While students in Hainan are quite used to clear skies, Beijing teenagers are not so lucky. As another warm winter approaches, the city can expect the normal clouds of smoke caused by air pollution.
But things may start to improve soon. The government is co-operating with a US-based environmental protection agency to update existing buses and trucks with clean fuel technology. The new technology could reduce air pollutants in existing diesel engines(柴油機)by 40 percent. The programme will begin by testing buses in Beijing to see if the technology can be applied to them.
“We encourage the development of public transports. But at the same time we need to reduce pollution from them, ”said an official.
Efforts are being made to improve the capital’s environment with tighter controls on emissions(排放). Some heavily polluting factories and construction sites, such as those owned by the steel giant Shougang Group, have been asked to cut production in November and December or be closed.
Beijing was the third polluted city in the world at the end of last century, according to the UN. But thanks to recent measures, the capital has made some progress. Last year 224 clear days were rated as having good air quality. In 1998 the air quality index(指數(shù))gave just 100 days as good.
“I am glad to see an improvement, ”said a senior 1 boy living in the northwest of Beijing. “Compared to other places, the air quality of Beijing is still worrying though. I hate pollution. Once I was riding my bike in the morning when I almost had a traffic accident because I couldn’t see a car only metres away from me in fog. ”
In early October, the skies were covered by such a thick fog that a display show by the visiting French Air Force was called off.
Rapid development, industry, traffic fumes and sandstorms from the desert all contribute to the city’s bad air.
【小題1】 The passage is mainly about .
A.a(chǎn) programme aiming at improving Beijing’s air quality |
B.progress made in Beijing’s air quality |
C.Beijing’s air pollution |
D.the differences between Hainan and Beijing |
A.Clean fuel technology will be used in public transports. |
B.Some factories have been asked to cut production. |
C.Some construction sites have been told to be closed. |
D.A display show of airplanes has been called off. |
A.far more still needs to be done |
B.nothing else needs to be done |
C.a(chǎn)ll traffic has to be closed |
D.the development of the city has to be slowed down |
A.Beijing’s air quality is getting worse and worse. |
B.Rapid development, industry, traffic fumes and sandstorms are all the causes of bad air quality. |
C.People see clouds of smoke in the sky in the winter of Beijing. |
D.The government is making efforts to stop air pollution. |
科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy,but this one is clean and cool.Fox Point is a very new 47unit living building in South Bronx,one of the city’s poorest areas.Twothirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people,whose rent is paid by the government.The rest are lowincome families.The boiler room has special equipment,which produces energy for electricity and heat.It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air,reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by Palladia,a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people.Palladia received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP),which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy,environmentally (環(huán)境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called the Green Communities Standards.These standards include water keeping,energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials.Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%,which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs.Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg,New York’s mayor,plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers.Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings,and 40% of those are caused by housing.So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD),whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing,will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities,such as Cleveland and Denver,but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country.(2010·四川,B)
【小題1】What is the purpose of describing the boiler rooms in the first paragraph?
A.To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. |
B.To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. |
C.To show how the environmentfriendly building works. |
D.To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
A.Lower running costs. |
B.Costing less in construction. |
C.Less air to be lost in hot days. |
D.Better prices for homeless people. |
A.New York City is seriously polluted |
B.people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City |
C.a(chǎn) great number of people in New York City don’t have houses to live in |
D.some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
A.To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. |
B.To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. |
C.To ask society to help homeless people and lowincome families. |
D.To introduce healthy,environmentally clever and affordable housing. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
Attempts to understand the relationship between social behavior and health have their origin in history. Dubos (1969) suggested that primitive(原始的)humans were closer to the animals because they, too, relied upon their instincts to stay healthy. Yet some primitive humans recognized a cause and effect relationship between doing certain things and alleviating(減輕)symptoms of a disease or improving the condition of a wound. Since there was so much that primitive humans did not understand about the functioning of the body, magic became an integral component of the beliefs about the causes and cures of health disorders. So it is not surprising that early humans thought that illness was caused by evil spirits. Primitive medicines made from vegetables or animals were invariably used in combination with some form of ritual (禮儀) to drive harmful spirits away from a diseased body.
One of the earliest attempts in the Western world to formulate principles of health care based upon rational thought and rejection of supernatural phenomena is found in the work of the Greek physician Hippocrates. Little is known of Hippocrates who lived around 400 B.C., not even whether he actually authored the collection of books that bears his name. Nevertheless, the writings attributed to him have provided a number of principles underlying modern medical practice. One of his most famous contributions, the Hippocratic Oath, is the foundation of contemporary medical ethics (道德). Among other things, it requires a physician to swear that he or she will help the sick, keep oneself from intentional wrong-doing or harm, and keep secret all matters to keep the doctor-patient relationship.
Hippocrates also argued that medical knowledge should be derived(源自于)from an understanding of the natural sciences and the logic of cause and effect relationships. In this classic thesis, On Airs, Waters, and Places, Hippocrates pointed out that human-being is influenced by the totality of environmental factors: living habits or lifestyle, climate, geography of the land, and the quality of air and food. Interesting enough, concerns about our health and the quality of air, water, and places are still very much written in the twentieth century.
【小題1】The topic of the first paragraph is summarized in ________.
A.the first sentence of the paragraph |
B.the second sentence of the paragraph |
C.the third sentence of the paragraph |
D.the last sentence of the paragraph |
A.Because magic was an inseparable part of their life. |
B.Because they had little knowledge about the functioning of the body. |
C.Because the diseases were caused by the evil spirits. |
D.Because magic must be used in going through the rituals to drive out the evil spirits. |
A.he was the forefather of modern medicine |
B.experts are sure that the books bearing his name were not written by him |
C.he had a rational mind aided by supernatural instincts |
D.experts do not know much about him except when and where he lived |
A.helping patients |
B.keeping oneself from harming patients |
C.keeping secret all matters to maintain a good relationship with the patients |
D.obeying rules for modern medicine practice |
A.Doctor’s concerns remain unchanged. |
B.Medicine comes from nature. |
C.Environment affects health. |
D.Climate determines lifestyle. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo(接受) testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%--40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue(疲勞).
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband. The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盤). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the makers will bring the product to market within about a year.
【小題1】How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A.By sounding a warning. |
B.By touching the wristband. |
C.By checking the driving time. |
D.By pressing the steering wheel. |
A.a(chǎn)bout 400 milliseconds | B.below 500 milliseconds |
C.over 500 milliseconds | D.a(chǎn)bout 4 minutes |
A.moves more regularly |
B.stops working properly |
C.opens the window for the driver |
D.sounds more frequently and loudly |
A.a(chǎn)ims to reduce tiredness-related accidents |
B.has gone through testing at laboratories |
C.a(chǎn)ims to prevent drivers from sleeping |
D.has been on sale for 12 months |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
It is generally believed that we are getting cleaned when we step under a shower. We are, but we’re also giving a home to lots of tiny little creatures we didn’t even know about. A showerhead carries thousands of bacteria called Mycobacterium.These can cause problems like coughs and tiredness, and a general feeling of poorliness (身體不舒服). When you turn on the water, the bacteria go from the showerhead onto and into your body.
This is a finding of Norman R. Pace and his team at the University of Colorado, in the US. The scientists investigated bacteria in all kinds of human environment, including showers.Pace's team looked at 45 showerheads in nine American cities. They discovered that 30 percent of them had large amounts of flying Mycobacterium.
But Pace said that they pose few threats to the health.Only those with a weak immune system might need to worry.He told the New York Times that the bacteria are not as unpleasant as might be thought.He said that having a shower is no more dangerous than anything else we do in the morning.
But for those who feel sick about the idea of all those microorganisms (微生物), he had some advice. Let the water run for 30 seconds before getting into the shower. Why? The number of bacteria is smaller than that when the water is just turned on. If that seems like a waste of water, he added that you could also change your showerhead every few months.
However, Pace had good news too. He has also been testing the air in US subways. Apart from iron particles (粒子), which are ground off the track by the wheels of trains, subway air is fresh. The reason is that a train’s movement pumps fresh outdoor air into the tunnels.
Pace explained that he wanted to understand the natural microbial environments of public places. This kind of knowledge might help discover the microbes to be used in a bioterrorist (生物恐怖分子) attack.
【小題1】From the finding of Norman R. Pace, after taking a shower, we might cough or feel tired because .
A.it’s easy to get a cold when taking a bath |
B.the showerhead carries many bacteria causing illness |
C.we don’t get cleaned while showering |
D.we don’t get a weak immune system |
A.Hot water could kill most of bacteria in showerheads. |
B.Of 45 showerheads surveyed in nine cities, 30 carried large amounts of Mycobacterium. |
C.Changing showerheads is the only way to avoid microorganisms. |
D.Shower water contains much less bacteria after being left to run for 30 seconds. |
A.having a shower in the morning is more dangerous than at other time |
B.the bacteria always threat people’s health |
C.there is no reason to fear microorganisms for people with strong immune system |
D.it is better to do some exercise in the morning than have a shower |
A.cause | B.a(chǎn)void | C.describe | D.promise |
A.The train’s movement. | B.Iron particles. |
C.Train wheels. | D.Air conditioners on the trains. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have reported evidence that Mars was warmer and wetter long ago than it is today. The Caltech scientists say they have directly established the temperature of Mars four billion years ago. At least, they established the surface temperature on part of the planet at that time. The researchers say it is the first such evidence to be discovered and presented.
The Caltech scientists say carbonate(碳酸鹽)minerals formed on Mars at about eighteen degrees Celsius. They reached the finding after studying a meteorite(隕石)that had its beginnings near the Martian surface.
Today, the average temperature on Mars is sixty-three degrees below zero Celsius.
The finding was reported on the website of the National Academy of Sciences. Caltech Assistant Professor Woody Fischer helped to prepare the report. He says eighteen degrees Celsius is not especially cold or hot. He says this makes the finding extremely interesting. Knowing the temperature can give scientists an idea of the climate on Mars long ago. It can also help them decide whether the planet had liquid water. Spacecraft orbiting Mars have shown what appear to be rivers, lakebeds and mineral deposits. These pictures suggest that, at one time, water did flow there. Mars Rover vehicles and other spacecraft have proved the information.
The meteorite the scientists examined is one of the oldest known rocks in the world. It is called the Allan Hills meteorite. Its name came from the place in Antarctica where it was found in 1984. The meteorite is believed to have blown loose from the Mars' surface when another space rock struck its "home."
【小題1】The underlined word “establish” in Paragraph 1 probably means “___________”.
A.to set up |
B.to make people accept a belief |
C.to discover or prove |
D.to start having a relationship with others |
A.By studying Allan Hills meteorite. |
B.By using spacecraft orbiting Mars. |
C.By studying minerals gathered on Mars. |
D.By studying a meteorite on the Martian surface. |
A.Measuring the temperature of Mars. |
B.Taking photos of the surface of Mars. |
C.Finding that there is water flowing on Mars. |
D.Proving where human beings will probably land on Mars. |
A.In a biography of scientists. | B.In a geography magazine. |
C.In an environment report. | D.In a science report. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony.
The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.
The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes(音符) to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they found the notes unfamiliar they also found the sound unpleasant. This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive.
The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn’t find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培養(yǎng)) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.
Depending on their training, a strange chord(和弦) sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt.
To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played.
The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder(觀看者)”, a researcher said.
【小題1】According to the study, people find foreign music quite unpleasant because_____.
A.they hear the music much too often |
B.they don’t like the person playing it |
C.they have no idea about how to listen |
D.they have no born musical ability at all |
A.be trained to like particular music |
B.make friends with real musicians |
C.find the beauty of chords without training |
D.enjoy the beauty of music when played by musicians |
A.the brain likes particular combinations of notes |
B.not a strange note was pleasant to all musicians |
C.how the chords were played was very important |
D.people’s ability to hear a musical note can be learnt |
A.Love of musical harmony can’t be taught. |
B.Love of music is not natural but nurtured. |
C.Listening to music can improve your brain. |
D.You can be a musician without being trained. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.
The paper,published this March in Psychology and Aging,examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96.The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.
Survey respondents (受訪者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10,among other questions.
The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction,while middleaged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future.Adults of 65 and older,however,were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction.Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would,the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.
“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,”wrote Frieder R.Lang,a professor at the University of ErlangenNuremberg.
Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.
“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (預防措施),”the authors wrote.
Surprisingly,compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes,respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline.Also,the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.
The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions.Illness,medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.
However,the researchers said a pattern was clear.“We found that from early to late adulthood,individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic,to accurate,to pessimistic,”the authors concluded.
【小題1】According to the study,who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?
A.Optimistic adults. |
B.Middleaged adults. |
C.Adults in poor health. |
D.Adults of lower income. |
A.to fully enjoy their present life |
B.to estimate their contribution accurately |
C.to take measures against potential risks |
D.to value health more highly than wealth |
A.They will earn less money. |
B.They will become pessimistic. |
C.They will suffer mental illness. |
D.They will have less time to enjoy life. |
A.Pessimism guarantees chances of survival. |
B.Good financial condition leads to good health. |
C.Medical treatment determines health outcomes. |
D.Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age. |
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
All across California, honeybees are flying away from their hives(蜂箱) and dying. Empty hives are causing a lot of worry about some important food crops.
Bees give us a lot more than delicious honey. They are pollinators(授粉者)—they enable plants to produce the fruits and nuts we enjoy by carrying pollen from one plant or flower to the next. The wind pollinates oats, corn, and wheat, but many other plants (like apple and cherry trees and melon vines) depend on insects, bats, and birds. In the U.S., millions and millions of bees kept by human beekeepers fly around doing a lot of this important work for food crops. “Bees are worth protecting because their work adds so much to our diet,” says Dr. Jeff Pettis of the Bee Research Laboratory.
California’s almond (杏仁) crop alone depends on about half the bees in the country. But now the almond crop and many others could be in trouble with so many bees dying.
Researchers at government and university labs all over the country are trying to figure out why so many bees are dying. However, bees are hard to study. Most die away from the hive, so researchers don’t have dead bodies to examine. And when researchers return to a hive after two weeks, about half the bees they studied on their first visit will be dead, replaced by new ones in the natural life cycle of bees. “It isn’t like studying a large animal like a cow that doesn’t move around much and is easy to find out in the cow field,” says Pettis.
Researchers have some ideas about what could be affecting bee health. They could be sick from poisons widely used to kill insects, or they might not be getting enough good food to stay strong. Also, tiny insects called mites feed on bees. “A virus or bacteria could also be doing the killing.” explains Pettis.
【小題1】What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A.The wind helps pollinate. |
B.Bees are important in food crops. |
C.Bees give us a lot of delicious honey. |
D.Cherry trees are pollinated by bees. |
A.they move around too much |
B.new bees soon replace all the bees studied by researchers |
C.they are too tiny |
D.they never return to hives |
A.Poisons to kill birds. | B.Eating too much. |
C.Large insects. | D.Some virus. |
A.A large number of bees have died in the hive. |
B.Without bees, some foods would disappear from our diet. |
C.Only researchers in California want to know what kills bees. |
D.Large animals are easier to study than tiny insects. |
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