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 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 (潛水艇) 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 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 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 withstand（抵擋）massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged（潛入水中）, 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. 1.
   What does the author say about the black box?
   1. A.
      It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane
   2. B.
      The idea for its design comes from a comic book
   3. C.
      Its ability to ward off disasters is incredible
   4. D.
      It is an indispensable device on an airplane
2. 2.
   What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?
   1. A.
      Data for analyzing the cause of the crash
   2. B.
      The total number of passengers on board
   3. C.
      The scene of the crash and extent of the damage
   4. D.
      Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash
3. 3.
   Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?
   1. A.
      New materials became available by that time
   2. B.
      Too much space was needed for its installation
   3. C.
      The early models often got damaged in the crash
   4. D.
      The early models didn’t provide the needed data
4. 4.
   What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?
   1. A.
      There is still a good chance of their being recovered
   2. B.
      There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed
   3. C.
      They have stopped sending homing signals
   4. D.
      They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil

Answer 1

CACA
試題分析：
1.C細節題。由Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They’re known as the black box.可知其抵御災害的能力是令人難以置信的，故選C
2.A 由第二段第1,2行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.可知，這個黑匣子里面有很多的數據可供分析使用，故A正確。
3.C倒數第二段Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned…文中提到，早期的黑匣子經常抗不住空難的破壞(failed to withstand crashes)，因此在1965年，黑匣子重新設計(redesigned)，所以答案為C。
4.A最后一段Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazilon 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.文中提到，專家相信法航447號的黑匣子是在水下20000英尺的深度，接著指出，但是統計數據顯示他們仍然可能出現，即有可能被找到，接下來的具體統計數據也進一步說明了這一點，所以答案為A。
考點：考查科普類短文閱讀
點評：本文主要講了“黑匣子”的一些相關事宜。對于推理題的考查較多，在解答這類問題時要求學生抓住題干文字信息，采用針對性方法進行閱讀，根據詞義關系推斷具體細節，結合上下文提供的語境和信息進行概括和判斷。