随着距离在2018年4月15日
1. What is the lecture mainly about
A. The origin of an important technological idea
B. The history of the air-conditioning industry
C. Applications and benefits of mechanical refrigeration
D. John Gorrie's trouble with the ice industry
2. What problem did air-conditioning solve in the printing industry
A. Strong winds blowing dirt through open windows
B. Changes in paper size due to humidity
C. Warm temperature slowing the time it took ink to dry
D. Frequent breakdowns of machines that became overheated
3. Why was Apalachicola important in the 1840s
A. It produced artificial ice to be sent all over the world
B. It was a large shipping center.
C. It was an important center of medical research
D. It had the highest summer temperature of any of United States city.
4. What does the professor imply about Gorrie's work with tropical diseases
A. He misunderstood the cause of tropical diseases.
B. His work led to important medical breakthroughs.
C. His treatments were similar to those used by other doctors at that time.
D. He was less interested in tropical diseases than in other kinds of disease.
5. What does the professor imply about the ice industry in Gorrie's time
A. It paid members of the media to create problems for Gorrie.
B. It was unwilling to supply Gorrie with as much ice as he needed.
C. It did not support the development of refrigeration systems.
D. It was interested in taking Gorrie's invention for itself.
6. Why does the professor say this:
A. To point out that Gorrie lacked sufficent training in science
B. To imply that other people were working on similar inventions at that time
C. To suggest that inventing a refrigeration machine was not a difficult task
D. To indicate that she is impressed with Gorrie's initiative
Narrator:Listen to part of the lecture in a United States history class.
Professor:Okay, you want to talk about a really significant invention?
How about mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning?Think about it, our country would be a very different place
without it. For example, how about the fact that hotter regions of the United States like Florida would only have a
fraction of their current populations, or that we probably wouldn't have many skyscrapers since you can't open the
windows 50 stories up because of high winds. And then open window was about the only way to cool a room in the past.
And industrial applications of refrigerated air have been extremely important. Let's look at the printing industry for
example. Paper expands and contracts according to the amount of moisture in the air. So before air conditioning, it
could be impossible to align the inks for printing in color.So even something as mundane as color magazines,something we take for granted, it's the regulation of temperature and humidity in the print shop that makes them possible.
Now it turns out making something cold is not so easy. I mean to make something hotter, you can heat it with fire for example. But to cool something, sure if it's winter you can get some ice and you're okay, but how practical is that? And what if it isn't winter?
Now, one of the guys that who mulled over this problem, was a Doctor John Gorrie. Dr. John Gorrie moved to
Apalachicola, Florida in the 1830's. In those days, Florida with its hot, humid summers, its snakes, alligators,
mosquitos, and its tropical diseases was a hard place to live.
But Apalachicola was actually the second largest port in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the cotton grown in some
Southern U.S. States, and that was a lot, was shipped out of Apalachicola.
Now in the 1840's, Dr. Gorrie in deciding how to treat those tropical diseases, deduced that since they occurred
in the summer, they must be in some way caused by the heat. The cure therefore, would be to in effect change the
season. Take summer and the heat of it away. Oh we're lucky he drew that conclusion, instead of the correct one.
Which is probably why he didn't go down in history for any great medical breakthroughs. Anyway, his first
experiments with these treatments, led him to develop cold rooms, or rooms cooled with ice. In some cases, the
ice was in the ceiling. Gorrie understood of course the principle that cold air is heavier than hot air, and that air
cooled by the ice would fall down over the patients. In other cases, he had fans blowing over the ice.
Nevertheless, the bigger problem as you can imagine was acquiring ice. There were ice companies at the time that
sawed huge blocks of ice out of frozen lakes and ship this ice all over the world. But keep in mind, Florida isn't close
to the Northern United States. Ships filled with ice had to sail a long way and well, some ships would encounter
storms, or ice would melt. What actually got there was very much in demand, and subsequently not cheap. You
have to wonder how much ice would be left say in August since it had to be stored all summer in insulated warehouses.
So what do you think Gorrie did? Well, with his inclination for tinkering and his science background, he set out to
invent an ice making machine! Just imagine, he took advantage of some very basic principles, the most
important being this: air that's compressed, cooled and then allowed to re-expand, gets very cold indeed. And that seems simple, but it's basically the principle all of our
subsequent refrigeration technology is based on. Now, Gorries first attempt at a refrigeration machine was big
and clumsy. It leaked and broke down a lot, but it did make ice. Unfortunately, although Dr. Gorrie did get a patent for
his refrigeration machine in 1851, he never really raised enough money to develop it. He blamed the ice industry
for his problems. It's pretty clear that they didn't want to see his invention perfected. Even worse, the media
ridiculed his achievement. It's a shame too, because Gorrie was a visionary. He thought this invention could later be
adapted to transporting perishable foods all over the country in all seasons among other uses. It's unfortunate
nobody took him seriously at the time.
1. B 2. C 3. B 4. B 5. C 6. D
第一段：教授先是简要介绍了这节课的主要内容，即美国历史上空调的起源。
第二段：一开始，是印刷行业非常需要空调，因为某些印刷效果必须要在控制温度下进行。当时制热很容易，但是制冷很难。
第三段：所以当时的运冰产业很发达，因为冰运输过程中有种种意外发生，所以
价格很贵。
第四段：Gorrie 发明了一种制冰机，是以后空调的原型，但是因为种种原因，他
虽然申请到了专利，但这种机器并没有被很好地普及。