Question

Have you ever wondered?

1.Why do airplanes take longer to fly west than east?

It can take five hours to go west-east from New York(NY) to London but seven hours to travel east-west from London to NY. The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon know as the jet(喷射) stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic. The planes movement a constams air speed thus go faster in the west-east direction when the air moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.

2 What would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off?

  Supposing we could magically turn off gravity. Would buildings and other structures float away? What happened would depend on how strongly the things were attached to the Earth. The Earth is moving at quite a speed moving at over a thousand miles per hour. If you turn something round your head on a string, it goes around in a circle until you let go of the strong go of the string. Things not attacked to the Earth would fly off in a straight line . People in buildings would suddenly shoot  upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling. Most things would fly off into space.

1.What information coa we get from the first passage?

       A.tis the iet stoomn that affeets how fast airplanes fly.

       B.Planes go slower when they are moving with the wind.

       C.It takes more time to fly from NY to London than from London to NY.

       D.The jet stream always blows from the east to the west across the Atantic.

2.The word“shoot”underlined in the 2nd passage probably means“__________”.

       A.send for

       B.move quickly

       C.come out

       D.grow quickly

3.It can be interred that without gravity_________.

       A.buildings and other structures would float away

       B.trees and buildings would not so easily fly off

       C.something around your head would not float away

       D.everything outside buildings would fly off into space

4.Where can wemost probably read this text?

       A.In s research paper

       B.In a tort story.

       C.In a travel magazine.

       D.In a student’s book.

Answer 1

【小题1】A

【小题2】B

【小题3】B

【小题4】D

解析:

【文章大意】为什么飞机由西向东飞所花费的时间要短一些？如果地心引力突然消失会出现什么情况？本文对这两个问题做了探讨。

【小题1】细节理解题。由文中第一段前两句“...The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon known as the jet stream.”可知A选项正确；顺风当然时速度更快，B选项错；根据第一句可知C选项错误；由第一段第三句“...which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic ocean”可知D选项错。

【小题2】猜测词义题。由后面的“upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling.”可知shoot意为“上升、移动”，选项B正确。send for意为“派……去请”； come out 意为“出现，显露”均不合题意。

【小题3】推理判断题。由第二段第二句“Would buildings and other structures float away? What happened would depend on... ”可知A选项不正确；由文中第二段第八句“Things not attached to the earth would fly off...”可知C选项错误；根据文章最后一句“Most things outside the buildings would fly off”可知D选项过于绝对。

【小题4】 判断推理题。本文的内容具有科学性和知识性，有一定的普及性，只能出现在学生书籍中。