Many trees in the Brackham area were brought down in the terrible storms that March. The town itself lost two great lime trees from the former market square. The disappearance of such striking feature 题目和参考答案——青夏教育精英家教网—

题目内容

Many trees in the Brackham area were brought down in the terrible storms that March. The town itself lost two great lime trees from the former market square. The disappearance of such striking features had changed the appearance of the town centre entirely, to the annoyance of its more conservative inhabitants(居民).

Among the annoyed, under more normal circumstances, would have been Chief Inspector Douglas Pelham, head of the local police force. But at the height of that week's storm, when the wind brought down even the mature walnut tree in his garden, Pelham had in fact been in no fit state to notice. A large and healthy man, he had for the first time in his life been seriously ill with an attack of bronchitis.

When he first complained of an aching head and tightness in his chest, his wife, Molly, had tried to persuade him to go to the doctor. Convinced that the police force could not do without him, he had, as usual, ignored her and attempted to carry on working. Predictably, though he wouldn't have listened to anyone who tried to tell him so, this had the effect of fogging his memory and shortening his temper.

It was only when his colleague, Sergeant Lloyd, took the initiative and drove him to the doctor's door that he finally gave in. By that time, he didn't have the strength left to argue with her. In no time at all, she was taking him along to the chemist's to get his medicine and then home to his unsurprised wife who sent him straight to bed.

When Molly told him, on the Thursday morning, that the walnut tree had been brought down during the night, Pelham hadn’t been able to take it in. On Thursday evening, he had asked weakly about damage to the house, groaned(含糊不清地说) thankfully when he heard there was none, and pulled the sheets over his head.

It wasn't until Saturday, when the medicine took effect, his temperature dropped and he got up, that he realised with a shock that the loss of the walnut tree had made a permanent difference to the appearance of the living-room. The Pelhams' large house stood in a sizeable garden. It had not come cheap, but even so Pelham had no regrets about buying it. The leafy garden had created an impression of privacy. Now, though, the storm had changed his outlook.

Previously, the view from the living-room had featured the handsome walnut tree. This had not darkened the room because there was also a window on the opposite wall, but it had provided interesting patterns of light and shade that hid the true state of the worn furniture that the family had brought with them from their previous house.

With the tree gone, the room seemed cruelly bright, its worn furnishings exposed in all their shabbiness. And the view from the window didn’t bear looking at. The tall house next door, previously hidden by the tree, was now there, dominating the outlook with its unattractive purple bricks and external pipes. It seemed to have a great many upstairs windows, all of them watching the Pelhams' every movement.

“Doesn’t it look terrible?” Pelham whispered to his wife.

But Molly, standing in the doorway, sounded more pleased than dismayed. “That's what I’ve been telling you ever since we came here. We have to buy a new sofa, whatever it costs.”

1.Why were some people in Brackham annoyed after the storm?

A. No market could be held. B. The police had done little to help.

C. The town looked different. D. Fallen trees had not been removed.

2.In the third paragraph, what do we learn about Chief Inspector Pelham’s general attitude to his work?

A. He finds it extremely annoying. B. Не is sure that he plays an important role.

C. Не considers the systems are not clear enough.

D. He does not trust the decisions made by his superiors.

3.What aspect of the Pelhams’ furniture does “shabbiness” in paragraph 8 describe?

A. its condition. B. its colour. C. its position. D. its design.

4.As a result of the storm, the Pelhams’ living-room _____.

A. was pleasantly lighter B. felt less private

C. had a better view D. was in need of repair

5.Why did Molly sound pleased by her husband’s comment?

A. It proved that he was well again. B. She agreed about the tree.

C. She thought he meant the sofa. D. It was what she expected him to say.

【答案】

1.C

2.B

3.A

4.B

5.C

【解析】略

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相关题目

　　Trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they provide him with wood and other products, they give him shade, and they help to prevent drought and floods.

　　Unfortunately, in many parts of the world man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had.

　　Two thousand years ago a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became hard and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the country found itself faced by floods and starvation.

　　Even though a government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult for it to persuade the villager to see this. The villager wants wood to cook his food with, and he can earn money by making charcoal or selling wood to the townsman. He is usually too lazy or too careless to plant and look after trees. So unless the government has a good system of control, or can educate the people, the forests will slowly disappear.

　　This does not only mean that the villagers? sons and grandsons have fewer trees. The results are even more serious. For where there are trees their roots break the soil up—allowing the rain to sink in and also hold the soil, thus preventing it being washed away easily, but where there are no trees, the soil becomes hard and poor. The rain falls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, causing floods and carrying away with it the rich topsoil, in which crops grow so well. When all the topsoil is gone, nothing remains but a worthless desert.

63. The purpose that the writer wrote this article for is ____ .

　A. to tell people that trees are very useful to man

　B. to warn people not to cut down trees any more

　C. to warn that man mustn't destroy forests any more

　D. to explain how trees help to prevent drought and floods

64. In the writer's opinion, ____ , or the forests slowly disappear.

　A. measure must be taken B. people shouldn't draw benefit from the tree

　C. government must realize the serious results D. unless trees never be cut down

65. According to the article we know it is ____ to prevent the forests from slowly disappearing.

　A. necessary but impossible B. necessary but difficult

　C. impossible and unimportant D. difficult and impossible

66. In the last two paragraphs the writer wanted to make it clear that ____ .

　A. where there are no trees, the soil becomes hard and poor

　B. where there are many trees, there are fewer floods

　C. where there are no trees, the land might become desert slowly

　D. floods will make the land become desert

Restaurant owners should not use disposable chopsticks for the good of their health and the environment , an official of the China Cuisine Association（中国烹饪协会）said.
Bian Jiang, its secretary general, recently called on restaurant owners to say no to one-off tableware(餐具), especially wooden chopsticks. “The country produces and throws away over 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year, at a cost to the environment of about 25 million tree.” Bian said.
“That’s a heavy blow to the county’s shrinking(正在减少的) forests,” he said, “We should not turn a deaf ear to the call for environmental protection. We should stop using disposable tableware from now on.”
In order to discourage the use of wooden chopsticks and to protect wooden resources, the government put a 5% tax on them in April.
The use of disposable chopsticks has been discussed for years. Their supporters say that both restaurant owners and consumers prefer them, and that an industry has grown up around their production.
. 【小题1】
The secretary general suggests that wooden chopsticks be stopped from being used because .

A．they cause a lot of pollution of the environment

B．the environment is no longer gre

C．the government is not happy with that

D．too many trees are cut

【小题2】
From the text we know that the idea of no disposable tableware will be .

A．hard to put into practice	B．welcomed by a lot of people
C．receiving indifferent attitudes	D．rejected by some people

【小题3】
What does the underlined word “disposable” in the first paragraph mean?

【小题4】
What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Many people support the idea of saying no to using wooden chopsticks.

B．The government calls on people to stop using wooden chopsticks.

C．Disposable tableware wastes a lot of forests and does damage to the
environment.

D．People are aware of the cost of using disposable tableware

Empty Deserts

In the 19^th century Americans from the eastern states moved out west to settle in the rich new lands along the Pacific coast. The most difficult part of their trip was crossing the “Great American Desert in the western part of the United States by horse and wagon.

The western desert can be very dangerous. There is little water and there are few trees. But the desert also has scenery of great beauty. Tall towers of red and yellow stone rise sharply from the flat sandy valley floor. The scene has been photographed many times and appears in movies and in TV.

In Arizona, man made dams across the Colorado River have made two large lakes in the middle of the dry desert country. At Lake Powell, the red stone arch of Rainbow Bridge rises high above the blue lake.

There are few roads. Many areas of Lake Powell’s shore can only be reached by boat or on foot. But hikers in this empty desert land sometimes find very old native American pictures, painted on the rocks.

In Death Valley, California, the summer temperature rises to 130 degrees. There is less than two inches of rain each year. Death Valley is the lowest place in America---- 925 meters below sea level. In the 1800s, many travelers died when they tried to cross this waterless valley in the terrible heat.

Although the desert is dry and seems empty, there is plenty of life if you look closely. Small insects, snakes and rats have learned how to live in the desert heat. They live under ground and come out at night, when it is cool. Plants such as cacti need very little water. When it does rain in the desert (sometimes only once or twice a year), plants grow quickly, and flowers open in a single day. For a short time, the desert is covered with brilliant colors.

1.In the 19^th century, Americans moved from the east to the west because they ______.

A. enjoy the trip B. wanted to make their home there

C. wanted to find new grassland there D. had no water to drink

2.From the passage, we can conclude that ______.

A. the western desert is a good place for people to live in

B. there is little water but there are many trees in the desert

C. the desert is dangerous but it is full of life

D. till now, people know little about the desert

3. If you want to find some old native American pictures painted on the rock you must go ______.

A. on foot B. by boat C. by car D. by plane

4.In the 1800s many travelers died in Death Valley because of ______.

A. illness B. high temperature

C. cold weather D. poisonous water

5.In the desert, animals will die ______.

A. if they move about B. if they cannot make holes underground

C. if they come out at night D. if they drink much water

Uncertainty spreads through our lives so thoroughly that it dominates our language，Our everyday speech is made up in large part of words like probably, many, soon,great,little.What do these words mean?

Such verbal imprecision is not necessarily to be criticized. Indeed, it has a value Just because it allows uw to express judgments when a precise quantitative statement is out of the question.

We have been trying to pin down by experiments what people meari by these expressions in specific contexts, and how the meanings change with age. For instance,a subject is told "There are many trees in the park" and is asked to say what number the word may mean to him. Or a child is invited to take "some" sweets from a bowl and we then count how many he has taken. We compare the number he takes when he is alone with the number when one or more other children are present and are to take some sweets after him, or with the number he takes when told to give

“some" sweets to another child.

First, we find that the number depends, of course, on the items involved. To most people some friends means about five, while some trees means about twenty. However, unrelated areas sometimes show parallel values. For instance, the language of probability seems to mean about the same thing in predictions about the weather and about politics: the expression is certain to( rain,or be elected)signifies to the average person about a 70 percent chance; is likely to, about a 60 percent chance; probably will, about 55 percent.

Secondly, the size of the population of items influences the value assigned to an expression.Thus, if we tell a subject to take "a few" or“a lot of" glass balls from a box, he will take me if the box contains a large number of glass balls than if it has a small number, But not proportionately more: if we increase the number of glass balls eight times, the subject takes only half as large a percentage of the total.

Thirdly, there is a marked change with age. Among children between six and fourteen years old, the older the child, the fewer glass balls, he will take. But the difference between a lot and a few widens with age. This age effect is so consistent that it might be used as a test of intelligence.

51. What's the right attitude towards the words like probably, any and soon ?

A. They are inaccurate and we should avoid them.

B. They are necessary since we cannot be always precise.

C. They should be criticized because there are too many of them.

D. Their value is not yet clear since we don't know their meaning.

52. Why do we do experiments with the words many and some?

A. To prove that people are insensitive to these words.

B. To prove that the words dominate our everyday speech.

C. To find out how the meanings vary with age and contexts.

D. To find out whether the words can mean a precise quantity.

53. Which of the following expressions means a larger chance in weather broadcast?

A. Possible. B. Probable. C. Be likely to. D. Be certain to.

54. Which of the following is similar to the underlined word signifies in its meaning?

A. makes B. means C. predicts D. indicates

55. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Uncertainty in the Language Use.

B. How to Use Language in an Uncertain Way

C.Uncertain Words and their Use in Specific Contexts

D. Experiments on Relationship between Uncertainty and Language Use

In the 19^th century, Americans from the eastern states moved out west to settle in the rich new lands along the Pacific Coast. The most difficult part of their trip was crossing “the Great American Desert” in the western part of the United States by horse and wagon.

The western desert can be very dangerous. There is little water and there are few trees. But the desert also has scenery of great beauty. Tall towers of red and yellow stone rise sharply from the flat, sandy valley floor. The scene has been photographed many times and appears in movies and on TV.

In Arizona, man-made dams across the Colorado River have made two large lakes in the middle of the dry desert country. At Lake Powell, the red stone arch of Rainbow Bridge rises high above the blue lake.

In Death Valley, California, the summer temperature rises to 130°F—165°F. There is less than inches of rain each year. Death Valley is the lowest place in America---925 metres below sea level. In the 1800s, many travelers died when they tried to cross this waterless valley in the terrible heat.

Although the desert is dry and seems empty, there is plenty of life if you look closely. Snakes and rats have learned how to live in the desert heat. They live underground and come out at night, when it is cool. Plants such as cacti need very little water. When it does rain in the desert (sometimes only once or twice a year), plants grow quickly, and flowers open in a single day. For a short time, the desert is covered with brilliant (very bright) colours.

1.In the 19^th century, Americans moved from east to west because they .

A．enjoyed the trip B．wanted to make their home there

C．wanted to find new grassland there D．had no water to drink

2.From this passage. we can conclude that .

A．the western desert is a good place for people to live in

B．there is little water but there are many trees in the desert

C．the desert is dangerous but it is full of beauty

D．till now, people know little about the desert

3.In the 1800s, many travelers died in Death Valley because of .

A．illness B．high temperature

C．cold weather D．poisonous water

4.In the desert, animals will die .

A．if they move about B．if they can’t make holes underground

C．if they come out at night D．if they drink much water

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