INGLÉS II – PART 1-B (45 p.

)
QUESTION 1

The text “BIOMIMETIC DESIGN” has seven paragraphs, A-H. Choose the correct heading
for each paragraph from the list of headings below the text. You can write the number of the
heading next to A-G.

Biomimetic Design
What has fins like a whale, skin like a lizard, and eyes like a moth? The future of engineering.
Andrew Parker, an evolutionary biologist, knelt in the baking red sand of the Australian outback
just south of Alice Springs and eased the right hind leg of a thorny devil into a dish of water.
A
“Its back is completely drenched!” Sure enough, after 30 seconds, water from the dish had
picked up the lizard’s leg and was glistening all over its prickly hide. In a few seconds more
the water reached its mouth, and the lizard began to smack its jaws with evident
satisfaction. It was, in essence, drinking through its foot. Given more time, the thorny devil
can perform this same conjuring trick on a patch of damp sand – a vital competitive
advantage in the desert. Parker had come here to discover precisely how it does this, not
from purely biological interest, but with a concrete purpose in mind: to make a thorny-
devil-inspired device that will help people collect lifesaving water in the desert. “The water’s
spreading out incredibly fast!” he said, as drops from his eyedropper fell onto the lizard’s
back and vanished, like magic. “Its skin is far more hydrophobic than I thought. There may
well be hidden capillaries, channeling the water into the mouth.”
B
Parker’s work is only a small part of an increasingly vigorous, global biomimetics
movement. Engineers in Bath, England, and West Chester, Pennsylvania, are pondering the
bumps on the leading edges of humpback whale flukes to learn how to make airplane
wings for more agile flight. In Berlin, Germany, the fingerlike primary feathers of raptors
are inspiring engineers to develop wings that change shape aloft to reduce drag and
increase fuel efficiency. Architects in Zimbabwe are studying how termites regulate
temperature, humidity, and airflow in their mounds in order to build more comfortable
buildings, while Japanese medical researchers are reducing the pain of an injection by
using hypodermic needles edged with tiny serrations, like those on a mosquito’s proboscis,
minimizing nerve stimulation.
C
Ronald Fearing, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California,
Berkeley, has taken on one of the biggest challenges of all: to create a miniature robotic fly
that is swift, small, and maneuverable enough for use in surveillance or search-and-rescue

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operations. Fearing made his own, one of which he held up with tweezers for me to see, a
gossamer wand some 11 millimeters long and not much thicker than a cat’s whisker.
Fearing has been forced to manufacture many of the other minute components of his fly in
the same way, using a micromachining laser and a rapid prototyping system that allows
him to design his minuscule parts in a computer, automatically cut and cure them
overnight, and assemble them by hand the next day under a microscope.
D
With the micro laser he cuts the fly’s wings out of a two-micron polyester sheet so delicate that it
crumples if you breathe on it and must be reinforced with carbon-fiber spars. The wings on his
current model flap at 275 times per second – faster than the insect’s own wings – and make the
blowfly’s signature buzz. “Carbon fiber outperforms fly chitin,” he said, with a trace of self-
satisfaction. He pointed out a protective plastic box on the lab bench, which contained the fly-
bot itself, a delicate, origami-like framework of black carbon-fiber struts and hairlike wires that,
not surprisingly, looks nothing like a real fly. A month later it achieved liftoff in a controlled flight
on a boom. Fearing expects the fly-bot to hover in two or three years, and eventually to bank
and dive with flylike virtuosity.
E
Stanford University roboticist Mark Cutkosky designed a gecko-insured climber that he
christened Stickybot. In reality, gecko feet aren’t sticky – they’re dry and smooth to the
touch – and owe their remarkable adhesion to some two billion spatula-tipped filaments
per square centimeter on their toe pads, each filament only a hundred nanometers thick.
These filaments are so small, in fact, that they interact at the molecular level with the
surface on which the gecko walks, tapping into the low-level van der Waals forces
generated by molecules’ fleeting positive and negative charges, which pull any two adjacent
objects together. To make the toe pads for Stickybot, Cutkosky and doctoral student
Sangbae Kim, the robot’s lead designer, produced a urethane fabric with tiny bristles that
end in 30-micrometer points. Though not as flexible or adherent as the gecko itself, they
hold the 500-gram robot on a vertical surface.
F
Cutkosky endowed his robot with seven-segmented toes that drag and release just like the
lizard’s, and a gecko-like stride that snugs it to the wall. He also crafted Stickybot’s legs and
feet with a process he calls shape deposition manufacturing (SDM), which combines a
range of metals, polymers, and fabrics to create the same smooth gradation from stiff to
flexible that is present in the lizard’s limbs and absent in most man-made materials. SDM
also allows him to embed actuators, sensors, and other specialized structures that make
Stickybot climb better. Then he noticed in a paper on gecko anatomy that the lizard had to
branch tendons to distribute its weight evenly across the entire surface of its toes. Eureka.
“When I saw that, I thought, wow, that’s great!” He subsequently embedded a branching
polyester cloth “tendon” in his robot’s limbs to distribute its load in the same way.
G
Stickybot now walks up vertical surfaces of glass, plastic, and glazed ceramic tile, though it
will be some time before it can keep up with a gecko. For the moment it can walk only on
smooth surfaces, at a mere four centimeters per second, a fraction of the speed of its

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biological role model. The dry adhesive on Stickybot‘s toes isn’t self-cleaning like the lizard’s
either, so it rapidly clogs with dirt. “There are a lot of things about the gecko that we simply
had to ignore,” Cutkosky says. Still, a number of real-world applications are in the offing.
The Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which
funds the project, has it in mind for surveillance: an automaton that could slink up a
building and perch there for hours or days, monitoring the terrain below. Cutkosky
hypothesizes a range of civilian uses. “I’m trying to get robots to go places where they’ve
never gone before,” he told me. “I would like to see Stickybot have a real-world function,
whether it’s a toy or another application. Sure, it would be great if it eventually has a
lifesaving or humanitarian role…”
H
For all the power of the biomimetics paradigm, and the brilliant people who practice it, bio-
inspiration has led to surprisingly few mass-produced products and arguably only one
household word – Velcro, which was invented in 1948 by Swiss chemist George de Mestral,
by copying the way cockleburs clung to his dog’s coat. In addition to Cutkosky‘s lab, five
other high-powered research teams are currently trying to mimic gecko adhesion, and so
far none has come close to matching the lizard’s strong, directional, self-cleaning grip.
Likewise, scientists have yet to meaningfully re-create the abalone nanostructure that
accounts for the strength of its shell, and several well-funded biotech companies have gone
bankrupt trying to make artificial spider silk.

QUESTION 2
True, False or Not [Link] the following statements agree with the information
given in Reading Passage?

1 Andrew Parker failed to make effective water device which can be used in desert.
2 Skin of lizard is easy to get wet when it contacts water.
3 Scientists apply inspiration from nature into many artificial engineering.
4 Tiny and thin hair under gecko’s feet allows it to stick to the surface of object.
5 When gecko climbs downward, its feet release a certain kind of chemical to make them
adhesive.
6 Famous cases stimulate a large number of successful products of biomimetics in real
life.
7 Velcro is well-known for its bionics design.
QUESTION 3
Filling the blanks.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each
question of robot below.
Ronald Fearing was required to fabricate tiny components for his robotic fly 8……………………
by specialized techniques.

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The robotic fly’s main structure outside is made of 9 …………………… and long and thin wires
which make it unlike fly at all.
Cutkosky applied an artificial material in Stickybot’s 10 …………………… as a tendon to split
pressure like lizard’s does.
facts of stickybot.
11 Stickybot’s feet doesn’t have …………………… function which makes it only be able to walk
on smooth surface.
12 DARPA is planning to use stickybot for …………………….
13 Cutkosky assumes that stickybot finally has potential in …………………… or other human-
related activities.

READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading
Passage 3 below.

Putting the brakes on climate change

Are hydrogen cars the answer?

A
It is tempting to think that the conservation of coral reefs and rainforests is a separate
issue from traffic and air pollution. But it is not. Scientists are now confident that rapid
changes in the Earth’s climate are already disrupting and altering many wildlife habitats.
Pollution from vehicles is a big part of the problem.
B
The United Nation’s Climate Change Panel has estimated that the global average
temperature rise expected by the year 2100 could be as much as 6°C, causing forest fires
and dieback on land and coral bleaching in the ocean. Few species, if any, will be immune
from the changes in temperature, rainfall and sea levels. The panel believes that if such
catastrophic temperature rises are to be avoided, the quantity of greenhouse gases,
especially carbon dioxide, being released into the atmosphere must be reduced. That will
depend on slowing the rate of deforestation and, more crucially, finding alternatives to
coal, oil and gas as our principal energy sources.
C
Technologies do exist to reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide as a waste product of our
energy consumption. Wind power and solar power are both spreading fast, but what are
we doing about traffic? Electric cars are one possible option, but their range and the time it
takes to charge their batteries pose serious limitations. However, the technology that
shows the most potential to make cars climate-friendly is fuel-cell technology. This was
actually invented in the late nineteenth century, but because the world’s motor industry

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put its effort into developing the combustion engine, it was never refined for mass
production. One of the first prototype fuel-cell-powered vehicles have been built by the
Ford Motor Company. It is like a conventional car, only with better acceleration and a
smoother ride. Ford engineers expect to be able to produce a virtually silent vehicle in the
future.
D
So what’s the process involved – and is there a catch? Hydrogen goes into the fuel tank,
producing electricity. The only emission from the exhaust pipe is water. The fuel-cell is, in
some ways similar to a battery, but unlike a battery, it does not run down. As long as
hydrogen and oxygen are supplied to the cell, it will keep on generating electricity. Some
cells work off methane and a few use liquid fuels such as methanol, but fuel-ceils using
hydrogen probably have the most potential. Furthermore, they need not be limited to
transport. Fuel-cells can be made in a huge range of size, small enough for portable
computers or large enough for power stations. They have no moving parts and therefore
need no oil. They just need a supply of hydrogen. The big question, then, is where to get it
from.
E
One source of hydrogen is water. But to exploit the abundant resource, electricity is
needed, and if the electricity is produced by a coal-fired power station or other fossil fuel,
then the overall carbon reduction benefit of the fuel-cell disappears. Renewable sources,
such as wind and solar power, do not produce enough energy for it to be economically
viable to use them in the ‘manufacture’ of hydrogen as a transport fuel. Another source of
hydrogen is, however, available and could provide a supply pending the development of
more efficient and cheaper renewable energy technologies. By splitting natural gas
(methane) into its constituent parts, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are produced. One way
round the problem of what to do with the carbon dioxide could be to store it back below
ground – so-called geological sequestration. Oil companies, such as Norway’s Statoil, are
experimenting with storing carbon dioxide below ground in oil and gas wells.
F
With freak weather conditions, arguably caused by global warming, frequently in the
headlines, the urgent need to get fuel-cell vehicles will be available in most showrooms.
Even now, fuel-cell buses are operating in the US, while in Germany a courier company is
planning to take delivery of fuel-cell-powered vans in the near future. The fact that
centrally-run fleets of buses and vans are the first fuel-cell vehicles identifies another
challenge – fuel distribution. The refueling facilities necessary to top up hydrogen-powered
vehicles are available only in a very few places at present. Public transport and delivery
firms are logical places to start since their vehicles are operated from central depots.
G
Fuel-cell technology is being developed right across the automotive industry. This
technology could have a major impact in slowing down climate change, but further
investment is needed if the industry – and the world’s wildlife – is to have a long-term
future.

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Questions 27-32
Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A-F from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-ix, in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i Action already taken by the United Nations
ii Marketing the hydrogen car
iii Making the new technology available worldwide
iv Some negative predictions from one group of experts
v How the new vehicle technology works
vi The history of fuel-cell technology
vii A holistic view of climatic change
viii Locating the essential ingredient
ix Sustaining car manufacture
27 Paragraph A
28 Paragraph B
29 Paragraph C
30 Paragraph D
31 Paragraph E
32 Paragraph F

Questions 33-36
Complete the sentences below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.
33 In the late nineteenth century, the car industry invested in the development of the
…………………, rather than fuel-cell technology.
34 Ford engineers predict that they will eventually design an almost …………………car.
35 While a fuel-cell lasts longer, some aspects of it are comparable to a ………………….
36 Fuel-cells can come in many sizes and can be used in power stations and in
………………… as well as in vehicles.

Questions 37-40
Do the following statements agree, with the information given in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
37 Using electricity produced by burning fossil fuels to access sources of hydrogen may
increase the positive effect of the fuel-cell.
38 The oil company Statoil in Norway owns gas wells in other parts of the world.
39 Public transport is leading the way in the application of fuel-cell technology.
40 More funding is necessary to ensure the success of the fuel-cell vehicle industry.

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