Passage 1  Striking Back at Lightning With Lasers

1. New words

1)  Inflict : to force someone to experience something very unpleasant:

a)  These new bullets are capable of inflicting massive injuries.

b)  The suffering inflicted on these children was unimaginable

2)  A bolt of lightning is a flash of lightning that is seen as a white line in the sky. (闪电) 道

a)  例：Suddenly a bolt of lightning crackled through the sky. 突然，一道闪电划破天空

3)  property

a) an object or objects that belong to someone:

     i. The club does not accept responsibility for loss of or damage to club members' personal property.

b) a building or area of land, or both together:

      i. He owns a number of properties in the centre of London. The notice said 'Private Property, Keep Off.'

4)    Armoury (an armoury of ) [C] a place where weapons and other military equipment are stored:

a)  Fighter planes have successfully bombed the enemy's main armoury

5)   Trailing wires : 下垂的电线

6)   Promising

a) Something that is promising shows signs that it is going to be successful or enjoyable:

7)  Ionisation N the formation of ions as a result of a chemical reaction, high temperature, electrical discharge, particle collisions, or radiation 电离

8)  Stumbling block绊脚石

a) something that prevents action or agreement: Lack of willingness to compromise on both sides is the main/major stumbling block to reaching a settlement.

9) in the offing › likely to happen soon:

10)  Nifty

a) good, pleasing, or effective:

11)  avalanche

a)  too many things that arrive or happen at the same time:

      i.  We were swamped by an avalanche of letters/phone calls/complaints.

b)  a large amount of ice, snow, and rock falling quickly down the side of a mountain

12)  Menace 威胁

a) something that is likely to cause harm: Drunk drivers are a menace to everyone.

13)  Hailstone 冰雹

14)  To tote：

a) something, especially a gun, means to carry it with you.

2. Questions

先看题型(四个)：

Choose the correct letter单选（1-3）；

FILL GAP(4-5)(choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS)

Complete the summary using the list of words(7-10)

YES/NO/NOT GIVEN (11-13)

这篇文章题型多，而且每个都是只有几道题。在做第一种题型时，锁定其他题型所在的文章中的位置。

4 EPRI receives financial support from______.

7 In this method, a laser is used to create a line of ionisation by removing electrons from_______.

11 Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.

2.1.单选题(1-3)

1 The main topic discussed in the text is….

题目分析：这种情况很少见，在第一题讨论：本文主要讨论的是。。。

两个选择：或者最后做，或者看标题。

看标题是个捷径：Sriking Back at Lightning With Lasers.

所以选择D: a laser technique used in trying to control lightning strikes.

2 According to the text, every year lightning

第一段结束： And there is damage to property too. Lighting damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.

A does considerable damage to building during the thunderstorms.

3 Researchers at the University of Florida and at the University of New Mexico

根据地名锁定第三段 第五段 找出这两个大学的研究者的共性：

第三段：with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI).

第五段：Jeans-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI

所以是A : receive funds from the same source.

2.2. Complete the sentence(4-6)

在第三段：

4 EPRI, which is funded by power companies.

EPRI receives financial support frompower companies.

5 Th advantage of the technique being developed by Diels is that it can be used safely.

第五段：Diels is leading a project, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely.

6 The main difficulty associated with using the laser equipment is related to its size.

见 A stumbling block

However, there is still a big stumbling block. … It’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size….

2.3. Complete the summary using the list of words

Summary 题型有乱序的特点，所以根据文中关键词及所列词汇（list of words）做参考。

Ionisation 见 Bad behaviour 最后一段：

High-powered lasers were revealing their abilities to extract electrons out of atoms (第7题) and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud,

所以第8题：This laser is then directed at C(storm clouds) in order to control electrical charges.

a method which is less dangerous than using_9 (G rockets).  

前文中出现过的有危险的方法是用 rockets.

第10题 As a protection for the lasers, the beams are aimed firstly at 10.D mirrors

文中说：To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead, it would be directed at a mirror. 

NB:注意：从选题上我们能看到这种题型的两个特点

1）乱序

2）所选答案有两种可能：一是直接与原文词一致，二是不一致，体现在单数变复数，也可能是同义词替换。

2.4. YES/NO/NOT GIVEN (11-13)

11 Power companies have given Diels enough money to develop his laser.

Come up with 有拿出的意思。

见倒数第三段：But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system.

FALSE

12 Obtaining money to improve the lasers will depend on tests in real storms.

看文中同一段落：I can not say that I have money yet, but the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point.

TRUE

13 Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels’s system.

在文中没找到forecaster. 所以

NG

3.Difficult sentences

(1) Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike.

倒装句。重新调整顺序为：The weather is seldom more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. 雷雨天气通常比一般天气更令人惊心动魄。