Heat waves shimmered from the pavement. 热浪从道路上摇曳而起. 查看更多

 

题目列表(包括答案和解析)

2010 was the year the Earth struck back.

   Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

   “It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings(危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.

Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.

Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.

“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”

1.From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn   ___________________________.

   A. what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world

   B. how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades

   C. how the Earth struck back in 2010

   D. why the world saw so many disasters in 2010

2.The author gives the example of the big earthquake in Haiti to show that     ___________ .

   A. poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected

   B. man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters

   C. the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake

   D. the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster

3. Which of the following would Debarati Guha Sapir most probably agree with?

   A. Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making.

   B. Natural disasters are causing increase.

   C. The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man.

   D. Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters.

4. According to John Holdren, the best way to cut back on the number of natural disasters is    __________________ .

   A. to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately

   B. to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods

   C. to make better decisions and policies of city development

   D. to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles

5.What is the real concern of the writer of this article?

   A. The major causes of natural disasters.

   B. The human unawareness of environment protection.

   C. The harmonious relationship between humans and nature.

   D. The serious results of global warming and earthquakes.

 

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THIS was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, snow storms, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter of a million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird(古怪的) year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable(脆弱的) buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.

Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes "are pretty much constant," said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. "All the change that's made is man-made."

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people - many of them living in poverty - and more poorly built shanties than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

In February, an earthquake that was more than 500 times stronger than the one that struck Haiti hit an area of Chile that was less populated, better constructed, and not as poor. Chile's bigger quake caused fewer than 1,000 deaths.

Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

In the summer, one weather system caused oppressive heat in Russia, while farther south it caused flooding in Pakistan that inundated 161,200 square kilometers, about the size of Wisconsin. That single heat-and-storm system killed almost 17,000 people, more people than all the worldwide airplane crashes in the past 15 years.

Scientists have calculated that the killer Russian heat wave—setting a national record of 43.9℃—would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.

1.What is responsible for the most human deaths in 2010?

A.Natrual disasters.                                      B.Terrorist attacks.

    C.Poor buildings.                      D.Too rapid developrnent.

2.According to Andreas Schraft,             .

A.earthquakes are happening more often because of human beings

B.earthquakes are causing more damage because of human beings

C.stronger houses should be built to limit storm damage

D.Port—au—Prince is now overpopulated

 

3.The main point of the article is to           

A.list the natural disasters that occurred in 2010

B.give the details of some natural disasters of 2010

C.warn that more natural disasters are to strike

D.blame humanity for not helping those affected by the disasters

 

 

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阅读理解

  In November 1965, New York was blacked out by an electricity failure. The government officials promised that it would not happen again. Pessimists(悲观者) were certain that it would occur again within five years at the lastest. In July 1977, there was a repeat performance which produced different degrees of disorder throughout the city of 8,000,000 people. In 1965, the failure occurred in the cool autumn and at a time of peace and good situation. In 1977, the failure was much more serious because it came when the number of people out of work was large and the city was suffering from one of its worst heat waves.

  In 1965, there was little stealing during the darkness, and fewer than 100 people were caught by the police. In 1977, hundereds of stores were broken into and stolen. They broke shopwindows and helped themselves to jewellery, clothes or television sets, nearly 400 people were sent to the police but far more disappeared into the darkness of the night. The number of the policemen at hand was far from enough and they were wisely stopped from using their guns against the mobs(暴徒)that were far more than them and that included armed men.

  Hospitals had to treat hundreds of people cut by glass from shop windows. Banks and most businesses remained closed the next day. The blackout started at 9:33 p. m. when lightning hit and knocked out vital cables(关键的电缆). Many stores were thus caught by surprise.

  The vast majority of New Yorkers, however, tried to help strangers, handed out candles, and tried to get through the dark world without traffic lights, refrigerators, water and electrical power. For 24 hours, New York realized how helpless it was without electricity.

1.Look at the 1st paragraph, who were right, the government officials or the pessimists?

[  ]

A.The government officials.
B.Both.
C.The pessimists.
D.Neither.

2.In what way was the blackout of 1977 different from that of 1965?

[  ]

A.There was much more disorder.

B.This time the electricity supply failed.

C.It was quite unexpected.

D.It came in the cool autumn.

3.Why did many persons manage to escape the police?

[  ]

A.The police could not see them in the darkness.

B.Many of them carried guns.

C.There were not enough policemen to catch them all.

D.They were hidden inside big buildings.

4.The 1997 New York electricity failure lasted ________.

[  ]

A.a whole week
B.twenty-four hours
C.three days
D.a whole night

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2010 was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
“It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings(危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.
Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.
“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”
【小题1】From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn   ___________________________.

A.what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world
B.how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades
C.how the Earth struck back in 2010
D.why the world saw so many disasters in 2010
【小题2】The author gives the example of the big earthquake in Haiti to show that     ___________ .
A.poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected
B.man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters
C.the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake
D.the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster
【小题3】 Which of the following would Debarati Guha Sapir most probably agree with?
A.Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making.
B.Natural disasters are causing increase.
C.The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man.
D.Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters.
【小题4】 According to John Holdren, the best way to cut back on the number of natural disasters is    __________________ .
A.to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately
B.to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods
C.to make better decisions and policies of city development
D.to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles
【小题5】What is the real concern of the writer of this article?
A.The major causes of natural disasters.
B.The human unawareness of environment protection.
C.The harmonious relationship between humans and nature.
D.The serious results of global warming and earthquakes.

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Experts warn that global warming will cause climate changes, including more ______ floods, heat waves and droughts. 

A. frequent             B. usual                                 C. ordinary                     D. common

 

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