题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
湖南省衡阳市第一中学2018-2019学年高二下学期英语期中考试试卷
Floating on the surface of the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They move about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals. Plankton has been described as the equivalent (相等的东西) of the grasses that grow on dry land, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates(碳水化合物) each year, the sea's plankton produces more than twice as much.
Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources appear even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.
No one yet has seriously suggested that “planktonburgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among scientists.
One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny creature called krill(磷虾). Growing to two or three inches long, krill are a major food source for the giant blue whale, the largest animal ever to live on the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh about 150 tons, it is not surprising that each one swallows more than one ton of krill daily.
Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as an entire reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. If krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be competitors among possible new food sources for humans.
Chinese President Xi Jinping once said. "Heroes come from the people." Every year, there are ordinary people spreading positive energy (正能量) and touching our hearts. Let's take a look at some of them.
Name: Zhu Yanfu Age: 88 Profession: soldier (士兵) and officer What he did: In 2021, everyone was impressed by the soldiers in the film The Battle at LakeChangjin. Zhu Yanfu was one of the real soldiers. He lost his hands, left eye and both legs in the battle (战斗). After returning to his village, he used all his money to open a reading room and set up the first evening school in the village. He also led the villagers to plant fruits and vegetables. | Name: Wu Tianyi Age: 86 Profession: doctor What he did: To better understand altitude sickness (高原病), Wu spent years studying the local people. Wu and his team came up with a way to help them. That allowed all 140,000 workers who built the Oinghai-Tibet Railway to avoid altitude sickness. It was considered a miracle (奇迹). Now, in his eighties, Wu refuses to give up working and still works there. |
Name: Janis Chan Age: 40 Profession: reporter and TV host What she did: Chan hosted a show called No Poverty Land. The show tells how people in faraway villages of China work hard to shake off poverty (脱贫). For the documentary, Chan spent three months walking across mountains and rivers to reach those faraway villages. Chan also had to climb a 2,556-step ladder to reach some villages. She not only talked with locals, but also experienced their lives. | Name: Jiang Mengnan Age: 30 Profession: student What she did: When Jiang was just 6 months old, she lost her hearing after relatives gave her the wrong medicine. To understand other people, Jiang learned to read lips. When she was in primary school, she failed to catch much of what the teachers said. She copied down everything on the blackboard and study after class. Her hard work made her a top student. At the end of this year, the 30-year-old will receive her doctorate (博士学位) at Tsinghua University. |
试题篮
