B

　　WASHINGTON-What will the cities of the future look like? That was the challenge addressed by 40,000 middle school students from 1,350 schools across the U.S. in an annual competition to design the urban landscape of tomorrow. Thirty­seven teams made the finals and traveled to Washington, D.C., to defend their ideas before the judges at the Future City competition.

　　The annual contest aims to direct young people toward careers in science and technology. The students built tabletop scale models of their designs using recycled materials, costing no more than $100. The teams also had to write essays about their solutions, explain their ideas to the crowd and answer the questions asked by a six­member expert group.

　　Urban transportation

　　This year's theme was ‘urban transportation’-an increasingly important issue for the world's cities.

　　Eighth­graders from the southern state of Georgia-David Straub, Katherine Barri and Rebecca North-imagined their city far into the future. Straub said they predicted that public transport would be effortless and eco­friendly.

　　Young teens compete

　　Leila Mezza, Oha Hassan and Mousa Seid from Houston, Texas, imagined a city in Brazil in 2084, with transport relying on electric cars.

　　The Future City competition, now in its 22nd year, is mainly focused on young teens. Because at that age in the United States, they have to elect the math courses, the advanced math courses. If they aren't at that age, they will never be an engineer.

　　The grand prize of $7,500 went to St. John Lutheran School in Michigan. The team members won a trip to U.S. Space Camp.

　　Even if they didn't win, the experience of working on an engineering project has encouraged many of the kids to think about a career in science and technology. One of them is Eric Swyler from New Mexico, who said, “I plan to become a scientist of some kind, but I'm not sure exactly what kind.”

　　5.How many teams took part in the final competition?

　　A.1,350. B.40,000.

　　C.37. D.6.

　　6.What's the purpose of holding the annual contest?

　　A.To lead teens to careers in science and technology.

　　B.To choose the excellent teenagers to work in science.

　　C.To find the better designs of building future cities.

　　D.To find out what the cities of the future look like.

　　7.Which team won the grand prize of the Future City competition?

　　A.A school team from New Mexico.

　　B.A team from Houston, Texas.

　　C.A team from the southern state of Georgia.

　　D.St. John Lutheran School in Michigan.

　　8.What can be inferred from the passage?

　　A.The math courses are very important to be an engineer.

　　B.The winners of the grand prize won a trip to British Space Camp.

　　C.The students at the Future City competition were all from New York.

　　D.Public transport is becoming effortless and eco­friendly now.

　　答案：

　　【語篇解讀】 本文是一篇說明文。介紹了學(xué)校的學(xué)生們所設(shè)計(jì)的未來的城市。

　　5.C 解析：細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段“Thirty­seven teams, made the finals and traveled to Washington，D.C.，to defend their ideas before the judges at the Future City competition.”可知，答案為C項(xiàng)。

　　6.A 解析：目的意圖題。根據(jù)第二段的首句“The annual contest aims to direct young people toward careers in science and technology.”可知，舉辦每年比賽的目的就是指導(dǎo)青少年通向科學(xué)和技術(shù)上的事業(yè)。故選A項(xiàng)。

　　7.D 解析：細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段中的“The grand prize of $7,500 went to St. John Lutheran School in Michigan.”可知，該題選D項(xiàng)。

　　8.A 解析：推理判斷題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段中的“Because at that age in the United States, they have to elect the math courses...they will never be an engineer.”可知，數(shù)學(xué)對(duì)于想成為一個(gè)工程師來說是非常重要的。故A項(xiàng)正確。