1、专业英语八级-阅读理解(三十二)及答案解析 (总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、BREADING COMPREH(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、BTEXT A/B(总题数：1，分数：25.00)At the Prado Museum in Madrid visitors can peer into the past in a new exhibit of 19th century photographs, which show artworks crammed on the walls wherever they would fit. Lithographs, paintings
2、and plans chart the higgledy-piggledy development of one of Europes best-loved art-treasure troves.Similarly, Londons British Museum opened a new Enlightenment Gallery this year to celebrate the historic role of museums as centers of learning, displaying among other things intricate catalogs of 17th
3、 century botanical specimens.While such exhibits enshrine the past, ambitious new plans for the future are transforming the dusty halls of some of Europes most revered galleries. In Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain, museums are scrambling to create bigger, more-dazzling exhibition spaces, smart new
4、 restaurants and shops, study centers and inviting public areas.The push reflects a shift in how the public regards its artistic institutions. People want more than the old-style museum, says John Lewis, chairman of the Wallace Collection, a gallery of 17th- and 18th-century paintings, porcelain and
5、 furniture in London, We are driven to become more an arm of the entertainment and education industries rather than the academic institutions we used to be. New galleries will increase the museums current exhibition space to more than 160,000 square meters not including the 13,000 square meters for
6、cafeterias, restaurants, theaters and offices, all linked by tree-lined paths.No European museum expansion is more ambitious than Berlins restoration of Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the city center. The $2.1 billion project slated for completion in 2015 aims to turn the island into
7、 the largest art complex in Europe, covering all the major cultures in six museums filling 88,000 square meters.The Alte Nationalgalerie, an ornate classical temple built in I866, reopened two years ago, displaying 19th-century artists, including German Romantics. Renovation of the neighboring Bode
8、Museum, with its collection of Medieval and Renaissance art, is well underway, and the Neues Museum is being rebuilt to house Egyptian and prehistoric works.There are even plans to reconstruct the adjacent Hohenzollern Palace to showcase Berlins extensive collection of non-European art. And British
9、architect David Chipperfield has been commissioned to create a striking new entrance to the whole complex.These institutions are hoping to repeat the triumph of Londons Tare Museum, which spent $243 million to convert a disused power station into a gallery of modern art. When the Tate Modern opened
10、in 2000, director Sir Nicholas Serota described its creation as part of a sea change in culture, with visual arts becoming the most popular creative medium. His remark has proved amazingly prescient: in 2002, the top two attractions among foreign tourists to London were the Tate Modern and the refur
11、bished British Museum. A year after the Tate Modern opened, its impact on the local economy was estimated at nearly $200 million far higher than the $42 million the Mc Kinsey consulting firm first estimated the museum would contribute when it developed the business plan in 1996.Smaller galleries, to
12、o, are hoping to cash in. Italian Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani plans to transform Florences charming Uffizi Gallery into a world-class cultural destination. When completed in 2006, the nuovo Uffizi will accommodate 7,000 visitors daily, nearly double its current capacity. We will surpass even th
13、e Louvre, predicts Urbani.Expansion helps show off prized works to maximum effect. In Berlin, collections divided between east and west Germany are being united, and expanded gallery space will allow them to be shown together. The Uffizi renovation will enable some of the museums most famous pieces,
14、 by Giotto and Cimabue, now scattered throughout the building, to be displayed together at the second-floor entrance. At the Prado, a new lecture hall and temporary exhibition galleries mean the permanent collection will no longer have to be partly stored when short-term traveling shows come to town
15、.Some purists oppose the idea of turning museums into glitzy consumer complexes. My reservation is whether we lose that calm and that moment of reflection, that sense of civic space says Tristram Hunt, author of Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City.（分数：25.00）(1).According to t
16、he passage, a new Enlightenment Gallery was held in British Museum to A. celebrate the completion of the new galleries. B. show the development of the museum. C. honor the role museums had played in various aspects. D. exhibit some 17th century botanical specimens.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).New plans for
17、the future of the museums aim to A. restore the original appearance of the museums. B. help the museums regain their historic roles. C. rebuild the museums dusty halls. D. make the museums less academic but more entertaining and educational.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(3).According to Sir Nicholas Scrota, what
18、 is part of a sea change in culture? A. The visual arts growing to be the hottest creative medium. B. The success of Londons Tate Museum. C. A conversion of a disused power station into a modern gallery. D. The Tate Moderns impact on the local economy.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(4).According to the passage, t
19、he meaning of the museum expansion lies in that A. it has brought more economic profit than it is estimated. B. it has benefited smaller galleries tremendously. C. it has created more world-class cultural destinations. D. it has provided more spaces for the best-loved artworks.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(5).W
20、hats the authors attitude towards the museum expansion? A. Opposed. B. Objective. C. Positive. D. Indifferent.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.三、BTEXT B/B(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Menlo Park, Calif. Move over, silicon it may be time to give the Valley a new name. Physicists from US have confirmed the existence of a type of m
21、aterial that could one day provide dramatically faster, more efficient computer chips. The material allows electrons on its surface to travel with no loss of energy at room temperatures and can be fabricated using existing semiconductor technologies. Such material could provide a leap in microchip s
22、peeds, and even become the bedrock of an entirely new kind of computing industry based on spintronics, the next evolution of electronics.Physicists tested the behavior of electrons in the compound bismuth telluride. The results, published online June 11 in Science Express, show a clear signature of
23、what is called a topological insulator, a material that enables the free flow of electrons across its surface with no loss of energy. The discovery was the result of teamwork between theoretical and experimental physicists of SIMES. In recent months, theorist Chen and his colleagues predicted that s
24、everal bismuth and antimony compounds would act as topological insulators at room-temperature. The new paper confirms that prediction in bismuth telluride. The working style of SIMES is perfect, Chen said. Theorists, experimentalists, and sample growers can collaborate in a broad sense. The experime
25、nters examined bismuth telluride samples using X-rays. When Chen and his colleagues investigated the electrons behavior, they saw the clear signature of a topological insulator. Not only that, the group discovered that the reality of bismuth telluride was even better than theory.The theorists were v
26、ery close, Chen said, but there was a quantitative difference. The experiments showed that bismuth telluride could tolerate even higher temperatures than theorists had predicted. This means that the material is closer to application than we thought, Chen said.This magic is possible thanks to surpris
27、ingly well-behaved electrons. The quantum spin of each electron is aligned with the electrons motion a phenomenon called the quantum spin Hall Effect. This alignment is a key component in creating spintronics devices. When you hit something, theres usually scattering, some possibility of bouncing ba
28、ck, explained a theorist Qi. But the quantum spin Hall Effect means that you cant reflect to exactly the reverse path. As a dramatic consequence, electrons flow without resistance. Put a voltage on a topological insulator, and this special spin current will flow without heating the material or dissi
29、pating.Topological insulators arent conventional superconductors nor fodder for super-efficient power lines, as they can only carry small currents, but they could pave the way for a paradigm shift in microchip development. This could lead to new applications of spintronics, or using the electron spi
30、n to carry information, Qi said. Whether or not it can build better wires, Im optimistic it can lead to new devices. Fortunately for real-world applications, bismuth telluride is fairly simple to grow and work with. Chen said, Its a three-dimensional material, so its easy to fabricate with the curre
31、nt mature semiconductor technology. Its also easy to dope you can tune the properties relatively easily. This is already a very exciting thing, he said, adding that the material could let us make a device with new operating principles.（分数：20.00）(1).Which of the following about the material already c
32、onfirmed by physicists is INCORRECT? A. It may help accelerate computer speed. B. It can tolerate temperatures no higher than room temperatures. C. It is accessible to current technologies. D. It may bring about a new kind of computing industry.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).According to the passage, a topolo
33、gical insulator is A. a material that enhances the behavior of electrons. B. a signature tested in the compound of bismuth telluride. C. a material that allows electrons to travel across its surface without loss of energy. D. a compound made up of bismuth and antimony.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(3).What seems
34、 to be the effect of the quantum spin Hall Effect? A. It makes it possible for each electron aligned with the electrons motion. B. It makes electrons bounce back along the original way. C. It allows a free flow of electrons. D. It allows electric current to flow without loss of energy.（分数：5.00）A.B.C
35、.D.(4).A suitable title for the passage would be A. A New Name for the Silicon Valley. B. Topological Insulators. C. The Quantum Spin Hail Effect. D. A New Type of Material.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.四、BTEXT C/B(总题数：1，分数：30.00)Claire Robertson was in the changing room at her local swimming pool when she glanc
36、ed up to see a woman looking at her. The woman had a nice face warm, searching blue eyes; a hesitant smile but seemed unsure of what to say. This often happens to Claire, a 49-year-old former nurse who six years ago suffered brain damage due to a rare viral infection called herpes encephalitis. Now
37、an amnesiac who is unable to recognize faces, Claire lives in a world in which even her lifelong friends appear as strangers. Her husband Ed wears a distinct shark-tooth necklace at all times to help her identify him.Memory is so foundational to friendship that even those aware of Claires brain inju
38、ry often wait a second or two upon seeing her before reintroducing themselves, hoping their presence might spark a flicker of recognition which of course it never does. Claire assumed that was the case with the woman across from her in the changing room. But the woman continued to hover, not saying
39、a word. Claire looked up again; this time the woman looked at her with an anxious expression. Claire decided to introduce herself. And thats when she understood: she was walking toward a mirror. The anxious, unsure face that was staring at her was her own.There is no cure for Claires memory loss. Th
40、e brain remains far too complex an organ for modern medicine to master, let alone reanimate after parts of it die off. Primitive memory aids diaries, photo albums, reminder alerts on electronic devices remain the most effective tools for helping amnesiacs like Claire cope with their condition. But t
41、he technology available to neuropsychologists is evolving fast, and Claire is among the first brain-injury patients to benefit from something as simple as a camera though a very special one.The portions of Claires brain most damaged by the virus are known as the hippocampi, two deep, seahorse-shaped
42、 structures where new memories are formed and others are retrieved. Destruction of the hippocampi causes memory loss but only of a particular kind. Claire, like most such amnesiacs, retains a functioning procedural memory. She remembers, for instance, how to drive a car, and she could learn to play
43、the piano if she wanted, although she would have little or no memory of receiving lessons. Likewise, Claires so- called semantic memory remains largely intact; her brain has preserved previously learned facts (Paris is the capital of France; her husbands name is Ed), and she can retain a limited amo
44、unt of new information. But she can rarely remember the sensations of an experience the sights, sounds and feel, what psychologists call her episodic memory.This is where the new memory-enhancing camera can help. Called the Sensecam, it hangs around a patients neck and automatically takes photos wit
45、h a wide-angle lens every 30 seconds and when it senses movement or a change in lighting. The patient can download the pictures later and review them in sequence.But why should a two-dimensional image of, say, a museum Claire visited jog her memory when actually returning to the same museum a week l
46、ater draws a blank? On a warm, autumn morning in the kitchen of Claires chaotic but vibrant home in Peterborough, England, she and one of her neuropsychologists, Catherine Loveday of Westminster University, explain that the Sensecam helps in two ways. First, it provides a record rather like a jetlin
47、ers black box of Claires life that she can revisit as often as she pleases. As she scans the images, her memory cant store most of the pictures in any lasting way, but her ability to retain facts (her semantic memory) at least allows her to know she has experienced something. Claire will often revie
48、w images of days spent with friends before seeing them, allowing her to bond with them over common experiences.It gives me a sense of belonging, Claire says. So many people know so many things about my life, and I havent any idea whatsoever. But I have these pictures now.Of more interest to neuropsychologists is the fact that reviewing Sensecam images seems to stimulate what little remains of Claires episodi
