Earthquakes may rightly be ranked as one of the most destructive forces known to man: since records began to be written down, it has been estimated that earthquake-related fatalities (死亡) have numbered in the millions, and that earthquake-related destruction has been beyond calculation. The greater part of such damage and loss of life had been due to collapse of buildings and the effects of rockslides, floods, fire, disease, tsunamis, and other observable events resulting from earthquakes, rather than from quakes themselves.
The great majority of all earthquakes occur in two specific geographic areas. One such area covers the Pacific Ocean and its bordering landmasses. The other extends from the East Indians to the Atlas Mountains, including the Himalayas, Iran, Turkey and the Alpine regions. It is in these two great belts or zones that ninety percent of all earthquakes take place; they may, however, happen anywhere at any time.
This element of unknown has for centuries added greatly to the dead and horror surrounding earthquakes, but in recent times there have been indications that earthquake forecast may be possible. By analyzing changes in animal behavior, patterns of movements in the earth's shell, variations in the earth's force of attraction, and the frequency with which minor earth shakes are observed, scientists have shown increasing success in expecting when and where earthquakes will strike. As a result, a worldwide earthquake warning network is already in operation and has helped to prepare for (and thus lessen) the vast destruction that might otherwise have been totally unexpected.
It is doubtful that man will ever be able to control earthquakes and get rid of their destructiveness altogether, but as how and why earthquakes happen become better understood, man will become more and more able to deal with their possible damage before they occur.
60. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. Earthquakes destruction is declining.
B. Man is capable of conquering earthquakes.
C. Man is no longer fearful of earthquakes.
D. Earthquake forecast is improving.
61. We can infer from the passage that quakes _______ .
A. mostly strike in oceans and mountains
B. may happen anywhere at any time
C. are unperceivable in masses of land
D. are hardly the direct cause of fatalities
62. The underlined phrase "This element of unknown" in Paragraph 3 refers to__.
A. the extension of earthquake zones
B. the percentage of earthquake occurrences
C. when and where earthquakes may occur
D. what big damage earthquakes may cause
63. Man's research on earthquake forecast at present is to _________ .
A. lower the frequency of earthquakes
B. release the energy that causes earthquakes
C. reduce the loss from earthquake disasters
D. analyze the relationship between different earthquakes
Manners nowadays in metropolitan cities like London are practically non-existence, it’s nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to elbow an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on the tube or bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her.
This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy 礼貌、谦让) and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it is not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for younger women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. Are we really so lost to all ideals of unselfishness that we can sit there indifferently reading the paper or a book, saying to ourselves “First come, first severed”, while a grey-haired woman, a mother with a young child stands? Yet this is all too often seen.
Older people, tired and quick-tempered from a day's work, are not angels, either-far from it. Many a brisk argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as the weary queues push and shove each other to get on buses and tubes. One cannot commend this, of course, but on does feel there is just a little more excuse.
If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems imperative（迫切的）, not only that communications in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. All over cities, it seems that people are too tired and too rushed to be polite. Shop assistant's won't bother to assist, taxi drivers growl at each other as they dash dangerously round corners, bus conductors pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on and so on. It seems to us that it is up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration（恶化）. What is the writer's opinion concerning courteous manners towards women?
| A．Since women have claimed equality, they no longer need to be treated differently from men. |
| B．It is generally considered old-fashioned for young men to give up their seats to young women. |
| C．"Lady First" should be universally practiced. |
| D．Special consideration ought to be shown to them. |
According to the passage communication between human beings would not be smoother unless ________.
| A．people were more considerate towards each other |
| B．people were not so tired and quick-tempered |
| C．women were treated with more courtesy |
| D．public transport could be improved. |
The author probably does NOT agree that in big cities _______.
| A．Life will be even worse if no change is made |
| B．transport conditions are rather poor |
| C．it’s not uncommon to see people quarrel in public places |
| D．it’s unreasonable to require the tired people to be polite |
The main purpose of the author is to ________.
| A．call on people in big cities to pay more attention to politeness |
| B．blame the schoolboys’ rude behavior towards elderly women on the tube or bus |
| C．criticize the fast pace of city life |
| D．tell young men to give their seats to elderly people |
How could you describe the tone of this passage?
| A．acceptable | B．opponent |
| C．negative | D．encouraging |
Last night was the last game for my eight-year-old son’s soccer team. It was the final quarter. The score was two to one, and my son’s team was in the lead. Parents surrounded the playground, offering encouragement.
With less than ten seconds remaining, the ball suddenly rolled in front of my son’s teammate, Mickey O’Donnell. With “Kick it!” echoing across the playground, Mickey turned around and gave it everything he had. All around me the crowd erupted. O’Donnell had scored!
Then there was silence. Mickey had scored all right, but in the wrong goal, ending the game in a tie. For a moment there was a total hush. You see, Mickey has Down syndrome(综合症) and for him there was no such thing as a wrong goal. All goals were celebrated by a joyous hug from Mickey. He had even been known to hug the opposing players when they scored.
The silence was finally broken when Mickey, his face filled with joy, hugged my son tightly and shouted, “I scored! I scored! Everybody won! Everybody won!” For a moment I held my breath, not sure how my son would react. I need not have worried. I watched, through tears, as my son threw up his hand in the classic high-five salute and started chanting, “Way to go Mickey! Way to go Mickey!” Within moments both teams surrounded Mickey, joining in the chant and congratulating him on his goal.
Later that night, when my daughter asked who had won, I smiled as I replied, “It was a tie. Everybody won.” The underlined word “hush” in paragraph 3 means ________.
| A．cheer. | B．cry | C．laughter | D．silence |
What did the author worry about when Mickey scored and hugged his son?
| A．The result of the match would fail his son. |
| B．His son would shout at Mickey for his goal. |
| C．Mickey would again hug the opposing players. |
| D．His son would understand Mickey’s wrong goal. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
| A．both teams liked and respected Mickey |
| B．both teams were thankful to Mickey for his goal |
| C．Mickey didn’t mind though his goal was wrong |
| D．Mickey was a kind-hearted boy and hoped everybody won |
The purpose of the author in writing the passage is _____.
| A．to tell a joke to make readers laugh |
| B．to suggest we should not mind losing |
| C．to show enjoying a game is more than winning a game |
| D．to present his son’s fine qualities of understanding others |
Connecting with Patients
Dr. Paris often treats several generations of a family over many years. “He’s seen us through two births, one operation, multiple earaches, a broken wrist and a recovery from a serious traffic crash,” says Jill Farrow, a 43-year-old lawyer whose first visit to Dr. Paris was as a teenager. During the birth of her younger son, Farrow began bleeding badly. Dr. Paris managed to solve the problem in a delicate procedure. “Twenty years ago, she probably would have died,” he says. Today, when he performs school sports physical examinations for the Farrow boys, 10 and 11, he is always reminded that lives are changed forever by doctors just doing their jobs.
To be a mix of country doc and somewhat adventurer, the 55-year-old family physician moved to Hailey after completing his residency（医生实习期）. He hoped to practice medicine there and ski at nearby Sun Valley. Unfortunately, the only job opening was for an emergency-room doctor in Missoula, Montana, 300 miles away. Dr. Paris took it. "I'd ski all day and then drive all night to be in Missoula for a 48-hour shift," he recalls. "I'm lucky to be alive." Knowing he couldn't keep up with his eight-hour commute（通勤）, he began taking flying lessons.
In 1981, Dr. Paris joined a small medical practice in Hailey, a former mining town with a population at the time of 2,109. As Hailey grew in the shadow of Sun Valley's booming popularity, Dr. Paris's own practice expanded to seven physicians, including his wife, Kathryn Woods, who is also a family doctor. They met in 1986 at a certification exam in Denver when, in a room full of men in stodgy suits, Woods arrived wearing a Lycra biking outfit and carrying the front wheel of her bicycle (which she couldn't lock up outside). Dr. Paris asked her out on the spot. In 1989, they married.What Jill Farrow says is to indicate ________.
| A．how weak the bodies of her family |
| B．how hard it is to be a doctor |
| C．how brilliant the physician’s skill is |
| D．how easy it is to deal with such problems |
Dr. Paris often reminds himself that ________.
| A．lives of people should not always stay the same |
| B．people can rely on themselves to change their life |
| C．doctors should change their own life |
| D．it is the duty of a doctor to heal the patients |
Why did Dr. Paris move to Hailey?
| A．Because he can be a doctor and an adventurer there. |
| B．Because he has to finish his residency there. |
| C．Because his children are fond of skiing at nearby Sun Valley. |
| D．Because he has to be an emergency-room doctor there. |
We can infer the doctor got married probably at the age of ________.
| A．27. | B．37. | C．17. | D．47. |
This passage is intended to ________.
| A．introduce Dr. Paris |
| B．praise the doctor’s excellent medical art |
| C．describe the doctor’s adventurous experience |
| D．tell the doctor’s love affairs |
"Reduce, reuse and recycle, this familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways.
The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste – electronic junk (电子垃圾), such as old computers, cell-phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
“A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of reuse – to bridge the digital divide,” said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it’s picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen “a green passport” to ship waste around the globe. “Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves,” Gutierrez said. But, he added, “A greater portion of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state.”
China, for example, has become a dumping place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial, is finally beginning to take the lead.The underlined word “unscrupulous” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.
| A．unsafe | B．tricky | C．wrong | D．immoral |
What does the fourth paragraph mainly discuss?
| A．Old computers and TVs still work before they are sent abroad. |
| B．Poor people break up e-waste to collect some valuable materials. |
| C．A lot of e-waste is dumped in developing countries. |
| D．The problem of e-waste is growing in developing countries. |
From what Gutierrez said we can learn that ________.
| A．exporting countries should mainly be responsible for this problem. |
| B．neither rich nor poor countries should be blamed for this problem |
| C．developing countries should be responsible for this problem |
| D．poor countries should blamed for this problem |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．China has hidden a large amount of e-waste in many secret places |
| B．China has greatly changed hre idea about the problem of e-waste |
| C．China has prevented poisonous materials from entering China for a long time |
| D．China is falling behind other countries in dealing with e-wast |
The passage mainly tells us that _______.
| A．developing countries are facing serious environmental problems |
| B．e-waste is a growing problem in developed countries |
| C．e-waste is sent to developing countries under the excuse of reuse |
| D．developing countries are making full use of e-waste |
Climate change experts from the Tyndall Climate Research Centre in Britain have said urgent action is needed to curb the rapid growth in air travel if the government is to meet its commitments on tackling global warming. This report from Stephen Evans:
Falling ticket prices and rising incomes are leading to rapid growth in global air travel. According to the British government, the number of British air passengers, for example, will more than double in the next quarter of a century. Increases of such an order would mean much more aviation fuel being burned and aviation fuel may be more harmful to the environment than other fuels because the resulting smoke is emitted at high altitudes.
A group of scientists at the environmental research group, the Tyndall Centre, says that if Britain is to meet its overall target for cutting damaging emissions, other uses of fuel like for heating homes or driving cars would have to be cut dramatically.
The British government wants the use of aviation fuel covered by international agreement on the environment. The difficulty for any individual government is that taxing fuel used at its own airports might push airlines to move their operations to competing airports in other countries.Which statement is TRUE?
| A．A lot of people around the world have recently stopped flying because they have less money to spend and the price of plane tickets is going up |
| B．Half as many people as today will fly in the next 25 years. |
| C．Because more planes are suing more flight petrol and more pollution is being produced in the sky. |
| D．The British government would like all countries to agree not to tax airline fuel. |
Which is the reason that leads to the rapid growth in global air travel?
| A．The increase of incomes and the decrease of ticket prices. |
| B．The growth of the number of good planes. |
| C．The falling of the oil price. |
| D．The encouragement of the governments. |
The Tyndall Centre says ________.
| A．the number of British air passengers will more than double in the next quarter of a century. |
| B．Britain will have to use less energy at home and on the roads to meet the goal of cutting pollution. |
| C．If airports are taxed for using fuel by each country’s government, then airlines might use other airports with cheaper fuel taxes. |
| D．Only the use of aviation fuel needs to be cut down to meet the overall target for cutting damaging emissions. |
What’s the best title of the text?
| A．Falling Ticket Prices and Rising Incomes |
| B．Growth in Air Travel Harms Environment |
| C．Rapid Growth in Global Air Travel |
| D．More Flight Petrol, More smoke |
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