Earthquakes are a natural disaster—except when they're man-made. The oil and gas industry has forcefully used the technique known as hydraulic fracturing (水力压裂法) to destroy sub-surface rock and liberate the oil and gas hiding there. But the process results in large amounts of chemical-filled waste water. Horizontal drilling (水平钻孔) for oil can also produce large amount of natural, unwanted salt water. The industry deals with this waste water by pumping it into deep wells.
On Monday, the US Geological Survey published for the first time an earthquake disaster map covering both natural and “induced” quakes. The map and a report show that parts of the central United States now face a ground-shaking disaster equal to the famously unstable terrain (不稳定地形) of California.
Some 7 million people live in places easily attacked by these man-made quakes, the USGS said The list of places at highest risk of man-made earthquakes includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Alabama. Most of these earthquakes are relatively small, in the range of magnitude (震级) 3, but some have been more powerful, including a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2011 in Oklahoma that was connected to waste water filling.
Scientists said they do not know if there is an upper limit on the magnitude of man-made earthquakes; this is an area of active research. Oklahoma has had prehistoric earthquakes as powerful as magnitude 7.
It's not immediately clear whether this new research will change industry practices, or even whether it will surprise anyone in the areas of newly supposed danger. In Oklahoma, for example, the natural rate of earthquakes is only one or two a year, but there have been hundreds since hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, with the waste water filling, became common in the last ten years.
1. What kind of human activities can cause earthquakes?| A．The man-made produced waste water in the factories. |
| B．The process of digging deep wells in those poor areas. |
| C．The advanced techniques used to deal with waste water. |
| D．The oil or gas industry's work connected with the earth. |
| A．Man-made. | B．Reduced. |
| C．Newly-built. | D．Controlled. |
| A．It's been said as small as magnitude 3. |
| B．It has been said as high as magnitude 7. |
| C．It's being studied without a final conclusion. |
| D．It has risen by an average of magnitude 5. 6. |
| A．Natural Earthquakes in America Are Disappearing Now |
| B．7 Million Americans at Risk of Man-Made Earthquakes |
| C．Time for Oil and Gas Industry Change Their Working Practice |
| D．More Often Earthquakes as Powerful as Magnitude 7 in America |
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【推荐1】Having lived in California until 1970, my family has felt a number of earthquakes. We have been fortunate, however, to have suffered no bodily harm or property (财产) damage.
There is a website that lists all California earthquakes recorded from 1769 to the present. The site lists the dates and times as well as the magnitude (震级) and the exact location of any quake that measured more than 6.0. There are only a few quakes that stand out in my memory and, luckily, none is shown in the website. So, my personal experience with earthquakes might be considered insignificant (微不足道).
There are three earthquakes that are difficult to forget. The first one was in 1955 and our oldest daughter was walking with me in our backyard in Redwood City in California. As the shaking became stronger I held her to me with one arm as I held on to one of our fruit trees with the other. All three of us (my daughter, I and the tree) shook for two or three minutes that to us felt like hours.
The second one was in 1963. Our entire family was visiting Disneyland in Southern California. The earth started to shake just as we were beginning to walk from our hotel toward the famous landmark.
My third experience with an earthquake was a lonely one in California. It was in my sixties and I was alone in an old church. As the building started to shake, I quickly headed for the door to go outside. I remember I said a little prayer-something like, “Help me get out of here in time, Dear Heavenly Father”．Minutes later, I was safe outside.
1. The author writes the passage mainly to tell us about________.| A．a new film about an earthquake | B．how to survive an earthquake |
| C．his three earthquake experiences | D．how to save children in an earthquake |
| A．all caused bodily harm | B．are all recorded in a website |
| C．all measured more than 6.0 | D．all happened in California |
| A．was staying with his daughter | B．was planting fruit trees |
| C．was working | D．was in a hotel |
| A．A church. | B．Disneyland. |
| C．A building destroyed by an earthquake. | D．The place where the author was born. |
【推荐2】Landslides occur when large amounts of wet debris (碎片), including rocks, earth, and trees, slide down a slope (斜坡). They may occur as a result of fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, or human activities. Landslides are particularly dangerous because they strike suddenly, move at extremely high speeds, and travel long distances. Although landslides are often difficult to predict, you can prepare for a landslide.
1. Keep yourself alert and awake. Landslides can occur quite suddenly, so you need to be ready to take action at a moment’s notice. Many landslide-related deaths occur while people are asleep.
2.
3. Contact local officials about past landslides. Landslides tend to happen in the same area where they have occurred before.
4. Make an emergency kit (工具箱).
| A．Notice unusual sounds. |
| B．Go to a public shelter. |
| C．Here are some tips which can help you. |
| D．Talk to local officials about landslides in your area. |
| E．In the event of a landslide or other emergency, choose a place. |
| F．If you are with other people, work together to keep one another awake. |
| G．An emergency kit contains the essentials that your household will need during an emergency. |
【推荐3】About 20,000 years ago,much of Europe,Asia,North and South America was covered by huge sheets (片) of ice,each many kilometres thick.Since then,the ice has gradually melted and the ice sheets have retreated.Today,the only ice sheets on Earth’s land masses are found in Antarctica and Greenland.Some ice also occurs as glaciers in mountainous regions and as floating ice floes (浮冰块) in the Arctic Ocean and around Antarctica.
At first sight,these remote left-overs from the last Ice Age seem of little importance for most of us today.However,nothing could be further from the truth.Many scientists believe that our planet is warming as a result of the greenhouse gases that we are pumping into the atmosphere.If the planet becomes warmer,the ice sheets will start to melt,causing sea level to rise perhaps several metres by the end of this century.Such a rise would cause widespread flooding of low-lying coastal areas and threaten many large cities.
Observations from space suggest that parts of the major ice sheets are beginning to melt more rapidly.Meanwhile,recent satellite images have also shown that unusually large areas of sea ice have been melting during the Arctic summer.Although sea level will not be affected by the melting of the floating ice,there will be other important environmental changes.For example,ice sheets act like a mirror,reflecting sunlight and cooling Earth.If the ice disappears,Earth is likely to become warmer and major climate changes could occur.Wildlife living in the polar regions may also be destroyed.
1. What does the underlined word “retreated” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Grown. | B．Reduced. |
| C．Formed. | D．Disappeared. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Critical. |
| C．Sincere. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Vast amounts of land will be flooded. |
| B．Large cities in the world will disappear. |
| C．The sea level will drop to its lowest level. |
| D．Global temperatures will see ups and downs. |
| A．Ice sheets melt faster than floating ice. |
| B．The melting of floating ice isn’t damaging. |
| C．Sea ice melting will have disastrous effects. |
| D．Space research contributes to climate changes. |
【推荐1】Some people seem to believe quitting means a lack of strength. And the willingness to suffer through anything with the aim of reaching a goal is a real symbol of honor.
The reward isn’t worth the effort. You may have imagined that losing 10 pounds or getting a 10% raise would somehow make your life 100% better. However, as you work toward a goal, you might realize that success isn’t going to deliver the giant reward you’d dreamed of.
Your goals have changed. Keeping in shape might seem like a good goal on January 1st. But, by March, you might set your sights on getting a new job.
Remember that you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.
| A．However, it is an easy thing to quit. |
| B．But quitting doesn’t mean you are a loser. |
| C．You, therefore, needn’t devote the time and effort it’d take to get there. |
| D．And then your exercise program may no longer be a top choice for you. |
| E．It’s hard to walk away from something that you’ve worked hard on. |
| F．People may question your decision to quit. |
| G．The process doesn’t agree with your values. |
【推荐2】Learning a second language is tricky at any age. Now, in a new study, scientists have worked out the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second language seem to drop: 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it's nearly impossible for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after age 10. But that's not because language skills start to go downhill. "It turns out you're still learning fast, "says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College. "It's just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old. People who start a few years after age 10 may still become quite good at a language," the authors say, "but they are unlikely to become fluent." Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children's brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they're better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing," Hartshorne says, "and children's brains seem to be a lot more skillful at changing. " Kids may also be more willing to try new things and to potentially look foolish in the process than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to obey the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank page.
These findings might seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical(关键的) period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than previously thought. Some scientists believed that the window began to close shortly after birth, while others extended it to early adolescence. Compared with those estimates (评估), age 17 or 18 — when language-learning ability starts to drop off—may seem relatively old.
1. What is the best period to learn a second language?| A．Before ten. | B．Early adolescence. | C．Age fifteen. | D．Age seventeen or eighteen. |
| A．They're less skillful. | B．They're less interested. |
| C．They're more flexible. | D．They're more stubborn. |
| A．Interest. | B．Chance. | C．Confidence. | D．Motivation. |
| A．It's Never Too late to Learn a Second Language. |
| B．It Takes Time to Be Good at a Second Language. |
| C．Do We Really Need to Learn Foreign Languages? |
| D．Why Kids Learn Languages More Easily than Adults. |
【推荐3】Signs That You Are Growing
Growing is a lifelong process. Here are the signs that show that you are actually growing and not getting stuck in the process.
Often, we see how badly people look when they get overly upset due to unimportant things. So the first sign of maturity (成熟) is letting the small things go and not getting angry over a tiny detail that didn’t go as you planned.
You start forgiving and understanding other people
When we are young, we are often unforgiving. As we mature, we are better able to understand the world beyond black and white.
You always complete things that matter
Immature people don’t know when to commit (承诺) themselves and their energy or resources are always not well employed.
You accept the possibility of being wrong
Being mature is knowing that you are always growing up. You are never done learning and developing. This means that you don’t set yourself up as the highest authority.
| A．You follow the crowd |
| B．You let the small things go |
| C．Instead, mature people focus on completing things that matter |
| D．Immature and mature people can both have plans for their lives |
| E．Rather, you open your mind to other ideas and new possibilities |
| F．Becoming more understanding is a sign of strength, not weakness |
| G．Mature people appear more confident, however, they are not overconfident |
【推荐1】As a student at a medical school, Sam thinks poetry is a big part of his life, thanks to his new teacher, Rafael Campo, who believes poetry can benefit every doctor’s education and work. Rafael is a physician, professor and a highly respected poet.
“Poetry is in every encounter with my patients. If we do anything when we’re with our patients, we’re really immersed in their stories, really hearing their voices. And, certainly, that’s what a poem does,” he said.
Rafael worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today: humanity, which he finds in poetry. To end that, he leads a weekly reading and writing workshop for medical students and residents. He thinks medical training focuses too much on distancing the doctor from his or her patients, and poems can help close that gap.
Third-year resident Andrea Schwartz was one of the workshop regulars. She said, “I think there’s no other profession other than medicine that produces as many writers as it does. And I think that is because there’s just so much power in doctors and patients interacting when patients are at their saddest moments.” Not everyone believes that’s what doctors should do, though.
Rafael said, “I was afraid of how people might judge me, actually. In the medical profession, as many people know, we must always put the emergency first. But, you know, that kind of treatment, if it’s happening in the hospital, very regrettably, sadly, results in a bad outcome. The family is sitting by the bedside. The patient hasn’t survived the cancer. Don’t we still have a role as healers there?”
In a poem titled “Health”, Rafael writes of the wish to live forever in a world made painless by our incurable joy. He says he will continue teaching students, helping patients and writing poems, his own brand of medicine.
1. What’s Rafael Campo?| A．He’s a doctor. |
| B．He’s a physicist. |
| C．He is a teacher in a senior school. |
| D．He is a student at a medical school. |
| A．Committed. | B．Forced. | C．Absorbed. | D．Persuaded. |
| A．It contributes to medical work. |
| B．It is mostly produced by doctors. |
| C．It has nothing to do with doctors. |
| D．It keeps doctors away from patients. |
| A．Gifted but overconfident. |
| B．Capable and responsible. |
| C．Honest and modest. |
| D．Cold but respected. |
| A．A good medicine tastes bitter |
| B．Poetry heals the pain |
| C．Sad poetry is a ready medicine |
| D．A poem a day keeps the doctor away |
【推荐2】It’s the end of August, and it’s time to start thinking about going back to school. For some, it’s a very exciting time. For others, however, they can feel very stressful. There are lots of things to do if you want to have a great first day at school.
Stay busy throughout the summer holiday. Usually those who struggle(挣扎)on their first days are people who spend too much of their summer holiday indoors and relaxing. So you should try to stay active and busy over the course of the holiday. There are lots of things you can do, such as getting a summer job or taking up a sport.
Continue learning over the summer holiday. People who struggle the most at first are those who aren’t learning over the holiday. Learning itself doesn’t have to be boring! You can learn about anything you want. Simply keeping your brain in the habit of learning will give you an extra advantage when it’s time to go back to school.
Spend time with friends that will attend the same school. If you have any friends living in the same neighborhood, there are chances that(有可能)you will go to the same school! Make a point of creating stronger bonds(关系)with those friends. Spend part of your summer holiday with them, and grow closer. While there’s always some worry about going into the first day of school, having friends around that care about you makes it much easier.
Buy your school supplies. The most important thing you can do in preparation for your first day is make sure you have all of the equipment you need. Though the types of materials you’ll need differ from class to class, certain things, like pens and paper, will be used for all classes.
1. Who is the text meant for?| A．The parents. | B．The teachers. | C．The headmasters. | D．The students. |
| A．Spend much time relaxing indoors. | B．Take up a part-time job. |
| C．Learn English every day. | D．Take part in a sport competition. |
| A．Those who fully prepare all the things for school. |
| B．Those who spend their summer holiday abroad. |
| C．Anyone who has attended summer classes. |
| D．Anyone who doesn’t learn at all during the summer holiday. |
| A．Friends really help when you are worrying about going into the first day of school. |
| B．Friends can offer to help you with your study. |
| C．Friends can accompany you to spend the long holiday. |
| D．Friends can give you advice when you buy school supplies. |
【推荐3】In the latest romance-drama, Descendants of the Sun (《太阳的后裔》), a handsome soldier Yoo Shi-jin（柳时镇） (Song Joong-ki)(宋仲基) meets the pretty doctor Kang Mo-yeon（姜暮烟） (Song Hye-kyo)（宋慧乔） in a hospital, and he doesn’t hesitate to hit on her.
The dialogue, which takes place early in the first episode( 集）, immediately indicates that this is no ordinary South Korean drama. There’s no family feud （不睦）, or love tangles, or guesses and misunderstandings. The 16-episode show is set in the fictional war-torn country of Uruk （乌鲁克）. Song Joong-ki is the leader of a special warfare command unit, while Song Hye-kyo plays a doctor who works for a humanitarian medical organization. Both are sent in the midst of disaster and disease as part of their work with UN peacekeeping troops. Both know and show clearly what they want and what they hate.
But what stands out the most are Song’s skills as a pick-up artist（撩妹技能）.
Boldness and creativity are the key weapons in his arsenal. When Kang invites Yoo to drink wine with her, Yoo , who is not allowed to drink alcohol as a soldier, says, “There is a way” before kissing her. Forget about the “eighth-episode rule” . This kiss happens in the fourth.
Humor also does the trick. On their first date in a cinema, Yoo says, “This is the most exciting moment of my life. The moment I am with a beautiful woman before the theater lights go out.” When Kang tries to give Yoo a hard time, Yoo jokes, “I mistook you for a beautiful woman because it’s dark.”
And actor Song Joong-ki, who just came back from two years of military service last May, makes sure he delivers his pick-up lines just right.
“In Deep Rooted Tree (《树大根深》) and The Innocent Man (《善良的男人》), he [Song Joong-ki] showed he had the steel to play fearless and heartless men – that he could be taken seriously as an actor, despite his pretty face. In Descendants, he hits the emotional core of every scene, whether he has to be bold and amorous, guarded and mysterious, or sad,” said critic Foong Woei Wan in The Straits Times.
1. What is the relationship between Song Joong-ki and Song hye-hyo?| A．lover | B．colleague | C．actor | D．doctor-patient |
| A．Because actors know and show clearly what they want and what they hate. | B．It broke the previous Korean old story. |
| C．It exits family feud and love tangles. | D．The pick-up artist is unique and special. |
① humor ② Boldness and creativity ③ bold ④ emotional
| A．①② | B．①②③ | C．②③④ | D．above all |
| A．Introduce a drama called the Descendants of the sun. |
| B．Song Zhongji could be taken seriously as an actor, despite his pretty face. |
| C．The Descendants of the sun open a new pattern to pick-up woman. |
| D．The reason why the Descendants of the sun gain success. |
