One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man’s most basic functions: visiting the toilet．Bill Gates’s charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．
So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren’t practical in remote areas．
The challenge set by Bill Gates was to e up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank(化粪池)．It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents．28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, USA．Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing．
But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity.The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000.
But clearly Bill Gates doesn’t feel he’s flushing money down the toilet．After the Seattle event he said, “We, couldn’t be happier with the response we’ve gotten,” Gates has even pledged $370m more to the future toilet project．They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years．
【小题1】Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?A．Because he wants to test people’s sense of creativity．B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people．C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion．D．Because he can’t design this kind of things himself．【小题2】Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?A．They waste too much water．B．They might cause diseases．C．They are not always practical．D．They are too plicated to use.【小题3】The underlined word “latrine” in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word “ ”n the text．A．LooB．sanitationC．diarrheaD．prototype【小题4】The team from CIT won the prize because their design .A．can change human waste into electricityB．can turn human waste into charcoalC．can produce power with solar energyD．can use urine for flushing【小题5】If someone “flush money down the toilet”, they are .A．showing off their wealthB．being angry with their work onditionsC．wasting money for nothingD．expressing their great determinationB
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(答案→)B
解析：这篇文章讲了世界首富比尔盖茨对厕所的功能很感兴趣，由于现在的抽水马桶存在很多弊端，所以他们正在研发未来的厕所。
【小题1】根据Bill Gates’s charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．故选B。
【小题2】根据Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren’t practical in remote areas．故选D。
【小题3】latrine是厕所的意思，而Loo 也是厕所的意思，所以答案为A。
【小题4】根据But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity. The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000，因此选C。
【小题5】根据But clearly Bill Gates doesn’t feel he’s flushing money down the toilet．与选项C相符，为正确答案。