When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly ad possible and head for safety. But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.
“Storm chasing” is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.
Although anyone can do it , storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm season.
Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement . “Storm chasing is 95% driving,” says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. “Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers.”
However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. “When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life,” says Jasper Morley. “Every storm is an example of the power of nature, It is the greatest show on Earth.”
【小题1】For storm chasing, the first thing storm chasers do is to .
| A．head straight for the center of the storm |
| B．get into the car for safety |
| C．wait patiently for the storm to develop |
| D．collect information about a coming storm |
| A．not to drive in a heavy rain |
| B．to do it in an organized way |
| C．not to get too close to a storm |
| D．to spend more time on it in summer |
| A．storm chasing costs a lot of money |
| B．storm chasing is worth hours of waiting |
| C．efforts in storm chasing are well paid |
| D．a storm presents the greatest show on Earth |
| A．Sometimes storm chasers get nothing but disappointment |
| B．Many storm chasers get killed in the storms. |
| C．Storm chasing is becoming popular around the world. |
| D．Storm chasing is only fit for young people. |
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：053
A mobile phone service which makes your handset (手机) scream when it's been stolen has been started, with its makers claiming it could put an end to mobile theft altogether.
The Remote XT system uses software to link customers' mobile phones directly to a secure remote server, which stores all their data from phone numbers to text messages and e-mails. If the owner's phone is lost or stolen? he can dial a 24-hour call centre and have it registered as stolen. The handset is then disabled, and cannot even be used if a new SIM card is put in. At the same time, the system sets off an alarm sounding like a highpitched (声音尖锐的) scream, which can only be stopped by removing the battery.
Existing data is also wiped off the phone but, because the information has been stored centrally, it can be retrieved as soon as the victim gets a new phone, the system design-ers said.
“By making mobiles unusable to anyone but the rightful owner, the phones become worthless and we will see the market for sto-len handsets stopped once and for all, ”said Mark Whiteman, managing director of Re-mote XT. “Such phones cause disaster for the huge criminal industry that has profited from mobile theft for too long. ”
For the moment the system is aimed at business customers and comes with a fee of 9. 99 pounds per month, possibly available to the majority of average user within two years as mobile technology advances.
According to the latest UK government statistics, mobile phone theft has risen 190 per cent in recent years, with one third of all UK robberies now only involving mobile phones. It's estimated a mobile handset is stolen every 12 seconds in Britain costing UK consumers around 390 million pounds ($ 735 million) every year.
(1) The passage mainly focuses on________.
[ ]
A．a mobile phone security system
B．the advance in mobile technology
C．suggestions on mobile phone use
D．mobile phone theft in the UK
(2) Which of the following is NOT true about the Remote XT system?
[ ]
A．It uses software to disable customers' stolen phones.
B．It takes remote control of phones sto-len or lost.
C．Owners can get their phones back with the help of it.
D．Now only business customers benefit from it.
(3) The underlined word “retrieved” (in Par-agraph 3) probably means “________”.
[ ]
A．destroyed
B．restored
C．examined
D．protected
(4) According to the passage, phone theft in the UK can be best described as________.
[ ]
A．severe
B．illegal
C．civil
D．popular
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hun??ted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or per??haps human beings have always wanted to tell stories accord??ing to pictures.
About 5,000 years ago the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as a kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet(字母表).
The Egyptians used to record information and to tell sto??ries by putting picture-writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was bur??ied. Some of these pictures are like modem comic-strip sto??ries. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic-strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.
By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area a-round the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world.
These days we can write down a story, or record informa??tion, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawings, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the streets, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pic??tures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.
6. Pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain because ________.
A. the hunters wanted to see the pictures B. the painters were animal lovers
C. the painters wanted to show imagination D. the pictures were thought to be helpful
7.The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ________.
A. the former was easy to write B. there were fewer signs in the former
C. the former was easy to pronounce D. each sign stood for only one sound
8. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The Egyptian signs later became a particular alphabet.
B. The Egyptians liked to write comic-strip stories.
C. The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one.
D. The Greeks copied their writing system from the Egyp??tians.
9. In the last paragraph, the author thinks that pictures __________.
A. should be made comprehensible B. should be made interesting
C. are of much use in our life D. are disappearing from our life
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科目：高中英语 来源：同步题 题型：阅读理解
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