题目内容
WILD WEATHERMAN
Name: Sam Champion
Hot job: TV Weatherman
Where: WABC-TV, New York City
When you were a child, did you plan to forecast wind, rain, and snow on TV?
I wanted to be a foreign journalist. I took courses in weather science at Eastern Kentucky University, but I majored in broadcasting news.
How did you finally become a weatherman?
My first job in the early 80’s was at the local TV station in Paducah, Kentucky. I did everything from turning on the lights in the morning to writing and delivering morning news. I put together weather forecasts, and became interested in them.
Back then, how did you forecast weather?
Independent companies collected computer information that showed, for example, how a single weather system might split into snow or snow mixed with rain. The information was often opposite and the job of a weatherman was to study the information and make the best educated guess about the storm.
Has weather forecasting changed much with new technology?
Advanced computers, satellites, and Doppler radar (sound waves used to track storms) have made forecasting more exact. But we still know very little about how weather is shaped. So far, we just have theories.
Any advice for children who’d like to become weather scientists?
To me, weather is the most exciting field in the world. There are still so many more questions about weather than answers. After all, if we can’t foresee floods or hurricanes, how safe a society are we? Weather forecasting is wide open for scientists who love to solve puzzling problems. The next generation of meteorologists (weather scientists) will unlock many of Earth’s weather secrets. So get a general knowledge of Earth science, and study meteorology (weather science) in college.
Thanks, Sam.
1.Judging from the writing style, the text is ________.
A. a diary B. an interview C. a news story D.an announcement
2.As a child, ABC-TV’s Sam Champion wanted to be a ________.
A. space scientist B. weatherman C. news reporter D. meteorologist
3.Present weather forecasting technology ________.
A. has made weather report more exact than ever B. is still not perfect
C. hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years D. both A and B
4.The study of weather science is called ________.
A meteorology B forecasting C geography D earth science
1.B。 推理判断题。从问答形式及最后的Thanks, Sam 可推断出。
2.C。事实细节题。从I wanted to be a foreign journalist.可知。
3.D。推理判断题。从倒数第二个问题的问答中可推断出。
4.A。语意理解题。从meteorology (weather science) 可推断出。
阅读快车系列答案THIS was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, snow storms, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter of a million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird（古怪的） year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable（脆弱的） buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes "are pretty much constant," said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. "All the change that's made is man-made."
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people - many of them living in poverty - and more poorly built shanties than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
In February, an earthquake that was more than 500 times stronger than the one that struck Haiti hit an area of Chile that was less populated, better constructed, and not as poor. Chile's bigger quake caused fewer than 1,000 deaths.
Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
In the summer, one weather system caused oppressive heat in Russia, while farther south it caused flooding in Pakistan that inundated 161,200 square kilometers, about the size of Wisconsin. That single heat-and-storm system killed almost 17,000 people, more people than all the worldwide airplane crashes in the past 15 years.
Scientists have calculated that the killer Russian heat wave—setting a national record of 43.9℃—would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.
【小题1】What is responsible for the most human deaths in 2010?
| A．Natrual disasters. | B．Terrorist attacks. |
| C．Poor buildings. | D．Too rapid developrnent. |
| A．earthquakes are happening more often because of human beings |
| B．earthquakes are causing more damage because of human beings |
| C．stronger houses should be built to limit storm damage |
| D．Port—au—Prince is now overpopulated |
| A．list the natural disasters that occurred in 2010 |
| B．give the details of some natural disasters of 2010 |
| C．warn that more natural disasters are to strike |
| D．blame humanity for not helping those affected by the disasters |
2010 was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
“It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings（危房） in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.
Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.
“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”
【小题1】From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn ___________________________.
| A．what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world |
| B．how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades |
| C．how the Earth struck back in 2010 |
| D．why the world saw so many disasters in 2010 |
| A．poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected |
| B．man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters |
| C．the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake |
| D．the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster |
| A．Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making. |
| B．Natural disasters are causing increase. |
| C．The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man. |
| D．Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters. |
| A．to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately |
| B．to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods |
| C．to make better decisions and policies of city development |
| D．to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles |
| A．The major causes of natural disasters. |
| B．The human unawareness of environment protection. |
| C．The harmonious relationship between humans and nature. |
| D．The serious results of global warming and earthquakes. |