Question

Pollution inside homes and other buildings kills more than 4 million people each year. Many people die as a result of breathing smoke or from cooking over wood-powered or coal-powered stoves.

One way to reduce the number of deaths is through cooking equipment powered by the sun. Crosby Menzies, a solar power expert in a South African company, described his latest solar cooker called the “Sol-4”. “It is four square meters of mirrors, six to eight meters in length. It is quite a large cooker.”

The “Sol-4” works by reflecting(反射) light from the sun off large mirrors. The mirrors direct the light at a cooking pan. Then the light heats the pan with solar energy. Within two minutes, the pan is hot enough to cook sausages and onions. In just four minutes, water can be boiled. That is as fast as cooking with natural gas or electricity.

The cooker is also much “friendlier” than other models because people do not have to stand in the sun to use it. And people can prepare meals without having to collect firewood or spend money on coal. Such individuals would be less likely to have breathing illnesses from harmful smoke.

At present, the cooker only works when the sun is shining. But engineers are working on a way to make it work without sunlight.

Each cooker costs about $2,000, which is a large amount of money for most Africans. To solve that problem, Crosby Menzies has created a non-governmental organization called Solar Cookers for Africa. It plans to raise money through donations to provide poor people with solar cooking equipment.

1.The passage is mainly about ________.

A. solar cookers B. smoke pollution

C. solar power experts D. breathing illness

2.The “sol-4” is mainly used to ________.

A. shorten the time of cooking

B. reduce the cost of making cookers

C. raise money through donations to help African people

D. reduce the number of deaths caused by harmful smoke

3.The underlined word “individuals” in Paragraph 4 most probably means “________”.

A. cookers B. mirrors C. people D. experts

4.Which of the following about the “sol-4” is TRUE?

A. It is six to eight square meters of mirrors.

B. It can work in any weather condition now.

C. It can also heat the pan by lighting firewood.

D. It is more environment-friendly than other cookers.

5.What can we infer from the text?

A. The “sol-4” will be designed in a smaller size.

B. More Africans can use the solar cookers in the future.

C. The “sol-4” is the first product of the South African company.

D. The African government will provide poor people with solar cookers.

Answer 1