大三专转本阅读理解与翻译练习
1.
Suppose we built a robot to explore the planet Mars. We provide the robot with seeing detectors (探测器) to keep it away from danger. It is powered entirely by the sun. Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times? No. The robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any. So we would probably program it to stop its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning.
According to the evolutionary (进化的) theory of sleep, evolution equipped us with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking for the same reason. The theory does not deny that sleep provides some important restorative functions (恢复功能). It merely says that evolution has programmed us to perform those functions at a time when activity would be inefficient and possibly dangerous. However, sleep protects us only from the sort of trouble we might walk into; it does not protect us from trouble that comes looking for us. So we sleep well when we are in a familiar, safe place, but we sleep lightly, if at all, when we fear that bears will nose into the tent.
The evolutionary theory explains the differences in sleep among creatures. Why do cats, for instance, sleep so much, while horses sleep so little? Surely cats do not need five times as much repair and restor
ation as horses do. But cats can afford to have long periods of inactivity because they spend little time eating and are unlikely to be attacked while they sleep. Horses must spend almost all their waking hours eating, because what they eat is very low in energy value. Moreover, they cannot afford to sleep too long or too deeply, because their survival depends on their ability to run away from attackers.
1. The author uses the example of the robot in space exploration to tell
us _______.
A. the differences between robots and men
B. the reason why men need to sleep
C. about the need for robots to save power
D. about the danger of men working at night
2. Evolution has programmed man to sleep at night chiefly to help him
_____.
A. keep up a regular pattern of life
B. prevent trouble that comes looking for him
C. avoid danger and inefficient labor
D. restore his bodily functions
3. According to the author, we cannot sleep well when we _____.
A. are worrying about our safety
B. are overworked
C. are in a tent
D. are away from home
4. Cats sleep much more than horses do partly because cats _____.
A. need more time for restoration
B. are unlikely to be attacked
C. are more active than horses when they are awake
D. spend less time eating to get enough energy
5. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
A. Evolution has equipped all creatures with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking.
B. The study of sleep is an important part of the evolutionary theory.
C. Sleeping patterns must be taken into consideration in the designing of robots.
D. The sleeping pattern of a living creature is determined by the food it eats.
2.
In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business, but he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his yard. That was the first photograph.
The next important date in the history of photography was 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his studio. He used a new kind of camera and a different process. This kind of photograph was called a daguerreotype. Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s process.
In about 1840, the process was improved. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things.
Matthew Brady was one well-known American photographer. He took many portraits of famous people. The portraits were unusual because they were very life-like and full of personality. In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photography. Photographers could buy film ready-made in rolls. And finally, the invention of the small handheld camera made photography less expensive. With the small camera, anyone could be a photographer. People began to use cameras just for fun. They took pictures of their families, friends and favorite places. They called these pictures "snapshots".
Photography also turned into a form of art by the end of the 19th century, some photographs were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.
6. The first photograph was taken with ______.
A. a small handheld cameras
B. a daguerreotype
C. a very simple camera
D. new film
7. The story of photography _____.
A. began in the 16th century
B. began in France
C. is unknown
D. began in the United States
8. Matthew Brady was well known for _____.
A. inventing daguerreotypes
B. taking pictures of French cities
C. taking portraits of famous people
D. inventing the first camera
9. The new inventions in photography made it possible for _____.
A. Brady to take pictures of famous people
B. anyone to be a photographer
C. only rich people to take pictures
D. people to use daguerreotypes
10. Photography can also be an art form because artists can
_____.
A. take pictures to show the real world
B. make documentaries
C. show ideas and feelings in pictures
D. copy old pictures
3.
One of the most interesting paradoxes in America today is that Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, is now engaged in serious debate about what a university should be, and whether it is measuring up. Like the Roman Catholic(天主教)Church and other ancient institutions, it is asking — still in private rather than in public — whether its past assumptions about faculty, authority, admissions, courses of study, are really relevant to the problems of the 1980's. Should Harvard —or any other university— be an intellectual sanctuary (圣坛), apart from the political and social revolution of the age, or should it be a laboratory for experimentation with these political and social revolutions, or even an engine of the revolution? This is what is being discussed privately in the big houses of faculty members around the Harvard Yard.
The issue was defined by Walter Lippmann, a distinguished Harvard graduate, several years ago. “If the universities are to do their work,” he said,“they must be independent and they must be disinterested. They are places to which men can turn for judgments which are unbiased by special inte
rest. Obviously, the moment the universities fall under political control, or under the control of private interest, or the moment they themselves take a hand in politics and the leadership of government, their value as independent and disinterested sources of judgment is weakened.”
This is part of the argument that is going on at Harvard today. Another part is the argument among the students that a university is the keeper of our ideals and morals, and should not be “disinterested” but activist in bringing the nation’s ideals and actions together. Harvard’s men of today seem more troubled and less-sure about personal, political and academic purpose than
they did at the beginning. They are not even clear about how they should debate and resolve their problems, but they are struggling with them privately, and how they come out is bound to influence American university and political life in the 1980’s.
11. The issues in the debates on Harvard's goals are whether the universities should remain independent of society and its problems, and whether they should _____.
A. fight for freedom
B. overcome the widespread drug dependency
C. take an active part in solving society's problems
D. support our old and established institutions
12. In regard to their goals and purposes in life, the author believes that Harvard men are becoming _____________.
A. more sure about them
B. less sure about them
C. more hopeful of reaching a satisfactory answer
D. completely disappointed at ever reaching a satisfactory answer
13. A “paradox” is _____.
A. an unusual situation
B. a parenthetical(插入成分的) expression
C. an abnormal condition
D. a self-contradiction
14. In the author's judgment, the argument going on at Harvard _____.
A. is a sad symbol of our general bewilderment (迷惑)
B. will soon be over, because times are bound to change
C. is of interest mostly to Harvard men and their friendssort of house翻译
D. will influence future life in America
15. As used in the passage, the expression "is bound to" means _____.
A. is certain to
B. is important to
C. is necessary to
D. is essential to
4.

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