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Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles(颗粒) in Arctic snow. A German-Swiss research team collected snow samples(样本）from the Arctic and other areas. They included northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.When the researchers examined the samples in a laboratory, they were surprised to find very high levels of microplastics.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic. These plastic particles are generally smaller than 5 millimeters in length. They come from the breakdown of man-made plastic products and industrial waste.
The study found the highest levels of microplastics came from the Bavarian Alps. One snow sample from the area had 154,000 microplastic particles per liter. Samples collected from the Arctic had much lower levels. However, even samples from the Arctic contained up to 14,000 particles per liter.
The study also attempted to explore how some of the material could have been carried in the atmosphere. A limited number of earlier studies did find microplastics in the air of some cities, including Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.
Bergmann Melanie co-wrote the report on the new study. She believes the new study clearly shows that “the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air.” The new study suggests that much of the microplastic found in Europe and the Arctic comes from the atmosphere and snow.
While there is growing concern about the effect of microplastics on the environment, scientists are still studying their possible harmful effects on humans and animals. “I hope the new study will lead to more research on this issue. I think microscopic plastic particles should be included in worldwide observations of air pollution levels.We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe.” Bergmann said.
1.Why did scientists collect samples from so many places in paragragh 1?
A.To make the research convincing.
B.To attract people to explore there.
C.To measure the length of microplastics .
D.To examine the samples easily in the lab.
2.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The risks of microplastics.
B.The transport of microplastics.
C.The breakdown of plastic products.
D.The description of microplastics.
3.What did the research team find about microplastics?
A.Many people threw them away at the Alps.
B.They were delivered to remote areas through air.
C.They could be caught sight of in the air.
D.They had no great effect on the environment.
4.What can be inferred from what Bergmann said in the last paragraph?
A.Scientists are worried about the the influence of microplastics.
B.We have found a practical solution to the environment problem.
C.The effect of microplastics on human must be urgently researched.
D.There is no need to change observations of air pollution levels.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists say they have found key clues（线索）into how long we will live. One of them is a firm __21___. British researchers believe a firm strong handshake is not just a __22___ of confidence but also an indicator of a long life. Lead author Dr Rachel Cooper of University College London said her study looked __23___ 33 different reports on the __24___ of handshakes. The research involved more than 50,000 men and women and __25___ 40 years. Dr Cooper concluded that __26___ with weaker handshakes were 70 per cent more likely to die earlier than those with the __27___ handshakes. She concludes that people with a firm strong handshake __28___ from a happy childhood that __29___ a healthy diet and __30___ of exercise.
The new study, __31___ in the British Medical Journal, also found other signs of living a longer life. These 'measures of __32___ capability' include walking at a faster pace, getting out of a chair quickly, and being able to __33___ on one leg. The study showed that slow walkers were almost three times __34___ to die at a younger age than those who walked quickly and actively. Those who __35___ to get up from their armchairs were twice as likely to die earlier than those who sprang __36___ their chairs. Dr Cooper believes there __37___ more research into the link __38___ physical capability and a long life. “Research that helps people to __39___ a long and healthy life is ever more important to help provide for an ageing __40___.” she said.
1.A．childhood B. relationship C．hardship D．handshake
2.A．sign B. symbol C．trip D．sigh
3.A．at B. into C．to D．on
4.A．strength B. length C．likeliness D．confidence
5.A．last B. past C．lasted D．passed
6.A．women B. they C．those D．men
7.A．weaker B. strongest C．weakest D．strong
8.A. must benefit B.could have lived C. should come D. may have benefited
9.A．concluded B. consisted C．included D．including
10.A．plentiful B. plenty C．a number D．the number
11.A．published B. being published C．publishing D．having published12.A．physician B. physics C．physiology D．physical
13.A．stand B. balance C．live D．shake
14.A．likely B. likelier C．likelihood D．liking
15.A．wanted B. hoped C．struggled D．were dying
16.A．out of B. in front of C．ahead of D．away from
17.A．needs to be B. need to be C．ought to be D．must be
18.A．from B. among C．between D．beneath
19.A．benefit B. involve C．make D．enjoy
20.A．popularity B. pollution C．population D．publication
高三英语完型填空简单题查看答案及解析
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Scientists have always been interested in the high level of organization in ant societies. American researchers have watched ants build life-saving rafts(筏子) to keep afloat during floods. They also have documented how ant colonies choose their next queen — the female whose job is to produce eggs rather than seek food for others.
New technology is helping to improve researchers’ understanding of the insects. But there is still a lot to be learned. Fire ants living in Brazilian forests are perfectly at home in an environment where flooding is common. To save themselves, the insects connect their legs together and create floating rafts. Some ant rafts can be up to 20 centimeters wide.
David Hu, who is a mechanical engineer with the Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, says, “If you have 100 ants, which means 600 legs, 99 percent of those legs will be connected to a neighbor. So they’re very, very good at maintaining this network.”
David Hu and other Georgia Tech researchers want to study ants and the secret of their engineering. They freeze ant rafts and then look at them with the help of computed technology, or CT, images. The pictures show that larger ants serve in central positions to which smaller ants hold. The larger ants form pockets of air that keep the insects afloat.
Scientists say small robots or materials that can change shape could be programmed in a similar way, working towards a shared goal.
Researchers at North Carolina State University are also studying ants. They examined how Indian jumping ants choose the leader of the colony when they lose their top female or queen.
1.The duty of the queen ants is to_____.
A. seek food B. keep organized
C. lay eggs D. keep guard
2.The author takes fire ants as an example to tell us _____.
A. how ants seek food perfectly B. How ants save themselves from floods
C. how ants communicate D. How ants connect their legs together
3.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Ants know the way to form a harmonious society.
B. The Georgia Tech researchers first discovered Indian jumping ants.
C. All the worker ants in the colony are physically larger.
D. Small and shaped-changeable things might work just like ants do.
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
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Scientists from the United States say they have found fish and other creatures living under key waters in Antarctica. They made the announcement after completing three months of research at the Ross Ice Shelf, the world’s largest floating ice sheet.
The researchers hoped to find clues to explain the force of the melting ice and its effect on sea level rise. Reed Scherer and Ross Powell are with Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. They just finished up their research on our southernmost continent. Money for the project came from America’s National Science Foundation.
“We chose a study site where, in the first year ,We went into the subglacial (冰川下的)lake and tried to understand the environment in there, both ecologically and in terms of the ice dynamics about how the lake operates ,and how the sediment(沉淀物) underneath the ice sheet operates, as well, because it’s the water and the sediment underneath the ice that controls how fast the ice is flowing into the ocean” says Ross Powell, who led the investigation. The team included scientists ,engineers, machinery and other supplies across the ice from the main U.S. scientific base at Mc Murdo Station to the researcher’s camp .The camp was near a subglacial lake ,where an earlier study took place,
Ross Powell says the latest study may provide evidence that can help predict the effect of climate change on rising sea levels.
“What we have found is that these are very sensitive areas to the stability of how dynamic the ice is and how fast the ice may react to increases of melting both from the ocean and the atmosphere.”
Among the new instruments built for the project was a powerful hot water drill. The researchers used the drill to dig down some 740 meters. They collected water ,sediment and other material from the grounding zone.
Working around the clock before the deep hole refroze, they sent a video camera down to the 400-square-meter undersea area.
Reed Scherer says the video images they saw in the Command Center were a total surprise.
“It’s a very mobile environment. The bottom is changing constantly. And so the things that we saw were all very mobile organisms, things that swim and some things that crawl. And obviously they are getting enough nutrition that they can thrive, Some of the little crustacean-like creatures called amphipods that we saw swam quite quickly and were quite active.”
This is the farthest south that fish have ever been seen. How did the creatures get here? What do they feed on? And what effect will the retreating ice have on them?
Ross Powell says the ice and sediment cores taken from the grounding zone can offer clues.
“We know that the ice is melting there at the moment and so by opening up the cores once they get back, we hope to be able to understand what the ice was doing in the past ,relative to what it is doing now. And because it is melting so fast or seems to be melting fast at the moment, we anticipate that there will he some differences that we’ll see in the history of the ice sheet from the sediment cores, once we open them up .”But Ross Powell says the work raises more questions than it answers.
1.Scientists conducted the three-month research at the Ross Ice Shelf with the intention of .
A. predicting how climate change influences rising sea levels.
B. finding out whether there are life forms existing deep under Antarctic ice.
C. proving the speed of ice flowing into the ocean is controlled by water.
D. discovering an explanation of the effect the melting ice has on sea level rise.
2.What made the researchers surprised when they saw the video images?
A. Researchers saw fish in the farthest south for the first time.
B.A video camera was able to work well under deep icy waters.
C. Sediment cores present differences in the history of the ice sheet.
D. The drill should dig down 740 meters to collect things.
3.From sediment cores taken from the grounding zone, scientists will probably know .
A. what the ice will do in the near future
B. the ice in the grounding zone is melting at the moment
C. some differences rarely exist in the history of the ice sheet
D. something about the creatures under icy water in Antarctic.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Scientists will conduct a follow-up study on the frozen continent.
B. No creatures once appeared or lived in icy water in Antarctica.
C. America’s National Science Foundation is in complete charge of the research.
D. Researchers have found how the sediment underneath the ice sheet operates.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists have found what look like caves on Mars(火星),and say they could be protecting life from the planet’s terrible environment.
Images of the Mars caves from Northern
Arizona University
The first caves discovered beyond the Earth appear as seven mysterious black dots on the pictures sent back by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.Each as large as a football field,they may be openings into natural caves below the Martian surface.
“If there is life on Mars,there is a good chance you’d find it in caves,”said Jut Wynne,one of the researchers who noticed the features while working on a US Geological Survey Mars Cave Detection Program.
Jonathan Clarke,a geologist with the Mars Society of Australia,yesterday described the discovery as exciting.
One photo taken at night by an infrared imager(红外线成像器) showed one hole to be unusually warm,suggesting hot air trapped during the day is flowing out.
“I said:‘Wow,that’s a cave’,”Dr.Clarke said excitedly.“People have been looking for these for a long time;now we have found them.”
He agreed such caves would be perfect places to hunt for life escaping from the bitterly cold,radiation-soaked(充满辐射的),dry surface.
“Tiny drops of water could collect inside,”he said.“If there are gases coming out,they could provide energy for a whole range of bacteria.A cave is also a protection from radiation;the surface of Mars is exposed to high levels of space radiation.”
The caves probably formed when tube-shaped lava flows(管状岩浆流) spread across the planet long ago.The outside of the tubes cooled,forming solid walls,while something hotter inside allowed the remaining lava to flow out,forming caves.
1.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.How the caves were formed on Mars.
B.How scientists found these caves on Mars.
C.Caves on Mars may be full of hot air or a sign of life.
D.Scientists have completely recognized the surface of Mars.
2.We can learn from the passage that _______.
A.water has already been found on Mars
B.the scientists found all the caves at night
C.it is certain that there is life in these caves
D.the surface of Mars is bitterly cold,radiation-soaked and dry
3.According to the passage,Dr.Clarke was so excited because _______.
A.such caves could provide energy for life
B.they had finally found the caves on Mars
C.such caves would be perfect places to hunt for life
D.scientists had long been looking for these caves
4.Necessary conditions for life on Mars mentioned in the passage may include _______.
A.lava and energy
B.water and radiation from space
C.gases and lava
D.water and protection from radiation
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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It's every parent's worst nightmare. 1.. Now scientists say they have found a better way to wake up sleeping youngsters. Researchers in the US have discovered that playing a child a recording of their mother's voice is about three times more likely to wake them than a traditional alarm. Moreover, they can escape more quickly.
Dr Gary Smith, a co－author of the research from the Nationwide Children's hospital in Ohio and his colleagues report how they compared the effects of four different smoke alarms on 176 children aged between 5 and 12 years old.2.. While one alarm featured a high－pitched beep, the other three featured the voice of the child's mother calling either the child's name, giving instructions such as: “Wake up! Leave the room！”， or both. Each child slept in a lab－based room that resembled a real bedroom, and was shown how to escape from the room before they went to bed. They each experienced all four alarms—the order of which was chosen randomly.
3.. About 90% of children woke for a vocal alarm compared with just over 53% for the traditional alarm. In addition, the children shook off their sleep faster, with a median(中位数) value of two seconds for the voice alarm compared with more than two and a half minutes for the traditional alarm.4.．
Prof Niamh Nic Daéid, director of the Leverhulme Research Centre at the University of Dundee, said the research supported by her team found a human voice combined with a low－frequency pulsing tone was far more effective in waking children than a traditional high－pitched alarm.5.， which might have made them more responsive to an alarm, while more work was needed to explore whether other familiar sounds, such as a dog barking, might also prove effective in waking up children.
A. But she noted that the latest study involved children sleeping in a location other than their own bedroom
B. But she said it was important to look at developing better alarms
C. None of them had hearing difficulties or were taking any medication that affected their sleep
D. The results show that voice alarms appear to be more effective than high－pitched beeps
E. What's more, it does so faster and is linked to a quicker escape
F. There's a fire in the house; the alarms are beeping, but the children are in deep sleep
G. Similarly, escape times were longer in the cases of the beeping alarms
高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists said they have found evidence of a giant planet far out in our solar system. In a statement, the California Institute of Technology(Caltech) said this planet travels a strange “highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system”.
The discovery was made by two researchers at Caltech; Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown. They used mathematical modeling and computer simulations (模拟)to find the planet. So far, there have not been any direct observations of the planet. “My jaw hit the floor,” said astronomer Mike Brown, the moment he realized there might be a ninth planet.
The scientists said it would take this planet 10,000to 20,000 years just to make one full orbit around the sun. The new planet, called “Planet Nine” has a mass about 10 times the size of Earth.
It is believed that the planet orbits, or travels, around the sun from a great distance. The planet Neptune’s average distance to the sun is about 4.5 billion kilometers. But “Planet Nine” could be 20 times farther away from the sun than that. While they did not get a picture of “Planet Nine” yet, the scientists say they are using the biggest and best telescopes on Earth to try to find it.
Brown and Batygin reported their finding in The Astronomical Journal. They say that this new planet is so large that there should be no doubt that it is a true planet, once they confirm it.
Robert Massey is with the Royal Astronomical Society in London. He told AFP that planets have been predicted before, and then were not found. But, he said the work of the these researchers is definitely worth following up. “It would be a really exciting thing to find. At the moment it’s simply a prediction.”
1.How was the evidence of the ninth planet found?
A. Through a special telescope
B. Through researchers’ direct observation
C. Through studying its special orbit in the solar system
D. Through mathematical modeling and computer simulations
2.What can we know about “Planet Nine” from the text?
A. It is much smaller than the earth
B. It travels a normal orbit like other planets
C. Its distance to the sun is about 90 billion kilometers
D. Its picture has been caught by the biggest and best telescope
3.What’s Robert’s attitude towards the discovery of “Planet Nine”?
A. Worried B. Supportive
C. Indifferent D. Opposed
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A. The discovery of the largest planet
B. A big prediction of the solar system
C. A ninth planet may be in the solar system
D. The ninth planet has been found in the solar system
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists have discovered thirteen kinds of vitamins. They say vitamins help to carry out chemical changes within cells. If we do not get enough of the vitamins we need in our food, we are at risk of developing a number of diseases. Which foods should be eaten to keep us healthy? Let us look at some important vitamins.
Vitamin A helps prevent skin and other tissues from becoming dry. People who do not get enough vitamin A cannot see well in darkness. Vitamin A is found in fish liver oil and the yellow part of eggs.
Vitamin B-1 is also called thiamine. Thiamine changes starchy（含淀粉的）foods into energy. Thiamine is found not just in whole grains like brown rice, but also in beans and peas, nuts, and meat and fish.
Vitamin B-12 is needed so folic acid can do its work. Together, they help produce red blood cells. Folic acid has been shown to prevent physical problems in babies when taken by their mothers during pregnancy. Vitamin B-12 is found naturally in foods like eggs, meat, fish and milk products. Vitamin B-12 is found in green leafy vegetables and other foods, like legumes and citrus fruits （柑橘类水果).
Vitamin C is needed for strong bones and teeth. The body stores little vitamin C. So we must get it every day in foods such as citrus fruits, tomatoes and uncooked cabbage.
Vitamin D prevents the children’s bone disease rickets （佝偻病）. Ultraviolet light from the sun changes a substance in the skin into vitamin D. Fish liver oil also contains vitamin D.
Vitamin K is needed for healthy blood. It thickens the blood around a cut to stop bleeding. It can also be found in pork products, liver and in vegetables like cabbage, kale and spinach （菠菜）.
Vitamins are important to our health. A lack of required vitamins can lead to health problems.
1.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. There are thirteen kinds of vitamins in total.
B. One can not live without enough vitamins.
C. Vitamins can carry out chemical changes within cells.
D. Enough vitamins are vital to keep healthy.
2.Women who wish to become mothers should take in ________.
A. vitamin A B. vitamin B-1
C. vitamin B-12 D. vitamin C
3.What can change a substance in the skin into vitamin D?
A. Fish liver oil.
B. Ultraviolet light from the sun.
C. Fresh milk drunk by people.
D. Doing a certain amount of exercise.
4.According to the passage, taking in enough vitamin C can ________.
A. make our eyesight better
B. help to stop bleeding
C. make our bones and teeth strong
D. help produce red blood cells
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Scientists who discovered a new way of generating electricity from water say they may have come across an alternative source of clean energy to rival wind and solar power.
The breakthrough, which scientists say is the first new way to generate electricity in 160 years, could lead to batteries that use water instead of poisonous substances.
The scientists made the discovery when they were investigating what happens when tap water is forced through extremely narrow glass tubes. Water squeezed down the tubes, each of which was narrower than a tenth the thickness of a human hair, generating a small electric current that ran the length of the tube. To produce a larger electric current, the team tried forcing water through a glass water filter(滤水器)that contained thousands of narrow channels lined up side by side. “When we took a syringe(注射器)of water and squeezed it through the filter, we got enough power to light a light bulb,” said Larry Kostiuk of the University of Alberta in Canada. “The harder you push the syringe, the more electric current you get.”
The current is produced because of an effect in the glass tubes. When they are filled with water, positively charged ions(阳离子)fixed in the tubes are washed away, leaving a slight negative charge on the glass surface. When water is then forced along the tube, the surface repels negatively charged ions in the water while positively charged ions are attracted down the tube. The result is a net flow of positively charged ions that sets up an electric current.
According to Dr Kostiuk, no one has ever thought to use water to produce electricity in this way. “The last time someone came up with a way of generating electricity was Michael Faraday in 1839,” he said. “So this is the first new way of generating electricity in 160 years, which is why we are so excited about it.”
Dr Kostiuk says water batteries might one day be used to power mobile phones and calculators, but admitted that the engineering challenges might make other applications more realistic. “You’d need to be sure it wouldn’t leak, and you’d need to make sure it wouldn’t freeze,” he said.
More likely would be to install the electricity-generating devices where water is already being pumped, such as at city water filtration sites, he said. “It could compete with wind and solar power,” he added.
1.What does the passage mainly want to tell us about?
A. A kind of solar power discovered by scientists.
B. A kind of new energy source found in tap water.
C. The breakthrough to generate electricity 160 yeas ago.
D. A kind of new battery invented without poisonous substances.
2.The underlined word “repels” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.
A. rejects B. identifies C. attracts D. rebels
3.Why were the scientists extremely happy about their new discovery?
A. They were the first to find a new way to produce electricity.
B. They could make an electric current to light a light bulb.
C. Their discovery could be used to invent water batteries.
D. Their discovery was made 160 years earlier than Faraday’s.
4.What can we infer about potential water batteries?
A. They must be used to power mobile phones and calculators.
B. They have some possible disadvantages like water leaking.
C. They would be needed greatly at city water filtration sites.
D. They would be better than wind and solar power.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Paragraph 1
Scientists have learned a lot about the kinds of food people need. They say that there are several kinds of food that people should eat every day. They are: (1) green and yellow vegetables of all kinds. (2) citrus(柑桔) fruits and tomatoes; (3) potatoes and other fruits and vegetables; (4) meat of all kinds, fish and eggs; (5) milk and foods made from milk; (6) bread or cereal(谷类), rice is also in this kind of food; (7) butter, or something like butter.
Paragraph 2
People in different countries and different places of the world eat different kinds of things. Foods are cooked and eaten in many different kinds of ways. People in different countries eat at different times of the day. In some places people eat once or twice a day; in other countries people eat three or four times a day. Scientists say that none of the differences is really important. It doesn’t matter whether foods are eaten raw or cooked, canned or frozen. It doesn’t matter if a person eats dinner at 4 o’clock in the afternoon or at eleven o’clock at night. The important thing is what you eat every day.
Paragraph 3
There are two problems, then, in feeding the large number of people on earth. The first is to find some ways to feed the world’s population so that no one is hungry.The second is to make sure that people everywhere have the right kinds of food to make them grow to be strong and healthy.
1.According to the scientists, which of the following groups of food is the healthiest for your lunch?
A. chicken, apples, cereal, cabbages B. potatoes, carrots, rice, bread
C. oranges, bananas, fish, tomatoes D. beef, pork, fish, milk
2.It is important for people to eat _______.
A. three times a day B. dinner at twelve o’clock
C. cooked food all the day D. something from each of the seven kinds of food every day
3.People in different countries and different places of the world _______.
A. has the right kinds of food to eat B. cooks their food in the same way
C. has their meals at the same time D. eat food in different ways
4.If there is Paragraph 4, what do you think is going to be talked about?
A. When people eat their lunch B. What to do with the two problems
C. How to cook food in different ways D. Why people eat different kinds of food
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析