Mother Nature has it figured out. She’s designed a master scheme that connects plants and animals, all working in concert to keep every living thing in balance.
This is especially obvious in places like central Africa and in South American tropical rainforests where certain animals help keep trees safe and healthy, which is critical as trees absorb vast amounts of planet-warming carbon pollution.
Recent research warns that losing the creatures that nurture trees puts forests in danger. This, by extension, is helping to accelerate dangerous climate change.
In central Africa for example, elephants eat fast-growing trees, making room for those that grow more slowly. The slow-growing trees with their very dense wood store more carbon than the thinner, faster-developing ones Without elephants, more carbon would accumulate in the atmosphere, worsening climate change according to a new study that used computer models to project what could happen if elephant populations continue to decrease or become extinct.
Africa may once have contained 10 million elephants from the Mediterranean to the Cape, in every habitat except extreme desert. In 1970, there may have been a million left. By the end of the 1980s, there were half that number, mostly killed for the ivory trade, "said Stephen Blake, assistant professor of biology at St. Louis University.
By killing elephants, poachers (偷猎者) rob slow growing trees of their guardian. They also slow the growth of new trees. Elephants blaze(开辟) trails and disperse(散播) seeds as they look for food. “Elephants are basically the gardeners of the forest,” Blake said. They disperse over 100 species of seeds, and disperse more of them over longer distances than other dispersers.”
Blake, who has spent nearly 20 years in Africa working in elephant research and conservation, mourns their fate, describing them as “a complex society of intelligent, caring, emotional animals who respect their grandmothers and mourn their dead” and condemns those who neglect their duty to save them.
“We will go to Mars-there is no doubt-humans are too smart not to,” he said. “Yet we do not have the wisdom to protect elephants and their forest environment that do so much for our physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.
1.Elephants help keep slow-growing trees safe and healthy by________.
A.providing living space for them.
B.dispersing seeds when searching for food.
C.decreasing in number and reducing carbon accumulation.
D.protecting them in the forest from being cut down.
2.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The world is changing at a faster speed than before.
B.People are intelligent enough to protect the environment.
C.What we have done to protect elephants is far from satisfactory.
D.Animals are so smart that they care much about the well-being of humans.
3.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A.Elephants are in danger of dying out in the near future.
B.Elephants are fighting climate change in ways humans can’t.
C.Animals are assumed to be the gardeners of the forest.
D.Animals are accelerating dangerous climate change.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Mother Nature has it figured out. She’s designed a master scheme that connects plants and animals, all working in concert to keep every living thing in balance.
This is especially obvious in places like central Africa and in South American tropical rainforests where certain animals help keep trees safe and healthy, which is critical as trees absorb vast amounts of planet-warming carbon pollution.
Recent research warns that losing the creatures that nurture trees puts forests in danger. This, by extension, is helping to accelerate dangerous climate change.
In central Africa for example, elephants eat fast-growing trees, making room for those that grow more slowly. The slow-growing trees with their very dense wood store more carbon than the thinner, faster-developing ones Without elephants, more carbon would accumulate in the atmosphere, worsening climate change according to a new study that used computer models to project what could happen if elephant populations continue to decrease or become extinct.
Africa may once have contained 10 million elephants from the Mediterranean to the Cape, in every habitat except extreme desert. In 1970, there may have been a million left. By the end of the 1980s, there were half that number, mostly killed for the ivory trade, "said Stephen Blake, assistant professor of biology at St. Louis University.
By killing elephants, poachers (偷猎者) rob slow growing trees of their guardian. They also slow the growth of new trees. Elephants blaze(开辟) trails and disperse(散播) seeds as they look for food. “Elephants are basically the gardeners of the forest,” Blake said. They disperse over 100 species of seeds, and disperse more of them over longer distances than other dispersers.”
Blake, who has spent nearly 20 years in Africa working in elephant research and conservation, mourns their fate, describing them as “a complex society of intelligent, caring, emotional animals who respect their grandmothers and mourn their dead” and condemns those who neglect their duty to save them.
“We will go to Mars-there is no doubt-humans are too smart not to,” he said. “Yet we do not have the wisdom to protect elephants and their forest environment that do so much for our physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.
1.Elephants help keep slow-growing trees safe and healthy by________.
A.providing living space for them.
B.dispersing seeds when searching for food.
C.decreasing in number and reducing carbon accumulation.
D.protecting them in the forest from being cut down.
2.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The world is changing at a faster speed than before.
B.People are intelligent enough to protect the environment.
C.What we have done to protect elephants is far from satisfactory.
D.Animals are so smart that they care much about the well-being of humans.
3.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A.Elephants are in danger of dying out in the near future.
B.Elephants are fighting climate change in ways humans can’t.
C.Animals are assumed to be the gardeners of the forest.
D.Animals are accelerating dangerous climate change.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
She has been over his strange letter for several weeks, but she still figures out nothing about it.
A. puzzling B. worried
C. troubled D. anxious
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Sometimes I just can’t figure out ________ it is that has made those extraordinary intelligent people make such silly mistakes.
A.what B.how C.why D.where
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Nature has its own way of balancing itself out, but when we humans get involved, we tend to throw things out of control. Forests and oceans are natural carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but since we’ve been pumping too much into the air, those sinks can’t keep up. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, led by biologist Tobias Erb, have figured out a way to supercharge plants to make them better at absorbing CO2, which could be a key defense against climate change.
Erb and his team figured out a way to make plants more efficient at absorbing carbon, so that they consumed more carbon in a shorter amount of time. “If you think about plants, they are efficient CO2-fixing filters, but they are not fast, ” Erb said. “I think there is a chance to improve existing biology with synthetic(人造的) biology.”
Erb’s team identified 17 enzymes(酶) from nine different organisms, re-engineering three of them, that had an enlarged carbon consumption. When those enzymes worked together as a team, they worked better at not only plants’ natural enzymes, but also themselves individually. Existing enzymes in plants consume about 5 to 10 molecules(摩尔) of CO2 per second. The team of enzymes that Erb used consumed 80 molecules per second.
So far, these enzymes have only been tested in test tubes in the lab, but the next step is real world testing where the enzymes would be introduced into plants to see if the same result occurs. If those tests show that plants really can be supercharged, we could have a new tool in the fight against climate change where not only do we protect the amazing carbon-absorbing forests we have, but we also add these super plants or an artificial leaf technology using the enzymes into other mixed fields.
1.Why can’t forests and oceans balance nature?
A. Because oceans and forests are getting smaller.
B. Because a large number of forests are cut down.
C. Because we human beings give off too much CO2.
D. Because there are too many creatures in the world.
2.Which is the key defense against climate change according to Erb and his team?
A. To increase the plants’ ability and efficiency to absorb CO2.
B. To make oceans and forests to absorb more CO2 quickly.
C. To reduce the human’s activities giving off too much CO2.
D. To increase the number of plants in the world.
3.What can we get from the last paragraph?
A. The enzymes have proved useful in real world.
B. The technology has worked against climate change.
C. The enzymes have not been used in the lab.
D. The technology may have a bright future.
4.This passage is intended to ________.
A. call on people to pay more attention to the balance of nature
B. introduce a possible way to better plants’ ability of absorbing CO2
C. analyze the cause and result of climate change related to plants
D. explore the possibility of using plants to fight against climate change
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Last year, my mother brought out an old college-ruled notebook: one of the journals in which she has kept a record of all the dinner parties she has hosted since 1976. I have a similar journal. But I am a writer, and she is a chemist. Mine features descriptions and feelings about the dinners I’ve hosted, while hers reads like laboratory notes — just the meal plan and who was invited.
“Salmon mousse (慕斯),” she announced, reading the first enrty. “My God, I must have made that a hundred times. Do you remember them?” I did not. But I did remember that salmon mousse.
Old friends came and went in her journal. New favorites joined the menu. My husband’s name first shows up in 1997, along with a meal of just hors d’oeuvres because he loved it. My sister-in-law’s name arrived in 2006, and with it, all shellfish disappeared from family menus — she would get sick after eating it. There is my mother’s partner, Ruth, who appeared in 1991, signaling almost five years of vegetarian (素食主义者) dishes before she gave in to my mother’s ham. And there is my father, who, despite being her ex-husband, appeared every year after their divorce.
While my mother has always written in her journal before a dinner party, I write in mine afterward. In my mother’s books, everything is clear. Hers passes from early motherhood through divorce and the deaths of friends without a break. I, on the other hand, have three entire years unaccounted for. I see her journals and am envious: By 45, I should not be winging it at dinner. I should practice with old favorites. I should have a salmon mousse.
And so I am putting this decision into practice at a dinner party for writer friends. The menu is already written in my book. To start, a favorite of mine has already been cured in the fridge: salmon gravlax. And for this I must apologize to my mother: It is as close as I can get. I love you; I do. But I have always hated that salmon mousse.
1.What can we know from Paragraph 3?
A. The writer's husband is a vegetarian.
B. The writer’s sister-in-law is allergic to shellfish.
C. Ruth didn't like the ham made by the writer’s mom.
D. The writer’s father never came back home since his divorce.
2.Which statement may come from the writer’s journal?
A. Salmon gravlax for writer friends.
B. Thanksgiving, friends coming.
C. I am glad lots of writer friends came last night.
D. Tom and Lily are coming as well as Mr. Green tonight.
3.How can we describe the writer’s mother?
A. Considerate and strong-minded. B. Stubborn but organized.
C. Outgoing and generous. D. Warm-hearted but disloyal.
4.Why does the author write this passage?
A. To show her love for her mother. B. To put her decision into practice.
C. To compare two different journals. D. To express her hate for salmon mousse.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The mother didn’t know _____to blame for the broken glass as it happened while she was out.
A．who B．which C． they D．that
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
My mother has always been a follower of traditional methods when it comes to anything. She cooks traditional food，likes dressing up traditionally and likes the traditional way of shopping. She loves going to markets and going from one shop to another to find out what suits her best. She can walk miles when it comes to shopping along with her friends. She knows all the local markets and shops and knows very well where she can get best discounts（折扣）．
However，now she always gets tired when she goes out in the market. So one day I decided to introduce a new shop，which is much larger than usual markets and where she can also get discounts．I am talking about online gift stores. She has a basic knowledge of computers and can operate computers. At the beginning，she was doubtful about shopping from these online gift shops because she wasn’t too sure about the quality of the products.
One day I decided to get her some branded things so that she could build trust in these shops. I ordered a Timex watch and a Sisley handbag for her. She never bought things online，but when they were delivered as a gift，she jumped for joy. She could not believe that I had ordered these gifts for her despite her being not much positive about online shops. However，after she saw both the products，she was assured that these online gift shops sent the promised brands and products，she loved her new watch and handbag.
After this experience she ordered a gift for her friend's wedding. She chose a gift basket that could be made according to her requirements. They sent a beautifully decorated basket with fine wines and chocolates. The basket was so artistically decorated that it became her friend's favorite gift. Since then she has been consistently shopping online.
1.What can we learn about the author's mother?
A. She lives in a traditional way.
B. She likes shopping very much.
C. She is kind and very humorous.
D. She always leads a simple life.
2.Why does the author decide to introduce a new shop to her mother?
A. The new shop is much larger.
B. She can't go shopping as before.
C. There are more goods for her to choose from.
D. The goods in the new shop are much cheaper.
3.What was the attitude of the author's mother to shopping online at first?
A. She thought it was a good idea.
B. She thought goods online were cheap.
C. She doubted the quality of the goods.
D. She worried about the difficulty in operation.
4.The author decided to buy his mother some branded things＿．
A. in order to please his mother
B. so that she could trust in shopping online
C. so that she would live a happy life in her later years
D. so that she would get a surprise on Mother's Day
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
My mother _____ all the cleaning for my family, but recently she has been too busy teaching to do it.
A. will do B. is doing C. does D. had done
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Although modem organic food has become very popular, many people can' t figure out the difference between organic foods and ______ grown foods．
A．contemporarily B．conventionally C．deliberately D．dynamically
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
. She gets three weeks of vacation, but has ____ before the year is half over.
| A．given it out | B．taken it up | C．used it up | D．run it out |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析