学习必备 欢迎下载
大学英语B （II）期中考试试卷
一. Reading Comprehension (20*2’)
Passage One
Acid Rain
When fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, and fuel oils are burned, they emit oxides of sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen into the air. These oxides combine with moisture in the air to form sulfuric acid, carbonic acid, and nitric acid. When it rains or snows, these acids fall on the earth in what is called acid rain.
During the 20th century, the acidity of the air and acid rain have come to be recognized as leading threats to the stability and quality of Earth’s environment. Most of this acidity is produced in the industrialized nations of the Northern Hemisphere --- the United States, Canada, Japan, and many countries of Europe.
The effects of acid rain can be very destructive to many forms of life, including human life. Its effects can be most vividly seen, however, in lakes, rivers, and streams. Activity in water kills virtually all life forms. By the early 1990s, tens of thousands of lakes had been destroyed by acid rain. The problem has been most severe in Norway, Sweden, and Canada.
Scientists use what is called the PH factor to measure the acidity or alkalinity of liquid solutions. On a scale from 0 to 14, the number 0 represents the highest level of acid. 14 represent the most basic or alkaline. Rainfalls in the eastern United States and in Western Europe often have a PH factor ranging from 4.5 to 4.0.
The threat posed by acid rain is not limited by geographic boundaries. Winds carry the pollutants around the globe. For example, much research supports the conclusion that pollution from coal-powered electric generating stations in the Midwestern United States is the ultimate cause of the severe acid-rain problem in eastern Canada and northeastern United States. Nor are the destructive effects of acid rain limited to the natural environment. Structures made of stone, metal, and cement have also been damaged or destroyed. Some of the world’s great monuments have shown signs of damage. This damage is probably caused by acid rain.
The cost of antipollution equipment such as burners, filters, and chemical and washing devices is great. However, the cost in damage to the environment and human life is estimated to be much greater because the damage caused by acid rain may be irreversible. Although preventive measures are being taken, up to 500,000 lakes in North America may be destroyed before the end of the 20th century.
Y for Yes, N for No, NG for Not Given
1. The developed countries of the world produce most of the acidity that cause acid rains.
2. The next tells us that the destruction of lakes by acid rains has been most severe where there is
学习必备 欢迎下载
the most industry.
3. Frogs can live in and have a greater tolerance for water that is more acidic than fish do.
4. We learn from the text that lakes are destroyed by acid rain because eventually they cannot support life at all.
5. The destructive effects of acid rain are chiefly limited to the natural environment.
Complete the sentences below using a word or words from the text.
6. The damage cause by acid rain to the environment could be ___.
7. The writer believes that before the end of 20th century the lakes in North America destroyed by acid rain could amount to as many as ___.
Passage Two
Industry and the Environment
Do you recycle your newspapers? Do you always take a shopping bag with you when you go shopping, so that the shop doesn’t waste plastic bags? If so, then you are a “Green”, you are “environmentally conscious”. That means that you are aware that human beings are using up the resources of the world too fast --- and that to conserve the world’s resources, we must “think green”. Consumers all over the world are increasingly beginning to realize the need to buy “green products” --- products that are economically and harmlessly produced, and harmlessly disposed of after use. There are also campaigns to encourage people to recycle glass, paper, plastic and metal. As a result of such campaigns, fewer resources are being wasted.
However, one thing is clever: without the cooperation of industry --- big business --- the world will not grow cleaner. For it is industry that turns raw materials into consumer products. Using modern technology, industry can create environmental disorder and confusion, wasting raw materials, and polluting the earth.
There are signs that industry is becoming increasingly aware of its power to preserve, or destroy, the environment. Industry has for some time tried to use natural resources more economically. For example, power stations have become much more efficient. As a result, they have become less wasteful in their use of resources.
However, in recent years, industry has come to worry much more about controlling the amount of pollution during production. Responsible companies are trying to reduce the amount of air pollution. Apart from releasing harmful gases, other problems include the discharge of heavy metals into rivers and the sea, and the difficulty of finding enough space to dispose safely of the world’s rubbish.
Industry’s task now is to find ways to reduce or eliminate forms of pollution. Increasingly the world will need products that, during their lifetime, do minimal damage to the planet, and that, at the end of their lives, can either be safely disposed of, or recycled --- put to new uses. So, companies are now trying to ensure that rubbish is disposed of safely, or recycled where possible.
学习必备 欢迎下载
Why should any company start this revolution? There are many pressures for change: customers’ tastes change, as the consumers’ tastes change, as the consumer starts to “think green”. Customers vote with their wallets and purses, as they question what products involve poisonous gases in their manufacture, and what products are biologically harmful during their use, and after their useful life comes to an end.
More relevant perhaps in the long run, customers also have an influence on government: governments are now imposing stronger regulations on industry, and heavier penalties for polluting. Governments can make new laws about chemical discharges, tax the use of raw materials, and punish companies for polluting accidents. In short, society will and must demand cleaner and less wasteful industrial processes, cleaner products, and cleaner ways of disposing of these products, or recycling them.
To develop these processes, and invent cleaner products, will call for whole new types of technology. The changes may well be enormous. What a fortune awaits the company that invents, say, a way of transporting people rapidly, safely and quickly, without discharging nasty gases, in a container that melts into the earth as soon as it reaches the end of its long life! The great engineering projects of the next country will not be the civil engineering of dams or bridges, but the bio-engineering of sewage works and garbage dumps. The stars scientists will be those who find cheaper ways to dispose of plastics, or to clean up polluted soil. For far-sighted companies, the environment may turn out to be the biggest opportunity for enterprise and invention the industrial world has seen.
8. According to the first paragraph, “Greens” are people who ___. A) classify waste before disposing of it
B) only buy agricultural products produced in greenhouses C) avoid using plastic shopping bags
D) know that the world’s resources are not limitless
9. An important factor in the preservation of the environment is ___. A) the cooperation
B) consumers’ choice of good
C) increased government control over industry D) proper guidance on waste disposal
10. When “Customers vote with their wallets and purses.” (Para. 6, Line 3) it means they can ___. A) influence the election of government officials
B) can ask questions about the kind of materials used by industry C) refuse to buy biologically harmful products
D) put pressure on industry by only buying clean products
11. There is a great future for companies that can ___.
A) find a cheap way to transport people quickly and safely
学习必备 欢迎下载
B) develop the technology needed for protecting the environment C) avoid the occurrence of polluting accidents D) ensure the safe disposal of industrial waste
12. In the next century, the task of important engineering projects will be to ___. A) find environmentally safe ways to treat waste water B) develop transportation system that do not pollute the air C) find ways to deal with waste using biological processes D) plan and construct bridges and dams
Passage Three
Rubbish Disposal
People don’t like getting their hands dirty. Rubbish disposal has always been left to society’s lower ranks, with an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude from people who are not directly involved. Today, however, both the increase in the amount and the complexity of waste produced are threatening human health and the environment as never before. The composition of waste has altered, the most dramatic changes being in the number of chemicals we dump. Chemicals in the form of pills, pesticide or paint are an essential part of our lives. The disposal of waste from these chemicals has increased the problems in the way we treat rubbish, forcing us to face what we would rather throw away. Pollution of water, air and soil is widespread. Lead in the air affects our brains. Heavy metals in the soil are taken up by plants and passed on to us when we eat them. The environment is seriously affected as well. Trees are dying from acid rain. Rivers run black with pollution. Mysterious green waste from petro-chemical factories spoil fields where children play.
The increase in complexity of waste has caught disposal authorities by surprise and today’s dangerous waste is showing up the shortcomings of the disposal systems. The most common form of waste disposal is the “tip”, nowadays called a landfill. Landfills are holds in the ground in which rubbish is deposited. The rubbish settles and then decomposes. Liquids leak slowly through into the earth and down into the groundwater, into the water which we drink and use. Nature is able to deal with a little such abuse but the quantity of waste has increased to such an extent that Nature cannot deal with it anymore. In order to cope with the problem of containing poisonous waste, modern landfill sites are lined with plastic or clay which can prevent their contents from leaking into the surrounding soil. But this is still a short-term measure: landfills will eventually leak.
Some rubbish is disposed of by burning. The effectiveness of this depends on what you are burning, at what temperature and where the smoke-borne waste finally lands. Black smoke means that whatever is in the furnace is not burning thoroughly. This can increase the danger to the environment, as in the case with certain chemicals found in lubricants, electrical transformers and many other things that we use every day. These chemicals are among the most poisonous ever produced, and are very difficult to get rid of. High-temperature burning is thought to destroy them, but if they are burned at a lower temperature, harmful poisons are released. High-temperature burning, however, requires expert handling and special furnaces, so it is expensive.
学习必备 欢迎下载
Dumping waste straight into the sea is especially popular with island nations such as Britain. The UK treats the seas around it as a personal garbage can, emptying most of its sewage there and allowing industries to dump their waste into the ocean waters. Britain’s dumping of nuclear waste in the Atlantic has caused a storm of outrage and the practice has halted for the time being. But Britain is now asking other countries for permission to dump waste in their territorial waters, far away from the angry voters at home with their “not in my backyard” attitude to waste.
Another way of dealing with waste is to recycle it. Industry is beginning to see the benefits in making use of its waste. Nothing, however, is better than prevention and we all have our parts to play. We only have to look in our garbage cans. Plastic containers, fluorescent light tubes, nail polish, fly sprays and garden chemicals all add to the problems of poisonous waste. Households don’t produce as much waste as industry, yet it can be just as harmful.
Y for Yes, N for No, NG for Not Given
13. The increasing amount of waste from chemicals has set the alarm bells ringing in the waste disposal industry.
14. Waste chemicals, like other forms of rubbish, can also be easily disposed of.
15. Nature is unable to deal with excessive waste, especially when it contains poisonous chemicals.
16. After being put in a landfill, waste will no longer be a threat to human health and the environment.
17. The highest volume of waste comes from human industrial activity.
18. Burning at a high temperature is the most efficient and economical way to dispose of poisonous chemicals.
Complete the sentences below using a word or words from the text.
19. Island nations like Britain find it convenient to dispose of their waste by throwing it into ____. 20. Because of the complexity of modern household waste, it can be just as harmful as waste produced by____.
二. Complete the following sentences with appropriate prepositions or adverbs. (20*1.5’)
21. Susan’s singing lessons resulted ___ her getting a part in a musical.
22. As soon as I was ___ board, I began to have second thoughts about leaving the city. 23. The pilot turned the plane into the wind to take ___. 24. These magazines are produced ___ vast number.
25. Break the chocolate ___ small pieces and melt it over a gentle heat.
26. In the afternoon it cleared; the clouds were carried ___; the sun appeared. 27. I can give you an explanation ___ why I’m late.
28. Her bike has never been used and is ___ perfect condition.
大学英语B (II)期中考试试卷
