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．
(1)
What is responsible for the most human deaths in 2010?
[ ]
A．
Natrual disasters．
B．
Terrorist attacks．
C．
Poor buildings．
D．
Too rapid developrnent．
(2)
According to Andreas Schraft, ________．
[ ]
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
(3)
The main point of the article is to ________．
[ ]
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
We have met the enemy and he i s our s．We bought him at a pet shop．When monkey-pox, a di sea se u sually found in the African rain fore st suddenly turn s up in children in the American Midwe st, it' s hard not to wonder of the di sea se that come s from foreign animal s i s homing in on human being s．“Mo st of the infection s we think of a s human infection s started in other animal s, ” say s Stephen Mor se, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedne s s at Columbia Univer sity．
It' s not ju st that we're going to where the animal s are; we're al so bringing them clo ser to u s．Popular foreign pet s have brought a whole new di sea se to thi s country．A strange illne s s killed I sak sen' s pet s and she now think s that keeping foreign pet s i s a bad idea, “I don't think it' s fair to have them a s pet s when we have such alimited knowledge of them．” say s I sak sen．
“Law s allowing the se animal s to be brought in from deep fore st area s without stricter control need changing．” say s Peter Schantz．Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call．Re searcher s believe infected animal s may infect their owner s．We know very little about the se new di sea se s．A new bug(病毒)may be kind at fir st．But it may develop into something harmful．Monkey-pox doe sn't look a major infectiou s di sea se．But it i s not impo s sible to pa s s the di sea se from per son to per son．
(1)
We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may ________．
[ ]
A．
come from Columbia
B．
prevent u s from being infected
C．
enjoy being with children
D．
suffer from monkey-pox
(2)
Why did I sak sen advi se people not to have foreign pet s?
[ ]
A．
Becau se they attack human being s．
B．
Becau se we need to study native animal s．
C．
Becau se they can't live out of the rain fore st．
D．
Becau se we do not know much about them yet．
(3)
What doe s the phra se “the wake－up call” in Paragraph 3 mo st probably mean?
[ ]
A．
A new di sea se．
B．
A clear warning．
C．
A dangerou s animal．
D．
A morning call．
阅读理解
My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my fir st car．From the time I wa s a saver．My allowance, back in tho se day s, wa s twenty five cent s a week．I grew up on a farm near a small town called Ventura．In tho se day s the area wa s mo stly agricultural．The climate wa s and still i s a s clo se to perfect a s you could get．I earned some of my money picking one crop or another．When I wa s about ten, a school friend' s family owned walnut orchard s(果园)and it wa s harve st time．She told me we could earn five dollar s for every bag of walnut s we picked．I certainly learned about picking walnut s that day．Not surprisingly, that wa s my fir st and la st time a s a walnut picker．
In 1960 my grandmother pa s sed away．She left me 100 share s of AT＆T．One hundred share s of stock don't seem like much today but back then tho se share s paid me＄240 per year in dividend s(利息)．That wa s huge for a kid my age．
By the time I wa s seventeen．I had saved up ＄ 1, 300 and I knew exactly that I wanted．Ithink my father wa s somewhat suri sed when I announced I had saved up ＄ 1, 300 and wa s ready to buy my new car．I'll never forget the evening my father said, “Let' s go see about that car”．I wa s so excited．
My father could have ea sily ju st given me the car but he alway s in si sted that hi s children work for what they got．Thi s wa s not a bad thing．I learned self-reliance．Self-reliance i s equal to freedom．Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father．
(1)
Which one of the following s didn't belong to the saving of ＄1, 300?
[ ]
A．
Weekly allowance．
B．
Her earning s by picking crop s．
C．
Share s left by grandma．
D．
Money earned from selling share s．
(2)
The underlined part in the second paragraph probably meant ________．
[ ]
A．
she didn't have the chance of picking walnut s
B．
enough money had been earned for her car
C．
the work wa s too hard for children like her
D．
she had no time to do that again for some rea son
(3)
We can know from the pa s sage the author got her car at the age of ________．
[ ]
A．
16
B．
17
C．
18
D．
19
(4)
The purpo se of the author' s father doing like that wa s to ________．
[ ]
A．
give the author freedom
B．
be unwilling to buy the author a car
C．
teach the author to learn self－reliance
D．
give the author a big surpri se
阅读理解
Two year s ago, Wendy Ha snip, 47，experienced a brain injury that left her speechle s s for two week s．When she finally recovered, she found her self talking with what seemed to be a French accent．“I phoned a friend the other day, and she spent the fir st ten minute s laughing, ” Ha snip said at the time, “while I have nothing again st the French．”
Ha snip suffered from foreign accent syndrome(外国口音综合症), a rare condition in which people find them selve s speaking their own language like someone from a foreign country．The condition u sually occur s in people who have experienced a head injury or a stroke-a sudden lo s s of con sciou sne s s, sen sation, or movement cau sed by a blocked or broken blood ve s selin the brain．
The condition wa s fir st identified during the Second World War in a Norwegian woman who se head wa s injured during an attack by the German military．The woman recovered but wa s left with a German-sounding accent, to the horror of fellow villager s who avoided her after that．
Re searcher s have di scovered that the combined effect of the damage to several part s of the brain make s victim s lengthen certain syllable, mi spronounce sound s, and change the normal pitch(音高)of their voice．Tho se change s in speech add up to what sound s like a foreign accent．
Another re searcher, a phonetician, say s victim s of the syndrome don't acquire a true foreign accent．Their strangely changed speech only re semble s the foreign accent with which it ha s a few sound s in common．
When an Engli sh woman named Annie recently developed foreign accent syndrome after a stroke, she spoke with what seemed to be a Scotti sh accent．However, Annie' s Scotti sh coworker s said she didn't sound at all like a Scot．
(1)
According to the pa s sage, people ________ may have foreign accent syndrome．
[ ]
A．
who se parent ha s experienced a head injury
B．
who have lived in a foreign country for a long time
C．
who have lo st their con sciou sne s s owing to a stroke
D．
who have learned foreign language from their coworker s
(2)
If a per son suffer s foreign accent syndrome, ________．
[ ]
A．
hi s coworker s will be afraid of him and avoid contacting with him
B．
he ha s more chance of suffering stroke again
C．
he will speak a fluent foreign language like native speaker s
D．
hi s speech only ha s a few sound s in common with the foreign accent
(3)
Writing thi s pa s sage, the writer' s main purpo se i s to ________．
[ ]
A．
introduce foreign accent syndrome and some related information
B．
warn people not to be at the ri sk of experiencing a stroke
C．
make it clear that foreign accent syndrome can be cured
D．
tell a story of an injured woman during the Second World War
阅读理解
(1)
All of the following book s have children a s their main character s except ________．
[ ]
A．
PETER PAN
B．
GONE WITH THE WIND
C．
A LITTLE PRINCESS
D．
THE SECRET GARDEN
(2)
We can know from the pa s sage that ________．
[ ]
A．
there are only three book s with tape s
B．
we can buy 5 kind s of the above book s in book store s
C．
two of the book s are written by France s Hodg son Burnett
D．
THE SECRET GARDEN i s ￥5 cheaper in book store s than online
(3)
Mary bring s the hou se and a long-lo st garden back to life with the help of ________
a．the power of hope
b．friend ship
c．her uncle
d．Nature' s magic
[ ]
A．
a, b, c
B．
a, c, d
C．
b, c, d
D．
a, b, d
(4)
Which of the following about the book s i s mentioned in thi s text?
[ ]
A．
What Sara did to help her fellow s
B．
Why Peter Pan wouldn't grow up．
C．
What kind of woman Scarlett i s．
D．
How Marry Lennox came into her uncle' s hou se．
(5)
Thi s text i s mo st probably taken from a ________．
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