More than half of UK species have suffered de...

More than half of UK species have suffered declines in recent years and 15 percent are at risk of vanishing (消失), a report has warned. There is little evidence to suggest the rate of loss is slowing down.

Farming is key to what is happening,with more intensive agriculture affecting nearly half of the species studied and responsible for nearly a quarter of the total impact on wildlife. A loss of mixed farms, changes to sowing patterns,increased use of pesticides and fertilizers and a loss of habitat (栖息地）have taken their toll. The report said government farming policies had led to dramatic changes in farming practices,almost doubling wheat and milk yields since the 1970s, but often at the expense of nature by interrupting the food sources and habitats species rely on.

Climate change is also increasingly affecting UK nature although the impacts are mixed with some species spreading north or surviving better in warmer winters, but others are hit by the loss of coastal habitat, increased sea temperature and wilder weather. In the long term, global warming poses one of the greatest threats to nature around the world. Wildlife is also being hit by urban development, loss of town green areas, changes to the way land and forests are managed and over-abstraction (过度抽取)of water.

“The natural world needs our help as never before,” said naturalist and TV presenter David Attenborough. “We must work together, governments, conservationists, businesses and individuals to help it.”

The good news is that the creation of new wetland by conservation programs and the planting of new woodland, as well as wildlife-friendly farming programs, are providing habitats for struggling species. Reintroduction of species such as the pine marten (松貂)and large blue butterflies is also helping, but more needs to be done, the report said.

1.What does the underlined phrase “taken their toll” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A.Cost much money. B.Had bad effects.

C.Changed farming policies. D.Interrupted the food sources.

2.What is the main cause of UK species decrease?

A.The development of agriculture.

B.The over-use of water.

C.The change of climate.

D.The loss of habitats.

3.What does the author intend to tell us in the last sentence?

A.More large blue butterflies are needed in UK.

B.More should be done for the diversity of species.

C.The report sounds the alarm for the UK’s wildlife.

D.Enough measures have been taken to protect the natural world.

4.Where is this text most likely from?

A.A poster. B.A brochure.

C.A magazine. D.A notice.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

More than 2 million US teenagers have suffered a serious bout（发作) of depression in the past year, according to a federal government survey released on Tuesday.

On average, 8.5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 described having had a major depressive episode in the previous year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.

But there were "striking differences" by sex, with 12.7 percent of girls and 4.6 percent of boys affected.

Depression is the leading cause of suicide, which in turn is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds in the United States.

"The data Combined 2004 to 2006 data showed that rates of past year major depressive experience among youths aged 12 to 17 generally increased with increasing age," the researchers wrote.

Researchers at SAMHSA and RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, prepared the report using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

More than 67,700 youths aged 12 to 17 answered questions about mood and depression. They were also asked to rate how depression affected them using the Sheehan Disability Scale(残疾量表), which measures impact on family, friends, chores at home, work and school.

Researchers defined a major depressive episode as two weeks or longer of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure, and at least four other symptoms such as problems with sleep, energy, concentration or self-image.

Nearly half of the teenagers who had major depression said it severely damaged their ability to function in at least one of the areas on the disability scale.

"Fortunately, depression responds very well to early intervention and treatment," SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline said in a statement.

1. The underlined word “ episode ” in paragraph 2 probably means _________.

A. experiment　　　 B. experience

C. expression　　　　 D. feeling

2.What can be implied, but is not stated directly?

A. depression is the third-leading cause of suicide.

B. There were over 2 million American teens suffering depression in the past two years.

C. The students surveyed were aged between 12 and 17.

D. There were more girl students suffering depression than boys.

3. The main symptoms of a serious depressive episode include ________　　　 .

A. no family or friends or jobs or interests at all.

B. low spirits, lack of sleep, energy and self-image, and poor concentration.

C. poor health, sex discrimination, less energy and loss of interests

D. suicide, sadness, lack of confidence and depression.

4.What will the following paragraph probably talk about according to the passage ?b

A. How to recover from stress

B. How to have a happy feeling

C. How to prevent and treat depression

D. How to live a comfortable life

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

More than half of UK parents believe sunglasses should become an official part of school uniform, a study has found.

A study of 1,000 parents with children aged 4-12 found 72 percent worried about protecting their child's eyes from the sun. However, only 3 in 10 sent their child to school with sunglasses every time it was sunny. One-quarter even said their child was forbidden by their school from wearing sunglasses on school grounds.

A spokesperson for Monkey Monkey Sunglasses, which commissioned （委 托）the study, said, "Parents are consistently telling us that their children are more likely to wear sunglasses on holiday or to leisure activities than at school. We just want parents to be aware that the midday and afternoon sun can be equally strong in the school playground, on the school sports field, or on the walk home from school, as it is on the beach. Wearing hats and staying in the shade during these times help reduce UV exposure, but are not a substitute for wearing sunglasses with full UVA and UVB protection, because UV rays reflect through cloud cover and reflect off a variety of surfaces."

Researchers also found only 16 percent of those polled said their children always wear sunglasses on a sunny day and one in four said their child does not currently own a pair of sunglasses.

Parents of children who rarely or never wear sunglasses said their kids find them uncomfortable to wear and avoid them if they can. However, 57 percent who have bought their children sunglasses checked the glasses for their UV protection rating before making the purchase. When asked about their knowledge surrounding surfaces which reflect and increase UV radiation, 61 percent of parents who took part in the study, correctly said that snow reflected UV rays. One in four identified concrete surfaces and 56 percent pointed to water as a key reflector of UV rays.

Monkey Monkey's spokesperson added, "Estimates suggest that up to 80 percent of a person's lifetime exposure to UV is received before the age of 18, when children's eyes are also not yet fully developed. For these two reasons it is vital to protect young eyes from sun exposure at an early age."

1.According to the passage all the following statements are true EXCEPT that _____.

A.most parents questioned in a survey worried about protecting their child's eyes from the sun

B.some children were not allowed to wear sunglasses on school grounds

C.children were believed to wear sunglasses more often after school

D.parents only 3 in 10 sent their child to school with sunglasses in all kinds of weather

2.What can we infer from the text?

A.All parents prefer to wear sunglasses.

B.The study was carried out for a sunglasses company.

C.Concrete surfaces and water are reflectors of UV rays.

D.Children's eyes are not full-grown before the age of 18.

3.Who may be the target readers of this text?

A.Holiday makers. B.Sunglasses makers.

C.Policy makers. D.Film makers.

4.What's the best title for the passage?

A.Should Sunglasses Be Part of School Uniform?

B.Why Should Parents Buy Sunglasses for Kids?

C.How to Choose Suitable Sunglasses for Kids?

D.New Fashion in School — Sunglasses

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

More than half of parents in the United States are helping , or have helped their adult children who have been hit by high unemployment and stagnant（无变化的）wages, according to a new survey. It showed that present economic conditions are discouraging young adults from leaving home and forcing those who have already gone, so - called boomerang children, to return.

“Parents are continuing their financial involvement longer than we expected,” said Ted Beck, the president and CEO of National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).

About 60 percent of parents questioned in the survey said they are helping their adult children who are no longer in school financially, providing housing and living expenses.

For an increasing number of adult children, the situation is bad. Two - thirds of adult children, aged 18 to 39, who are not in school said they faced tougher financial pressures than previous generations, according to the survey. And nearly one - third of parents agreed that it was easier for them to earn money than for their children.

Parents are helping their children out of genuine concern, and because they do not want to see them struggle. But Beck said that parents who make sacrifices to help their adult children should be cautious about their own finances.

“If you are taking on extra debt or delaying retirement to help your adult child, you could be making a mistake and putting your own financial future in danger.” Beck warned.

Boomerang children can also cause other problems for their parents. Thirty percent of parents said they had given up privacy since their adult children moved back home, while more than a quarter have taken on added debt, and ten percent have delayed retirement. But the survey also showed that 42 percent of adult children living at home are helping with the cooking and cleaning.

1.The underlined words “boomerang children” in the first paragraph likely means ________.

A. adult children visiting parents often

B. married adult children

C. adult children depending on parents for financial support

D. adult children independent and successful in life

2.What is Ted Beck’s suggestion to the parents?

A. Asking their children to help with the housework.

B. Leaving their children to struggle to live.

C. Being careful when helping their children financially.

D. Putting off their time of retirement.

3.According to the survey, we can know that ________.

A. about 50% of parents give money to their adult children to cover the daily cost

B. two - thirds of adult children are faced with financial problems in school

C. one - third of adult children earn money more easily than their parents

D. one in ten parents has delayed retirement

4.What is the main idea of the whole text?

A. Adult children are less independent.

B. Parents help support adult children.

C. Bad conditions affect children a lot.

D. Adult children like living with parents.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

What a wonder! They have finished _______　 half of the project in such a short time.

A. no more than　　　 B. no less than　　　　 C. not more than　　　　 D. much less than

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time．The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise．

They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time．Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage．

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi．He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape．“One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media．Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books．”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio （比率） between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events．

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash．But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War．Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends．In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true．

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression （压抑） of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body．”

1.The word "decline" （paragraph 1） is closest in meaning to_________．

A．increase B．rise C．decrease D．change

2.A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______．

A．in the use of the words of historical events

B．in the category of fear

C．in the category of literature

D．in the category of joy

3.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．A study of emotional words．

B．A study about vocabulary in literature．

C．Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature．

D．A study on increase in the category of fear．

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

They found that almost all of the categories (类别) showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media—movies, radio, drama—had more emotional content than books.”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

(Note：Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)

1.A study of more than five million books indicated a decline in “mood words” over time except

2.According to Dr Alberto Acerbi, one reason for the drop of “mood words” in books may be that

3.What were the two periods when the joy-to-sadness ratio was at its highest?

4.While the researchers found some changes in the use of “mood words” in books, they werenot sure that

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books.”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

1. The word "decline" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to_________.

A. increase　　 B. rise　　 C. decrease　　 D. change

2.A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______.

A. in the use of the words of historical events

B. in the category of fear

C. in the category of literature

D. in the category of joy

3. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. A study of emotional words.

B. A study about vocabulary in literature.

C. Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature.

D. A study on increase in the category of fear.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time．The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise．

They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time．Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage．

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi．He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape．“One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media．Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books．”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio （比率） between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events．

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash．But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War．Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends．In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true．

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression （压抑） of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body．”

1.The word "decline" （paragraph 1） is closest in meaning to_________．

A．increase B．rise C．decrease D．change

2.A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______．

A．in the use of the words of historical events

B．in the category of fear

C．in the category of literature

D．in the category of joy

3.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．A study of emotional words．

B．A study about vocabulary in literature．

C．Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature．

D．A study on increase in the category of fear．

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

They found that almost all of the categories showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

“It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media — movies, radio, drama, had more emotional content than books.”

Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex’… perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

1.The word "decline" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to_________.

A. increase　　 B. rise　　 C. decrease　　 D. change

2.A study of more than five million books indicated a decrease in “mood words” over time except_______.

A. in the use of the words of historical events

B. in the category of fear

C. in the category of literature

D. in the category of joy

3.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. A study of emotional words.

B. A study about vocabulary in literature.

C. Reasons for the use of emotional words decreases in literature.

D. A study on increase in the category of fear.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析