题目内容
"But Ijust paid 1.69 for this bottle of wine last week.How is it that the price is 2.25?"
There are at least three things going on that have caused the price of wine to rise.All haveto do with the supply and demand factors of economics.
The first factor is that people are drinking more wine than ever before.This demand formore wine has increased wine sales in America at the rate of 15 percent a year.
The second factor is that the supply of wine has stayed relatively the same, which meansthat the same number of bottles is produced each year.Wine producers are trying to open upnew land to grow more grapes.But in at least three wine producing areas of the world-France,Germany, and California --- new vineyards(葡萄园)will not be useable in the near future.Wines are produced in other countries, such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as well as Argentine,Australia, Austria, and Chile.And these wines will be seen more often on the American market.But none of these countries will be able to fill the good wines.
The third factor is that costs of wine production are soaring.The workers who make wineare asking for more money, and the machinery needed to press the grapes is becoming moreexpensive.
When the demand for something is greater than the supply, prices go up.When productioncosts, meaning the price of labor and machinery rise, the producer adds this increase to theprice of the wine.For these reasons, that bottle of wine now costs 2.25 instead of 1.69.
1.What is the main idea of this passage?
A.Every year people drink more wine. |
B.Countries won't be able to fill the demand for good wines. |
C.The prices of things go up when the demand for them is greater than the supply. |
D.The supply of wine will always be less than demand. |
2.This passage is written to .
A.describe where wine is produced |
B.persuade people drink more beer |
C.explain why the price of wine is rising |
D.describe why wine is a favorite drink to many Americans |
3.Theunderlined word "soaring" means"___ .
A.adding quickly |
B.reducing fast |
C.demanding badly |
D.increasing fast |
1.C2.C3.D
【解析】略
请将下列方框里所列词汇的正确形式填到短文中,每空限一词,不能重复使用。
depend important similar contribute mean pronunciation differ strength end up attend |
We can see the 1) __________ between American English British English but they are different sometimes. Many students want to know about the 2) __________ between American English and British English.
At first the language in Britain and America was the same. In 1776 America became a (an) 3) __________ country. After that, the language slowly began to change. For a long time the language in America stayed the same, while the language in England changed. For example, 300 years ago the English talked about "fall".
Today, most British people talk about "autumn", but Americans still talk abut "fall". In the same way Americans still use the expression "I guess" 4) __________ "I think", just as the British did 300 years ago.
At the same time, British English and American English started borrowing words from other languages, 5) __________ with different words. For example, the British took "typhoon" from Chinese, while the Americans took "tornado" from Spanish.
In 1828 Noah Webster published the first American dictionary. He wanted to make American English different from British English, so he changed the spelling of many words. That’s why the words "colour", "centre" and "traveller" are spelt "color", "center" and "traveler" in American English. Except for spelling, written English is more or less the same in both British and American English.
They are also different in the spoken language. For example, Americans say dance /dæns/, and in southern England they say /dɑ?ns/. In America they 6) p__________ not /nɑt/; in southern England they say /n?t/. However, most of the time people from the two countries do not have any trouble in understanding each other.
"It's this time of year when the weather starts warming up and frogs start breeding - but they haven't been breeding," says John Wilkinson, research and monitoring officer at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC).
Amphibians (两栖动物) are just one of the groups of animals that nature observers fear may have problems reproducing this year, as groundwater levels are even lower now than in the infamously dry summer of 1976, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). According to the UK's Centre for Hydrology and Ecology the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972.
"If ponds dry up totally," says Mr. Wilkinson, "you could have lots of dead tadpoles." Drier and windier conditions could also make it more difficult for juvenile amphibians to survive their journeys between wet habitats.
But Peter Brotherton, the biodiversity manager for Natural England, says that "drought is part of nature's cycle", and, at present, a lot of animals, plants and insects are still in hibernation. This means that the population picture is unclear. "However, when we get extreme events, we get animals dying," he says. "And what is worrying is that normally at this time of year we expect soil to be near saturation(湿润)after winter."
Charlie Kitchin, the RSPB's site manager of the Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire, says the 2,000-acre wetland and grassland area is now struggling following two winters with relatively little winter rain and no flooding. One species that could suffer, he says, is the black-tailed godwit(黑尾豫). "There are only 50 breeding pairs in the country, and we have 40 of them, and everything is bone-dry," Mr Kitchin says.
But one bad nesting season, he says, is "not the end of the world". "One of the features of flood plains is that they're volatile anyway," he adds. "But if they fail to breed another year, the population is likely to dip again."
1.According to the passage animals may have problems reproducing this year mainly due to _____.
A.drought |
B.hibernation |
C.windier conditions |
D.extreme events |
2.What really worries Peter Brotherton is that ________.
A.drought is part of nature’s cycle |
B.animals are still in hibernation |
C.soil at this time is far from saturation |
D.the population of animals is still unclear |
3.Which of the following is NOT true of Charlie Kitchin’s words?
A.Drought has so far continued for two winters. |
B.Animals could survive one bad nesting season. |
C.The black-tailed godwit is in danger of extinction. |
D.40 black-tailed godwits live in the Nene Washes. |
4.The underlined word volatile in the last paragraph can be replaced by ________.
A.losing water |
B.undergoing changes |
C.breeding animals |
D.suffering flood |
5.It can be learnt from the text that ______________.
A.groundwater levels this summer are lower than those of 1976 |
B.the average rainfall this year has been the lowest since 1972 |
C.windier conditions could also cause some amphibians’ death |
D.flooding plays no useful role in wetlands and grasslands |