Question

【題目】Complete the following passage with the words in the box. Each can only be used once（將下列單詞填入空格。每空格限填一詞，每詞只能填一次）

A. enough B. serious C. resource D. centuries E. precious

From deserts to beaches to playgrounds, sand is found almost everywhere. It is a common sight. But you might not know that it is very 【1】.

Sand is widely used in glass-making and road-building. It is the second most-used 【2】 after water in the world, the BBC reported. However, the UN said that sand is not limitless and that we might be running out of it.

Sand is made up of very small pieces of rock, soil and minerals. It can take thousands of 【3】 to form, but now we are using sand too quickly. According to the BBC, we use about fifteen billion tons of sand every year to build houses, roads etc. That is 【4】to build a 20-meter-high by 20-meter-wide wall around the equator（赤道）every year. Can you believe it?

A. disappear B. probably C. continue D. sometimes E. seldom

People 【5】 put sand into the sea to make new islands. Singapore, for example, is now 20 percent bigger than it was in 1965. Palm islands are three large man-made islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They took 94 million cubic meters of sand to build.

If people 【6】using this much sand, it will run out in many places. For example, Vietnam may run out of construction sand by 2020, Live Science noted.

Since people need so much sand, they are trying to mine（開采）more of it. But this is bad for the environment. Mining sand may cause beaches to 【7】and more floods to happen in places close to the sea. Also, this will 【8】affect the habitats（棲息地）of many plants and animals.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】E

【2】C

【3】D

【4】A

【5】D

【6】C

【7】A

【8】B

【解析】

這篇短文主要講述了沙子在我們生活中是非常重要的，有可能沙子會(huì)用光。

【1】句意：這是常見的景象。但你可能不知道它很珍貴。

此處缺的是形容詞。所給選項(xiàng)中可以排除C和D，根據(jù)上下文以及剩余選項(xiàng)，E：precious 珍貴的。故選E。

【2】句意：據(jù)英國廣播公司報(bào)道，它是世界上僅次于水的第二大資源。

此處缺的是名詞。句意是“沙子是世界上使用率僅次于水的資源。”， resources 符合題意，意為“資源”。故選C。

【3】句意：它可能需要數(shù)千個(gè)世紀(jì)才能形成，但現(xiàn)在我們用沙子太快了。

此處缺的是名詞。根據(jù)thousands of 表示“數(shù)千的，成千上萬的”后加名詞復(fù)數(shù)，該句意為“沙子花費(fèi)數(shù)千個(gè)世紀(jì)才能形成”。所以centuries “世紀(jì)”，根據(jù)題意，故選D。

【4】句意：這就足夠每年在赤道周圍建造一堵20米高20米寬的墻了。

enough表示足夠的。根據(jù)句意，故選A。

【5】句意：人們有時(shí)把沙子放進(jìn)海里造新的島嶼。

但從后文可從后文新加坡面積變大得出可知用sometimes有時(shí)。故選D。

【6】句意：如果人們繼續(xù)使用這么多沙子，很多地方都會(huì)用光。

continue doing sth.表示繼續(xù)做某事；continue意思是“繼續(xù)”，根據(jù)句意，故選C。

【7】句意：采砂可能導(dǎo)致海灘消失，在靠近大海的地方會(huì)發(fā)生更多的洪水。

disappear動(dòng)詞， “消失”。根據(jù)句意，故選A。

【8】句意：此外，這可能會(huì)影響許多動(dòng)植物的棲息地。

根據(jù)句意，采砂也可能影響許多動(dòng)植物的棲息地。probably可能。根據(jù)句意，故選B。