单选题Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ______.A the use of machines to produce science fictionB the wide use of machines in manufacturing industryC the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous workD the elite’s cunning tackling of dangerou

Text 3

The full influence of mechanization began shortly after 1850, when a variety of machines came rapidly into use. The introduction of these machines frequently created rebellions by workers who were fearful that the machines would rob them of their work. Patrick Bell, in Scotland, and Cyrus McCormick, in United States, produced threshing machines. Improve- meats were made in plows to compensate for different soil types. Stream power came into use in 1860s on large farms. Hay rakes, hay-loaders, and various special harvesting machines were produced, Milking machines appeared. The internal-combustion engine run by gasoline became the chief power source for the farm.

In time, the number of certain farm machines that came into use skyrocketed and changed the nature of fanning. Be-tween 1940 and 1960, for example, 12 million horses and mules gave way to 5 million tractors. Tractors offer many. features that are attractive to farmers. There are, for example, numerous attachments: cultivators that can penetrate the s0il to varying depths, rotary hoes that chop weeds; spray devices that can spray pesticides in bands 100 feet across, and many others.

A piece of equipment has now been invented or adapted for virtually every laborious hand or animal operation On the farm. lathe United States, for example, cotton, tobacco, hay, and grain are planted, treated for pests and diseases, fertilized, cultivated and harvested by machine. Large devices shake fruit and nut from trees, gain and blend feed, and dry gain and hay. Equipment is now available to put just the right amount of fertilizer in just the right place, to spray an exact row width, and to count out, Space, and plant just the right number of seeds for a row.

Mechanization is not used in agriculture in many parts of Latin America, Africa, Agriculture innovation is accepted fastest where agriculture is already profitable and progressive. Some mechanization has reached the level of plantation agriculture in parts of the tropics, but even today much of that land is laboriously worked by people leading draft animals pal- ling primitive plows.

The problems of mechanization in some areas are not 0nly cultural in nature. For examples, tropical soils and crops differ markedly from those in temperate areas that the machines are designed for, so adaptations have to be made. But the greatest obstacle to mechanization is the fear in underdeveloped countries that the workers who are displaced by machines would not find work elsewhere, Introducing mechanization into such areas requires careful planning.

31. The first paragraph uses several examples to convey the ideas that______.

A) the introduction of machines into agricultural work created rebellions on the part of the farmers

B) the use of internal combustion engine as a chief power source for the farm produced great influence

C) the mechanization of agricultural work after 1850 gradually robbed many farmers of their work

D) ingenious improvements were made in fanning machines in the 1860s to yield production

Text 2 Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics--the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.

As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform. some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy--far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.

But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves--goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error," says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world. "

Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.

What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented-and human perception far more complicated--than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.

第46题：Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in

A the use of machines to produce science fiction.

B the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.

C the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.

D the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work.

You are planning to use the crude oil washing system on your tanker．What is required to prevent electrostatic buildup in the tanks ________．

A.The portable machines should be set at the proper drop for the first wash before the fixed machines are used

B.The tank used as the source for the tank cleaning machines should be debottomed for at least one meter

C.The inert gas system must reduce the oxygen content in the tank to at least 18%

D.The fixed machines must be operated simultaneously with the portable machines to equalize the electrostatic potential

Assuming we had a continuous feed of data that was being piped into

site, and it needed to distributed to up to 10 different machines in

real time. Describe at least one method you would use?

What is NOT a requirement for the safe and effective use of a crude oil washing system ________．

A.Strip all tanks and remove the bottom residue

B.Use an inert gas system while washing tanks

C.Use portable washing machines to reach areas obscured by structural members in the tanks

D.Debottom the tank used as the source for the tank cleaning machines