Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind

If you cannot see, you may not be able to1 find your way out of a burning building — and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could change all that2 1 directional sound alarms capable of guiding you to the exit.

Sound Alert, a company 2 the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residential home for 3 people in Sommerset and a resource centre for the blind in Cumbria. 4 produce a wide range of frequencies that enable the brain to determine where the 5 is coming from.

Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarms use most of the frequencies that can be 6 by humans. “It is a burst of white noise 7 people say sounds like static on the radio,” she says. “Its life-saving potential is great.”

She conducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging cameras trying to find their way out of3 a large 8 room. It 9 them nearly four minutes to find the door _10_ a sound alarm, but only 15 seconds with one.

Withington studies how the brain 11 sounds at the university. She says that the 12 of a wide band of frequencies can be pinpointed more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms 13 the same concept have already been installed on emergency vehicles.

The alarms will also include rising or falling frequencies to indicate whether people should go up 14 down stairs. They were 15 with the aid of a large grant from British Nuclear Fuels.

1.在谓语动词中，不能并列使用两个情态动词，如 may和 can就不能并列使用。如果由于表达需要，要同时用“可能”和“能够”，就得说(写)成 may be able to。 I may be may be able to come tomorrow, but 1 cannot promise. 我可能明天来，但我不可能作出承诺。 2. that指第一句所表达的意思。

3. … find their way out of…：意为“找到从……出去的路”。练习：

1. A without B with C having D selling

2A run by B changed by C decorated by D criticized by

3. A slow B deaf C blind D lame

4. A Alarms B Alarm C The alarm D The alarms

5. A noise B sound C music D bell

6. A watched B produced C learnt D heard

7. A where B what C that D how

8. A smoked B smoke-filled C filled with smoke D smoke-filling

9. A has taken B takes C took D will take

10. A on B near C without D from

11. A processes B produces C possesses D proceeds

12. A feature B quality C diagram D source

13. A basis on B base on C basing on D based on

14. A on B and C but D otherwise

15. A developed B determined C discovered D delivered

答案与题解：

1. B 空格后是一种装置，用它来改变火灾时找不到出口的危险境况。表达“用……装置”这层意思就要用介词 with。其他几项均不符合句子的意思。

2. A Sound Alert是一家公司的名字， a company是 Sound Alert的同位语，从句意判断，应选择 run by，意为“由……经营的”。其他的选项虽然说法正确，但都与句意不符。

3. C 从文章的标题，以及文章内容和本句后面部分 resource center for the blind，可以推断这里昀好的选择就是 C。

4. D 因为这种警告装置已在上文中提到：第一段中的 directional sound alarms，第二段中的 installing the alarms in a residential home…，所以，这里的 alarms是特指，要用定冠词。选项 C是错误的，因为它是单数形式。

5. B 句子的前半句有 a wide range of frequencies，发出来的应该是 sound，而不是令人烦躁的 noise。用 music或 bell都有些突然，与上下文的意思不连贯。

6. D 文章一直在讨论警报器、声音和波长，所以首先排除选项 A;从上下文的意思看，不可能是选项 B和 C，因为警报器的制造，就是为了让失明的人听到。

7. C 选择 A、B、D均不能构成语义连贯的句子，而且语法上也有问题。选项 C能使句子结构成为 “It is … that”的强调句型。

8. B 从所给的选项可以看出，这里要表达的意思是“烟火弥漫的房间”。有了这个理解，现在要做的就是选择正确的表达形式。 A是“烟熏的”， D是“使……烟火弥漫的”，所以意思不对， C填入后就出现 filled with smoke room，不符合语法。只有 B是正确的选项。

9. C 这里显然是“ It takes somebody + time +动词不定式”的句型，但选择什么时态是关键。从上句看，应选择一般过去时，因为整个段落是对一次试验的描写，而且上而一句也使用了一般过去时。

10. C后半句的 one指上半句中的 a sound alarm。该句上半句和下半句由 but连接，表示相反的意思，从后半句的 with可以看出，两个相对比的事物是： the door without a sound alarm和 the door with a sound alarm。所以选择 C。

11. A 选项 B、C和 D显然是错误的，因为词义不符。只有选项 A是答案。句子的意思是， Withington在她的大学里研究大脑如何处理声音。

12. D 句子中的 more … than表示该句是对两样事物的对比。 than后面是 the source of a narrow band，这里的 narrow和前半句的 wide形成反比，从上下文中可以看出， the source of a narrow band of (frequencies)是和 the source of a wide band of frequencies形成对比。

13. D 这个句子有主语 alarms，有谓语 have been installed，这里应填入动词的分词形式。 be based on是常用的搭配，所以，应选择动词的过去分词形式。选项 A的 basis是名词，明显是错的。

14. A 根据上半句中的 rising or falling frequencies，这里应填入 or，与上半句表达的意思相一致。音频升高表示上楼，音频降低表示下楼。

15. A 首先确定主语 They指的是第一句中的主语 The alarms，后半句说这种设备得到大笔资助。根据上文内容，我们知道资助的目的是开发这种 alarms，所以应该选择 developed。