题目内容
Many of the most damaging types of weather begin quickly, strike suddenly, and disappear rapidly, destroying small areas while leaving neighboring areas untouched. Such event as a tornado(龙卷风) struck the northeastern part of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado went beyond $250 million, the highest ever for any Canadian storm.
Traditional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-lived local storms like the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to study carefully the slight atmospheric changes that come before these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at places separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, traditional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large areas than they do forecasting specific local events.
Until recently, the observation intensive (十分细致) method needed for exact, very short-range forecasts, or “Nowcasts,” was not possible. The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was extremely high, and the difficulties concerned in rapidly collecting and processing the weather data from such a network were hard to overcome.
Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar(雷达) systems and satellites are all able to make detailed, nearly continuous observation over large areas at a lower cost. Communications satellites can send out data around the world cheaply and immediately, and modern computers can quickly collect and analyze this large amount of weather information.
Meteorologists(气象学者) and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment able to change weather data into words and graphic displays(图解) that forecasters can understand easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, nowcasting is becoming a reality.
Why can’t traditional computer models predict short-lived local storms?
A.The weather data people collect are often wrong.
B.Detailed weather data in some small areas are not available.
C.The computers are not advanced enough to predict them.
D.The computers are not used to forecast specific local events.
The word “Nowcast” in Paragraph 3 means .
A.a network to collect storm data
B.a way of collecting weather data
C.a more advanced system of weather observation
D.a forecast which can predict weather in the small area
What can make “Nowcasts” a reality according to the passage?
A.Scientific and technological advances. B. Advanced computer programs.
C.Computer scientists. D.Meteorologists.
What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.The advantages of “Nowcatsts”.
B.A tornado in Edmonton, A1bertA.
C.The difficulty in predicting tornado.
D.A great development in weather forecast.
【小题1】B
【小题2】D
【小题3】A
【小题4】D
解析:
略
53随堂测系列答案As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
| A．Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
| B．Land in the West was hard to manage. |
| C．Some railroad stops remained underused. |
| D．Land grants went into private hands. |
| A．The use of money and power. |
| B．The transmission of power. |
| C．The conservation of solar energy. |
| D．The selection of an ideal place. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Approving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Cautious. |
| A．How the Railways Have Affected the West |
| B．How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
| C．How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
| D．How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
| A．Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
| B．Land in the West was hard to manage. |
| C．Some railroad stops remained underused. |
| D．Land grants went into private hands. |
| A．The use of money and power. |
| B．The transmission of power. |
| C．The conservation of solar energy. |
| D．The selection of an ideal place. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Approving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Cautious. |
| A．How the Railways Have Affected the West |
| B．How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
| C．How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
| D．How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |