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TOEFL Directory > TOEFL writing > TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 14_Question 144-154
TOEFL Reading Class Unit 1_Passage 14_Question 144-154
You have about 15 minutes to finish this passage.
First,use about 3-4 minutes to read the passage, try to understand the main idea of this passage.
Don't read it so slowly or try to remember all details.You need to do "fast reading",and "scan" the passage.
Second, read questions 1-11, and with questions you go back the passage again and look for correct answers.
Questions 144-154
Passage 14
The most profound mystery confronting physics at the end of the twentieth century is neatly captured in a Charles Addams cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1940. The setting is a winter landscape. An eerie light casts long shadows upon the pristine snow. In the foreground a crouching skier speeds down a hillside leaving twin tracks that trail up the slope behind him, diverge to pass on opposite sides of an enormous pine tree, then rejoin to continue on in normal, parallel fashion. Another skier looks on in amazement.
The power of the cartoon derives from the contrast between what our eyes can plainly see and what our brains know to be impossible. If, instead of a skier, Addams had depicted something altogether different --- an avalanche, say, or better yet, a mountain stream ---no one would give the scene a second thought. There is nothing strange about a current of water flowing around a tree and reconstituting itself on the other side. But for a solid object to pass through an impenetrable barrier is impossible.
It is impossible in our macroscopic, everyday world, but in the realm of atoms, where quantum mechanics reigns, the rules are different. It is normal for an atomic particle to occupy two places at once, to tunnel through a barrier, or to circumvent an obstacle on both sides at once. For this reason the Addams cartoon has an immediate appeal to physicists. It tends to be shown to lighten the mood at the beginning of difficult technical lectures about quantum interference and at the end of summary talks on modern developments in atomic physics, as a visual aid to ease the audience's transition back to the real world. The picture has even been reprinted in a scholarly journal with a paper about the experimental investigation of wave-particle duality. Scientific audiences respond instantly to the uncanny precision with which Addams has unintentionally captured the dilemma of quantum theory: If atoms obey strange rules and we are made of atoms, why don't we follow the same rules?
144. What is the mystery referred to in the passage?
a) What triggers avalanches
b) What atoms are composed of
c) Why solid objects behave differently from the
atoms they are composed of
d) How cartoons operate to increase scientific understanding
145. The word diverge in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) cross over
b) disappear
c) move apart
d) deepen
146. What function does the skier on the right in the cartoon serve?
a) He illustrates the proper way to ski around a tree.
b) He makes it possible for the first skier to accomplish an unusual feat.
c) His presence symbolizes public support for scientific research.
d) His reaction emphasizes the impossibility of the situation.
147. The word depicted in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) presented
b) rejected
c) laughed about
d) evaluated
148-150 Omitted
151. Which of the following can be inferred from the reaction of physicists to the Addams cartoon?
a) Physicists need an explanation in order to understand the cartoon.
b) Physicists disagree with the cartoon's message.
c) Physicists do not find the cartoon to be amusing.
d) Physicists quickly understand the cartoon's connection to their field.
152. The word precision in the passage is closest in meaning to
a) delight
b) purpose
c) confusion
d) accuracy
153. Why does the author discuss the Charles Addams cartoon?
a) Because it illustrates a basic complexity in quantum physics
b) Because it contributed to a breakthrough in quantum physics
c) To point out changes in scientific knowledge that have occurred since 1940
d) To clarify the atomic structure of snow flakes
154. Which of the following can be inferred about the mystery discussed in the passage?
a) Charles Addams solved it.
b) It has not yet been solved.
c) Physicists are no longer interested in solving it.
d) The phenomenon involved in it does not really exist.
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