In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway（晃动）. The authorities closed access to the bridge and tens of thousands of people made their way back to land. A disaster was avoided.
The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns. Its author, Dr. Henry Petroski, has long been writing about disasters. In this book, he includes the loss of the space shuttles（航天飞机）Challenger and Columbia, and the sinking of the Titanic.
Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.
Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.
"Success is success but that is all that it is," Dr. Petroski writes. It is failure that brings improvement.
8．What happened to the Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th birthday?
A．It carried more weight than it could.
B．It swayed violently in a strong wind
C．Its roadway was damaged by vehicles
D．Its access was blocked by many people.
9．Which of the following is Dr. Petroski's idea according to paragraph 3?
A．No design is well received everywhere
B．Construction is more important than design.
C．Not all disasters are caused by engineering design
D．Improvements on engineering works are necessary.
10．What does the last paragraph suggest?
A．Failure can lead to progress. B．Success results in overconfidence
C．Failure should be avoided. D．Success comes from joint efforts.
11．What is the text?
A．A news report B．A short story.
C．A book review D．A research article.
8．A
9．C
10．A
11．C
【分析】
这是一篇议论文。主要讲述了对彼得罗斯基博士的书《原谅设计：理解失败》的评论，工程设计可能会因为某些原因带来失败，但失败才能带来进步。
8．细节理解题。根据文章第一段“In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway”可以看出，1987年5月，金门大桥举行了一个50岁生日聚会。这座桥禁止机动车通行，人们可以在桥上散步。组织者预计将有5万人到场。相反，多达80万人挤满了通往大桥的道路。当25万人在桥上时，工程师们注意到了一个可怕的现象：路面在被要求承载的最重荷载作用下变得平了。更糟的是，它开始晃动。因此可以看出，金门大桥50岁生日那天，它的重量超过了它的承受能力。故选A。
9．推理判断题。根据文章第三段“Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.”可知，虽然他承认工程设计可能会因为那些想出或设计它们的人只是把事情弄错了失败，但在这本书中，彼得罗斯基博士拓宽了他的视野，考虑了这种失败发生的更大背景。有时，由于一个好的设计是用不合格的低质量材料建造的，所以装置会失败。或者，一个设计工作得如此好，以至于在其他地方一次又一次地被采用，用似乎是无害的改进，直到突然间，它完全不起作用了。因此可以推测出，根据第三段，不是所有的灾难都是由工程设计引起的是彼得罗斯基博士的想法。故选C。
10．细节理解题。根据文章最后一段的 “It is failure that brings improvement.”可知，失败才能带来进步。因此可以看出，A项与此相呼应，即失败能带来进步，故选A。
11．推理判断题。根据文章第二段“The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns.”可知，这个故事是《原谅设计：理解失败》一书中的一个，这本书既是对工程的一封情书，也是对其崩溃的赞歌。并且后面两段都在写这本书里的内容以及评价，再根据倒数第二段的“Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.”可知，读者不仅会遇到他们以前听过的故事，还会遇到一些新的故事和关于工程师对公众的责任以及如何帮助年轻工程师掌握它们的动人讨论。再结合最后一段“It is failure that brings improvement.”可知，失败才能带来进步。因此可以推测出，这些内容都是关于这本书的评论，因为这篇文章是书评，故选C。
请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。
Feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person’s risk of premature (过早的)death by 14 percent, according to research by John Cacioppo, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago.
Cacioppo and his colleagues’ work shows that the impact of loneliness on premature death is nearly as strong as the impact of disadvantaged socioeconomic status, which they found increases the chances of dying early by 19 percent. A 2010 meta﹣analysis showed that loneliness has twice as much impact on early death as obesity does, he said.
The researchers looked at dramatic differences in the rate of decline in physical and mental health as people aged. Cacioppo and his colleagues have examined the role of satisfying relationships on older people to develop their resilience ([rɪˈzɪliəns] 快速恢复的能力；适应力), the ability to feel better quickly after something unpleasant, and grow from stresses in life.
The consequences for health are dramatic, as feeling isolated or separated from others can disturb sleep, elevate blood pressure, increase morning rises in the stress hormone cortisol ([‘kɔ:tɪsɒl] 皮质醇), change the gene expression in immune cells, increase depression and lower overall subjective well﹣being, Cacioppo pointed out in a talk, “ Rewarding Social Connections Promote Successful Aging.”
Cacioppo, one of the nation’s leading experts on loneliness, said older people can avoid the consequences of loneliness by staying in touch with former co﹣workers, taking part in family traditions, and sharing good times with family and friends ﹣ all of which give older adults a chance to connect with others about whom they care and who care about them.
”Retiring to Florida to live in a warmer climate among strangers isn’t necessarily a good idea if it means you are disconnected from the people who mean much to you,” said Cacioppo. Population changes make understanding the role of loneliness and health all the more important,he explained. “People have to think about how to protect themselves from depression, low subjective well﹣being and early death. “
Although some people are happy to be alone, most people develop from social situations in which they provide mutual support and establish a strong bond. Evolution encourages people to work together to survive and accordingly most people enjoy companionship compared to be alone.
It is not solitude (独处)or physical isolation itself, but rather the subjective sense of isolation that Cacioppo’s work shows to be so destructive. Older people living alone are not necessarily lonely if they remain actively engaged in social life and enjoy the company of those around them. Some aspects of aging, such as blindness and loss of hearing, however, place people at special risk of becoming isolated and lonely, he said.
| Passage outline | Supporting details |
| The main idea | Chances are that older people will die early if they feel extremely 51．. |
| 52． with loneliness | • Like disadvantaged socioeconomic status and obesity, loneliness can 53． old men’s premature death. • When 54． from others, one will find physical health impacted and tend to feel depressive and unhappy. |
| Suggestions | • Keep in touch with others and take part in 55． activities. • Choosing to live in a pleasant climate don’t necessarily make sense if the elder are disconnected from people who are 56． to them. • Think about how to57． depression, low subjective well﹣being and early death. • Work together with others to 58．, to gain mutual support and establish a strong bond. |
| Conclusions | • The sense of isolation, rather than solitude or physical isolation itself, isn’t 59．to elders. • Living alone doesn’t mean loneliness if older people live an 60． social life. |