Way back in 1662，John Evelyn，a brilliant Englishman known for his detailed diaries，wrote about disastrous effects of coal-burning on the city of London .In it,he described an infernal scene of smog．air filled with “Columns and Clouds of Smoke’’given out by small industries and residences that burned coal for fuel．
I found the description in the 2003 book When Smoke Ran like Water，by epidemiologist(流行病学家)and environmental advocator(倡导者)Devra Davis．In it,Davis looks back at several historic pollution events and their disastrous effect on human human health-and at how these phenomena were often Ignored or even actively covered up by then people in charge at that time.
As Davis points out，John Evelyn was ahead of his time when writing about how London’s polluted air affected the well-being of its residents．It wasn’t until nearly 300 years later,after what became well-known as the Great Smog of 1952，that the government began to address the problem in a systematic way．
For four days．Between December 5th“and 9th“，due to all accident of the weather pattern，the city was buried in a heavy fog .People were still burning coal for fuel，and low-grade coal at that time， because 0f wartime condition．A temperature inversion(转向)trapped the smoke from the city’s fires， creating a black cloud in which people could barely find their way down the most familiar streets
Some tried to protect themselves，but most people simply went about their business. But l952’s fog was far worse than any other in memory．In the same week of the previous year, 1852 people had died in London；inl952，that number was 4703 And the deaths didn’t stop when the weather changed and the fog lifted．Davis and her colleagues analyzed data from the next several months and found that about 13000 more people died between December and March than one would have predicted from historical averages Many of them died of pneumonia(肺炎)．The government，she writes．Tried to blame a bad flu season．Her detailed analysis found that explanation simply did
not pan out．
Davis writes that even today in this country ,we still have not completely absorbed the lessons of similar events．Sixty years the killer fog lifted in London，people are dying preventable deaths and suffering life．changing illnesses，simply because they must breathe the air of the cities where they live
【小题1】The passage is written to
| A．warn people of the danger from air pollution |
| B．introduce London’s Great Smog of l952 |
| C．blame the government for the smog |
| D．explain the reasons for air pollution |
| A．imaginary | B．adventurous | C．unbelievable | D．annoying |
| A．people burned wood for fuel |
| B．a forest fire created a black cloud over the city |
| C．the government ignored the smog |
| D．most people went abouttheirbusine00 |
【小题1】A
【小题2】D
【小题3】C
【小题4】B
解析试题分析：雾霾天气越来越严重的今天，在过去就已经出现了。早在上世纪就有学者指出工业化带来的空气污染的危害并著书说明。然而不幸的事还是发生了，最有代表性的就是1852年的伦敦毒烟雾事件。事实已经表明，治理空气污染已经刻不容缓。
【小题1】主旨大意题。 全文讲了空气污染对人们生活健康的危害，并有事实事例和学者观点加以证明，所以是在警告我们空气污染的危害性。故选A。
【小题2】词义猜测题 。结合上下文可知书中描述了一个充满烟雾的世界，然人觉得如地狱般。imaginary虚构的；adventurous 爱冒险的； unbelievable难以置信的；annoying恼人的，讨厌的。故选D。
【小题3】细节理解题。由 “The government，she writes．Tried to blame a bad flu season．Her detailed analysis found that explanation simply did not pan out．”可知，政府讲责任推卸给糟糕的流感季节而没有深入研究原因导致了事件的一再延续。故选C。
【小题4】细节理解题。由“Sixty years the killer fog lifted in London，people are dying preventable deaths and suffering life．”可知，作者对于伦敦的空气质量现状是“关心的”indifferent 漠不关心的； Concerned 关切的；Hopeless充满希望的；Panic疼痛的 。故选B。
考点：科普类阅读。
阅读快车系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Coffee is a powerful beverage．On a personal level，it helps keep US awake and active．On a much broader level，it has helped shape our history and continues to shape our culture．
Coffee didn’t take off until the l400s when people figured out they could roast its seeds．By the l500s，the drink had spread to coffeehouses across the Arab world．Within another l50 years，it took Europe by storm．
“It actually had a major impact on the rise of business，” historian Mark Pendergrast says．Coffeehouses became a spot not just to enjoy a cup but to exchange ideas．The insurer Lloyd’s of London was founded hundreds of years ago in one of London’s 2,000 coffeehouses．Literature，newspapers and even the works of great composers like Bach and Beethoven were also spawned(涌现)in coffeehouses．
It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of l773，when American colonists attacked British tea ships and threw boxes of tea into the harbor，Americans universally switched over to drinking coffee．In a letter John Adams wrote to his wife，Abigail，the Founding Father claims his love of tea but says he will have to learn to embrace coffee instead，because drinking tea had become a symbol of not loving the country．
For all the upsides coffee has brought the modern world，it also led to its fair share of downsides，too．Europeans carried coffee with them as they colonized various parts of the world，and this frequently meant they enslaved people in order to grow it．In Brazil — where slavery was legal until l888 — coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture，tearing down rain forests and planting coffee trees．Once the soil had been exhausted，growers would move on to another place．
And yet，coffee，as Pendergrast says，”had a very good impact in many ways on our civilization，even though it was，for a long time，grown by slaves．”
【小题1】Why did people enjoy going to coffeehouses?
| A．Because it was a fashion to drink coffee． |
| B．Because coffeehouses provided a better flavor． |
| C．Because they could stay awake and active there． |
| D．Because they could exchange ideas there． |
| A．American colonists made great profits by trading in coffee． |
| B．Tea was regarded as a symbol of loving one’s country． |
| C．Coffee became very popular after the incident in Boston． |
| D．John Adams was the Founding Father of the Tea Party． |
| A．Coffee plantation was closely connected with slavery |
| B．coffee plantation led to outdated agriculture in Brazil |
| C．slavery in Brazil had been against the law until l888 |
| D．slavery was responsible for the damage to rainforests |
| A．Some interesting stories about coffee culture． |
| B．Important Roles that coffee played in history． |
| C．How coffee became the most popular beverage． |
| D．How coffee affected America’s independence． |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get good scores in certain kinds of tests or even the ability to do well in school. By intelligence we mean a way of living and behaving, especially in a new or anxious situation. If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how a person acts instead of how much he knows what to do.
For example, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him. He tries to find out all he can, and then he acts immediately and tries to do something about it. He probably isn’t sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And, if he can’t make things work out right, he doesn’t feel ashamed that he fails; he just tries to learn from his mistakes. An intelligent person, even if he is very young, has a special outlook(人生观) on life, special feeling about life, and knows how he fits into it.
If you look at children, you’ll see great difference between what we call “bright” children and “not bright” children. They are actually two different kinds of people, not just the same kind with different amounts of intelligence. For example, the bright child really wants to find out more about life --- he tries to get in touch with everything around him. But the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream-world; he seems to have a wall between him and life in general.
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．What’s real meaning of intelligence |
| B．What’s the “bright” children’s behavior |
| C．What’s a special outlook on life |
| D．How to live and behave in a new situation |
| A．the amount of intelligence |
| B．the different situations they face |
| C．the different attitudes to life |
| D．the background of life |
| A．how to determine what intelligence is |
| B．How an unintelligent person should be taught |
| C．how to judge whether a person is intelligent |
| D．how education should be changed |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The world's largest solar thermal plant(太阳热能发电站)is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company — BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine (涡轮) to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death.
【小题1】Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert?
| A．Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert. |
| B．Because there is no life in the desert. |
| C．Because there is much salt in the desert. |
| D．Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert. |
| A．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of steam. |
| B．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of molten salt. |
| C．Because the sun'ss thermal energy can be stored through mirrors |
| D．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the boilers. |
| A．supportive | B．critical | C．indifferent | D．cautious |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements（元素）produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.
【小题1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.
| A．an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds. |
| B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined. |
| C．appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones. |
| D．diamonds from different places may appear the same. |
| A．To look for more gemstones. |
| B．To encourage violent civil wars. |
| C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals. |
| D．To develop the economy. |
| A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam. |
| B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns. |
| C．Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma. |
| D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones. |
| A．It is ready for commercial use. |
| B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones. |
| C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals. |
| D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals. |
| A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds. |
| B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin |
| C．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult |
| D．attract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
One might expect that the evergrowing demands of the tourist trade would bring nothing but good for the countries that receive the holidaymakers. Indeed, a rosy picture is painted for the longterm future of the holiday industry. Every month sees the building of a new hotel somewhere. And every month another rockbound Pacific island is advertised as the ‘last paradise(天堂) on earth’．
However, the scale and speed of this growth seem set to destroy the very things tourists want to enjoy. In those countries where there was a rush to make quick money out of seaside holidays, overcrowded beaches and the concrete jungles of endless hotels have begun to lose their appeal.
Those countries with little experience of tourism can suffer most. In recent years, Nepal set out to attract foreign visitors to fund developments in health and education. Its forests, full of wildlife and rare flowers, were offered to tourists as one more untouched paradise. In fact, the nature all too soon felt the effects of thousands of holidaymakers traveling through the forest land. Ancient tracks became major routes for the walkers, with the consequent exploitation of precious trees and plants.
Not only can the environment of a country suffer from the sudden growth of tourism. The people as well rapidly feel its effects. Farmland makes way for hotels, roads and airports; the old way of life goes. The onetime farmer is now the servant of some multinational organization; he is no longer his own master. Once it was his back that bore the pain; now it is his smile that is exploited. No doubt he wonders whether he wasn't happier in his village working his own land.
Thankfully, the tourist industry is waking up to the responsibilities it has towards those countries that receive its customers. The protection of wildlife and the creation of national parks go hand in hand with tourist development and in fact obtain financial support from tourist companies. At the same time, tourists are being encouraged to respect not only the countryside they visit but also its people.
The way tourism is handled in the next ten years will decide its fate and that of the countries we all want to visit. Their needs and problems are more important than those of the tourist companies. Increased understanding in planning worldwide tourism can preserve the market for these companies. If not, in a few years' time the very things that attract tourists now may well have been destroyed.
【小题1】What does the author indicate in the last sentence of Paragraph 1?
| A．The Pacific island is a paradise. |
| B．The Pacific island is worth visiting. |
| C．The advertisement is not convincing. |
| D．The advertisement is not impressive. |
| A．its natural resources are untouched |
| B．its forests are exploited for farmland |
| C．it develops well in health and education |
| D．it suffers from the heavy flow of tourists |
| A．They are happy to work their own lands. |
| B．They have to please the tourists for a living. |
| C．They have to struggle for their independence. |
| D．They are proud of working in multinational organizations. |
| A．The number of tourists. |
| B．The improvement of services. |
| C．The promotion of new products. |
| D．The management of tourism. |
| A．optimistic | B．doubtful |
| C．objective | D．negative |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Humans have sewn by hand for thousands of years. It was said that the first thread was made from animal muscle and sinew (腱). And the earliest needles were made from bones. Since those early days, many people have been involved in the process of developing a machine that could do the same thing more quickly and with greater efficiency.
Charles Wiesenthal, who was born in Germany, designed and received a patent on a double-pointed needle that eliminated the need to turn the needle around with each stitch (缝合) in England in 1755. Other inventors of that time tried to develop a functional sewing machine, but each design had at least one serious imperfection. [来源:学,科Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier finally engineered a machine that really worked. However, he was nearly killed by a group of angry tailors when they burned down his garment factory. They feared that they would lose their jobs to the machine.
American inventor Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, was awarded a patent for a method of sewing that used thread from two different sources. Howe’s machine had a needle with an eye at the point, and it used the two threads to make a special stitch called a lockstitch. However, Howe faced difficulty in finding buyers for his machines in America. In frustration, he traveled to England to try to sell his invention there. When he finally returned home, he found that dozens of manufacturers were adapting his discovery for use in their own sewing machines.
Isaac Singer, another American inventor, was also a manufacturer who made improvements to the design of sewing machines. He invented an up-and-down-motion mechanism that replaced the side-to-side machines. He also developed a foot treadle(脚踏板) to power his machine. This improvement left the sewer’s hands free. Undoubtedly, it was a huge improvement of the hand-cranked machine of the past. Soon the Singer sewing machine achieved more fame than the others for it was more practical, it could be adapted to home use and it could be bought on hire-purchase. The Singer sewing machine became the first home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American multinationals.
However, Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented. As a result, Howe accused him of patent infringement（侵犯）. Of course, Elias Howe won the court case, and Singer was ordered to pay Howe royalties（版税）. In the end, Howe became a millionaire, not by manufacturing the sewing machine, but by receiving royalty payments for his invention.
【小题1】Barthelemy Thimonnier’s garment factory was burned down because _____________.
| A．people did not know how to put out the fire |
| B．Elias Howe thought Thimonnier had stolen his invention |
| C．the sewing machines was couldn’t work finally |
| D．workers who feared the loss of their jobs to a machine set fire |
| A．Singer is an American inventor and manufacturer. |
| B．The Singer sewing company became more practical. |
| C．The foot treadle helped to make the sewer’s hands free. |
| D．Singer made improvements to the design of sewing machines. |
| A．Because the judge was against Singer for his surly attitude. |
| B．Because Howe had already patented the lockstitch used by Singer. |
| C．Because Singer had borrowed money from Howe and never repaid it. |
| D．Because Singer and Howe had both invented the same machine. |
| A．A Stitch in Time Saves Nine |
| B．The Case between Howe and Singer |
| C．Patent Laws on the Sewing Machine |
| D．The Early History of the Sewing Machine |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Expensive and new gloves allow chatterboxes（话匣子）to take the term “handsfree” to a new level—by talking into them as they make a call. The gloves are known as “Talk to the Hand” and cost £1,000 a pair. They fixed a speaker unit into the thumb and a microphone into the little finger that can be connected to any mobile handset using Bluetooth.
Artist Sean Miles designed the new gloves that double as a phone in part of his project that shows the possibilities of gadget(小配件) recycling. He uses outdated gloves and combines them with parts from mobile handsets recycled through O2, which commissioned（承担）the project. Mobile phone users will be able to keep their hands warm while they chat without taking their phones out of their pockets or handbags.
Mr Miles designed two pairs of the new gloves—one in pink and the other in brown and yellow. They will appear in an exhibition this July and visitors will be able to win the gloves. If demand is high, they will then be produced on a larger scale. O2 Recycle, which backed the project, estimates that there are already 70 million unused mobile handsets in the UK. The service pays up to £260 to those who recycle gadgets including phones, handheld consoles, MP3 players and digital cameras.
Designer Sean Miles hopes his work will get people thinking about recycling. The 41-year-old said, “I hope that my ‘Talk to the Hand’ project will get people to think again about the waste created by not recycling gadgets. If a few more people recycle their gadgets rather than send them to trash, I think this project will have fulfilled its aim.”
Bill Eyres, head of O2 Recycle, urges people to recycle their phone responsibly. He said, “There’s a pressing need for all of us to look at outdated handsets, and all the gadgets that we move on from or upgrade each year. Whether they are consoles or cameras, we should think of them as a resource that we need to recycle responsibly rather than throw them away.”
【小题1】The underlined word “O2” in Paragraph 2 is probably the name of ______.
| A．an artist | B．a company | C．a mobile | D．an exhibition |
| A．in the exhibition | B．from Mr Miles |
| C．when they are mass produced | D．after they recycle the gadgets |
| A．promote the technology of IT |
| B．enable people to talk to their hands |
| C．raise people’s awareness of recycling |
| D．attract visitors’ attention in the exhibition |
| A．New mobiles that are fashionable. |
| B．Outdated handsets that are upgraded. |
| C．Outdated gadgets that can be used for recycling. |
| D．New gloves that can be used for making phone calls. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Many people think of the brain as a mystery.They don't know much about intelligence and how it works.When they do think about what intelligence is，many people believe that a person is born smart，average，or dumb—and stays that way in the whole life.But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it.And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.
Everyone knows that when you lift weights，your muscles get bigger and you get stronger.A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time.That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise.And when you stop exercising，the muscles shrink and you get weaker.That's why people say “Use it or lose it！”
But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things，parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex(皮层)of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells，called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things，these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.The more you challenge your mind to learn，the more your brain cells grow.Then，things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do—like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra(代数)—seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time.The result is a stronger，smarter brain.
Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals'brains.They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more perspicacious—they were better at solving problems and learning new things.
【小题1】According to the first paragraph，________.
| A．the function of our brain is like that of the muscle |
| B．until now it's impossible to explain the brain's mystery |
| C．many people believe one's intelligence is naturally determined |
| D．one's brain grows stronger as the age increases |
| A．using the brain |
| B．connecting things in your brain |
| C．lifting weights |
| D．doing research about the brain |
| A．Strong. | B．Smart. |
| C．Popular. | D．Active. |
| A．the differences between animals'brains and humans'brains |
| B．the relation between human brains and muscles |
| C．scientists' findings about animals' brains |
| D．how to make your brain smarter through self?development |
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