As people slowly learn to cure diseases, control floods, prevent hunger, and stop wars, fewer people die every year. As a result, the population of the world is becoming larger. In 1925 there were about 2 billion people in the world; today there are over 6 billion.
When the number rises, extra mouths must be fed. New lands must be brought under development, or land already farmed must be made to produce more crops. In some areas the land is so over-developed that it will be difficult to make it provide more crops. In some areas the population is so large that the land is divided into too tiny units to make improvement possible with farming methods. If a large part of this farming population went into industrial work, the land might be farmed much more productively (多产地) with modern methods.
There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the output of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New types of crops, which will grow well in bad weather, are being developed, so there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle in Siberia and North America. Irrigation (灌溉) and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough. Dams hold back the waters of great rivers, which can provide water for the fields in all seasons and provide electric power for new industries. Industrial chemistry provides fertilizer to suit different soils. Every year, some new methods are made to increase or to protect the food of the world.
1. The author says that the world population is increasing because _____.
A. there are many rich valleys and large fields
B. farmers are producing more crops than before
C. people are living longer due to better living conditions
D. new lands are being made into farmlands
2. The author says that in areas with large populations, land might be more productively farmed if _____.
A. the land was divided into smaller pieces
B. people moved into the countryside
C. industrial methods were used in farming
D. the units of land were much larger
3. We are told that there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle. This has been made possible by _____.
A. growing new types of crops
B. irrigation and dry-farming means
C. providing fertilizers
D. destroying pests and diseases
4. Why is the land divided into tiny units in some areas?
A. There are too many people living there.
B. It saves more natural resources there.
C. It prevents crops from serious diseases there.
D. Farmers can grow various kinds of crops there.
5. Why do some people use dams to hold back waters from great rivers?
A. To develop a new kind of dry-farming methods.
B. To prevent crops from floods.
C. To provide water and electricity in all seasons.
D. To water poor lands in bad weather.
科目：高中英语 来源：江苏省淮安市2010届高三下学期5月调研测试英语试卷 题型：阅读理解
A massive earthquake and tsunamis killed 350 people in one Chilean coastal town, doubling the total death number on Sunday as the government tried to get aid to hungry survivors and stop looting(抢劫).
President Michelle Bachelet said at least 708 people had been killed and called for calm as people desperate for food and water looted stores in some areas worst hit by Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude quake, one of the world’s biggest in a century. The earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday morning was “50 times bigger than the one of Haiti.” The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month - yet the death number in Haiti, a Caribbean nation, was much higher.
The reasons are simple. Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.
Television images showed houses washed away by swirling waters, cars tossed into shattered buildings and boats lifted into the streets in coastal towns including Pelluhue and Constitucion, where 350 deaths alone were reported.
“It’s an enormous disaster ... there’s a growing number of missing people,” Bachelet said, adding that food and medical aid was being sent to help the roughly 2 million people affected by the quake. Chile is making great efforts to deal with a formidable task caused by the earthquake how to provide temporary shelter for so many people.
A lack of water, food and fuel sharpened the hardship for the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, and widespread disruption to the power supply threatened to hamper (妨碍) Chilean industry’s recovery. In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, about 310 miles south of Santiago, the government imposed a night-time curfew (宵禁令) in Concepcion and the Maule region on Sunday in a bid to stop looting.
Police used tear gas and water blast guns to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from one supermarket in Concepcion. Television images showed people stuffing groceries and other goods into shopping trolleys. “People have gone days without eating,” said Orlando Salazar, one of the looters at the supermarket. “The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves.” On the second day of the most serious natural disaster to hit Chile in decades, rescuing survivors from the ruins had been quickly replaced by the hard challenge of helping them. People overseas have been deeply impressed by earthquake relief efforts by the Chilean government.
1. There are several reasons why the loss of lives in the Chile earthquake was comparatively low EXCEPT __________.
A. improvements had been made in the constructed buildings.
B. Chile is always well prepared for the coming earthquake.
C. large number of Chile residents had gone oat for a holiday.
D Chile has rich experience in dealing with this disaster.
2. The underlined word “formidable” in the fifth paragraph probably means ________.
A. difficult B. glorious C. light D. original
3. According to the passage, what is the most pressing task in the earthquake-hit areas?
A. rescuing survivors
B. providing temporary shelter and food for the victims
C. burying dead bodies
D. clearing away the ruins
4. The author’s main purpose in writing the passage is to ____________.
A. call on international aid agencies to go to Chile to help.
B. tell us how to deal with the coming disaster.
C. show how the people of Chile rebuild their country after the big disaster.
D. tell us something about the enormous earthquake in Chile.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2011-2012学年广东省六校高三第一次六校联考英语试题 题型：阅读理解
It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial considerations.
Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.
The impact of a salary cut is probably less severe for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual opportunities.
Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”
1.By “a one-way street” in Paragraph One, the author means ________.
A. university researchers know little about the commercial world
B. there is little exchange between industry and academia
C. few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university
D. few university professors are willing to do industrial research
2.The underlined word “deterrent” most probably refers to something that ________.
A. keeps someone from taking action B. helps to move the traffic
C. attracts people’s attention D. brings someone a financial burden
3.What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?
A. Flexible work hours.
B. Her research interests.
C. Her preference for the lifestyle on campus.
D. Prospects of academic accomplishments.
4. Guy Grant chose to work as a researcher at Cambridge in order to ________.
A. do financially more rewarding work
B. raise his status in the academic world
C. enrich his experience in medical research
D. exploit better intellectual opportunities
5.What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?
A. Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market.
B. Develop its students’ potential in research.
C. Help it to obtain financial support from industry.
D. Gear its research towards practical applications.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2010-2011学年陕西省高三第二次模拟考试英语题 题型：阅读理解
A healthy dose of sunshine may be the secret to staying young, British scientists have disclosed.
Vitamin D is produced naturally by the skin in response to sunlight and may help to slow the ageing process and protect against heart disease, according to the study.
Researchers from King's College London studied 2,160 women aged between 18 and 79, looking at their telomeres - a biological marker of ageing found in DNA．As people get older, their telomeres get shorter and they are easy to have illnesses.
But the study found women with high levels of vitamin D had comparatively longer telomeres - a sign of being biologically younger and healthier.
The study suggests vitamin D may help to slow down the ageing process of DNA, and therefore the ageing process as a whole.
Lead researcher Dr Brent Richards said: "These results are exciting because they prove for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D may age more slowly than people with lower levels of vitamin D．
"This could help to explain how vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer."
He said further studies are required to confirm the findings.
Professor Tim Spector, head of KCL's twin research unit, and a co-author of the report, added: "Although it might sound absurd(荒谬的), it's possible that the same sunshine which may increase our risk of skin cancer may also have a healthy effect on the general ageing process."
Vitamin D made by the action of sunlight on the skin accounts for 90 per cent of the body's supply, but lower levels can also be obtained through food such as fish, eggs and breakfast cereals.
Other studies have suggested the vitamin plays a key role in protecting against cancer and heart disease.
1.What’s the best title of this passage?
A.Sunshine helps to keep you young.
B.Vitamin D has a protective effect on many diseases.
C.Telomeres - a biological marker of ageing.
D.People have found the secret to having a long life.
2.How can people get Vitamin D?
A.through water. B. through sunshine.
C.through food. D.both B and C.
3.Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A.women with high levels of vitamin D shows a sign of being biologically younger and healthier.
B.vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases.
C.too much sunshine may increase our risk of skin cancer.
D.It has been proved that sunshine helps to keep you young.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2010-2011学年重庆西南师大附中高第一次月考英语卷 题型：阅读理解
With alarming regularity, we read about oil tankers having accidents near land and the terrible consequences of the oil spills(泄露) on people, nature, and the environment.
Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil. Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea.
Of all of today’s environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious. Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material. In the end, it breaks down naturally. There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term.
Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible. In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Sicily Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tones of oil into the ocean. If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened.
Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage. Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run!
We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil. Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power(太阳能), electricity, hydrogen, and so on. Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal.
If the world’s millions of cars were 10% more efficient(高效的) — and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient — we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year. If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too.
1.What is the passage mainly talking about?
A. Oil tanker accidents. B. What oil pollution is.
C. Oil spills pollution. D. How to reduce oil pollution.
2.How does the author support the idea that oil spills are not as serious as people believe?
A. By giving an example. B. By making an argument.
C. By giving a description. D. By drawing a diagram.
3.What does the underlined word “risk” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A. Transportation depending more on oil.
B. More environmental damage being caused.
C. Millions of tons of oil spilling into the sea.
D. Poisonous oil breaking down naturally.
4.Which suggestion is made for reducing oil tank accidents according to the passage?
A. We should build safer oil tankers in the near future.
B. Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines.
C. We should develop new technologies to cut oil use.
D. Countries should build more oil pipelines under the sea.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2007年高考浙江卷英语试题 题型：阅读理解
People who have lost the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasics(失语症患者).Such patients can be extremely good at something else.From the changing expressions on speakers’ faces and the tones of their voices,they can tell lies from truths.
Doctors studying the human brain have given a number of examples of this amazing power of aphasics.Some have even compared this power to that of a dog with an ability to find out the drugs hidden in the baggage.
Recently,scientists carried out tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true.THEY STUDIED A MIXED GROUP OF PEOPLE.Some were normal;others were aphasics.It was proved that the aphasics were far ahead of the normal people in recognizing false speeches—in most cases,the normal people were fooled by words,but the aphasics were not.
Some years ago,Dr.Oliver Sacks wrote in his book about his experiences with aphasics.He mentioned a particular case in a hospital.Some aphasics were watching the president giving a speech on TV.Since the president had been an actor earlier,making a good speech was no problem for him.He was trying to put his feelings into every word of his speech.
But his way of speaking had the opposite effect on the patients.They didn’t seem to believe him.Instead,they burst into laughter.The aphasics knew that the president did not mean a word of what he was saying.He was lying!
Many doctors see aphasics as people who are not completely normal because they lack the ability to understand words.However,according to Dr.Sacks,they are more gifted than normal people.Normal people may get carried away by words.Aphasics seem to understand human expressions better,though they cannot understand words.
1.What is so surprising about aphasics?
|
A．They can fool other people. |
B．They can find out the hidden drugs. |
|
C．They can understand language better. |
D．They can tell whether people are lying. |
2.How did the scientists study aphasics?
|
A．By asking them to watch TV together. |
|
B．By organizing them into acting groups. |
|
C．By comparing them with normal people. |
|
D．By giving them chances to speak on TV. |
3.What do we learn from this text?
|
A．What one says reflects how one feels. |
|
B．Aphasics have richer feelings than others. |
|
C．Normal people often tell lies in their speeches. |
|
D．People poor at one thing can be good at another. |
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