Day Zero is a topic you might hear in a Hollywood disaster film, but in Australian towns influenced by drought (干旱), Day Zero comes when the government finally shut down the local water supply after years of drought. To some Australian towns under The Big Dry, that day arrived earlier in the last year.

Australia is not the only country that has such water problems. More water is used all over the world and drought happens more often and lasts for longer time. Australia, South Africa and India are all influenced seriously. According to the UN, more than four billion people don't have enough water for at least one month a year because of the world's rising population in cities and a warmer climate. And the problem will be even worse in the coming years.

There are too many dry rivers in Australian towns now. In New South Wales, the 32 months from January 2017 to August 2019 were the driest on record. The situation is so serious that in August 2019, the government prepared to spend ten million dollars saving fish. The year before that they had relaxed rules for shooting kangaroos because increasing numbers of kangaroos came to farmland to look for water and food.

It happened on Monday 13 January 2020. The water ran out in Stanthorpe. To satisfy the water needs in town, trucks carried water from another dam (水坝) near Warwick every day, which cost $800,000 a month. But this couldn't solve the problem.

"This is the worst drought on record," said Tracy Dobie, who has been Mayor of the Southern Downs Region since 2016. "When you see a blue sky without clouds, dry land, and dead plants, it is hard to be positive."

Scientists are trying to find ways to solve the problem, developing new technologies that could get drinking water from even the world's driest water taps.

1.Drought happened mainly because ____________.

A.the government shut down water supply

B.the government didn't store enough water in dams

C.serious pollution leads to drought all over the world

D.increasing population and warmer climate costs more water

2.What does the Australian government do to deal with the water problem?

① Protect kangaroos from being killed.

② Carry water in trucks to places in need.

③ Help to save fish in rivers from dying.

④ Look for more water in farmland.

A.②③ B.②④ C.①②③ D.②③④

3.We can infer from the passage that ____________.

A.scientists have found ways to solve the problem

B.the water problem will be less serious next year

C.Australia has the most serious water problem in the world

D.Stanthorpe is still in drought though much money is spent

4.Which can be the best title for the passage?

A.Day Zero B.Saving water

C.Drought in Australia D.Why drought happened

请认真阅读下面短文并用英语回答问题,将答案写在横线上。

One day June Green visited the family doctor, Edward Smith. Dr. Smith was an old man with a long beard.

“What’s the problem, June?” Dr. Smith asked her.

“I’m very worried about my son, teddy.” Mrs. Green said, “I can’t stop him from gambling(赌博). He spends all his money betting on horse races. And not just on horse races,he’ll bet on anything. It doesn’t matter what it is.”

“I’ve cured people of gambling before.” Dr. Smith said, “Send him to me. I’ll talk to him.”

A week later, Dr. Smith spoke to Mrs. Green on the phone. “I think I’ve cured your son.” he said. “That’s wonderful. How did you do it?”

“Well,” the doctor said, “It was very strange. While we were talking, he was looking at my beard. Suddenly he said, ‘I bet you $50 that’s a false beard.’” “Oh, no!” Mrs. Green cried. “It’s all right,” the doctor said, “I knew what to do. ‘My beard isn’t a false one,’ I told him, ‘And I can prove it.’”

“ ‘Can I pull your beard and find out?’ your son asked me.”

“I thought, this was my chance to teach him a lesson, so I said, ‘Yes, you can pull my beard.’ ”

“Well, he pulled it, and soon found out it was real.” The doctor laughed. “He had to pay me $50. That should cure his gambling.”

“Doctor,” Mrs. Green said, “You’re wrong. You haven’t cured him. You’ve made him even worse.”

“How can that be?”

“The day before he went to see you, he bet me$100 that you would ask him to pull your beard!”

1.How much money did Teddy win in the end?

___________________________________________________________

2.What was Teddy’s problem?

__________________________________________________________

3.Did the doctor cure Teddy? Why or why not?

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