题目内容

  Predicting when an earthquake or volcanic eruption will take place is extremely difficult, even with the advanced technological equipment available to modern scientists. There are some people, however, who believe they can sense when a major geological(地质学上的) event is coming. They claim to be "earthquake sensitive".

 Sensitivity to the earth's movements, according to those who say they have it, is revealed in different ways. Some say they are unusually clumsy and keep dropping things and having small accidents just before a big event. Others suddenly have a strong desire to eat popcorn, and don' t know why. Though it may sound crazy, they say it tells them that a big earthquake is less than 24 hours away.

 The most common sign of an approaching disaster among earthquake sensitive people is said to be a bad headache. Arguably the first person to connect her own headaches to coming geological events was an American woman called Charlotte, King. She became famous for her prediction of the eruption of Washington's Mr. St. Helens on May 18, 1980, when she was accurate to within 12 minutes of the actual event.

    King was tested by doctors and scientists and found to possess unusual hearing abilities. She could hear sounds in frequencies that most human beings cannot, and claimed to have been hearing such sounds since 1976. Three years later, she noticed that when the sounds changed in pitch or rhythm, giving her unpleasant headaches, a large earthquake would be reported within 72 hours.

66. It is stated in the first paragraph that there may be ________.

    A. people who are able to detect earthquake activity

    B. people who are developing new methods of preventing earthquakes

    C. new machines to help earthquake sensitive people make predictions

    D. new machines that will soon be able to accurately predict earthquakes

67. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

    A. Charlotte King                    B. A magical ability

    C. Human vs Machine                  D. Earthquake and volcanic eruption

68. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a sign of an approaching earthquake?

    A. A very loud noise.                  B. A painful headache.

    C. An urge to eat popcorn.             D. A tendency to drop things.

69. Charlotte King became well known because she ________.

    A. timed an earthquake to within 12 minutes

    B. correctly predicted a big volcanic eruption

    C. can make sounds other people cannot hear

    D. is smarter than many doctors and scientists

70. What enables Charlotte King to predict a geological event?

    A. The headache.                       B. The frequency of a sound.

C. Her special hearing ability.             D. The pitch or rhythm of a sound.

 ABABC

练习册系列答案
相关题目

阅读理解

　　In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping．

　　According to a weather expert' s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate．If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities．Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere(北半球), possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food growing zones．

　　In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet．But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels．

　　Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing．The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place．This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth．

　　However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling．Scientists conclude , therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have gone beyond those caused by man．The question is：Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?

　　One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun．Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and "cold" spots(that is, the relatively less hot spots)on the sun．As the sun rotates(使旋转), every 27.5 days, it presents hotter or "colder" faces to the earth, and different aspects to different parts of the earth．This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure, and consequently on wind circulation．The sun is also changeable over a long term：its heat output goes up and down in cycles, the latest trend being downward．

　　Scientists are now finding shared relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years, including the last Ice Age．The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not．One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia(惯性)of the earth's climate．If this is right, the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful opposed balance to the sun's fading heat．

(1)

It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would ________．

[　　]

A．

mean a warming-up in the Antarctic

B．

raise the temperature of the earth' s surface

C．

prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface

D．

explain the cause of great changes in the climate in the northern hemisphere

(2)

The article was written to explain ________．

[　　]

A．

the greenhouse effect

B．

the solar effects on the earth

C．

the causes affecting weather

D．

the models of solar-weather interactions

(3)

Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere, temperatures there seem to be falling．This is ________．

[　　]

A．

mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising

B．

partly due to changes in the output of solar energy

C．

possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting

D．

only due to the effect of the inertia of the earth' s climate

(4)

On the basis of their models, scientists believe the opinion that ________．

[　　]

A．

the climate of the world should be becoming cooler

B．

the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect

C．

the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects

D．

it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect

(5)

If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice age is correct, ________．

[　　]

A．

ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere

B．

the greenhouse effect could work in favor of the earth

C．

the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels

D．

the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could warm up the earth even more quickly

Many people have described television as a passive activity that is harmful to children’s education. However, there are good and bad ways to watch television. Parents who are interested in exploiting television as a learning tool can actually turn time in front of TV into an educational chance.

Probably the most familiar educational way to use television is to simply watch educational programs. In particular, this means selecting channels and programs specially designed for educational purposes. Along with traditional educational shows for children on public broadcasting channels, cable television (有线电视) now offers kids and adults a wide variety of educational programs, with everything from nature shows to historical events in different countries.

Captioning(字幕），such as "closed captioning" for hearing disabled viewers provides another way for parents to exploit the educational possibilities of television．One study showed that children who watched captioned TV got great improvement in their vocabulary and oral reading ability. In addition, parents can make any show a learning class by watching television together with children. By actively joining children in the programs that they are watching, parents can help with the development of such skills as predicting（预见）and summarizing. In order to develop predicting skills, parents and children could first refer to a program’s description in a viewing guide．After reading the program description and guessing what might happen in the program, parents and children could watch together to see which predictions were correct. And to practice summarizing, after watching a program, parents can turn off the TV and ask what the story was about. This kind of activity helps children develop thinking skills such as arranging events in an order and memorizing information．

Although there will still be plenty of times when children watch TV simply for passive enjoyment, parents can help make at least part of their children’s viewing time a more productive activity．Used intelligently by exploiting the learning chances available through various programs, television can play an instructive role in children’s education.

Which activity is NOT suggested in the passage？

A. Talking about TV shows.     B. Watching captions on TV.

C . Enjoying films about nature.     D. Watching shows for homework.

Which of the following statements is true according to the passage？

A. Parents can simply make any show a learning class for their children．

B. To make watching TV a more productive activity parents should include themselves in the producing process.

C. Most parents have changed their attitude to their kids’ watching TV and become positive to the problem.

D. In a way, it is how parents act that leads to whether watching TV may do good or not to their children.

We can infer from the last paragraph that       ．

A. not every minute when a child watches television must be educational

B. children should not use television for passive enjoyment

C. some children prefer reading to watching television

D. television offers more learning chances than school

Which of the following questions is the major one discussed in the passage?

A. What makes television more interesting than books?

B. Why should schools put television into classrooms?

C. How can parents use television as a teaching tool？

D. Which program can actually make kids smarter?

A new study says that birds living in big cities sing shorter, faster songs that are higher-pitched (高音调的) than those sung by their brothers in the forests. The researchers think that the birds adjust their songs to allow themselves to be heard over the noises of the city, especially the low traffic noise.
To study how urban birds song, Hans Slabbekoorn and Ardie den Bore, biologists at the University of Leiden in Netherlands, travelled around Europe and recorded bird songs in ten major cities and in nearby forests. The species they focused on, the great tit (大山雀), is widespread across Eurasia and one of the few types of birds that thrives in big cities.
Singing is crucial (重要的) for males, which use their songs to attract mates and mark out their territory. The changing songs could play a role in eventually causing the city birds and the forest dwellers to evolve into separate species.
The findings could also help explain why usually only a few bird species thrive in cities. By contrast, many more bird species tend to be found in forests and other undeveloped habitats.
Studies like this could eventually help researchers predict how urbanization (都市化) will affect birds, using this knowledge could help urban planners design more pleasant city environments, study co-author Slabbe-koorn said. “You can make a city much more livable if you pay attention to where the noise goes and where the people go,” he said. “It would be easy to fit the birds into those models.” Then cities wouldn’t be strictly for the people, but also for the birds.
【小题1】 Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Birds Change Songs to Suit Country Life
B．Birds Change Sex to Suit Urban Life
C．Birds Change Living Habits to Suit Urban Life
D．Birds Change Songs to Suit Urban Life
【小题2】 Males usually sing their songs to ____.
A．evolve into another species
B．attract mates and mark out their living area
C．attract city people’s attention and make them supply food
D．allow themselves to be heard over the noises of the city
【小题3】 The underlined word “thrives” in the second paragraph means “____”.
A．diesB．survivesC．suffers D．travels
【小题4】What is NOT the effect that studies of birds’ songs have?
A. Predicting how course of the city’s expanding will affect birds.
B. Helping the city planners design more pleasant city environments.
C. Making cities more livable for both the birds and people.
D. Driving the urban birds back to the forest.

Everyone has heard of the San Andreas fault （断层）, which constantly threatens California and the West Coast with earthquakes. But how many people know about the equally serious New Madrid fault in Missouri?

　　 Between December of 1811 and February of 1812, three major earthquakes occurred, all centered around the town of New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. Property damage was severe. Buildings in the area were almost destroyed. Whole forests fell at once, and huge cracks opened in the ground,  releasing some strong smell chemicals.

　　 The Mississippi River itself completely changed character, developing sudden rapids and whirlpools (激流和漩涡). Several times it changed its course, and once, according to some observers, it actually appeared to run backwards. Few people were killed in the New Marid earthquakes, probably simply because few people lived in the area in 1811; but the severity of the earthquakes are shown by the fact that the shock waves rang bells in church towers in Charleston, South Carolina, on the coast. Buildings shook in New York City, and clocks were stopped in Washington, D.C.

Scientists now know that America's two major faults are essentially different. The San Andreas is a horizontal boundary between two major land masses that are slowly moving in opposite directions. California earthquakes result when the two masses make a sudden move.

     The New Madrid fault, on the other hand, is a vertical fault; at some points, possibly hundreds of millions of years ago, rock was pushed up toward the surface, probably by volcanoes under the surface. Suddenly, the volcanoes cooled and the rock collapsed, leaving huge cracks. Even now, the rock continues to settle downwards, and sudden sinking motions cause earthquakes in the region. The fault itself, a large crack in this layer of rock, with dozens of other cracks that split off from it, extends from northeast Arkansas through Missouri and into southern Illinois.

　　 Scientists who have studied the New Madrid fault say there have been numerous smaller quakes in the area since 1811; these smaller quakes indicate that larger ones are probably coming, but the scientists say they have no method of predicting when a large earthquake will occur.

1.This passage is mainly about ___________.

A. current scientific knowledge about faults

B. the San Andreas and the New Madrid faults

C. the causes of faults 　　　　　　　

D. the New Madrid fault in Missouri

2.The New Madrid fault is __________.

A. a vertical fault

B. a horizontal fault

C. a more serious fault than the San Andreas fault

D. responsible for forming the Mississippi River

3.This passage implies that _________.　　　　　　.

A. horizontal faults are more dangerous than vertical faults

B. Vertical faults are more dangerous than horizontal faults

C. The volcanoes that caused the New Madrid fault are still alive

D. A lot of people would die if the 1811 New Madrid earthquakes happened today

 

Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons (季风), but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.

Every year, moist (潮湿的) air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.

According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings（年轮）, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.

Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.

Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology（大事年表） that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.

“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”

1.What’s the passage mainly about？

A．The effects of Asian monsoons.             B．The necessity of weather forecast.

C．The achievements of Edward cook.          D．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction.

2.It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because _______.

A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records.

B．they are formed under complex climate systems.

C．they influence many nations.

D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research.

B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years.

C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak.

D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas.

4.According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees _______.

A．determine the regional climate.

B．have a great influence on the regional climate.

C．offer people information about the regional climate.

D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information.

5.What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?

A．It is a great achievement in climate science.

B．It should include information about human life in the past.

C．It has analysed moisture models world wide,

D．It will help people prevent droughts and floods.

6.Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?

A．Matter-of –fact    B．Pessimistic         C．Humorous         D．Friendly.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话：027-86699610 举报邮箱：58377363@163.com

精英家教网