题目
题型:不详难度:来源:
In a laboratory test, a house built with conventional techniques is falling apart in hurricane-force winds.
The survivor has stronger shingles, thicker roof boards, and metal straps holding floors together.
Wind tunnel tests were done by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. It says stronger construction costs a little more, but holds up much better to extreme weather.
The growing number of unusually strong storms, like Typhoon Haiyan, has convinced the Chairman of the U. S. Senate Homeland Security Committee, Tom Carper, that extreme weather is the “new norm(标准).”
"Extreme weather events have increased in frequency over the past 50 years and are expected to become even more common, more intense, and more costly," said Carper.
Hurricane Sandy hit beachfront businesses along the U.S. East Coast, including Carper"s home state. Insurance companies had to pay out huge claims. To limit such losses, the insurance industry can raise premiums(保险费) for businesses in vulnerable(易受攻击的)locations and offer discounts to clients who make their buildings more resilient with upgraded construction techniques.
Managing risks is the job of insurance brokers like Kevin Connelly of the Graham Company, who spoke to VOA via Skype.
“We are either going to price your insurance at a huge markup, or we are not going to write (sell it) it at all, which is just as bad obviously," said Connelly.
Drought is another suspected consequence of climate change, and dry ground means more wildfires in California. Current mathematical models of climate change do a poor job of predicting the economic impact of drought and other weather events, says Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Robert Pindyck, who spoke via Skype.
“I think all we can do, taking all of that into account, is come up with some very rough numbers, very rough estimates, "said Pindyck. "Consensus estimates that maybe experts provide, that give us a view of what would the catastrophic outcome look like if we don’t do anything?”
To help deal with this serious problem, Pindyck says policymakers should take actions such as imposing a tax on carbon dioxide emissions. A carbon tax would encourage companies and families to use less energy and generate fewer of the gases thought to be driving changes in the climate. But other analysts say it is unlikely a new tax will get approval in the U.S. Congress any time soon.
小题1:What can be inferred from the passage?
A.There are many severe weather events destroying homes, businesses and lives. |
B.Stronger construction will save the expense in the long run. |
C.Government should be totally responsible for the weather change. |
D.Typhoon Haiyan hit Tom Carper"s home state. |
A.Drought | B.Hurricanes | C.earthquakes | D.wildfires |
A.a house built with conventional techniques |
B.A house with stronger shingles |
C.A house with thinner roof boards |
D.a house with metal floors . |
A.pay out huge claims |
B.raise premiums(保险费) for businesses in vulnerable(易受攻击的)locations |
C.offer discounts to clients who make their buildings more resilient with upgraded construction techniques. |
D.price insurance at a huge markup |
A.supportive | B.doubtful | C.indifferent | D.positive |
答案
小题1:B
小题2:C
小题3:B
小题4:A
小题5:B
解析
小题1:推理题:从第四段的句子:It says stronger construction costs a little more, but holds up much better to extreme weather.可知坚固的建筑材料成本会高一些,但是能承受住极端天气的破坏,所以从长远角度看是节约费用的。选B。
小题2:细节题:文章第五段和第七段提到的自然灾害有:干旱,飓风,野火,但是没有提到地震,所以选C。
小题3:细节题:从文章第三段的句子:可知于牢固的木瓦板的房子在实验中没有坏,选B。
小题4:细节题:从第七段的句子:To limit such losses, the insurance industry can raise premiums(保险费) for businesses in vulnerable(易受攻击的)locations and offer discounts to clients who make their buildings more resilient with upgraded construction techniques.可知BC是对的,从第九段的句子:可知D是对的,而第六段的句子:Insurance companies had to pay out huge claims. 说明极端天气会让保险公司赔付很多,不是它们采取的措施。选A。
小题5:细节题:从文章最后一段的句子:But other analysts say it is unlikely a new tax will get approval in the U.S. Congress any time soon.可知其他分析家对新的碳排放税是怀疑的态度。选B。
核心考点
试题【Climate change is making it harder than usual for scientists to figure out what 】;主要考察你对题材分类等知识点的理解。[详细]
举一反三
Experts say dyslexia affects about five to ten percent of the population of the United State. Researchers have long known that people with dyslexia write or read words and letters backwards in the wrong order.
But a new study shows that people with dyslexia may have trouble redirecting(重新传入) their attention between senses, from seeing something to hearing something. The study suggests something that might help dyslexic people learn more quickly - play video games.
Vanessa Harrar of Britain"s University of Oxford led the study. She reported the findings in the journal Current Biology. The study suggests that dyslexic people may have trouble moving quickly from what they read to what they hear. Doctor Harrar calls this a "sluggish shifting of attention across the senses."
"So, if you are trying to read something and then trying to listen to somebody who"s reading aloud and you"re trying to follow along with what they are reading -- they have to switch their attention from hearing what they are saying to looking at the piece of paper and back again. So we found they have quite sluggish shifting of attention across the senses," said Harrar.
In the study, Doctor Harrar tested 17 people with dyslexia, and 19 others without reading problems. The volunteers were asked to push a button as quickly as possible when they heard a sound, saw a light or experienced both together. Doctor Harrar compared the speed of their reactions.
She found that people with dyslexia were just as fast as the others when they saw only a picture or heard only a sound. But the dyslexics had a slower reaction time when they heard a sound and saw a picture at the same time.
Doctor Harrar feels like playing action video games could help dyslexic people shift from seeing to hearing more quickly. She adds that images in video games force the eyes to move and focus quickly.
"Video game types of things pop out of here and there, they move your eyes around the screen quite quickly in response to things quite quickly, and the more you play a video game the faster you get that kind of thing. So, the video game is really training the attention system to move quickly," said Harrar.
The study also shows that dyslexic people have the most difficulty going between what they saw and what they heard, this may have an effect on how dyslexic children are taught how to read.
When children learn the alphabet,they usually see the letter first and then hear the sound, or they see and hear the letter at the same time. The study shows that dyslexics might learn more quickly if they hear the sound of a letter or word first before seeing it.
小题1:What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Video Games are good for children. |
B.Study Suggests Video Games Might Help Dyslexics |
C.A study about Video Games is being carried out. |
D.Children with Dyslexics can learn better by playing video games. |
A.writing or reading words and letters backwards in the wrong order. |
B.redirecting their attention between senses, from seeing something to hearing something. |
C.moving quickly from what they read to what they hear. |
D.seeing a picture or hearing a sound. |
A.slow | B.wrong | C.specific | D.accurate |
A.While playing video games, people will train their reading and hearing. |
B.While playing video games, people will have a good knowledge of the system. |
C.While playing video games, people should move their eyes around the screen quite quickly train the attention system to move quickly. |
D.Video games can arouse their interest in reading. |
A.The finding will prove video games are not necessarily bad for children. |
B.People with Dyslexia will be cured by playing video games. |
C.People with Dyslexia will not be made fun of by others. |
D.The finding may have an effect on the way to teach dyslexic children how to read. |
You have to learn and get ready to become versatile in your reading. The fact that you are studying medicine in school does not mean that you should not know one or two things on politics.
Many people have complained to me that they find it hard to read stuffs like novels but I just shake my head in pity for them because it is obvious they have failed to realize the truth in that wise saying by Margaret Fuller that “today a READER, tomorrow a LEADER!”
When you read, you get to “see” so many places and it will be as if you have visited those places in real life. This is because reading will improve your imagination and creativity and understanding. You also get experience from learning about how people dealt with their various problems thereby saving you from going through the pains and difficulties they must have gone through!
Reading will also help you in improving your vocabulary because you will certainly start coming across so many new words which you will try as much as possible to get accustomed to with the help of the dictionary! The good thing about increasing your vocabulary is that it will also improve your thinking ability. After all, we think in words and the more words you know, the easier it will become for you to express yourself or your thoughts.
And when you read, make sure you read so wide because the more you read, the more you know and the more you know the more intelligent you can become.
小题1:According to the author, what should students do in terms of reading?
A.They needn’t read unless the exams come. |
B.They should read books about intelligence. |
C.They must read about politics when their major is medicine. |
D.They should read as wide as possible. |
A.interested | B.many-sided | C.content | D.confident |
A.Increase your ability for reading |
B.Read wide and improve your vocabulary |
C.Reading improves your intelligence |
D.Reading makes you a leader tomorrow |
A.You will get used to referring to the dictionary when meeting with new words. |
B.You will have less difficulty expressing your opinions. |
C.Vocabulary will improve your creativity. |
D.You can pass your exams with ease. |
“A lot of parents think after their child learns to read, they should stop reading to them,” Donna George said. “They are sadly mistaken.”
George offers her services to parents at the Title I Learning Centers. She said reading aloud to children may be the most valuable(有价值的) thing parents can do. “It is better for children to hear things at a higher level than where they are,” George said. “Parents are their child’s first teacher.” Parents help their children build listening, phonics(拼读法), comprehension(阅读理解) and vocabulary skills when they read aloud to them.
Before parents can identify reading problems, they should escape the enemy----television and limit the time their children spend watching television. George suggested not allowing kids to have a TV in their bedrooms, setting a schedule of when kids can watch or keeping a list of how many programs children watch. Louise Joiners said while her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son enjoy reading, the television sometimes becomes a distraction. So she tries to build the situation by suggesting books the entire family will enjoy reading together, like the Harry Potter series.
Parents who do not read themselves should not depend on their children being enthusiastic about it. If parents would read to their children at least 15 minutes every day, children would not have so many problems in school. It is the parents’ job to help build that desire in their children, and of course to know what kind of books to read is also important.
小题1:The underlined word “distraction” means something that .
A.can improve children’s reading. |
B.can make children interested |
C.can make children not pay their attention |
D.can help children’s right way of reading |
A.reading speed | B.reading environment |
C.reading skills | D.reading materials |
A.What TV programs children can watch during reading. |
B.Advice is given to control their children. |
C.Parents choose reading materials for their children. |
D.How children improve their reading by themselves. |
A.Parents Are Their Child’s First Teacher. |
B.How to Improve Children’s Reading Ability. |
C.Children Spend More Time Reading with Parents. |
D.How Parents Make Their Child a Better Reader. |
Down-cutting is when a flood of water rushes over a landscape (地形) with enough force to cut deeply into the ground and leaves behind a canyon. Such a flood is usually released when a natural or man-made dam (堤坝) bursts.
Robert Webb, a research geologist, says natural dams seem to have formed and broken across the Colorado River several times during the last million years. The dams were built when lava(熔岩) from the eruptions of nearby volcanoes flowed into the river. The lava hardened into hard rocks and blocked the river, causing it to back up and form a lake. Each time the lake grew so huge that it broke the rock dam, releasing a flash flood that furthered the down-cutting process and deepened the canyon.
Down-cutting is not just an earthly event. Satellite photos sent back from Mars suggest that the process has happened there, too, say many other researchers.
The photos, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor, indicate that an enormous lake existed on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. The lake spilled into a large nearby hole. One edge of the hole broke, releasing a flash flood that quickly carved out a grand canyon.
The existence of down-cutting on Mars is just one more piece of evidence that the cold, dry planet was once warm and wet.
小题1:In the past, deep canyons were believed to have formed _______.
A.as a result of a sudden break of volcanoes |
B.due to river flows over millions of years |
C.owing to the burst of artificial dams |
D.thanks to our ancestors’ creative work |
A.Several volcanoes broke out on Mars directly creating grand canyons. |
B.Several great lakes existed on the upper parts of the Colorado River. |
C.People built high dams on the upper parts of the Colorado River. |
D.The Colorado River crossed the Grand Canyon to form down-cutting. |
A.there are great lakes on Mars |
B.there are active volcanoes on Mars |
C.there might be cities on Mars |
D.there might be life on Mars |
A.Lakes on Earth and Mars |
B.The Cause of Lake Formation |
C.The Force of Dam Breaking |
D.Canyons—Results of Flood Cutting |
Even in a weak job market, the old college try isn’t the answer for everyone. A briefing paper from the Brookings Institution warns that “we may have overdone the message” on college, senior fellow Isabel Sawhill said.
“We’ve been telling students and their families for years that college is the only way to succeed in the economy and of course there’s a lot of truth to that,” Ms. Sawhill said. “On average it does pay off… But if you load up on a whole lot of student debt and then you don’t graduate, that is a very bad situation.”
One comment that people often repeat among the years of slow job growth has been the value of education for landing a job and advancing in a career. April’s national unemployment rate stood at 7.5%, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate for high-school graduates over 25 years old who hadn’t attended college was 7.4%, compared with 3.9% for those with a bachelor’s degree or more education. The difference is even bigger among those aged 16-24. The jobless rate for those with only a high school diploma in that age group is about 20%. At the same time, recent research by Canadian economists cautions that a college degree is no guarantee of promising employment.
Ms. Sawhill pointed out that among the aspects that affect the value of a college education is the field of one’s major: Students in engineering or other sciences end up earning more than ones who major in the arts or education. The cost of tuition and the availability of financial aid are other considerations, with public institutions generally a better financial bargain than private ones.
She suggested two avenues for improving the situation: increasing vocational(职业的)-technical training programs and taking a page from Europe’s focus on early education rather than post-secondary learning. “The European countries put a little more attention to getting people prepared in the primary grades,” she said. “Then they have a higher bar for whoever goes to college—but once you get into college, you’re more likely to be highly subsidized(资助).”
She also is a supporter of technical training—to teach students how to be plumbers, welders and computer programmers—because “employers are desperate” for workers with these skills.
小题1:People usually think that _____.
A.the cost of technical schooling is a problem |
B.one will not succeed without a college degree |
C.technical skills are most important for landing a job |
D.there is an increased competition in getting into a college |
A.Hearing from. | B.Changing from. |
C.Differing from. | D.Learning from. |
A.Public institutions charge more for education. |
B.European universities are stricter with students. |
C.Students with certain skills are in great demand. |
D.Canadian students prefer to major in engineering. |
A.too much stress has been put on the value of college degrees |
B.technical training is more important than college education |
C.a college degree will ensure promising employment |
D.it’s easier for art students to find favorite jobs |
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