Last night’s meteor(流星) shower left many people in the community dissatisfied and demanding answers. According to Gabe Rothsclild, Emerald Valley’s mayor, people gathered in the suburbs of the city, carrying heavy telescopes, expecting to watch the brightly burning meteors passing through the sky. What they found instead was a sky so brightened by the city’s lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead.
“My family was so frustrated,” admitted town resident Duane Cosby, “We wanted to make this an unforgettable family outing, but it turned out to be a huge disappointments.”
Astronomers---scientists who study stars and planets----have been complaining about this problem for decades.They say that light pollution prevents them from seeing objects in the sky that they could see quite easily in the past. They call on people and the government to take measures to fight against it.
There is yet a population besides professional and amateur star observers that suffers even more from light pollution. This population consists of birds,bats frogs,snakes,etc. For example,outdoor lighting severely affects migrating(遷徙的)birds. According to the International Dark-Sky Association. “100 million birds a year throughout North America die in crashes with lighted buildings and towers.”
Countless more animals casualties(傷亡）result from the use of artificial lighting. Clearly, people enjoy the benefits of lighting their evenings,but some scientists think it can be harmful for humans,too. They worry that exposure to light while sleeping can increase person’s chances of getting cancer.
Emerald Valley is only one community that is becoming aware of the negative effects of hight pollution. For years, Flagstaff,Arizona, has enforced lighting regulations in its city in order to help astronomers at the Lowell Observatory. Similar efforts have been made worldwide, and a movement is underway to remind us to turn off lights when we are not using them, so that other creatures can share the night.
【小題1】It happened last night that __________ .
| A．the city light show attracted many people |
| B．the meteors flew past before being noticed |
| C．the city’s lights affected the meteor watching |
| D．the meteor watching ended up a social outing |
| A．Light pollution has remained unsolved for years |
| B．Their observation equipment is in poor repair |
| C．Meteor showers occur less often than before |
| D．Their eyesight is failing due to artificial lighting |
| A．Birds may take other migration paths |
| B．Animal’living habits may change suddenly |
| C．Varieties of animals will become sharply reduced |
| D．Animals’survival is threatened by outdoor lighting |
| A．Lessen the chance of getting cancer |
| B．ensure citizens a good sleep at night |
| C．create an ideal observation condition |
| D．enable all creatures to live in harmony |
| A．Saving wildlife is saving ourselves |
| B．Human activities should be environmentally friendly |
| C．Great efforts should be made to save energy |
| D．New equipment should be introduced for space study |
【小題1】C
【小題2】A
【小題3】D
【小題4】C
【小題5】B
解析試題分析：許多人想在晚上看流星雨，結(jié)果由于光線太亮，影響了他們的觀看效果。由此引發(fā)了人們對光污染的思考。本文是一篇議論文，文章由一個事例引發(fā)出要討論的話題。
【小題1】C細節(jié)理解題。第一段的最后一句話a sky so brightened by the city’s lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead表明答案為C
【小題2】A細節(jié)理解題。題干中的Astronomers出現(xiàn)在第三段，文中有一句話have been complaining about this problem for decades，第一段就提到了光線太亮，這句話的后面又提到了light pollution。結(jié)合選項，答案為A
【小題3】D細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段第一句話就告訴我們除了專業(yè)及業(yè)余的觀星者之外，還有些群體也收到了光污染的影響。而這些群體指的就是birds、bats等動物。D項的意思是“動物的生存受到戶外燈光的影響”
【小題4】C細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)題干中的信息告訴我們答案應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)在最后一段，根據(jù)“in order to assist astronomers at the Lowell Observatory”，答案顯然為C。
【小題5】B主旨大意。文中作者反復強調(diào)光污染問題對人類的一些活動和動物的影響。這顯然是強調(diào)環(huán)境問題，故選B項。
考點：科普類閱讀。
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
There are two types of people in the world．Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy．This is because of the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds．
People who are to be happy pay their attention to the good side of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather．They enjoy all the cheerful things．Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things．Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied．By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, hurt many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere．The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes．I hope this little warning may help them change this habit．
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck．Nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect.This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments．they should change their bad habits .If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact with them．Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels．
【小題1】People who are unhappy _______．
| A．a(chǎn)lways consider things differently from others |
| B．usually are affected by the results of certain things |
| C．usually misunderstand what others think or say |
| D．a(chǎn)lways discover the unpleasant side of certain things |
| A．we should pity all such unhappy people |
| B．such unhappy people are dangerous to social life |
| C．people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness |
| D．unhappy people can not understand happy persons |
| A．prevent any communication with them |
| B．show no respect and politeness to them |
| C．persuade them to recognize the bad effects |
| D．quarrel with them until they realize the mistakes |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：單選題
Millions of years ago dinosaurs (恐龍) lived on the earth. In the days of dinosaurs the whole earth was warm and wet. There were green forests and they could find enough to eat. Later, parts of the earth became cold and dry. and the forests there died. Then dinosaurs could not find enough to cat. This must be one reason why dinosaurs died out.
We can guess another reason. New kinds of animals came on the earth. Some had big brains and were fast and strong. They could kill dinosaurs. There may be other reasons that we don’t know about yet. Scientists are trying to make more discoveries about dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were of many sizes and shapes (形狀). Some were as small as chickens, while some were about 90 feet long.
There were also terrible fights between dinosaurs. They might have happened more than 100 million years ago. Though there was no man to see any of the fights, we can be told by the animal’s footprints (足跡) that fight did take place.
【小題1】According to the passage, dinosaurs did exist only ______on the earth.
| A．for millions of years |
| B．millions of years ago |
| C．more than 100 millions years ago |
| D．when it was warm and wet somewhere |
| A．there were too many dinosaurs |
| B．parts of the earth became cold and dry |
| C．the dead forests there could not supply them with enough food |
| D．they couldn’t find enough to eat |
| A．new kinds of animals came on the earth |
| B．some fast and strong animals with big brains could kill them |
| C．some dinosaurs were as small as chickens |
| D．some big dinosaurs died in the fights |
| A．scientists are trying to make some dinosaurs |
| B．dinosaurs are dangerous enough |
| C．dinosaurs are worth studying |
| D．scientists know nothing about dinosaurs |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Most people know precious gemstones (寶石) 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 (線索) 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 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.
【小題1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________.
| A．a(chǎn)n emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds. |
| B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined. |
| C．a(chǎn)ppearances 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 change 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．a(chǎn)ttract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
The evolution of the first animals may have oxygenated（供氧）Earth's oceans. New research
led by the University of Exeter challenges the long held belief that oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans was a precondition for the evolution of complex life forms.
The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, builds on the recent work of scientists in Denmark who found that sponges（海綿動物）一the first animals to evolve一require only small amounts of oxygen.
Professor Tim Lenton of the University of Exeter, who led the new study, said: "We argue that the evolution of the first animals could have played a key role in the widespread oxygenation of the deep oceans. This in turn may have facilitated the evolution of more complex, mobile animals."
Critical to determining oxygen levels in the deep ocean is the balance of oxygen supply and demand. Demand for oxygen is created by the sinking of dead organic material into the deep ocean. The new study argues that the first animals reduced this supply of organic matter一both directly and indirectly.
Sponges feed by pumping water through their bodies, "digesting" the tiny particles of organic matter, and thus helping oxygenate the shelf seas that they live in. By oxygenating more of the bottom waters, the first animals actually increased the removal of the essential nutrient phosphorus（磷）in the ocean. This in turn reduced the productivity of the whole ocean ecosystem, lowering oxygen demand and thus oxygenating the deep ocean.
A more oxygen-rich ocean created ideal conditions for more complex mobile animals to evolve, because they have a higher requirement for oxygen. These included the first predatory（肉食的）animals with guts（內(nèi)臟）that started to eat one another, marking the beginning of the type of food webs we are familiar with today.
Professor Simon Poulton of the University of Leeds, who is a co-author of the study, added: "This study provides a possible mechanism for ocean oxygenation without the requirement for a rise in atmospheric oxygen. It therefore questions whether the long-standing belief that there was a major rise in atmospheric oxygen at this time is correct. We simply don't know the answer to this at present, which is ultimately key to understanding how our planet evolved to its current habitable state. Geochemists need to come up with new ways to explain oxygen levels on the early Earth."
【小題1】The underlined word "facilitated" in Para. 3 is closest in meaning to＿＿．
| A．prevented | B．promoted | C．interrupted | D．witnessed |
| A．phosphorus can keep the productivity of the ocean ecosystem |
| B．complex animals consume the same amount of oxygen as sponges |
| C．the sinking of dead organic material into the deep ocean produces oxygen |
| D．the existence of the first animals marks the beginning of modern food webs |
| A．their study gives a new explanation for the high oxygen content in the air |
| B．oxygen increased greatly in the air as the first animals oxygenated the oceans |
| C．their study answers the question of how the earth evolved to the present state |
| D．ocean oxygenation does not necessarily require a rise in atmospheric oxygen |
| A．present the view that the first animals played an active role in oxygenating oceans |
| B．introduce two opposite opinions on how the first animals oxygenated oceans |
| C．a(chǎn)nalyze how atmospheric oxygen stepped up the evolution of oceanic animals |
| D．explain how oceanic oxygen determines the amount of atmospheric oxygen |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash（垃圾） there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal （致命的）danger.
The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard I stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning（拋棄） things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.
It is estimated （估計）that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.
The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飛船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide（碰撞） with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.
【小題1】What was the first piece of man-made space trash?
| A．A camera. | B．A tool kit. |
| C．A fuel tank. | D．A broken satellite. |
| A．It no longer served any useful purpose. |
| B．It was millions of miles away from the Earth. |
| C．It did not cause any problems. |
| D．It was regarded as similar to comets and stars. |
| A．It is huge, heavy machines. |
| B．It never changes position. |
| C．It floats slowly around the Earth. |
| D．It may cause problems for space shuttles. |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.”
That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and a cat.
They just might succeed in cloning Missy soon — or perhaps not for another five years.
Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog's eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate（代孕的）mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted(流產(chǎn)，發(fā)育不全) fetuses（胎）may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.
Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996, Westhusin's phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. “A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right,” says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy's mysterious billionaire owner; he's put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M's research.
Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy's fine qualities after she does die. The prototype（原型；雛形）is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and super-smart. Missy's master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament（氣質(zhì)、性情）. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy.”
Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.
However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems~ “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we're not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?”
【小題1】By “stupid endeavor”, Westhusin means to say that ________.
| A．human cloning is a foolish undertaking |
| B．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is absolutely impractical |
| C．human cloning should be done selectively |
| D．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is not worth the effort at all |
| A．Its success is already in sight. |
| B．It is progressing smoothly. |
| C．It is doomed to utter failure. |
| D．Its outcome remains uncertain. |
| A．study the possibility of cloning humans |
| B．search for ways to modify its temperament |
| C．find out the differences between Missy and its clones |
| D．examine the reproductive system of the dog species |
| A．a(chǎn) bad temper |
| B．defective（有缺陷的、有毛病的）organs |
| C．immune deficiency |
| D．a(chǎn)n abnormal shape |
| A．Cloning of Missy |
| B．Scientist Says ‘No’ to Human Cloning |
| C．Human Cloning Is Dangerous . |
| D．Westhusin Is Cautious about Cloning |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the experiment of Frederick in the thirteenth century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If there sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed.
Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months they can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to five words. At three he knows about 1,000 words, which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than grammar.
Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern “toy bear”. And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyze, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways.
But speech has to be induced（激發(fā)，引起）, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the children’s babbling（咿呀聲）,grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
【小題1】The writer mentioned the experiment of Frederick to __________.
| A．support his idea | B．introduce his topic |
| C．describe a new finding | D．give an example of his theory |
| A．prove that children are born with the ability to speak |
| B．discover what language a child would speak without hearing any human speech |
| C．find out what role careful nursing would play in teaching a child to speak |
| D．prove that a child could be damaged without learning a language |
| A．they are not able to learn language rapidly |
| B．they are exposed to too much language at once |
| C．their mothers do not respond enough to their attempts to speak |
| D．their mothers are not clever enough to help them |
| A．have a high IQ | B．be less intelligent |
| C．be insensitive to verbal signals | D．not necessarily be backward |
| A．A child is born with the ability to speak. |
| B．A child’s brain has a complex system which helps to connect the sight and feel of an object. |
| C．A child can produce his own sentences. |
| D．A child owes his speech ability to good nursing. |
| A．the infants will certainly die because of lack of language. |
| B．a(chǎn)ll children learn their language in fixed stages |
| C．the child’s brain is highly selective |
| D．insensitivity to the child’s non-verbal signals will not affect the development of the child’s language |
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Password (密碼) strength has been a topic about the Internet lately. I have seen lots of clever methods for generating and remembering strong passwords. Some are better than others, but in my opinion, none are adequate. Here's the problem: It doesn't matter how strong your passwords are if you use the same one on multiple sites. All it takes is for a site to get hacked(侵入), like Gawker media, or even Sony did, and now your superstrong password has been stolen, and every site on which you used that password has been accessed.
So, the bottom line is that no matter how strong your passwords are, and no matter what clever tricks you use to help you remember them, if you surf internet often, the only truly secure password system is what you need.
Enter LastPass. It's not the only password manager out there, but I like it the best. You create ONE strong password that you have to memorize and use it to access your LastPass database. The LastPass database is stored online, on LastPass's servers. LastPass recognizes the site you're on and automatically logs you in (after, optionally, asking you to reenter your master password). LastPass also has automatic form fill and automatic password generation. This means that you can have a different, unique, very strong password for every site you log into, but you only have to remember one master password. It's the best of both worlds.
One argument against LastPass is that if their database is attacked, then all of your sites are in danger, and that's true, but given that their entire line of work is keeping that information safe, I'm willing to take that chance. The alternative is rolling dice(擲骰子) or picking phrases to create passwords, writing all of them down on a piece of paper or something, and then having to manually type them in when I go to a site. A terrible mess.
There is a free version of LastPass, with some additional features unlocked if you pay a $12 a year subscription.
Joshua Bardwell
【小題1】The writer thinks using the same password everywhere is ________.
| A．dangerous | B．convenient |
| C．a(chǎn)ppropriate | D．a(chǎn)dequate |
| A．a(chǎn)ll passwords used |
| B．the last password |
| C．unique password each time |
| D．the master password only |
| A．they have better ways to create password |
| B．they think rolling dice is more convenient |
| C．they have no faith in Lastpass database's safety |
| D．Gawker media and Lastpass were hacked once |
| A．share his experience |
| B．introduce a product of good quality |
| C．a(chǎn)dvertise his product |
| D．teach how to use a new product |
查看答案和解析>>
湖北省互聯(lián)網(wǎng)違法和不良信息舉報平臺 | 網(wǎng)上有害信息舉報專區(qū) | 電信詐騙舉報專區(qū) | 涉歷史虛無主義有害信息舉報專區(qū) | 涉企侵權(quán)舉報專區(qū)
違法和不良信息舉報電話：027-86699610 舉報郵箱：58377363@163.com