四级冲关快速阅读特训二
切记时间！心静!!! Never give up!!!
（3）
Directions:In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly
For questions 1-7, mark
Y (for YES)if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO)if he statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN)if the information is not given in the passage;
For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Will We Run Out of Water?
Picture a “ghost ship”sinking into the sand, left to rot on dry land by a receding sea. Then imagine dust storms sweeping up toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers from the dry seabed and spewing them across towns and villages.
Seem like a scene from a movie about the end of the world? For people living near the Aral sea (咸海)in Central Asia, it’s all too real. Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate (provide water for )farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding (使搁浅)ships on dry land. The seawater has tripled in salt content and become polluted, killing all 24 native species of fish.
Similar large-scale efforts to redirect water in other parts of the world have also ended in ecological crisis, according to numerous environmental groups. But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. Why? People in many parts of the world are desperate for water, and more people will need more water in the next century.
“Growing populations will worsen problems with water,”says Peter H.Gleick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute for studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a research organization in California. He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one-third of the world's projected (预测的)8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.
WHERE WATER GOES
Only 2.5 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, water suitable for drinking and growing food, says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Mass. Twothirds of this freshwater is locked in glaciers (冰山)and ice caps (冰盖). In fact, only a tiny percentage of freshwater is part of the water cycle, in which water evaporates and rises into the atmosphere, then condenses and falls back to Earth as precipitation (rain or snow).
Some precipitation runs off land to lakes and oceans, and some becomes groundwater, water that seeps into the earth. Much of this renewable freshwater ends up in remote places like the Amazon river basin in Brazil, where few people live. In fact, the world's population has access to only 12,500 cubic kilometers of freshwater—about the amount of water in Lake Superior(苏必利尔湖). And people use half of this amount already. “If water demand continues to climb rapidly,”says Postel, “there will be severe shortages and damage to the aquatic (水的)environment.”
CLOSE TO HOME
Water woes(灾难)may seem remote to people living in rich countries like the United States. But Americans could face serious water shortages, too especially in areas that rely on groundwater. Groundwater accumulates in aquifers (地下蓄水层)，layers of sand and gravel that lie between soil and bedrock. (For every liter of surface water, more than 90 liters are hidden underground.)Although the United States has large aquifers, farmers, ranchers, and cities are tapping many of them for water faster than nature can replenish(补充)it. In northwest Texas, for example, overpumping has shrunk groundwater supplies by 25 percent, according to Postel.
Americans may face even more urgent problems from pollution. Drinking water in the United States is generally safe and meets high standards. Nevertheless, one in five Americans every day unknowingly drinks tap water contaminated with bacteria and chemical wastes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In Milwaukee, 400,000 people fell ill in 1993 after drinking tap water tainted with cryptosporidium (隐孢子虫)，a microbe (微生物)that causes fever, diarrhea (腹泻)and vomiting.
THE SOURCE
Where so contaminants come from? In developing countries, people dump raw (未经处理的)sewage(污水)into the same streams and rivers from which they draw water for drinking and cooking; about 250 million people a year get sick from water borne (饮水传染的)diseases.
In developed countries, manufacturers use 100,000 chemical compounds to make a wide range of products.Toxic chemicals pollute water when released untreated into rivers and lakes. (Certain compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (多氯化联二苯)，or PCBs, have been banned in the United States.)
But almost everyone contributes to water pollution. People often pour household cleaners, car antifreeze, and paint thinners (稀释剂)down the drain; all of these contain hazardous chemicals. Scientists studying water in the San Francisco Bay reported in 1996 that 70 percent of the pollutants could be traced to household waste.
Farmers have been criticized for overusing herbicides and pesticides, chemicals that kill weeds and insects but insects but that pollute water as well. Farmers also use nitrates, nitrogen rich fertilizer that helps plants grow but that can wreak havoc (大破坏)on the environment. Nitrates are swept away by surface runoff to lakes and seas. Too many nitrates “overenrich”these bodies of water, encouraging the buildup of algae, or microscopic plants that live on the surface of the water. Algae deprive the water of oxygen that fish need to survive, at times choking off life in an entire body of water.
WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
Water expert Gleick advocates conservation and local solutions to water-related problems; governments, for instance, would be better off building small-scale dams rather than huge and disruptive projects like the one that ruined the Aral Sea.
“More than 1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to basic clean drinking water,”says Gleick. “There has to be a strong push on the part of everyone—governments and ordinary people—to make sure we have a resource so fundamental to life.”
提示:在实考试卷中，8~10题在答题卡1上。
1. That the huge water projects have diverted the rivers causes the Aral Sea to shrink.
2. The construction of massive dams and irrigation projects does more good than harm.
3. The chief causes of water shortage are population growth and water pollution.
4. The problems Americans face concerning water are ground water shrinkage and tap water pollution.
5. According to the passage all water pollutants come from household waste.
6. The people living in the United States will not be faced with water shortages.
7. Water expert Gleick has come up with the best solution to water-related problems.
8. According to Peter H. Gleick, by the year 2025, as many asof the world's people will suffer from water shortages.
9. Two-thirds of the freshwater on Earth is locked in.
10. In developed countries, before toxic chemicals are released into rivers and lakes, they should be treated in order to avoid.
【答案与解析】
1. Y该句的意思是巨大的河流改道水利工程使得咸海缩小。从第二段的中间两句话可得出结论。Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate(provide water for)farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding ships on dry land.与原文意思相同。
2. N该句句意为:巨坝和灌溉工程的建设好处多于坏处。解题依据为本文第三段第二句话But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. (虽然产生更多问题，许多国家仍继续建巨坝和灌溉工程。)由此可知，坏处多于好处，所以该题与原文之义不合。
3. Y该句句意为:缺水的主要原因是人口增长和水污染。本题解题依据可定位到本文第四段第一句话Growing populations will worsen problems with water...及第十一段第一句话But almost everyone contributes to water pollution. 两者都是水资源缺乏的原因，与原文之义相符。
4. Y该句句意为:美国人面临的有关水的问题为地下水的减少和污染。本题解题依据为第七段第二句话和第八段第三句话，这两句话加在一起即为美国人所面临的水资源方面的问题，与原文之义相符。
5. N该句句意为:根据这篇文章，所有水的污染都来自于家庭废弃物。本题解题依据为第十一段最后一句话...70 percent of the pollutants could be traced to household waste (百分之七十的污染物源于家庭废弃物)，据此，本题之意与原文之义不合。
6. N该句句意为:美国人将不会面临缺水问题。该题解题依据为文章第七段第二句话But Americans could face serious water shortages, too, especially in areas that rely on groundwater, 显然本题之意与原文之义不合。
7. NG该句句意为:水利专家Gleick 提供了与水相关的最佳解决方案。根据本文第十三段第一句话所述，专家Gleick 并未提供任何最佳解决方案。
8.one-third解题依据为第四段最后一句话：He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one-third of the world’s projected 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.
9.glaciers and ice caps. 解题依据为第五段第二句话：Twothirds of this freshwater is locked in glaciers and ice caps.
10.water pollution. 解题依据为第十段第二句话：Toxic chemicals pollute water when released untreated into rivers and lakes.
(4)
1.Spiders
Spiders can be distinguished from other Arachnids because the prosoma (combined head and thorax) is only separated from the opisthosoma (abdomen) by a narrow waist, in other Arachnids the whole body appears to be much more of a single unit. All spiders produce silk, but only some construct webs to catch their homes and to protect their eggs.
All spiders possess poison glands but very few of them are dangerous to humans, of the 600 species in Britain only 12 (at least one of these is a recent human assisted colonist) are strong enough to pierce the human skin, and apart from allergies, none are more dangerous than a common wasp. Most spiders have 8 eyes (though some have 6,4,2 or 0), as well as 8 legs. (By the way if you count the claws as separate leg section(which you shouldn’t really)then their legs have 8 parts as well(coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia, tarsus, metatarus, claws). There are more than 32,000 known species of spider in the world. No human being has ever been officially recorder as having died as the result of atarantula’bite.
All spiders are carnivorous and feed only on liquids, i.e. their preys natural juices and the breakdown products of external digestion (meaning they spit, exude or inject digestive juices onto/into their prey and suck up the resulting soup). So why not invite some to your next social do?
What’s In a Name
The word Arachnida comes from the Greek word Arachne, who was the daughter of Idmon of Colophon in Lydia, a dyer by trade. Arachne herself was a weaver, the best in all the known world. However in a foolish moment she challenged Athene, the daughter of Zeus and goddess of, among other things, waving to a weaving competition. Arachne wove so perfect a cloth that she tore it to shreds. Arachne became depressed after this and in the end she hung herself. Athene stirred to remorse at the knowledge of what her anger had wrought turned the rope Arachne had used to hang herself into a web and Arachne herself into a spider so that the beauty of her spinning should not be lost to the world ever again.
The Great Household Spider Safari
There are just over six hundred different sorts of spiders in the British Isles. But of these only a handful are commonly found in houses. At the front of the head are a pair of what appear to be small legs. These are called palps and are used to guide food to the spider’s mouth. The front of the head also has a group of six or eight eyes. On the underside of the body at the rear, are four or six small conical bumps or cylinders. There are the spinnerets from which the spider produces the silk to make its webs.
Telling male and female spiders apart is easily done by looking at their palps. Males have swollen ends to their palps which makes them look as if they are wearing boxing gloves, these are often strange shapes if looked at with a hand lens. Females have normal looking palps that are not swollen at the ends.
The largest spider is the Goliath spider, the female of which grows to reach a leg span of ten inches. The largest spider in Britain is the Cardinal spider which is a close cousin of Tim Tegenaria. Females can achieve a leg span of four and a half inches. It is known as the Cardinal spider as it was common in Hampton Court when Cardinal Wolsey lived there. The sight of these long legged spiders wandering around the palace at night used to frighten him. So far 32，000 different kinds of spider have been discovered from all over the world. Britain has 630 different kinds of spider of which 250 are tiny Money spiders. The smallest of which has a body less than one millimeter long.
1.All the silk produced by spiders construct webs to catch their food.
2.Not all the poison glands possessed by spiders are dangerous to human beings.
3.Spiders often kill humans in Britain when they pierce human skin.
4.After seeing her enemy commits suicide, Arachne turned Athene into a spider.
5.Tim Tegenaria spiders are closely related to tarantula spiders; both are found in Britain.
6.So far 32,000 different kinds of spiders have been discovered from all over the world.
7.Money spiders are the smallest spiders found in the Arachnids family.
8.There are more thanknown species of spider in the world.
9.Telling male and female spiders apart is easily done by.
10.The largest spider is.
【答案与解析】
1.N当出现all这种过于绝对的词语时，考生应该引起注意。一般这样的命题多数是不正确的。首段中有句话：“All spiders produce silk, but only some construct webs to catch their hcmes...”命题中all的说法过于绝对。
2.Y该命题是对原文第二段首句话的同义改写。
3.N原文中第二段首句中写到，“of the 600 spiders in Britain only 12 are strong enough to pierce the human skin”，因此并不是命题中说的当它们刺进人的皮肤通常能致人死亡。
4.N原文中说，“Arachne became depressed after this and in the end she hung herself.”注意代词this指代上面的句子，结合上一句一起理解，命题显然是错误的。
5. NG文章中只出现过一次Tim Tegenaria，所以该题很好定位，即最后一段的第二句。可是文章中并没有出现tarantula spiders。
6.Y该命题定位在最后一段倒数第三句话处。
7.NG首先定位Money spiders出现的位置是文章的最后的两句，可是并没有提到它是最小的。
8.32,000该题由关键词species of spider定位在第二段倒数第二句。
9.looking at their palps 该题定位在倒数第二段的首句。
10.the Goliath spider 本题答案在最后一段的首句。
今日做题总结与感想：
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