Fish species are expected to shrink in size by up to 24% because of global warming, say scientists.
The scientists argue that failure to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a greater effect on marine ecosystems than previously thought. Previous research has suggested that changing ocean temperatures would affect both the distribution and the reproductive abilities of many species of fish. This new work suggests that fish size would also be heavily affected.
The researchers built a model to see how fish would react to lower levels of oxygen in the water. As ocean temperatures increase, so do the body temperatures of fish. But, according to lead author, Dr William Cheung, from the University of British Columbia, the lower level of oxygen in the water is key. Warmer waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels and greatly reduce fish body weight. On the other hand, rising temperatures directly increase the metabolic rate of the fish's body function. This leads to an increase in oxygen demand for normal body activities. So the fish will run out of oxygen for growth at a smaller body size.
The research team also used its model to predict fish movements as a result of warming waters. The group believes that most fish populations will move towards the Earth's poles at a rate of up to 35km per decade. "So in, say, the North Sea," says Dr Cheung," one would expect to see more smaller-body fish from tropical waters in the future."
Taking these factors into consideration, the research team concludes that fish body size will shrink between 14% and 24%, with the largest decreases in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
When compared with actual observations of fish sizes, the model seems to underestimate what's actually happening in the seas. The researchers looked at two case studies involving North Atlantic cod and haddock. They found that recorded data on these fish showed greater decreases in body size than the models had predicted.
Dr Alan Baudron, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, believes smaller-sized fish could seriously affect the ability of fish to reproduce. "Smaller fish produce fewer and smaller eggs which could affect the reproductive potential of fish stocks," he said.
【小题1】What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．Global warming makes fish smaller. |
| B．Global warming makes fish decrease in numbers. |
| C．Global warming affects the fish distribution. |
| D．Global warming affects the ability of fish to reproduce. |
| A．The rising body temperatures. |
| B．The lower level of oxygen in the water. |
| C．The increasing metabolic rate. |
| D．The normal body activities. |
| A．more big fish will be born in the sea |
| B．fish tend to swim towards the shore |
| C．fish tend to move towards the warm areas |
| D．fish tend to move towards the colder areas |
| A．make an exact prediction of | B．make too low an estimate of |
| C．make too high an estimate of | D．make a careful study of |
【小题1】A
【小题2】B
【小题3】D
【小题4】B
解析试题分析：文章大意：科学研究表明，由于全球变暖，使得鱼变得越来越小。
【小题1】A主旨大意题。根据大意及文章第一句Fish species are expected to shrink in size by up to 24% because of global warming, say scientists.可以归纳出文章的主旨大意。故A正确。
【小题2】B细节判断题。由第三段But, according to lead author, Dr William Cheung, from the University of British Columbia, the lower level of oxygen in the water is key. Warmer waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels and greatly reduce fish body weight.可得水中的氧气是关键。故B正确。
【小题3】D推理判断题。根据本段文章中第四段The group believes that most fish populations will move towards the Earth's poles at a rate of up to 35km per decade.可以推测鱼趋向于朝更冷的地方移动。故D正确。
【小题4】B词义推测题。根据文章的倒数第二段They found that recorded data on these fish showed greater decreases in body size than the models had predicted.可知underestimate为“低估”之意。故B正确。
考点：考查环境类阅读
一线名师提优试卷系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A board game is a game played on a pre-marked surface or “board” according to a set of rules. Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history. Do you think of yourself as a bit of an expert at board games like chess or Go?
Maybe you’re not quite as good as you think. New research from the University of Manchester and Oxford suggests complex games like these are impossible to learn fully. They may even be too complex for the human mind to understand.
Researchers studied two-player games, to try and understand the strategies which people use to make decisions during the game. Some games with two players are simple, with only a small number of possible moves. Players can quickly work out the best strategy but that means the game soon becomes boring.
It gets more interesting when there are many possible moves. That’s why people are so fascinated by complex board games like chess or Go, or some card games. But what the researchers found was that with difficult games, players find it hard to work out the best strategy and their actions become less reasonable.
This research is part of the field called game theory: the study of human strategic decision-making. Much thinking on how people play complex games is based on something called “the balance point”, which is when players have a perfect knowledge of what they are going to do and of what their rivals are going to do.
When you add more than two players then of course the game becomes even harder to understand. Trading on the stock market is an example of a complex multi-player game.
【小题1】Which of the following games belongs to board games?
| A．football | B．badminton | C．swimming | D．Mahjong |
| A．the simpler the board game is, the better it is |
| B．people dislike board games for the complex moves |
| C．players are easy to lose patience when in difficult games |
| D．it’s possible for people to understand complex games thoroughly |
| A．ask other players to work out the best strategy |
| B．have a good knowledge of the games they are playing |
| C．figure out the next actions of themselves and their opponents |
| D．come to a quick decision about what to do next by themselves |
| A．Culture | B．Discovery | C．Career | D．Campus |
| A．a new research about board games |
| B．the importance of playing board games |
| C．how the players win board games |
| D．how to learn board games fully |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Electric cars are dirty.In fact，not only are they dirty，they might even be more dirty than their gasolinepowered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “zeroemissions vehicles”，but_people_in_California_seem_to_be_clueless_about_where_electricity_comes_from.Power plants mostly use fire to make it.Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells，we get our electricity from generators.Generators are fueled by something—usually coal，oil，but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants.There are a few wind farms and geothermal(地热的) plants as well，but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words，those “zeroemissions” cars are likely coalburning cars.It’s just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean.It is not.It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes—“If I can’t see it，it’s not happening.” Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle；a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it.But when you take that gas(or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity，you waste a nice part of that energy，mostly in the form of wasted heat—at the generator，through the transmission(传送) lines，etc.
A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles.But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far—so electric cars burn more fuel than gaspowered ones.If our electricity came mostly from nukes；or geothermal，or hydro，or solar，or wind，then an electric car truly would be clean.But for political，technical，and economic reasons，we don’t use much of those energy sources.
In addition，electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill.And finally，when cars are the polluters，the pollution is spread across all the roads.When it’s a power plant，though，all the junk is in one place.Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are too concentrated，but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
【小题1】What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph 2?
| A．People see the California Greens everywhere. |
| B．People in California love to talk about zeroemissions vehicles. |
| C．People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells. |
| D．People in California have no idea that so far electricity mainly comes from burning coal，oil，etc. |
| A．Electric cars are not clean at all. |
| B．Electric cars are better than gasolinepowered ones. |
| C．People cast doubts on electric cars’ batteries. |
| D．Gasoline is an efficient way to power a vehicle. |
| A．not less than 25 miles |
| B．as far as 50 miles |
| C．as far as 25 miles |
| D．not more than 25 miles |
| A．being green is good and should be encouraged in communication |
| B．electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something |
| C．zeroemissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment |
| D．electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasolinepowered cousins |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get good scores in certain kinds of tests or even the ability to do well in school. By intelligence we mean a way of living and behaving, especially in a new or anxious situation. If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how a person acts instead of how much he knows what to do.
For example, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him. He tries to find out all he can, and then he acts immediately and tries to do something about it. He probably isn’t sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And, if he can’t make things work out right, he doesn’t feel ashamed that he fails; he just tries to learn from his mistakes. An intelligent person, even if he is very young, has a special outlook(人生观) on life, special feeling about life, and knows how he fits into it.
If you look at children, you’ll see great difference between what we call “bright” children and “not bright” children. They are actually two different kinds of people, not just the same kind with different amounts of intelligence. For example, the bright child really wants to find out more about life --- he tries to get in touch with everything around him. But the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream-world; he seems to have a wall between him and life in general.
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．What’s real meaning of intelligence |
| B．What’s the “bright” children’s behavior |
| C．What’s a special outlook on life |
| D．How to live and behave in a new situation |
| A．the amount of intelligence |
| B．the different situations they face |
| C．the different attitudes to life |
| D．the background of life |
| A．how to determine what intelligence is |
| B．How an unintelligent person should be taught |
| C．how to judge whether a person is intelligent |
| D．how education should be changed |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
These days it’s cheaper to throw that broken DVD player, cell-phone or TV out and buy a new one. This “ replace-rather-than-repair” mentality is polluting the planet with electronic waste. According to the UN Environment Program, we are throwing away an estimated 50 million metric tonnes of electronics waste (e-waste) per year. But this is not ordinary garbage. Our electronics leak harmful heavy metals — such as mercury and arsenic — along with equally poisonous chemicals that end up in our soil and eventually our water.
You’ve probably participated in a community recycling event and left feeling good about shipping off that old computer to be recycled. Chances are it was shipped overseas where it’s polluting someone else’community.
Guiyu city in Southeastern China has become known as the e-waste city where low-paid workers use whatever means available to remove electronics in hopes of recovering the copper, microchips, aluminum, gold and silver and plastic that can be resold. Any leftover waste is simply thrown into the nearby river or piled up high in the streets, poisoning the children growing up here.
So what can you do with your e-waste? Robert Houghton, President and founder of Redemtech, an asset management and recovery firm, recommends you vote with your dollar. Buy from companies who have a take-back program that guarantees your discarde electronics are handled proper.
“ Consumers want to do business with companies who are demonstrably good with corporate responsibility and dealing with e-waste, ” said Houghton.
There are plenty of charitable organizations that will take your used electronics and donate them for charitable causes:
? Electronic Recycling Association (Canada) (ERA) collects old computers for donation to libraries and other organizations across Canada.
? eBay’s Rethink Initiative pairs up consumers with businesses that refurbish (再磨光)old computers for donation.
? TechSoup has a thorough listing of resources for those who would like to donate or recycle hardware，buy recycled hardware or find a refurbisher.
? The Charitable Recycling Program accepts all cell-phones and has a listing of charities it helps with its program.
? Call2 Recycle has set up drop off points across Canada in a number of stores. You can drop off your cell-phone and also your rechargeable batteries from handheld electronic products.
【小题1】When there is something wrong with electronics, what is a popular trend among people nowadays?
| A．To keep a DIY way. | B．To put them away themselves. |
| C．To purchase what they like. | D．To donate them to charities. |
| A．there is an ideal place in the world for e-waste |
| B．there is a good example in the world for recycling |
| C．the recycling events in Canada benefit people overseas |
| D．people should find a scientific and thorough way to recycle |
| A．The UN Environment Program. |
| B．Consumers who buy electronics. |
| C．President and founder of Redemtech. |
| D．Guiyu city in Southeastern China. |
| A．Call2 Recycle. | B．TechSoup. |
| C．eBay’s Rethink Initiative. | D．Electronic Recycling Association. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The world's largest solar thermal plant(太阳热能发电站)is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company — BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine (涡轮) to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death.
【小题1】Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert?
| A．Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert. |
| B．Because there is no life in the desert. |
| C．Because there is much salt in the desert. |
| D．Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert. |
| A．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of steam. |
| B．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of molten salt. |
| C．Because the sun'ss thermal energy can be stored through mirrors |
| D．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the boilers. |
| A．supportive | B．critical | C．indifferent | D．cautious |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules（分子）, lie clues (线索) to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers (激光) to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles（微粒）called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements（元素）produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News.
【小题1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.
| A．an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds. |
| B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined. |
| C．appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones. |
| D．diamonds from different places may appear the same. |
| A．To look for more gemstones. |
| B．To encourage violent civil wars. |
| C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals. |
| D．To develop the economy. |
| A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam. |
| B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns. |
| C．Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma. |
| D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones. |
| A．It is ready for commercial use. |
| B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones. |
| C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals. |
| D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals. |
| A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds. |
| B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin |
| C．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult |
| D．attract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Humans have sewn by hand for thousands of years. It was said that the first thread was made from animal muscle and sinew (腱). And the earliest needles were made from bones. Since those early days, many people have been involved in the process of developing a machine that could do the same thing more quickly and with greater efficiency.
Charles Wiesenthal, who was born in Germany, designed and received a patent on a double-pointed needle that eliminated the need to turn the needle around with each stitch (缝合) in England in 1755. Other inventors of that time tried to develop a functional sewing machine, but each design had at least one serious imperfection. [来源:学,科Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier finally engineered a machine that really worked. However, he was nearly killed by a group of angry tailors when they burned down his garment factory. They feared that they would lose their jobs to the machine.
American inventor Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, was awarded a patent for a method of sewing that used thread from two different sources. Howe’s machine had a needle with an eye at the point, and it used the two threads to make a special stitch called a lockstitch. However, Howe faced difficulty in finding buyers for his machines in America. In frustration, he traveled to England to try to sell his invention there. When he finally returned home, he found that dozens of manufacturers were adapting his discovery for use in their own sewing machines.
Isaac Singer, another American inventor, was also a manufacturer who made improvements to the design of sewing machines. He invented an up-and-down-motion mechanism that replaced the side-to-side machines. He also developed a foot treadle(脚踏板) to power his machine. This improvement left the sewer’s hands free. Undoubtedly, it was a huge improvement of the hand-cranked machine of the past. Soon the Singer sewing machine achieved more fame than the others for it was more practical, it could be adapted to home use and it could be bought on hire-purchase. The Singer sewing machine became the first home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American multinationals.
However, Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented. As a result, Howe accused him of patent infringement（侵犯）. Of course, Elias Howe won the court case, and Singer was ordered to pay Howe royalties（版税）. In the end, Howe became a millionaire, not by manufacturing the sewing machine, but by receiving royalty payments for his invention.
【小题1】Barthelemy Thimonnier’s garment factory was burned down because _____________.
| A．people did not know how to put out the fire |
| B．Elias Howe thought Thimonnier had stolen his invention |
| C．the sewing machines was couldn’t work finally |
| D．workers who feared the loss of their jobs to a machine set fire |
| A．Singer is an American inventor and manufacturer. |
| B．The Singer sewing company became more practical. |
| C．The foot treadle helped to make the sewer’s hands free. |
| D．Singer made improvements to the design of sewing machines. |
| A．Because the judge was against Singer for his surly attitude. |
| B．Because Howe had already patented the lockstitch used by Singer. |
| C．Because Singer had borrowed money from Howe and never repaid it. |
| D．Because Singer and Howe had both invented the same machine. |
| A．A Stitch in Time Saves Nine |
| B．The Case between Howe and Singer |
| C．Patent Laws on the Sewing Machine |
| D．The Early History of the Sewing Machine |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
New research has revealed that which song drivers listen to can influence how safe they are on the roads.Among the top ten safest songs to drive to are Come Away With Me by Norah Jones，I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith and Tiny Dancer by Elton John.Each of the songs has an optimum tempo(最佳节奏) for safe driving，imitating the human heartbeat at around 60 to 80 beats per minute.The Scientist by Coldplay and Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River also appeared in the top 10.
The study，conducted at London Metropolitan University，also revealed the type of songs that cause motorists to drive dangerously.Unsurprisingly，music that is noisy increases a driver's heart rate，which can be deadly.Fast beats cause excitement that can lead people to concentrate more on the music than on the road and to speed up to match the beat of the song.Styles of music were also measured during the experiment and revealed differences between male and female drivers.Hiphop made a female driver drive far more aggressively，speeding up faster than male driver.The heavy metal music caused the fastest driving among males in the group while the dance music had the same effect among women.The male and female drivers who listened to the classical music drove the most irregularly.
The experiment involved eight people driving 500 miles each using the confused.com MotorMate app，which monitored driving behaviors through GPS technology.
【小题1】What's the main idea of the whole passage?
| A．Songs that drivers prefer to listen to on their way. |
| B．A study made by the confused.com MotorMate app. |
| C．What kind of songs the drivers should choose to listen to during driving. |
| D．Female drivers and male drives have different responses to the same music. |
| A．controlled | B．banned | C．modeled | D．showed |
| A．Tiny Dancer by Elton John appeared in the top 10. |
| B．Usually human hearts beat at around 60 to 80 beats per minute. |
| C．The classical music makes most drivers drive comfortably and safely. |
| D．The passage reveals appropriate music and improper music for drivers. |
| A．female and male drivers' popular tastes of music |
| B．how did the study carry out |
| C．why fast beat music is harmful to drivers |
| D．some music with optimum tempo for driver to enjoy |
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