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Passage One
A few months ago, millions of people in London heard alarms all over the town. Emergency services, the Fire Departments, the Police, hospitals, and ambulances stood by, ready to go into action. In railway underground stations, people read notices and maps ,which told them where to go and what to do in the emergency. This was Exercise Flood Call, to prepare people for a flood emergency. London wasn t flooded yet, but it is possible that it would be. In 1236 and in1663, London was badly flooded. In 1928, people living in Westminster, the heart of London, drowned in floods. And in 1953, one hundred people, living on the eastern edge of the London suburbs were killed, again, in the floods. At last, Greater London Council took actions to prevent this disaster from happening again. Though a flood wall was built in the 1960s, Londoners still must be prepared for the possible disaster. If it happens, 50 underground stations will be under water. Electricity, gas and phone services will be out of action. Roads will be drowned. It will be impossible to cross any of the bridges between north and south London. Imagine: London will be like the famous Italian city, Venice. But this Exercise Flood Call didn t cause panic among Londoners. Most people knew it was just a warning. One lady said, "It s a flood warning, isn t it? The water doesn t look high to me."
Question 11: What happened in London a few months ago?
Question 12: What measure was taken against floods in London in the 1960s?
Question 13: What can we learnt from the lady s comment?
Passage Two
America s national symbol, the bald eagle, almost went extinct twenty years ago, but it did made a comeback. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service is considering the possibility of taking it off the Endangered Species List. Once, more than fifty hundred pairs of bald eagles nested across the country, but by 1960 that number had fallen below four hundred. The chief killer was the widely used DDT. Fish, soaked up DDT, died, and were washed up on shores, where bald eagles feasted on them.DDT prevented eagle egg shells from thickening. The shells became so thin that they shattered before the babies hatched. Fortunately, in 1972, a law was passed to ban DDT, which saved the bald eagle from total wipeout. And since then wild life biologists had reintroduced bald eagles from Canada to America. The result was that last year U.S. bird watchers counted eleven thousand six hundred and ten bald eagles in the country.If it were dropped from the Endangered Species List, the bald eagle would still be a threatened species. That means the bird would continue to get the same protection. No hunting allowed, and no disturbing of nests. But bald eagles still face tough times. The destruction of their natural homes could be the next DDT causing eagle numbers to drop quickly.
Question 14: What was the main harmful effect of the pests killer DDT on bald eagles?
Question 15: What measure did the wild life biologist take to increase the number of bald eagles?
Question 16: According to the speaker, what is the possible danger facing bald eagles?
Passage Three
If the earth gets hotter in the new century, what will harm animals and the plants which animals depend on for survival? The question offers another way of looking at the "Greenhouse Effect".People have talked about the general problem of "Global Warming" for some time. But they were usually worried about things like whether to buy a home on the coast. Biologists and other scientists turn their attention to plants and animals at an important meeting that took place last October. They reviewed evidence that plants and animals are sensitive to climate. Since the Ice Age ended ten thousand years ago and warmer temperatures returned to the northern latitudes, many species have migrated north. If the predictions about the Greenhouse are correct, temperatures will rise by the same amount in the next one hundred years as they did in the past ten thousand. Will animals and plants be able to adapt that quickly to change in the environment? Many won t. Certain species will probably become very rare. Experts say plants under climate stress will be very open to disease and fire. Forest fires may become more common. That, in turn, may harm animals that depend on the trees for food or (而非for) shelter. Any preserves we set up to protect endangered species may become useless as the species are forced to migrate along with their natural homes. Change is a part of life, but rapid change, says scientist George Woodwell, is the enemy of life.
Question 17: What is the concern of ordinary people about the "Greenhouse Effect"?
Question 18: What has happened since the end of the ICE AGE?
Question 19: What will be a possible threat to plants in the future?
Question 20: According to the passage, what will probably happen to the endangered species?
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