Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.
   The cottages could be an example of the industry’ s odd love affair with “low technology,” a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship (手艺) that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual (虚拟的) —so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by hand in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example, but Twitter’s designs lie on the extreme end. Other companies are using a broader interpretation (阐释) of low technology that focuses on nature.
   Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire floor is carpeted in glass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking trail.
   Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “We have lost the connection to the maker in our lives, and our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished (贫乏的) , because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “They’re looking for a way to regain their individual identity, and we’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to do that.”
   This craft based theory is rooted in history, William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after the Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life,” Morris said. Research has shown that natural environments can restore(恢复) our mental capacities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe,” taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.
   These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environment. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office—even simple views of trees and flowers—felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially nourish the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.
50. The writer mentions the two nineteenth-century cottages to show that ________.
   A. Twitter is having a hard time
   B. old cottages are in need of protection
   C. early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana
   D. Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology
51. Low technology is regarded as something that _______.
   A. is related to nature                            B. is out of date today
   C. consumes too much energy               D. exists in the virtual world
52. The main idea of Paragraph 5 is that human beings ________.
   A. have destroyed many pre-industrial arts
   B. have a tradition of valuing arts and crafts
   C. can become intelligent by learning history
   D. can regain their individual identity by using machines
53. The writer’s attitude to “low technology” can best be described as ________.
   A. positive        B. defensive               C. cautious           D. doubtful
54. What might be the best title for the passage?
   A. Past Glories, Future Dreams                
B. The Virtual World, the Real Challenge
   C. High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices   
D. The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity
【考点】考察科普知识类阅读
【文章大意】本文介绍了“大自然能够促进人的创造力”这一理念，也就是在自然环境下工作的人们工作效率更高。所以世界上很多的大公司都积极创设自认的办公环境提高员工的创造力。
50.D 推理题。据文章第一段可知19世纪的两座小木屋被运到了San Francisco，现在让工程师在里面工作。根据第二段The cottages could be an example of the industry’ s odd love affair with “low technology,”这里的low technology是指在工业化之前的技术。也就是说现代科技的大公司发现了他们需要低科技年代的自然环境来提高员工的创造力。所以才会有第一段的做法。故D正确。
51.A 推理题。根据文章最后一段Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office—even simple views of trees and flowers—felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying.工人们在自然状态下的办公室里工作会感觉压力更下，更加满意。再根据文章第三段第一句Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.”可知这样做会让工人感觉是在自然环境下就像是在公园里工作一样。故Low technology 被认为是与自然有关的，故A正确。
52.B 段落大意题。根据第一句This craft based theory is rooted in history, William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after the Industrial Revolution得知英国的艺术家和作家William Morris认为工业基础理论是扎根于历史的，很多都可以追溯到18世纪60年代之后的工业革命之后的艺术理论。也就是告诉我们人类有重视艺术的传统的。故B项正确。
53.A 推理题。根据文章第三段内容可知很多大公司都积极创设一种自然的低技术的环境来提高员工的创造性。在根据倒数第二段第一句Research has shown that natural environments can restore(恢复) our mental capacities.可知研究人们还认为自然的环境能够恢复员工的精神能力。这些都说明作者认为low technology是非常有好处的。也就是说作者对它的态度是积极的。故A正确。
54.C 主旨大意题。本文主要介绍了之前的low technology对现在的高科技公司有很大作用，很多low technology可以被用来装饰办公室，来提高员工的创造性和恢复精神能力。在文章第三段里列举了多个实例，说明本文的主要内容是C项。
【长难句解析】
The cottages could be an example of the industry’ s odd love affair with “low technology,” a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship (手艺) that exists long before the Internet era.
【翻译】这些小木屋可以背当成工业时代喜欢利用“低技术”的例子，这是一个与自然世界，存在与网络年代之前的旧手艺有关的概念。
【分析】本句较长，句中的a concept与前面的the industry’ s odd love affair with “low technology是同位语的关系，associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship (手艺) that exists long before the Internet era.是一个形容词短语做定语修饰名词a concept。其中有定语从句that exists long before the Internet era修饰名词old-school craftsmanship。