题目内容
On April 10, 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted with great force. Fifty cubic kilometers of magma (岩浆) flew from its peak (山顶) and a blanket of ash as thick as one centimeter fell over more than 500,000 square kilometers of Indonesia and the Java Sea. The eruption destroyed Tambora’s peak and formed a hole six by seven kilometers wide. The eruption and resulting tsunamis killed 10,000 people. The agricultural loss and disease brought about by the thick ash caused the deaths of 82,000 more.
Indonesia was rocked again in 1883. On August 26, a small volcano on an uninhabited island between Sumatra and Java, erupted. The eruption produced an ash cloud 80 kilometers high and was heard in Australia—4,800 kilometers away. The eruption also caused a tsunami, which pounded (击打) the shores of Java and Sumatra—killing 36,000 people.
In 1902, St. Pierre was a thriving (兴盛的) community and the largest town on the French colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea. Mont Pelee cast a shadow over the town from where it stood, eight kilometers to the north. The townspeople were used to the light continuous sounds of the mountain, but in May, 1902 Pelee started to get really unstable. Clouds of steam and ash poured from the volcano and on May 8, Pelee erupted. Superheated gas and steaming volcanic ash flew out, pouring down the mountain at high speed. Within seconds, the deadly gas cloud had destroyed the town of St. Pierre and incinerated everyone in it — except one prisoner in a basement cell. It was the worst volcano disaster of the 20th century.
1.How many people died because of the eruption on April 10, 1815 ?
A.About 10,000. |
B.More than 82,000. |
C.About 36,000. |
D.More than 92,000. |
2.The underlined word “incinerated” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “_____”.
A.brought up |
B.burned up |
C.woke up |
D.shut up |
3.Only one prisoner survived the volcano eruption of Mont Pelee on May 8 because _____.
A.he was on a ship then |
B.he was kept underground |
C.he stayed in the water |
D.he was hidden in a well |
4. We can know from this article that _____.
A.no measures can be taken to protect people from a volcano eruption |
B.volcanoes usually caused a series of earthquakes |
C.sometimes a volcano can completely destroy a city |
D.volcanoes are much more violent than the earthquakes |
1.D
2.B
3.B
4.C
【解析】
1.细节题,由第一段的10,000 people和82,000 more可知选D
2.推理题,由这一句的意思,“迪利气云破坏了整个圣特皮埃尔的城镇和烧毁了生活在那里的每个人”可知选B
3.推理题,由最后一段的倒数第二句话except one prisoner in a basement cell.可知选B
4.推理题,由本文的主要意思,“火山的危害比较大”可知选C
MONTREAL--He may be the world’s richest man, but that didn’t prevent Bill Gates from falling for an April Fool’s day joke by two Quebec radio comics (喜剧演员) pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
Montreal French-language station CKMF--FM said last Wednesday that staffers (工作人员) Marcantoine Audet and Sebastien Trudel had a 10-minute telephone chat with Microsoft Corp boss Gates on April 1.
The broadcast was aired on their nightly show last Tuesday and repeated last Wednesday.
“We were happy. We had been calling Microsoft persistently (坚持不懈地) for four weeks,” Trudel said.
Trudel said he and his colleague had already fooled Canadian pop singer Celine Dion and Formula One (一级方程赛车) driver Jacques Villeneuve on their show.
“This time, we wanted to give ourselves a challenge with somebody more difficult to reach,” Ttudel said.
He said he was surprised that Gates’s assistants did not check to see if it was really the prime minister’s office on the line.
Trudel said they imitated (模仿) Chretien’s heavily accented English, talking about the economy, asking about Microsoft’s Windows operating system and inviting the multibillionaire to visit a well-known Montreal strip joint (运动服合资企业).
The radio host said that Gates was not amused by the fake interview.
“He did not seem angry but he did not find it so funny,” the comic said.
【小题1】Bill Gates was fooled mainly because ______.
A.his assistants were not careful enough |
B.the Canadian Prime Minister helped the two comics |
C.the two comics imitated the Canadian Prime Minister so well |
D.it was April Fool’s Day |
A.liked to fool famous people on their show |
B.thought that Gates was not a great challenge to them |
C.had a good knowledge of Bill Gates and his Windows operating system |
D.were not quite satisfied with their tricks |
A.Gates ‘April Fooled’ | B.Two Comics and Their Tricks |
C.Two comics and Their Show | D.A Fake Interview |
Happy April Fool’s Day.In celebration of the day, we have put together a list of some of the greatest hoaxes in history.They are the lies that have been designed for innocent people who are ready to believe them.
INSTANT COLOUR TV
In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white.The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily transform their existing sets to display colour reception.All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color.Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people were taken in.Actual color TV transmission only started to appear in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
SAN ERRIFFE
In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement (增刊)in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean.A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this unknown nation.The Guardian’s phones rang all day as readers asked for more information about the beautiful holiday spot.Few noticed that everything about the island was made up.
NIXON FOR PRESIDENT
In 1992 American National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again.His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his election speech.Listeners responded immediately to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and anger.Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke, Nixon’s voice was copied by comedian Rich Little.
【小题1】The underlined phrase “taken in” in the 2nd paragraph means ________.
A.deceived | B.pleased | C.innocent | D.broadcast |
A.The Swedish People didn’t watch color TVs until 1970. |
B.The Swedish People began to watch color TVs in 1962. |
C.Kjell Stensson was a TV host. |
D.Not many people believed Kjell Stensson. |
A.San Seffiffe is located in the Indian Ocean. |
B.San Seffiffe became a republic in 1967. |
C.San Seffiffe is a beautiful place. |
D.San Seffiffe doesn’t exist. |
A.Richard Nixon didn’t win the election in 1992. |
B.Richard Nixon didn’t do anything wrong |
C.Richard Nixon was not liked by the American people |
D.Richard Nixon asked Rich Little to speak for him |
On April 1, the westerners will play ____ on each other but make sure that no one is hurt.
A.fun |
B.fool |
C.jokes |
D.games |