請依下文回答第 26 題至第 30 題 

 A “No Kissing” sign has been unveiled at Warrington Bank Quay railway station in northern England. The 26 is 

to stop departing passengers from pulling up at a crowded drop-off point to kiss goodbye. The spokesman of Virgin Rail, 

which runs the station, says that they have 27 the sign because the drop-off point is not a big area and drivers block 

the access to the station while saying goodbye to departing passengers. The “No Kissing” sign is necessary in order to 

make the station more 28 . Passengers are not 29 from kissing, says the spokesman. If they want to spend more 

time with their loved ones and kiss goodbye, they 30 to park in the short-stay car park nearby. 

        Scientists have genetically modified mice to enable them to sniff out landmines, the explosives buried just below the surface of the ground. They hope the GM mouse, known as MouSensor, could become a useful tool to help deal with the dangerous devices left from past wars. 

        Although it sounds peculiar, similar efforts have already been made. A Belgian charity uses giant African HeroRats to sniff out the chemical explosive, TNT. Two of these rats can clear an area in less than two hours that would take two people two days to do. One disadvantage of the HeroRat, however, is that it needs nine months’ training before being ready for landmine detection. 

        Scientists wanted to improve on the HeroRat concept by creating a “supersniffer” mouse, MouSensor. They found that a receptor in the lab mouse’s nose is sensitive to the odor of the chemical elements in TNT and landmines. By altering the genes of the mouse, scientists are able to enhance the capability of its receptor 500 times stronger than before. Besides having super sniffing power, the MouSensor is cheaper to manage and easier to breed than the rats. 

        When the MouSensor detects the presence of a landmine, it would have some sort of a seizure and faint because of its extreme sensitivity of the explosives. And this change of the mouse’s physical condition would trigger a chip implanted under its skin to send a signal to a computer monitored by scientists. As a result, the location of the landmine could be identified, and a bomb-disposal expert could go in and neutralize it. The mouse itself would be safe from the landmine, since it would be too small to trigger an explosion.

    26 , these stereotypes are just that—stereotypes—according to Sarah Gordon, an expert in computer viruses and security technology, and a Senior Research Fellow with Symantec Security Response. Since 1992, Gordon has studied the 27 of virus writers. “A hacker or a virus writer is just as likely to be the guy next door to you,” she says, “or the kid at the checkout line bagging your groceries. An average hacker is 28 someone dressed entirely in black and showing off a nose ring; she may very well be a 50-year-old female.” 

    The virus writer Gordon has come to know have 29 backgrounds: while predominantly male, some are female. Some are solidly academic, while others are athletic. Many have friendships with members of the opposite sex, good relationships with their parents and families; most are popular with their peers. You wouldn’t pick them out of a lineup as being the perpetrator.

    When people talk about Concorde, they tend to describe it the way one might describe Princess Diana: charming, elegant, and classic. The retired supersonic passenger airliner, still 31 a remarkable achievement of the engineering, first entered service in 1976. It had the most powerful and efficient engines at supersonic speeds. During flight, it would stretch between 6 and 10 inches from its normal length, 32 the heating of the airframe. A special white paint was thus used to help reflect and radiate the heat. 

    Concorde used to fly regularly from London and Paris to New York and Washington. It flew these routes in 33 half the time of other airlines. A trip from London to New York with Concorde took nearly three hours and thirty minutes as opposed to eight hours with Boeing 777 or Airbus 330. That is to say, it was not 34 for business people to take a day trip to New York and return home in London before pubs closed. With only 20 aircraft built, 35 , Concorde was not a success in terms of economic profit. After the aircraft’s only crash in 2000 and the 911 terrorist attack in 2001, Concorde was retired in 2003, bringing to an end the era of supersonic passenger transportation.

   Nancy has been to many countries such as England, France, Germany and Australia, but she has never gone to America. Therefore, when she was told that she could attend a business meeting in America, she decided that she wanted to go there and to 26 the country. As the meeting was to be held in Chicago, she first took a flight from Taipei to Los Angeles and then waited for a transit flight there. Unfortunately, by the time she arrived in Los Angeles, all the flights to Chicago had been cancelled because of a heavy storm. As Nancy was very 27 about not being able to attend the meeting on time, she asked the people at the check-in counter to help her solve the problem. But nobody could help her as they were all too busy 28 other customers' complaints. As a consequence, she had no choice but to stay in Los Angeles for the night. 

   Yet, the same thing happened to her the next day. She still had difficulty boarding a flight to Chicago. While she was worried about the possibility of missing the meeting in Chicago, an American sitting beside her suggested that she could, in fact, plan another 29 to get to Chicago. She followed the advice and boarded another airline for Chicago. She flew to Denver first, waiting for a transfer flight to Chicago. But she missed the plane because she wasn't 30 the time difference. She was put on a waiting list and had to wait for the next flight to Chicago. When she finally boarded the plane, she felt greatly relieved. Although it was already late in the evening when she arrived in Chicago, she was happy that she made it to Chicago after all!

   Solar is the first energy source in the world. It was in use much earlier before humans even learn how to light a fire. Many living things are dependent on solar energy from plants, aquatic life, and the animals. The solar is mostly used in generating light and heat. The solar energy coming down to the planet is affected by the orbital path of the sun and its variations within the galaxy. In addition, it is affected by activity taking place in space and on the sun. It was this energy that is believed to have been responsible for the breaking of ice during the ice age, which creates the separation of lands and sea.

   Solar energy is the alternative energy source that is used most widely across the globe. About 70% of the sunlight gets reflected back into the space and we have only 30% of the sunlight to meet up our energy demands. While the sunlight is used for producing solar energy, it is also used for drying clothes, used by plants during the process of photosynthesis, and also used by human beings during winter seasons to make their body warm.

   There are two kinds of solar energy, namely, the passive solar energy and the active solar energy. The passive solar energy basically uses duration, position, and the intensity of the sun's rays to its advantage in heating a particular area and also in inducing airflow from an area to the next. The active solar energy uses electrical technology and mechanical technology like collection panels in capturing, converting, and storing of energy for future use.
   Solar energy does not create any pollution and is widely used by many countries. It is a renewable source of power since the sun will continue to produce sunlight all the years. Solar panels, which are required to harness this energy can be used for a long time and require little or no maintenance. However, solar energy proves to be ineffective in colder regions which don't receive good sunlight. It cannot be used during the night and not all the light from the sun can be trapped by solar panels. Solar energy's advantages are much more than its disadvantages, which makes it a viable source of producing alternative energy