Question

【题目】 Bob Christiansen, who studied the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park in the 1960s, became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic in nature—that’s the reason for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.

Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone (圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro,which are created when erupting magma(岩浆) piles up. These can form remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across. Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving behind a vast hole, the caldera(火山喷口). Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.

Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park authorities and said that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’centers. As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost the whole park-2.2 million acres—was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty miles across—much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to humans.

【1】What puzzled Christiansen when he was studying Yellowstone？

【2】Is Fuji or Kilimanjaro created when erupting magma piles up?

【3】What does the second paragraph mainly talk about？

【4】When did Christiansen realize why he had failed to spot the caldera?

【5】What was the caldera of Yellowstone?

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】The exact location of the volcano.

【2】Yes, it is.

【3】The shapes of volcanoes.

【4】In the 1960s.

【5】The whole park.

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。在20世纪60年代，在研究黄石国家公园的火山历史时，鲍勃克里斯蒂安对一些奇怪的事情感到困惑，他找不到公园的火山，他产生了疑惑。原来这儿的火山并不是像我们大部分人想象的那种圆锥体形状的样子，是一个巨大的洞，这个洞太大以至于从地面上的任何地方都看不见。

【1】根据文章第一段第一句“…he couldn’t find the park’s volcano.”可知，Bob Christiansen关于黄石国家公园的困惑是找不到火山在这里的位置，首字母大写，故答案为The exact location of the volcano.

【2】根据第二段首句“Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma piles up.”可知，人们所熟知的火山形状就是经典的圆锥体形状，就像富士山或乞力马扎罗那样，它是由喷发出来的岩浆堆积而成的，所以答案是肯定的，首字母大写，故答案为Yes, it is.

【3】根据第二段首句“Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma piles up.”可知，人们所熟知的火山形状就是经典的圆锥体形状，就像富士山或乞力马扎罗那样，它是由喷发出来的岩浆堆积而成的。这是本段第一句，是一个主题句，所以本段主要介绍的是火山的形状，首字母大写，故答案为The shape of volcanoes。

【4】根据第一段第一句“Bob Christiansen, who studied the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park in the 1960s…”可知，他在20世纪60年代研究黄石国家公园的火山历史，根据最后一段第一句“Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone.”可知，就在那个时间，NASA决定通过拍照片的方式来测试……，所以时间就是20世纪60年代。首字母大写，故答案为In the 1960s.

【5】根据最后一段第三句“…he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera; almost the whole park-2.2 million acres—was caldera.”可知，火山口就是整个公园，220万英亩。首字母大写，故答案为The whole park.