Question

At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the Ice Age and, until recent times, unknown to man. It is a great landmass with mountain ranges whose extent and elevation are still uncertain. Much of the continent is a complete blank on our maps. Man has explored, on foot, less than one percent of its area.

Antarctica differs fundamentally from the Arctic regions. The Arctic is an ocean, covered with drifting packed ice and hemmed in by the landmasses of Europe, Asia, and North America. The Antarctica is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia combined, centered roughly on the South Pole and surrounded by the most unobstructed water areas of the world—the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

The continental ice sheet is more than two miles high in its center; thus, the air over the Antarctica is far more iced than it is over the Arctic regions. This cold air current from the land is so forceful that it makes the nearby seas the stormiest in the world and makes unlivable those regions whose counterparts (配对物) at the opposite end of the globe are livable. Thus, more than a million persons live within 2, 000 miles of the North Pole in an area that includes most of Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia—a region rich in forest and mining industries. Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry or settlement.

66. The best title for this passage would be________ .

A. Iceland

B. Land of Opportunity

C. Utopia at Last

D. The Unknown Continent

67. At the time this article was written, our knowledge about Antarctica was______.

A. very limited                                                 B. vast

C. fairly rich                                                    D. non-existent

68. What’s the fundamental difference between Antarctica and the Arctic?

A. The Arctic is an ocean while Antarctica is a continent.

B. The Arctic is inhabited by people while Antarctica is uninhabitable.

C. The Arctic is covered with ice while Antarctica is surrounded by water.

D. The Arctic is surrounded by continents while Antarctica is bordered by oceans.

69. The Antarctica is made uninhabitable primarily by________.

A. ice                                                                     B. calm seas

C. cold air                                                              D. lack of water

70. According to this article,________ .

A. 2, 000 people live on the Antarctica Continent

B. a million people live within 2, 000 miles of the South Pole

C. weather conditions make settlements impractical

D. only a handful of natives inhabit Antarctica

Answer 1

66.【解析】选D。主旨大意题。概括全文内容可知，文章主要讲述一个未知的大陆。

67.【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据文章第一段第一句At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the Ice Age and, until recent times, unknown to man. 可知。

68.【解析】选A。细节理解题。由第二段可知，南极洲和北冰洋最基本的区别是南极洲是一个大陆，而北冰洋则是一个海洋。故A项正确。

69.【解析】选C。细节理解题。文章最后一段说明南极的cold air造成人类无法居住。

70.【解析】选C。细节理解题。由文章最后一句Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry or settlement. 得知应选C。