年6月英语四级仔细阅读优先复习训练题.doc

2016年6月英语四级仔细阅读优先复习（训练题）Newspapers often tell us of floods in some parts of the United States.Nearly every year on the great central drainages heavy rains and melting snow cause the waters to pour out the mountains and plains, to turn brooks into torrents, and to swell quiet streams into wild uncontrolled rivers. From Cairo to New Orleans, and from Pittsburgh to Paducah, the cry River rising! is a familiar yet fearful voice. . . When the rivers sometimes become too high or too swift to be controlled communities are flooded, families flee from their homes, croplands are washed out, and transportation comes to a halt. Hunger, disease, and death follow the wild waters.Although given less publicity, the agricultural damage done by the many smaller, more frequent floods usually far exceeds the losses caused by the very grand ones. In the Central States, ditches and drains cause the flows from spring rains and melting snow to run far more rapidly than in the days before white men settled on the land. Once, excess spring flood waters emptied into lakes and swampy lands, there to be detained for slow release into stream and rivers. Now, systematic drainage has actually eliminated these natural reservoirs.In the more rolling sections of the East, spring runoff was formerly absorbed and held temporarily in the porous soils beneath the unbroken expanse of forest. When large areas were converted to farm use, removal of the forest and the practice of up-and-down hill plowing deprived the soils of much of their ability to catch and store water.The effects of eliminating the natural forest cover are shown in the gullied farm lands and widened stream channels found in some densely settled areas. Partly because the stream channels are more or less filled with material washed down from the uplands, and partly because storm runoff has increased, the channels are today no longer able to carry all the flow from heavy rains. This explains why the streams overtop banks far more often than in the days before settlement.26. The best title for the selection would be_.A. River Rising! River Rising! B. Forests and FloodsC. Flooding in the U. S. D. The Results of Flooding27. All of the following cause floods EXCEPT_.A. heavy rain B. melting snowC. increasing storm runoff D. porous soil28. The author states that_.A. lakes and swamps once acted like natural reservoirsB. up-and-down hill plowing catches and stores waterC. stream channels are the best carriers of waterD. floods are easily prevented and controlled29. According to the selection, streams overtop their banks partly because_.A. material from higher land is washed into themB. ditches and drains lead into themC. rivers become too swiftD. snow melts more rapidly nowadays30. The floods which are given most publicity_.A. cause no damageB. cause the most damageC. cause less agricultural damage than the many smaller, more frequent floodsD. far exceed the smaller, more frequent floods in agricultural lossThe world has become a world of cities. With the present rate of urban growth(3. 8% in the Third World) , the majority of the population of the world will be living in cities by the year 2000. This will transform the rural-urban equation which has marked the history of mankind up to now and will call for new example and a great deal of innovation to face this phenomenon.This being so, one must accept the fact that for some years to come, no policy will be capable of stopping or reversing the present migratory trend from the rural areas to the cities in the Third World. In Africa, the urban population will reach 330 million people by the end of the century as against 150 million in 1995.The number of people living in shanty-towns (贫富窟) will inevitably increase in spite of the efforts to improve housing conditions. Africa alone needs to build 12 million housing units between now and the year 2000 to meet its most basic needs. In an ILO study, M. S. V. Sethuraman estimates that in 70 Third World cities the proportion of people living in shanty-towns varies from 15% to 70% and that about US $ 116 billion is required to give minimum comfort to these people by the turn of the centuryless than US $ 10 billion per year.The world population is growing at a rate of about 90 million people per year, with the Third World accounting for 80 million of them. The pressure on cities can only go on increasing. The urban population of the developing countries will exceed 2 billion people by the year 2000 and since the main reason for the high demographic (人口统计的) growth is poverty, the additional population will be mostly made of people of very limited means.21. If the urban population of the developing countries exceeds 2 billion people by the year 2000, the main problem the additional people will face is_.A. housing B. foodC. poverty D. limited land22. According to the passage, about US $116 billion is required to give minimum comfort to these people by the turn of the centuryless than US $ 10 billion per year. Do you think which year was the article written by saying less than $ 10 billion per year by the turn of the century?A. 1985. B. 1990.C. 1988. D. 2000.23. The mankind should face the phenomenon that the world has become a world of cities with_.A. a lot of difficultiesB. efforts to improve housing conditionC. pressure of the basic needsD. new models and a great deal of transformation of ideas and methods24. In Africa, people in cities will be_by the end of the century.A. almost twice as much as in 1985 B. doubled than that in 1985C. over twice as much as in 1985 D. 300 million25. In spite of the efforts to improve housing condition, the number of people living in shanty-towns will increase because_.A. houses in shanty-towns are cheapB. shanty-towns could provide people with minimum comfortC. no policy will be capable of stopping or changing the present immigrant tendency from the rural areas to the cities in the Third WorldD. the Third Word population is growing at a rate of about 80 million people per yearSouthern Californians would love to find some way of knowing a month in advance whether a 11 earthquake will likely strike. One meteorologist suggests atmospheric pressure patterns might provide some 12 . Jerome Namias of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. , proposed this 13 in 1988 when he reported that an unusually strong high-pressure system developed in the North Pacific before quakes struck southern California in 1986 and 1987. Now Namias has 14 expanded his analysis by studying the summers between 1947 and 1987.From a 15 of all southern California earthquakes with magnitudes of 4- 5 or greater during that period, Namias 16 out the summers with many quakes and those with no quakes. His analysis of the meteorology during these summers shows that quakes were more 17 under a particular set of conditions; a stronger-than-normal North Pacific high pressure, a low-pressure ridge over the 18 interior. Summers with no quakes usually had a weak Pacific high and a poorly developed continental high, he reports in the Dec. 10 JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH. Namias cannot 19 the apparent correlation between pressure and seismicity, but he 20 that variations in seafloor pressure or in sea-surface temperature might influence both the atmospheric pressure and the ground stress in California.A. damagingB. ideaC. traceD. greatlyE. pickedF. clueG. explainH. forcefullyI. detectsJ. planK. continentalL. listM. predictsN. managingO. likelyAgriculture is the number one industry in the United States and agricultural products are the countrys leading export. American farmers manage to feed not only the total population of the United States, but also millions of other people throughout the rest of the world. Corn and soybean exports alone account for approximately 75 percent of the amount sold in world markets.This productivity, however, has its price. Intensive cultivation exposes the earth to the damaging forces of nature. Every year wind and water remove tons of rich soil from the nations croplands.Each field is covered by a limited amount of topsoil, the upper layer of earth which is richest in the nutrients and minerals necessary for growing crops. Ever since the first farmers arrived in the Midwest almost 200 years ago，cultivation and, consequently, erosion have been decreasing the supply of topsoil. In the 1830s, nearly two feet of rich, black top soil covered the Midwest. Today the average depth is only eight inches, and every decade another inch is blown or washed away. This erosion is steadily decreasing the productivity of valuable cropland. A United States Agricultural Department survey states that if erosion continues at its present rate, corn and soybean yields in the Midwest may drop as much as 30 percent over the next 50 years.So far, farmers have been able to compensate for the loss of fertile topsoil by applying more chemical fertilizers to their fields; however, while this practice has increased crop yields, it has been devastating for ecology. Agriculture has become one of the biggest polluters of the nations precious water supply. Rivers, lakes, and underground reserves of water are being filled in and poisoned by soil and chemicals carried by drainage from eroding fields. Furthermore, fertilizers only replenish the soils they do not prevent its loss.26. The last sentence in the first paragraph gives an example to show_.A. that American farmers manage to feed the total population of the U. S.B. the leading position of the U. S. farming in the worldC. how important American people consider their farmingD. that many people in the world rely on the export of the agricultural products of the U. S. A.27. In order to compensate for the loss of fertile topsoil, farmers have been_.A. planting less corn and soybean B. putting fertilizers on their fieldsC. preventing soil erosion D. decreasing the supply of top soil28. At the present rate, approximately how many years later the black top soil now covering the Midwest will completely be blown or washed away?A. 120 years later. . B. 80 years later.C. 50 years later. D. 100 years later.29. This practice in Paragraph 4 refers to_.A. that farmers have lowered the yield of corn and soybeanB. that farmers have expanded croplandsC. that farmers have applied more chemical fertilizersD. that the top soil has been decreased greatly30. All of the following are statements about the disadvantages of fertilizers EXCEPT thatA. they replenish the soil B. they do not prevent the loss of soilC. they are destroying the ecology D. they pollute the nations water supplyHappiness can be described as a positive mood and a pleasant state of mind. According to recent polls (民意测验) sixty to seventy percent of Americans consider themselves to be moderately happy and one in twenty persons feels very unhappy. Psychologists have been studying the factors that contribute to happiness. It is not predictable nor is a person in an apparently ideal situation necessarily happy. The ideal situation may have little to do with his actual feelings.A good education and income are usually considered necessary for happiness. Though both may contribute, they are only chief factors if the person is seriously undereducated or actually suffering from lack of physical needs.The rich are not likely to be happier than the middle-income group or even those with very low incomes. People with college educations are somewhat happier than those who did not graduate from high school, and it is believed that this is mainly because they have more opportunity to control their lives. Yet people with a high income and a college education may be less happy than those with the same income and no college education.Poor health does not rule out happiness except for the severely disabled or those in pain. Learning to cope with a health problem can contribute to happiness. Those with a good sex life are happier in general, but those who have a loving, affectionate relationship are happier than those who rely on sex alone. Love has a higher correlation with happiness than any other factor.It should be noted that people quickly get used to what they have, and they are happiest when they feel they are increasing their level no matter where it stands at a given time.Children whose parents were happily married have happie