英語專業(yè)四級閱讀練習(xí)2.doc

TEM-4 Exercise 10 Reading Directions: There are 11 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Passage 1Questions 1 to 3 are based on the following passage:Canals are watercourses constructed to improve and extend natural waterways. They are generally built to facilitate transportation, but from the beginning they have been used for many additional purposes including draining swamps, irrigating land for cultivation, and promoting economic development.Canals are often classified by the size of vessel they can accommodate. Some small local canals, which are able to float only 100 to 300 ton boats or small rafts of timber, may be only 3 feet deep. Major barge canals generally range from 6 to 9 feet in depth, and some are as much as 10 or 12 feet deep. These canals can carry 1,350 to 2,000 ton craft. Ship canals are 25 feet or more deep and are capable of accommodating large vessels in the seagoing class. Canals may also be classified as either water level or lock canals. Water level canals do not vary in height along their courses. The best known of these is the Suez Canal, which is at sea level. Lock canals, which include most modern waterways, contain locks, or special devices for raising and lowering boats along their courses by changing the depth of the water. Each lock is a stretch of water enclosed by gates at each end. After a boat enters the lock, water is let or drained out until it reaches approximately the same level as the water ahead. 1. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. How canals are constructed.B. Common types of canal boats and barges.C. The worlds largest canals.D. How canals are used and classified.2. What is the purpose of a canal lock?A. To keep out boats that are too large for the canal.B. To measure the tonnage of canal boats.C. To load and unload the cargo.D. To change the depth of the water.3. The Suez Canal is mentioned as an example of a _.A. modern canalB. water level canalC. lock canalD. irrigation canalPassage 2Questions 4 to 7 are based on the following passage: Glacier National Park in Montana shares boundaries with Canada, an American Indian reservation, and a national forest. Along the North Fork of the Flathead River, the park also borders about 17,000 acres of private lands that are currently used for ranching, timber, and agriculture. This land is an important part of the habitat and migratory routes for several endangered species that frequent the park. These private lands are essentially the only ones available for development in the region.With encouragement from the park, local landowners initiated a land use planning effort to guide the future of the North Fork. The park is a partner in an inter-local agreement that calls for resource managing agencies to work together and with the more than 400 private owners in the area. A draft plan has been prepared, with objective of maintaining traditional economic uses but limiting new development that would damage park resources. Voluntary action by landowners, in cooperation with the park and the county, is helping to restrict small lot subdivisions, maintain wildlife corridors, and minimize any harmful impact on the environment.The willingness of local landowners to participate in this protection effort may have been stimulated by concerns that congress would impose a legislative solution. Nevertheless, many local residents want to retain the existing character of the area. Meetings between park officials and landowners have led to a dramatically improved understanding of all concerns.4. The passage mainly discusses _.A. the endangered species in Glacier National ParkB. the protection of lands surrounding Glacier National ParkC. conservation laws imposed by the state of MontanaD. conservation laws imposed by Congress5. Why are the private lands surrounding Glacier National Park so important?A. They function as a hunting preserve.B. They are restricted to government use.C. They are heavily populated.D. They contain natural habitats of threatened species.6. The relationship between park officials and neighboring landowners ma y best be described as _.A. indifferentB. intimateC. cooperativeD. disappointing7. It can be inferred from the passage that a major interest of the officials of Glacier National Park is to _.A. limit land development around the parkB. establish a new park in MontanaC. influence national legislationD. settle border disputes with CanadaPassage 3Questions 8 to 11 are based on the following passage: Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earths surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small.The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it completely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done comparatively little damage. If a building is well constructed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake. Most deaths in earthquakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites. A third and very serious factor is panic. When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result.The United Nations has played an important part in reducing the damage done by earthquakes. It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected by earthquakes. Working with local geologists and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground and the type of most practical building code for the local area. If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous earthquakes almost a thing of the past.There is one type of earthquake disaster that little can be done about. This is the disaster caused by seismic sea waves, or tsunamis. (These are often called tidal waves, but the name is incorrect. They have nothing to do with tides.) In certain areas, earthquakes take place beneath the sea. These submarine earthquakes sometimes give rise to seismic sea waves. The waves are not noticeable out at sea because of their long wave length. But when they roll into harbors, they pile up into walls of water 6 to 60 feet high. The Japanese call them tsunamis, meaning harbor waves, because they reach a sizable height only in harbors. Tsunamis travel fairly slowly, at speeds up to 500 miles an hour. An adequate warning system is in use to warn all shores likely to be reached by the waves. But this only enables people to leave the threatened shores for higher ground. There is no way to stop the oncoming wave.8. Which of the following CAN NOT be concluded from the passage?A. The number of earthquakes is closely related to depth.B. Roughly the same number of earthquakes occur each year.C. Earthquakes are impossible at depths over 460 miles.D. Earthquakes are most likely to occur near the surfaces.9. The destruction of Agadir is an example of _.A. faulty building constructionB. an earthquakes strengthC. widespread panic in earthquakesD. ineffective instruments10. The United Nations experts are supposed to _.A. construct strong buildingsB. put forward proposalsC. detect disastrous earthquakesD. monitor earthquakes11. The significance of the slow speed of tsunamis is that people may _.A. notice them out at seaB. find ways to stop themC. be warned early enoughD. develop warning systemsPassage 4 Questions 12 to 15 are based on the following passage: Before the mid-1860s, the impact of the railroads in the United States was limited, in the sense that the tracks ended at this Missouri River, approximately the center of the country. At the point the trains turned their freight, mail, and passengers over to steamboats, wagons, and stagecoaches. This meant that wagon freighting, stage-coaching, and steam-boating did not come to an end when the first train appeared; rather they became supplements or feeders. Each new end-of-track became a center for animal drawn or waterborne transportation. The major effect of the railroad was to shorten the distance that had to be covered by the older, slower, and more costly means. Wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870s and 1880s and into the 1890s. Although over constantly shrinking routes, and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the West wherever the rails had not yet been laid. The beginning of a major change was foreshadowed in the later 1860s, when the Union Pacific Railroad at last began to build westward from the Central Plains city of Omaha to meet the Central Pacific Railroad advancing eastward from California through the formidable barrier of the Sierra Nevada. Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the original Pacific Railroad bill in 1862 and a revised, financially much more generous version in 1864, little construction was completed until 1865 on the Central Pacific and 1866 on the Union Pacific. The primary reason was skepticism that a Railroad built through so challenging and thinly settled a stretch of desert, mountain, and semiarid plain could pay a profit. In the words of an economist, this was a case of premature enterprise, where not only the cost of construction but also the very high risk deterred private investment. In discussing the Pacific Railroad bill, the chair of the congressional committee bluntly stated that without government subsidy no one would undertake so unpromising a venture; yet it was a national necessity to link East and West together. 12. The author refers to the impact of railroads before the late 1860s as limited because _. A. the track did not take the direct route from one city to the nextB. passengers and freight had to transfer to other modes of transportation to reach western destinationsC. passengers preferred stagecoachesD. railroad travel was quite expensive13. What can be inferred about coaches and wagon freighters as the railroad expanded?A. They developed competing routes.B. Their drivers refused to work for the railroads.C. They began to specialize in private investment.D. There were insufficient numbers of trained people to operate them.14. Why does the author mention the Sierra Nevada in line 17? A. To argue that a more direct route to the West could have been taken.B. To identify a historically significant mountain range in the West.C. To point out the location of a serious train accident.D. To give an example of an obstacle faced by the central pacific.15. The word subsidy in line 27 is closest in meaning to _.A. persuasion B. financing C. explanation D. penaltyPassage 5Questions 16 to 19 are based on the following passage: Certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets?For some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to suck up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present.Sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish brown to sand color and nearly white. One form even has vivid purple tentacles. Usually the creatures are cucumber shaped - bhence their name - and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combined with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents. Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence. But the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attacked or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted. 16. According to the passage, why is the shape of sea cucumbers important? A. It helps them to digest their food. B. It helps them to protect themselves from danger. C. It makes it easier for them to move through the mud. D. It makes them attractive to fish.17. The fourth paragraph of the passage primarily discusses _.A. the reproduction of sea cucumbers B. the food sources of sea cucumbers C. the eating habits of sea cucumbers D. threats to sea cucumbers existence18. What can be inferred about the defense mechanisms of the sea cucumber? A. They are very sensitive to surrounding stimuli. B. They are almost useless. C. They require group cooperation. D. They are similar to those of most sea creatures.19. Which of the following would NOT cause a sea cucumber to release its internal organs into the water? A. A touch. B. Food. C. Unusually warm water. D. Pollution.Passage 6Questions 20 to 21 are based on the following passage: Human beings have used tools for a very long time. In some parts of the world you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. They made these tools by hitting one stone against another. In this way, they broke off pieces from one of the stones. These chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. People used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. Human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat eating animals, such as lions and tigers. Tools helped people to get food more easily.Working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. The human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and machines. The stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. Some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind. Since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. This is the silicon chip - a little chip of silicon crystal. It is smaller than a finger nail, but it can store more than a million bits of information. It is an electronic brain.Every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. They are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways. In the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. Machines will do everything for us. They will even talk and play games with us. People will have plenty of spare time. But what will they do with it? Human beings used stone chips for more than two million years, but human life changed very little in that time. We have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. What will life be like twenty years from now? What will the world be like two million years from now? 20. The stone chip is thought to be the most important tool because it _.A. was one of the first tools B. developed human capabilities C. led to the invention of machines D. was crucial to the development of mankind21. At the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is _. A. disastrous B. unpredictable C. exciting D. colorfulPassage 7Questions 22 to 26 are based on the following passage: California is a land of variety and contrast. Almost every type of physical land feature, sort of arctic ice fields and tropical jungles can be found within its borders. Sharply contrasting types of land often lie very close to one another. People living in Bakersfield, for instance, can visit the Pacific Ocean and the coastal plain, the fertile San Joaquin Valley, the arid Mojave Desert, and the high Sierra Nevada, all within a radius of about 100 miles. In other areas it is possible to go snow skiing in the morning and surfing in the evening of the same day, without having to travel long distance. Contrast abounds in California. The highest point in the United States (outside Alaska ) is in California, and so is the lowest point (including Alaska). Mount Whitney, 14,494 feet above sea level, is separated from Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level, by a distance of only 100 miles. The two areas have a difference in altitude of almost thre