A meteorite (陨石) flew fast across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured l,200 people.
People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt the shock wave.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the fireball, travelling at a speed of 30km per second, had burnt very brightly across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200km away. Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted.
“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains. “I felt like I was blinded by headlights.”
The meteorite, which weighed about 20 tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart 30-50km above ground, according to Russia’s Academy of Sciences.
The energy released when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere was about several thousand tons, the academy said, the power of a small atomic weapon exploding.
No deaths were reported, but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.
The Interior Ministry said about l,200 people had been injured, at least 200 of them children, and most from broken pieces of glass.“While events this big are rare, an impact that could cause damage and death could happen every century or so. Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop impacts.”
【小题1】When did the meteorite incident happen?
| A．At midnight. | B．In the early morning. |
| C．In the late morning. | D．In the evening. |
| A．some deaths | B．road accidents |
| C．communication problems | D．building collapse |
| A．a little slow but effective | B．quick and serious |
| C．cold and slow | D．quick but ineffective |
| A．is nearly unavoidable | B．happens every few years |
| C．can be avoided | D．is hard to estimate |
【小题1】B
【小题2】C
【小题3】B
【小题4】A
解析试题分析：文章报道俄罗斯发生的陨石撞击地球的事件，文章介绍这次事故给当地造成的危害和损失，以及政府做出的迅速的反应。
【小题1】推理题：从第四段的句子：“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it were day,” 可知是在人们上班的时候，天还很黑，所以是一大早，选B
【小题2】推理题：从第三段的句子：Car alarms went off, thousands of windows shattered and mobile phone networks were disrupted.可知陨石爆炸导致手机网络中断，也就是信息交流出现问题。选C
【小题3】推理题：从倒数第二段的句子：but the Emergencies Ministry said 20,000 rescue and clean-up workers were sent to the region after President Vladimir Putin told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to ease the disruption and help the victims.可知俄罗斯政府对这个事故的反应是很快的而且是严肃的，选B。
【小题4】推理题：从最后一段的句子：Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop impacts.”可知陨石造成的损失几乎是无法避免的。选A。
考点：考查新闻报道类短文
阅读快车系列答案科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
More than two decades ago, a 10-year-old schoolgirl threw a bottle into the sea off the coast of Hull as she went on a ship on a family holiday, hoping to get a response from a stranger in a faraway land. Inside the bottle was a scrawled letter from Zoe Lemon, a youngster with a love of "ballet, playing the flute and the piano", who had just boarded a ship heading for a holiday in Germany.
She told her expected recipients of her pet hamster and fish, both called Sparkle, and her parents who were both teachers.
Miss Lemon, of Salford, Greater Manchester, soon forgot about her act of fantastic, eventually marrying and having a child herself.
But this Christmas she was extremely surprised to receive a reply after 23 years.
It turned out to be a reply to her letter from Piet and Jacqueline Lateur from near Rotterdam. Mr Lateur was walking his dog in the Oosterschelde dykes(坝), near where he and his wife live in Serooskerke, when he found the bottle with Zoe’s letter inside.
Mrs Averianov, 33, who works in a jewellery shop, said: “It’s been a bit crazy really. My parents came to visit on Christmas day and they had this letter from Europe addressed to my maiden name, Lemon.
Since receiving the letter, Mrs Averianov has been in contact with Mr Lateur via email and asked to see photographs of where the bottle was found.
He told her: “I am keeping your little letter on my piano. I know you are no longer a little girl but you asked me to write you so I have.”
Mrs Averianov’s father, John Lemon, 68, had encouraged his daughter to throw the message into the sea on a family holiday and now she is considering doing the same for her five-year-old son Maksim.
She said: “I’ll probably wait until he’s a bit older and can understand and write a letter, but maybe we’ll do it by attaching it to a balloon.”
From http://www.dailymail.co.uk, (Jan,2014)
【小题1】When did Zoe Lemon write the letter?
| A．In 1990. | B．In 1991. | C．In 2013. | D．In 2014 |
| A．her given name | B．her nick name |
| C．family name used before marriage | D．family name used after marriage |
| A．Its reply was received by Zoe herself. |
| B．It is still carefully kept by Mr Lateur. |
| C．Zoe was sure it would be replied one day. |
| D．Zoe’s father discouraged her from writing it. |
| A．An Unexpected Letter | B．A Reply Waited for Long |
| C．A Reply from a Stranger | D．A Letter from a Faraway Land |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It’s the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart’s music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.
The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it ,we’ll become more intelligent.
The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart’s music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce better milk.
I’ll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn’t make us more intelligent.
【小题1】What can we learn from paragraph 1?
| A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children. |
| B．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent. |
| C．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart’s music. |
| D．There is little scientific evidence to support Mozart effect. |
| A．Because a study described it in the journal Nature. |
| B．Because Mozart himself was a genius. |
| C．Because Mozart’s music is enjoyable. |
| D．Because Mozart’s music makes people relaxed. |
| A．people were strongly against the idea |
| B．the idea was accepted by many people |
| C．Mozart played an important part in people’s life |
| D．the US government helped promote the idea |
| A．Favorable | B．Objective | C．Doubtful | D．Positive |
| A．Listening to Mozart , necessary? | B．What music is beneficial? |
| C．What is the Mozart effect? | D．To be or not to be? |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A 16-year-old boy finds himself on a boat in the Pacific Ocean after escaping a shipwreck(海难). Even worse, he is left with a huge tiger for company. But he manages to survive after 227 days of fighting against all the hardships of the sea.
Pi, the lead character in Oscar-winning Ang Lee’s new movie Life of Pi, went through an inspiring journey of growth and self-discovery. So did 19-year-old Suraj Sharma, the Indian actor who plays him.
But it was a lucky chance that opened up the opportunity for the new star. Sharma was a regular student who lived with his mathematician parents in Delhi, India. As the director traveled to Mumbai to find his Pi, the teenager went along with his younger brother, who had acted in a couple of movies, to audition(试镜). But little did Sharma know that he would end up winning the role from 3, 000 hopefuls.
Lee said he saw Pi in Sharma: “Not only does he have a compelling and wise look. He has this rare talent.” The director said that in the final round, Sharma gave one of the “most compelling readings we had. In the end, he was in tears.” Understandably, Sharma didn’t want to let Lee down. “He (Lee) had given me this opportunity. I had to give it my best,” Sharma told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Sharma swam for four or five hours a day until he was completely comfortable with the water. He also worked on his body because he had to first gain weight and then quickly lose weight as the story developed. He even had rats run all over him to prepare for his role. Lee was impressed by the teenager, especially his endurance and patience in staying in a water tank for many hours each day. Sharma was only 16 when Lee signed him. After three years of shooting, Sharma said he had matured with Pi’s journey.
【小题1】What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| B．To appeal to readers to watch a movie. |
| C．To attract readers to continue reading. |
| D．To suggest the theme of this passage. |
| A．Sharma wanted to become a mathematician |
| B．Sharma had acted in a couple of movies |
| C．Sharma was sure to win in the audition |
| D．Many teenagers wanted to act the role Pi |
| A．To make somebody disappointed. |
| B．To seat somebody down. |
| C．To reject somebody’s requirement. |
| D．To take down somebody’s information. |
| A．Confident and passionate. |
| B．Talented and diligent. |
| C．Strong and courageous. |
| D．Endurable and easily-excited. |
| A．the thrilling escape from a shipwreck |
| B．how an Oscar-winning movie attracts audience |
| C．a young actor became matured when acting in a movie |
| D．the difficulty in winning a role in a movie |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in the world. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises（乌龟）left on earth.
Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises go slowly around the rocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kinds of tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, and each kind is slightly different from the other.
Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises were around these islands. However, all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535, crews would seize as many tortoises as they could. They would roll the tortoises onto their backs when they were brought onto the ships. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, so they could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises were carried off in this way.
The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived, bringing pigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. A11 0f these animals ruined life for the tortoises. Donkeys and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs, dogs and cats ate thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hard to find any tortoise eggs-or even any baby tortoises.
Finally, in the 1950s, scientists decided that something must be done. The first part of their plan was to remove as many cats, dogs and other animals as they could from the islands. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born; This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, the number of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals will not disappear after all
【小题1】What can we learn from Paragraph i?
| A．The Galapagos Islands are the biggest islands in the Pacific Ocean |
| B． The giant tortoises have all left the Galapagos Islands already. |
| C．The giant tortoises made the Galapagos Islands unusual places. |
| D．People have built many homes for the giant tortoises on the islands. |
| A．They weigh hundreds of pounds. |
| B．They move around very slowly. |
| C．There are different kinds of tortoises. |
| D．They are larger than the ones in other places. |
| A．Sailors took tortoises aboard the ships. |
| B．Scientists decided to take measures to protect the tortoises. |
| C．Pigs, dogs and cats ate many baby tortoises. |
| D．Settlers brought other as to the islands. |
| A．Tortoise eggs were kept in safe containers. |
| B．The animals ate the tortoises' food and eggs. |
| C．The tortoises continued to wander freely. |
| D．The tortoises fought against the other animals. |
| A．The tortoises began to disappear gradually. |
| B．The number of tortoises began to decrease |
| C．Scientists took away other animals off the islands. |
| D．There are more and more giant tortoises on the islands. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
In 1980，Candy Lightner’s 13-year-old daughter Cad was killed by a drunk driver as she walked down a suburban street in California. “I promised myself on the day of my daughter’s death that I would fight to make this needless accident count for something positive in the years ahead,” Candy Lightener later wrote.
The drunk driver received a two-year prison sentence. However, he avoided prison by serving time in a work camp and a halfway house. Ms. Lightner was very angry about that and so organized Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), which later changed to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The aim of her organization was to raise public awareness of the serious nature of drunk driving and to promote tough legislation against the crime.
Before Ms. Lightner’s MADD, intoxication (醉酒), including drunk driving, was not taken seriously. Intoxication was often used as an excuse for otherwise unacceptable behavior: “I didn’t know what I was doing—I was drunk.”
Candy Lightner appeared on major television shows, spoke before the US Congress, addressed professional and business, groups, and worked tirelessly for years to change public attitudes, change judicial(审判的) behaviour, and promote tough new legislation. Ms. Lightner left MADD because the organization that she herself created is changing its focus. “I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”
The President of the United States awarded her the President’s Volunteer Action Award and she was the subject of the movie “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers: the Candy Lightner Story”.
【小题1】One of the purposes of MADD was to______ .
| A．make the public aware of the danger of drunk driving |
| B．fight against the drunk hit-and-run drivers on the road |
| C．make new laws against crimes caused by drinking |
| D．warn people not to drink alcohol while driving |
| A．Talking on major TV shows. |
| B．Giving a talk to businessmen. |
| C．Applying for a job with the government. |
| D．Giving suggestions to the US Congress. |
| A．the drunk driver had not been caught |
| B．drunk driving didn’t receive enough attention before MADD |
| C．Candy Lightner played a leading role in a film |
| D．MADD didn’t get much support from society |
| A．Ways to prevent drunk driving |
| B．Purposes of founding MADD |
| C．New law against drunk driving |
| D．Candy Lightner and her MADD |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A towering South American plant that is believed to kill animals with its spikes(尖刺) and use their rotting bodies as fertilizer is about to bloom(开花) in England. A rare Puya chilensis was planted at a greenhouse in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England about 15 years ago. However, despite its frightening description, the tall, spiked plant is considered a threatened species.
The Royal Horticultural Society has been feeding the plant a diet of liquid fertilizer. “In its natural habitat in the Andes it uses its razor sharp spikes to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death and rot at the base of the plant, providing it with a bag of fertilizer,” reads a description on the RHS website, which adds that the plant gives off a “gruesome scent.”
But does the plant actually trap and eat sheep? Other sources have simply said it is “believed” that the plant traps small animals with its spikes. After the animals die of starvation, the plant is "believed" to then use their rotting bodies as fertilizer to feed itself.
"I'm really pleased that we've finally persuaded our Puya chilensis into producing flower," horticulturalist Cara Smith said in a press release on the RHS site. Regardless of whether it actually traps sheep, the plant does have sharp spikes that can grow up to 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. However, it’s not all death and danger for this plant. Its flowery blooms reportedly provide nectar(花蜜) for bees and birds.
The Puya chilensis blooms annually in its native land of Chile, but this is the first time it has done so after more than a decade of cultivation efforts from the RHS. "We keep it well fed with liquid fertilizer as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic,” Smith said. "It's growing in the dry section of our glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."
【小题1】From the passage we learn that in England the Puya chilensis _____.
| A．feeds on man-made liquid fertilizer |
| B．often kills sheep and other animals |
| C．has once bloomed 15 years before |
| D．uses animals' rotting bodies as fertilizer |
| A．catch | B．stop | C．fight | D．kill |
| A．it's dangerous to feed the plant |
| B．it's certain that the plant kills sheep |
| C．it's difficult for the plant to bloom in England |
| D．it's rare for the plant to bloom in South American |
| A．A new plant is discovered in Chile. |
| B．How a rare plant is fed in England. |
| C．A rare plant is going to bloom in England. |
| D．How a plant traps animals in South America. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Disease, poverty, hate, love-Charles Dickens' stories opened his readers' eyes to the most important themes of his age．Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens' legacy （遗产） was far greater than just "great literature"．
February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer's birthday．To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world．Let's take a look at two of them．
A while Christmas
Dickens is described as "the man who invented Christmas" -not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive （喜庆的） season today．
In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt．The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day - unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone, but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off．
Many people believe that Dickens' popular depictions（描绘） of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come．In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas,but also painted a picture of glowing warmth-“home enjoyments, affections and hopes"．
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote, "Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas．"
"Dickensian" poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian （the period during British Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901） London．
He helped popularize the term "red tape" to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy （官僚作风） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society．
"Dickensian" has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty．In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas, of Britain, she did not use words like "terrible" or "horrific", but rather described it as "life mirroring the times of Dickens"．
【小题1】What is the main idea of the article?
| A．Charles Dickens' impact on the world． |
| B．An introduction to Charles Dickens' classic novels． |
| C．Charles Dickens' amazing characters． |
| D．Why Charles Dickens is popular across the world． |
| A．Because he created the religious festival. |
| B．Because one of his novels helped to shape Christmas celebrations． |
| C．Because many of his novels have something to do with Christmas． |
| D．Because he was the first man to have proposed celebrating Christmas． |
| A．rules or procedures that are required to accomplish a task |
| B．a situation in which poor members of society are hurt |
| C．conflict between people in power and weaker people |
| D．pointlessly time-consuming official procedures |
| A．Dickens is still popular today in Britain． |
| B．everyone takes at least three days off at Christmas． |
| C．Dickens invented Christmas |
| D．Dickens gave the modern world six things． |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
“I stepped out and was flabbergasted,” local journalist Bahram Baloch told the BBC. “I could see this gray, dome-shaped (圆顶形的) body in the distance, like a giant whale swimming near the surface. Hundreds of people had gathered to watch it in disbelief.”
This island has become a global curiosity. How was it formed in just a few minutes?
As you might already know, many islands in the sea are formed by volcanoes. There are numerous volcanoes under the sea. As the hot lava erupts and cools down, it piles up and forms the shape of a mountain. When the mountain “grows” to higher than the sea level, the part that’s above the water is what we call an “island”.
This is how the island was formed after the Pakistan earthquake, except that instead of a regular volcano, it was a “mud volcano” that brought about this island. Lava is not the only thing that’s locked under the Earth’s crust — there is also gas. When an earthquake happens and breaks part of the crust, the gas is released at an extremely high speed, pushing mud up to the surface, according to National Geographic.
But only earthquakes that are extremely powerful can cause mud volcanoes to push up enough mud to produce islands — and this 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan was strong enough. The island is about 20 meters high, up to about 90 meters wide and 30 meters long, nearly the size of a soccer field.
In fact, mud volcano islands aren’t new. This is the fourth island of this kind in the region since 1945. But those islands usually didn’t last long.
“It will probably be gone within a couple of months,” said Bill Barnhart, a researcher with the US Geological Survey. After all, “it’s just a big pile of mud that was on the seafloor that got pushed up”.
【小题1】What is the article mainly about?
| A．The disastrous effects of coastal earthquakes. |
| B．The difference between mud volcanoes and regular volcanoes. |
| C．How islands are formed by mud volcanoes. |
| D．The great natural wonders of Pakistan. |
| A．surprised | B．disappointed | C．worried | D．curious |
| A．the new island near the coast of Pakistan actually took a few months to form |
| B．scientists still know little about different types of volcanoes |
| C．another earthquake is likely to happen in Pakistan within a couple of months |
| D．not all volcanoes change the geological appearance of the Earth |
| A．are quite difficult to locate |
| B．usually disappear after a short period of time |
| C．are formed by hot lava from volcanoes |
| D．used to be part of the Earth’s crust |
查看答案和解析>>
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