In 1800, only three percent of the world's population lived in cities. Only one city — Beijing — had a population of over a million. Most people lived in rural areas, and never saw a city in their lives. In 1900, just a hundred years later, roughly 150 million people lived in cities, and the world’s ten largest cities all had populations exceeding one million. By 2000, the number of city dwellers exceeded three billion; and in 2008, the world's population crossed a tipping point — more than half of the people on Earth lived in cities. By 2050, that could increase to over two-thirds. Clearly, humans have become an urban species.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people viewed cities negatively — crowded, dirty environments full of disease and crime. They feared that as cities got bigger, living conditions would worsen. In recent decades, however, attitudes have changed. Many experts now think urbanization (城市化) is good news, offering solutions to the problems of Earth’s growing population.
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of The Victory of the Cir, is one such person. Glaeser argues that cities are very productive because “the absence of space between people” reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. While the flow of goods has always been important to cities, what is most important today is the flow of ideas. Successful cities enable people to learn from each other easily, and attract and reward smart people with higher wages.
Another urbanization supporter is environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand believes cities help the environment because they allow haft of the world’s population to live on about four percent of the land. This leaves more space for open country, such as farmland. City dwellers also have less impact per person on the environment than people in the countryside. Their roads, sewers, and power lines need fewer resources to build and operate. City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light. Most importantly, people in cities drive less so they produce fewer greenhouse gases per person.
So it’s a mistake to see urbanization as evil; it’s a natural part of development. The challenge is how to manage the growth.
1.What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?
A.The history of modern cities.
B.Changes taking place within cities.
C.How cities have grown over time.
D.Why modern cities are changing.
2.How have experts’ attitudes towards cities changed in recent decades?
A.They now view the weaknesses as strengths.
B.They no longer see city-riving as attractive.
C.They accept city life in spite of its problems.
D.They think city-riving provides more benefits.
3.Which of the following would Edward Glaeser agree with?
A.Cities provide more economic opportunities.
B.City people get along better with each other.
C.Over-crowded cities result in problems.
D.Cities limit the flow of ideas.
4.According to Paragraph 4, what would be the result of moving people out of cities?
A.Economic production would be reduced.
B.There would be less farmland available.
C.People would travel less frequently.
D.House values would fall greatly.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题
In 1800, only three percent of the world's population lived in cities. Only one city — Beijing — had a population of over a million. Most people lived in rural areas, and never saw a city in their lives. In 1900, just a hundred years later, roughly 150 million people lived in cities, and the world’s ten largest cities all had populations exceeding one million. By 2000, the number of city dwellers exceeded three billion; and in 2008, the world's population crossed a tipping point — more than half of the people on Earth lived in cities. By 2050, that could increase to over two-thirds. Clearly, humans have become an urban species.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people viewed cities negatively — crowded, dirty environments full of disease and crime. They feared that as cities got bigger, living conditions would worsen. In recent decades, however, attitudes have changed. Many experts now think urbanization (城市化) is good news, offering solutions to the problems of Earth’s growing population.
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of The Victory of the Cir, is one such person. Glaeser argues that cities are very productive because “the absence of space between people” reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. While the flow of goods has always been important to cities, what is most important today is the flow of ideas. Successful cities enable people to learn from each other easily, and attract and reward smart people with higher wages.
Another urbanization supporter is environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand believes cities help the environment because they allow haft of the world’s population to live on about four percent of the land. This leaves more space for open country, such as farmland. City dwellers also have less impact per person on the environment than people in the countryside. Their roads, sewers, and power lines need fewer resources to build and operate. City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light. Most importantly, people in cities drive less so they produce fewer greenhouse gases per person.
So it’s a mistake to see urbanization as evil; it’s a natural part of development. The challenge is how to manage the growth.
1.What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?
A.The history of modern cities.
B.Changes taking place within cities.
C.How cities have grown over time.
D.Why modern cities are changing.
2.How have experts’ attitudes towards cities changed in recent decades?
A.They now view the weaknesses as strengths.
B.They no longer see city-riving as attractive.
C.They accept city life in spite of its problems.
D.They think city-riving provides more benefits.
3.Which of the following would Edward Glaeser agree with?
A.Cities provide more economic opportunities.
B.City people get along better with each other.
C.Over-crowded cities result in problems.
D.Cities limit the flow of ideas.
4.According to Paragraph 4, what would be the result of moving people out of cities?
A.Economic production would be reduced.
B.There would be less farmland available.
C.People would travel less frequently.
D.House values would fall greatly.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
In 1800, only three percent of the world's population lived in cities. Only one city — Beijing — had a population of over a million. Most people lived in rural areas, and never saw a city in their lives. In 1900, just a hundred years later, roughly 150 million people lived in cities, and the world’s ten largest cities all had populations exceeding one million. By 2000, the number of city dwellers exceeded three billion; and in 2008, the world's population crossed a tipping point — more than half of the people on Earth lived in cities. By 2050, that could increase to over two-thirds. Clearly, humans have become an urban species.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people viewed cities negatively — crowded, dirty environments full of disease and crime. They feared that as cities got bigger, living conditions would worsen. In recent decades, however, attitudes have changed. Many experts now think urbanization (城市化) is good news, offering solutions to the problems of Earth’s growing population.
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of The Victory of the Cir, is one such person. Glaeser argues that cities are very productive because “the absence of space between people” reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. While the flow of goods has always been important to cities, what is most important today is the flow of ideas. Successful cities enable people to learn from each other easily, and attract and reward smart people with higher wages.
Another urbanization supporter is environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand believes cities help the environment because they allow haft of the world’s population to live on about four percent of the land. This leaves more space for open country, such as farmland. City dwellers also have less impact per person on the environment than people in the countryside. Their roads, sewers, and power lines need fewer resources to build and operate. City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light. Most importantly, people in cities drive less so they produce fewer greenhouse gases per person.
So it’s a mistake to see urbanization as evil; it’s a natural part of development. The challenge is how to manage the growth.
1.What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?
A. The history of modern cities.
B. Changes taking place within cities.
C. How cities have grown over time.
D. Why modern cities are changing.
2. How have experts’ attitudes towards cities changed in recent decades?
A. They now view the weaknesses as strengths.
B. They no longer see city-riving as attractive.
C. They accept city life in spite of its problems.
D. They think city-riving provides more benefits.
3. Which of the following would Edward Glaeser agree with?
A. Cities provide more economic opportunities.
B. City people get along better with each other.
C. Over-crowded cities result in problems.
D. Cities limit the flow of ideas.
4.According to Paragraph 4, what would be the result of moving people out of cities?
A. Economic production would be reduced.
B. There would be less farmland available.
C. People would travel less frequently.
D. House values would fall greatly.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
According to the WHO, 90 percent of the world’s population lives in a place where they are exposed to unsafe levels of airborne pollutants, contributing to up to seven million deaths each year. If you live in a city, chances are that you’re part of that 90 percent, even if your city is relatively clean. That’s why cities worldwide have started embracing Internet of Things (IoT)solutions.
One of the best ways to fight pollution is to figure out where it’s worst and where it’s coming from. If you’ve ever made a habit of checking air quality around you, you may notice that there aren’t actually that many monitoring stations, and your closest one may not be that close. For pollution data to really be accurate and helpful, we need a lot more of it.
Luckily, IoT sensors and low-power wide-area networks are making it a lot easier to get and spread ultra-local data. Lampposts are one popular place to put them. For example, the Republic of Korea and Barcelona have already built out a network of pollution sensors in their streetlights. On the other hand, outfitting (配备) cars, bikes, and even people with pollution sensors provides valuable data on a smaller, more mobile scale.
Since pollutant levels can change dramatically even from one city block to another, having smaller-scale data is important for making a lot of decisions that, over time, might have a major influence on our health and behavior. It can influence where we decide to live, when we exercise, whether we bike to work, and, perhaps most importantly, what we can do about pollution in our area.
What all the Internet of Things can help us do on a personal level is use less energy. The data it provides, though, can be used to make big and small changes to the way we behave and build, and that is eventually where we’ll see benefits.
1.What’s the problem mentioned in Paragraph 1?
A.The death rate is high every year. B.There are too many people in the world.
C.There is little space for people to live in. D.Air pollution is more serious than expected.
2.How does the author mainly develop Paragraph 3?
A.By analyzing main causes. B.By citing research findings.
C.By giving specific examples. D.By making close comparisons.
3.Why is it necessary to collect data on a smaller scale?
A.It directly decreases pollutant levels. B.It uses less energy to clean the air.
C.It covers more areas of air pollution. D.It betters decisions on our lifestyle.
4.What’s the author’s attitude towards using IoT to solve air pollution?
A.Disapproving. B.Doubtful.
C.Positive. D.Uncaring.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The world’s population has grown _____ six times _______ it was in 1800.
A.by; what B.by; that C.in; what D.to; that
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The world’s population has grown _____ it was in 1800.
A. six times more than what B. more than six times what
C. six times more than which D. more than six times that
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The world’s population has grown by ______ it was in 1800.
A. more than six times that B. six times more than that
C. more than six times what D. six times as many as
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
In the United States, 30 percent of the adult (成年人) population has a “weight problem”. To many people, the case is clear: we eat too much. But scientific evidence(证据)does little to support the idea. Going back to the America of 1910, we find that people were thinner than today. Yet they ate more food. In those days, people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less, and didn’t watch TV.
Several modern studies, moreover, have shown that fat people do not eat more on average (平均) than thinner people. In fact, some investigations (调查), such as a 1990 study of 3,545 London office workers, show that fatter people eat less than slimmer people.
Studies show that slim people are more active than fat people. A study by a research group of Stanford University School of Medicine found the following interesting facts:
The more the men ran, the more fat they lost.
The more they ran, the more they ate.
Thus, those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost the greatest amount of body fat.
1.What kind of physical problem do many adult Americans have?
A. They are too thin. B. They work too hard.
C. They are too fat. D. They lose too much fat.
2.Which of the following words can take the place of the word “slim” in this passage?
A. poor B. thin C. healthy D. rich
3.Compared with the adult American population today, the Americans of 1910 ______.
A. ate more food and had more activities B. ate less food but had more activities
C. ate less food and had less physical activities D. had more weight problems
4.What have modern medical and scientific researches reported to us?
A. Fat people eat less food and are less active.
B. Fat people eat more food than slim people but are less active.
C. Fat people eat more food than slim people but are more active.
D. Thin people run less, but have greater increase in food intake.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
By the middle of the 21st century, the vast majority of the world’s population _____ in cities rather than in the country.
A.are living B.will be living C.have lived D.will have lived
高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Iceland is a large island. In fact, it’s the world’s 18th largest island. Most of the population, however, lives in the southwestern part of the country, in or around the capital city of Reykjavik. By its very name, you’d expect Iceland to be mostly ice. Looking at Iceland on a map, you’ll notice it sits just outside the Arctic Circle. Despite this location and its name, Iceland actually has a temperate climate, because it is warmed by the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream also helps keep Iceland’s coastal ports ice-free through the winter.
There is plenty of ice on Iceland, though. The country consists of a large plateau(高原)that includes fields of sand, mountains and glaciers. Over 60% of Iceland is tundra(苔原). About 14% of Iceland is lakes and glaciers. Only about 24% of the country has plants or vegetation of any kind, which covers a vast area in the south of the country.
Iceland was settled in the late 800s and early 900s by Norsemen from the Scandinavian country of Norway. Other settlers also came from Ireland and Scotland. From the 13th century up until 1918, Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later Danish monarchies. For most of that time, the small Icelandic population depended upon fishing and farming to make a living. For hundreds of years, Iceland was one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. After World War II, international aid and industrialization of the fishing industry turned Iceland into one of the wealthiest countries in the world. In 1994, Iceland became part of the European Economic Area(经济区), which allowed its economy to grow even more.
Iceland boasts one of the youngest islands in the world. Surtsey rose out of the ocean during a series of volcanic eruptions between 1963 and 1968. Today, only scientists who study the growth of new life can occasionally visit the volcanic island of Surtsey.
1.What can we know about Iceland according to the passage?
A.It lies in the Arctic Circle.
B.Its capital city is very crowded
C.Many people live in the east.
D.It has a fairly mild temperature.
2.What is mainly talked about in the third paragraph?
A.Iceland’s history.
B.Iceland’s geography.
C.Iceland’s economy.
D.Iceland’s politics.
3.What can we infer about Surtsey from the last paragraph?
A.People live on fishing.
B.No human beings live there at all.
C.There are many visitors.
D.Science is developing fast there.
高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
Only about 30 percent of people in the US know how to perform CPR (心肺复苏术). Recently, a 9-year-old boy showed a Georgia woman how to perform CPR on her newborn baby.
Susanna Rohm said she had experienced a parent’s worst nightmare (噩梦) — her 2-month-old son, Isiah, was not breathing. “I noticed he looked pale. I looked at his arms and his legs and they were limp (无力的),” Rohm told a local newspaper. “Then I noticed that he looked like he wasn’t alive.” Indismay, she dropped and broke her cellphone. Rohm had to run into the street, screaming for help.
“I had him in my arms and screamed over and over. Then I ran outside. I saw two boys playing across the street, and I yelled, ‘Go and ask your parents to call 911,’” Rohm said. But the two boys were able to do more than that. Nine-year-old Ethan Wilson took action, showing Rohm how to perform CPR on little Isiah while ten-year-old Rocky Hurt helped as well.
Rocky said he had learned the CPR technique from a poster in a health class at their school, Sedalia Park Elementary. “I was thinking we’d better give her a helping hand instead of getting scared,” Ethan said. “I told her to push on the baby’s chest five to ten times a minute with only two fingers, tilt back the baby’s head, plug the baby’s nose and breathe into the baby’s mouth,” Ethan said in an interview.
At last, Isiah began crying and was breathing again. He spent two nights in a local hospital. “If the little boy hadn’t shown me what to do right there, my baby would probably not be alive right now,” Rohm said.
1.We can learn from Paragraph 1 that in the US, .
A.CPR is considered important by most people
B.most children are taught how to perform CPR
C.many parents don’t know how to perform CPR
D.kids must learn how to perform CPR on babies
2.What does the underlined word “dismay” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A.Panic. B.Anger.
C.Excitement. D.Joy.
3.What did Rohm do when she saw the two boys?
A.She asked them to call 911 as soon as possible.
B.She asked them to teach her how to perform CPR.
C.She asked them to ask their parents for help.
D.She asked them to help her perform CPR on her baby.
4.What Rohm said in the last paragraph shows that she was .
A.grateful B.regretful
C.surprised D.ashamed
高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析