The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famous in literature and beloved by tourists, initially formed some 11,000 years ago, but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields on Africa’s highest mountain shrank by 80 percent in the past century.

Lonnie G. Thompson,one professor from Ohio State University, said measurements using modern navigation satellites show that the oldest ice layers on the famous mountain were deposited during an extremely wet period starting about 11,700 years ago.The mountain appears in literature, most notably Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and some ancient beliefs in Africa hold the mountain to be a sacred place.

But a temperature rise in recent years is destroying the 150-foot-high blocks of ice that gave Kilimanjaro its unique white cap.“The ice will be gone by about 2030,” said Thompson. The disappearing ice already has reduced the amount of water in some Tanzanian rivers and the government fears that when Kilimanjaro is bald of snow the tourists will stop coming.

“Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign currency earner for the government of Tanzania,” said Thompson. “It has its own international airport and some 20,000 tourists every year. The question is how many will come if there are no ice fields on the mountain.”

Africa was not alone in the global drought. Thompson said other records show that civilizations during this period collapsed in India, the Middle East and South America.

Researchers put markers on the ice field blocks in 1962 and Thompson said measurements using satellites show the summit of the ice has been lowered by about 56 feet in 40 years. The margin of the ice also has moved back more than six feet in the past two years, much smaller than before.

“That’s more than two meter’s worth of ice lost from a wall 164 feet (50 meters) high,” said Thompson. “That’s an enormous amount of ice.”

1.The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro ________.

A. will disappear in two centuries

B.first developed some 11,000 years ago

C. resulted in a temperature rise in recent years

D. has decreased to 80 percent over the past century

2.According to Thompson, the disappearing of the snow may mainly influence________.

A. the local water supply

B. the local tourism

C. the weather in the surrounding areas

D. the government foreign currency exchange

3.The underlined word “margin”inParagraph6 means__________.

A. center B. Top C. edge D. back

4.The writer’s tone in this article is___________.

A. concerned B. casual

C. doubtful D. angry

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

A.Risks of Visiting Mount Kilimanjaro

B. ASacred Place— Kilimanjaro

C. Africa’s Highest Mountain

D. Kilimanjaro Snow Cap May Melt Soon

It seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smartphones become increasingly important assistants in their lives. As we rely too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities.

The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored in smartphone contacts, there's now no need to dial a number or look at it again. This is fine until you need to call someone for help, only to find your phone is not around.

And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because navigation apps can guide people anywhere they want. People get so dependent on them that when they can't use their smartphones, they get lost and anxious.

But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially inept(无能的)People often bury themselves in their smartphones. As we're too absent-minded by what's happening in the virtual(虚拟的)some of us have lost conversational skills and sometimes can't even distinguish whether a person is happy or not.

Last August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours' screen time every day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared.

The children made an average of 14. 02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp without electronic products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average.

Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your parents' numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and stores , which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic products.

1.The underlined sentence in the second paragraph implies that .

A. you are able to turn to others for help

B. others are able to call you anytime and anywhere

C. others are unable to get in touch with you by smartphone

D. you are unable to contact others without your smartphone

2. The experiment by researchers indicated that without electronic products, one could .

A. recognize more facial expressions correctly

B. lose the sense of direction frequently

C. tell different emotions immediately

D.more pictures of faces easily

3.Overusing smartphones, people will probably according to the passage

A. lose face-to-face communication skills

B. have no sense of numbers

C. weaken their senses of hearing and sight

D. fail to find their destination

4.The passage mainly tells us that many people are .

A. becoming no smarter than smartphones

B. benefiting from smartphones' intelligence

C.losing some basic abilities because of using samrtphones

D.trying hard to break away from smartphones’intelligence

5.The writer’s attitude towards electronic products is .

A.critical B.sympathetic

C.supportive D.optimistic

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