After the violent earthquake that shook Los Angeles in 1994, earthquake scientists had good news to report: The damage and death toll could have been much worse.
More than 60 people died in this earthquake. (26) comparison, an earthquake of similar intensity that shook America in 1988 (27) 25,000 victims. (28) and deaths were relatively less in Los Angeles because the quake occurred at 4:31 a.m. on a holiday, (29) traffic was light on the city’s highways. In addition, changes made to the construction codes in Los Angeles during the last 20 years have (30) the city’s buildings and highways, making them more (31) to quakes.
Despite the good news, civil engineers aren’t (32) on their successes. (33) to their drawing boards are blueprints for improved quake-resistant buildings. The new designs should (34) even greater security to cities where earthquakes often take place
A. strengthened
B. enforced
C. empowered
D. stretched
Text 2 Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics - the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close. As a result, the modem world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of’ robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro - mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy - f
A. the use of machines to produce science fiction
B. the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry
C. the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work
D. the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work
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