California has become the first U.S. state to...

California has become the first U.S. state to approve plans to require newly-built homes to include solar equipment.

The state’s Energy Commission voted 5-0 to approve the new rules, which are to take effect in 2020. The rules will deal with most newly-built residential (住宅的) buildings up to three stories high.

The move is California’s latest step aimed at reaching renewable energy targets and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

California has set a goal of filling half of its electricity needs with renewable energy by 2030. Officials said they had reached 30 percent by the end of 2017. The state’s Governor, Jerry Brown, plans to hold an international climate meeting in September.

①The Energy Commission said the cost of adding solar equipment to a single-family home would be about $9,500. But, the group added that homeowners would save at least $19,000 in energy costs over 30 years.

Robert Raymer is the technical director for the California Building Industry Association. He says the action is a step forward for the wider use of solar power in the U.S. “You can bet every other of the 49 states will be watching closely to see what happens,” he told the Associated Press.

②Solar companies praised the new requirements, which officials have said will likely raise demand for solar equipment in California by 10-15 percent.

The Solar Energy Industries Association called it a “historic decision for the state and the U.S.” It estimated the action would produce “huge economic and environmental benefits,” including bringing tens of billions of dollars into California.

③Some legislative and community leaders argued that Californians cannot afford to pay any more for housing in what is already an extremely high-priced market.

“That’s just going to drive the cost up and make California, once again, not affordable to live in,” said California Assemblyman Brian Dahle.

④Severin Borenstein is an energy economist at the University of California, in Berkeley. He sent an email to the head of California’s Energy Commission to urge the state to reconsider its decision.

He expressed his belief that it is a mistake for California to approve such a policy instead of centering on efforts to develop large solar farms to produce renewable energy. He said these farms would cost much less to operate.

“Every energy economist I know is shaking their head at this,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “In many ways, this is setting the wrong example,” he added.

1.According to the rules to take effect in 2020, newly-built homes are expected to ________.

A. replace large solar farms　　 B. be equipped with solar equipment

C. have the height of three stories　　 D. stop greenhouse gas emissions

2.From what Robert Raymer says, we can know that _______.

A. other 49 states won’t follow in the footsteps of California

B. California can achieve its goal of renewable energy by 2030

C. the action will help homeowners save money in the long term

D. the new rules will probably enjoy a great popularity in the US

3.The sentence “But some individuals and groups were against the new rules.” should be placed in_______.

A. ①　　 B. ②

C. ③　　 D. ④

4.The purpose of the passage is _______.

A. to show different attitudes towards an approval

B. to express the significance of renewable energy

C. to inform a new way of dealing with climate change

D. to prove a new plan of solar equipment unreasonable

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Hawaii has planned to be the first U.S. state to roll out（正式推出）electric car stations statewide --- a move towards weaning the islands off oil.

Hawaii, which is far away from the U.S. mainland, imports foreign oil for almost 90 percent of its energy needs. One–third of that oil is used to power cars and buses on island streets. This move will help Hawaii meet its goal of reducing fossil fuel use by 70 percent by 2030.

Better Place, a Palo Alto, California-based company, will build the car recharging stations and provide recharged batteries for electric cars. The company will purchase renewable energy --- such as wind power --- from Hawaiian Electric Co.

Better Place picked Hawaii for the first statewide rollout in part because the islands are a contained environment, with few vehicles (车辆) coming in and out. Better Place would need to build a bigger network across several states to serve some mainland markets. Hawaii also has rich renewable energy resources, including wind, solar and wave power. This is important because Better Place won’t use oil. Better Place plans to recharge its batteries at night with power from Hawaii’s wind farms. That power normally goes unused because of Hawaii’s low nighttime energy needs.

Hawaii is an ideal place to show off Better Place technology because the state welcomes over five million tourists each year from the U.S. mainland, Japan, Canada and the rest of the world. “If we can get them into electric cars when they rent, we do two great things,” Shai Agassi, Better Place’s founder and chief executive officer, said. “One, we avoid emissions （排放物）; two, we use the opportunity to educate them, to teach them in Hawaii how it needs to be done in the rest of the world.”

However, Hawaii doesn’t expect to spend any money to improve the network. Maybe it needs to offer tax breaks or other ways to encourage people to buy electric vehicles when they are first offered.

1.

The underlined part “weaning the islands off oil” (in Para 1) probably means _________.

A. exploring the islands for oil

B. stopping Hawaii’s dependence on oil gradually

C. importing more oil from other islands

D. increasing the amount of oil used there

2.

Why is Hawaii chosen to be the first state where car recharging stations will be built statewide? _________

①There are few cars in Hawaii.

②Hawaii can provide environmentally friendly energy.

③Plenty of oil has been found in Hawaii.

④Hawaii is separated from the mainland with few vehicles coming in and out.

A. ①, ③           B. ②, ③           C. ②, ④           D. ①, ④

3.

When visitors to Hawaii rent electric cars, they _________.

A. will be taught it is necessary to do as Hawaiians do to protect the earth

B. will be offered tax breaks

C. need to be told what should be done before travelling

D. should be given the chance to try two things before driving

4.

We can infer from the passage that _________.

A. Better Place is a company producing electric cars

B. people are not encouraged to buy electric cars

C. electric cars will be recharged with power from renewable resources

D. Hawaii now has reduced the use oil by 90 percent

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

By the time California ________ to become the 31th federal state of the USA in 1850, it was already a multicultural society.

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

It remains to be seen whether the plan which has been approved can be ________.It depends on your determination.

A. come into use　　 B. put into practice

C. taken into consideration　　 D. got into trouble

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

An 18-year-old student has won a local election to become mayor of his hometown in the US state of Michigan. Michael Sessions won by the slenderest of margins - just two votes put him ahead of his only rival, the incumbent 51-year-old mayor. Mr. Sessions attributed his electoral success to the votes cast by his parents. He will now have to juggle schedules between attending school and fulfilling his civic duties. He will attend his school classes between 8am to 3pm and carry out his new job as the elected mayor of Hillsdale before dinner at 6pm. He aims to deliver on his campaign pledges of increasing the contingent (小分队) of full-time fire-fighters from three to four, revitalizing (使恢复元气) the local economy and enabling townsfolk to air their views and grievances on town life.

Mr. Sessions was too young to enter the election when it was first announced – he turned 18 only in September, which meant he had just four weeks of campaigning. Although he is the youngest elected official in America, he cannot celebrate his success with champagne because he would be arrested for underage drinking. He ran for office with a budget of $700, which he made from his summer job of selling toffee apples. His position is largely ceremonial and he will not get his own office. Instead, he will receive an annual stipend of $3,600 to cover basic expenses. He starts his four-year position on November 21. Mr. Sessions has become an overnight celebrity since his victory and has already done the circuit of television chat show interviews.

1. When did the election probably take place?

A. August.        B. September.         C. October.       D. December.

2. How long will Mr. Sessions be the mayor of Michigan State?

A. One year.           B. Two years.         C. Four years.     D. Not mentioned.

3. Which of the following statements is correct?

A. Mr. Sessions won the election by two votes.

B. Mr. Sessions had many competitors during the election.

C. The new mayor will get an office after the election.

D. The new mayor doesn’t have to attend the school any more.

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

She was chosen to be the first secretary of the state government and has regular and immediate _________ to the president.

A. control　　 B. opportunity　　 C. access　　 D. effect

高二英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

HOLLYWOOD history has been made now that Kathryn Bigelow has become the first female to win a Best Director Oscar. “There’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime,” said 58-year-old Bigelow excitedly, at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Bigelow’s film, The Hurt Locker (《拆弹部队》), swept the awards with six trophies, including Best Director and Best Picture. The movie about a bomb removal unit in the Iraq War beat Avatar, the highest grossing (票房收入) film of all time, to the major awards. This was sweetened by the fact that Avatar’s director, James Cameron, is her ex-husband.

Bigelow played down (淡化) her success, telling CBS, “There’s really no difference between what I do and what a male filmmaker might do. I mean we all try to make our days, we all try to give the best performances we can, we try to make our budget, we try to make the best movie we possibly can. So in that sense it’s very similar.”

However, Bigelow’s cinematic journey is quite different from the path of female directors before her. Her movies are low on female characters and high on guns and steel. They focus on men: their fears, relationships and rites of passage (成长历程).

Point Break was her breakout film in 1991. The action film tells the story of an FBI agent who goes undercover (卧底) to investigate a gang of bank robbers. It was popular because of its strong but flawed (有缺点的) male characters. The Hurt Locker is in the same style. The war film is about an anti-hero, William James, leading a crew of competing men in removing roadside bombs around Iraq. James is addicted to risk taking and enjoys putting his fellow soldiers in constant danger. Many scenes are full of clashing (冲突的) male personalities.

Focusing on these male relationships, critics praised The Hurt Locker for avoiding obvious political statements (something Avatar was heavily criticized for), and instead painting a truthful picture of modern war. And is there an entertaining end to the story of Bigelow’s victory? She won on International Women’s Day. It is, after all, Hollywood.

1.Which of the following statements is FALSE according to the article?

A. Avatar is the most profitable film in history.

B. Bigelow is the first female director to win the Best Director Oscar.

C. Bigelow and James Cameron were once married.

D. The film The Hurt Locker tries to make strong political statements about the Iraq war.

2.What does the first sentence in Paragraph 6 mean?

A. Bigelow has a similar style to other female directors.

B. Bigelow usually wants to work with other females.

C. Unlike other female directors, Bigelow focuses on male topics.

D. Unlike other female directors, Bigelow has made other mistakes.

3.The text tells us that ________.

A. The Hurt Locker aims to show how men love danger and war

B. The Hurt Locker presents the clashes between male characters well

C. Bigelow was given the award because it was Women’s Day

D. Bigelow was proud of defeating a male director

4.The article is about _________.

A. the unique (独特的) style of the first woman to win the Oscar for best direction

B. what makes Bigelow different from other female director

C. the award-winning film Bigelow made

D. the Hurt Locker beating Avatar at the Oscar

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

课文填空（每空至多三个词）

California is the third largest state in the USA but has the largest population. It also has the1.　　 of being the most multicultural state in the USA, 2.　　 people from all over the world. The customs and languages of the immigrants live on in their new home. This diversity of culture is not　 3.　 when you know the history of California.

People from different parts of the world, attracted by the climate and the lifestyle, still immigrate to California. It is believed that before long the mix of nationalities will be 4.　　 great that there will be no distinct major　 5.　 or cultural groups, but simply a mixture of many races and cultures.

Although at present human egg cells and embryos　 6. for cloning research are difficult to obtain, newspapers wrote of evil leaders　 7.　 to clone themselves to attain their ambitions. Religious leaders also raised moral questions. Governments became nervous and more conservative. Some began to reform their legal systems and　 8.　 research into human cloning, but other countries like China and the UK, continued to accumulate evidence of the　 9.　 medical aid that cloning could provide. However, scientists still wonder whether cloning will help or harm us and　 10.　　 it is leading us.

高二英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Tu Youyou has become the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work in helping to create an anti-malaria(疟疾) medicine. The 84-year-old’s route to the honour has been anything but traditional. In China, she is being called the "three nos" winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she’s never worked overseas.

In 1967, malaria, a then deadly disease, spread by mosquitoes was decimating Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam. A secret research unit “Mission 523 “was formed to find a cure for the illness. Two years later, Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of “Mission 523”.

“Mission523” read ancient books carefully for a long time to find historical methods of fighting malaria. When she started her search for an anti-malarial drug, more than 240,000 compounds(化合物) around　 the　 world　 had　 already been　 tested,　 without any success.　 Finally,　 the　 team found　 a　 brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood(青蒿), which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 AD. The team took out one active compound in wormwood, and then tested it. But nothingwas effective until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text. After another careful reading, she changed the drug recipe one final time, heating the compound without allowing it to reach boiling point.

After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu Youyou volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug. “In any case, Tu Youyou is consistently praised for her drive and passion. One former colleague, Lianda Li, says Ms Tu is “unsociable and quite straightforward”, adding that “if she disagrees with something, she will say it.”

Another colleague, Fuming　 Liao, who has worked with Tu Youyou for　 more　 than 40　 years, describes her as a “tough and stubborn woman”. Stubborn enough to spend decades piecing together ancient texts, she applies them to modern scientific practices. The result has saved millions of lives.

1.According to Para. I, we can learn that　　　　　　　　　 .

A. Tu is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize

B. Tu has a medical degree

C. Tu’s road to success is not traditional

D. Tu discovered a cure for malaria

2.The underlined word “decimating” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by　　　　　　　　　 .

A. encouraging　　 B. killing　　 C. annoying　　 D. benefiting

3.Which of the following statements is true?

A. Tu first invented the idea of using sweet wormwood as a cure.

B. Tu was inspired by medical textbooks published in northern Vietnam.

C. The compound needs to be heated to the boiling point to be effective.

D. Over 240,000 compounds were proved ineffective before Tu’s search.

4.Tu Youyou can be best described as a 　　　　　　　　　 person.

A. devoted and stubborn　　 B. straightforward and mean

C. considerate and tough　　 D. sociable and generous

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Ⅱ：单词拼写：（共12小题，每小题1分，总分12分）

1．California has the d      of being the most multicultural state in the USA.

2．It never o    to him that his wife was having an affair.

3．If you don’t apply for a p     on your invention, someone might steal the idea.

4．These curtains were once bright green but the sun has f     them.

5．Sorry to i     you, but there’s someone to see you.

6．Many local people       （反对）to the building of the airport.

7．They tried in v    （徒劳）to persuade her to go.

8．I can’t        （忍受）having cats at home.

9．He made a number of rude     （评论）about the food.

10．She took a mouthful of food and then suddenly       （吐）it out.

11．Although the great painter died in poverty, his paintings are worth a f      nowadays.

12．He isn’t often late for school. He comes to school late only    （偶而）.

高二英语单词拼写简单题查看答案及解析