Because of its capacity to handle large volumes of data in a very short time, a computer may be the only means of resolving problems when time is limited.

A computer is a machine designed to perform. work mathematically and to store and select information that has been fed into it. It is nm by either mechanical or electronic means. These machines can do a great deal of complicated work in a very short time. A large computer, for example, can add or subtract nine thousand times a second, multiply a thousand times a second, or divide five hundred times a second. Its percentage of error is about one in a billion digits. It has been estimated that human beings making calculations average about one mistake per two hundred digits.

The heart of an electronic computer lies in its vacuum tubes, or transistors. Its electronic circuits work a thousand times faster than the nerve cells in the human brain. A problem that might take a human being two years to solve can be solved by a computer in one minute, but in order to work properly, a computer must be given instructions--it must be programmed. Computers can be designed for many specialized purposes--they can be used to prepare payrolls, guide airplane flights, direct traffic, even to play chess. Computers play an essential role in modern automation in many plants and factories throughout the world.

A computer is a machine designed to ______.

A．perform. work mathematically

B．perform. complicated calculations

C．store and select information

D．all of the above

听力原文： A computer is a machine designed to perform. work mathematically and to store and select information that has been fed into it. It is run by either mechanical or electronic means. These machines can do a great deal of complicated work in a very short time. A large computer, for example, can add or subtract nine thousand times a second, multiply a thousand times a second, or divide five hundred times a second. Its percentage of error is about one in a billion digits. It has been estimated that human beings making calculations average about one mistake per two hundred digits.

The heart of an electronic computer lies in its vacuum tubes, or transistors. Its electronic circuits work a thousand times faster than the nerve cells in the human brain. A problem that might take a human being two years to solve can be solved by a computer in one minute, but in order to work properly, a computer must be given instructions--it must be programmed.

Computers can be designed for many specialized purposes--they can be used to prepare payrolls, guide airplane flights, direct traffic, even to play chess. Computers play an essential role in modern automation in many plants and factories throughout the world.

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A．One in a billion digits.

B．Zero.

C．One mistake per two hundred digits.

D．One in a million digits.

Read and choose the best answer. Mr. Black’s office was only 5 kilometers away from his house, so he could go home to have lunch every day. But when he got home at noon, he had to drive another place to park his car, then walked back home. Because he found many cars outside his house and there was no room for his own car. This made him very angry. One day, he put up a board in the garden facing the road NO PARKING But nobody noticed it. People seemed to obey only a police notice with white letters on a blue board. POLICE NOTICE NO PARKING Mrs. Black asked his husband to steal a police notice but he was afraid to do so. Then she asked him to make one just like a police notice. Mr. Black said he was not the police and couldn’t use the word “police”. Several days later, Mr. Black made a blue board with white letters. POLITE NOTICE NO PARKING “Oh!” Mrs. Black said, “ You told me you weren’t going to use the word ‘police’, but why do you use it now” “Really” he asked with a smile. “Look again!” “Oh, Dear!” she started to laugh, “ You are really clever!” 1. How far is it from Mr. Black's house to his office？

A、5 miles

B、5 hours' drive

C、5,000 meters

D、Less than 5 kilometers

In any field it's important to have ambition and drive. But having worked as a psychologist with athletes, executives, artists and young people, I've learned that those who rise to the headiest heights in any field aren't necessarily the ones with the greatest natural talent. They're the diligent few who put in the hours. They work hard. And then they work harder. Recent research by fellow psychologists bears out the significance of focused hard work. In 1988, K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University in Tallahassee and colleagues in Germany compared the careers of two groups of young musicians. The ten members of the first group were identified as potential topflight international performers. Another ten were identified as merely "good". Ericsson also included ten violinists performing in orchestras of international reputation, such as the Berlin Philharmonic. Both student groups kept diaries of their current practice schedules, and all three groups provided estimates of their earlier schedules. Of the student musicians, Ericsson found, by the age of 20, the "good" group had practiced 7500 hours － an impressive total. But the potential world-class performers had practiced a staggering 10 000 hours － the equivalent of more than a year of hard work. "It's the difference between a college freshman and a junior," Ericsson says. Moreover, the top group's total practice time matched almost exactly that of the symphony performers at the same age. Of course, there's a difference between hard work and drudgery. Keeping your nose mindlessly to the grindstone will only get you abraded nostrils. It's important to put in the hours. But it's not just the hours that count. For hard work to really pay off, you need to work effectively. 1. According to the author, the most important quality for one desiring the greatest achievements is ________.

A、ambition

B、hard work

C、drive

D、the greatest natural talent

(课外选材)

When computer servers operate a complex program, they can get very hot. Cooling the servers can be costly. So researchers asked what would happen if the heat created by the servers could be captured and used?

Data centers of large Internet companies such as Google and Microsoft have thousands of computer servers. As these servers process information, they create large amounts of heat, so they need huge cooling systems. These systems send the heat into the air. The Dutch company Nerdalize thinks paying for electricity to operate the servers and then paying again to cool them is a waste of energy. So it developed a device called the e-Radiator. It is a computer server that also works as a heating source. Boaz Leupe is the chief executive officer of Nerdalize. He says the e-Radiator saves money because companies don't have to pay to cool their servers.

"The kilowatt(千瓦)hour you are using is used twice -- once to heat the home and once to compute the client's task without the cooling overhead." He says five homeowners in the Netherlands are testing the heating device in their homes. "We reimburse the electricity the server uses, and that we can do because of the computer clients on the other side, and, in that way, homeowners actually get heating for free, and computer users don't have to pay for the overhead of the data center.

Jan Visser is one of the participants in the year-long experiment. He says the amount of heat produced by the e-Radiator depends on the work being done by the computer server. He says it cannot be used as the primary source of heat. But he is ready to try it.

He says if it provides enough warmth, he will be able to use his home's heating system less, which will save him money. Nerdalize says e-Radiators create heat temperatures of up to 55℃. It says the devices could save users up to $440 in heating costs a year.

1.Why did researchers ask what would happen if the heat created by the servers could be captured and used?{A; B; C}

A. Because computers can get very hot.

B. Computer servers is a complex program.

C. Cooling computer servers costs a lot of money.

2.The computer servers in large Internet companies such as Google and Microsoft can {A; B; C}.

A. create large amounts of information

B. create large quantity of heat

C. manage the huge cooling systems

3. Nerdalize developed the e-Radiator because {A; B; C}.

A. e-Radiator cost less energy

B. e-Radiator can cool the servers for free

C. e-Radiator can create cold air for free

4.According to Jan Visser, the amount of heat produced by the e-Radiator {A; B; C}.

A. depends on the work being processed by PC

B. cannot be used as the home's heating system

C. cannot be used as the main source of heat

5.The best title for this passage is {A; B; C}

A. The New Way to Heat Homes

B. The New Way to Cool Homes

C. Hot Computers Could Be Used for Free

Very soon a computer will be able to teach you English. It will also be able to translate any language for you too. It's just one more incredible result of the development of microprocessors--those tiny parts of a computer commonly known as "silicon chips". So give up going to classes, stop buying more textbooks and relax. In a couple of years you won't need the international language of English.

Already Texas instruments in the United States is developing an electronic translation machine. Imagine a Spanish secretary, for example, who wants to type a letter from the boss to a business man in Sweden. All he or she will have to do is this; first type the letter in Spanish. The letter will appear on a television screen. After a few seconds the translated letter will appear on another television screen in Stockholm in perfect Swedish.

And that's not all. Soon a computer will be able to teach you English, if you really want to learn the language. You'll sit in front of a television screen and practise endless structures. The computer will tell you when you are correct and when you are wrong. It will even talk to you because the silicon chips can change electrical impulses into sounds. And clever programmers can predict the responses you, the learner, are likely to make.

So think of it. You will be able to teach yourself at your own pace. You will waste very little time, and you can work at home. And if after all that, you still can't speak English you can always use the translating machine. In a few years, therefore, perhaps there will be no need for BBC Modern English, or BBC English by Radio programs--no more textbooks or teachers of English. Instead of buying an exciting new textbook, the computer will ask you to replace it with microprocessor one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four. Fast, reliable and efficient language learning and translating facilities will be available to you. Think of that no more tears or embarrassing moments. One little problem is that a computer can't laugh yet-- but the scientists are working on it. Happy learning!

Silicon chips are ______.

A．microprocessors

B．the result of the development of microprocessors

C．the computer itself

D．parts of microprocessors

The purpose of a programming system is to make a computer easy to use. To do this, it furnishes languages and various facilities that are in fact programs invoked and controlled by language features. But these facilities are bought at a price: the external description of a programming system is ten to twenty times as large as the external description of the computer system itself. The user finds it far easier to specify any particular function, but there are far more to choose from, and far more options and formats to remember. Ease of use is enhanced only if the time gained in functional specification exceeds the time lost in learning, remembering, and searching manuals. With modern programming systems this gain does exceed the cost, but in recent years the ratio of fain to cost seems to have fallen as more and more complex（ ）have been added. Because ease of use is the purpose, this radio of function to conceptual complexity is the ultimate test of system design. Neither function alone nor simplicity alone（ ）a good design. This point is widely misunderstood. Function, and not simplicity, has always been the measure of excellence for its designers. As soon as ease of use is held up as the criterion, each of these is seen to be（ ）, reaching for only half of the true goal. For a given level of function, however, that system is best in which one can specify things with the most simplicity and straightforwardness. （ ）is not enough. Mooer’s TRAC language and Algol 68 achieve simplicity as measured by the number of distinct elementary concepts. They are not, however, straightforward. The expression of the things one wants to do often requires involuted (复杂的）and unexpected combinations of the basic facilities. It is not enough to learn the elements and rules of combination; one must also learn the idiomatic usage, a whole lore of how the elements are combined in practice. Simplicity and straightforwardness proceed from conceptual（ ）. Every part must reflect the same philosophies and the same balancing of desiderata. Every part must use the same techniques in syntax and the analogous notions in semantics. Ease of use, then, dictates unity of design, conceptual integrity.

A.systems B.functions C.programs D.manuals A.defines B.can be C.constructs D.costs A.stabilize B.equalized C.unbalanced D.balanced A.Function B.System C.Straightforwardness D.Simplicity A.integrity B.isolation C.durability D.consistency