Life on earth depends on water, and there is ...

Life on earth depends on water, and there is no substitute for it. The current assumption is that our basic needs for water — whether for drinking, agriculture, industry or the raising of fish will always have to be met. Given that premise（前提）, there are two basic routes we can go: more access to water or more engineering solutions (more dams, for instance).

Looking at the engineering solution first, a lot of my research concentrates on what happens to wetlands when you build dams in river basins, particularly in Africa. The ecology of such areas is almost entirely driven by the seasonal regime of the river, or rather, the pulse of the water. And the fact is that if you build a dam, you generally spoil the downstream ecology. In the past, such problems have been hidden by a lack of information. But in the next century, governments will have no excuse for their ignorance. The engineers ability to control water flows has created new kinds of unpredictability. Dams in Africa have meant fewer fish, less grazing and less agriculture — none of which were expected.

The challenge for the next century is to find new means of controlling water. Although GM technology will allow us to breed better dry-land crops, there is no market stimulation for companies to develop crops suitable for the micro-climates of the Sahel and elsewhere in Africa. Who is going to pay for research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World?

This brings us to the key issue in any discussion of water: money. In the next century, just consider the problems of water supply in Mexico City or Delhi. If you’re rich, you drink mineral water and may even have a swimming pool — yet millions in such cities can’t get safe drinking water. People talk about the coming water crisis. I believe we have one now. It is a water crisis for the poor.

1. According to the passage, what are the two ways to solve the problem of water crisis? (no more than 8 words) (2 marks)

2. What will happen when dams are built in river basins in Africa? (no more than 6 words) (3marks)

3.Why are companies not willing to develop locally appropriate crops for Third World? (no more than 6 words) (3 marks)

4.What is the tone of the passage? (no more than 1 words) (2 marks)

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Life on earth depends on water, and there is no substitute for it. The current assumption is that our basic needs for water — whether for drinking, agriculture, industry or the raising of fish will always have to be met . Given that premise (前提), there are two basic routes we can go: more equal access to water or better engineering solutions.

Looking at the engineering solution first, a lot of my research concentrates on what happens to wetlands when you build dams in river basins, particularly in Africa. The ecology of such areas is almost entirely driven by the seasonal changes of the river — the pulse of the water. And the fact is that if you build a dam, you generally spoil the downstream ecology. In the past, such problems have been hidden by a lack of information. But in the near future, governments will have no excuse for their ignorance.

The engineers’ ability to control water flows has created new kinds of unpredictability, too. Dams in Africa have meant fewer fish, less grazing and less floodplain (洪泛区) agriculture — none of which were expected. And their average economic life is assumed to be thirty years. Dams don’t exist forever, but what will replace them is not clear.

The challenge for the future is to find new means of controlling water. Although GM technology (转基因) will allow us to breed better dry-land crops, there is no market for companies to develop crops suitable for the micro-climates of the Sahel and elsewhere in Africa. Who is going to pay for research on locally appropriate crops in the Third World?

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

2. Which of the following statements is NOT true for meeting our basic needs for water?

3. The author suggests that governments will have no excuse for their careless ignorance in the future because ________ .

4.The author mentions all the problems caused by dams EXCEPT ________ .

5.The last sentence probably implies that ________ .

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

(2013·厦门第一次适应性考试)How everything ________ in your life all depends on how hard you work; there is no such thing as a free meal.

A．breaks out　　　　　        B．goes out

C．turns out      D．throws out

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Beneath our feet _____ that our life depends on for food and clothing.

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Having hundreds of friends on Facebook is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life, a study has found. Researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online. The number of “peripheral others” someone connected with online — former classmates and coworkers, for example — had no bearing on how satisfied they felt.

Social media, the researchers said, has encouraged younger people to have larger but more impersonal networks of “friends”. But instead of trying to amass friends, they added, a better cure for loneliness might be spending time with those you’re closest to.

Scientists from the University of Leeds did their study using data from two online surveys conducted on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organization. People taking part in the study offered their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of happiness. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbors, and whether they included people who provided services to them in their networks. The number of close friends someone had appeared to be the only thing which influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.

“Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,” said Dr Wändi Bruine de Bruin. “It’s often the younger adults who admit to having negative opinions of their friends. Loneliness occurs in people of all ages. If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.”

1.What does the underlined word “amass friends” probably mean?

A.Make more friends. B.Help their friends.

C.Meet their friends. D.Recognize their friends.

2.What does Para.3 mainly talk about?

A.Introducing research ways. B.Social interaction.

C.Feelings of happiness. D.Carrying out the study.

3.What makes people happy in social life?

A.Having good appearance. B.Living alone.

C.Having close friends D.Making as many friends.

4.What does Dr Wändi Bruine de Bruin talk about?

A.The quantity of friends. B.Loneliness.

C.Negative opinions. D.Friendship.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

In space, there is no up or down. Without the gravity that we experience on Earth, as-tronauts and everything else on a spaceship float freely.

Humans can experience the sense of zero gravity without going into space. How？A zero-gravity flight. When an airplane flies in a lot of parabolas（抛物线）, a man-made zero-gravity environment is set up. Everything in the plane floats, even passengers.

Gravity has an effect on everything from the human body and mind to the behavior of plants and the way machines run. Space travel is expensive and dangerous. But zero-gravity flights let scientists conduct experiments in an environment that mimics（模拟） the conditions of space. On each of its research trip, Zero-G flies about 30 parabolas, each of which creates a period of weightlessness that lasts about 30 seconds. Nikolaus Kuhn of the University of Ba-sel, in Switzerland, flew with Zero-G. He was conducting an experiment about soil and the flow of water on Mars. The Red Planet has about one-third of the gravity that Earth has. This means water flows more slowly on Mars. By making the parabolas less steep, zero-gravity flights can make the feeling of Martian gravity. Flying with Zero-G has been necessary for Kuhn’s research. “It is the only chance, other than going to Mars, to mimic movement of water as it would be on Mars,” he told TFK.

For years, NASA used zero-gravity flights to prepare and train astronauts. “I have not been to space,” Peters of Zero-G says, “But I have been told by astronauts that zero-gravity feels exactly the same.” As humans continue to explore the universe beyond Planet Earth, zero-gravity flights will remain an important and fun tool. “It never gets old,” Peters says “I would do it every weekend for the rest of my life if I could.”

1.Why do scientists set up man-made zero-gravity environment？

A.To study the water on the earth.

B.To offer weightlessness as a business.

C.To take scientists to any other planets.

D.To mimic the condition of space for experiments.

2.How much time of weightlessness can a Zero-G light offer？

A.About 30 seconds. B.About 90 seconds.

C.About 15 minutes. D.About 30 minutes.

3.What feature do the parabolas in Zero-G flights have？

A.The gentler parabolas are, the more satisfied the researchers are.

B.The steeper parabolas are, the less weight the passengers feel.

C.The steeper parabolas are, the more successful the experiments are.

D.The gentler parabolas are, the more quickly water on Mars flows.

4.What can be inferred about the Zero-G flight from the text？

A.It is useless for training astronauts.

B.It has no side effect on human body.

C.It creates a substitutable environment of zero gravity in space.

D.It is cheaper but more dangerous than space travel.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

“Power sleeping” for more hours on weekends is only a _______ solution. There is no substitute for getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis.

A. permanent　　　 B. pessimistic

C. temporary　　　　 D. Theoretical

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

If there were no cellphones, life ________ quite different because we depend too much on them.

A. will be            B. would be            C. is                D. were

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Turn on CCTV news and we ________how happy our life is. But there is no denying that over the past decades, the cost of living ________ sharply.

A. are seeing; had increased             B. will see；has been increasing

C. see; increased                            D. have seen; is increasing

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Our success, satisfaction and general happiness in life is not dependent on what happens to us but how we deal with it.

You will probably know from personal experience what a difference your attitude can make when, for example, you，re returning faulty goods or making a complaint. An open, polite and friendly approach，expecting a satisfactory result，normally results in one as people tend to respond with a similar attitude. If, however, you present an argument with an angry, accusing tone, expecting trouble, there is little doubt that this is what you’ll get!

Some people see the world through a filter of optimism and some through a filter of pessimism (悲观) which largely comes down to having a positive or negative (消极的) attitude. People who are suffering from a negative attitude primarily think that something can’t be done; they talk about problems, see all the difficulties, find fault with and criticize other people and focus on all the things they would like but haven’t got. On the contrary, people blessed with a positive attitude think that anything is possible. They look for ways to solve the problems, they see the good in everybody，and they are grateful for all the good things in their lives.

Whether suffering from or blessed with your attitude, this is not something that is put on us from the outside. We are very much responsible for our own attitude. We all start out with a “clean” board but this can get muddied by our experiences in life. As children we are made fun of and even get bullied (欺侮) and rejected, start to experience doubt and lose our self-confidence. If this continues into adulthood, it can result in a bad attitude in later life.

1.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that people are likely to treat others __________.

A. the way they are treated

B. better when they are satisfied

C. worse when they are in trouble

D. the way they consider appropriate

2.According to the writer, what affects people’s life attitude?

A. The situation they face.

B. The people around them.

C. Their expectations of life.

D. The way they view the world.

3.What is the purpose of the writer in writing this passage?

A. To show how to avoid a negative attitude.

B. To show the importance of a positive attitude.

C. To share his positive attitude with his readers.

D. To describe the effects of a negative attitude.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析