Unit 5 The power of nature
阅读提速练
阅读理解
A
(2017·浙江卷10月)There are energy savings to be made from all recyclable materials, sometimes huge savings. Recycling plastics and aluminum, for instance, uses only 5% to 10% as much energy as producing new plastic or smelting(提炼) aluminum.
Long before most of us even noticed what we now call “the environment，” Buckminster Fuller said, “Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to be left around because we’ve been ignorant of their value.” To take one example, let’s compare the throwaway economy with a recycling economy as we feed a cat for life.
Say your cat weight 5kg and eats one can of food each day. Each empty can of its food weighs 40g. In a throwaway economy, you would throw away 5，475 cans over the cat’s 15year lifetime. That’s 219kg of steel—more than a fifth of a ton and more than 40 times the cat’s weight.
In a recycling economy, we would make one set of 100 cans to start with, then replace them over and over again with recycled cans. Since almost 3% of the metal is lost during reprocessing, we’d have to make an extra 10 cans each year. But in all, only 150 cans will be used up over the cat’s lifetime—and we’ll still have 100 left over for the next cat.
Instead of using up 219kg of steel, we’ve used only 6kg. And because the process of recycling steel is less polluting than making new steel, we’ve also achieved the following significant savings: in energy use—47% to 74%; in air pollution—85%; in water pollution—35%; in water use—40%.
【解题导语】 本文首段点明主旨：回收利用可大大节约资源，并引用伟大建筑师富勒的话和养猫喂食的例子肯定循环经济的价值所在。
1．What does Buckminster Fuller say about pollution?
A．It is becoming more serious.
B．It destroys the environment.
C．It benefits the economy.
D．It is the resources yet to be used.
D 解析：细节理解题。根据第二段的Buckminster Fuller的话：“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to be left around because we’ve been ignorant of their value.”可知，他认为污染只不过是我们没有收获的资源。由于我们对它们的价值一无所知，因此让它们白白浪费。故选D。
2．How many cans will be used up in a cat’s 15year lifetime in a recycling economy?
A．50. B．100.
C．150. D．250.
C 解析：细节理解题。根据第四段的“But in all, only 150 cans will be used up over the cat’s lifetime”可以推断出，循环经济下，要养活一只存活15年的猫需要用掉150个罐。故选C。
3．What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A．To promote the idea of recycling.
B．To introduce an environmentalist.
C．To discuss the causes of pollution.
D．To defend the throwaway economy.
A 解析：写作目的题。文章通过养猫喂食的例子，用数字对比了循环经济和一次性经济消耗资源的不同结果，目的是推广回收利用的理念。故选A。
B
The world record holder for the number of university degrees is a 70yearold Italian.
Mr.Luciano Baietti lives in the town of Velletri near Rome and spends his days walking around his small house and garden.But every morning as early as 3 o’clock，he pulls out his textbooks and starts studying.
He now holds 15 bachelors or master’s degrees from universities across Italy，and is already attempting his 16th.
“Thanks to books，I feel free，”he tells the BBC journalists.“After all，the words share the same root，”he says，referring to the Italian words libro(book)and libero(free)．The certificates proving his talent hang on the walls of his study，showing people that he was writing new pages in the Guinness Book of Records.In 2002 he got his eighth degree in motor skills.And before that he already had degrees in sociology，literature，law，political science and philosophy，most from Rome’s famous La Sapienza University, one of the oldest in the world.
Since then，he has added seven other degrees to his list，including one in criminology(犯罪学)，one in military strategies and the latest one in tourism in February 2017.All of these three were from online universities.
“Each time I set myself a new challenge to see how far my body and my brain can go，”says Mr.Baietti.
【解题导语】 本文是一篇新闻报道。来自意大利的70岁的Luciano Baietti先生是已获得大学学位总数最多的世界纪录保持者。
4．What can we know about Mr.Baietti from the passage?
A．He has a wide range of learning.
B．He is the oldest world record holder.
C．He has got crazy about getting degrees.
D．He got all his degrees by going to school.
A 解析：推理判断题。根据第三至五段可以推断Luciano Baietti先生的学习范围非常广泛。a wide range of意思是“广泛的，多种多样的”，所以选项A正确。
5．Why has Mr.Baietti tried to get so many degrees?
A．To show his talent.
B．To challenge himself.
C．To become popular.
D．To break the world record.
B 解析：细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“Each time I set myself a new challenge to see how far my body and my brain can go”可知选项B正确。
6．Where does this passage most probably come from?
A．A newspaper. B．A biography.
C．A travel magazine. D．A story book.
A 解析：推理判断题。根据全文尤其是第四段Luciano Baietti先生接受BBC采访的信息可以推断本文应该是一篇新闻报道。所以选项A正确。
C
Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don’t even notice that they’re doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.
A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason for this is that the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart and that crossing one leg over the other increases resistance, making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won’t feel any immediate effects, but repeated, drawnout increases in blood pressure can cause longterm health issues. So, planning to sit for a long period of time? Don’t keep your legs crossed.
“Crossing your legs at the knee can also cause pressure on the major nerve in your leg that passes just below your knee and along the outside of your leg，” explains Richard Graves, a medical expert. This pressure can cause numbness and temporary paralysis(麻痹) of some of the muscles in your foot and leg, preventing you from being able to raise your ankle—what we know as that “pins__and__needles” sensation. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.
So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.
【解题导语】 本文是一篇科普说明文。研究表明，虽然跷二郎腿是常见的习惯，但是该习惯会引起血压的升高，还会导致膝盖以下的重要神经受损。所以不要跷二郎腿，要有正确的坐姿。
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