Question

    "Have you ever been out on a boat and felt it lifted up by a wave? Or have you jumped in the water and felt the rush of energy as waves came over you.'?" asked Jamie Taylor of the Wave Energy Group at the University of Edinburgh. "There is certainly a lot of energy in waves," he said.

    Scientists are working to use that energy to make electricity.  Most waves are created when winds blow across the ocean. "The wind starts out by making little ripples (涟漪), but if they keep on blowing, those ripples get bigger and bigger and turn into waves," Taylor said. "Waves are one of nature's ways of picking up energy and then sending it off on a journey."

    When waves come toward the shore, people can set up dams to block the water and send it through a large wheel called a turbine (涡轮机). The turbine can then power an electrical generator to produce electricity.

    "The resource is huge," said Janet Swain of the Worldwatch Institute. "We will never run out of wave power." Besides, wave energy does not create the same pollution as other energy sources, such as oil or coal. Oceans cover three-quarters of the Earth's surface - that would make wave power seem ideal for creating energy throughout the world, though there are some weak points yet to overcome.

    Swain said that wave power still costs too much money. She also said that its effects on sea animals are still unknown. What is more, wave power could affect fishing and boat traffic.

    Traditional sources of energy like oil and gas may someday run out. "Demand for energy to power our TVs and computers, drive our cars, and heat and cool our homes is rising rapidly throughout the world," Swain said. In the future when you turn on a light, an ocean wave could be providing the electricity!

1.The writer uses the two questions at the beginning of the passage to _______.

A. test the readers' knowledge about waves

B. draw the readers' attention to the topic

C. show Jamie Taylor's importance

D. invite the readers to answer them

2.The underlined phrase "picking up" (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to _______.

A. starting again

B. speeding up

C. gathering

D. improving

3.We can make better use of wave energy if we _______.

A. shorten its journey to thousands of homes

B. build more small power stations on the oceans

C. reduce the cost of turning it into electric power

D. quicken the steps of producing electricity

4.It can be inferred that some day we might not worry about ________.

A. air pollution

B. our boat traffic

C. our power supply

D. our supply of sea fish

Answer

1.B

【详解】这是一套有关写作方法题目，以疑问形式引起读者注意,是一种常见的写作技巧.

2.C

【详解】词义猜测题。pick up在中学里面有很多意义，在这里是“收集”能量意思，这种意思，后面也有提示，sending it off，是递进关系，很容易推断出其意义，另外，我们在高二Charlie Chaplin那一单元已经学过, 不算什么难题。

3.C

【详解】事实判断题。由文章中第五段，Swain said that wave power still costs too much money，可得到答案，其它三个选项文中没有提及.

4.C

【详解】推断题。由第四段第一句话，"The resource is huge," said Janet Swain of the Worldwatch Institute. "We will never run out of wave power. "可以得到答案，never run out of是不会枯竭的能源，是可再生能源。

【备考建议】这是一篇科普文章，是有关能源问题的文章，比较新颖，是常识性问题，所以难度并不大，作为高中生，地理学科等综合学科里面都有涉及，但是也给我们提个醒，我们平时做阅读题时，文章题材方面涉猎面要广，不要只做记叙类的文章。