Question

    Smooth balls of ice rolled ashore on a beach in Finland and piled up like a huge bunch of turtles' eggs. But where did these “ice eggs” come from?

Amateur photographer Risto Mattila stumbled upon the strange sight while walking with his wife on Hailuoto Island. The temperature remained around minus 1degree Celsius that day, he said, and the wind blew quickly across the beach. “There we found this amazing phenomenon. There was snow and ice eggs along the beach near the water line”.

The “ice eggs” littered an area the length of about one-quarter of a football field and ranged in size from that of an average chicken egg to that of a powerful soccer ball. Mattila took a photo, noting that he had “never seen anything like this during 25 years around here.” Others came upon the ice eggs, too. “I've never seen this before. The whole beach was almost full of these ice balls,” said Tarja Terentjeff, who lives in the nearby town of Oulu. Another local, Sirpa Tero, told CNN she’d seen snowballs line the shoreline before, but not over such a large area.

“Although it happens once in a blue moon, these ice eggs form similarly to sea glass or rounded stones that wash up on the beach.” said BBC Weather expert George Goodfellow. Chunks(块) of ice break off from larger ice sheets in the sea and either slide to shore on the incoming tide or get pushed in by strong spells of wind at the water' s surface, he explained. Waves buffet(冲击) the ice chunks as they travel, slowly eroding their rough edges into smooth curves. Seawater sticks and freezes to the forming eggs, causing them to grow like snowballs do as they roll across the ground, leaving behind nothing but smooth and shiny “eggs” for curious tourists to happen upon.

1.The underlined phrase “stumbled upon” in Paragraph 2 can be best replaced by_     _

A.pulled through B.survived from

C.ran across D.took notes of

2.What can we know from Paragraph 3?

A.It was a very unusual phenomenon. B.Ice eggs gathered in a football field.

C.Only a quarter of the area was stricken. D.The beach was completely ice-covered.

3.According to Goodfellow, how did the “ice eggs” come into being?

A.By means of sea water buffeting the wood chunks.

B.On the basis of the strong force of the cold wind.

C.By way of the special location and cold weather.

D.Through a rare combination of weather and waves.

4.What does the text mainly talk about?

A.An extraordinary trip of “ice eggs”. B.The power of wind and seawater.

C.A strange weather-based occurrence. D.How snowball affected the shoreline.

Answer

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇新闻报道。主要报道了光滑的冰球滚到芬兰的海滩上，像一大堆海龟蛋一样堆积起来，业余摄影师Risto Mattila和妻子在Hailuoto岛散步时偶然发现了“冰蛋”这一不同寻常的现象，文章还说明了“冰蛋”形成的原因。

1.词义猜测题。根据后文the strange sight while walking with his wife on Hailuoto Island.可知业余摄影师Risto Mattila是在和妻子在Hailuoto岛散步时偶然发现了这一奇怪的景象。故划线短语意思为“偶然遇到”。故选C。

2.推理判断题。根据第三段中I've never seen this before.(我以前从未见过这种情况)以及Another local, Sirpa Tero, told CNN she’d seen snowballs line the shoreline before, but not over such a large area.可知另一位当地人Sirpa Tero告诉CNN，她以前看到过雪团在海岸线上排列，但没有看到过这么大的区域。由此可推知，这是一个非常不寻常的现象。故选A。

3.细节理解题。根据第四段中Chunks of ice break off from larger ice sheets in the sea and either slide to shore on the incoming tide or get pushed in by strong spells of wind at the water' s surface, he explained. Waves buffet the ice chunks as they travel, slowly eroding their rough edges into smooth curves. Seawater sticks and freezes to the forming eggs, causing them to grow like snowballs do as they roll across the ground…可知他解释说，大块的冰块从海上更大的冰原上脱落，要么随着潮汐滑向岸边，要么受到海面强风的推挤。海浪冲击着它们移动的冰块，慢慢地将它们粗糙的边缘侵蚀成光滑的曲线。海水会粘在正在形成的卵上并冻结，导致它们像雪球一样在地面上滚动……由此可推知，根据Goodfellow的说法，“冰蛋”是在特殊的天气和海水的共同作用下形成的。故选D。

4.主旨大意。根据第一段Smooth balls of ice rolled ashore on a beach in Finland and piled up like a huge bunch of turtles' eggs. But where did these “ice eggs” come from?可知光滑的冰球滚到芬兰的海滩上，像一大堆海龟蛋一样堆积起来。但是这些“冰蛋”是从哪里来的呢？业余摄影师Risto Mattila和妻子在Hailuoto岛散步时偶然发现了“冰蛋”这一不同寻常的天气现象，文章还说明了“冰蛋”形成的原因。所以短文主要是关于奇怪的天气现象。故选C。