1、阅读理解专项训练（十四） Main idea8 BEING set of by the April 1 Sino-us plane collision(相撞) and US official agreement of the biggest arms sale to Taiwan in decade (ten years) as well as remarks by US president Bush on Defending Taiwan, there have been increasing hacker attacks on websites of the two countries i
2、n the past weeks.An American group of hackers （黑客) which calls itself Poison Box had begun ruining Chinese websites after the April1 spy plane incident, top Chinese portal said.The Chinese soon attacked back.On April 2, Chinese hackers invaded two Government websites over the weekend, forcing the De
3、partment of labor and the Department of the Health and Human Services to shut down their sites for a short time.The US Department of labor went off line for a few hours after a page in its website was changed to display a picture of Wang Wei, the Chinese pilot who died in the collision.The page was
4、titled “China back!” and read, in English, “the whole country is so sorry for losing the best son of China -Wang Wei forever. We will miss the end of the day.”On May1, hackers exchanged bad remarks (脏话) in which the official White House website was defaced (毁容) by a huge amount of e-mail garbage. On
5、 May5, the White House website fell victim (受害者) to a denial (拒绝) of serviced attack that blocked access (通道) to the site for more than two hours.The Computer Network and Information Security Management Office told web operators an average of 100 sites a day had seen “some more form of attack.”The b
6、est title of the passage is _.A. Sino-US plane collision. B. Sino-US Hackers Fighting Cyber () warC. Cyber war continuing D. Wang wei, our best son9 There were two interesting news items in the paper a few years ago . One was about a man who received a bill from the telephone company for 999,999for
7、three month! The other was about a man who received 2,000 a month -for doing nothing.The connection between the two news items is simple: computer the best invention of the 20th century. The telephone bill came from a computer which made a terrifying mistake , that was only 23.36. The other item was
8、 not so amusing . A man walked into the unguarded computer room of a large packaged food company (袋装食品生产公司) and expectly programmed the computer (给计算机编程序) to pay him 2,000 a month for raw meat which he “supplied” to the company. Of course he never sent the meat, but he certainly received the money.
9、The computer wrote out a bill, and even “signed ”it . It was only a random (随便的) check that uncovered the trick. It could be happening in thousands of other companied all over the world.Computers are not the magical workers that some people say they are. They make mistakes, theyre sometimes slower t
10、han human beings and theyre easily fooled. The US used to conscript (征兵) people with the help of a computer.The army sent out a card, which had to be filled in and sent back. It was easy to avoid being called up simply by spreading candle-waxon on the card. The computer couldnt read the card and did
11、 nothing with it.Its in our everyday life that computers cause many problems. Lets get back to using people instead of computers, before a mistake that we cant put right.The writers main idea is _.A. wed better use people instead of computers in our everyday life.B. We should not use computers becau
12、se they always make mistakesC. computers are widely used in our everyday lifeD. if we want to work well, dont use the computers.10 During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood of Western Canada. When the crops were good, the economy on city streets watched the yields
13、and the price of wheat with almost as much felling as if they were growers. The marketing of wheat became an increasingly favorite topic of conversation. War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketing the western crop. For years, farmers mistrusted speculative grain selling as carried o
14、n through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn, but farmers could not wait for markets to improve. It had happened too often that they sold their wheat soon after harvest when farm debts were coming due, only to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On
15、 various occasions, producer groups asked for farmer controls, but governments had no wish to become involved, at least not until wartime wheat prices threatened to run wild. Anxious to check inflation and rising living costs, the federal government appointed a board of grain supervisors to handle d
16、eliveries from the crops of 1917 and 1918. Grain Exchange trading was suspended, and farmers sold at prices fixed by the board. To handle the crop of 1919, the government appointed the first Canadian Wheat Board, with full authority to buy, sell and set prices. What is the main purpose of the passag
17、e?A. To explain how wheat is marketed todayB. To justify suspension of trading on the Grain Exchange.C. To describe the origins of the Canadian Wheat Board.D. To argue for further reforms on the Canadian Wheat Board11. April 27 is Take Our Daughters to Work Day in Britain. Started at first in the Un
18、ited States and brought to Britain in 1994, Take Our Daughter to Work Day has become a special day for girls between 11 and 15. On that day thousands of girls take a day off school and go together with one of their parents to their work places. The purpose of this day is to broaden girls horizons(视野
19、) and raise their self-confidence. For many years people have thought that boy can do better than girls in society. But actually, “Girls can be whatever they want to be just like boys, whether it is a pilot , a nurse or a chief executive (主管),” says the chairman of the Our Sons and Daughters Charita
20、ble Trust, an organization which supported the activity of the Day. “ Now the girls have a close look at what their parents are doing and this may help them to be more self-confident when they are faced with a choice of work.”Schools and many companied support the activity, too. Palmers Green High S
21、chool for girls , in north London, has made the day a necessary of careers education.Zarina Bart,15, from Palmers Green, went with her mother Gwen to her lawyers office on this years Take Our Daughters to Work Day. “I learned how to fill in a legal aid form and I read details of a case. Then I went
22、to see the actual trail,” she said.Zarina found it interesting to see her mother at work . “Its really strange seeing Mum at work-running around, getting serious and telling people what to do.” She has always liked this idea of going into law and thinks it likely that she will follow in her mothers
23、footsteps. Having a chance to see how her mother works has given hr more self-confidence.Experts believe that girls with higher self-confidence aim higher and are more likely to be successful in life. Parents have more important effert on the confidence of teenage girls. If parents believe in their
24、daughter and show examples both at work as well as at home for them, this will give a lot of help to girls. Take Our Daughters to Work Day is surely a step in the right direction.The writers purpose in writing this text is to _A. introduce to us a special day for girls B. broaden girls view and rais
25、e their confidenceC. show us that girls can do as well as boys D. tell how the special day for girls came into being12 To swim the English channel takes at least nine hours. Its hard work and it makes you short of breath. To fly over the channel takes only twenty minutes as long as youre not held up
26、 at the airport, but its an expensive way to travel. You can travel by hovercraft(气垫船) if you dont mind the noise and that takes forty minutes. Otherwise , you can go by boat, if you remember sea-sickness pills. All these means of transport (运输) have their problems, and the weary (厌烦的) traveler ofte
27、n dreams of being able to drive to France in his own car. “Not possible, you say. Well, wait a minute people are once again considering the idea of a Channel tunnel or bridge.” This time , the great London Council(议会) is looking into the possibility of building a channel link straight to London. A b
28、ridge would cost far more a tunnel, but you would be able to go by rail or by car on a bridge, whereas (然而) a tunnel would provide a rail link only.Why is this idea being discussed again? Is Britain realizing the need for links with Europe as a result of joining EEC(欧共体)? Well, perhaps. The main rea
29、son , though, is that a tunnel or bridge would reach the twenty square kilometers of Londons discussed stimulate(刺激) trade and revitalise (使.具有活力) the port, and would ,make London a main trading center in Europe. With a link over the channel, you could buy your fish and chips in England and be able
30、to eat them in France while they are still warm!The main idea of the passage is _ A how to develop the trade of London B crossing the Channel is difficult C how to get to Europe more conveniently D what to do in the development of traveling13 Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway c
31、rashes(撞毁)Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent strips, called cheverons (人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.Now the America
32、n Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japans success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint cheverons and other patterns of strips on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.Excessive spe
33、ed plays a major role in as much a one fifth of all fatal(致命) traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will carry its tests in areas where speed-related hazards(危险) are the greatest curves(弯), exit
34、slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars(水平障碍物)painted across roads can initially(最初) cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.Cheverons, scie
35、ntists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are, but also make a lane(车道) appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.The passage mainly discusses _.A . a new way of highway sp
36、eed control B. a new pattern for painting highwaysC. a new way to training drivers D a new type of optical illusion 14 Farmer ED Rawlings smiles as he looks at his orange trees. The young oranges are growing well in Floridas weather. Warm sunshine and gentle rains, along with ED Rawlings expert care
37、, will produce a good crop of oranges this year. But ED has to fight against Floridas changeable winter weather. In January and February, temperature can destroy EDs entire orange crops. Having farmed in Florida for the past 35 years, Ed Rawlings is prepared for the frosts(). When temperatures drop
38、below freezing, Ed tries to save his crop by watering his orange trees. The water freezes and forms a thin layer() of ice on the trees. Strange as it may sound, this thin layer of ice actually keep the fruit warm. What happens is simple. When the trees are watered, the water loses heat and becomes i
39、ce. The warmth of the heat it loses is sicked in by the fruit and keeps its temperature at a safe level.Ed Rawling has effectively used this method to save many orange crops. But Ed still faces some difficulties. The trees should be watered at the exact moment the temperature drops to the freezing p
40、oint. Also, just the right quantity of water must be used. Too much water can form a thick layer of ice that will break the trees branches. Another difficulty is that wind blows away the heat. So Ed has to worry about not only when but also how often his trees should be watered, and how much water s
41、hould be used.Computer technology may help Ed with some of these worries. With equipment, air and soil temperatures and wind speed can be measured. The information is fed into a computer which can tell when temperatures drop to freezing. The computer can correctly decide the quantity of water to be
42、used and how frequently the trees should be watered. Ed will find looking after his orange trees a lot easier with the help of a computer, and well all have the benefits(or advantages) of computerage oranges.The passage is mainly about_.A .a farmers expert care for his orange trees B. the different uses of computersC. growing oranges in Floridas changeable weather D. different way of frost protectionKeys to the exercise8. B 9. A 10. C 11. A 12. C 13. A 14. A.
