When the Audet family turns on the lights at Blue Farm, they are using electricity that comes from cows—cow manure (粪肥), to be specific.

Cows produce a lot of wastes. One cow can create 30 gallons of wastes each day. Now imagine the output of over 1,000 cows at Blue Farm. That’s really a big amount.

When farmers clean their barns, they put the wastes in a big heap, and spread some of them on their fields for fertilizer(肥料). But now places like Blue Spruce Farm have a new way of using cow wastes. They use them to produce electricity.

Here’s how it works: A big machine moves back and forth cleaning the barn floor. “The cows aren’t bothered,” says Marie Audet. “They are animals of habit; they get used to it, and just lift one foot and then another to let it go by.”

The machine pushes the manure into a big 600-gallon tank like a small swimming pool. The tank is called a digester (化粪池) because what happens there is just like what happens inside a cow: Bacteria(细菌) get to work and continue to digest the manure.

Methane gas (甲烷、沼气)in the atmosphere is known as a “greenhouse” gas because it keeps heat just like a greenhouse does, causing our planet to warm up. That’s an environmental concern. But the digester has a good result. Its gas is kept and used to power electric generators (发电机).

At Blue Farm, the generators make enough electricity to power 400 homes. The Audet family sells the extra electricity they can’t use themselves.

 

1. We learn from the text that the Audet family is using cow wastes to ______.

  A. make electricity           B. produce fertilizer       C. build their farm     D. feed the cows

2. How are the cow wastes collected into the digester at Blue Farm?

  A. Marie Audet does the work                          B. The job is done by machine  

C. The cows lift the cow wastes                         D. Bacteria get to work on them

3. According to the passage, which of the following is changed into electricity?

  A. The power of moving water.                         B. The heat of burning coal.       

C. The power of sunlight.                           D. The heat of the methane gas

4.The new way of using cow wastes at Blue Farm might be best described as ______.

  A. reducing                   B. saving                   C. recycling            D. changing

5. What is the main purpose for writing the passage?

  A. To introduce a new way of making electricity           B. To explain how a new energy works better

  C. To show a new rebuilding plan for a big farm           D. To explain the reasons for green house effect

 

任务型阅读(每小题1分,满分5分)

请认真阅读下面短文,根据短文内容回答短文后的各个问题,并将答案写在每小题下的横线上。

  On Sunday, April 22, people all over the world take time out to appreciate(珍惜) the earth that we all share. It’s Earth Day, a special day to learn about our planet(星球) and how to take care of it.

On Earth Day, some people listen to speeches about the environment. Others help clean up their offices or save water and electricity at home. Your parents may even decide to take a day off from driving their cars.

The idea for Earth Day came from a U.S. Senator (参议员), who was worried about the pollution and the health of plants and animals. And the idea quickly caught on. In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. More than 20 million people in cities all over the U.S. took part in. Since then, Earth Day has been used to educate people about their role in taking care of our planet.

Now, Earth Day has become a global celebration. In 1990, 200 million people from 140 countries took part in clean-ups, tree planting and other environmental events on Earth Day.

1. When is Earth Day?

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Who came up with the idea for Earth Day?

_____________________________________________________________________

3. What does the underlined sentence mean in Chinese?

_____________________________________________________________________

4. A lot of people celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970, didn’t they?

_____________________________________________________________________

5. What is Earth Day?

__________________________________________________________________

 

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