《考研英语阅读理解100篇 高分版》 Unit 17 - TEXT TWO

“OH DEAR! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” So muttered the White Rabbit just before he plunged into Wonderland, with Alice in pursuit. Similar utterances have been escaping the lips of European physicists, as it was confirmed last week that their own subterranean Wonderland, a new machine called the Large Hadron Collider, will not now begin work until May 2008. This delay may enable their American rivals to scoop them by finding the Higgs boson—predicted 43 years ago by Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University to be the reason why matter has mass, but not yet actually discovered.
The Large Hadron Collider is a 27km-long circular accelerator that is being built at CERN, the European particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, specifically to look for the Higgs boson. When it eventually starts work, it will be the world's most powerful particle collider. It will also be the most expensive, having cost SFr10 billion （$8 billion） to build. The laboratory had hoped it would be ready in 2005, but the schedule has slipped repeatedly.
The most recent delay came at the end of March, with the dramatic failure of a magnet assembly that had been supplied by CERN's American counterpart, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago. This device was one of four designed to focus beams of particles before they collide in the experimental areas. Admittedly, it had been placed under extreme conditions when it failed, but such forces are to be expected from time to time when the machine is running normally. The magnets have yet to be fixed, although physicists think they know how to do it.
Other, smaller hitches have compounded the problem. The collider has been built in eight sections, each of which must be cooled to temperatures only just above absolute zero. This is because the magnets used to accelerate the particles to the high energies needed for particle physics rely on the phenomenon of superconductivity to work—and superconductivity, in turn, needs extremely low temperatures. Unfortunately, the first of the eight sections took far longer to chill than had been expected.
If, as the other seven sections are cooled, further problems emerge, the start date will have to be put back still further. It takes a month to cool each section, and a month to warm each one back up to normal temperatures again. If it took, say, a month to fix any problems identified as a section cooled, each cycle would postpone the start date by three months.
To accelerate progress (as well as particles), CERN's management decided last week to cancel an engineering run scheduled for November. Instead of beginning slowly with some safe-but-dull low-energy collisions, the machine's first run will accelerate its particles to high energies straight away.
Such haste may be wise, for rumours are circulating that physicists working at the Tevatron, which is based at Fermilab and is currently the world's most powerful collider, have been seeing hints of the Higgs boson. Finding it would virtually guarantee the discoverer a Nobel Prize—shared jointly, no doubt, with Dr. Higgs. Hence the rush, as hundreds of physicists head down the rabbit hole, seeking their own adventures in Wonderland.
1. The sentences in Alice in Wonderland are cited in the first paragraph in order to _____.
[A] illustrate that the new machine European physicists have invented is full of wonder
[B] describe the mood of the European physicists facing the delay of the Large Hadron Collider
[C] tell people that the European physicists will put off the presentation of their new machine
[D] reflect the public's eagerness in using the Large Hadron Collider
2. The word “scoop” (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means _____.
[A] forestall
[B] defeat
[C] surpass
[D] vanquish
3. Which one of the following statements is TRUE of Peter Higgs' contribution in this field?
[A] It was him who initiated the idea that there existed such a boson to make matter have mass.
[B] He made the famous estimate that human beings would find out such a boson in the future.
[C] He claimed with convincing evidence that America would outrun Europe in discovering the Higgs boson.
[D] It was him who first discovered the boson which makes matter have mass.
4. The schedule of the Large Hadron Collider has slipped repeatedly because of the following reasons except that _____.
[A] the device of focusing beams of particles was having some problem
[B] it took longer to cool down the superconductivity so that the collider could work normally
[C] it took a very long period to make eight sections cool down or regain temperature
[D] there happened a dramatic failure of a magnet assembly which was not beyond expectation
5. CERN's management decided to have the machine's first run accelerate its particles straight away because _____.
[A] they are afraid that American researchers will get to see the Higgs boson ahead of them
[B] the safe-but-dull low-energy collision was too old-fashioned
[C] they wanted to dispel the rumours that physicists at the Tevatron have been seeing hints of the Higgs boson
[D] they wanted to have a try of the new way of accelerating particles