2024年4月21日发(作者：invasive)

公共英语四级Geography考试试题

一、Reading Comprehension（共20小题,共20.0分）Read the following three

texts．Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D．

第1题

Humans are forever forgetting that they can' t control nature. Exactly

20 years ago, a Time magazine cover story announced that scientists are

on the verge of being able to predict the time, place and even the size

of earthquakes. "The people of quake-ravaged Kobe learned last week how

wrong that assertion was."

None of the methods conceived two decades ago has yet to discover a uniform

warning signal that preceded all quakes, let alone any sign that would

tell whether the coming tremor is mild or a killer. Earthquake formation

can be triggered by many factors, says Hiroo Kanamori, a seismologist at

the California Institute of Technology. So, finding one all-purpose

warning sign is impossible. One reason: Quakes start deep in the earth,

so scientists can' t study them directly. If a quake precursor were found,

it would still be impossible to warn humans in advance of all dangerous

quakes. Places like Japan and California are riddled with hundreds, if

not thousands, of minor faults.

Prediction would be less important if scientists could easily build

structures to withstand tremors. While seismic engineering has improved

dramatically in the past 10 to 15 years, every new quake reveals unexpected

weaknesses in "quake-resistant" structures, says Terry Tullis, a

geophysicist at Brown University. In Kobe, for example, a highway that

opened only last year was damaged. In the Northridge earthquake, on the

other hand, well-built structures generally did not collapse.

A recent report in science adds yet more anxiety about life on the faulty

lines. Researchers ran computer simulations to see how quake-resistant

buildings would fare in a moderate-size tremor, taking into account that

much of a quakes energy travels in a large "pulse" of focused shaking.

The results: Both steel-frame buildings and buildings that sit on

insulating rubber pads suffered severe damage.

More research will help experts design stronger structures and possibly

find quake precursors. But it is still a certainty that the next

earthquakes will prove once again that every fault cannot be monitored

and every highway cannot be completely quake-proofed.

From what the author said in Para. 1, it can be inferred that ______ .

A scientists can never be able to predict the coming of earthquakes

B the existing power on predicting earthquakes is somewhat exaggerated

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C quite a lot of scientific assertions are groundless

D earthquake predictions are beyond the reach of scientists

【正确答案】：B

【本题分数】：1.0分

【答案解析】

[解析] 从第一段最后一句可以看出。

第2题

One of the chief difficulties in accurate earthquake warning is that

______ .

A earthquakes may take place in anywhere possible

B earthquakes may happen at any unexpected moment

C most earthquakes take place simultaneously and unexpectedly

D the occurrence of earthquakes involves too many unforeseen factors

【正确答案】：D

【本题分数】：1.0分

【答案解析】

[解析] 见文章第二段中间。

第3题

What does the word "precursor" in the context in Para. 3 mean?

A A man that may come before the happening of an earthquake.

B The leading factor that may cause a series of events to occur.

C Any meaningful sign that indicates some would-be happenings.

D An event that may have symbolic or significant nature.

【正确答案】：C

【本题分数】：1.0分

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我们一直在努力做得更好！

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