As people slowly learn to cure diseases, control floods, prevent hunger, and stop wars, fewer people die every year. As a result, the population of the world is becoming larger. In 1925 there were about 2 billion people in the world; today there are over 6 billion.

    When the number rises, extra mouths must be fed. New lands must be brought under development, or land already farmed must be made to produce more crops. In some areas the land is so over-developed that it will be difficult to make it provide more crops. In some areas the population is so large that the land is divided into too tiny units to make improvement possible with farming methods. If a large part of this farming population went into industrial work, the land might be farmed much more productively (多產(chǎn)地) with modern methods.

    There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the output of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New types of crops, which will grow well in bad weather, are being developed, so there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle in Siberia and North America. Irrigation (灌溉) and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough. Dams hold back the waters of great rivers, which can provide water for the fields in all seasons and provide electric power for new industries. Industrial chemistry provides fertilizer to suit different soils. Every year, some new methods are made to increase or to protect the food of the world.

1. The author says that the world population is increasing because _____.

 A. there are many rich valleys and large fields

 B. farmers are producing more crops than before

 C. people are living longer due to better living conditions

 D. new lands are being made into farmlands

2. The author says that in areas with large populations, land might be more productively farmed if _____.

 A. the land was divided into smaller pieces

 B. people moved into the countryside

 C. industrial methods were used in farming

 D. the units of land were much larger

3. We are told that there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle. This has been made possible by _____.

 A. growing new types of crops

 B. irrigation and dry-farming means

 C. providing fertilizers 

 D. destroying pests and diseases

4. Why is the land divided into tiny units in some areas?

 A. There are too many people living there.

 B. It saves more natural resources there. 

 C. It prevents crops from serious diseases there.

 D. Farmers can grow various kinds of crops there.

5. Why do some people use dams to hold back waters from great rivers?

 A. To develop a new kind of dry-farming methods.       

 B. To prevent crops from floods.

 C. To provide water and electricity in all seasons.          

 D. To water poor lands in bad weather. 

【小題1】C

【小題2】C

【小題3】A

【小題4】A

【小題5】C

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科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源:江蘇省淮安市2010屆高三下學(xué)期5月調(diào)研測(cè)試英語(yǔ)試卷 題型:閱讀理解

A massive earthquake and tsunamis killed 350 people in one Chilean coastal town, doubling the total death number on Sunday as the government tried to get aid to hungry survivors and stop looting(搶劫).

President Michelle Bachelet said at least 708 people had been killed and called for calm as people desperate for food and water looted stores in some areas worst hit by Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude quake, one of the world’s biggest in a century. The earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday morning was “50 times bigger than the one of Haiti.” The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month - yet the death number in Haiti, a Caribbean nation, was much higher.

The reasons are simple. Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

Television images showed houses washed away by swirling waters, cars tossed into shattered buildings and boats lifted into the streets in coastal towns including Pelluhue and Constitucion, where 350 deaths alone were reported.

“It’s an enormous disaster ... there’s a growing number of missing people,” Bachelet said, adding that food and medical aid was being sent to help the roughly 2 million people affected by the quake. Chile is making great efforts to deal with a formidable task caused by the earthquake how to provide temporary shelter for so many people.

A lack of water, food and fuel sharpened the hardship for the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, and widespread disruption to the power supply threatened to hamper (妨礙) Chilean industry’s recovery. In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, about 310 miles south of Santiago, the government imposed a night-time curfew (宵禁令) in Concepcion and the Maule region on Sunday in a bid to stop looting.

Police used tear gas and water blast guns to disperse a crowd of looters carrying off food and electrical appliances from one supermarket in Concepcion. Television images showed people stuffing groceries and other goods into shopping trolleys. “People have gone days without eating,” said Orlando Salazar, one of the looters at the supermarket. “The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves.” On the second day of the most serious natural disaster to hit Chile in decades, rescuing survivors from the ruins had been quickly replaced by the hard challenge of helping them. People overseas have been deeply impressed by earthquake relief efforts by the Chilean government.

1. There are several reasons why the loss of lives in the Chile earthquake was comparatively low EXCEPT __________.

A. improvements had been made in the constructed buildings.

B. Chile is always well prepared for the coming earthquake.

C. large number of Chile residents had gone oat for a holiday.

D Chile has rich experience in dealing with this disaster.

2. The underlined word “formidable” in the fifth paragraph probably means ________.

A. difficult          B. glorious                       C. light                     D. original

3. According to the passage, what is the most pressing task in the earthquake-hit areas?

A. rescuing survivors

B. providing temporary shelter and food for the victims

C. burying dead bodies

D. clearing away the ruins

4. The author’s main purpose in writing the passage is to ____________.

A. call on international aid agencies to go to Chile to help.

B. tell us how to deal with the coming disaster.

C. show how the people of Chile rebuild their country after the big disaster.

D. tell us something about the enormous earthquake in Chile.

 

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科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源:2011-2012學(xué)年廣東省六校高三第一次六校聯(lián)考英語(yǔ)試題 題型:閱讀理解

It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (學(xué)術(shù)界) outweigh any financial considerations.

  Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.

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  A. Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market.

  B. Develop its students’ potential in research.

  C. Help it to obtain financial support from industry.

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A healthy dose of sunshine may be the secret to staying young, British scientists have disclosed.

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The study suggests vitamin D may help to slow down the ageing process of DNA, and therefore the ageing process as a whole.

Lead researcher Dr Brent Richards said: "These results are exciting because they prove for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D may age more slowly than people with lower levels of vitamin D.

"This could help to explain how vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer."

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  B.Vitamin D has a protective effect on many diseases.

  C.Telomeres - a biological marker of ageing.

  D.People have found the secret to having a long life.

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A.through water.       B. through sunshine.

C.through food.        D.both B and C.

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    B.vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases.

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         We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil. Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power(太陽(yáng)能), electricity, hydrogen, and so on. Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal.

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C. Oil spills pollution.                                             D. How to reduce oil pollution.

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D. Poisonous oil breaking down naturally.

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A. We should build safer oil tankers in the near future.

B. Tankers should not be allowed to sail near the coastlines.

C. We should develop new technologies to cut oil use.

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