We keep reading that TV is bad for you. If this is true, how come the current generation of TV-addicted kids is much smarter than we are? In my home, the only people who can work the remote control are the children.

Perhaps TV does educate you. For example, you learn a useful medical fact: A person who has been shot always has time to speak an incomplete sentence before he dies. “The killer was…” (dies)

But I guess the biggest things we learn from TV can be regarded as “Life Skills”. Bad things only happen on dark and stormy nights. Emotional breakdowns cause people to wander in the heavy rain without umbrellas. And contrary to what scientists say, the crack(霹雳) of lightning and the accompanying flash happen at exactly the same time, wherever you are.

I’ve even acquired useful geographical facts from science-fiction shows: Aliens speak English no matter which planet they come from.

Making use of what we learn from TV can improve our security. Consider these truths. If you are ever attacked by 20 bad guys, don’t worry about being outnumbered. The criminals will hang back and take turns to approach you in ones and twos just so you can conveniently defeat them all. Bad guys who are completely covered in black clothes always remove their black masks to reveal that they are in fact, aha, women.

TV also teaches us important information about escaping from danger. Watch and learn. (1) If anyone is running after you down a passage, you will find that boxes have been conveniently placed near all the walls you need to jump over. (2) If you are tall and handsome, you can run from any number of armed criminals, and every shot will miss you.

Be warned, however. If your name card says “henchman” (帮凶) and you are part of a group of plain-looking people trying to catch a handsome individual, a single shot will kill you. But don’t be anxious: TV also delivers useful information for bad guys. All cars are inflammable (易燃的) and have amazing shock absorbers that enable them to fly into the air and land without damage — except police cars.

TV even teaches us about TV. Whenever anyone turns on a TV, it shows a news flash about someone they know. They then turn the box off immediately after that news item.

1.By saying “A person who has been shot always has time to speak an incomplete sentence

 before he dies” (Paragraph 2), the writer shows his________.

A. humor                                                            B. sympathy

C. deep concern                                            D. medical knowledge

2.We can infer from Paragraph 3 that in the real world_______.

A. bad things cause people to break down in the rain

B. bad things never happen on dark and stormy nights

C. people with emotional problems like to walk in the rain without umbrellas

D. the crack of lightning and the accompanying flash don’t happen at the same time

3.On TV what usually happens when a person turns it on?

A. The news shown is always about someone the person knows.

B. The person always turns off the TV when it’s time for news.

C. The program shown is always about the importance of TV.

D. TV always shows news about famous people.

4.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. Life skills can be learned from TV.

B. TV plays an important role in society.

C. Watching TV makes people more creative.

D. What happens in TV is very different from reality.

 

THIS was the year the Earth struck back.

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

 

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