Question

“The British government will offer ￡1,000,000 to anyone who can solve the world’s biggest problem—whatever it might be,” said Prime Minister(首相) David Cameron at a science conference. In an unusual competition, the Government will ask people to find out the greatest challenge(挑戰(zhàn)) today, such as finding a replacement(替代) for oil, producing low cost food or curing AIDS/HIV. When the toughest problem has been decided, the Prime Minister will give away ￡1,000,000 to the person who successfully works out the answer. The competition follows the example of the Longitude Prize started by the government in 1714, which offered ￡20,000 (worth ￡6,000,000 today) to anyone who could discover how far east or west ships had sailed. Sailors could work out their location north and south, and were able to decide their local time from the sun. However, they needed to know the time at a reference(參照) point in order to find out how far they had travelled east or west. Many people thought the problem was impossible to solve, but the prize was finally won by John Harrison, an ordinary worker. He did this by designing a clock that kept accurate(準(zhǔn)確的) time at sea and made it possible for sailors to work out their location. Almost exactly 300 years on, Mr Cameron will have a group of scientists collect suggestions and draw up a short list of problems facing the world. He will then start a race to solve the most difficult problem. A government officer said, “We want people to think big: what does the world need and how can we achieve that? We are looking for the next penicillin(青霉素), airplane or World Wide Web. Something that is going to really change what we do and how we live our lives—sending us ahead in the global race. ”According to Mr Cameron, it is important to “encourage new ideas” and “attract back the best and the brightest” to Britain.

1. The British government promises ￡1,000,000 to any person who .

A. can solve the biggest challenge facing the world

B. can find how the next penicillin works on illnesses

C. can think of the most difficult problem in the world

D. can help the Prime Minister run his government better

2. The Longitude Prize is mentioned mainly to .

A. explain why the government set up the prize in 1714

B. show John Harrison was a great success as an inventor

C. show that the government is very grateful to John Harrison

D. explain what gave Mr Cameron the idea of starting the competition

3. We can infer(推斷) from Paragraphs 4 and 5 that .

A. ships no longer get lost at sea with Harrison’s invention

B. clocks on ships kept good time before Harrison’s invention

C. sailors found it hard to work out their location north and south

D. the sailing industry was very important in Britain around the 1700s

4. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A. John Harrison was sure that he would win the prize.

B. The million pound prize will go to a British scientist.

C. The British government pays special attention to the nation’s creativity.

D. A replacement for oil is considered as the toughest problem by the scientists.

 

Answer 1

1.A

2.D

3.D

4.C

【解析】

試題分析：這篇短文講述的是英國政府在設(shè)立經(jīng)度獎(jiǎng)300年后，重新設(shè)置了百萬獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)，給那些能破解世界難題的人。短文中還給我們講述了第一屆經(jīng)度獎(jiǎng)，以及Cameron重設(shè)這一獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的目的。

1.細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)短文的開頭第一句話“The British government will offer ￡1,000,000 to anyone who can solve the world’s biggest problem—whatever it might be,”可知，英國政府提供1,000,000英鎊，給那些能解決世界最大問題的人，不管什么問題都可以。故選A。

2.推理判斷題。短文中提到了經(jīng)度獎(jiǎng)，這是一個(gè)英國政府用來獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)能在海上確定準(zhǔn)確方位的人的獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)，是在1714年設(shè)立的。現(xiàn)在300年后，受經(jīng)度獎(jiǎng)的影響，Cameron又重新設(shè)立獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)，獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)那些能解決世界難題的人。根據(jù)文章中The competition follows the example of the Longitude Prize started by the government in 1714可知D選項(xiàng)符合文意。

3.推理判斷題。根據(jù)短文第四、五段的內(nèi)容可知，在1714年，英國政府提供20,000英鎊的獎(jiǎng)金，獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)能在海上準(zhǔn)確定位的人。由此我們可見，當(dāng)時(shí)航海業(yè)對于英國是多么的重要。故選D。

4.推理判斷題。根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容可知，第一個(gè)經(jīng)度獎(jiǎng)被Harrison獲得，文章中并沒有提到說他就確定自己一定能得到這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)，故A不對；根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容可知，這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)是給那些能破解世界難題的人，不一定是科學(xué)家；根據(jù)短文中such as finding a replacement(替代) for oil, producing low cost food or curing AIDS/HIV.可知，找到石油的替代品只是世界上難題之一，故D表述與文章內(nèi)容不一致；根據(jù)短文的內(nèi)容可知，it is important to “encourage new ideas” and “attract back the best and the brightest” to Britain.，英國政府獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)百萬英鎊給那些有創(chuàng)新能力，能解決世界難題的人，故C是正確的。

考點(diǎn)：科普類短文閱讀。