题目内容
The huge Florida wetland known as the Everglades is a slow-moving river 80 kilometres wide but only a few centimeters deep. People call the Everglades a “river of grass” because sawgrass covers most of it. Sawgrass is not really grass. It is a plant that has leaves edged with tiny sharp teeth that can easily cut through clothes—and skin!
Travel in the Everglades is difficult. You cannot walk through shallow water because the sawgrass will cut you. The water is too shallow for regular boats. So, we use an airboat. An airboat is a flat, open boat. Like an airplane, it has a big propeller to move it. The propeller is fixed on the rear of the boat. It makes a tremendous noise, but it does the job. The boat skims along the water’s surface. Although we can still get lost in an airboat, at least we are above the alligators(短吻鳄).
While hundreds of different kinds of animals live in the Everglades, the most famous is surely the alligator. Once endangered, alligators are now protected within Everglades National Park. Visitors are likely to see them both on land and in water.
For a long time, dangers have threatened the Everglades. Around 1900, some people felt this precious wetland should be drained (排干). They said it was just a big swamp and not good for anything. In the 1920s, there was a land boom in Florida. People wanted to build homes everywhere, including in the Everglades. They built canals, levees (防洪堤) , and other water systems that stopped the rivers flowing into the Everglades. Factories were built near rivers that flowed into the wetland. These factories dumped poisonous waste that damaged the Everglades ecosystem.
? People are now working to preserve the Everglades National Park for the future. Right now, one big problem is the paperbark tree. This tree is an invader from Australia.
Paperbark trees soak up a lot of water. In the early 1900s, people brought them to Florida because they thought they would help drain the Everglades. However, the invaders adapted too well. Paperbark trees have taken over hundreds of thousands of acres of the Everglades and killed other trees. Scientists are cutting down these invaders or spraying them with herbicides (除草剂) to kill them. ?
Which helps to explain why it is difficult to travel in Everglades?
A. Airboats may make a very big noise.
B. You may get lost when passing through.
C. Paperbark trees soak up too much water there.
D. Many different kinds of animals are to be protected.
Why do people use airboats instead of normal boats?
A. They have big propellers to move them faster than alligators.
B. The propeller makes loud noise so as to scare alligators.
C. Their flat bottom can skim along the water surface.
D. They can watch alligators without hurting them. ?
The following measures were taken to drain the Everglades except that people______. ?
A. built canals and levees to stop the rivers flowing into Everglades?
B. built factories near rivers that flowed into the wetland?
C. brought Paperbark to soak up water in Everglades?
D. are cutting down these Paperbark trees?
The underlined word "invader" probably means something______. ?
A. that moves in from another place B. that enters and takes control?
C. that has been brought in? D. that is in danger?
【小题1】B
【小题2】C
【小题3】D
【小题4】B
解析:
略
Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
| A. The reasons for the problematic food situation in Britain. B. The effect of the situation on farmers. C. The variety of British food. D. The surface richness of food and questions it brings. E. The different situations at home and abroad. F. The recent reason for the huge supply of food. |
| 1 |
The long years of food shortage in Britain have suddenly given way to huge food supply. Stores and shops are crowded with food. Rationing(定量供应) has already seemed too distant to today’s Britons. Even overseas suppliers have been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead of joy, there is widespread uneasiness and worries. Why do food prices keep on rising, when there seems to be so much more food about? Is the surface huge amount of food only temporary, or has it come to stay? Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at home?
| 2 |
The recent growth of food supply on the world food market has certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because two continuous big grain harvests in North America are now being followed by a third. Most of Britain’s overseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year and home production has also risen.
| 3 |
Then why is the food situation in Britain still faulty? On the one hand, The British government has gradually cut down support for food. On the other hand, the shops are overstocked with food not only because there is more food available, but also because people, frightened by high prices, are buying less of it.
| 4 |
Moreover, the rise in food prices at home has come at a time when world prices have begun to fall, with the result that imported food, with the exception of grain, is often cheaper than the home-produced variety. And now grain prices, too, are falling internationally. British consumers are beginning to ask why they should not be able to benefit from this trend.
| 5 |
The significance of these developments is not lost on farmers. The older generation have seen it all happen before. Despite the present price and market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to be squeezed between cheap food imports and a smaller home market. Present production is running quickly compared with years ago. However, farmers haven’t shared any benefit from the change.
A.
Tickets for London Eye Flight (30 mins,$22) 
C.
Tickets for the Tower of London plus River Cruise(4.5 hours,
$66) 
E.
Discovering London (9 hours, $ 100) 