The North and South poles are remote and freezing places that receive lots of animal visitors but few human tourists.

But even if you never plan to visit the polar bears in the north or penguins in the south, now is a perfect time to start thinking about them. That’s because 2007 marks the beginning of the International Polar Year (IPY), a two-year-old activity of science projects that aim to show how important the poles are to the health of our planet. During the IPY, which will last until March 2009, thousands of researchers from more than 60 countries will conduct more than 200 projects and expeditions(遠(yuǎn)征) to both the top and bottom of the world.

In recent years, the polar regions have begun to change severely as a result of global warming. Temperatures there are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth. As a result, the ice and snow in these regions are melting（融化） at record-setting rates. One result is that sea levels are rising around the world, putting animals and people at risk.

Only by studying the poles, say IPY researchers, can we find ways to protect them and ourselves.

Both the Arctic and the Antarctic are cold and remote, but the two regions have important differences. For one thing, the Arctic is an ice-covered ocean surrounded by land. The Antarctic, on the other hand, is a continent of ice-covered land surrounded by water.

Most polar studies have focused on the Arctic, and that is where scientists have observed the most remarkable changes in the ice. During a typical year, Arctic ice expands(擴大) in the winter and shrinks(縮小) in the summer. But recently, the amount of ice covering the ocean has been steadily dropping in both seasons.

 

53．Which of the following might be the best tile of the passage?

       A．Earth’s Poles Interest Scientists             B．The Animals of Earth’s Poles

       C．Earth’s Poles in Danger                         D．The Discoveries of Earth’s Poles

54．The goal of the International Polar Year is __________.

       A．to make it clear that the poles have much to do with a healthy earth

       B．to provide practical theory to further develop this distant area

       C．to call on as many scientists as possible to do research on the poles

       D．to discover more mysteries unknown to man

55．What is the main factor that has caused the changes of the poles?

       A．The increasing number of animals.            B．The development of the poles.

       C．The melting of the poles.                          D．The rising temperature.

56．What unusual phenomenon worries the scientists?

       A．In summer the ice of the Arctic loses faster.

       B．The ice covering the Arctic shrinks even in winter.

       C．The ice of the Arctic increases less than in the past.

       D．The changes in the Arctic are more serious.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮) since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.

Whatever happened to global warming?

Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming at all—it’s just a temporary phenomenon in the long-term heating trend. “It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”

Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes. But experts did not connect the current cold snap to climate change.

 So what is going on?

“We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere”, Arndt said.

In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air restricted. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a zigzag (之字形) pattern, wandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.

But in the eastern United States, like some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is coming from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain. The zigzag pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it’s so strong right now.

What is the best title of the text?

A. Freezing weather is hitting the Deep South.

B. We’ll still have record cold temperatures.

C. The air flow has become a zigzag pattern.

D. Cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming.

With global warming, we will ______.

A. also meet with severe cold snap

B. have more hot temperatures forever

C. never experience cold temperatures

D. have more cold temperatures

According to experts, the current cold snap ______.

A. suggests that the climate has changed greatly

B. is not related to the climate change

C. shows that the climate will turn cold

D. is affected by global warming

Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951 because of ______.

A. a fence from the Arctic                   B. a cooling trend in climate

C. a big outbreak of Arctic air              D. its large population

We can conclude that ______.

A. not all the parts of the Northern Hemisphere are cold in face of the cold snap

B. the zigzag pattern arises naturally accidentally

C. Beijing will get cold weather next year

D. Washington state and Alaska will not face cold weather next year

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：

Great British is an island that lies off the northwest coast of Europe. The nearest country is France which is 20 miles away. Great British is separated from France by the English Channel. The island is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west, and the North Sea, to the east. It includes the main lands of England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland is in the north while Wales is in the west. Ireland, which is also an island, lies off the west coast of Great Britain. It is made up of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Great Britain together with Northern Ireland forms the United Kingdom (U.K.). So the U.K. is made up of four countries. The largest of these is England which is divided into 43 countries. The capital city is London which is on the river Thames.

Great Britain is separated from France by_______.

   A. the North Sea      B. Suez Canal      C. English Channel   D. Thames

Great Britain lies on the ______of the Atlantic ocean.

   A. west           B. north         C. east           D. south

The United Kingdom is made up of _______.

   A. England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland

   B. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

   C. Great Britain and Ireland

   D. Great Britain and the Irish Republic

It is true that England is________.

   A. the smallest of the four countries in U.K.

   B. only larger than Wales

   C. as large as Ireland

   D. the largest country in U.K.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2014屆吉林省松原市高二第一次月考英語試題（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Welcome to the future. It’s year 2050 and Scotland is now powered completely by“clean”energy.

Homes have entire roofs made of solar materials, rooms are kept warm by wallpaper, and people go to and from work in electric and hydrogen( 氫) cars.

Oil is still being found in the North Sea, but it’s not now only used to keep aircraft flying. And a new 500---mile underwater link with Iceland has been built to catch heat from the hot springs. There’s still a role for king coal—but the black diamonds are now environment---friendly. 

People will be able to import the electricity they need and export any excess(超過的量) they make through rooftop windmills(風(fēng)車). New technology will store electricity better and provide it on demand. Heat exchangers will provide heating and hot water.

Harmful carbon dioxide waste is being piped offshore to St Fergus and from there into some of the remaining oil—producing fields to be stored safely without entering the atmosphere. Gas remains the preferred energy source of industry and is now shipped in liquid form. But hydrogen is imported through pipelines from France and from a geothermal (地?zé)岬? plant in Iceland.

Hydrogen—fuelled cars have become popular. Electric bikes are common in cities using the new urban two—wheel network. Electric vehicles have become common, and their performances have been improved because of the developments in electrical drive technology like high—temperature super conducting motors. Many people leave their vehicles in a giant park where they can be recharged from the national electrical system . Oilseed rape (油菜) is widely grown to fuel some motors .

1.What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 2 mean ?

    A. The hot springs   B. Oil         C. Coal           D. Oil and coal

2.Which sources of energy play a more important role in people’s daily life in the future ?

    A. Oil and coal                    

B. Hydrogen and gas

    C. Electricity and gas                               

D. Solar energy and wind

3.The means of transport people use in 2050 do not include__________.

    A. windmills      B. electric bikes C. hydrogen—fuelled cars   D. aircraft

4.The passage is written to tell us in the future_____________.

    A. life will be better and better  

B. the energy will become cleaner and cleaner

    C. people will use some new sources of energy

    D. people will pay more attention to the environment

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：2014屆江西省高一下學(xué)期第三次月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

There is a very special wolf that lives in Africa. They are actually called, the African wild dog, of painted dogs.

These animals live in open woodlands, or in the plains of Africa. Today, however, most of the animals can be found in eastern or southern Africa. These animals are beautiful. They have rounded ears instead of pointed like most dogs, and they have four toes (腳趾) on each of their four feet, also a unique characteristic because other dogs have five. Their fine fur is always different from each other. The fur is usually a combination of black, brown, red, and white, and sometimes even yellow. No wonder they’re called the painted wolf.

The African wild dog is a very social animal. They live in groups and have numbers from five to about twenty. The members of a group are always very close to one another. They communicate in their own language or body language. When someone is very old or sick, the others will help, and they are willing to share the food with the elders and with those who are weak, which is what we should learn from.

The family does everything together, from raising young, to sleeping together, to hunting. When they hunt, they will work together suing team work to kill animals that are larger than them.

They sometimes hunt farm animals. This is unfortunate, because both poachers (偷獵者), and people who own farms shoot the painted dogs who are just trying to survive.

Before, there used to be many large groups throughout the land, but now the African wild god is very rare. They are also losing their population because of their own loss of habitat thanks to human’s farming and forest cutting.

1.From the text we learn that the African wild dog         .

A．lives in the north of Africa

B．has sixteen toes altogether

C．has pointed ears like most dogs

D．lives in forests in groups

2.Why do African wild dogs get the name “painted dogs”?

A．They all have colorful fur.

B．The dogs in the same group are of different colors.

C．Artists love to paint them in different colors.

D．None of them has the same color.

3.According to the author, what should we learn from African wild dogs?

A．They always do everything together.

B．They help the sick, the elderly and the weak.

C．They are always very close to one another.

D．They communicate in their own language.

4.Which of the following is NOT the reason why African wild dogs are becoming very rare?

A．Poachers kill some of them.

B．They are short of food sometimes.

C．They are losing their habitat.

D．Farmers shoot some of them.

5.Where could this passage probably be found?

A．The Travelers

B．Fashion Weekly

C．Animal World

D．Star Magazine

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：福建省2009-2010學(xué)年高二下學(xué)期期中考試英語試題 題型：閱讀理解

 

Unlike modern animal scientists, dinosaur scientists cannot sit on a hillside and use telescopes to watch dinosaurs in order to know how they lived and whether they were good parents. Instead, they have to search hard for dinosaurs died out millions of years ago.

It’s very difficult for the scientists to reach an agreement because different results can be got from the same fossils. Many fossils of the same kind of dinosaurs have been dug out from one place. They might have formed when an entire group of dinosaurs got stuck all at once. Or they might have been the result of dinosaurs getting stuck one after another over a course of a few centuries. Thus we can say that dinosaurs might have in the first case lived in big groups and in the second lived alone.

Though there are two different results, dinosaur scientists now generally agree that at least some kinds of dinosaurs lived in big groups. “That’s pretty much settled at this point.” Says Paul Sereno. A kind of dinosaurs called Sauropods left behind tracks in the western United States that appear to run north and south, suggesting that they even moved long distances together.

As to whether dinosaurs cared for their young, dinosaur scientists have turned to the closest living relatives of dinosaurs-birds and crocodiles – for possible models, Birds give a lot of care to their young, while crocodiles just help their young to the water. The discovered fossils of dinosaurs sitting on their eggs and staying with their young suggest the parents were taking care of their babies, but we still cannot say that all dinosaurs did the same.

There is still a long way to go before the above questions could be answered. Dinosaur scientists will have to find more proof to reach an agreement.

1. Dinosaur scientists can get information directly by ______.

  A. studying dinosaur fossils         B. examining modern animals

  C. watching dinosaurs              D. using telescopes

2. What is pretty much settled according to Paul Sereno?

  A. Half of the dinosaurs lived alone.     B. Most dinosaurs moved long distance.

  C. Many dinosaurs settled in the north.   D. Some dinosaurs lived in big groups.

3. Dinosaur scientists can probably know whether dinosaurs were good parents by ____.

  A. watching many kinds living relatives    B. studying dinosaurs’ living relatives

  C. watching birds flying                 D. working hard in labs 

4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the paragraph?

  A. Birds hardly pay attention to their young.

  B. Baby crocodiles can look after themselves well.

  C. Some dinosaurs took care of their young.

  D. Birds and crocodiles take good care of their young.

 

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