 can cause long-term warming effects.

A. interest in

B. uncertainty about

C. enthusiasm for

D. worry about

E. experimentation on

［GRE真题］

2. Whereas the Elizabethans struggled with the transition from medieval ______ experience to modern individualism, we confront an electronic technology that seems likely to reverse the trend, rendering individualism obsolete and interdependence mandatory.

A. literary

B. intuitive

C. corporate

D. heroic

E. spiritual

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：note

3. Many more eighteenth-century novels were written by women than by men，but this dominance has，until very recently，been regarded merely as ______ fact，a bit of arcane knowledge noted only by bibliographers.

A. a controversial

B. a statistical

C. an analytical

D. an explicit

E. an unimpeachable

［GRE真题］

4. It is disappointing to note that the latest edition of the bibliography belies its long-standing reputation for ______ by ______ some significant references to recent publications.

A. imprecision...appropriating

B. relevance...adding

C. timeliness...updating

D. meticulousness...revising

E. exhaustiveness...omitting

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：enable

5. Though ______ to some degree, telling a small lie sometimes enables one to avoid ______ another's feelings.

A. necessary...mollifying

B. regrettable...harming

C. unfortunate...exaggerating

D. attractive...considering

E. difficult...resisting

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：rival

6. The struggle of the generations is one of the obvious constants of human affairs; therefore, it may be presumptuous to suggest that the rivalry between young and old in western society during the current decade is ______ critical.

A. perennially

B. disturbingly

C. uniquely

D. archetypally

E. captiously

［GRE真题］

7. Nature's energy efficiency often ______ human technology：despite the intensity of the light fireflies produce，the amount of heat is negligible；only recently have humans developed chemical light-producing systems whose efficiency ______ the firefly's system.

A. engenders...manipulates

B. reflects...simulates

C. outstrips...rivals

D. inhibits...matches

E. determines...reproduces

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：constitute

8. Before the Second World War, academics still questioned whether the body of literature produced in the United States truly ______ a ______ literature，or whether such literature was only a provincial branch of English literature.

A. symbolized...local

B. constituted...national

C. defined...historical

D. outlined...good

E. captured...meaningful

［GRE真题］

考查词汇：finance

9. Candidates who oppose the present state income tax must be able to propose ______ ways to ______ the financing of state operations.

A. intelligent...initiate

B. individual...diversify

C. innovative...alleviate

D. arbitrary...maintain

E. alternate...continue

［GRE真题］

阅读部分

一级练习：［难度系数★］

本课的主题“technology”在考研阅读里出现。下面的文章和题目中有你熟悉的主题和词汇，试一试！

临考境模拟：请在5分钟内读完文章，4分钟做完题。请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

In the first year or so of Web business, most of the action has revolved around efforts to tap the consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another. Such business-to-business sales make sense because business people typically know what product they're looking for.

Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to use the Web because of doubts about its reliability. “Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the supplier,” says senior analyst Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some companies are limiting the risk by conducting online transactions only with established business partners who are given access to the company's private internet.

Another major shift in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing activities have focused on strategies to “pull” customers into sites. In the past year, however, software companies have developed tools that allow companies to “push” information directly out to consumers, transmitting marketing messages directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the Pointcast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a continually updated stream of news and advertisements to subscribers' computer monitors. Subscribers can customize the information they want to receive and proceed directly to a company's Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are already starting to use similar technologies to push messages to customers about special sales, product offerings, or other events. But push technology has earned the contempt of many Web users. Online culture thinks highly of the notion that the information flowing onto the screen comes there by specific request. Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That is a prospect that horrifies Net purists.

But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to push strategies to make money. The examples of Virtual Vineyards, Amazon.com, and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the right kind of products with the right mix of interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so few companies took the online plunge.

1. We learn from the beginning of the passage that Web business ______.

A. has been striving to expand its market

B. intended to follow a fanciful fashion

C. tried but in vain to control the market

D. has been booming for one year or so

2. Speaking of the online technology available for marketing, the author implies that ______.

A. the technology is popular with many Web users

B. businesses have faith in the reliability of online transactions

C. there's a radical change in strategy

D. it is accessible limitedly to established partners

3. In the view of Net purists, ______.

A. there should be no marketing messages in online culture

B. money making should be given priority to on the Web

C. the Web should be able to function as the television set

D. there should be no online commercial information without requests

4. We learn from the last paragraph that ______.

A. pushing information on the Web is essential to Internet commerce

B. interactivity, hospitality and security are important to online customers

C. leading companies began to take online plunge decades ago

D. setting up shops in silicon is independent of the cost of computing power

［考研真题］

二级练习：［难度系数★★］

本课的主题“technology”在六级阅读里出现。下面的文章和题目中有你熟悉的主题和词汇，试一试！

临考情境模拟：请在5分钟内读完文章，4分钟做完题。请把计时器调到9分钟。计时开始！

In many ways, today's business environment has changed qualitatively since the late 1980s. The end of the Cold War radically altered the very nature of the world's politics and economics. In just a few short years, globalization has started a variety of trends with profound consequences: the opening of markets, true global competition, widespread deregulation（解除政府对…的控制） of industry, and an abundance of accessible capital. We have experienced both the benefits and risks of a truly global economy, with both Wall Street and Main Street （平民百姓） feeling the pains of economic disorder half a world away.

At the same time, we have fully entered the Information Age. Starting breakthroughs in information technology have irreversibly altered the ability to conduct business unconstrained by the traditional limitations of time or space. Today, it's almost impossible to imagine a world without intranets, e-mail, and portable computers. With stunning speed, the Internet is profoundly changing the way we work, shop, do business, and communicate.

As a consequence, we have truly entered the Post-Industrial economy. We are rapidly shifting from an economy based on manufacturing and commodities to one that places the greatest value on information, services, support, and distribution. That shift, in turn, places an unprecedented premium on “knowledge workers,” a new class of wealthy, educated, and mobile people who view themselves as free agents in a seller's market.

Beyond the realm of information technology, the accelerated pace of technological change in virtually every industry has created entirely new business, wiped out others, and produced a pervasive（广泛的） demand for continuous innovation. New product, process, and distribution technologies provide powerful levers for creating competitive value. More companies are learning the importance of destructive technologies—innovations that hold the potential to make a product line, or even an entire business segment, virtually outdated.

Another major trend has been the fragmentation of consumer and business markets. There's a growing appreciation that superficially similar groups of customers may have very different preferences in terms of what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. Now, new technology makes it easier, faster, and cheaper to identify and serve targeted micro-markets in ways that were physically impossible or prohibitively expensive in the past. Moreover, the trend feeds on itself; a business's ability to serve sub-markets fuels customers' appetites for more and more specialized offerings.

1. According to the first paragraph, the chances in the business environment in the past decades can be attributed to ______.

A. technological advances

B. worldwide economic disorder

C. the fierce competition in industry

D. the globalization of economy

2. What idea does the author want to convey in the second paragraph?

A. The rapid development of information technology has taken businessmen by surprise.

B. Information technology has removed the restrictions of time and space in business transactions.

C. The Internet, intranets, e-mail, and portable computers have penetrated every corner of the world.

D. The way we do business today has brought about startling breakthroughs in information technology.

3. If a business wants to thrive in the Post-Industrial economy ______.

A. it has to invest more capital in the training of free agents to operate in a seller's market

B. it should try its best to satisfy the increasing demands of mobile knowledgeable people

C. it should not overlook the importance of information, services, support, and distribution

D. it has to provide each of its employees with the latest information about the changing market

4. In the author's view, destructive technologies are innovations which ______.

A. can eliminate an entire business segment

B. demand a radical change in providing services

C. may destroy the potential of a company to make any profit

D. call for continuous improvement in ways of doing business

5. With the fragmentation of consumer and business markets ______.

A. an increasing number of companies have disintegrated

B. manufacturers must focus on one special product to remain competitive in the market

C. it is physically impossible and prohibitively expensive to do business in the old way

D. businesses have to meet individual customers' specific needs in order to succeed

［六级真题］

写作部分

本课从一个侧面介绍了科技发展史。Internet, computer 或cars是科技发展史类的常考话题，这里给大家提供这方面的写作素材，方便大家积累下来，在以后遇到此类话题时结合课文使用。

真题举例

1. Some people say that computers have made life easier and more convenient. Other people say that computers have made life more complex and stressful. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

2. The twentieth century saw great change. In your opinion, what is one change that should be remembered about the twentieth century? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.

［TOEFL真题］

写作素材

The Benefits of Using the Internet

Technological developments such as the Internet have made access to vast amounts of information quick and easy, as well as making it easier to carry out day-to-day tasks and activities. Examples of how technology can make a difference include:

*　Taking the time and effort out of day-to-day tasks—the Internet now enables people to carry out a number of daily tasks and activities online, such as shopping （e.g. Tesco Online）, paying bills, banking, paying car tax, filing tax returns, without leaving the comfort of their home. This leaves more time for other activities, such as spending time with the family;

*　Accessing vast amounts of useful information online—the Internet contains a multitude of information on a wide range of topics, such as searching for employment opportunities or travel information. For instance if you have a holiday planned, whether it's to Galway or Guatemala, the Internet can provide you with an abundance of useful information about your destination... just log onto one of the many Internet search engines such as Google;

*　Learning online—there are many educational websites that facilitate interactive learning via the Internet. Indeed, some Colleges now offer courses through online distance learning;

*　Communication with family and friends by email instantly regardless of distance—for example, email enables people to communicate on a one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many basis;

*　Achieving better value for money—the best deals on products and services are often found online, as it is a lower cost means of doing business. For example, Aer Lingus and Ryanair often provide most of their best airfares on their web sites. Other examples include eBay, the online auction website that allows people to auction an extensive range of goods and services often at amazingly low prices.