Question

【题目】 If you go to Ethiopia, you’ll find a strange palm-like structure, which is called WarkaWater. It gathers water from fog and condensation（水珠）and is invented by an Italian firm.

When Italian designer Arturo Vittori and Swiss architect Andreas Vogler first visited Ethiopia in 2012, they were shocked to see women and children forced to walk miles to access what, for them, had always been within easy reach, water.

Only 34 percent of Ethiopians have access to a reliable water supply. Some travel for up to six hours a day to fetch some or, even worse, has to use pond water polluted by human waste, subject to the spread of disease.

Worldwide, about 768 million people—two and a half times the U.S. population—don’t have access to safe drinking water. So just imagine if we could just pull water out of thin air? That’s what Vittori and Vogler asked once they saw the severe problem and promised to take action. Their firm, Architecture and Vision, has since come up with WarkaWater, a grand palm-like structure that may look like something you’d see in a modern art museum, but it’s been designed to harvest water from the air.

WarkaWater, which is named after an Ethiopian fig tree, is composed of a 30-foot bamboo frame containing a fog-harvesting nylon net that can catch water easily, can be easily lowered for repairs and allow communities to measure the water level. Collecting water through condensation is hardly a new technique, but the creators of WarkaWater say their tree-inspired design is more effective, maximizing surface and perfecting every angle to produce up to 26 gallons of drinkable water a day—enough for a family of seven.

Western organizations have been working to provide clean water access in Africa for decades, so WarkaWater joins a very long list of earlier attempts. So far, high-tech solutions, like the once promising Playpump, have failed, mostly due to high costs and maintenance issues.

This is where WarkaWater stands apart—a lower-tech solution that is easy to repair and far more affordable than digging wells in the rocky Ethiopian plateau.

【1】What does the underlined phrase “subject to” in the third paragraph most probably mean?

A. Owing to B. Opposite to

C. Sensitive toD. Giving rise to

【2】WarkaWater is designed mainly to ______.

A. gather clean water efficiently

B. reduce water supply costs

C. simplify maintenance

D. preserve water supplies

【3】According to Paragraph 6, what caused Playpump to fail?

A. Lack of advanced technology

B. Unsuccessful designs

C. Lack of money and maintenance issues

D. Unreasonable structures

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】A

【3】C

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述了一种名为“WarkaWater.”为缺水地区人民有效收集干净淡水的工具，相对于那些高科技昂贵的成本及维护费用，对支援非洲干旱地区水源问题起到重要作用。

【1】词义猜测题。A. 把…归功于 B.在…对面；与…相反 C.对…敏感 D.引起；导致。subject to原意为“使服从；使遭受”，句意：甚至饮用人们污染了的池塘水，导致了疾病蔓延。由句意可以推测D符合句意。

【2】细节分析题。第五段第一句话和同段的“but the creators of WarkaWater say their tree-inspired design is more effective,”可知，WarkaWater这个设计是用来更有效地收集干净的淡水。故选A.

【3】细节分析题。第六段“like the once promising Playpump, have failed, mostly due to high costs and maintenance issues.”像曾经抱有希望的playpump的失败，大部分原因是昂贵的成本和维护费用。故选C.