One day, around Christmas time, fishermen off the west coast of Peru (秘鲁) started on their traditional fishing trip. Much to their surprise, there were no fish! They knew immediately what had happened. Tales from years gone by had told them this was the result of El Nino which sometimes stop fishing for many months!

  El Nino is a warm current (水流) that comes and goes along the west coast of South America. It got its name from fishermen in Peru more than a century ago. Every few years, they noticed a sudden warming in the normally cool Pacific water where they fished. Because this warming often came about around Christmas, they called it El Nino, which is Spanish for the “Christ Child”. Generally, El Nino occurs every three to seven years and lasts only a few weeks to a month or more.

  El Nino warms the water it flows through. Because the fish and sea birds need cold water to live, many of them die when El Nino comes through. El Nino also causes both floods and droughts (干旱). It is believed that El Nino may have caused the 1993 Mississippi and 1995 California floods. And at the same time, it may have caused droughts in South America, Africa and Australia.

  El Nino has occurred thirteen times within the last fifty years, bringing natural disasters to many countries such as Indonesia and Peru. However, El Nino does not often trouble China. During this period China was badly hit by El Nino only once. In 1998, North China had a terrible drought, while South China was troubled by floods.

1. The underlined word “occur” (in Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “ ______”.

A. happen      B. develop    C. change      D. move

2. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE about El Nino?

A. It happens in November and December. B. It was named by some Spanish fishermen. 

C. It only happens in South America.   D. It lasts a few weeks or more.

3. If El Nino happens, the following will take place EXCEPT ______.

A. sea water temperature rise  

B. diseases spreading around the world

C. floods and droughts      

D. death of fish and sea birds

4. The purpose of this passage is ______.

A. to discuss the prevention of El Nino 

B. to explain how El Nino trouble farmers 

C. to let us know about El Nino    

D. to tell us how to prepare for El Nino

 

 0  38538  38546  38552  38556  38562  38564  38568  38574  38576  38582  38588  38592  38594  38598  38604  38606  38612  38616  38618  38622  38624  38628  38630  38632  38633  38634  38636  38637  38638  38640  38642  38646  38648  38652  38654  38658  38664  38666  38672  38676  38678  38682  38688  38694  38696  38702  38706  38708  38714  38718  38724  38732  151629 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网