当一个人“看”某物体时，他的眼睛就会感知到从那个物体反射过来的光波。眼睛和大脑一同工作，编辑这些光感并重建其原貌。所以，如果要让一个物体隐形，科学家们就必须阻止光波反射。并且他们得确保此物体没有阴影。否则，反射光的缺失会使物体显现。 鉴于人眼对光波的感知性，要想隐形某物体很难做到，但对微波就可以做到。如同可见光，微波是一种辐射能。他们是电磁波谱的一部分，其中也包括无线电波、红外线光、紫外线、x射线和伽马射线。微波的波长比无线电波短，但比可见光长。
科学家研制出的这种新型隐身装置和杯垫一般大小，形状像个环。由于它是特殊材料制成，因此具有非同寻常的功能。当微波射向它时，仅有极少的光会反射回去，这些光会从一端穿过这个环，并在此过程中沿着弯曲的路线前进，直到抵达另一端。最后光波回到原来的路线。
对于在环的另一端放置的探测器来说，光波看上去就像从来没有改变过路径一样，即好像没有遇到障碍物。这样一来，这个环就如同没有存在过。
研究者又将一个铜线圈放进环里，依然得到同样的结果。不过，这个环和里面的东西还是会留下一点影子。环形隐身器只能作用于微波，而不能作用于可见光及电磁波。因此，哈里，波特的隐形斗篷目前还没有竞争对手。
十四Japanese Car Keeps Watch for Drunk Drivers
A concept car developed by Japanese company Nissan has a breathalyzer-like detection system and other instruments that could help keep drunk or over tired drivers off the road.
The car’s sensors check odors inside the car and monitor a driver’s sweat for traces of alcohol.An in-car computer system can issue an alert or even lock up the ignition
system if the driver seems over-the-limit.The air odor sensors are fixed firmly and deeply in the driver
and passenger seats,while a detector in the gear-shift knob measures perspiration from the driver’s palm.
Other carmakers have developed similar detection systems. For example,Sweden’s Volvo has developed a breathalyzer attached to a car’s seat belt that drivers must blow into before the engine will start.
Nissan’s new concept vehicle also includes a dashboard-mounted camera that tracks a drivers alertness by monitoring their eyes.It will sound an alarm and issue a spoken warning in Japanese or English if it judges that the driver needs to pull over and rest.
The car technology is still in development,but general manager Kazuhiro Doi says the combination of different detection systems should improve the overall effectiveness of the technology. \it instead of the driver,the facial recognition system would still be used,\has no specific timetable for marketing the system,but aims to use technology to cut the number of fatalities involving its vehicles to half 1995 levels by 2015.
The car’s seat belt can also tighten if drowsiness is detected,while an external
camera checks that the car is keeping to its lane properly. However,Doi admits that some of the technology,such as the alcohol odor sensor,should be improved.\beer,it’s going to register,so we need to study what’s the appropriate level for the system to activate,\
In the UK,some research groups are using similar advanced techniques to understand driver behavior and the effectiveness of different road designs.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true of the Japanese concept care A It has a sensor system that could issue a warning if the driver is drunk. B It has sensors that detect traces of alcohol inside the car. C It has sensors locked up in the ignition system. D It has a breathalyzer-like detection system. 2. What has Volvo developed?
A The same detection system mentioned in the previous paragraph. B A breathalyzer attached to a car’s seat belt. C A smart car seat belt. D An intelligent engine.
3. What is the function of the camera mentioned in Paragraph 4? A It monitors the driver’s eyes to see if he needs a rest. B It judges if the driver wants to pull over. C It judges if the driver wants to take a rest. D It issues an alarm when the driver speaks. 4. According to Doi,
A the overall effectiveness of the detection technology has improved. B Nissan is making a timetable to market the detection system.
C it is impossible to improve the overall effectiveness of the detection system. D Nissan aims to improve the detection technology to reduce the fatality rate. 5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in Paragraph 6? A An external camera checks that the car is going properly. B The car will automatically keep to its lane.
C The seat belt will tighten when the driver is found drowsy.
D The technology of the alcohol odor sensor should be improved.
1. C 选项A、B、D所述内容都可在短文的第一、第二段中找到。第二段最后一个句子告诉我们，传感器装在司机和乘客的座椅里，而不是在点火系统里，所以选择C。 2. B 短文第三段告诉我们，沃尔沃公司也发明了一种相类似的酒精检测装置，安装在保险带上。所以B是正确选择。
3. A 第四段描写了安装在概念车仪表板上的照相机的功能。相机跟踪司机的眼睛的活动从而监测司机是否保持清醒状态，如果发现司机需要停车休息，便用英语或日语发出警告。所以除A以外，其他选择都不正确。
4. D 短文第五段说，这种监测技术仍然在发展之中，使用不同的监测系统应能改进这项技术的整体有效性，所以A和C都不是正确选择。该段的最后一句说，日产公司并不准备将这种监测系统推向市场，但它的目标是使用这种技术到2015年将日产车的事故率年减少到 1995年的一半。所以B也不是正确选择，只有D表达了Doi的意思。
5. B 选项A、C、D在短文第六段都能找到，但是却找不到选项B所表达的意思 第十四篇 日本用来监视醉酒司机的新型概念车
日本日产公司日前开发了一种新型概念车，这种车含有呼气酒精检测器和其他一些装置，用来防止那些醉酒和过于疲劳的司机上路驾驶。
车上的传感器能检测出车中的酒气，并通过监测司机身上的汗味探知酒精度。车中的电脑系统能报警，甚至还能在司机超速行驶时锁住引擎。这个气味传感器被牢牢固定在驾驶
员和乘客的座位上。另一个探测器装在车的换档把手上，用来测试司机的掌心的汗液。 其他的汽车制造商们也开发了类似的探测系统。比如，瑞典的沃尔沃在汽车的安全带上安装了很多呼气酒精检测器，司机在开车前必须向里吹气。
这种新型概念车还在仪表盘上装有照相机，通过监测驾驶员的双眼探知其清醒程度。如果发现司机需要停车休息，便用英语或日语发出警告。
汽车监测技术仍在发展，总裁Kazuhiro Doi指出：综合多种探测技术将对整体技术水平的提高更为有利。例如，若是换档装置探测器被乘客代用，面部识别技术仍能受用。日产公司并没有明确将此项技术推向市场的时间，只是试图借助此项技术在2015年把死亡率降到1995年的一半。
如若探知司机昏昏欲睡，安全带会自动收紧，外部照相机也会检查汽车是否偏离路线。尽管如此，Doi承认有一些技术，如气味传感器仍有待改进。因为对很多人来说，往往只喝—口都会被检测出来。为避免这类事件的发生，必须研究激活系统的最低限度。 在英国，一些组织正在运用类似的先进技术来研究司机的行为和路标设置的有效性。
十五Winged Robot Learns to Fly
Learning how to fly took nature millions of years of trial and error1 -but a winged robot has cracked2 it in only a few hours, using the same evolutionary principles. Krister Wolff and Peter Nordin of Chalmers University of Technology (CUT) in Gothenburg , Sweden, built a winged robot and set about3 testing whether it could learn to fly by itself, without any pre-programmed data on what flapping is or how to do it.
To begin with4, the robot just twitched and jerked erratically. But, gradually, it made movements that gained height. At first, it cheated-simply standing on its wing tips was one early short cut5. After three hours, however, the robot abandoned such methods in favor of6 a more effective flapping technique where it rotated its wings through 90
degrees and raised them before twisting them back to the horizontal and pushing down. “This tells us that this kind of evolution is capable of7 coming up8 with flying motion,” says Peter Bentley, who works on evolutionary computing at University College London. But while9 the robot had worked out how best to produce lift10, it was not about to take off. “There’s only so much that evolution can do,” Bentley says. “This thing is never going to fly because the motors will never have the strength to do it,” he says.
The robot had metre-long wings made from balsa wood and covered with a light plastic film. Small motors on the robot let it move its wings forwards or backwards. up or down or twist them in either direction.
The team attached the robot to two vertical rods, so it could slide up and down. At the start of a test, the robot was suspended by an elastic band. A movement detector measured how much lift, if any11, the robot produced for any given movement. A
computer program fed the robot random instructions12, at the rate of13 20 per second, to test its flapping abilities. Each instruction told the robot either to do nothing or to move the wings slightly in the various directions.
Feedback from the movement detector let the program work out which sets of
instructions were best at producing lift. The most successful ones were paired up14 and “offspring” sets of instructions15 were generated by swapping instructions randomly
between successful pairs. These next-generation instructions were then sent to the robot and evaluated before breeding a new generation, and the process was repeated.
注释：
1. Learning how to fly took nature millions of years of trial and error:自然界里的飞行学习用了几百万年的时间反复实践和磨炼。
2. crack: to break through (an obstacle) in order to win acceptance or acknowledgement: 突破（障碍）
3. set about:开始做，着手4. To begin with: 首先5. short cut: 捷径
6. in favor of:原意为“赞成；支持”。这里，…… the robot abandoned such methods in favor of a more effective flapping technique意为:……这个机器人放弃了这样的方法，而去使用一种更为有效的扇动翅膀的技术。
7. be capable of: [指物]有可能，可以…… 8. come up: to manifest itself; arise 出现。 9. while:虽然，尽管 10. lift:升高
11. if any:若有的话。确切意思是 :如果它能升高的话。
12. ... fed the robot random instructions:给机器人输入随意设定的指令。 fed是feed的过去式。
13. at the rate of:以……的速度 14. pair up:把……配成一对
15.“offspring”sets of instructions:指的是将成功的指令配对后的结果。“ offspring”本来是后代的意思，在此修饰sets of instructions，所以加了双引号。练习:
1. Which of the following is NOT true of what is mentioned about the winged robot in the second paragraph?
A The two professors of CUT built the winged robot
B The two professors of CUT tested whether the winged robot could learn to fly. C The two professors of CUT programmed the data on how the robot flapped its wings. D The two professors of CUT tried to find out if the robot could fly by itself. 2. How did the robot behave at the beginning of the test? A It rotated its wings through 90 degrees. B It twitched but gradually gained height.
C It was twitched and broke down. D It landed not long after the test.
3. Which of the following is nearest to Peter Bentley’s view on the winged robot? A The winged robot could never really fly. B The winged robot did not have a motor. C The winged robot should go through further evolution before it could fly. D The robot could fly if it were lighter.
4. What measured how much lift the robot produced?
A Two vertical rods.B A movement detector.C An elastic band. D Both B and C. 5. What does “the process” appearing in the last paragraph refer to?
A Pairing up successful inst ructions.B Sending instructions to the robot.C Generating new sets of instructions for evaluation.D All the above. 答案与题解 :
1. C A、B、D在第二段中都提到过。 C是错误的，因为文中说，教授们测试机器人是否会自己学会飞行，而且预先没有对翅膀扇动的方式进行数据设定。
2. B第三段描述了机器人如何学习飞行的过程。第一句和第二句是问题的答案。
3. A第四段主要是 Peter Bentley对飞行机器人的看法。他认为前文描述的进化过程只能使机器人有一些飞行的动作，而要让其起飞则永远不可能，因为不可能有如此大功率的发动机。所以 A是正确选项
4. B答案在第六段的第三句中。
5. D文章昀后一段具体描述在机器人的进化过程中，指令的进化过程。成功的指令配对后产生新一代的指令，将指令输入机辑人，经筛选再进行成功指令配对，再产生新一代指令，如此反复进行。所以 D是正确选项 译文：
自然界中的飞行学习经历了几百万年的反复实践和磨练，而安装机翼的机器人仅在数小时内就成功实现突破，用的是同进化原理。瑞典Gothenburg Chalmers科技大学的Krister Wolff 和PeterNordin 研制出带翼的机器人，着手测试它能否在不预设振翅数据程序的条件下自行学会飞行。首先，机器人只是飘忽不定地振动盘桓，不过它的运动逐渐获得了上升高度，起初，它想走走捷径，试图仅用翅尖保持直立。然而三小时后，它放弃了这种方法，转用更有效的振翅技术，90度角旋转两翼，并在它们恢复到水平位置将其拉起。“事实告诉我们，飞行装置有可能实现这种进化。”Peter Bentley 说。他现正在伦敦大学研究进化计算技术。虽然机器人可以摸索出上升飞行的最佳方式，却不会起飞。“进化升级所做的只有这么多，”Bentley说，“这东西不可能自行起飞，因为发动机不能产生足够动力。”机器人的两翼由轻木制成，长约一米，覆有一层轻塑胶。它的小马达使机翼可以前后上下运动，并能在这两个方向上任意旋转。研究小组将机器人附着在两根竖直标杆上，它便能上下滑动。实验刚开始的时候，机器人悬挂在一根弹性带上。一旦它升高，运动探测器就能测量它任何运动的高度。每过20秒，计算机程序就给机器人输入任意设定的指令，以检测其振翅能力。每个指令或是让机器人停止运动或是在各种方向上转动机翼。通过来自运动探测器的反馈，程序测算出哪几组指令能最有效地产生高度。最成功的几组进行配对，而其“后代”指令则通过在成功组合间随意交换指令产生。在产生下一代组合之前，这些第二代指令被发往机器人并进行评估，然后这一过程反复进行。
十六Japanese Drilling into Core of Earth
In what resembles a journey to the center of the Earth, Japanese scientists have launched the world’s first attempt to bore a hole into the red-hot core of a volcano and unlock the secrets of deadly eruption.
A 50-meter-high oil-rig-like derrick perched on the scrubby slopes of Japan’s Mount Unzen will begin drilling through the volcano’s crust next week in a bid1 to sample the magma bubbling below2.
The aim is to study how the liquefied rock causes menacing gas buildup, said team leader Setsuya Nakata, of the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute. “Gassing is important because it controls the explosivity of eruptions,” Nakata said. “The results can be expanded to anti-disaster research.”
Mount Unzen , a wind-swept 1.486-meter dome on the southern island of Kyushu, is a perfect model. It erupted in 1991, showering avalanches of hot rocks over a nearby town, killing 43 people and leaving nearly 2,300 homeless. Another 11.000 people were evacuated from the area until 1995, when the volcano had stabilized.
The results are particularly important to a nation like Japan, where the
meteorological agency monitors 20 dangerous peaks. Perhaps Japan’s most famous