【正文】 , such as lions and tigers. Tools helped people to get food more easily.? Working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. The human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. Some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind. Since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. This is the silicon chip—a little chip of silicon crystal. It is smaller than a fingernail, but it can store more than a million“bits” of information. It is an electronic brain. Every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. They are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways. In the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. Machines will do everything for us. They will even talk and play games with us. People will have plenty of spare time. But what will they do with it? Human beings used stone chips for more than two million years, but human life changed very little in that time. We have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. What will life be like twenty years from now? What will the world be like two million years from now?? 1. The stone chip is thought to be the most important tool because it ______.? A. was one of the first tools?B. developed human capabilities? C. led to the invention of machines?D. was crucial to the development of mankind 2. At the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is?______. A. disastrous B. unpredictable?C. exciting D. colorful 1. D) 這是一道細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第二段尾句 “Some scientists say that it was the key to the success of mankind”可知 “stone chip”對(duì)于人類的發(fā)展起到了非常重要的作用，這與 D 正好相符。 ? 2. B)在文章最后一段中作者說(shuō)人類在過(guò)去的幾百萬(wàn)年時(shí)間里一直使用 “stone chip”，人類社會(huì)發(fā)生的變化很校而我們使用 “silicon chips”才不過(guò)幾年，生活卻發(fā)生了巨大的變化。于是作者發(fā)出了疑問(wèn)： “二十年后的生活會(huì)是什么樣子的呢？ ”， “二百萬(wàn)年后的世界又會(huì)是什么樣子呢？ ”，表明將來(lái)的生活無(wú)法預(yù)料，這與選項(xiàng) B 相符。 9 California is a land of variety and contrast. Almost every type of physical land feature, sort of arctic ice fields and tropical jungles can be found within its borders. Sharply contrasting types of land often lie very close to one another. People living in Bakersfield, for instance, can visit the Pacific Ocean and the coastal plain, the fertile San Joaquin Valley, the arid Mojave Desert, and the high Sierra Nevada, all within a radius of about 100 miles. In other areas it is possible to go snow skiing in the morning and surfing in the evening of the same day, without having to travel long distance. Contrast abounds in California. The highest point in the United States (outside Alaska) is in California, and so is the lowest point (including Alaska).Mount Whitney, 14,494 feet above sea level, is separated from Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level, by a distance of only 100 miles. The two areas have a difference in altitude of almost three miles. California has deep, clear mountain lakes like Lake Tahoe, the deepest in the country, but it also has shallow, salty desert lakes. It has Lake Tulainyo, 12,020 feet above sea level, and the lowest lake in the country, the Salton Sea, 236 feet below sea level. Some of its lakes, like Owens Lake in Death Valley, are not lakes at all: they are driedup lake beds. In addition to mountains, lakes, valleys, deserts, and plateaus, California has its Pacific coastline, stretching longer than the coastlines of Oregon and Washington bined.? 1. Which of the following is the lowest point in the United States?? A. Lake Tulainyo.?B. Mojave desert.?C. Death Valley.?D. The Salton Sea.? 2. Where is the highest point in the United States located?? A. Lake Tahoe.?B. Sierra Nevada.?C. Mount Whitney.?D. Alaska.? 3. How far away is Death Valley from Mount Whitney?? A. About 3 miles.?B. Only 100 miles.?C. 282 feet.?D. 14,494 feet.? 4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as being within a radius of about 100 miles of Bakersfield??A. The Pacific Ocean.?B. San Joaquin Valley.?C. Mojave Desert.?D. Oregon and Washington.? 5. Which statement best demonstrates that California is a land of variety and contrast?? A. The highest lake in California is Lake Tulainyo. B. It is possible to go surfing and snow skiing in some parts of California without having to travel long distance.? C. Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert and the Pacific Ocean all lie within a radius of about 100 miles.? D. Owens Lake, in Death Valley, is not really a lake at all. 1. C) 這是一道細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第三段所給的海拔高度，可知美國(guó)最低點(diǎn)在 death valley。 2. D) 此題很容易誤選為 C，這是因?yàn)榈谌翁岬?Mount Whitney 的海拔高度；但是要注意此段第二句提到美國(guó)最高點(diǎn)時(shí)在括號(hào)中補(bǔ)充說(shuō)明這個(gè)最高點(diǎn)是在 Alaska 以外的。這就說(shuō)明美國(guó)的海拔最高點(diǎn)不是 Mount Whitney，而是位于 Alaska。 ? 3. B) 這是一道細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)第三段可找出答案。 ? 4. D) 根據(jù)第二段可知答案。 ? 5. C) 文中說(shuō)加利福尼亞是一個(gè)地貌多樣，富于變化的地方，而選項(xiàng) C 是一個(gè)最突出的例子 10 Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth39。s surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In parison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small. The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it pletely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done paratively little damage. If a building is well con