DOC《模拟题精练》

模拟题精练 Passage

1 The fridge is considered a necessity, it has been so since the 1960s when packaged food first appeared with the label: Store in the refrigerator.

In my fridgeless Fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthy. The milkman came daily, the grocer, the butcher (肉商), the baker, and the ice-cream man delivered two or three times a week. The Sunday meat would last until Wednesday and surplus (剩余的) bread and milk became all kinds of cakes. Nothing was wasted, and we were never troubled by rotten food. Thirty years on, food deliveries have ceased, fresh vegetables are almost unobtainable in the country. The invention of the fridge contributed comparatively little to the art of food preservation. A vast way of well-tried techniques already existed―natural cooling, drying, smoking, salting, sugaring, bottling... What refrigeration did promote was marketing―marketing hardware and electricity, marketing soft drinks, marketing dead bodies of animals around the globe in search of a good price. Consequently, most of the world'

s fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temperatures where they are climatically almost unnecessary. Every winter, millions of fridges hum away continuously, and at vast expenses, busily maintaining an artificially-cooled space inside an artificially-heated house―while outside, nature provides the desired temperature free of charge. The fridge'

s effect upon the environment has been evident, while its contribution to human happiness has been insignificant. If you don'

t believe me, try it yourself. Invest in a food cabinet and turn off your fridge next winter. You may miss the hamburgers (汉堡包), but at least you'

ll get rid of that terrible hum. Questions: 1. The statement In my fridgeless Fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthy. suggests that 2. Why does the author say that nothing was wasted before the invention of fridegs? 3. Who benefited the least from fridges according to the author? 4. Which phrase in the fifth paragraph indicated the fridge'

s negative effect on the environment? 5. What is the author'

s overall attitude toward fridges? Passage

2 Before a new airliner goes into service, every part of it is tested again and again. But there are two tests that are more important than all the others. One of them is very strange and the other is very dangerous. The first of these is called the tank test . A modern airliner must fly at very high altitudes. Air must be pumped into the plane so that the passengers can breathe. The metal structure of the plane has to be very strong for this reason. When the plane is filled with air, the air presses against the skin of the plane inside. The pressure on a small window, for example, is like a huge, giant foot that is trying to get out. If a small part of the plane were to crack, the plane would explode in the sky. In order to test the structure of the plane, it is lowered into a huge tank of water. Then it is filled with air. The pressure inside the plane is greater than it ever will be when it is in the air. Finally, there is an explosion. This does not cause so much damage inside the water tank as it would anywhere else. Engineers can discover which part of the plane has cracked. This part is made stronger. The most dangerous test happens when the new plane is going through test flights in the air. The test pilot must find out exactly what happens when all the engines are shut off at once. He takes the plane up very high. Then he shuts the engine off. The plane begins to fall like a stone. It is the pilot'