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2021-01-19 09:54
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P74~P76
Linguistics and Applied Linguistics:
Hierarchy or Partnership?
In
their
day-to-day
business,
professionals
whose
work
involves
language
in
some
way
or
another
often
face
problems
that
seem
to
have
no
immediate
or
obvious
solution
within
the
habitual
practices
which
demarcate
their
professional
expertise.
One avenue open to those who find themselves in this position is to have recourse to
the discipline of linguistics. It is the belief that linguistics can offer insights and ways
forward in the resolution of problems related to language in a wide variety of contexts
that underlies the very existence of the discipline usually called applied linguistics.

Applied linguists try to offer solutions to

real-world problems in which language is a
central
issue

,
however
tentative
or

implied


those
solutions
may
be.
What,
then,
might
fall
within
the
domain
of
typical
applied
linguistic
problems?
A
list
of
such
problems will certainly be wide- ranging and potentially endless, but might include the
following:
A
speech
therapist
sets
out
to
investigate
why
a
four-year-old
child
has
failed to develop normal linguistics skills for a child of that age; a teacher of English
as a foreign language wonders why groups of learners sharing the same first language
regularly
make
a
particular
grammatical
mistake
that
learners
from
other
language
background do not; an expert witness in a criminal case tries to solve the problem of
who exactly instigated a crime, working only with statements made to the police; a
zoologist investigates the question whether monkeys have language similar to or quite
distinct
from
human
language
and
how
it
works;
a
medical
sociologist
sets
out
to
understand better the changes that occur in people

s use of language as they move into
old age.

The list could continue, and with professional diversification of the kind common in
modern societies, is quite likely to
grow even bigger over the
years.
What all these
professional problems have in common is the possibility of turning to the discipline of
linguistics
to
seek
insights
and
potential
solutions.
If
they
were
to
do
this,
the
professionals
directly
involved
would
become,
even
if
only
temporarily,
applied
linguists.. this is different from saying that there is a community of applied linguists
(usually associated with university academic departments) whose job it is to mediate
(and teach) linguistics and to suggest applications.

Applied
linguistics
is
essentially
a
problem-driven
discipline,
rather
than
a
theory-driven one, and the community of applied linguists has characterised itself in
the
historiography
of
the
discipline
by
variety
and
catholicism
of
theoretical
orientation. This is in contrast to linguistics, where association with particular schools
of thought or theories tends to exert considerably greater centripetal force.

Applied linguistics can (and should) not only test the applicability and replicability of
linguistic theory and description, but also question and challenge them where they are
found
wanting.
In
other
words,
if
the
relationship
between
linguistics
and
its
applications
is
to
be
a
fruitful
partnership
and
neither
a
top- down
imposition
by
theorists
on
practitioners
nor
a
bottom-up
cynicism
leveled
by
practitioners
against
theoreticians, then both
sides of the linguistics/applied linguistics relationship ought
to be accountable to and in regular dialogue with each other with regard to theories as
well as practices.

Accountability
can
discomfit
both
communities,
and
abdication
of
accountability
is
sometimes
the
easier
line
to
adopt.
Here
bi-directional
accountability
will
be
considered an important constraining influence on both the applicability of linguistics
and the evaluation of applied linguistic solutions. Accountability will centre on a set
of responsibilities falling
on the shoulders of linguists and applied linguists
in
turn.
These
include:
the
responsibility
of
linguists
to
build
theories
of
language
that
are
testable,
which
connect
with
perceived
realities
and
which
are
not
contradicted
or
immediately refuted when they confront those realities; the responsibility of linguists
to
offer
models,
descriptions
and
explanations
of
language
that
satisfy
not
only
intellectual
rigor
but
intuition,
rationality
and
common
sense;
the
responsibility
of
applied
linguists
not
to
misrepresent
theories,
descriptions
and
models;
the
responsibility
of
applied
linguists
not
to
apply
theories,
descriptions
and
models
to
ill-suited purposes for which they were never intended; the responsibility of applied
linguists not simply to

apply linguistics

but to work towards

relevant models

of
language
description;
the
responsibility
of
applied
linguists
to
provide
an
interface
between linguists and practitioners where appropriate, and to be able to talk on equal
terms
to
both
parties;
the
responsibility
on
both
sides
to
adopt
a
critical
position
vis-a-vis
the
work
of
their
peers,
both
within
and
across
the
two
communities;
the
responsibility
of
both
communities
to
exchange
experience
with
front-end
practitioners such as language teachers, psychologists or social workers, who may not
have a training in linguistics nor the time or resources to

to do applied linguistics


themselves, but who may be genuinely eager to communicate with both groups.

Excerpted
from


Issues
in
Applied
Linguistics


authored
by
Michael
McCarthy,
Professor
of
Applied
Linguistics
at
the
University
of
Nottingham,
who
has
an
international
reputation
in
the
field
of
vocabulary
studies
and
in
the
application
of
discourse
analysis.
Issues
in
Applied
Linguists
was
published
by
Cambridge
University Press, UK in 2001.

Questions 1~7
Match the following statements with A (for Linguistics or Responsibility of Linguists),
B (for Applied Linguistics or Responsibility of Applied Linguists), and AB (for both
A and B) in accordance with the above article.
1

theory-driven
2

problem-driven
3

being linked with a particular school of thought or theory
4

assessing the applicability and replicability of the theory of a language
5

constructing testable linguistic theories
6

embracing a diagnostic attitude regarding the research of their colleagues
7

trading experience with real-world linguistic practitioners

P77-79
Animal Consciousness
There are some fundamental assumptions lurking behind the idea that the burden of
proof in discussions of animal consciousness lies with those who would argue for it,
as
opposed
to
those
who
would
argue
against.
We
should
refrain
from
offering
complex explanations when more simple explanations suffice. Therefore, we should
not claim that consciousness exits in animals if simpler explanations can account for
the observed behaviors. The assumption here is that there is an ascending hierarchy of
mental capabilities or functions, with consciousness at the top.

On Gallup

s view we have consciousness, self

consciousness and consciousness of
other
minds
stacked
at
the
top
.Beneath
this
top
level
are
abilities
like
learning
,memory,
and
so
on
that
can
occur
in
blank
minds
.Phenomenal
consciousness
does
not
constitute
a
level
of
its
own.
For
Povinelli,
phenomenal
consciousness may have its own level, beneath the level where we find theory of mind
and self

consciousness. Both investigators make the common assumption that many
mental
functions
are
mere
mechanisms
requiring
no
awareness
for
their
function,
mechanisms
that
inhabit
lower
levels
of
the
hierarchy
.Animal
minds
should
be
explained
at
the
lowest
level
of
the
hierarchy
that
can
account
for
the
observed
behaviors .This highly mechanistic view of animal minds is a direct inheritance from
certain recurrent themes in our western intellectual tradition. It has ancient roots (both
in Greek philosophy and Christianity) in a form of speciesism that places humans at
the top of the psychological and biological heap.

In Descartes, this view takes the form of a mind-body dualism in which our mental
nature
is
markedly
different
from
and
superior
to
our
bodily
nature .When
cast
in
evolutionary terms it is the view that human consciousness is the most highly evolved
mental function in the animal kingdom .Combined with the notion that animals do not
have
minds
(or
souls)
at
all,
such
views
helped
to
justify
the
beginnings
of
animal
experimentation.

We essentially have two parallel hierarchies that are assumed to map onto one another.
The
biological
hierarchy
has
humans
at
the
top,
following
by
other
primates,
then
?
lower animals

of all sorts. The psychological hierarchy has consciousness at the top
(maybe
self-consciousness
above
it),
complex
cognition
(memory,
learning,
etc.)
below, and behavior at the bottom. The assumptions here are that the higher levels are
mote
complex.
This
assumption
is
incorporated
into
cognitive
models
of
consciousness
that
place
consciousness
at
the
center
or
top
of
the
information
processing system, and in evolutionary explanations of Consciousness that argue for
its role in dealing with the demands of more complex information processing systems
interacting with more complex environments.

In a 1998 article in the Joumal of Consciousness Students entitles

Consciousness: A
Natural
History

,
Maxine
Sheets
Johnstone
questions
the
correctness
of
these
hierarchical
conceptions
and
of
the
assumption
that

unconsciousness
historically
preceded consciousness

in animals. She suggests that proprioception may be the first
evolved
form
of
consciousness.
The
evolution
of
proprioception,
she
proposes,
paralleis
the
evolution
of
animate
forms,
such
that
from
the
very
beginning
of
the
ability of organisms to move, there was a need for a kind of flexible responsivity to
external
stimuli.
It
is
arbitrary,
she
argues,
to
call
this
responsivity
behavioral
or
cognitive when referring to
?
lower animals

and conscious when referring to humans
or
?
higher animals

. The fact that this is frequently done has much to do, she claims,
with
our
brain- centered
notions
of
consciousness
that
disregard
more
embodied
sensory
abilities.
She
notes
that
the
first
human
sense
to
develop
is
proprioception,
and it is through this sense that we initially come to learn to move our bodies and to
feel ourselves. This is a sense that we share with many
?
simple

creatures. Whatever
the animal, its movement cannot be absolutely programmed such that, for example, at
all times its particular speed and direction of movement, its every impulse and stirring,
its every pause and stillness, run automatically on something akin to a lifetime tape.
Offering mechanistic explanations for animal behaviors may reveal more about one

s
commitment to certain assumptions about the mapping between certain presupposed
biological
and
psychological
hierarchies
of
complexity
than
it
does
about
one

s
commitment to parsimony of explanation.

The notion of some sort of phylogenetic hierarchy in the mental capacity of animals
(and
thus,
presumably,
in
ability
to
suffer)
long
predates
the
development
of
evolutionary theory and human knowledge of the similarities and differences between
human and non-human nervous systems. Indeed, the fact that very young children will
spontaneously
talk
to
?
higher


animals,
but
only
talk
about

lower


ones,
such
as
invertebrates,
suggests
that
human
beings
may
hold
a
deep-rooted
sense
of
their
greater
and
lesser
connectedness
with
different
species.
Meantime,
although
the
animal rights philosopher Singer appears to reject speciesism in principle, many of the
animal
rights
campaigners
did,
in
fact,
perceive
important
differences
between

higher

and

lower

animals in their ability to suffer.

Question 1-8
Use
the
information
in
the
passage
to
match
the
people
(listed
A~E)
with
opinions
(listed 1~8) below. Write the appropriate letter (A~E) in boxes 1~8 on your Answer
Sheet.
A

Gallup

B

Povinelli
C

Gallup and Povinelli
D

Descartes
E
Maxine Sheets Johnstone
1.

The responsivities of the humans and animals have the same origin.
2.

Phenomenal consciousness is beneath the self- consciousness level
3.

Animals do not behave fully automatically.
4.

There is no independent level of phenomenal consciousness.
5.
Animal minds are very mechanistic.
6.

Humans have both mental and bodily matures.
7.

Memory is at the second level in the psychological hierarchy.
8.

Animals behave without awareness.


P191-194
Reading Passage 3
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on
Questions 28-39 which are based on
Reading Passage 3 below.

Pupil Size And Communication

It has already been well established that changes in pupil size are clearly
associated
with
changes
in
attitude.
In
a
typical
example,
when
viewing
photographs
of
food,
hungry subjects
experience a much greater increase in
pupil diameter than do sated
subjects (see figure 1). However it now appears that enlarged or constricted pupils can
also affect the response of the person who observed them.

Studies of the pupil as an indicator of attitude point to the possibility that one person
uses another person

s pupil size as a source of information about that person

s feelings
or attitudes. In one experiment two photographs of an attractive young woman were
shown
to
a
group
of
men.
The
photographs
were
identical
except
that
in
one
the
woman

s
pupils
had
been
retouched
to
make
them
larger
and
in
the
other
they
had
been
retouched
to
make
them
smaller.
None
of
the
men
reported
noticing
the
difference in pupil size, but when they were asked to describe the woman, they said
that the women in
the picture with
the large pupils
was

soft

,

more feminine


or

pretty

. The same woman, in the picture with the small pupils was described as being

hard

,

selfish

or

cold

. There could be little doubt that the large pupils made the
woman more attractive to the men.

It
seems
that
what
is
appealing
about
large
pupils
in
a
woman,
is
that
they
are
an
indicator of interest, which can be interpreted as sexual interest. However, when men
view a picture of a woman with large pupils, their own pupils dilate. In other words,
seeing large pupils gives rise to larger pupils. Interestingly, men and women showed
almost no increase in pupil size when viewing photographs of members of the same
sex with dilated pupils.

That
the
dilation
response
is
in
fact
learned
rather
than
innate
is
supported
by
experiments
with
children.
In
one
experiment,
subjects
aged
6
to
22
were
shown
drawings of female faces that had different sized pupils, and asked to choose the one
which was

happier

. The results showed that, up to the age of 14, a person does not
necessarily perceive larger pupils as being happier than smaller pupils (see figure 2).

Of particular interest was another finding by Mclean: blue-eyed subjects were more
likely to judge large pupils as being happy and than brown-eyed subjects. This finding
was
confirmed
when
another
group
of
subjects
were
asked
to
fill
in
the
pupils
on
drawings of happy faces and angry ones: the blue-eyed subjects drew larger

happy


pupils and smaller

angry

pupils than the brown-eyed subjects (see figure 3).

Blue-eyed
people
have
also
been
found
to
have
a
stronger
pupil
response
than
brown-eyed people when they view a picture that causes pupil dilation or constriction.
To be more precise, with respect to the total range of response from the smallest pupil
size to the largest, the range is greater for blue-eyed people than it is for brown- eyed
people.

Questions 28-34
Based
on
the
information
in
Reading
Passage
3,

Pupil
Size
and
Communication

,
indicate the relationship between each of the two measures listed below in terms of:
PC


if there is a positive correlation
L/N

if there is little or no correlation
NI


if there is no information

Write your answers (PC, L/N, NI) in boxes 28-34 on your Answer Sheet.
Example

























Answer

Change in pupil size


Change in attitude




PC

MEASURE 1






















MEASURE 2
of food




















Pupil dilation in hungry subjects
dilation in picture of woman





Pupil dilation in male subject
dilation in picture of woman





Pupil dilation in female subject
pupil size in picture of woman



Negative response in male subject
pupil size in picture of woman



Negative response in female subject
ts under 14 years of age








Positive response to large pupil
ss of eye colour in photograph



Subject

s estimate of

happiness



Question 35-39
Write a word or shout phrase of NOT MORE THAN THRE WORDS TO answer the
following questions, according to information in Reading Passage 3.
Write your answers in boxes 35-39 on your Answer Sheet.

Example









































Answer
What can changes in pupil size indicate













Changes in attitude

35.
According
to
the
data,
what
kind
of
food
do
hungry
people
respond
to
most
readily?
36.
According
to
the
data,
what
kind
of
food
do
people
who
are
not
hungry
find
particularly unattractive?
37. What interpretation is given for men

s attraction to women with large pupils?
38. What reason is suggested for children under 14 not reacting to pupil size in other
people?
39. How did blue-eyed subjects compare with brown-eyed subjects in terms of range
of response?


P240-243

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26, which are based on Reading
Passage 2 below
Sticking Power
Want to walk on the ceilling?
All it takes is a bit of fancy footwork

A

If Kellar Autumn, an expert in biomechanics at Clark College in Portland, Oregon,
has
his
way,
the
first
footprints
on
Mars
won

t
be
human.
They‘
ll
belong
to
a
gecko. Gecko toes have legendary sticking power, and the Clark College scientist
would
like
to
see
the
next
generation
of
Martian
robots
walking
about
on
gecko-style
feet.
A
gecko
can
whiz
up
the
smoothest
wall
and
hang
from
the
ceiling by one foot, with no fear of falling.

B

Autumn
is
one of a ling line of researchers
who have puzzled over the gecko

s
gravity-defying footwork. Earlier this year, he and his colleagues discovered that
the
gecko

s
toes
don

t
just
stick,
they
bond
to
the
surface
beneath
them.
Engineers are already trying to copy the gecko

s technique-but reptilian feet are
not the only ones they are interested in.

C

Some of the most persistent
?
hanging

creatures are insects. They can defy not just
gravity, but gusts of wind, raindrops and a predator

s attempt to prize them loose.
Recent discoveries about how they achieve this could lead to the development of
quick-release
adhesives
and
miniature
grippers,
ideal
for
manipulating
microscopic
components
or
holding
tiny
bits
of
tissue
together
during
surgery.
?
There are lots of ways to make two surfaces stick together, but
there are very
few which provide precise and reversible attachment,

says Stas Gorb, a biologist
in Tubingen, Germany, working on the problem.

D

Geckos
and
insects
have
both
perfected
ways
of
doing
this,
and
engineers
and
scientists
would
dearly
love
to
know
how.
Friction
certainly
plays
a
part
in
assisting
horizontal
movement,
but
when
the
animal
is
running
up
a
slope,
climbing vertically or traveling upside down, it needs a more powerful adhesive.
Just
what
that
adhesive
is
has
been
hotly
debated
for
years.
Some
people
suggested
that
insects
had
micro-suckers.
Some
reckoned
they
relied
on
electrostatic forces.
Others thought that intermolecular
forces
between pad and
leaf might provide a firm foothold.

E

Most of the evidence suggests that insects rely on
?
wet adhesion

, hanging on with
the help of a thin film of fluid on the bottom of the pad. Insects often leave tiny
trail of oily footprints. Some clearly secrete a fluid onto the
?
soles

of their feet.
And they tend to lose their footing when they nave their feet cleaned or dried.

F

This year, Walter Federle, an entomologist at the University of W
ü
rzburg, showed
experimentally that
an insect

s sticking power depends on a thin film of liquid
under
its
feet.
He
placed
an
ant
on
a
polished
turntable
inside
the
rotor
of
a
centrifuge,
and
switched
it
on.
At
slow
speeds,
the
ant
carried
on
walking
unperturbed.
But
as the
scientist
slowly increased the speed, the pulling
forces
grew stronger and the ant stopped dead, legs spread out and all six feet planted
firmly on the ground. At higher speeds still, the ant

s feet began to slide.
?
This
can only be explained by the presence of a liquid,

says Federle.
?
If the ant relied
on some form or dry adhesion, its feet would pop abruptly off the surface once
the surface once the pull got too strong.



G

But
the
liquid
isn

t
the
whole
story.
What
engineers
really
find
exciting
about
insect feet is the way they make almost perfect contact with the surface beneath.
?
Sticking to a perfectly smooth surface is no big deal,

says Gorb. But in nature,
even the smoothest-looking surfaces have microscopic lumps and bumps. For a
footpad
to
make
good
contact,
it
must
follow
the
contours
of
the
landscape
beneath
it.
Files,
beetles
and
earwigs
have
solved
the
problem
with
hairy
footpads, with hairs that bend like the bristles of a toothbrush to
accommodate
the troughs below.

H

Gorb has tested dozens of species with this sort of pad to see which had the best
stick.
Files
resist
a
pull
of
three
or
four
times
their
body
weight- perfectly
adequate for crossing the ceiling. But beetles can do better and the champion is a
small, blue beetle with oversized yellow feet, found in the south-eastern parts of
the US.

I

Tom
Eisner,
a
chemical
ecologist
at
Cornell
University
in
New
York,
has
been
fascinated
by
this
beetle
for
years.
Almost
30
years
ago,
he
suggested
that
the
beetle
clung
on
tight
to
avoid
being
picked
off
by
predators-ants
in
particular.
When Eisner measured the beetle

s sticking power earlier this year, he found that
it can withstand pulling forces of around 80 times its own weight for about two
minutes and an astonishing 200 times its own weight for shorter periods,
?
The ants
give up because the beetle holds on longer than they can be bothered to arrack it,


he says.

J

Whatever liquid
insects
rely on, the
gecko seems
able to
manage without it.
No
one
knows
quite
why
the
gecko
needs
so
much
sticking
power.
?
It
seems
overbuilt for job,

says Autumn. But whatever the gecko

s needs are, its skills are
in
demand
by
humans.
Autumn
and
his
colleagues
in
Oregon
have
already
helped to create a robot that walks like a lizard-rolling its toes down and peeling
them up again. At the moment, though, it has to make do with balls of glue to
give it stick. The next step is to try to reproduce the hairs on a gecko

s toes and
create a robot with the full set of gecko skills. Then we could build robots with
feet that stick without glue, clean themselves and work just as well underwater as
in the vacuum of space, or crawling over the dusty landscape of Mars.

Questions 14-18
Look at the following statements (Questions 14-18) and the list of scientists below.
Match each statement with the correct scientist A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter A, B, C or D in boxes 14-18 on your Answer Sheet.
14
Some
insects
use
their
ability
to
stick
to
surfaces
as
a
way
of
defending
themselves.
15
What
makes
sticky
insect
feet
special
is
the
fact
that
they
can
also
detach
themselves easily from a surface.
16 Gecko feet seem to be stickier than they need to be.
17 A robot with gecko-style feet would be ideal for exploring other planets.
18 Evidence shows that in order to stick, insect feet have to be wet.
List of Scientists














A












Kellar Autumn














B












Stas Gorb














C












Walter Federle














D












Tom Eisner

Questions 19-22
Reading Passage 2 has ten paragraphs A-J.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-J in boxes 19-22 on your Answer Sheet.
19 some of the practical things a gecko-style adhesive could be used for
20 a description of a test involving an insect in motion
21 three different theories scientists have had about how insect feet stick
22 examples of remarkable gecko movments




填空题

summary
P130-133
















Past and Present of the Movie Industry

The beginnings of the
movie industry can be traced back to
the 1800

s, developing
much later than other art forms, such as music and painting. The first motion picture
exhibition,
which
opened
in
the
early
1900

s,
was
called
the

nickelodeon
theater

.
Admission was only 5 cents, and this attracted a large audience to watch movies as a
source
of
entertainment.
These
early
theaters
laid
the
foundation
for
the
movie
industry

s expansion and growing popularity.


In the early stages of the movie industry, the majority of the nation

s movie houses
were situated in small towns and city neighborhoods. As in any industry, there were
major
players
that
were
not
only
responsible
for
exhibiting
films,
but
were
also
leaders
in
producing
and
distribution
them.
Some
of
the
key
companies
included
Paramount,
Warner
Bros.,R.K.O.,Loews
(MGM),and
Fox(which
later
became
Twentieth
Century
Fox).It
is
surprising
to
note
that
although
these
companies
were
considered
the
crè
me
de
la
crè
me
of
the
movie
industry,
they
only
dominated
approximately 20% of the country

s movie theaters. This meant that numerous other
smaller theaters had substantial market share in the movie industry as well. A few of
the smaller independently owned theaters decided to consolidate during the 1930

s to
gain more power in dealing with film distributors, but the idea of consolidating was
not fully realized until the invention of the television.

Although
only
14,000
homes
owned
a
television
during
the
1940

s,
it
still
had
a
negative
impact
on
movie
houses
across
the
country.
As
moue
households
bought
television
sets,
ticket
sales
decreased
substantially.
In
an
effort
to
drum
up
revenue
during the 1950

s, the Cinerama (which included a curved screen wrapped around the
entire theater to

engulf

the audience) and 3-D movies were introduced. Over time,
however
the
increasing
popularity
of
the
television
ultimately
dominated.
By
the
1960

s,
movie
theaters
had
lost
60%
of
their
average
weekly
attendance
and
more
than
half
of
the
20,000
theaters
that
began
operations
in
the
1940

s
were
forced
to
close down. These losses became detrimental to the movie industry due to the recover
funds invested in the theater house and other sunk costs.
By the 1970

s, the movie industry was profiting again. Instead of the television acting
as a substitute form
of entertainment, it was used as a national
advertising medium
that
promoted
weekly
movies
and
show
times
.Within
the
next
few
years ,multi-screen operations in suburban shopping malls were built ,indicating that
these publicizing technique were a great success.
In
the
following
decades,
many
theater
companies
established

themselves
in
the
growing
industry
.One
of
the
prominent
companies
on
the
East
Coast
is
Loews
Cineplex
Entertainment
Corporation .This
corporation
is
the
result
from
a
merger
between Sony Corporation

s Loews Theaters Exhibition Group and Cineplex Odeon
Corporation.
Loews
Theaters
was
the
first
commercial
motion
picture
exhibitor
in
North
America
.Its
operations
began
in
1904,
when
Marcus
Loew
established
a

nickelodeon


in
a
rented
room
above
a
penny
arcade
store
in
Cincinnati,
Ohio.
In
1924,
he
merged
Metro,
a
silent
movie
production
company
,with
The
Goldwyn
Pictures
Corporation
and
Louis
B.
Mayer
Pictures
to
form,
Metro
Goldwyn
Mayer(MGM). After the merge, Loews showed films produced by MGM until 1959,
when an antitrust ruling forced studios to give up control of theaters, constricting their
focus
to
production
of
films.
Following
this
merger,
Loews
changed
owners
twice
before Sony Corporation acquired it in 1989.
The
other
counterpart
in
this merger
is
Cineplex
Odeon,
based
in
Toronto,
Canada.
The
firm
,founded
in
1979,was
an
integrated
entertainment
company
that
became
involved
in
exhibition
and
distribution
of
motion
pictures .Besides
distribution
of
motion
pictures,
it
also
owned
other
operations
including
a
major
film
processing
laboratory
and
a
post-production
sound
facility .Garth

Drabinsky
started
Cineplex
with an 18-screen theater in the basement of a Toronto shopping center .It performed
well,
but
also
incurred
debt
,which
led
to
The
Bronfman
Group
investing
in
the
company .Cineplex then bought Canadian Qdeon theaters in 1985,changing its name
to Cineplex Odeon .Within the next few years ,Cineplex Odeon encountered financial
difficulties .By 1996,it sustained net losses totaling $$317 million dollars of long-term
debt ,as reported by the Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In fact ,Allen
Karp
(CEO
of
Cineplex
Odeon
)stated
that
the
firm

was
certainly
a
candidate
for
bankruptcy


The
distressed
company
was
in
dire
need
of
financial
assistance
and
managed
to
stay
afloat
through
a
merger
with
the
financially
stable
Sony

s
Loews
Theater Exhibition group .
The proposed merger was horizontal in nature and was expected to bring forth many
benefits
to
Sony
and
Cineplex
Odeon
.Realizing
that
Cineplex
Odeon
had
undervalued
assets
that
were
reflected
in
their
low
stock
prices
,Sony
Corporation
agreed
to
alleviate
Cineplex
Odeon
from
the
heavy
debt
,which
was
leftover
from
former management .According to
Lawrence Ruisi ,who was appointed the CEO of
Loews Cineplex Entertainment ,the combination of the companies would produce an
establishment
with
an
easily
manageable
debt
Icard
,giving
it

capacity
for
growth

Futhermore, Loews Cineplex would be financially stronger than each of the separate
companies
.Sony
was
also
expected
to
gain
long

term

advantages
from
the
merger .At
that
time
,it
had
only
1,000
screens
in
135
theaters
in
the
U.S.
while
Cineplex
had
1,600
screens
in
the
U.S.
and
Canada .Therefore
,if
the
merge
took
place ,Sony would increase its market share in key cities ,including

New York, Los
Angeles
,Chicago
,Boston
,Seattle
,and
Houston
.Together
,the
companies
would
create
strong
competition
for
Carmike
Cinemas
Inc
.which
was
known
as
the

WalMart
of
the
theater
industry

,operating
500theaters
in
small
U.S.
towns
,and
acting as the primary competition for Loews Cineplex .
Questions 1-8
The word ________(1) was used in the beginning of the article to convey the meaning
of a fee paid for the entrance to a certain place .
When the movie industry was in its early stage of development, it was the TV

s being
utilized as _______(3) changed its role of a substitue

form of entertainment in the
1970s.
The
__________(4)finally
facilitated
the
fusion
of
various
small-scale
Allen
Karp
remarked that Cineplex Odeon was

a candidate for bankruptcy

, which means that in
his
view
,only
___________(5)
could
revitalize
Cineplex
Odeon
from
__________(6);boost
Sony
Corporation

s
____________________(7)in
U.S .metropolitans;
once
the
merger
is
complete
,_____________(8)
would
face
a
strong competitor .


P135-138
Training
真题训练

Lightning Tamers
It is said that lightning never strikes the same place twice. But those scientists, who
are in the high-voltage laboratory run by Canadian power giant Hydro- Quebec, one of
the
world

s
premier
facilities
for
studying
the
most
shocking
electrical
phenomena,
can make it strike the same place 10, 20, even
100 times a day.
The short,
straight
lightning bolts that dart between the lab

s electrodes are a highly domesticated version
of the real thing.

This group, led by scientist La Fontaine, is in the vanguard of international efforts to
tame lightning
——

to trigger the strikes and guide them away from power lines and
installations,
thus
saving
electric
utilities
millions
of
dollars
a
year
in
outages
and
damaged equipment. By shooting laser beams at thunderclouds, the lightning tamers
hope to
channel
a discharge toward a
relatively
safe
location before Mother Nature
does
worse.
It
is
one
of
those
really
cool
ideas
that
seems
better
suited
to
science
fiction than science.

The setting for La Fontaine

s work does nothing to dispel that impression. Located in
the Montreal suburb of Varennes, amid an expanse of flat green pastures and fat milk
cows,
the
windowless
high-voltage
lab
resembles
an
alien
monolith
from
2001:
A
Space
Odyssey.
Inside,
the

cor
is
more
Lost
in
Space:
pale
blue
150-foot
walls
bathed in stark gray light, ceramic towers girded by thick silver tings, silver domes
made up of small round plates like the compound eyes of an insect.
The electrodes
used in the lightning experiments complete the sci-fi effect. Instead of slender rods,
there
are
two
circles
of
loose
wire
mesh
suspended
from
the
ceiling
like
huge
trampolines, one hanging about 20 feet above the other. When sufficient charge flows
to a rod descending from the upper electrode, an arc of current jumps between their
centers.

Even
two
centuries
after
Ben
Franklin
flew
a
kate
in
the
rain,
the
formation
ot
lightning is still poorly understood. Lightning strikes start in thunderheads when the
strong
thermal
updrafts
that
build
the
towering
clouds
cause
water
droplets
and
ice
crystals
to
collide,
creating
positively
and
negatively
charged
particles.
These
particles
separate
by
weight
and
form
electric
fields
within
the
cloud
as
well
as
between
the
cloud
and
the
ground.
The
fields
get
ampligied
around
water
droplets,
creating electric currents called streamers that coalesce like the tributaries of a river,
forming even more strongly ionized channels.
These conductive channels propagate
downward until a discharge jumps the gap between the channel and the ground. Then
a wave of current surges upward through the small channel. The experts call this final,
visible stage the

return stroke

. The rest of people call it lightning, and it can carry
current of up to 300,000 amperes (household current rarely exceeds 50 amperes).

Lightning
rods ground strikes because their pointy edges
produce amplified electric
fields that can induce an arc before the electric field in the cloud grows strong enough
to
break
down
spontaneously.
Of
course,
electrical
energy
doesn

t
discriminate
between
inexpensive
metal
rods
and
tall,
sharp
points
on
valuable
voltage- sensitive
equipment. That

s why nearly every structure in the high-voltage lab is protected by
rounded
surfaces:
These
Jetson-esque
rings
and
domes
prevent
the
generation
of
unintended local discharges.

La Fontaine

s goal is to provoke controlled discharges .His simulations re-create the
charged field of a thundercloud :The rod represents the ionized channels that descend
from a cloud ,and the lower electrode represents the ground .But the lab experiments
include
another
element
definitely
not
found
in
nature
:a
state-of-the-art
titanium-sapphire laser whose light is

beamed up from the floor and through a hole
in the center of the lower electrode .A brief pulse of focused light knocks


electrons
off
molecules
in
the
air
,blazing
a
conductive
trail
for
the
discharge
to

follow.
Ideally, the laser pulse triggers a discharge and guides its path.

The
researchers
can
tell
right
away
whether
they

ve
succeeded
in
creating
a
laser-guided
are:
Whereas
an
unguided
discharge
is
crooked,
like
a
natural
lighting
bolt, a guided discharge is perfectly straight, like a beam of laser light.

The idea of using lasers to
coax lightning strikes has been
around
for decades, and
Russian
and
Japanese
scientists
have
long
conducted
outdoor
experiments
with
them
.The
Japanese-------motivated
by
their
vulnerability
to
iow

altitude
winter
thunderstorms that sweep across the Sea of Japan and strike nuclear power plants on
the
west
coast
of
the
main
island
-----have
taken
the
lead
in
triggered-lightning
research .In 1997, north of Osaka ,a group headed by Shigeaki Uchida of the Institute
for Laser Technology successfully triggered two outdoor strikers using carbon dioxide
laser beams focused at the tip of 150-foot tower. Radar detectors picked up variations
in the electric field from an approaching storm, indicating that a lighting strike was
imminent.
There
is
a
100-millisecond
gap
between
these
preliminary
breakdown
signals
and the discharge, but
the Japanese laser can
generate
a
channel
of charged
particles in microseconds

The laser is a thousand times faster than the lighting strike
itself,

says Uchida.

With one shot of laser, we neutralized the whole thundercloud.



Some investigators have questioned whether the elaborate system would outperform a
simple battery of lighting rods lining the coast. That

s an issue every research effort in
laser-triggered lightning will someday confront.




P186-189
Reading Passage 2
You are advised to spend about 20 minutes on Questions 16-27 which are based on
Reading Passage 2 below.

Automobiles Vs.

Public Transport
Public transport plays a central role in any efficient transport systems .In developing
countries ,where at least 16 cities are expected to have more than 12 million people
each by the end of this decade ,failing to
give priority to public transport would be
disastrous .

The
term

public
transport


covers
many
different
types
of
vehicles
,but
most
commonly
refers
to
buses
and
trains
.Rail
services
fall
into
four
major
categories
:rapid
rail
(also
called
the
underground
,tube
,metro,
or
subway
),which
operates
on
exclusive
right-of

way
in
tunnels
or
on
elevated
tracks;
trams
,which
move with other traffic on regular streets

light rail ,which is a quieter ,more modern
version of trams that can run either on exclusive rights-of-way or with other traffic;
and suburban

or regional trains ,which connect a city with surrounding areas .

The
recent
trend
in
many
cities
is
toward
light
rail
over

heavy


rapid-rail
systems
Whereas metros require exclusive rights-of

way ,which often means building costly
elevated
or
underground
lines
and
stations
,light
rail
can
be
built
on
regular
city
streets .

The concept
of public transport also
includes
organized
car pools,
in which several
people
share
the
cost
of
riding
together
in
the
same
private
automobile.
For
U.S.
commuters in areas with inadequate bus and train services , this is the only

public


transport

option .But
even
where
other
systems
are
comprehensive
,there
is
vast
potential for car pooling ;recent research shows that in cities the world over ,private
cars during commuting hours on average carry just 1.2-1.3 persons per vehicle .

Public transport modes vary in fuel use and emissions and in the space they require,
but
if
carrying
reasonable
numbers
of
passengers,
they
all
perform
better
than
single-occupant private cars on each of these counts


Although
energy
requirements
vary
according
to
the
size
and
design
of
the
vehicle
and
how
many
people
are
on
board
,buses
and
trains
require
far
less
fuel
per
passenger for each kilometer of travel .In the United States

for example ,a light

rail
vehicle
needs
an
estimated
640
BTU
of
energy
per
passenger
kilometer;
a
city
bus
would
use
some
690BTUs
per
passenger-kilometre
;
and
a
car
pool
with
four
occupants
1,140BTUs.
A
single- occupant
automobile,
by
contrast,
burns
nearly
4,580BTUs per passenger- kilometre.


The pollution savings from public transport are even more dramatic. Since both rapid
and light rail have electric engines, pollution is measured not from the motor exhaust,
but from the power plant generating electricity, which is usually located outside the
city, where air quality
problems
are less serious.
For typical
U.S.
commuter routes,
rapid rail emits 30 grams of nitrogen oxides for every 100 grams for transit buses, and
128 grams for single-occupant automobiles. Public transport

s potential for reducing
hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions is even greater.

Although
diesel
buses
----
especially
in
developing
countries
----
can
be
heavy
polluters, existing technologies, such as filters,
can control their exhaust.
Buses can
also run on less polluting fuels such as propane (used in parts of Europe) and natural
gas (used in Brazil and China). Test buses in the Netherlands that run on natural gas
are
estimated
to
emit
90
percent
less
nitrogen
oxide
and
25
percent
less
carbon
monoxide than diesel engines do.

In
addition
to
reducing
fuel
consumption
and
pollution,
public
transport
saves
valuable city space. Buses and trains carry more people in each vehicle and, if they
operate
on
their
own
rights-of-way,
can
safely
run
at
much
higher
speeds.
In
other
wirds, they not
only take up less space but
also occupy it
for
a shorter
time.
Thus,
comparing
ideal
conditions
for
each
mode
in
one
lane
of
traffic,
an
underground
metro can carry 70,000 passengers past a certain point in one hour, light rail can carry
up to 35,000 people, and a bus, just over 30,000. By contrast, a lane of private cars
with
four
occupants
each
can
move
only
about
8,000
people
an
hour,
and
without
such car-pooling the figure is, of course, far lower.

The
availability
and
use
of
public
transport
vary
widely
in
cities
around
the
globe.
Since variations in distances and city densities affect the total kilometers of travel, the
annual
number
of
trips
each
person
takes
by
public
transport
provides
a
better
standard
for
comparing
its
importance
in
various
cities.
The
range
of
frequency
of
public transport use is shown in Table 1.

Urban public transport has long been a
government
priority in
Western
Europe.
All
major cities there have high car ownership, but well developed bus and rail systems
are available, and overall public transport typically accounts for between 20 and 30
percent of passenger-kilometres. In recent years, several large cities have stepped up
their
commitment
to
public
transportation,
combining
further
investments
with
complementary policies to restrict auto use.

Public
transport
also
plays
an
important
role
in
urban
areas
of
the
Third
World.
In
many
cities
in
Asia,
Latin
America,
and
Africa,
buses
make
50-80
percent
of
all
motorized trips. Buses are sometimes hopelessly overcrowded; it is not uncommon to
see
several
riders
clinging
to
the
outside.
Yet
most
Third
World
cities
have
lower
public transport use per person than those in Western Europe, reflecting the inability
of small bus fleets to keep up with population growth.

Among
the
world

s
major
cities,
those
in
Australia
and
the
United
States
make
the
least use of alternatives to the private car. Indeed, less than 5 percent of U.S. trips are
by
public
transport,
but
in
some
cities
such
as
New
York
City
and
Chicago,
where
service is
provided extensively, it is
used heavily.
Indeed, nearly one quarter of the
entire country

s public transport trips are in New York City.

*BTUs: British Thermal Units(a measure of energy consumed)

Table 1. Dependence on public transport in selected cities, 1989
City








Population








Mode













Trips*
Tokyo







11.6m







bus, tram, metro, rail





650
Buenos Aires


9.0m







bus, metro














248
Beijing







8.7m







bus, metro














107
Seoul








8.7m







bus, metro














457
Moscow






8.0m







bus, tram, metro









713
Chicago






6.8m







bus, metro, rail










101
Berlin








3.1m







bus, tram, metro









356
Toronto







2.8m







bus, tram, metro









200
Melbourne





2.7m






bus, tram, rail












95
Abidjan







1.8m







bus, boat















132
Dallas








1.4m







bus




















22
*trips: per person per year
Questions 16-20
Below
is
a
summary
of
some
of
the
main
points
of

Automobiles
vs
Public
Transport.


Read the summary and select a word or phrase from the box below to fill each gap
according to the information in the Reading Passage.
Write the corresponding letter (A, B,

N) in boxes 16-20 on your Answer Sheet.
NB There are more words and phrases than you will need to fill the gaps. You may
use a word or phrase more than once if you wish.

KEY POINTS: AUTOMOBILES VS. PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The obvious advantages of public transport include lowering

16




and reducing exhaust emissions. Another important benefit is the amount of
space that is taken up. This is measured by determining the number of 17




that
pass a particular point under ideal conditions. As would be expected, public transport
vehicles
perform
very
well
under
these
criteria.
However,
the
success
of
public
transport depends more importantly on its 18




. A 1989 survey revealed that 19




was the city in which the greatest number of trips per person were made on an annual

工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思


工商行政管理局英文-sensitive什么意思



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