WILD WEATHERMAN

Name: Sam Champion

Hot job: TV Weatherman

Where: ABC-TV, New York City

When you were a child, did you plan to forecast wind, rain, and snow on TV?

I wanted to be a foreign journalist. I took courses in weather science at Eastern Kentucky University, but I majored in broadcasting news.

How did you finally become a weatherman?

My first job in the early 1980s was at the local TV station in Paducah, Kentucky. I did everything from turning on the lights in the morning to writing and delivering morning news. I put together weather forecasts, and became interested in them.

Back then, how did you forecast weather?

Independent companies collected computer information that showed, for example, how a single weather system might split into snow or snow mixed with rain. The information was often opposite and the job of a weatherman was to study the information and make the best educated guess about the storm.

Has weather forecasting changed much with new technology?

Advanced computers, satellites, and Doppler radar (sound waves used to track storms) have made forecasting more exact. But we still know very little about how weather is shaped. So far, we just have theories.

 Any advice for children who’d like to become weather scientists?

To me, weather is the most exciting field in the world. There are still so many more questions about weather than answers. After all, if we can’t foresee floods or hurricanes, how safe a society are we? Weather forecasting is wide open for scientists who love to solve puzzling problems. The next generation of meteorologists (weather scientists) will unlock many of Earth’s weather secrets. So get a general knowledge of Earth science, and study meteorology in college.

   Thanks, Sam.

40. Judging from the writing style, the text is _________.

A. a diary        B. an interview      C. a news story       D. an announcement

41. As a child, ABC-TV’s Sam Champion wanted to be a____________.

A. space scientist    B. weatherman      C. news reporter      D. meteorologist

42. Present weather forecasting technology___________.

A. has made weather report more exact than ever   

B. is still not perfect

C. hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years

D. both A and B

43. The study of weather science is called____________.

A. meteorology       B. forecasting        C. geography       D. Earth science

 

Crossing Texas and Mexico, the Big Bend region is high in biodiversity(生物的多样性). It’s a place so untamed that if something doesn’t bite, stick, or sting, it’s probably a rock.

You know you have arrived in the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert when it feels as if you have fallen off the edge of the earth and into the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it appears. Moths (蛀虫) are the size of birds. Are those twin pillars (柱) of black rock (a landmark known as Mule Ear Peaks) ten miles (16 kilometers) away or fifty (80 kilometers)? Visibility (能见度) reaches more than a hundred miles on a clear day, and since there are few roads or buildings to use as milestones, distance is difficult to judge.

This is a place where water runs uphill, where rainbows have to wait for rain. The line between myth (虚构的故事) and reality is unclear. Stare long enough at the Chisos Mountains or the Sierra del Carmen, the two mountain ranges, known as sky islands, which lie on the land, and they rise and float above the plain.

The vast Chihuahuan Desert is a land of no people. There is always the chance you’ll die of thirst. The “You Can Die”possibilities are endless, and keep some visitors — 350,000 a year to Big Bend National Park, built in 1944 — from coming back. Those who do return are left to think of the remarkable courage of the brave few who have managed to survive in this terrible environment.

1.The underlined word“untamed”in Paragraph 1 means“________”.

A．untouched

B．wild

C．unchanged

D．fresh

2.Why do the twin pillars of black rock seem ten or fifty miles away?

A．They were put so far away.

B．They lie across the Chihuahuan Desert.

C．It is difficult to judge the distance, with few milestones.

D．One lies in the Chisos Mountains, the other in the Sierra del Carmen.

3.How many years are there since the Big Bend National Park was built?

A．350,000 years.

B．350 years.

C．66 years.

D．44 years.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A．The natural wonders of the Chihuahuan Desert.

B．Everything you see is not what it seems in the Chihuahuan Desert.

C．The terrible environment of deserts in Texas and Mexico.

D．A special place where none who go can return.

5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．There are all kinds of living things in the Chihuahuan Desert.

B．No people live in the Big Bend region.

C．Nothing is as it appears in the Big Bend region.

D．Traveling in the Big Bend region is dangerous.

 

 So far we have done a lot to build a low-carbon economy, but it is________ ideal. We have to work still harder.

A. next to    B. far from     C. out of    D. due to

完形填空

　　In the year 1666 there was a terrible disease in London. Thousands of people died every week. The disease was 1 by fleas(跳蚤), which lived in clothes. When people started to feel 2 , they sneezed(打喷嚏). Then they had a high temperature－and in less than a week they died.

　　The village of Eyam is in the north of England. People there heard of the terrible 3 in London. They were very happy that London was 4 .

　　One day a man arrived from 5 . He brought with him lots of different things 6 . Among these things there was some cloth. On it were the 7 “Made in London”.

　　Two days later, a boy sneezed. He said he had a 8 . Nobody worried much, but soon he was 9 with a high temperature. The next day, the boy 10 died, and another two people 11 to sneeze.

　　At once the village people held a meeting to 12 what to do. An old man said,“If people run away from this village, they 13 carry the disease with them. Then the disease will be carried to other 14 . and thousands of people will die. We must 15 other people outside our village don’t 16 this terrible disease.”

　　The people of Eyam 17 the old man. In this way they 18 the population of the other villages from the terrible disease. 19 , 40% of the population of Eyam died from the disease, The disease itself 20 . The people who were still living were able to visit people outside the village again.

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So far we have done a lot to build a low—carbon economy, but it is ____ideal. We have to work still harder.

A. far from      B. next to        C. out of        D. due to