Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The pany is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone es from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, e from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires panies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones e from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements（元素）produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can pare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for mercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.
【小题1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that . A．an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds.B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined.C．appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones.D．diamonds from different places may appear the same.【小题2】Why did the U.S. government pass law that requires panies selling gemstones to determine the origins of their stones? A．To look for more gemstones.B．To encourage violent civil wars. C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals.D．To develop the economy.【小题3】Which of the following facts most probably helps McManus and her team in identifying the origin of stones? A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam.B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns.C．Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma.D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones.【小题4】From the last two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the laser technique? A．It is ready for mercial use.B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones.C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals.D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals.【小题5】The author wrote this passage mainly to . A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds. B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s originC．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficultD．attract our attention to reducing trade in blood mineralsD
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(答案→)D
解析：来自不同地方的钻石可能看起来是一样的，如何识别宝石的家？这篇文章主要是介绍一种使用激光技术识别宝石来源的方法。
【小题1】细节题：从文章第一段的句子：It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.可知来自不同地方的钻石可能看起来是一样的，选D
【小题2】细节题：从文章第三段的句子：In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires panies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.可知为什么美国政府要求出售宝石的公司确定宝石的来源，是为了减少血矿石的交易。选C
【小题3】细节题：从文章第五段的句子：but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns.可知最能够帮助McManus和她的团队识别石头的来源的是来自同样地区的宝石有相似的光谱，选 B
【小题4】细节题：从文章最后两段的句子：In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. 和“This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.可知激光技术将在识别矿物质的来源中带来革命性的改变，选D
【小题5】写作意图题：从文章第二段的句子：At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland.可知作者写这篇文章主要是介绍一种使用激光技术识别宝石来源的方法。选B