PASSAGE 20
! o- D: Q1 B+ b) [* ?Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind
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: t6 K% e- z0 `/ i5 u% j( }4 o/ b If you cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burning building-and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that__1__ directional sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit. : c4 D+ M' Z/ }3 T
Sound Alert, a company__2__ the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for__3__ people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria.__4__produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine the __5__ is coming from.
' X/ b! x1 H0 d( L* X Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be __6__ by humans. "It is a burst of white noise__7__ people say sounds like static on the radio," he says. "Its life-saving potential is great"
. [( E7 W% A6 _. T0 j She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of a large__8__ room. It__9__ them nearly our minutes to find the door__10__ a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.
& t' j( c9 F! k Withington studies how the brain__11__ sounds at the university. She says that the __12__ of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms__13__ on the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.
+ }! y# F# X+ b0 k The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up__14__ down stairs. They were__15__ with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels. ( ^1 e" J8 a+ @! f* D
1. A) without B)with C)having D)selling
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5 w: r) x$ N4 g* H3. A) slow B)deaf C)blind D)lame * [8 N7 s# U3 Q" M, A2 s ^
4. A) Alarms B) Alarm C) The alarm D) The alarms f9 T$ u, p9 F9 s4 f% \& X& ~( { \
5. A) noise B) sound C) music D) bell 3 {/ X) L7 _% x7 q
6. A) watched B) produced C) learnt D) heard
+ @% G d- [; W! t$ N! e7. A) where B) what C) that D) how 2 K, `1 ?- y: t' y
8. A) smoked B) smoke-filled C) filled with smoke D) smoke-filling , C3 z/ i+ U: q/ {
9. A) has taken B) takes C) took D) will take & ]3 ]* X$ w4 L3 g5 \7 f' s
10. A) on B) near C) without D) from
: H6 U2 o4 E3 T& I11. A) processes B) produces C) possesses D) proceeds 2 i) Z$ I0 e( ^% ^# ^, Z4 N% l
12. A) feature B) quality C)diagram D) source 8 ^" H) T0 X8 W ~9 {. I' a: Z) C
13. A) basis on B) base on C) basing on D) based on ; t+ H% r, i- Y: K$ V" s
14. A) or B) and C) but D) otherwise 2 S& r5 r% E7 r
15. A) developed B) determined C) discovered D) delivered 9 O7 ~5 |/ Q% @ ?8 o
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PASSAGE 21
5 D" C3 o0 @" W. P4 [The Greatest Mystery of Whales
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( u" ^: m* u; j6 p; E The whale is a mammal - warm-blooded, air-breathing, giving birth to its young alive, sucking them-and, like all mammals, originated on land. There are many signs of this. __1__ front flippers, used for steering and stability, are traces of feet.
; T, P. G+ Y; u7 ~. U* a% v1 a Immense strength is built into the great body of the big whales, and in fact most of a whale’s body is one gigantic muscle. The blue whale’s pulling __2__ has been estimated at 400 horsepower. One specimen was reported to have __3__ a whaling vessel for seven hours at the __4__ of eight knots.
/ ]" H( D `1 F+ b/ A# { An enraged whale will attack a ship. A famous __5__ of this was the fate of whaler Essex, which was sunk __6__ South America early in the last century. More recently, steel ships have had their plates buckled in the same way. Sperm whales were known to __7__ the old-time whaleboats in their jaws and crush them.
% o/ o' L' w( N( D" q. i6 N; G The greatest mystery of whales is their diving ability. The sperm whale __8__ the bottom for his favourite food, the octopus. __9__ he is known to go as far down as 3,200 feet, where the pressure is 1,400 pounds, to the square inch. Doing __10__ he will remain submerged as long as one hour. Two feats are involved in this : storing up enough __11__(all whales are air-breathed) and withstanding the great change in pressure. Just __12__ he dose it scientists have not determined. It is believed that some of the oxygen is stored in a special system of blood vessels, rather than just held in the lungs. And __13__ that a special kind of oil in his head is some sort of compensating mechanism that automatically adjusts the internal pressure of his body. But __14__ you can’t bring a live whale into the laboratory for study, no one __15__ just how these things work. |