1、Khan AcademyReading Comprehension88 Passages两种状态：学习和测试?可汗阅读使用说明?Plastic pollution is globally distributed across Batteries have come a long way since Alessandro Volta Earlier this year a series of papers in The Lancet Picture two birthday parties:one for 4 year olds Men being,as has been said,by nat
2、ure,all free,equal The world is very different now Our courier says they take you right up to the castle The order was given to loose the main-skysail ContentsPart 1 Diagnostic Quiz1.Just as the Moons history was disrobed by laser ranging2.Scientists have known for more than 70 years3.The ability to
3、 travel mentally through time sets humans4.Amphibians have received much attention5.Nothing is more Australian than kangaroos6.A recent research collaboration has discovered7.Two X-ray space observatories8.Weve all heard the adage:practice makes perfect9.How exactly does the technology we use to rea
4、d10.When traversing cluttered environmentsPart 2 ScienceLevel 1 1.Many vertebrates and invertebrates show2.For about 100 years,the scientific community3.Willow trees are well-known sources of salicylic acid4.A Frankensteinesque contraption of glass bulbs5.Dark energy,believed to be causing the accel
5、eration6.The Human Genome Project has revealed that7.Food is energy for the body1.Building a road through wilderness certainly has2.Four billion years ago,Earths continents began3.Like an opera house,which has its public entrance4.The recovery of southern sea otters appears5.Plants,and all other liv
6、ing things,require nitrogen6.When it comes to evolution,islands are weird placesLevel 2 Level 3 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.1357911131517192123252729323538414447505356596265687174771.For reasons that are not entirely clear2.It seems like something out of a Robert Ludlum spy novel3.Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI
7、)uses4.Nitrogen is an essential component of proteins5.The planet Earth is made up of three main shells6.Over the last two decades,mind-body therapies(MBTs)7.A developing organism captured on time-lapse video8.Bacteria that make us sick are bad enoughLevel 4 1.There is currently a broad global movem
8、ent2.Online social networking sites,such as Facebook3.During my final semester of undergrad4.SCRABBLE has been one of the most popular Part 3 Social ScienceLevel 2 1.As case studies go,understanding the distribution2.Political communication scholars are keenly concerned3.Cute things are popular worl
9、dwide.In particular4.The publication of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimms5.If you walk down to the office gallery at Pearl sher Inc.,6.What explains prodigies1.The question of human overpopulation2.The health benefits of engaging in physical activity(PA)3.Questions of when,where,how4.Few scholars would dispu
10、te that music5.The oratory of great political leaders has beenLevel 3 Level 4 1.Dear Mr.President,I confess that2.Our object has been all along,to reform our federal system3.Seven oclock,and retired to my reside4.It was without precedent for a president to leave5.The first and most obvious light in
11、which the sea6.Mr.President,after Mr.Lincoln had been elected PresidentPart 4 HistoryLevel 2 1.It is not uncommon to meet with an opinion2.The history of Great Britain is the one with which3.Guard with jealous attention the public liberty4.From the part Mr.Burke took in the American Revolution5.We a
12、re often told that the world is going from bad to worseLevel 3 808386899295981011051081111141511541571601631661171201231261291321351381411441471691721751781811841871901931961.An old man and a boy travelled along this runway2.Would you like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play3.It was the first of April,a
13、nd Julius Barrett,aged fourteen4.Three young men stood together on a wharf one bright5.The mansion in Saville Row,though not sumptuous6.We walked through the field a long time7.When they had passed the little town of StourcastlePart 5 LiteratureLevel 2 1.My brother had just been appointed Secretary
14、of Nevada Territory2.One inauspicious circumstance there was3.Marc Girondin had worked in the filing section4.One afternoon,Mrs.Bretton,coaxing Paulina from5.The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance1.Selden paused in surprise2.Mrs.Allen was so long in dressing that they did not ente
15、r3.This was the first communication that had come from4.The Picton boat was due to leave at half-past eleven5.She sprang it on me before breakfast6.In the centre of the room,clamped to an upright easelLevel 3 Level 4 1992022052082112142172202232262292322352382412442472501.Today the Senate is stalema
16、ted in its efforts to enact2.It will not probably be denied that the burden of proof3.Another defect in our schools,which,since the revolution4.When,in the course of human events,it becomes necessary5.The difference between Mr.Wilson and myself is fundamentalLevel 4 111Diagnostic Quiz Questions 1-5
17、are based on the following passage.This passage is excerpted from Marcus Eriksens Plastic Pollution in the Worlds Oceans:More Than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing Over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea,2014.Plastic pollution is globally distributed across all oceans due to its properties of buoyancy and
18、 durability,and the absorption of toxicants by plastic while traveling through theenvironment has led some researchers to claim that syntheticpolymers in the ocean should be regarded as hazardous waste.Through photodegradation and other weathering processes,plastics fragment and disperse in the ocea
19、n,converging in the subtropical gyres.*Accumulation of plastic pollution also occurs in closed bays,gulfs and seas surrounded by densely populated coastlines and watersheds.Despite oceanographic model predictions of where debris might converge,estimates of regional and global abundance and weight of
20、 floating plastics have been limited to microplastics less than 5 mm.Using extensive published and new data,particularly from the Southern Hemisphere subtropical gyres and marine areas adjacent to populated regions corrected for wind-driven vertical mixing,we populated an oceanographic model of debr
21、is distribution to estimate global distribution and count and weight densities of plastic pollution in all sampled size classes.Plastics of all sizes were found in all ocean regions,converging in accumulation zones in the subtropical gyres,including southern hemisphere gyres where coastal population
22、 density is much lower than in the northern hemisphere.While this shows that plastic pollution has spread throughout all the worlds oceans,the comparison of size classes and weight relationships suggests that during fragmentation plastics are lost from the sea surface.The observations that there is
23、much less microplastic at the sea surface than might be expected suggests that removal processes are at play.These include UV degradation,biodegradation,ingestion by organisms,decreased buoyancy due to fouling organisms,entrainment in settling detritus,and beaching.Fragmentation rates of already bri
24、ttle microplastics may be very high,rapidly breaking small microplastics further down into ever smaller particles,making them unavailable for our nets(0.33 mm mesh opening).Many recent studies also demonstrate that many more organisms ingest small plastic particles than previously thought,either dir
25、ectly or indirectly,i.e.via their prey organisms.*In oceanography,a“gyre”refers to a large system of rotating ocean currents.Line5101520253035401According to the passage,ocean plastics are found in greatest quantities inA)subtropical regions.B)densely populated areas.C)areas that are not affected by
26、 UV radiation.D)coastal regions.2The main contrast that the author draws between this study and previous studies of plastic pollution is that this studyA)used samples of plastic pollution from all over the world.B)explored the physical processes involved in plastic degradation.C)estimated the distri
27、bution of larger classes of plastics.D)focused on plastic accumulation in subtropical regions of the globe.3Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?A)lines 8-10(“Accumulation.watershed”)B)lines 11-14(“Despite.5 mm”)C)lines 29-31(“The.play”)D)lines 37-40(“Many.
28、organisms”)Science Passage 111245In describing the distribution of ocean plastics,the author relies primarily on what type of evidence?A)Personal narrativesB)Historical trendsC)Data synthesisD)Expert opinionsWhich of the following statements most weakens the authors conclusion that there are fewer m
29、icroplastics than expected on the sea surface?A)Plastics of all sizes were found on the oceanssurface.B)Large plastics tend to fragment due to naturalprocesses such as biodegradation.C)Some plastics were likely ingested by organisms.D)The nets used in the study were unable to captureplastics smaller
30、 than 0.33 mm.311Diagnostic Quiz Questions 1-5 are based on the following passage.Passage 1 is excerpted from Michael Thackerays“The Long,Winding Road to Advanced Batteries for Electric Cars,”published in 2012.Passage 2 is excerpted from Julie Chaos“Goodbye,Range Anxiety?Electric Vehicles May Be Mor
31、e Useful Than Previously Thought,”published in 2015.Passage 1 Batteries have come a long way since Alessandro Volta first discovered in 1800 that two unlike metals,when separated by an acidic solution,could produce an electric current.In their evolution,batteries have taken on various forms,ranging
32、from lead-acid,to nickel-metal hydride,to current-day lithium-ion.Now,technological advances in batteries are more critical than ever.Coupled with the alarming rate at which we are exploiting fossil fuels,the world growing energy demand necessitates that we find alternative energy sources.With prese
33、nt-day technology,however,electric vehicles cannot compete with internal combustion vehicles.According to one review,“energy densities two and five times greater are required to meet the performance goals of a future generation of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles(PHEVs)with a 40-80 mile all-electric
34、 range,and all-electric vehicles(EVs)with a 300-400 mile range,respectively.”To make the leap,scientists will have to find new couplings of battery materials.Still,researchers are hopeful of a breakthrough.They can now use computing to accelerate the discovery of new electrode and electrolyte system
35、s.This creates a positive feedback loop in which computing informs experiments,and experimental results help refine the computing process.This high-throughput iterative process may be scientists ultimate hope for discovering materials that can significantly improve the electrochemical performance,sa
36、fety and cost of batteries.Line510152025Passage 2 With todays electric vehicle(EV)batteries,“end of life”is commonly defined as when the storage capacity drops down to 70 to 80 percent of the original capacity.As capacity fades,the vehicles range decreases.Berkeley researchers decided to investigate
37、 the extent to which vehicles still meet the needs of drivers beyond this common battery retirement threshold.The Berkeley scientists analyzed power capacity fade,or the declining ability of the battery to deliver power,such as when accelerating on a freeway onramp,as it ages.They modeled the impact
38、 of power fade on a vehicles ability to accelerate as well as to climb steep hills and complete other drive cycles.They found that power fade for the chosen vehicle a Nissan Leaf does not have a significant impact on an EVs performance,and that a batterys retirement will be driven by energy capacity
39、 fade rather than by power fade.The researchers thus conclude that“range anxiety may be an over-stated concern”since EVs can meet the daily travel needs of more than 85 percent of U.S.drivers even after losing 20 percent of their originally rated battery capacity.They also conclude that batteries ca
40、n“satisfy daily mobility requirements for the full lifetime of an electric vehicle.”30354045Science Passage 21144The authors of both passages would likely agree thatA)humans need to stop using fossil fuels as anenergy source.B)researching the performance of electric carbatteries is a worthwhile ende
41、avor.C)the travel needs of U.S.drivers are likely greaterthan anticipated.D)electric cars will soon become more popular thaninternal combustion vehicles.5How would the researchers described in Passage 2 likely respond to the review quoted in the third paragraph of Passage l(lines 11-19)?A)They would
42、 argue that it is likely impossible tomeet the performance needs of future electric carvehicles.B)They would claim that most electric car driversneed batteries that can last for more than 400miles.C)They would agree that electric car batteries do notcurrently meet the needs of most U.S.drivers.D)The
43、y would assert that electric vehicles likely haveperformance ranges greater than initially thought.1Which situation is most similar to the“positive feedback loop”(lines 22-23)described in Passage l?A)A professional tennis player wins a tournament,which then qualifies him for additionaltournaments.B)
44、An online advertising firm sends advertisementsto an online customer,and the customers choicesinform which advertisements are sent to her inthe future.C)A thermostat turns on the heat when thetemperature drops to a certain temperature,andthen turns off the heat when the temperature risesto a certain
45、 temperature.D)A truck driver swerves to avoid a pothole.Seeingthis,the driver of the car behind the truck avoidsthe same pothole.23In Passage 2,one weakness of the Berkeley study is that the researchers A)focused on power fade instead of energy capacityfade.B)looked at battery performance beyond th
46、e“end oflife”threshold.C)used one type of electric vehicle to generalizeabout all electric vehicles.D)relied only on U.S.Drivers.The researchers described in Passage 2 rely primarily on which type of evidence?A)Experimental dataB)Literature reviewsC)Expert testimoniesD)Customer feedback511Diagnostic
47、 Quiz Questions 1-5 are based on the following passage.This passage is excerpted from John P.A.Ioannidis,“Scientific Research Needs an Overhaul,”2014 by Scientific American.Earlier this year a series of papers in The Lancet reported that 85 percent of the$265 billion spent each year on medical resea
48、rch is wasted.This is not because of fraud,although it is true that retractions are on the rise.Instead,it is because too often absolutely nothing happens after initial results of a study are published.No follow-up investigations ensue to replicate or expand on a discovery.No one uses the findings t
49、o build new technologies.The problem is not just what happens after publicationscientists often have trouble choosing the right questions and properly designing studies to answer them.Too many neuroscience studies test too few subjects to arrive at firm conclusions.Researchers publish reports on hun
50、dreds of treatments for diseases that work in animal models but not in humans.Drug companies find themselves unable to reproduce promising drug targets published by the best academic institutions.The growing recognition that something has gone awry in the laboratory has led to calls for,as one might
