西南大学免师教育公共英语平时作业英语阅读作业及答案Everyone has heard of the San Andre

Passage 1

Everyone has heard of the San Andreas fault

（

断层）

, which constantly threatens

California and the West

Coast with earthquakes.

But how many people know about

the equally serious New Madrid fault in Missouri?

Between

December

of

1811

and

February

of

1812,

three

major

earthquakes

occurred, all centered around the town of New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi

River.

Property

damage

was

severe.

Buildings

in

the

area

were

almost

destroyed.

Whole forests fell at once, and huge cracks opened in the ground, allowing smell of

sulfur

（硫磺）

to filter upward.

The

Mississippi

River

itself

completely

changed

character,

developing

sudden

rapids

and

whirlpools.

Several

times

it

changed

its

course,

and

once,

according

to

some observers, it actually appeared to run people were killed in the

New

Marid

earthquakes,

probably

simply

because

few

people

lived

in

the

area

in

1811; but the severity of the earthquakes are shown by the fact that the shock waves

rang

bells

in

church

towers

in

Charleston,

South

Carolina,

on

the

coast.

Buildings

shook in New York City, and clocks wer stopped in Washington, D.C. Scientists now

know that America's two major faults are essentially different. The San Andreas is a

horizontal

boundary

between

two

major

land

masses

that

are

slowly

moving

in

opposite

directions.

California

earthquakes

result

when

the

movement

of

these

two

masses suddenly lurches

（倾斜）

forward.

The

New

Madrid

fault,

on

the

other

hand,

is

a

vertical

fault;

at

some

points,

possibly hundreds of millions of years ago, rock was pushed up toward the surface,

probably by volcanoes under the surface. Suddenly, the volcanoes cooled and the rock

collapsed,

leaving

huge

cracks.

Even

now,

the

rock

continues

to

settle

downwards,

and sudden sinking motions trigger

（

触发）

earthquakes in the region. The fault itself,

a large crack in this layer of rock, with dozens of other cracks that split off from it,

extends from northeastArkansas through Missouri and into southern lllinois.

Scientists who have studied the New Madrid fault say there have been numerous

smaller quakes in the area since 1811; these smaller quakes indicate that larger ones

are probably coming, but the scientists say have no method of predictingwhen a large

earthquake will occur.

1. This passage is mainly about

.

New Madrid fault in Missouri

causes of faults

San Andreas and the New Madrid faults

t scientific knowledge about fault

2. The New Madrid fault is

.

A.a vertical fault

B.a horizontal fault

C.a more serious fault than the San Andreas fault

sible for forming the Mississippi River

3. We may conclude from the passage that

.

rnia will become an island in future

New Madrid fault will eventually develop a mountain range in Missouri

is probably as dangerous to live in Missouri as in California

D.A big earthquake will occur to California soon

4. This passage implies that

.

ntal faults are more dangerous than vertical faults.

al faults are more dangerous than horizontal faults

rnia will break into pieces by an eventual earthquake

uakes occur only around fault areas

5. As used in the first sentence of the fourth paragraph, the word essentially

means

.

A. greatly

lly

ely

arily

Passage 2

In 1960-1961, Chad

（乍得）

harvested 9800 tons of cotton seed for the first

time in its history, and put out the flag a little too soon. The efforts of the authorities

to get the peasants back to work, as they had slacked off

（松懈）

a great deal the

previous year during independence celebrations, largely contributed to it. Also, rains

were

well

spaced,

and

continued

through

the

whole

month

of

October.

If

the

1961-1962

total

is

back

to

the

region

of

45000

tons,

it

is

mostly

because

efforts

slackened again and sowing was started too late.

The

average

date

of

sowing

is

about

July

1st.

If

this

date

is

simply

moved

up

fifteen or twenty days, 30000 to 60000 tons of cotton are gained, depending on the

year. The peasant in Chad sows his millet

（小米）

first, and it is hard to criticize this

instinctive priority given to his daily bread. An essential reason for his lateness with

sowing cotton is that at the time when he should leave to prepare the fields he has just

barely sold the cotton of the previous season. The work required to sow, in great heat,

is

psychologically far more difficult if one's pockets

are full

of money. The date of

cotton sales should therefore be moved forward as much as possible, and purchases of

equipment and draught animals encouraged.

Peasants

should

also

be

encouraged

to

save

money,

to

help

them

through

the

difficult

period

between

harvests.

If

necessary

they

should

be

forced

to

do

so,

by

having the payments for cotton given to them in installments

（分期付款）

. The last

payment would be made after proof that the peasant has planted before the deadline,

the date being advanced to the end of June. Those who have done so would receive

extra money whereas the last planters would not receive their last payment until later.

Only the first steps are hard, because once work has started the peasants continue

willingly

on

their

way.

Educational

campaigns

among

the

peasants

will

play

an

essential role in this basic advance, early sowing, on which all the others depend. It is

not a matter of controlling the peasants. Each peasant will remain master of his fields.

One could, however, suggest the need for the time being of kind but firm rule, which,

as long as it cannot be realized by the people, should at least be for the people.

6. In 1960-1961, Chad had a good harvest of cotton because

.

government greatly encouraged peasants

favored the growth of cotton

A

）

and B

）

gained independence in the previous year

7. We learn from the passage that the date of sowing cotton is usually

.

A. on June 15th

B. on July 1st

C. on July 15th

July 20th

8.

As

used

in

the

third

sentence

of

the

second

paragraph,daily

breadrefers

to

.

ast

and butter

9. In order to help them through the difficult time between harvests the peasants have

to

.

encouraged to save money

cotton in advance

cotton in time

millet first

10. Which of the following is NOT true?

ional campaigns are very important to early sowing.

ts should remain the masters of their fields.

all the advances that the writer hopes for, early sowing is the most important.

ment might as well make good and firm rule for peasants.

Passage 3