A professor of environmental health and his students began studying the idea of rooftop gardening for cities. “I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way,” said Despommier.
Why would we want to build skyscrapers filled with vegetables when we’ve been farming on the ground for 10,000 years? Because as the world’s population grows—from 7 billion now to as much as 9 billion by 2050—we could run out of productive soil and water. Most of the population growth will occur in cities that can’t easily feed themselves. And the fact is that modern agriculture as well as everything associated with it – chemical fertilizers and transportation full of carbon—is a significant contributor to climate change, and suddenly vertical farming doesn’t seem so magic in the sky.
“Vertical farming could allow food to be grown locally and sustainably,” says Glen Kertz, CEO of Valcent. The result saves space — vital in urban areas — and allows farmers to irrigate and fertilize with far less waste.
At Valcent’s El Paso lab, crops grow in rows on conveyor belts. Moving them gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients needed, letting them grow 15 times as much vegetable as on a normal farm with 5% of the water that traditional agriculture does.
Despommier plans to build a 30-story, city-block-size vertical farm that would have transparent walls to maximize sunlight and would produce enough food for 50, 000 people. But it would cost hundreds of millions to build a full-scale skyscraper farm. That’s the main drawback: construction and energy costs would probably make vertically raised food more costly than traditional crops.
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
As a professor at a large American university, there is a phrase that I often hear from students: “I’m only a 1,050.” The unlucky students are speaking of the score on the Schoolastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which is used to determine whether they will be admitted to the college or university of their choice, or even if they have a chance to get a higher education at all. The SAT score, whether it is 800, 1,100 or 1,550, has become the focus at his time of their life.
It is obvious that if students value highly their test scores, then a great amount of their self-respect is put in the number. Students who perform poorly in the exam are left feeling that it is all over.The low test score, they think, will make it impossible for them to get into a good college. And without a degree from a prestigious university, they fear that many of life’s doors will remain forever closed.
According to a study done in the 1990s, the SAT is only a reliable indicator of a student’s future performance in most cases. Interestingly, it becomes much more accurate when it is set together with other indicators--like a student’s academic proficiency(学业水平).They will never be able to test things like confidence, efforts and willpower, and are unable to give us the full picture of a student’s potentialities. This is not to suggest that we should stop using SAT scores in our college admission process. The SAT is an excellent test in many ways, and the score is still a useful means of testing students. However, it should be only one of the many methods used.
The purpose of the SAT is to test students’ _________.
A. strong will
B. academic ability
C. full potentialities
D. confidence in school work
Students’ self-respect is influenced by their_______.
A. scores in the SAT
B. achievements in mathematics
C. job opportunities
D. money spent on education
“ A prestigious university” in para.2 is most probably _______.
A. a famous school
B. a technical school
C. a traditional school
D. an expensive school
The passage is mainly about_______________.
A. how to prepare for the SAT
B. stress caused by the SAT
C. American higher education
D. the SAT and its effects
What is the writer’s attitude towards the SAT?
A. Subjective
B. Objective
C. Critical
D. Approving
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Climate change will force exhausted birds migrating to Europe from Africa to travel further, with possibly disastrous consequences, according to a study.
The annual voyage of some species, which fly north in search of food and suitable habitats, could increase by as much as 400 kilometers (250miles), the research found. “Marathon migrations for some birds are set to become even longer，” said Stephen Willis, a professor at Durham University in Britain and the main architect of the study. “This is bad news for birds like the Whitethroat, a common farmland bird. The added distance is a considerable threat. As temperatures rise and habitats change, birds will face their biggest challenge since the Pleistocene era (更新世：始于距今180万年), which ended 11,000 years ago，” he said in a statement.
Some 500 million birds migrate each year from Africa, some weighing as little as nine grams (three－tenths of an ounce). To complete a voyage that can be thousands of kilometers long, birds have to fatten themselves up to twice their normal weight. Some even shrink their internal organs (收缩内脏) to become more fuel efficient, so any additional distance may be dangerous.
The study finds that from 2071 to 2100, nine out of 17 species examined are going to face longer migrations, particularly birds that cross the Sahara Desert. Some birds traverse the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea in a one go, while others have a break in northern Africa before crossing. Many fly at night, when temperatures are cooler.
A few—such as the Blackcap—have started to adapt by spending winters in Britain, but such behaviour remains exceptional, the study said. The study forecasts that the migration distance of the Orphean Warbler will jump from 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) to between 3,050 and 3,350 kilometers (1,900 and 2,100miles), with even longer increases for the Subalpine and Barred Warblers.
6. What does travelling extra distance mean for some migrating birds?
A. Better living conditions. B. Better physical health.
C. Stronger ability to fly. D. Bigger threat to life.
7. To complete the marathon migrations, some birds have to do the following except________.
A. have a break in Sahara
B. put on more weight
C. reduce the size of internal organs
D. fly at night to avoid the heat
8. What does the underlined word “traverse”in the fourth paragraph mean?
A. Examine. B. Face. C. Cross. D. Challenge.
9. What can we infer from the text?
A. Birds have to migrate from Africa to Europe in winter.
B. Global warming is bad for all birds worldwide.
C. Birds that are of small size don't need to migrate.
D. Some birds have to migrate unless they adapt to climate change.
10. What's the BEST title of the text?
A. Climate change leads to disastrous consequence
B. The annual voyage of some species
C. How birds migrate for longer distances
D. Climate change pushes birds to migrate farther
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届江西南昌三中高三8月第一次月考英语卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
Gallows humor（黑色幽默）seem like a mistake, or at least in poor taste. But psychologists say that gallows humor can be an important way to relieve stress. “Humor makes you feel in control and it can give you that feeling that everything is okay even when it's not,” says James M. Jones, a psychology professor at the University of Delaware.
Psychologists say that just because you're laughing doesn't mean you’re wasting time. Occasional teasing among colleagues, particularly if it revolves around things associated with the job, can boost creativity, departmental cohesiveness（凝聚力）and performance.
“There are a lot of stressors out there,” says Ed Dunkelblau, a psychologist with the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning in Chicago. “But gallows humor is a way of making difficult things a little less difficult.”
This is true as long as the humor is used for the right purpose. The main point of it should be inspiring people --- not laughing at them. “Anything that would lift morale（士气）in terms of the company would be good humor,” says Thierry Guedj, a professor of business and psychology at Boston University. “Before you say or do anything, think about, ‘How is this helping my employees’ morale?’”
You want to give your employees and co-workers a sense of belonging, so don’t make observations that are aggressive. Most obviously, Dr Guedj says, don’t make comments about people’s physical appearance, or faith. If you have any doubt, it's appropriate, don't go through with it.
Or you can take aim at the one person you know won't be offended（冒犯）:Yourself. “If there's going to be a joke or story, it should be you,” Mr. Dunkelblau says. For example, if you're a marketing manager reviewing a failed campaign that you led, begin with a line like, “The guy who gave permission to this deal might just be looking for work next week.”
“People with the ability to laugh at themselves can give other people permission to laugh at themselves too,” Mr. Jones says. “And if you can laugh at yourself, you feel better about yourself.”
1.According to the text, gallows humor has the following functions EXCEPT ________.
A. improving performance
B. reducing pressure
C. leading to a big mistake
D. making people more creative
2.What is Ed Dunkelblau’s attitude towards gallows humor?
A. Negative. B. Positive. C. Uncertain. D. Neutral.
3.Which of the following would Dr. Guedj most probably agree with?
A. Gallows humor allows people to laugh at others.
B. Gallows humor is the basic source of morale.
C. Anything that may lift morale can be called gallows humor.
D. Gallows humor may sometimes be used for the wrong purpose.
4.When people use gallows humor, they should ________.
A. show a sense of belonging
B. observe who is aggressive
C. try to avoid irritating others
D. doubt about the result of humors
5.What can we infer from the text?
A. Laughing at ourselves can help relieve the stress of others.
B. People tend to laugh at others rather than themselves.
C. People who laugh at themselves are hard to be friends with.
D. People can’t avoid offending others with gallows humor.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届四川成都外国语学校高二下期期中考试英语卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge (报复) of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres? Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students,” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make full use of your innate (天生的) abilities counts for more. Much more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down. Hard work isn’t the whole story, either. “It’s not how long you sit there with the books open,” said one of the many-A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.
1. What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students.
B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students.
C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films.
D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society.
2. Some students become super-achievers mainly because ________.
A．they are born cleverer than others B．they work longer hours at study
C．they make full use of their abilities D．they know the shortcut to success
3. What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
A．The interviews with more students. B．The role IQ plays in learning well.
C．The techniques to be better learners. D．The achievements top students make.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2012年北师大版高中英语必修一Module7Unit20练习卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
Health and climate scientists have mapped how climate change affects different parts of the world in different ways. The scientists point to the fact that changes in the past thirty years may, have been affecting human health. Possible effects include more deaths from extreme(极度的) heat or cold, more storms and more crop failures in dry periods.
The health and climate scientists recently estimated(估计) that climate changes caused by human activity lead to more than one hundred and fifty thousand deaths each year. Cases of sickness are estimated at five million. And the W.H.O. says the numbers could rise quickly by the year of 2003.
Jonathan Patz of an environmental institute led the study. Professor Patz points out that climate scientists connected global warming with the heat that killed thousands in Europe in August, 2003. But he says poor countries least responsible(对……负责) for the warming are most in danger from the health effects of higher temperatures.
Professor Patz says areas in greatest danger include southern and eastern Africa and coastlines along the Pacific and Indian oceans. Also, large cities experience what scientists call a "heat island"effect that can make conditions worse.
Representatives(代表) from about two hundred countries hold a meeting in Canada, to discuss climate change. The ten-day meeting ends on December 9th. It is the first such United Nations meeting since the Kyoto Protocol(京都议定书) took effect earlier this year. The agreement aims to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) and other heat-trapping(吸热的) gases sent off into the air.
1.Who is Jonathan Patz?
|
A．A scientist responsible for the climate change. |
|
B．A scientist in charge of the study of the climate change. |
|
C．A professor interested in the climate change. |
|
D．A professor who is a representative from an African country. |
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
|
A．Climate changes affect different parts of the world in the same way. |
|
B．The ten-day meeting is the first United Nations meeting on climate change. |
|
C．The Kyoto Protocol aims to make smaller the amount of heat-trapping gases into the air. |
|
D．Poor countries are responsible for the global warming. |
3.Possible effects from the climate changes include the following EXCEPT ______.
|
A．crop failures |
B．storms |
C．more deaths from overheat |
D．air pollution |
4.According to the health and climate scientists, climate changes have been caused by ______.
|
A．dry weather |
B．cold weather |
C．human activities |
D．storms |
5.We can infer from the passage that ______.
|
A．climate changes are having a bad effect on human’s health |
|
B．Professor Patz leads the study of climate changes |
|
C．a "heat island"effect large cities experience makes the matter worse |
|
D．rich countries are most responsible for climate changes |
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