阅读理解 As the world excitedly greeted Snuppy, the first cloned (克隆) dog, critics celebrated our cleverness. Many feel proud that our age is marked by technological advances. But an article in British newspaper The Observer recently said true innovation (创新) has evaporated from our society. The writer was Peter Watson, author of the book "Ideas--A History from Fire to Freud". Watson began: "The year 2005 can''t begin to compete with 1905 in terms of important innovations." "Writing a history of ideas over the past three years, I have been struck time and again by the fact that, contrary to what we tell ourselves all the time--on TV, in newspapers and magazines, in advertisings-our present world is far from interesting and innovative as it thinks it is, certainly in comparison with past ages." "Yes, we are surrounded by mobile phones, cameras, iPods, digital-interactive TV, laptops and the www, by laser-guided surgery and bombs, by DNA fingerprinting, and now by cloning. These are not small things but do they change the way we think in important--in fundamental directions ?" Watson quotes Richard Southern, an Oxford University historian who died last year: "Southern thought the most interesting times in history were 1050-1250 and 1750-1950." "The former saw the marriage of Aristotelianism and Christianity, as well as cathedrals and universities, the invention of the experiment, the rise of accuracy--in counting, measuring--the introduction of equal hours, the widespread adoption of Hindu numerals." "The latter period saw the introduction of the factory, the steam engine, a change in the experience of work, the birth of modern chemistry and electricity, the rise of sociology, geology, evolution, statistics, particle physics. For the first time people thought ''new'' things better than old ones." "Each of these periods transformed our understanding of ourselves radically." "But what great ideas or transformations have been introduced in the half-century since 1950 ?" Watson asked, pointing out that except for a few innovations such as the Internet, most scientific research merely modifies previous studies.
单选题 The word "evaporated" in Line 3 of Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】语义题。可根据构词法vapor→evaporate推出其意思为“蒸发”，进而确定其在这里的意思为disappear；也可根据上下文进行合理猜测：根据下文对1050-1250和1750-1950这两个时间段里人们的创新的描述以及最后一段对现在的情况的质疑可推测evaporate的意思在这里是指disappear，故答案为A。而D的意思恰恰相反：“出现”。
单选题 Which of the following can best describe the author''s attitude towards the "technological advances” we achieved in these years?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】观点态度题。这里询问的是作者的态度，但是从文中频繁使用的引号我们不难看出，文章所述的大部分否定的观点都是Peter Watson的而不是作者的；本文一开始也并没有表明作者持肯定还是否定态度，故本题答案为C。
单选题 According to Peter Watson, the most important innovation happens in ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。根据文章的结构，Peter Watson的观点最初出现在3～5段，进行了一些列举之后，第五段最后一句问道：．．．do they change the way we think in important—in fundamental—directions?可见，在Peter Watson看来，还是能改变人们的思维方式的创新最重要，故本题答案为B。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true according to Peter Watson in this passage?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。再次提到Peter Watson时是在文章最后了，根据最后一句most scientific research merely modifies previous studies可判断选项B为正确答案。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推断题。分别对四个选项进行定位。A中的technological advances出现在开头，与 proud这样的词联系在一起，没有说先进技术有负面影响，所以A不对；B中的相关信息出现在倒数第2段的“Each of these periods transformed our understanding of ourselves radically．”中，与B的意思不一致；C中的all that we have achieved are not so useful太绝对，一般含有这样的字眼的选项不是正确选项，且本文也并未提及；而根据倒数第三段最后一句“For the first time people thought‘new’things better than old ones”可判断正确答案为D。