Unit 1 People of Achievement 能力提升素养练习-2024届高三英语一轮复习人教版（2019）选择性必修第一册

Unit 1 People of Achievement 能力提升素养练习 Ⅰ.阅读理解 A A scientific paper arguing that the cats may indeed go beyond some of the usual physical boundaries has been recognized with one of science's most famous accolades(荣誉): an Ig Nobel Prize. The theoretical paper, On the Rheology of Cats, argues that cats can technically be regarded as solid and liquid at the same time due to their mysterious ability to adopt the shape of their container. The annual awards ceremony for research that “first makes you laugh, then makes you think” took place at Harvard University on Thursday evening, September 14th, with three Nobel winners, including the British­born economist Oliver Hart, on hand to distribute prizes. The 10 awards included the economics prize, which went to an investigation into how contact with a live crocodile affects a person's willingness to gamble and the anatomy (解剖学) prize for James Heathcote's solving the longstanding mystery of why old men have such big ears (they don't keep growing, but gravity stretches them). The ceremony also rewarded the observation by Italian scientists that many identical twins cannot tell themselves apart in pictures. Marc­Antoine Fardin, the sole author of the cat paper, was inspired by a set of Internet funny photos of cat­filled containers, ranging from sweet jars to sinks. “If you are observing a cat on a time larger than its relaxation time, it will be soft and adapt to its container, like a liquid would. This actually raised some interesting questions about what it means to be a fluid and so I thought it could be used to highlight actually serious topics at the centre of the field of rheology, the study of flows, ” he said. Milo Puhan, a professor of public health and epidemiology, said he was honoured to be a winner in this ceremony, noting that some past Ig Nobel Prize winners have later upgraded to Nobel Prize winners status. Marc Abrahams, founder of the awards, said, “If you didn't win an Ig Nobel Prize tonight—and espec