题目内容
The lack of clean drinking water is a major problem worldwide. The World Health Organization says more than one billion people live in areas where renewable (可再生的) water resources are not available. The problem is especially serious in Asia and the Pacific. A United Nations report says water availability in than area is the second lowest in the world, after Africa.
The U.N report notes that the world’s poorest countries are also the ones that use the most water for agriculture. Agriculture uses about eighty percent of the water in the Asia-Pacific area. There has also been an increase in water used for industry.
Millions of people worldwide have to drink unsafe water for lack of clean drinking water. This leads to an increase in diseases like diarrhea, the second leading cause of death in children under five.
The UN Millennium Development Goals(联合国新千年发展目标) for 2015 call for a fifty percent decrease in the number of people without safe drinking water and basic health conditions.
Scientists, governments and aid organizations around the world are increasing their efforts to meet these goals. Last month the U. N, called on the international community to work together to solve the water crisis.
Some American and South Korean researchers are experimenting with a new technology for turning sea water into drinking water. The new technology uses electricity to help separate electrically charged salt particles (微粒) from water to make it drinkable.
The researchers tested their desalination process on a computer chip, which removed ninety-nine percent of the salt and other harmful matters from water samples. So far the method purifies only small amounts of water. But the researchers say it may someday be available as a personal water purification product.
1.What’s the main idea of this passage?
A.The lack of drinking water is threatening the world.
B.Many people in Asia and the Pacific lack safe drinking water.
C.The UN calls on scientists to work together to solve water crisis.
D.Scientists find a new way to turn sea water into drinking water.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Water availability in Africa is the second lowest in the world.
B.Industry is using more than 50% of water in the Asia – Pacific area.
C.Diarshea is the most severe death – causing disease for children under five.
D.UN hopes to reduce the number of people without safe drinking water by hall by 2015.
3.What do we know about the new technology according to the last two paragraphs?
A.The process uses electricity to heat sea water so as to remove salt from it
B.The researchers use a computer chip to help obtrude salt canticles of sea water
C.The experimenting method could remove most of the salt and other harmful things.
D.The technology has been able to purify enough water for daily personal use.
4.What’s the meaning of the underlined word in the last paragraph.
A.Charging salt particles. B.Removing salt.
C.Adding salt. D.Producing salt.
ADCB
|
CANYOUIMAGINEHOWHARDITWOULDBETOREADSENTENCESLIKETHIS? The ancient Greeks wrote this way. The lack of punctuation marks(标点符号) probably didn’t bother good readers, though. As they read, they just put pauses where they fit best. Also at this time, sentences switched directions. A sentence read from left to right. The next one read right to left, and then left to right again, etc.
The ancient Romans sometimes punctuated like this: They·put·a·point·between·each·word·in·a·sentence. The word punctuation actually comes from this idea and the Latin word punctum, which means a prick(刺).
When the 5th century arrived, there were just two punctuation marks: spaces and points. The space separated words and while the points showed pauses in reading. Then in the 13th century, a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation. He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence. He used a slash (/) to indicate a short pause. Over time, that slash was shortened and curled, and it became the modern comma.
Since that time, other marks have enlarged the punctuation family. The exclamation mark comes form the Latin word xt. It was originally formed by putting an upper-case(大写字母) I on the lower-case xt. The Latin word xt means “exclamation of joy.” The question mark originally started out as the Latin word question, meaning question. Eventually, scholars put it at the end of a sentence to show a question. Over time, it became a symbol formed by putting a lower-case q on an o.
Punctuation is still changing today. New marks are coming into existence, and old punctuation marks are used in new ways. Take for example, the “interrobang.” This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both. For example, “She did what?” or “How much did you pay for that dress?” Obviously, the interrobang is not widely used or recognized – yet. But its invention shows that English is not yet finished with its punctuation.
【小题1】Which of the following is a comma?
A., | B.: | C. ; | D.! |
A.The history of punctuation. |
B.The introduction of punctuation. |
C.The very beginning of punctuation. |
D.The ancient Greek way of writing without punctuation. |
a. The exclamation mark and question mark came into the punctuation family.
b. Comma came into existence.
c. Romans put a dot between words to separate words.
d. A period was used to end a sentence.
e. The “interrobang” was invented.
A.cbdae | B.dcbae | C.dbcea | D.cdbae |
A.You are told she gave her baby boy a good beat. |
B.You are wondering what she did to save the poor boy. |
C.You want to know what she did for a living after fleeing to a foreign country. |
D.You demand someone else tell you what in the world happened to her. |
A.punctuation didn’t come into being until the 5th century. |
B.no one can really tell what new marks we may have in the future. |
C.the invention of “interrobang” is a failure since it is not widely used. |
D.both the exclamation mark and the question mark come from Greek words. |