单选题 You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.
When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the device's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first model for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane—the area least subject to impact—from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1, 2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.

单选题 What does the author say about the black box in the first paragraph?

A. It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.
B. The idea for its design comes from a comic book.
C. Its ability to ward off disasters is incredible.
D. It is an indispensable device on an airplane.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为：“在第一段中，关于黑匣子，作者提到了什么?” A项意为“它确保了飞机的正常运转”；B项意为“它的设计理念源于一本漫画书”；C项意为“它抵御灾难的能力令人吃惊”；D项意为“它是飞机上一件不可或缺的装置”。根据题干定位至第一段，其中第三句提到，黑匣子几乎能够经得住任何灾难，这使它看起来像是漫画书中的某些事物。由此推知，黑匣子抵抗灾难的能力很强。C选项与其意思相近，故C为正确答案。

单选题 What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?

A. Data for analyzing the cause of the crash.
B. The total number of passengers on board.
C. The scene of the crash and extent of the damage.
D. Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为：“也门客机上的黑匣子能够提供什么信息?”A项意为“分析飞机坠毁原因的数据”；B项意为“飞机上乘客的总数量”。根据题干中the Yemeni airliner定位至第二段第一句。句中提到，2009年6月30日，一架飞往印度洋科摩罗群岛的也门客机坠毁，其黑匣子能够很好地帮助查明当时究竟发生了什么状况。由此推知，客机上的黑匣子所提供的数据能够帮助人们查清飞机坠毁原因。A选项与其意思相近，故A为正确答案。

单选题 Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

A. New materials became available by that time.
B. Too much space was needed for its installation.
C. The early models often got damaged in the crash.
D. The early models didn't provide the needed data.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为：“为什么黑匣子在1965年被重新设计?”A项意为“那时有新的材料可以利用”；B项意为。安装黑匣子所需空间太大”；C项意为“早期的黑匣子在飞机坠毁中经常损坏”；D项意为“早期的黑匣子不能提供所需数据”。根据题干线索词redesign和in 1965定位至第三段第三句，其中提到，因为早期的黑匣子在飞机坠毁中经不起碰撞，所以在1965年这项装置被重新设计。由此推知，C选项与其意思相近，故C为正确答案。

单选题 Why did the Federal Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?

A. To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.
B. To caution people to handle them with care.
C. To make them easily identifiable.
D. To conform to international standards.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为：“为什么联邦航空局要求黑匣子被涂成橙色或黄色的?”A项意为“使它们与飞机的颜色区分开来”；B项意为“警告人们小心操作它们”；C项意为“使它们易于辨别”；D项意为“遵守国际标准”。根据题干线索词the Federal Aviation Authority定位至第三段最后一句，其中提到，联邦航空局要求把飞机上的黑匣子涂成橙色或黄色，从而提高其能见度。由此推知，C项与其意思相近，故C为正确答案。

单选题 What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A. There is still a good chance of their being recovered.
B. There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.
C. They have stopped sending homing signals.
D. They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干意为：“关于法国航空447飞机上的黑匣子，我们能了解到什么?”A项意为“仍然很有可能发现它们”；B项意为“它们需要紧急修复”；C项意为“它们已经停止发送导航信号”；D项意为“它们在巴西附近某处被摧毁了”。根据题干线索词Air France Flight 447定位至最后一段倒数第二句，其中but后的内容提到，数据显示它们(即法国航空447飞机上的黑匣子)依然有可能再出现。由此推断，A项与其意思相近，故A为正确答案。