【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 18-23 Computerized design, advanced materials and new technologies are being used to produce machines of a type never seen before. It looks as if it came straight from the set of Star Wars. It has four-wheel drive and rises above rocky surfaces. It lowers and raises its nose when going up and down hills. And when it comes to a river, it turns amphibious, two hydrojets power it along by blasting water under its body. There is room for two passengers and a driver, who sit inside a glass bubble operating electronic, aircraft-type controls. A vehicle so daring on land and water needs windscreen wipers but it doesn't have any. Water molecules are disintegrated on the screen's surface by ultrasonic sensors. This unusual vehicle is the Racoon. It is an invention not of Hollywood but of Renault, a rather conservative French state-owned carmaker, better known for its family hatchbacks. Renault built the Racoon to explore new freedoms for designers and engineers created by advances in materials and manufacturing progresses. Renault is thinking about startlingly different cars. other producers have radical new ideas for trains, boats and aeroplanes. The first of the new freedoms is in design. Powerful computer-aided design (CAD) systems can replace with a click of a computer mouse hours of laborious work done on thousands of drawing boards, so new products, no matter how complicated, can be developed much faster. For the first time, Boeing will not have to build a giant replica of its new airliner, the 777, to make sure all the bits fit together. Its CAD system will take care of that. But Renault is taking CAD further. It claims the Racoon is the world's first vehicle to be designed within the digitized world of virtual reality. Complex programs were used to simulate the vehicle and the terrain that it was expected to cross. This allowed a team led by Patrick le Quement, Renault's industrial-design director, to "drive" it long before a prototype existed. Renault is not alone in thinking that virtual reality will transform automotive design. In Detroit, Ford is also investigating its potential. Jack Telnack, the firm's former head of design, would like designers in different parts of the world to work more closely together, linked by computers. They would do more than style cars. Virtual reality will allow engineers to peer inside the working parts of a vehicle. Designers will watch bearings move, oil flow, gears mesh and hydraulics pump. As these techniques catch on, even stranger vehicles are likely to come along. Transforming these creations from virtual reality to actual reality will also become easier, especially with advances in materials. Firms that once bashed everything out of steel now find that new alloys of composite materials are changing the rules of manufacturing. At the same time, old materials keep getting better, as their producers try to secure their place in the factory of the future. This competition is increasing the pace of development of all materials. Again, the Racoon reflects this race between the old and the new. It uses conventional steel and what Renault describes as new "high-limit elastic steel" in its chassis. This steel is 30% lighter than the usual kind. The Racoon also has parts made from composites. Renault plans to replace the petrol engine with a small gas turbine, which could be made from heat resisting ceramics, and use it to run a generator that would provide power for electric motors at each wheel. With composites, it is possible to build many different parts into a single component. Fiat, Italy's helped to design for General Motors, uses a two-stroke engine in a "power pod" at the rear of the vehicle. The engine has been developed from an East German design and weighs 40% less than a conventional engine but produces as much power. It is expected to run clearly enough to quality as an ultra-low emissions vehicle under California's tough new rules. [解析] 本题为细节题，考查考生能否听懂讲座中提到的细节和事实。考生如果听到第三段第二句：“Renault, ...better known for its family hatchbacks (雷诺汽车……因其生产家用轿车为人所知)”，便可知题目中的关键词famous for与better for对应，family car与family hatchbacks 是同一个意思，所以选项B为正确答案。

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 本题仍为细节题。题目问：为什么波音公司无需制造巨大的新飞机模型?文中第四段后面部分提到“Boeing will not have to build a giant replica of its new airliner...Its CAD system will take care of that (波音公司没有必要制作一个巨大的飞机模型……CAD系统将会完成这个工作)”，听懂了这两句话就很容易得出选项A(用计算机可以检测设计)是正确的。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。题目问：雷诺汽车公司是如何检测Racoon的?考生如果听懂了文中第五段第二句“It claims the Racoon is the world's first vehicle to be designed within the digitized world of virtual reality”，可知Racoon是在一个虚拟的现实环境下研发的汽车。因此，选项D是正确答案，其他选项都是干扰项。

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为语用理解题中的推论题，要求考生根据所听话语和前后语境作出正确的推断。题目问：教授说下面一句话的意思是什么?该句为“雷诺将进一步采用CAD”，前面先说波音公司不需要研制大型飞机模型来测试，只需用CAD即可。后面则提到雷诺公司将更进一步使用CAD。考生如果仔细听第五段第一句会发现，紧接着“But Renault is taking CAD further”这句话就提到“It claims the Racoon is the world's first vehicle to be designed within the digitized world of virtual reality (Racoon是世界上最早采用数字虚拟技术研发的交通工具)”，由此可以判断，Renault要比其他生产者更早应用CAD技术。因此，选项C是正确答案，其他选项为干扰项。

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为推论题。复听句可理解为“不单单是雷诺一家公司认为虚拟技术将对汽车设计带来全新的改革”。其实，从第六段第一句中“is not alone...(不是唯一)”这一关键短语，就能发现选项B是符合这一理解的，而选项A、C和D都是干扰项。

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 本题为细节题。题目问：下列哪一项是合成材料的成分?考生在听力材料第七段第二句听到有关对汽车制造材料的描述“Firms that once bashed everything out of steel now find that new alloys of composite materials are changing the rules of manufacturing (曾经只青睐于钢材的汽车制造公司发现新型的合金材料改变汽车生产的惯例)”，其后第八段第一句再次提到 “Again, the Racoon reflects this race between the old and the new. It uses conventional steel... (在Racoon汽车身上反映新旧材料的“赛跑”。它使用传统的钢材)”。这说明新型合成材料的成分还是钢铁。因此选项D是正确的。