1、大学英语六级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 12及答案与解析 Section B 0 Radiance Exists Everywhere A)Do you believe, as I used to, that radioactivity is very rare and very dangerous, restricted to arsenals and power plants? Let s take a look at your kitchen. The bananas are radioactive from their potassium, the Brazil nuts have a
2、thousand times more radium than any other food item, and your dried herbs and spices were irradiated to counter bacteria, germination and spoilage. Theres thorium in your microwave oven and americium in your smoke detector. B)Elsewhere in the house, cat litter, cigarettes, adobe, granite and brick a
3、re all actively radiating you. Always and forever, radiation is both raining down on you from the skies striking mile-high Denver two to three times as powerfully as San Diego and floating up at you from our bedrock s decaying uranium. Those all-natural mineral waters you soaked in on that spa vacat
4、ion? Did the brochure mention that hot springs are hot in two senses, as the heat emanates from those same uranium combustions? C)Radiance is so pervasive that geologists have uncovered evidence of 14 naturally occurring nuclear reactors. Its coming out of the walls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington
5、 and New Yorks Grand Central Terminal. Your cat is radioactive, your dog is radioactive, your friends and your family are all radioactive, and so, as it turns out, are you. Right now your body is emanating radiant effluvia and, every time you and another human being get together, you irradiate each
6、other. D)By the way, do you live in the continental U.S.? In 1997, the National Cancer Institute reported that the Cold War detonations at the Nevada Test Site had polluted nearly the whole of the country with drifting airborne radioactive iodine, creating somewhere between 10,000 and 75,000 cases o
7、f childhood thyroid cancer. E)The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that of the nearly 600,000 Americans dying of cancer every year, 11,000 will be because of those tests. All those decades worrying about the Soviet Union attack Americans with nuclear weapons? Instead, while Washi
8、ngton irradiated Americans from Nevada, Moscow irradiated its own citizens with tests from Kazakhstan. F)But there is, in all this, some good news. The source of radioactivity is an atom so obese that it defies the laws of attraction gluing together our material world and spits out little pieces of
9、itself two kinds of particles and a stream of gamma rays, similar to X-rays. An overdose of gamma rays is like a vicious sunburn, with skin damage and elevated cancer risks, but those particles are too big to penetrate our skin, meaning that they need to be swallowed or inhaled to wreak damage. G)Re
10、member the movie “Silkwood“, with Meryl Streep writhing in naked agony as men with brushes scrubbed her in the shower? They were washing away her exposure. The truly fearful event in a nuclear accident, then, isnt fallout but meltdown, where the core burns through the floor and suffuses the water ta
11、ble. There it causes agricultural mayhem and radioactive dust that you better not breathe. H)The good news, though, is in that word: overdose. Were not dropping dead en masse from radiation poisoning or its ensuing cancers on a daily basis because, like all poisons, it isnt the particular atom that
12、will get you. Its the dose. And damage from radioactivity requires a much greater dose than any of us would have believed. I)This upheaval in everything we thought we knew comes from two decades long studies. The United Nations spent 25 years investigating the Chernobyl disaster and determined that
13、57 people died during the accident itself(including 28 emergency workers), while 18 children living nearby died in the following years of thyroid cancer from drinking the milk of tainted cows.(Thyroid cancer is very curable, so their deaths could have been prevented by an effective public-health ser
14、vice, but Ukraines and Belarus s collapsed alongside the Soviet Union s.)In short, the most terrifying nuclear disaster in human history, which spread a cloud the size of 400 Hiroshimas across the whole of Europe, killed 75 people. J)Some believe that this number is too conservative, but those belie
15、fs aren t backed by data. One critic is physicist Bernard Cohen, who predicted, “The sum of exposures to people all over the world will eventually, after about 50 years, reach 60 billion millirems, enough to cause about 16,000 deaths.“ To give this number perspective, around 16,000 Americans die eve
16、ry year from the pollution of coal-burning power plants. K)Besides the U.N.s Chernobyl report, the most extensive data on human exposure to radiation is the American-Japanese joint study of hibakusha “explosion-affected persons“ the 200,000 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The expectations at th
17、e start of that study(which has taken over 60 years and continues to this day)were that survivors would be overrun with tumours and leukaemia and that a percentage of their descendants would be genetically deformed. Instead, researcher Evan Douple concluded, “The risk of cancer is quite low, lower t
18、han what the public might expect.“ L)Radiologist John Moulder analyzed the results of one group of 50,000 survivors, about 5,000 of whom had developed cancer: “Based on what we know of the rest of the Japanese population, you would have expected about 4,500 of them. So we have 5,000 cancers over 50
19、years where we would expect 4,500.“ Assuming that the 500 additional cases are all due to radiation, and that means a rate of 1%. And there was no increase in inherited mutations. Remember: These aren t victims of a power plant breakdown; they are survivors of a nuclear attack. M)For the Fukushima d
20、isaster of 2011, the consensus estimate is a 1% increase in cancer for employees who worked at the site and an undetectable increase for the plants neighbours. Just think of the difference between the overwhelming nuclear fears and nightmares we ve all suffered from since 1945 and that range of incr
21、eased risk: 0% to 1%. And if thats not enough to question everything you thought you knew about radiation, consider that, even after the catastrophe in Japan, the likelihood of work-related death and injury for nuclear plant workers is lower than for real estate agents . and for stockbrokers. N)Here
22、s the truth about you and radiation: Theres no reason to worry about power-plant meltdowns or airport scanners, where the X-rays have been replaced by millimetre wave machines. And don t worry about those radioactive everyday items. By scientific measures, the average American gets 620 millirems of
23、radiation each year, half from background exposure, and that number needs to reach 100,000 to be worrisome. O)Instead of fretting about these things, have your basement tested for radon. Monitor how many nuclear diagnostics and treatments, from X-rays to CT scans, you and your family get. Use sunscr
24、een. And follow the advice of the woman who defined “radioactivity“, Marie Curie: “Now is the time to understand more, so that we fear less.“ 1 Only if we know more about radioactivity, can we avoid unnecessary fears. 2 All the people and animals around you, and you yourself are all radioactive. 3 S
25、ome people in Russia were under the exposure of the nuclear tests in Kazakhstan. 4 The low risk of the Fukushima disaster of 2011 provides an irony for our exceeding nuclear fears since 1945. 5 840 millirems of radiation each year is within the safe domain. 6 The researchers expected mat the survivo
26、rs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would suffer from tumours and leukaemia, but the risk is very low actually. 7 Many children suffered from the thyroid cancer in the influence of the Cold War detonations at the Nevada Test Site. 8 In a nuclear accident, meltdown, which can bring agricultural disaster and
27、 radioactive dust, is more terrible than fallout. 9 Radiance is not only exists in some power plants, it can also be found in the kitchen. 10 Humans extraordinarily overestimate the damage caused by radioactivity. 10 Tiny Camera Clipped on Your Shirt A)I ve been snapping photos of everything in fron
28、t of me for the last week. If we ve passed, even for a moment, I probably have a picture of your face. Im not a spy, but Ive been using gear you might associate with 007. New matchbook-size cameras that clip to your tie or shirt let you capture a day s worth of encounters, then upload them to the In
29、ternet to be remembered forever. B)Why on Earth would anybody want to do that? After trying out two devices that recently began shipping, the $279 Narrative Clip and $399 Autographer, I think the answer for many will be why wouldn t you? Yes, I took gigabytes of boring photos of me sitting in front
30、of a computer at work. But when I took the tiny cameras hiking or hanging out with kids, they produced Instagram-worthy shots.(I also discovered surprising uses, like when I scanned my photo log to discover where I d misplaced my watch.) C)Wearable cameras are a potential solution to the growing ann
31、oyance of people holding their phones in front of their faces throughout birthday parties, concerts and other important moments, instead of just living them. But theres a cost to amassing so much photographic evidence. The tiny cameras made others uncomfortable when they found out they were being re
32、corded. Some friends wouldnt hug me; gossiping colleagues kept asking, “Is that thing on?“ These devices upset a fundamental(though arguably flawed)assumption that even in public, you aren t being recorded. D)Makes you squirm, doesn t it? One reason I wanted to review these cameras is that this kind
33、 of technology isnt going away. “Always on“ cameras are becoming popular in home electronics like the Xbox One and a new wave of streaming video security systems. Now you can buy cameras that attach to your wrist, ear, bike helmet and eyeglasses. E)The two cameras I tested are meant for everyday use
34、. On the surface, they seem very similar: plastic clip-ones that silently take photos and store them until you upload them to a phone or computer. They arrange the photos in a contact sheet on your phone and use software to highlight the most interesting shots, or give you a sped-up video of your da
35、y. F)The Narrative is the least obtrusive. It could be easily mistaken for a tie clip. The Narrative has no buttons or screen, and just one function: It takes a photo of whatever is in front of it every 30 seconds, more than 2,000 a day, with quality comparable to the iPhone 4s camera. A sensor make
36、s sure the photos are always upright, no matter how the clip is oriented, while a GPS chip inside notes where you are each time it takes the photo. Tap on the Narrative twice and it will snap a photo right away. G)The pricier Autographer is three times larger, making it flop over when I attached it
37、to my shirt pocket. It packs a 5 megapixel camera with fisheye lens and five sensorsincluding an accelerometer, compass and thermometer in order to take a picture when it thinks your surroundings have changed. It can use Bluetooth to transfer shots wirelessly to a phone or computer right away. All o
38、f these extra tech means the battery lasts about 10 hours, compared with the Narrative s 30. H)What are you supposed to do with all of those photos? More than 1,000 shots taken on my hike this Sunday werent worth keeping. But 15 were delightful, unposed shots of my friends and their kids at sunset.
39、You can t get a 7-year-old kid to look that naturally happy with a regular camera pointing in his face, but the camera did. I could imagine taking one of these cameras to special events or on vacation. I)Judging based on price, shape and battery life, the Narrative would seem to be the better produc
40、t. But after using both cameras, I realized the Autographer was superior because its design better respected my interactions with friends and strangers alike. J)Very few people noticed I was wearing the Narrative s tiny clip. It made me feel like a creep for not disclosing to friends and people on t
41、he street that I was photographing them. It offers no indication it s taking a picture and continues snapping away unless you turn it over or put it into a pocket(which you need to remember to do when you go to places like the toilet). After wearing it for a few days, I decided to tape a camera icon
42、 on it. K)The Autographer announces itself as a camera. Each time it snaps, a faint blue light flashes on its front. More important, its lens is highlighted by a bright yellow circle and has a rotating cover so everyone can see when it is and isn t watching. L)In short, Autographers design helps kee
43、p people from being jerks. The fisheye lens means you can t accidentally take head-on photos of people unless you are very close to their faces. Since the camera connects wirelessly to your phone, you can review your shots right away and delete shots if anybody asks. By default, Autographer only sav
44、es all your photos on your computer or phone rather than its own servers. All these concerns are rooted in civility. There s nothing actually illegal about using one of these cameras in most venues in the U.S., outside of restrooms, casinos and other businesses that expressly forbid them. M)Narrativ
45、es Swedish creators say their clip wouldnt make a good spy camera because it isnt as small as the latest snoop gear and its 30-second automatic timer is too arbitrary. Also, their research found people who spotted it did generally understand that the device was a camera. “If you want a camera to spy
46、 on your friends, we don t want you as a customer,“ company co-founder Oskar Kalmaru said, “And we intentionally made the Narrative Clip bad for use in cases like that.“ The U.K.-based makers of Autographer take the extraordinary step of including an etiquette guide in its box, with suggestions like
47、 “pause your image capture if you are in proximity to people you don t know for a long period of time.“ N)For me, wearing either camera meant I was constantly on guard, ready to turn it off if a situation became too private to capture. We might eventually get used to the idea that we re being consta
48、ntly watched, but for now I think a baseline rule ought to be some kind of notice: I m taking your photo. O)The experience made me realize we need a big public conversation about how to live with ubiquitous sensors. Part of that means developing criteria to judge technology beyond basic hardware or
49、software design. Lets call it the “relationship test“: How does this piece of technology change not just my life, but how I interact with you? 11 The tiny camera is convenient participating parties for its owner, but it may make others uneasy. 12 Compared with Narrative, Autographer may be preferred by friends or strangers around you because it shows respect towards them. 13 Autographer can judge your surroundings and then take photos with the changing of your position. 14 If you wear Narrative and dont change it
