Comprehension 理解
Give short answers to these questions in your own words as far as possible．Use one complete sentence for each answer.
1 Why, in future, will chip engineers be able to‘let their imaginations soar’?
2 What do you think is meant by the phrase‘garage start-ups’(1.7)?
3 What additional non-computer skills can Asian computer engineering staffs provide that are important in Pacific Rim markets?
Vocabulary 词汇
Refer to the text to see how the following words have been used, then write sentences of your own using these words: trends(1.1);soar(1.5);penalized(1.5);a jump(1.7);rivals(1.7);thrive(1.9);links(1.13);crucial(1.13);setup(1.14); near lock(1.14); global(1.17).
The paragraph 段落
A Which of these statements best expresses the main idea in the first paragraph of the passage? Give reasons for your answer:
1 Computer engineers can design computer chips on their desks.
2 The cost of producing chips has dropped to a few hundred dollars.
3 As the cost of producing chips falls, engineers will be free to make more mistakes.
4 Chip engineers thrive on anarchy.
B Which of these statements best expresses the main idea in the second paragraph of the passage?
Give reasons for your answer:
1 Most chip engineers are Oriental and Asian Americans.
2 Oriental and Asian American chip engineers can help the US beat the competition.
3 Alex Au has set up a factory in Taiwan.
4 Silicon Valley is a global business.
C What idea do the two examples quoted in the second paragraph(11.10-17) illustrate?(‘For instance, Alex Au…’11.12-14)
Key structure 关键句型
Supply a, an or the only where necessary in the following paragraph．Do not refer to the passage until you have finished the exercise:
____ technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to ____ future．Carver Mead, ____ pioneer in ____integrated circuits and ____professor of computer science at ____ California Institute of Technology, notes there are now ____ workstations that enable ____ engineers to design, test and produce ____ chips right on their desks, much ____ way ____ editor creates ____ newsletter on ____ Macintosh．As ____ time and cost of making ____ chip drop to____ few days and ____ few hundred dollars, ____ engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by ____ expensive failures．Mead predicts that ____ inventors will be able to perfect ____ powerful customized chips over ____ weekend at ____ office----spawning ____ new generation of garage start-ups and giving ____ U.S．____ jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast．‘We've got more garages with ____ smart people,’ Mead observes.‘We really thrive on ____ anarchy.’ (11.1-9)
B Note the use of the -ing form after the preposition without:
Engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures．(11.5-6)
Complete the following sentences:
1 A lot of people are afraid of ____(speak) in public．
2 I always believe in ____(tell) the truth.
3 Poor eyesight prevents me from ____(drive) a car.
4 Would you be interested in ____(buy) a second-hand car?
5 A lot of people object to ____(smoke) these days.
C Note the form of the verb after before:
Before it becomes a retirement village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business．(11.16-17)
Complete these sentences with the right form of the verbs:
1 As soon as your sister ____(arrive) please give me a call.
2 We'd better tidy the house up before my mother ____(get) back from work.
3 I'm going to wait here until he ____(arrive).
4 We go through Customs after we ____(collect) our luggage.
Special difficulties 难点
A Note the use of the following verb:
Carver Mead notes there are now workstations that enable engineers to produce chips right on their desks．(11.1-3)
Write sentences using each of these verbs:
notice, observe, remark.
B There are now workstations that enable engineers to produce chips right on their desks．(11.2-3)
Write a sentence using the noun chips with an entirely different meaning.
C Note the use of set up in this sentence:
Alex Au has set up a Taiwan factory．(11.13-14)
Suggest meanings for these combinations with set:
1 The explorers set off at dawn.
2 Winter has set in early this year.
3 We'll have to set by some money if we want to buy a car.
4 What time do you set out tomorrow morning?
5 If we all set to, we can finish this job in no time.
Multiple choice questions 多项选择题
Choose the correct answers to the following questions.
Comprehension 理解
1 Engineers can now ____.
a．create chips at the California Institute of Technology
b．pioneer integrated circuits in garages
c．create chips on computers without having to manufacture them
d．create newsletters whenever they want to
2 The important thing about this new technology is that ____.
a．it doesn't matter whether inventors make mistakes
b．there will be more people working in garages
c．the computer industry is in a state of anarchy
d．people will be able to buy chips for a few hundred dollars
3 One great advantage of employing Asian American engineers is they ____.
a．have an advantage over others in the Pacific Rim markets
b．are graduating in large numbers from California's colleges
c．are now more widely employed than engineers with other backgrounds
d．are more able than other graduates in the computer industry
4 Japan almost has a monopoly of the memory-chip market which ____.
a．is now being challenged by a Taiwanese
b．is now facing real competition
c．is about to end
d．an AT＆T chip plant in Kansas is going to take over
Structure 句型
5 It is ____ that engineers will soon be free to let their imaginations soar．(1.5)
a．certain
b．true
c．necessary
d．possible
6 Carver Mead predicts that inventors will be capable ____ powerful chips．(1.6)
a．to perfect
b．to perfecting
c．of perfecting
d．perfecting
7 ____ engineering staffs at Valley firms are orientals and Asian Americans．(11.10-11)
a．The most
b．Most
c．Many
d．The greatest
8 N．Damodar Reddy, who ____ in India, has a tiny California company．(1.15)
a．is born
b．was born
c．born
d．has borne
Vocabulary 词汇
9 There are now work-stations that ____ engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks．(11.2-3)
a．make possible
b．allowed
c．make it capable for
d．allow
10 If a chip is ‘customized’, it has been made ____ .(1.6)
a．in a traditional way
b．according to custom
c．to suit your needs
d．perfectly
11 Indian engineers are graduating ____．(1.11)
a．in large numbers
b．increasingly
c．like cattle
d．without limits
12 Japan has ____ the memory-chip market．(1.14)
a．control of
b．locked up
c．the key to
d．the master of