The massive magnitude（震级） 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile mov
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The massive magnitude（震级） 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, and moved other parts of South America as far apart as the Falkland Islands and Fortaleza, Brazil.
These measurements, produced from data gathered by researchers from four universities and several agencies, paint a much clearer picture of the power behind this earthquake, believed to be the fifth-most-powerful since instruments have been available to measure earthquake.
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina moved about 1 inch to the west. And Chile"s capital, Santiago, moved about 11 inches to the west-southwest. The cities of Valparaiso and Mendoza, Argentina, northeast of Concepcion, also moved.
The quake"s epicenter (震中) was in a region of South America that"s part of the so-called “ring of fire,” an area of major seismic（地震的） stresses which encircles（环绕，包围） the Pacific Ocean. All along this line, the plates on which the continents move press against each other.
Mike Bevis, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State, has led a project since 1993 that has been measuring crustal（地壳的）movement in the Central and Southern Andes. The effort is called the Central and Southern Andes GPS Project, or CAP.
Ben Brooks, an associate researcher with the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii, said that the event, offers a unique opportunity to better understand the seismic processes that control earthquakes.
“We now have modern, precise instruments to evaluate this event, and because the site borders a continent, we will be able to get evidences of the changes it caused.” said Brooks.
小题1:What is the main idea of the passage?| A．The earthquake in Chile was dangerous. | | B．Earthquake often happen in Chile | | C．The earthquake in Chile moved cities. | | D．The earthquake in Chile had been predicted. |
小题2:Which of the following cities moved to the west most?| A．Concepcion | B．Buenos Aires | C．Santiago | D．Valparaiso |
小题3: The underlined words “ring of fire” in Paragraph 4 refer to __________.| A．the fire and the earthquake | | B．the beautiful places around the ocean | | C．the plate on which South America lies | | D．the area around the Pacific Ocean |
小题4: What do we know about CAP?| A．It is under the leadership of Mike Bevis. | | B．It observes earthquakes worldwide. | | C．It is designed to watch climate changes. | | D．It mainly studies the Pacific Ocean. |
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答案
小题1:C
小题2:A
小题3:D
小题4:A |
解析
试题分析：本文介绍了智利的地震移动城市，介绍了移动最厉害的城市和原因。
小题1:主旨题:从第一段的句子：The massive magnitude（震级） 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west,可知答案是C
小题2:细节题：从第一段的句子：The massive magnitude（震级） 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west,和第三段的句子： Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina moved about 1 inch to the west. And Chile"s capital, Santiago, moved about 11 inches to the west-southwest.可知Concepcion是移动最大的。选A
小题3:猜词题：从第四段的句子：an area of major seismic（地震的） stresses which encircles（环绕，包围） the Pacific Ocean.可知这个词组的意思是太平洋周围的地区。选D
小题4:细节题：从第五段的句子：Mike Bevis, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State, has led a project since 1993 that has been measuring crustal（地壳的）movement in the Central and Southern Andes. The effort is called the Central and Southern Andes GPS Project, or CAP.可知CAP是在Mike Bevis的领导下。选A。
点评：本文介绍了智利的地震移动城市，介绍了移动最厉害的城市和原因。内容比较适中，对于考生的能力要求不高，只要认真细致阅读，不难发现答案。可以先看题目再读文章，这样可以提高阅读的速度。还要准确定位考点。特别是推理题，要结合上下文的暗示做题，掌握方法是关键。 |
举一反三
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。（共5题，每小题2分，满分10分）
Active listening is an essential skill in learning. It is when you listen carefully to make sure you understand and learn the information that is being conveyed. 1 Here are some things which can help you to listen actively.
Listen for the main point and major subpoints(次要点). Don’t just write everything down. Listen carefully and make sure you understand what the purpose of this lecture is. As you take down notes, keep the main point in mind and make sure you understand how these notes are related.
Listen for an organizational structure. Listen carefully to figure out how the ideas are organized and they will make more sense.
Pay attention to organizational cues（暗示）. 2 Pay close attention to the introduction, as it will probably indicate how you should organize your notes. If the lecture begins with, “ Today, I’m going to talk about three conflicts in the Middle East,” then you have a good idea of what’ s going to follow. Listen for “signpost” words to indicate a transition for one point to the next, such as “next” and “finally” and numerical signposts like “first” or “third”.
Listen with your eyes. 3 Watch the teacher and be aware of how he or she uses hand gestures, eye contact and other body language to convey points.
___4____ Put away the campus newspaper, your cell phone and anything else that might be more interesting than the lecture. Learning to concentrate and listen actively is an endurance(持久) skill. 5 | A． Speakers communicate information through nonverbal(不使用语言的) communication. | | B． Unfortunately, many students don’t know how to listen actively when they attend classes. | | C． If your teacher indicates that something is important ,mark it. | | D． Make yourself do it, and it will get easier over time. |
E. Listen carefully for words and phrases that reflect the organizational structure of the lecture.
F. Your teachers’ notes are probably organized into some kind of outline.
G. Remove distractions. |
The US space agency NASA is looking for people to go to Mars, and stay there. This attractive career is for people who want a huge change of scenery and planet. The project is called the Hundred Years Starship, which aims to colonize (开拓殖民地) other lands such as the red planet Mars.
Settlers would travel to the red planet and live there forever. NASA says it would be too expensive to bring humans back to Earth. The space agency can afford, however, to send supplies to the astronaut pioneers from Earth. Astronauts would be landed on the planet"s surface and would never be able to return home due to the cost.
NASA has started the project with $1.6 million, and hopes to attract investment from space-living billionaires. Google co-founder Larry Page told NASA he would be interested if the cost of a one-way ticket can go down from $10 billion to $2 billion.
The journey to Mars could take 4 months. Setting on the red planet would be extremely dangerous, especially given the freezing temperatures there. The thin atmosphere would be another problem as it is mostly carbon dioxide, so oxygen supplies are a must. A director in NASA said that he believed the trip might start with visiting Mars"s moons first. He claimed that humans could be on Mars"s moons by 2030.
Many scientists think colonizing space is absolutely necessary. Steven Hawking believes we must move to other planets to survive as a species. He said: “Once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe.” Scientists Dirk" Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies also call it a “desirable goal”, though there surely are huge risks to explore new lands.
小题1:Which of the following is TRUE about the Hundred Years Starship?| A．It has cost NASA around $10 billion. | | B．It is expected to be conducted on Mars in 2030. | | C．It aims to explore new lands in the universe. | | D．It is a project first raise by Steven Hawking. |
小题2:We can infer from the passage that Google co-founder Larry Page _______.| A．used to be an astronaut | B．is no longer rich now | | C．is a fan of space travel | D．is a generous man |
小题3:What would be the best title for the passage?| A．One-way trip to Mars | | B．Mars"s another moon is found. | | C．Human landing on Mars. | | D．NASA"s first cooperation with Google. |
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Scientists in Colombia have trained a team of rats to help remove land mines from the countryside. Land mines are small bombs hidden in the ground and designed to explode(爆炸) when someone steps on them.
When trained, the rats can smell special metals in the mines and then signal(发信号) to their human team. Then why use rats for such an important job?
In the past, dogs have been used to find bombs. Rats have a good sense of smell and can respond to orders, just like dogs do. But rats are much lighter than dogs. They stand less of a chance of setting off the mines, which explode under a certain amount of weight. What’s more, the best rats are cheaper to keep than dogs. It costs about the same amount of money to take care of one dog as it does 70 rats.
The rats have already been used in Tanzania, an African country with many land mines. Luisa Fernanda Méndez and her team in Colombia are training the even lighter Wistar rats. These are the white rats with red eyes that scientists often use in laboratory experiments. “They even train their babies to perform their jobs, which saves us a lot of time, ” Méndez said.
Colombia has the second-highest rate(比率) of deaths from land mine accidents in the world. Last year, land mines killed 695 people — 56 of whom were children. A criminal group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as well as other organizations, have placed the mines. FARC are strongly against Colombia’s government. The group has placed mines all around its own bases and in many places in the countryside.
In the past, the Colombian government hired peasants and poor farmers to find mines. Many of them died trying to find the well-hidden bombs.
Colombian police official Erick Guzmán hopes the team of rats can come to the rescue(援救). “These rats will be a great help,” he said.
小题1:How do rats help to find land mines?| A．By their special sight. | B．By their light weight. | | C．By their sense of smell. | D．By their excellent hearing. |
小题2:The advantage of rats over dogs in finding bombs is that _____.| A．they are cleverer. | | B．they run faster | | C．they have a better sense of smell | | D．they don’t make mines explode as easily |
小题3:The underlined word “They” may refer to ______.| A．scientists | B．Wistar rats | | C．dogs | D．Méndez and her team |
小题4: What is the passage mainly about?| A．Specially-trained rats help clear land mines. | | B．People in Tanzania are suffering from land mines. | | C．Dogs are no longer used to find land mines. | | D．Land mines have become a great danger to Colombians. |
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A messy desk can actually lead people towards clearer thinking, say researchers from Germany．
The researchers found in a series of linked studies - using a messy desk and a messy shop front - that people actually thought more clearly when all around was chaos, as they sought to simplify the tasks at hand.
Visual and mental clutter（阻塞） forces human beings to focus and think more clearly.
Famous thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl have been notorious（声名狼藉的） for their untidy desks.
“Messy desks may not be as detrimental（有害的） as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can improve work efficiency or increase employees" creativity in problem solving,” say the authors.
“Business and government managers often promote "clean desk" policies to avoid disorganized offices and messy desks, for the purpose of boosting work efficiency and productivity,” writes lead researcher Jia Liu of the University of Groningen in a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
“This practice is based on the conventional wisdom that a disorganized and messy environment can clutter one"s mind and complicate one"s judgments.”
“However, not all evidence supports this conventional link between a messy environment and a messy mind.”
The scientists tested people"s response in various "messy" environments - including a messy shop front, a disorganized desk, and even a work environment where a language task "reminded" people of messiness.
The authors found in the series of six studies people tended towards simplicity in their thinking.
“They categorized （分类） products in a simpler manner, were willing to pay more for a T-shirt that shows a simple-looking picture, and sought less variety in their choices.” said the researchers.
小题1: The purpose of the first two paragraphs is to show that _____．| A．A messy desk cannot contribute to clearer thinking | | B．People thought more clearly about a messy desk and a shop front | | C．People will feel confused when all around are chaos | | D．People manage to simplify the tasks in messy environments |
小题2: Why does the author take Albert Einstein as an example?| A．to support the idea that clearer thinking comes from messy environment． | | B．to tell the fact that Einstein was known for his untidy desks． | | C．to stop us from learning from Albert Einstein． | | D．to call on us to develop a good habit． |
小题3:How do people look at messy environment according to the conventional wisdom?| A．Messy environment will create clearer thinking． | | B．Messy environment will simplify one" s judgment． | | C．Messy environment can promote work efficiency． | | D．Messy environment can block one" s mind． |
小题4: What does the last paragraph imply? | A．People believe messy environment creates clearer thinking． | | B．People sought more simplicity in the choices． | | C．People were not willing to choose those complicated products． | | D．Not all the people accept messy environment and complicated things |
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She took up skating at age 85, made her first movie appearance at age 114, and held a concert in the neighborhood on her 121st birthday.
When it comes to long life, Jeanne Calment is the world’s recordholder. She lived to the ripe old age of 122. So is 122 the upper limit to the human life span（寿命）? If scientists come up with some sort of pill or diet that would slow aging, could we possibly make it to 150－or beyond?
Researchers don’t entirely agree on the answers. “Calment lived to 122, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone alive today reaches 130 or 135, ”says Jerry Shay at the University of Texas.
Steve Austad at the University of Texas agrees. “People can live much longer than we think, ”he says. “Experts used to say that humans couldn’t live past 110. When Calment blew past that age, they raised the number to 120. So why can’t we go higher? ”
The trouble with guessing how old people can live to be is that it’s all just guessing. “Anyone can make up a number, ”says Rich Miller at the University of Michigan. “Usually the scientist who picks the highest number gets his name in Time magazine. ”
Won’t new anti-aging techniques keep us alive for centuries? Any cure, says Miller, for aging would probably keep most of us kicking until about 120. Researchers are working on treatments that lengthen the life span of mice by 50 percent at most. So, if the average human life span is about 80 years, says Miller, “adding another 50 percent would get you to 120. ”
So what can we conclude from this little disagreement among the researchers? That life span is flexible（有弹性的）, but there is a limit, says George Martin of the University of Washington. “We can get flies to live 50 percent longer, ”he says. “But a fly’s never going to live 150 years. ”Of course, if you became a new species （物种）, one that ages at a slower speed, that would be a different story, he adds.
Does Martin really believe that humans could evolve （进化）their way to longer life? “It’s pretty cool to think about, ”he says with a smile.
小题1: What does the story of Jeanne Calment prove to us?| A．People can live to 122. | | B．Old people are creative. | | C．Women are sporty at 85. | | D．Women live longer than men. |
小题2: According to Steve Austad at the University of Texas, ______.| A．the average human life span could be 110 | | B．scientists cannot find ways to slow aging | | C．few people can expect to live to over 150 | | D．researchers are not sure how long people can live |
小题3: Who would agree that a scientist will become famous if he makes the wildest guess at longevity?| A．Jerry Shay. | B．Steve Austad | | C．Rich Miller | D．George Martin |
小题4: What can we infer from the last three paragraphs?| A．Most of us could be good at sports even at 120. | | B．The average human life span cannot be doubled | | C．Scientists believe mice are aging at a slower speed than before. | | D．New techniques could be used to change flies into a new species |
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