Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678 000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.

    All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3 500 000 tons. The waste includes bags，bottles and containers—plastic products of all kinds.

    The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about l 600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert，with light winds and slow moving water currents. The water moves so slow that garbage from all over the world collects there.

    In recent years，there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste，resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full，lessening their desire to eat or drink.

    The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection of disease from polluted waste，and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.

    Its existence first gained public attention in l997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier，another oceanographer learned of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.

    In August，2009，a team from the University of California，San Diego became the

latest group to travel to it. They were shocked by the amount of waste they saw. They gathered hundreds of sea creatures and water samples to measure the garbage patch’s effect on ocean environment.

51.How did the writer introduce the topic of the passage?

   A. By giving an example.         B. By listing the facts.

   C. By telling a story.             D. By giving a comparison.

52.What do we know about the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?

   A. It is made up of various kinds of plastic products.

   B. It is a solid mass of floating waste materials.

   C. It lies l60 000 kilometers east of California.

   D. It is described as a kind of oceanic desert.

53.Why do people pay attention to the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?

   A. Because it may prevent the flow of ocean water.

   B. Because the polluted plastic articles will move up the food chain.

    C. Because it may be from an island in the pacific.

    D. Because ships may be trapped in the floating waste.

54.Which column can you find the passage on a newspaper?

    A. Sports and entertainment.              B. Media and culture.

    C. Environment and society.                 D. Science and technology.

55.The purpose of writing this passage is to____________.

    A. warn people of the danger to travel in the pacific

    B. analyze what caused the waste patch in the pacific

    C. give advice on how to recycle waste in the ocean

D. introduce the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：

—He must be busy doing his homework right now.

   —I imagine____.

  A. that     B. to     C. so     D. it

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Few of us make money by losing sleep．But three graduate students at Brown University in Providence built a company around sleep deprivation （睡眠不足）．

       Jason Donahue, Ben Rubin and Eric Shashoua were working late nights in Brown's business and engineering schools．They began thinking about ways to sleep better．They discovered they weren't alone in burning the midnight oil．Around 20% of Americans get less than six hours of rest a night．

       The friends imagined a smart alarm clock that could track how much time people spend in the most restorative （有回復(fù)作用的） stages of the sleep cycle: REM （rapid eye movement） and deep sleep．What would it cost to design such a thing? Five years of research, 20 employees, $14 million and a whole lot of doubting from investors and scientists．

       Their company, Zeo, based in Newton, Mass, launched its product in June, 2009．The Zeo device uses a headband with tiny sensors （傳感器） that scan your brain for signs of four sleep states- REM, light, deep and waking sleep．The smart alarm clock displays a graph of your sleep pattern and wakes you as you're not in REM sleep （which is when you're least groggy）．In the morning you can upload the data to the company's Web site, and so track your sleep over time．Most of the feedback comes in the form of Zeo's ZQ score showing how well you've slept．

       "Zeo allows people to unlock this black box of sleep," says Dave Dickinson, a health-care CEO．

       Whether any of this actually improves sleep is up to the consumer, who will also need to make lifestyle changes like cutting out alcohol before bedtime or caffeine after 3 pm．

       For now the company is selling Zeo online only．Dickinson also plans to spread it to countries such as Australia, where sleep deprivation approaches US levels．

Who will support Zeo?

       A．People full of imagination．          B．People suffering sleeping problems．

       C．People having access to the Internet． D．People having bad lifestyles．

Why did the three graduate students imagine a smart alarm clock?

       A．To wake them up on time in the morning．

       B．To earn enough money for their study．

       C．To improve the quality of people's sleep．

       D．To enjoy their life while working at night．

To design the Zeo device, the three graduate students ____．

       A．spent much time and money           B．were widely supported by scientists

       C．worked by themselves all the time       D．a(chǎn)ttracted many investors

What can we know from the passage?

       A．Zeo has a direct effect on users' lifestyles．

       B．It needs more personal efforts to make Zeo function better．

       C．A large quantity of Zeo devices have been sold in Australia．

       D．Consumers can go to the Zeo company to purchase Zeo in person．

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科目：高中英語 來源：2011屆寧夏銀川一中高三第一次模擬英語卷 題型：閱讀理解

  Imagine yourself on a boat looking out at the horizon and all you can see is the water meeting the sky with no land in sight and you are sailing straight ahead to meet the world. Jesse Martin does not have to imagine: he is living in it.
On Dec. 7, 1998, at 17 years old, Jesse set sail from Melbourne, Australia on his boat, attempting to become the youngest person to sail alone and nonstop around the world. He sailed south of New Zealand, through the South Pacific, around South America, north on the Atlantic, back south past Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back to Melbourne.
Even as a young child, Jesse had been an adventurer who traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents. Born in Munich, Germany in 1981, he moved to Australia with his family when he was only two years old. They moved close to a rainforest in Cow Bay, about 3500kms north of Melbourne, where they built a small house with no electricity or running water. Jesse grew up at the beach enjoying the outdoors to its fullest.
At 14, he sailed for the first time with his father and brother, Beau. It was after this trip that he began to dream about sailing around the world.
Jesse’s family played an important role. “I was made to believe I could do anything.” he says. Although, he says, there were others that were not so encouraging or supportive, “People that I looked up to, respected and trusted told me I couldn’t. Thankfully, I trusted myself. There were people that said that the boat couldn’t be ready by the time I had to leave.” However, through perseverance and belief in himself he was able to do what many told him was impossible.
On Oct.31, 1999, more than 10 months after he set sail, Jesse Martin went down in history as the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted.
【小題1】 What’s the author’s purpose in encouraging the reader to imagine a sailing experience?

A．To show how difficult it is to be a sailor.
B．To show how wonderful Jesse’s sailing is.
C．To describe what Jesse’s sailing is like.
D．To describe what a sailor’s life is like.
【小題2】 Jesse Martin was at the end of his voyage when he _______.
A．sailed on the South Pacific.
B．sailed on the Indian Ocean.
C．sailed past Africa
D．sailed past South America.
【小題3】 Which of the following made Jesse decide to sail alone around the world?
A．His childhood adventure experiences.
B．His journeys to Europe.
C．His first sailing trip with his family.
D．His love for outdoor activities.
【小題4】 What can we learn from Jesse Martin’s story?
A．Interest leads to success.
B．A strong belief will make a person stronger.
C．Life is an unusual adventure we should enjoy.
D．Failure is the mother of success.

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科目：高中英語 來源：貴州省凱里一中2009-2010學(xué)年度高二上學(xué)期期末考試英語 題型：閱讀理解


B
Shopping carts are such a ubiquitous presence in stores today that it is hard to imagine a time without them．And yet it wasn’t until the year 1937 when the first shopping cart was introduced．
The shopping cart was the brainchild of Sylvan Goldman，the owner of a grocery food chain in 0klahoma．Goldman noticed that his customers struggled to carry their food in heavy hand-held baskets．He decided there must be an easier way for his costomers to carry the food around in his supermarkets．Observing a folding chair, Goldman decided to use that as the prototype for his new shopping cart.
With the aid of a mechanic, Fred Young ,Goldman designed the first shopping cart based on the folding chair.Wheels were placed where the bottoms of the chair legs were. In place of the chair seat, Young and Goldman , placed two metal baskets on top of each other. This cart could be stored by folding it up like a folding chair．
At first there was a bit of difficulty getting the public to accept shopping carts．Men thought using them was effeminate(女人氣的)while younger women considered the use of the shopping carts to carry products around to be somewhat unstylish．Goldman solved this problem by hiring men and women models to use shopping carts in his stores．In addition，store     greeters instructed customers in how to use the shopping carts．In short order，the shopping carts became incredibly popular because it made shopping much easier for customers．By 1940 the popularity of shopping carts had grown to such an extent that there was a 7 year waiting list in store orders for new shopping carts．
45.. The underlined word“ubiquitous”is closest in meaning to”_________”．
A．strange    B．pleasant       C．common       D．possible
46.. The idea of shopping carts came from _____________．
A．Goldman’ s imagination           B．customers’needs
C．Fred Young’ s suggestion           C．other shops’examples
47.. Why was it difficult to get the public to accept shopping carts at first?
A．Both men and women were afraid they would not look good if they used them．
B.  People thought it unnecessary to use them because they never did much shopping．
C.  The early shopping carts were too difficult to use．
D. Only men and women models were supposed to use such modern things．
48.. How popular did Goldman’s invention finally become?
A．Men and women models used shopping carts in his stores．
B．Store greeters instructed customers in how to use the shopping carts．
C．Some stores had to wait several years to get his shopping carts．
D．His shopping carts had improved so much that both men and women liked to use them．

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科目：高中英語 來源：2010-2011學(xué)年寧夏高三第一次模擬英語卷 題型：閱讀理解

  Imagine yourself on a boat looking out at the horizon and all you can see is the water meeting the sky with no land in sight and you are sailing straight ahead to meet the world. Jesse Martin does not have to imagine: he is living in it.

On Dec. 7, 1998, at 17 years old, Jesse set sail from Melbourne, Australia on his boat, attempting to become the youngest person to sail alone and nonstop around the world. He sailed south of New Zealand, through the South Pacific, around South America, north on the Atlantic, back south past Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back to Melbourne.

Even as a young child, Jesse had been an adventurer who traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents. Born in Munich, Germany in 1981, he moved to Australia with his family when he was only two years old. They moved close to a rainforest in Cow Bay, about 3500kms north of Melbourne, where they built a small house with no electricity or running water. Jesse grew up at the beach enjoying the outdoors to its fullest.

At 14, he sailed for the first time with his father and brother, Beau. It was after this trip that he began to dream about sailing around the world.

Jesse’s family played an important role. “I was made to believe I could do anything.” he says. Although, he says, there were others that were not so encouraging or supportive, “People that I looked up to, respected and trusted told me I couldn’t. Thankfully, I trusted myself. There were people that said that the boat couldn’t be ready by the time I had to leave.” However, through perseverance and belief in himself he was able to do what many told him was impossible.

On Oct.31, 1999, more than 10 months after he set sail, Jesse Martin went down in history as the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted.

1. What’s the author’s purpose in encouraging the reader to imagine a sailing experience?

A．To show how difficult it is to be a sailor.

B．To show how wonderful Jesse’s sailing is.

C．To describe what Jesse’s sailing is like.

D．To describe what a sailor’s life is like.

2. Jesse Martin was at the end of his voyage when he _______.

A．sailed on the South Pacific.

B．sailed on the Indian Ocean.

C．sailed past Africa

D．sailed past South America.

3. Which of the following made Jesse decide to sail alone around the world?

A．His childhood adventure experiences.

B．His journeys to Europe.

C．His first sailing trip with his family.

D．His love for outdoor activities.

4. What can we learn from Jesse Martin’s story?

A．Interest leads to success.

B．A strong belief will make a person stronger.

C．Life is an unusual adventure we should enjoy.

D．Failure is the mother of success.

 

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