In the 1960s, while studying the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park, Bob Christiansen became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic in nature — that’s what accounted for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.
Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone(圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma(岩浆) piles up. These can form remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across. Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving behind a vast hole, the caldera. Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.
Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park authorities on the assumption that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’ centers. As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost the whole park—2.2 million acres—was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty miles across—much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to humans.
1.What puzzled Christiansen when he was studying Yellowstone?
A.Its complicated geographical features.
B.Its ever-lasting influence on tourism.
C.The mysterious history of the park.
D.The exact location of the volcano.
2.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?
A.The shapes of volcanoes.
B.The impacts of volcanoes.
C.The activities of volcanoes.
D.The heights of volcanoes.
3.What does the underlined word “blow-up” in the last paragraph most probably mean?
A.Hot-air balloon. B.Digital camera.
C.Big photograph. D.Bird’s view.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
In the 1960s, while studying the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park, Bob Christiansen became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic in nature — that’s what accounted for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.
Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone(圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro, which are created when erupting magma(岩浆) piles up. These can form remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across. Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving behind a vast hole, the caldera. Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.
Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park authorities on the assumption that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’ centers. As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost the whole park—2.2 million acres—was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty miles across—much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to humans.
1.What puzzled Christiansen when he was studying Yellowstone?
A.Its complicated geographical features.
B.Its ever-lasting influence on tourism.
C.The mysterious history of the park.
D.The exact location of the volcano.
2.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?
A.The shapes of volcanoes.
B.The impacts of volcanoes.
C.The activities of volcanoes.
D.The heights of volcanoes.
3.What does the underlined word “blow-up” in the last paragraph most probably mean?
A.Hot-air balloon. B.Digital camera.
C.Big photograph. D.Bird’s view.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Botany (植物学) , the study of plants, occupies a particular position in the history of human knowledge.For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest (模糊的)) of insights.It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient.This is logical.Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants.They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food but also for clothing, tools, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes.Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each.To them, botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all.
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge grows.Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple.When nor Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer fields the next season—the first, great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken.Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture: cultivated crops.From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild, and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.
1.What does the writer mean when he says "This is logical" in the first paragraph?
A.Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed.
B.It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants.
C.There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor's knowledge of plant.
D.It is reasonable to assume our ancestors behave much like people in pre-industrial societies.
2.According to the passage, general knowledge of botany begun to fade away because ____.
A.people no longer value plants as a useful resource
B.direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased
C.botany is not recognized as a special branch of science
D.research is unable to keep up with the increasing number of plants
3.We learn that the first great step toward the practice of agriculture is____.
A.the changing diets of early humans
B.the development of a system of names for plants
C.the invention of agricultural implements (工具) and machinery
D.the discovery of certain grasses that could be harvested and replanted
4.Human would depend on the controlled production of a few plants for living with
A.the knowledge of plants
B.the discovery of certain grasses
C.the development of machinery
D.the appearance of agriculture
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The gold loop discovered in the ancient tomb _____ to be _____ in studying the history of the Jin Dynasty.
A.was turned out; valuable | B.proved; of great value |
C.was proved; of great valuable | D.proved; much valuable |
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
People live in the present. They plan for the future. History, ______, is the study of the past. Given all the ______ and pressures that come from living in the present and ______ what is yet to come, why bother with what has been? Given all the available branches of knowledge, why insist - as most ______ systems do - on history? And why encourage many students to study even more history than they are _____ to?
Any subject of study needs to be______: supporters must explain why it is worth ______. Like most widely accepted _____, history attracts people who simply ______ the information and modes of thought involved. But for people who are less interested in the subject and more ______ about why they should bother with it, a clearer explanation of its purpose is required.
____ do not perform heart transplants, improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a society that quite correctly expects education to serve ______ purposes, history’s functions can seem more ______ to determine than those of engineering or medicine. History is in fact very useful, actually _____, but the products of historical study are often less ______ and immediate than those of other subjects.
History helps us understand people, societies and how they ______. For example, how can we ______ past wars (and future threats) without using historical materials? Unfortunately, major aspects of a society’s operation cannot be set up as precise experiments. ______, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our ______, helping us understand who we are and why we do what we do. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot ______ history.
1.A.otherwise B.besides C.however D.therefore
2.A.causes B.demands C.choices D.orders
3.A.avoiding B.fearing C.celebrating D.expecting
4.A.financial B.social C.educational D.political
5.A.required B.invited C.forced D.permitted
6.A.introduced B.explored C.justified D.dropped
7.A.protection B.attention C.expectation D.mention
8.A.subjects B.concepts C.topics D.concerns
9.A.provide B.receive C.share D.like
10.A.doubtful B.worried C.thoughtful D.certain
11.A.Supporters B.Historians C.Audiences D.Teachers
12.A.public B.multiple C.different D.useful
13.A.difficult B.sensible C.secure D.beneficial
14.A.optional B.attractive C.accessible D.vital
15.A.valuable B.interesting C.obvious D.instructive
16.A.feel B.behave C.fight D.live
17.A.prevent B.remember C.evaluate D.declare
18.A.Consequently B.Alternatively C.Fortunately D.Admittedly
19.A.library B.laboratory C.clinic D.museum
20.A.make up for B.give in to C.get close to D.stay away from
高三英语完形填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The study of natural history is not something to be left to biologists. In fact, their capacity _____ the time they can spend away from their offices is very limited.
A. in terms of B. in search of
C. in view of D. in spite of
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The study of natural history is not something to be left to biologists. In fact, their capacity __________ the time they can spend away from their offices is very limited.
A. in favour of B. in search of
C. in terms of D. in view of
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
The study of natural history is not something to be left to biologists. In fact, their capacity _________ the time they can spend away from their offices is very limited.
A. in terms of B. in view of C. in favour of D. in search of
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
The study of natural history is not something to be left to biologists. In fact, their capacity __________ the time they can spend away from their offices is very limited.
A. in favour of B. in search of
C. in terms of D. in view of
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
In April, thousands of holidaymakers remained ______ abroad due to the volcanic ash cloud.
A. sticking B. to be stuck C. stuck D. to have stuck
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Please don't make so loud noise.The news of the volcanic eruption in Indonesia ____and I want to listen.
A.is broadcast B.is being broadcast
C.has been broadcast D.had been broadcast
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析