Many people like the feeling of the gentle wind in spring. Many like to see the falling leaves dancing in the wind in autumn. But sometimes, when the wind becomes a storm, it can be very destructive(具有破坏性的).
A series of such storms struck the US last month and caused very serious damage and human pain.
Every year, major storms cause many problems around the world. There is nothing people can do to stop these powerful forces of nature. But new techniques are helping scientists to predict(预测) how, when, and where big storms will happen. The more exact scientists’ warnings are, the better people can prepare for the storms.
Predictions are improving. “We’re gotten better over the years, especially the last few years,” says Phil Klotzbach, a scientist at an American university. How is a storm formed? Even if scientists know where a storm will happen, winds can suddenly change, carrying the storm to a new direction. “For a hurricane to happen, conditions have to be just right, ” Klotzbach says.
First, the ocean water needs to be warm enough so that it evaporates and rises into the air. As it rises, the vapor（水蒸气）cools and turns back into liquid. This process gives off heat. This produces energy like an engine that causes winds to increase. It drives the formation(形成) of a hurricane.
If wind speeds reach 40 miles per hour, the system is called a “tropical storm”(热带风暴), and it gets a name. At 75 miles per hour, it becomes a hurricane.
H
urricanes that hit the US start when a thunderstorm forms off the coast of Africa. Storms also develop over tropical waters in other parts of the world.
On average, 60 or 70 storms form off Africa every year. About 10 of them get names. There are usually abo
ut six hurricanes. Two tend to be very big, with winds of 115 miles per hour or higher.
The hurricane season lasts from June to November. Ninety percent of all hurricanes hit in August, September, and October.
49. According to the passage, hurricanes usually ____.
| A．form off the coast of Africa and America |
| B．travel at 40 miles per hour and get its name |
| C．cause sea winds to rise and blow over the sea |
| D．hit parts of the world in summer and autumn |
50. The underlined word “evaporates” probably means “____”.
| A．begins to move | B．gets lost | C．becomes hot | D．changes into gas |
51. Which of the following about the information of a hurricane is the correct order?
a. The ocean water evaporates and goes into the air.
b. Heat creates energy and causes winds to increase.
c. The vapor cools.
d. The ocean water is warm enough.
e. The vapor changes back into liquid.
f. This course gives out heat.
| A．a, d, e, b, c, f | B．a, b, c, f, d, e | C．d, a, c, e, f, b | D．d, a, b, c, e, f |
52.According to the passage, the speed of the biggest two hurricanes reaches ____.
| A．115 miles per hour | B．110 miles per hour |
| C．75 miles per hour | D．95 miles per hour |
We would like to wish all our readers a wonderful winter break. Our January magazine is now in the shops and available digitally. We’re looking forward to sharing more adventures and discoveries with you in 2014, including:
At a crossroads in the Atlantic
As the population of Ascension Island rises up to mark the 200th anniversary of British rule, Fred Pearce wonders what the future might have in store for this strange part of land.
Photostory: On the road again
A selection of images from an exhibition opening this month at the Royal Geographical Society go hand in hand with M Aurel Stein’s early 20th century photographs of the Silk Road.
Dossier: Going underground
Mark Rowe discusses the role that carbon storage can play in the global effort to reduce carbon dioxide emission (排放).
Net loss
Kit Gillet reports from the Gulf of Thailand, whose fisheries (渔场) have been almost destroyed by the commercialization of the Thai fishing industry.
And don’t forget…
…a round-up of the latest geographical and climate science news; a hot spot focus on Turkey; advice on taking photographs in Antarctica; an interview with Lucien Castaing-Taylor, professor of visual arts at Harvard; plus lots, lots more…
Buy your copy now, click here and save up to 35% or call +44 (0)1635 588 496. Geographical is also available in WHSmith and many independent news agents.
Who took photos of the Silk Road?
| A．M Aurel Stein. | B．Fred Pearce. |
| C．Mark Rowe. | D．Lucien Castaing-Taylor. |
If you want to read something about global warming, you can read .
| A．At a crossroads in the Atlantic |
| B．Photostory: On the road again |
| C．Dossier: Going underground |
| D．Net loss |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Ascension Island has a bright future with more population. |
| B．Commercialization contributes to the loss of fishery in Thai. |
| C．The January edition of 2014 is to come out in the winter break. |
| D．The topics of this magazine focus on geography and interviews. |
The passage is written to .
| A．share adventures and discoveries |
| B．give advice on taking photos |
| C．attract readers to buy the magazine |
| D．introduce the content of the magazine |
Owning a smartphone may not be as smart as you think. It may let you surf the Internet, listen to music and snap photos wherever you are…but it also turns you into a workaholic, it seems.
A study suggests that, by giving you access to emails at all times, the all-singing, all-dancing mobilephone adds as much as two hours to your working day. Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles.
The study by technology retailer Pixmania reveals the average UK working day is between 9 and 10 hours, but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails, or making work calls. More than 90 percent of office workers have email-enabled phones, with a third accessing them more than 20 times a day. Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails. Some workers confess they are on call almost 24 hours a day, with nine out of ten saying they make work emails and calls outside their normal working hours. The average time for first checking emails is between 6 am and 7 am, with more than a third checking their first emails in this period, and a quarter checking them between 11 pm and midnight.
Ghadi Hobeika, marketing director of Pixmania, said, “The ability to access literally millions of apps, keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has made smartphones invaluable for many people. However, there are drawbacks. Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and smartphones mean that people literally cannot get away from work. The more constantly in contact we become , the more is expected of us in a work capacity(容量).” What can we conclude from the text?
| A．All that glitters is not gold |
| B．It never rains but pours |
| C．Every coins has two sides |
| D．It’s no good crying over spilt milk |
The underlined word “accessing” in the third paragraph can be replaced by “________”.
A calling B. reaching
C. getting D. using Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．The average UK working time is between nine and twelve hours |
| B．Nine- tenths spent over three hours checking work emails |
| C．One-fourth check their first mail between 11 pm and midnight. |
| D．The average time for first checking emails is between 6 am and 8 am. |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．workaholics like smartphones. |
| B．Smartphones bring about extra work. |
| C．smartphones make our life easier. |
| D．Employers don’t like smartphones. |
If you were walking around a supermarket and saw a woman with a shaved head, a ring through her nose, a tattoo（纹身）design on her arm and she has a small child in her shopping trolley, what would your opinion be? Do you think this kind of body decoration is attractive or ugly? Different people have different ideas. The following are some examples of body decoration from around the world.
In many parts of Africa, it is thought that an attractive girl should have really shinny skin.
On Bali, a little island in Indonesia, they believe that a beautiful woman or handsome man must have perfectly straight, flat teeth. The Balinese believe that teeth with pointed edges make you look like an ugly wild animal. So when a girl or boy becomes a teenager, he or she is taken to a special person in their village who will file off teeth points to make them smooth and flat. There is no anesthetic（麻药）and this tooth filing is really painful. It is a kind of test. If you can stand it without screaming or crying too much, then you are thought ready to become an adult.
In Myanmar, there is a small group of people who are called the “Papaung”. They believe that a woman can only be really beautiful if she has a long neck. I mean a VERY long neck. Now you might think that you are either born with a long or short neck and that there’s nothing whatever you can do about it. But you would be wrong! At around the age of 5, a Papaung girl has heavy metal rings fitted around her neck, tightly between the chin and shoulders. Each year more rings are added and very, very slowly their weight pushes the shoulders down, in this way making the neck look longer. A Papaung woman will wear her neck rings all her life, never once taking them off.
So now I’m sure you will all agree that different people have different ideas about what is beautiful. What is mainly talked about in paragraph one?
| A．Women’s design. | B．Beautiful body decoration. |
| C．Body decoration. | D．Attractive decoration. |
What does the underlined word “trolley” mean?
| A．schoolbag | B．luggage |
| C．basket | D．shopping cart |
On Bali, it is believed that _________.
| A．a person with straight, flat teeth looks ugly |
| B．a person with sharp teeth looks ugly |
| C．a teenager’s teeth points must be filed off with anesthetic |
| D．no one will scream or cry when having his teeth points filed off |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many people think that a woman with a ring through nose is neither attractive nor ugly. |
| B．Most African people think that a girl with shinny skin is beautiful. |
| C．It is thought that a beautiful woman should have straight, flat teeth on Bali. |
| D．Some people think it beautiful that a woman has a long neck in Myanmar. |
Running like the wind, roaring (咆哮) like thunder, tigers have long been feared and respected as a king of the animal world. But last week a report said that there are no more than 30 wild tigers left in south China.
This was the conclusion of a team of scientists from China's State Forestry Administration and the World Nature Fund.
The South China tiger, also known as the Chinese tiger, is native to southern China. In the 1950's, there were over 4000 tigers found in mountain forests in the country. But due to the destruction of their natural habitat and uncontrolled hunting, it has been pushed on to the list of the world's top ten most endangered species.
Sixtysix of the big cats can be found in the cages of a dozen zoos around China. But they are nothing like their wild cousins. They have lost their natural skills such as hunting and killing. If they were set free they could not look after themselves.
“Breeding has damaged the quality of the species”, said Pei Enle, deputy director of the Shanghai Zoo.
To reintroduce the species into the wild, the country started a programme to send five to ten young tigers to South Africa. Four of them have already arrived. Progress has been made as two elder tigers have recovered some of their instincts(本能) and can hunt wild animals by themselves at the African base.
“South Africans are very experienced in reintroducing big animals to the wild. The country has very good natural conditions for the tigers to learn in”, said Lu Jun, office director of the National Wildlife Research and Development Center. “We tried in Fujian Province, but it was not successful as there was not a complete ecochain(生物链) and there was a lack of space.”
The tigers should return to China in 2007 when the reservations in Fujian are ready.What is the main reason for the South China tiger becoming one of the world's top ten most endangered species?
| A．Because it has lost its natural instincts. |
| B．Because there is not a complete ecochain. |
| C．Because there is no space for it. |
| D．Because uncontrolled hunting has destroyed its natural living conditions. |
How is the programme of sending several tigers to South Africa getting on?
| A．Its effect still remains to be seen. |
| B．Two tigers can already compete with their wild cousins. |
| C．Some of the tigers are already on the road to recovering their natural skills. |
| D．The tigers should be able to recover their instincts completely by 2007. |
By saying “but they are nothing like their wild cousins”, the writer means that________.
| A．they are no longer feared by other wild animals |
| B．they don't know how to hunt or kill |
| C．a complete change has resulted in the species because of breeding |
| D．to reintroduce them into the wild has become an urgent task |
What is the purpose of sending young tigers to South Africa?
| A．To help the tigers recover their ability to live in the wild. |
| B．To provide them with a better environment. |
| C．To get the tigers to go on a tour. |
| D．To find a complete ecochain for them. |
My name is Clara.I still remember that chilly December day,sitting in science class.I’d finished a worksheet early and picked up a TIME for Kids magazine. A piece of news caught my eye:NASA was holding an essay contest to name its Mars rover(火星探测器).Before I even knew anything else about it,a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind,Curiosity.
I couldn’t want for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay.That afternoon,I raced home,sat down at the computer,and typed until my fingers ached. “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind...”
Five months later, my mon received a phone call,and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face.
On August 5,2012,at 10:31 p.m,the rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars,and I was honored to have a front-row seat in NASA.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am.I have always been fascinated by the stars,the planets,the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl,my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours.She’d tell me stories and point out the stars,Grandma lived in China,thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas,but the stars kept us together even when we were apart.They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them.That’s what I love so much about space.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mares.My answer is simple because we’re curious.We human beings do not just hole up in one place.We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.How did Clara get the new about the essay contest?( no more than 10 words)
Why did Clara have a front-row seat in NASA?( no more than 10 words)
What does Clara remember about the time spent with Grandma?( no more than 15 words)
What does the underlined phrase “hole up”mean?(1 word)
In your opinion,why is curiosity important?( no more than 20 words)