The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about. But one more has just been added - a communications blackout caused by solar storms.
After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a flesh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.
Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending five Olympic broadcast from London.
"The Sun's activity has a strong influence on the Earth. The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites," said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections (日冕物质抛射) occur in the Sun's atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically-charged matter. " A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometres per hour. Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications," Professor Harrison added. The risk is greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots.
Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available.
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high-tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares (太阳耀斑) and explosions as they occur.
Professor Richard Hold away, the lab's director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth "If we have advance warning, we'll be able to reduce the damage. What you don't want is things switching off for a week with no idea of what's caused the problem," he said.
1.The phrase "communications blackout" in paragraph 1 most probably refers to during the 2012 Olympics.
A. the extinguishing of the Olympic torch
B. the collapse of broadcasting systems
C. the transportation breakdown in London
D. the destruction of weather satellites
2.What can be inferred about the solar activity described in the passage?
A. The most fatal matter from the corona falls onto Earth.
B. The solar storm peak occurs in the middle of each cycle.
C. It takes several seconds for the charged matter to reach Earth.
D. The number of sunspots declines after coronal mass ejections.
3.According to the passage, NASA will launch a satellite to _________.
A. take images of the solar system B. provide early warning of thunderstorms
C. keep track of solar activities D. improve the communications on Earth
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A. Solar Storms: An Invisible Killer
B. Solar Storms: Earth Environment in Danger
C. Solar Storms: Threatening the Human Race
D. Solar Storms: Human Activities to Be Troubled
The following card includes a brief summary and a short assessment of a research
paper. It can provide a guide for further reading on the topic.
1.The research paper published is primarily concerned with
A. the way of preventing employee turnover
B. methods of improving employee performance
C. factors affecting employee turnover and performance
D. pay structures based on employee performance
2.As is mentioned in the card, the limitation of the research paper mainly lies in that .
A. the data analysis is hardly reliable
B. the research sample is not wide enough
C. the findings are of no practical value
D. the research method is out-of-date
3.Who might be most interested in this piece of information?
A. Job hunters.
B. Employees in blue-chip companies.
C. Mid-level managers.
D. Researchers on employee turnover.
The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety.
That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.
Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.
Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old fife. "Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.
But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun. "My work," she says, "is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to
guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.
The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant. "Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed!
1.For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to .
A. get long lasting excitement B. keep both man and elephants safe
C. send them back to the jungle D. make the angry elephants tame
2.Before Parbati studied in a boarding school, .
A. she spent her time hunting with her father
B. she learned how to sing love songs
C. she had already been called an elephant princess
D. she was taught how to hunt tigers
3.Indian elephants are getting increasingly angry and they revenge because __________.
A. they are caught and sent for heavy work
B. illegal hunters capture them and kill them
C. they are attacked and their land gets limited
D. dogs often bark at them and chase them
4.The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India _________.
A. people easily fall victim to elephants' attacks
B. the man-elephant relationship is getting worse
C. elephant tamers are in short supply
D. dogs are as powerful as elephants
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
The first attempt of even the most talented artists, musicians, and writers is seldom a masterpiece, If you consider your drafts as dress rehearsals (彩排), or tryouts, revising will seem a natural part of the writing ___1___.
What is the purpose of the dress rehearsals and the out-of-town previews that many Broadway shows go through? The answer is adding, deleting, replacing, reordering, ___2___ revising. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Phantom of the Opera underwent such a process.
When Lloyd Webber began writing in 1984, he had in mind a funny, exciting production. However, when Phantom opened in London in 1986, the audience saw a moving psychological love story set to music. The musical had. ___3___ several revisions due, in part, to problems with costuming and makeup (戏服和化妆). For instance, Lloyd Webber ___4___ some of the music because the Phantom's makeup prevented the actor from singing certain sounds.
When you revise, you change aspects of your work in ___5___ to your evolving purpose, or to include ___6___ ideas or newly discovered information.
Revision is not just an afterthought that gets only as much time as you have at the end of an assignment. ___7___, it is a major stage of the writing process, and writers revise every step of the way. Even your decision to ___8___. topics while prewriting is a type of revising. However. don't make the mistake of skipping the revision stage that follows ___9___. Always make time to become your own ___10___and view your dress rehearsal, so to speak. Reviewing your work in this way can give you ___11___ new ideas.
Revising involves ___12___ the effectiveness and appropriateness of all aspects of your writing, making your purpose more clearly, and refocusing or developing the facts and ideas you present. When you revise, ask yourself the following questions, keeping in mind the audience for whom you are writing: Is my main idea or purpose ___13___ throughout my draft? Do I ever lose sight of my purpose? Have I given my readers all of the ___14___ that is, facts, opinions, inferences --- that they need in order to understand my main idea? Finally, have I included too many ___15___ details that may confuse readers?
1.A. technique B. style C. process D. career
2.A. in particular B. as a result C. for example D. in other words
3.A. undergone B. skipped C. rejected D. replaced
4.A. rewrote B. released C. recorded D. reserved
5.A. addition B. response C. opposition D. contrast
6.A. fixed B. ambitious C. familiar D. fresh
7.A. However B. Moreover C. Instead D. Therefore
8.A. discuss B. switch C. exhaust D. cover
9.A. drafting B. rearranging C. performing D. training
10.A. director B. master C. audience D. visitor
11.A. personal B. valuable C. basic D. delicate
12.A. mixing B. weakening C. maintaining D. assessing
13.A. amazing B. bright C. unique D. clear
14.A. angles B. evidence C. information D. hints
15.A. unnecessary B. uninteresting C. concrete D. final
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
|
A. additional B. producing C. regular D. predicted E. identified E atmosphere G. matched H. reducing I. carried J. increase |
Forests in the northern half of the globe could be growing faster now than they were 200 years ago as a result of climate change, according to a study of trees in eastern America. The trees appear to have faster growth rates due to longer growing seasons and higher concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide in the ___1.___.
Geoffrey Parker, a scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre in Edgewater. Maryland, said that the increase ha the rate of growth was unexpected and might be ___2.___ to the higher temperatures and longer growing seasons documented in the region. The growth may also be influenced by the significant ___3.___ in atmospheric CO2, he said.
"We made a list of reasons these forests could be growing faster and then excluded half of them," Dr. Parker said. Their study suggests that northern forests may become increasingly important in ___4.___ the influence of man-made CO2 on the climate.
Dr. Parker and his colleagues have ___5.___ out a detailed record of the trees on a(n) ___6.___ basis since 1987. They calculated that due to the global warming the forest is producing ___7.___ tons of wood each year.
The scientists ___8.___ the land with trees at different stages of growth and found that both young and old trees were showing increased growth rate. More than 90 per cent of the tree groups had grown by between two and four times faster than the scientists had ___9.___ from estimates of the long-term rates of growth.
Thai is the only way we can imagine the overuse of water in students' bathrooms.
A. reducing B. to reduce C. reduced D. reduce
