单选题   In the Sierra Madre mountain range of west central Mexico, the native Huichol people live much the way their ancestors did—without electricity. That's because it's too expensive to string power lines to the remote mountain areas where they live. To help support themselves, the Huichol create beautiful artwork. They sell their art in cities hundreds of miles away from their villages. And without electricity—at home or on the road, they can only work during daylight hours. When it gets dark, they must stop whatever they're doing.
    Now, a team of scientists, designers, and architects is using new technologies to provide the Huichol with light after the sun sets. The scientists' technique involves weaving tiny electronic crystals into fabrics that can be made into clothes, bags, or other items.
    By collecting the sun's energy during the day, these lightweight fabrics provide bright white light at night. Their inventors have named the fabrics 'Portable Lights'. Portable Lights have the potential to transform the lives of people without electricity around the world, says project leader Sheila Kennedy.
    'Our invention,' Kennedy says, 'came from seeing how we could transform technology we saw every day in the United States and move it into new markets for people who didn't have a lot of money.'
    At the core of Portable Light technology are devices called high-brightness light-emitting diodes, or HB LEDs. These tiny lights appear in digital clocks, televisions, and streetlights.
    LEDs are completely different from the light bulbs. Most of those glass bulbs belong to a type called incandescent lights. Inside, electricity heats a metal coil to about 2,200 degrees Celsius. At that temperature, bulbs give off light we can see.
    Ninety percent of energy produced by incandescent lights, however, is heat—and invisible. With all that wasted energy, bulbs burn out quickly. They are also easily broken.
    LEDs, on the other hand, are like tiny pieces of rock made up of molecules that are arranged in a crystal structure. When an electric current passes through an LED, the crystal structure produces light. Unlike incandescent bulbs, they can produce light of various colors. Within an LED, the type of molecules and their particular arrangement determine what color is produced.
单选题     To make a living, the Huichol create artwork and ______.
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】短文的第一段提供了答案,该段告诉我们,维克人为了谋生,制作工艺品,并到几百英里以外的城市去销售。
单选题     Why can Portable Lights emit light?
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】文章的第二和第三段包括了A项、B项和C项所述内容。所以D项是正确答案。
单选题     What does Sheila Kennedy say about Portable Lights?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】短文的第四和第五段提供了答案。短文第四段的句子说了Potable Lights可以在世界范围内改变穷乡僻壤用不上电的人们的生活,C项准确地表达了这层意思,所以是正确答案。A项说Potable Lights能改变富人穷人的生活,不符合原文的意思。短文没有提及Poratable Lights在美国使用,也没有说Portable Lights是否花费很大。所以B项和D项都不是正确答案。
单选题     What is the most important part of the Portable Light technology?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】第五段的第一句提供了答案。Portable Lights技术的最主要部分是high-brightness light emitting diodes,即高亮度发光二极管。
单选题     LEDs are different from light bulbs in that ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】短文的第六段对light bulbs进行了描述。第二句中的those glass bulbs即指第一句中的light bulbs。因此,LED不是incandescent lights(白炽灯),也没有金属丝。所以A项和B项均不对。最后一段的第一个句子EDs, on the other hand, are like tiny pieces of rock made up of molecules that are arranged in a crystal structure中的like pieces of rock,不等于pieces of rock,所以,D项错误。根据短文的最后一段内容,C项是正确答案。