Our planet is home to about seven billion people. Since the 1990s, population experts have predicted the number would grow to nine billion before it begins to slow down and possibly decrease.
But a new report predicts the world’s population is likely to increase to almost 11 billion by 2100. Based on the most modem statistical tools, the new report makes use of government records and considers expert predictions, including death rates, birthrates and international migration, or people moving across borders. The report says during the rest of this century, Africa’s population will grow from about 3.5 billion to 5.1 billion over the next 85 years.
John is director of the United Nations Population Division. He says that in the past, researchers thought population growth in Africa would be similar to that of other areas. They expected slower growth rates as birth control use became more widespread. But he says those ideas were wrong.
“The level of contraception use has continued to increase but slowly — more slowly than expected, and birthrate therefore has been falling less rapidly than expected, and the population therefore continues to grow somewhat more rapidly than we expected.
The new findings are based on a joint research project of the United Nations and the University of Washington,
The researchers believe the population of Asia will reach five billion by 2050. That is up from the current 4.4 billion. And then begin decline. The researchers also believe that North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean area will have a total population of below one billion.
John says the pressure of feeding the rising population is likely to be less than that might be expected.
“The relatively good news is that the world has been winning the race between population growth and food production. If you look back historically over the last 50 years, certainly for the world as a whole and for many, most individual countries and regions, the increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population.”
1.Which area will experience the largest increase in population at the end of the century?
A. Asia. B. Africa.
C. Europe. D. North America.
2.“Contraception use” in the fourth paragraph refers to ________.
A. a method of expert predictions
B. a way of avoiding growth in population
C. a joint research into the rising population
D. a potential technology for food production
3.Why is the pressure of feeding the rising population less than expected according to John?
A. Expert predictions are not exactly like what the facts happen.
B. Birthrates have always been falling less rapidly than we expected.
C. The population grows less rapidly than population experts expected.
D. The increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population,
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The world’s population will increase constantly.
B. The population of Asia will rise by 5 billion by 2050.
C. John is optimistic about feeding the rising population,
D. Population growth in Africa was much slower than expected.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Our planet is home to about seven billion people. Since the 1990s, population experts have predicted the number would grow to nine billion before it begins to slow down and possibly decrease.
But a new report predicts the world’s population is likely to increase to almost 11 billion by 2100. Based on the most modem statistical tools, the new report makes use of government records and considers expert predictions, including death rates, birthrates and international migration, or people moving across borders. The report says during the rest of this century, Africa’s population will grow from about 3.5 billion to 5.1 billion over the next 85 years.
John is director of the United Nations Population Division. He says that in the past, researchers thought population growth in Africa would be similar to that of other areas. They expected slower growth rates as birth control use became more widespread. But he says those ideas were wrong.
“The level of contraception use has continued to increase but slowly — more slowly than expected, and birthrate therefore has been falling less rapidly than expected, and the population therefore continues to grow somewhat more rapidly than we expected.
The new findings are based on a joint research project of the United Nations and the University of Washington,
The researchers believe the population of Asia will reach five billion by 2050. That is up from the current 4.4 billion. And then begin decline. The researchers also believe that North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean area will have a total population of below one billion.
John says the pressure of feeding the rising population is likely to be less than that might be expected.
“The relatively good news is that the world has been winning the race between population growth and food production. If you look back historically over the last 50 years, certainly for the world as a whole and for many, most individual countries and regions, the increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population.”
1.Which area will experience the largest increase in population at the end of the century?
A. Asia. B. Africa.
C. Europe. D. North America.
2.“Contraception use” in the fourth paragraph refers to ________.
A. a method of expert predictions
B. a way of avoiding growth in population
C. a joint research into the rising population
D. a potential technology for food production
3.Why is the pressure of feeding the rising population less than expected according to John?
A. Expert predictions are not exactly like what the facts happen.
B. Birthrates have always been falling less rapidly than we expected.
C. The population grows less rapidly than population experts expected.
D. The increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population,
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The world’s population will increase constantly.
B. The population of Asia will rise by 5 billion by 2050.
C. John is optimistic about feeding the rising population,
D. Population growth in Africa was much slower than expected.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Our planet is home to about seven billion people. Since the 1990s, population experts have predicted the number would grow to nine billion before it begins to slow down and possibly decrease.
But a new report predicts the world’s population is likely to increase to almost 11 billion by 2100. Based on the most modern statistical tools, the new report makes use of government records and considers expert predictions, including death rates, birthrates and international migration, or people moving across borders. The report says during the rest of this century, Africa's population will grow from about 3.5 billion to 5.1 billion over the next 85 years
John is director of the United Nations Population Division. He says that in the past, researchers thought population growth in Africa would be similar to that of other areas. They expected slower growth rates as birth control use became more widespread. But he says those ideas were wrong.
“The level of contraception use has continued to increase but slowly — more slowly than expected, and birthrate therefore has been falling less rapidly than expected, and the population therefore continues to grow somewhat more rapidly than we expected.The new findings are based on a joint research project of the United Nations and the University of Washington.
The researchers believe the population of Asia will reach five billion by 2050. That is up from the current 4.4 billion. And then begin to decline. The researchers also believe that North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean area will have a total population of below one billion.
John says the pressure of feeding the rising population is likely to be less than that might be expected.
“The relatively good news is that the world has been winning the race between population growth and food production. If you look back historically over the last 50 years, certainly for the world as a whole and for many, most individual countries and regions, the increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population.‖”
1.Which area will experience the largest increase in population at the end of the century?
A. Asia. B. Africa. C. Europe. D. North America.
2.“Contraception use‖ in the fourth paragraph refers to ________.
A. a method of expert predictions
B. a way of avoiding growth in population
C. a joint research into the rising population
D. a potential technology for food production
3.Why is the pressure of feeding the rising population less than expected according to John?
A. Expert predictions are not exactly like what the facts happen.
B. Birthrates have always been falling less rapidly than we expected.
C. The population grows less rapidly than population experts expected.
D. The increase in food production has outpaced the increase of population.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The world’s population will increase constantly.
B. The population of Asia will rise by 5 billion by 2050.
C. John is optimistic about feeding the rising population.
D. Population growth in Africa was much slower than expected.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Six billion people already live on our planet, and the number is growing _____ 220,000 every day.
A.with B.in C.from D.by
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
17.The movie is to deucate people about environmental problems ______ our planet.
A.threatened | B.being threatened | C.threatening | D.to be threatened |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
There are billions of people on this planet, and many of us love to eat meat. Can the demand be filled in a sustainable(可持续的) and affordable way? A bunch of businessmen are not only optimistic but are working to make this happen sooner than you may think.
The environmental effects caused by meat consumption (食用)—waste, animal treatment, health problems and even the greenhouse gas effects that are potentially caused by methane gas produced by cows—have given rise to a number of startups(新兴公司)looking to develop meats in different ways.
For example, San Francisco-based Memphis Meats is developing cell-based meats in its labs without requiring any animals. Israel’s Future Meat Technologies is doing the same by producing fat and muscle cells that are being tested by chefs in Jerusalem. All of these companies use special processes to harvest cells from animals and grow them in a lab.
But don’t worry if you’re not a meat lover. Startups such as Jet Eat, which is also based in Israel, are working on food products grown in labs that are plant-based and replicate (复制) meats using natural elements while still keeping flavor, consistency and the “overall sensory experience”, according to a report on NoCamels. Jet Eat, which was founded in early 2018, aims to 3D-print their lab-grown products by 2020.
As you can imagine, there are plenty of barriers facing the industry. Educating the public is a big one. Another controversial issue is the labeling of the products. Recently both the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) announced that they will begin jointly controlling the new “cell-based meat” category.
Many of us have concerns about the challenges facing future generations as our global population increases and the earth’s natural resources decreases. The good news is that there are plenty of businessmen around the world—like those producing lab-grown meats—who are working to solve some of these problems and make a little money in the process. Nothing wrong with that.
1.Why do some companies begin to develop new kinds of meats?
A.To analyse the causes of air pollution.
B.To stress the importance of protecting wild animals.
C.To make people less interested in eating meat and more healthy.
D.To meet people’s demand for meat in environmentally friendly ways.
2.What’s special about the lab-grown meats of Jet Eat?
A.They cost less. B.They are plant-based.
C.They are more delicious. D.They are available on the market now.
3.Which of the following is a barrier lab-grown meat industries must deal with?
A.How to let people accept the meat. B.How to give the meat an elegant name.
C.How to produce the meat in large amounts. D.How to reduce the cost of making the meat.
4.What’s the author’s attitude towards lab-grown meats?
A.Supportive. B.Opposing. C.Ambiguous. D.Cautious.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。请将答案写在答题卡相应位置。
China is home to over 1.3 billion people, who live in such contrasting environments as the fast-paced modern cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the mountains and forests in western China. So it’s little wonder 1. China has little more than 200 languages and dialects. Traditionally, Chinese languages 2. (classify) into seven groups, 3.(include) Mandarin, spoken in the north, central and western provinces. There are two versions of the 4. (write) language. Simplified Chinese is used in mainland China and has been adopted by Singapore, Malaysia and 5. Southeast Asian countries, while traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. More than two 6.(three) of Chinese speak various dialects of Mandarin.
It may surprise you 7. (learn) that the term “Mandarin” is not really the name of a language. It actually refers to various Chinese dialect groups. 8. you choose to call it, Mandarin has been a powerful force for unity in a country. The total number of 9. speakers worldwide is over eight hundred million, making Mandarin 10. (widely) spoken language in the world, followed by English as the second.
高三英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
If you are worried about the planet, please make sure your rubbish is buried under the ground.
People talk about “reduce, reuse, recycle.” It sounds like a good idea. There is a problem, though. Recycling costs too much money.
Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it only makes sense economically and environmentally to recycle about 35 percent of disabled (废弃的) materials. Among those materials are paper and aluminum(铝) cans. Recycling 1 ton of paper or aluminum cans, the agency says, can save about 3 tons of CO2 emissions (排放物) over producing those materials anew. Paper producers pay for the trees they process. If it was cost-effective to recycle paper, producers would be beating down your door to buy it. But they aren’t. That means it’s more expensive to recycle old paper than to cut trees and then replant trees for processing.
Plastic can be recycled too. Given the recent drop in crude oil (原油) prices, it is now cheaper to make a new plastic container than to recycle an old one. Even if that were not true, the EPA says that recycling a ton of plastic saves only about a ton of CO2. However, it doesn’t take into account the water most consumers use to wash their plastic containers before having them recycled. The New York Times journalist John Tierney recently wrote, “If you wash plastic in water that was heated by electricity, then the effort of your recycling could be more carbon in the atmosphere.”
Glass is another recyclable material. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 ton you have to recycle 3 tons of glass. If one includes the cost of collecting glass waste from neighborhoods, and the pollution produced by the collection trucks and the recycling process itself, glass recycling creates more greenhouse gas emissions and is more expensive than making new glass, which comes primarily from sand that exists everywhere.
If recycling were truly cost-effective, private companies would be lining up at your doorstep to buy your rubbish. Don’t look now because they’re not there.
1.What’s the EPA’s attitude to recycling aluminum cans?
A.It is helpful to the environment.
B.It is actually a waste of money.
C.It costs less than recycling paper.
D.It costs the same as producing new cans.
2.What increases the cost of recycling plastic?
A.The crude oil.
B.The water pollution
C.The process to clean it.
D.The electricity for lights.
3.What can be learned about making new glass?
A.It results in lots of waste in neighborhood.
B.The material for new glass can be easily got.
C.It is slightly more expensive than recycling glass.
D.Making 3 tons of new glass produces 1 ton of carbon emissions.
4.What does the author mean by saying the underlined sentence?
A.Recycling will disappear soon.
B.Companies will line up at your doorstep.
C.Recycling is a way to deal with your rubbish.
D.Companies won’t bother to collect discarded materials.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The latest IPCC report does not mince words(直言不讳地) about the state of our planet: we must act now to achieve global change at a scale that has “no documented historical precedent(先例)” in order to avoid the climate disaster that would result from a 2 degree C rise in average global temperature. Climate change already affects the world's most helpless people including poor rural communities that depend on the land for their livings and coastal communities. Indeed, we have already seen the clear asymmetry(不对称) of suffering resulting from extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires and more.
So far, advocates and politicians have tended to focus on reducing fossil fuel(矿物燃料) consumption through technology and/or policy, such as a sharp carbon tax, as climate solutions. These proposals are, of course, essential to reducing manmade carbon emissions(排放)-71 percent of which are produced by just 100 fossil fuel companies.
Yet the international focus on fossil fuels has overshadowed(使......显得不重要) the most powerful and cost-efficient carbon-capture technology the world has yet seen: forests. Recent scientific research confirms that forests and other “natural climate solutions” are absolutely essential in reducing climate change. In fact, natural climate solutions can help us achieve 37 percent of our climate target, even though they currently receive only 2.5 percent of public climate financing.
Forests' power to store carbon dioxide through the simple process of tree growth is staggering:_one tree can even store an average of about 48 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. Recent research show undamaged forests are capable of storing the same amount of the carbon dioxide emissions of entire countries such as Peru and Colombia.
For this reason, policy makers and business leaders must create and strengthen ambitious policies to prevent deforestation, and support the sustainable management of standing forests in the fight against climate change. Protecting the world's forests ensures they can continue to provide essential functions aside from climate stability, including producing oxygen, filtering water and supporting biodiversity. Not only do all the world's people depend on forests to provide clean air, clean water,oxygen, and medicines, but 1.6 billion people rely on them directly for their livelihoods.
1.According to the passage, climate change ________.
A. will surely achieve at a scale that is more serious than ever before
B. will only affect people living in the poorest rural regions
C. is likely to lead to more frequent extreme weather events
D. is entirely determined by fossil fuel consumption
2.What's the finding of the new research?
A. Reducing fossil fuels is the most powerful and cost-efficient technology.
B. Forests are vital to reducing climate change due to their storage power.
C. Most of our climate targets can be accomplished with the help of natural climate solutions.
D. Natural climate solutions have proved less efficient than conventional solutions.
3.The underlined word “staggering” in Paragraph 4 means ________.
A. astonishing B. speeding C. embarrassing D. shrinking
4.What's the author's purpose of writing this article?
A. To compare two different approaches to dealing with climate change.
B. To argue against the view that focus on fossil fuels reduction counts.
C. To urge scientists to do more research into natural climate solutions.
D. To point out forests are the most powerful weapon for fighting climate change.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Europe is home to a variety of cultural treasures. Lonely Planet, the world’s largest travel guide publisher, has offered pairs of cities for culturehungry but timepoor travelers.
London and Paris
It takes you about two hours to travel from London to Paris by Eurostar, a high-speed railway service. The two capital cities have been competing in fashion, art and nightlife for decades-but each secretly looks up to the other.
No one can doubt the grand and impressive beauty of Paris' Louvre Museum, but if you want to save money, you cannot skip the British Museum free to visit. Compared with London, Paris has more outdoor attractions such as the beautiful green walkway La Promenade Plantee.
In Paris, you'll see diners linger over red wine. While in London, you can try some afternoon tea, eat fish and chips or salted cake.
Vienna and Bratislava
Austrian capital Vienna and Slovakia city Bratislava are an hour apart by train. But since they are linked by the Danube River, the best way to travel is by ship. A tour of the two cities is the perfect way to experience everything from 17th century’s Habsburg dynasty splendor to scifi restaurants.
Vienna is famous for Mozart and imperial palaces. You can appreciate the perfect blending of architecture and nature in the grand Schonbrunn Palace, and reward yourself with a cup of Vienna coffee, which has made its way to the world's cultural heritage list.
Bratislava is best known for its fine dining-the remarkable UFO restaurant. You can enjoy a meatladen dinner here in an amazing setting.
1.What’s the relationship between London and Paris according to the text?
A. They help each other.
B. They attack each other.
C. They admire each other.
D. They don't like each other.
2.What are the advantages of Paris mentioned in the article?
a. The Louvre Museum
b. Free access to museums
c. More outdoor attractions
d. Better wines and perfumes
A. ac B. cd C. acd D. bcd
3.Which of the cities should you choose if you are interested in scifi restaurants?
A. London. B. Paris.
C. Glasgow. D. Bratislava.
4.Lonely Planet recommends these two pairs of cities because ________.
A. they are not expensive to visit
B. they are best known to the world
C. they are always enemies between each other
D. they are close but different in many aspects
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The year 3700, Earth is far too hot for any human to call it home. On this planet at least, man is nothing more than a memory--if there is anything left to remember the "wise man". But what about our wisdom--will any of it survive us?
The conventional answer is no. Knowledge requires a knower, and there will be no knowing minds around then. But if information survives, perhaps in books or hard drives, maybe the knowledge isn't quite dead but dormant(休眠), ready to become alive with the help of other minds that develop over time or come to visit Earth in the distant future.
At first sight, that seems to be reasonable: after all, we have done similar things with past knowledge. For example, we saved an ancient computer from a ship destroyed at sea off the southern coast of Greece, and succeeded in finding the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics(象形文字). Careful work can bring previously lost wisdom back to life.
However, the key point is that there is a certain cultural continuity with those ancient times that allows us to reason and make progress in the dark: we know we are dealing with the legacy(遗产)of other humans. Without that link, the survival of objects and raw data doesn't guarantee the survival of knowledge. And a lack of continuity in language with any future intelligence would be a barrier. Knowledge is closely connected with language. When a language dies out, we can lose systems of reasoning that they contain. If that's lost, then it can't be recovered.
All this means that other minds might not be able to fully make human knowledge alive when we are gone. It is better to concentrate on not dying out in the first place.
1.How many opinions are mentioned in Para.2?
A. One.
B. Two.
C. Three.
D. Four.
2.What does the underlined phrase "similar things" in Para. 3 probably refer to?
A. Making lost wisdom alive again.
B. Rescuing disappearing knowledge.
C. Preserving future knowledge.
D. Gaining new knowledge.
3.How can we make knowledge survive?
A. We know a lot about human beings.
B. We learn ways to draw conclusions.
C. We have a certain cultural continuity.
D. We protect the legacy of other humans.
4.What's mainly talked about in the text?
A. Can human beings live on?
B. Will our knowledge survive us?
C. What will the earth be like in the future?
D. How can we protect our culture?
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析