:精编英语阅读理解220篇 石春祯

In it’s 4.5 billion years, Earth has evolved from its hot, violent birth to the celebrated watery blue planet that stands out in pictured from space .But in a new book, two noted University of Washington astrobiologists say the planet already bas begun the log process of devolving into a burned-out cinder, eventually to be swallowed by the sun.
By their reckoning, Earth’s “day in the sun” has reached 4:30 a.m. , corresponding to its 4.5 billion-year age. By 5 a.m. , the 1 billion-year reign of animals land plants will come to an end. At 8 a.m. the oceans will vaporize. At noon-after 12 billion year-the ever-expanding sun, transformed into a red gain, will engulf the planet , melting away any evidence it ever existed and sending molecules and atoms that once were Earth floating off into space.
“The disappearance of our plane is still 7.5 billion years away, bur people really should consider the fate of our world and have a realistic understanding of where we are going.” Said UW astrophysicist Donald Brownlee. “ We live in a fabulous place at a fabulous time . It’s a healthy thing for people to realize what a treasure this is in space and time , and fully appreciate and protect their environment as much as possible.”
The prospects of humans surviving by moving to some other habitable planet or moon aren’t good, Brownlee and Ward contend, because event if such a place were found, getting there would be a huge obstacle. Various probes sent into space could survive Earth’s demise, and just a few grams of material could arguably carry a DNA sample from every human, they say , but it’s not likely the human species itself will survive. Long before the planet’s final end, life will become quite challenging, and finally impossible, for humans.
As the sun gets hotter and grows in size, it will envelop Mercury and Venus. It is possible it will stop just short of Earth, the authors say, but the conditions still would make this a most inhospitable planet. More likely , though , the sun will consume earth as well, severing all the chemical bonds between molecules and sending its individual atoms out into space, perhaps eventually to form new planes. That would leave Mars as the nearest planet to the sun, and on Mars the fading sun’s glow would be like that of Earth’s moon.
That end is still some 7.5 billion years distant, buy by then Earth will have faced a variety of “ends” along the way, the authors say. The dinosaur perished long age. Still to come are the last elephant, the last tree, the last flower, the last glacier, the last snowflake, the last ocean , the last life.
“it’s a healthy thing go think of the place of Earth among the other planets, and its place in the sun. The sun gave life and ultimately it will bring death.”
1. according to the new book, the life expectancy of the Earth is ___.
A. 1 billion years B. 4.5 billion years C. 7.5 billion years D. 12 billion years
2. It can be inferred from this passage that____.
A.life is nothing B. the world is precious
C. man can never conquer nature D. the future of human species is gloomy
3. The authors if the new book believe that the human species will___.
A. disappear long before the disappearance of the Earth
B. Survive in the universe even if the Earth disappears
C. Find a place to live after the disappearance of the Earth
D. Be sent into space by various spacecrafts
4. All of the following things would come to an end before the final end of the earth, except___.
A. Mars B. animals C. plants D. oceans
5.The authors of the new book intend to tell readers primarily that___.
A. the Earth is nothing but one planet in the solar system
B. nothing can survive for ever
C. we should cherish our life and environment of Earth
D. the sun gave life and ultimately it will bring death.

石春祯2004阅读220篇No.2

TEXT 1-2

Making and selling fake copies of well-known products has been a nice little earner for crafty craftsmen over thousands of years: in Roman Gaul, unscrupulous potters would put the seals of better-known competitors on their urns so they would sell better. Until the 1980s, counterfeiting was a relatively small-scale business, restricted mainly to copying luxury fashion items, such as watches and leather goods, in limited quantities. But in the 1990s it was transformed into a much bigger, broader industry, with large-scale production and distribution of false versions of such everyday items as biscuits and shampoo. Modern technology is making it ever easier to create near-perfect copies of branded goods for a fraction of the retail price of the real thing.
By its nature, the extent of counterfeiting is hard to measure precisely, but a study by the International Chamber of Commerce reckoned that it grew from perhaps 3% of world trade in 1990s to 5% in 1995. John Pepper, chairman of Procter& gamble, a consumer-goods multinational, says it may now be 7%-9%, or over $450 billion a year.
In some developing countries, the authorities have had, at beat, an ambivalent attitude towards the booming manufacture of fake goods in their midst. After all, it created jobs for local people and, at first sight, appears only to hurt foreign firms, Thus the richer countries whose firms are the main victims have had to use a mixture of persuasion and threats to get poorer nations to crack down on the pirates, The Uruguay round of world trade talks, which ended in 1994, resulted in an Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual-Property Rights (Trips), which obliges all member countries of the World Trade Organization to impose penalties for counterfeiting and other breaches of intellectual-property rights: to enforce their piracy laws adequately: and to help firms inhibit trade in faked versions of their products.
Besides offering poorer countries trade privileges in return for a clampdown on counterfeiting, rich countries have tried convincing them that if they try harder to enforce intellectual-property rights, they will win more foreign investment. But, realizing that persuasion is having little effect, they are also resorting to threats: on January 15th, America issued a warning to the Philippines and Taiwan, two of the world’s leading piracy centers, that they may have their trade privileges taken away unless they crack down harder on the counterfeiting gangs. Taiwan’s justice minister, Chen Ding-nan, has vowed to rid the island of its reputation are a pirates’ den. But the counterfeiters are mocking his efforts: some pirated video discs of the new James Bond film “Die Another Day”, widely available on Taiwan’s streets, carry the taunting message “come and catch me, Chen Ding-nab”.

1.The first paragraph is written to tell us that___.
A.the history of counterfeiting is more than thousands of years.
B.Counterfeiting is an effective way to make more money
C.Modern technology is responsible for the booming manufacture of fake goods
D.Counterfeiting has become more and more rampant
2.The second paragraph is mainly about___.
A.the extent of counterfeiting in world trade
B.the difficulty to measure the extent of counterfeiting
C.a study by the International Chamber of Commerce
D.what John Pepper, chairman of Procter $ Gamble, says
3.The underlined word “ambivalent” in the third paragraph most probably means___
A. critical B. contradictory C. positive D. negative
4.in order for poorer countries to crack down on counterfeiting,___
A.more jobs have to be created there for local people
B.rich countries resort to both persuasion and treats
C.the World Trade Organization was set up
D.the Uruguay round of world trade talk was held in 1994
5.Rich countries intend to ____
A.offer poorer countries trade privileges
B.take away the trade privileges they have given poorer countries
C.clamp down counterfeiting in poorer countries
D.threaten the counterfeiting gangs in Philippines and Taiwan