Question

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 endure 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 on June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潛水艇) detected the box'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 mode 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 box 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 (起落架艙). 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 (隔絕的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can stand 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.

1.What does the author say about the black box?

A．It is an indispensable device on an airplane.　

B．The idea for its design comes from a comic book.

C．Its ability to avoid disasters is incredible.

D．It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.

2.What does the underlined word in the 3rd paragraph mean?　

A．witness           B．experience        C．resist　           D．ensure

3.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 didn't provide the needed data.

D．The early models often got damaged in the crash.

4.What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.

B．There is still a good chance of their being recovered.　

C．They have stopped sending homing signals.

D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文介紹了飛機黑匣子的發展歷程以及相關的信息。

1.A 細節題。根據第三段2,3行That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960.說明這個裝置成為了飛機上必不可少的裝置，故Ａ正確。

2.C 推理題。根據文章第三段Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the box was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane說明原來的裝置不能承受飛機墜毀時的沖擊，故該詞指抵制的意思，故C正確。

3.D 細節題。根據第三段Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the box was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane說明原來的裝置不能承受飛機墜毀時的沖擊，所以后來重新設計了，故D正確。

4.B 細節題。根據文章最后一段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.說明這個飛機的黑匣子仍然是有可能最找到，故B正確。

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