21.What brought about the decline in the demand for American farm products?
A) The impact of the Great Depression.
B) The shrinking of overseas markets.
C) The destruction caused by the First World War.
D) The increased exports of European countries.
22.The chief concern of the American government in the area of agriculture in the 1920s was ______.
A) to increase farm production
B) to establish agricultural laws
C) to prevent farmers from going bankrupt
D) to promote the mechanization of agriculture
23.The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged American farmers to ______.
A) reduce their scale of production
B) make full use of their land
C) adjust the prices of their farm products
D) be self-sufficient in agricultural production
24.The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the Act ______.
A) might cause greater scarcity of farm products
B) didnt give the Secretary of Agriculture enough power
C) would benefit neither the government nor the farmers
D) benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others
25.It was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed at ______.
A) reducing the cost of farming
B) conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation
C) lowering the burden of farmers
D) helping farmers without shifling the burden onto other taxpayers
In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.
In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.
President Hoovers successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nations soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid grain, and fertilizers.
26.The author says that the powerful computers of today ______.
A) are capable of reliably recognizing the shape of an object
B) are close to exhibiting humanlike behavior
C) are not very different in their performance from those of the 50s
D) still cannot communicate with people in a human language
27.The new trend in artificial intelligence research stems from ______.
A) the shift of the focus of study on to the recognition of the shapes of objects
B) the belief that human intelligence cannot be duplicated with logical, step-by-step programs
C) the aspirations of scientists to duplicate the intelligence of a ten-month-old child
D) the efforts made by scientists in the study of the similarities between transistors and brain cells
28.Conrad and his group of AI researchers have been making enormous efforts to ______.
A) find a roundabout way to design powerful computers
B) build a computer using a clever network of switches
C) find out how intelligence developed in nature
D) separate the highest and most abstract levels of thought
29.Whats the authors opinion about the new AI movement?
A) It has created a sensation among artificial intelligence researchers but will soon die out.
B) Its a breakthrough in duplicating human thought processes.
C) Its more like a peculiar game rather than a real scientific effort.
D) It may prove to be in the right direction though nobody is sure of its future prospects.
30.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase the only game in town ?
A) The only approach to building an artificially intelligent computer.
B) The only way for them to win a prize in artificial intelligence research.
C) The only area worth studying in computer science.
D) The only game they would like to play in town.
In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, theyre nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid.
A growing group of AI researchers think they know where the field went wrong. The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AI movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field.
Imitating the brains neural network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors, he explains, but its not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves. Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brains capabilities stem from the pattern recognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build and artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build it around the same sort of molecular skills.
Right now, the notion that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.
与原文一模一样的数字、大写字母的选项都不对
Birds that are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping-control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemispheres eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers, Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing(打盹)at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotaing 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during some 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain, the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single-hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. Hes seen it in a pair of birds dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, its only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物)as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UGLA says he wonders if birds half-brain sleep is just the tip of the iceberg(冰山). He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
16. Which of the following is evidence that TT is widely practiced?
A) TT has been in existence for decades.
B) Many patients were cured by therapeutic touch.
C) TT therapists are often employed by leading hospitals.
D) More than 100,000 people are undergoing TT treatment.
注：D为迷惑选项数字必转化，C对应第二段末句。
17. Very few TT practitioners responded to the $1 million offer because ____________.
A) they didnt take the offer seriously
B) they didnt want to risk their career
C) they were unwilling to reveal their secret
D) they thought it was not in line with their practice
注：争议题，B、C皆可。
18. The purpose of Emily Rosas experiment was ____________.
A) to see why TT could work the way it did
B) to find out how TT cured patients illness
C) to test whether she could sense the human energy field
D) to test whether a human energy field really existed
注：对应文章第三段首句
19. Why did some TT practitioners agree to be the subjects of Emilys experiment?
A) It involved nothing more than mere guessing.
B) They thought it was going to be a lot of fun.
C) It was more straightforward than other experiments.
D) They sensed no harm in a little girls experiment.
注：对应文章第三段末句，no harm对应innocent，little girl对应fourth-grade
20. What can we learn from the passage?
A) Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.
B) Solid evidence weighs more than pure theories.
C) Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.
D) The principle of TT is too profound to understand.
A nine-year-old schoolgirl single-handedly cooks up a science-fair experiment that ends up debunking(揭穿...的真相)a widely practiced medical treatment. Emily Rosas target was a practice known as therapeutic(治疗)touch , whose advocates manipulate patients energy field to make them feel better and even, say some, to cure them of various ills. Yet Emilys test shows that these energy fields cant be detected, even by trained TT practitioners(行医者). Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation, Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare, Age doesnt matter. Its good science that matters, and this is good science.
Emilys mother Linda Rosa, a registered nurse, has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade. Linda first thought about TT in the late 80s, when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado. Its 100,000 trained practitioners dont even touch their patients. Instead, they waved their hands a few inches from the patients body, pushing energy fields around until theyre in balance. TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever. The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to $70 an hour, the smooth patients energy, sometimes during surgery.
Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works. To provide such proof, TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing-something they havent been eager to do, even though James Randi has offered more than $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field. A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line. But who could turn down an innocent fourth-grader? Says Emily: I think they didnt take me very seriously because Im a kid.
The experiment was straightforward: 21 TT therapists stuck their hands, palms up, through a screen. Emily held her own hand over one of theirs-left or right-and the practitioners had to say which hand it was. When the results were recorded, theyd done no better than they would have by simply guessing. if there was an energy field, they couldnt feel it.
21. We learn from the first paragraph that two systems of automated highways __________.
A) are being planned
B) are being modified
C) are now in wide use
D) are under construction
注：on the drawing board就是planned
22. A special-purpose lane system is probably advantageous in that ________________.
A) it would require only minor changes to existing highways
B) it would achieve the greatest highway traffic efficiency
C) it has a lane for both automated and partially automated vehicles
D) it offers more lanes for automated vehicles
注：A选项说反了
23. Which of the following is true about driving on an automated highway?
A) Vehicles traveling on it are assigned different lanes according to their destinations.
B) A car can join existing traffic any time in a mixed lane system.
C) The driver should inform his car computer of his destination before driving onto it.
D) The driver should share the automated lane with those f regular vehicles.
注：对应第二段开头
24. We know form the passage that a car can enter a special-purpose lane _____________.
A) by smoothly merging with cars on the conventional lane
B) by way of a ramp with electronic control devices
C) through a specially guarded gate
D) after all trespassers are identified and removed
注：争议题
25. When driving in an automated lane, the driver ___________.
A) should harmonize with newly entering cars
B) doesnt have to rely on his computer system
C) should watch out for potential accidents
D) doesnt have to hold not to the steering wheel
注：文章最后一段
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