Development of a widely accepted chronology for the arrival of humans has been equally difficult, and it was only with the development of optically stimulated luminescence dating that a human presence in Australia was confirmed at 53,000 to 60,000 years ago. Older dates for a human presence in Australia have now been shown to be erroneous .
The importance of Australia as a separate natural laboratory in which to test extinction theories lies in the fact that humans arrived there much earlier than they arrived in the other continental areas (the Americas and northern Eurasia) that experienced substantial megafaunal extinction. What Miller et al. have shown is that the extinction of Genyornis occurred simultaneously across southeastern Australia (indeed probably right across the continent) about 50,000 years ago. This is very close to the presently accepted time of arrival of humans in Australia. It was also a period of modest climate change, well before the dramatic climatic fluctuations of the terminal Pleistocene. The data of Miller et al., therefore, support those who see human hunting rather than climate as causing the extinction of the megafauna.
Genyornis was a ponderous bird, around 80 to 100 kg in weight, about twice as heavy as the living emu and cassowary. It was an inhabitant of Australia?s inland plains and some coastal regions, but its legs were relatively short and thick, suggestion that it was a slower runner than the emu. Proponents of human?caused extinction suggest that it is just such characteristics that made the megafauna vulnerable to human hunting.
A new school of thought has recently established itself in the extinction debate. It advocates the idea that a combination of human impact and climate change was responsible for the extinction of the world?s megafauna. The new Genyornis data also weaken that argument, for the following reason. Fifty thousand years ago, Australia was experiencing mild cooling; 11,000 to 12,000 years ago, the Americas were experiencing rapid warming. These disparate climatic conditions, all coincident with megafaunal extinction, suggest that whatever was happening with climate, it was bad for the big animals. Under these conditions, the hybrid model becomes indistinguishable from the human?caused extinction model for the influence of climate becomes extremely weak, and only the arrival of humans is important in predicting extinction.
小題1: The last word “megafauna” in Paragraph 2 most probably means
A  birds.  B  plants.
C  big animals.  D  small animals.
小題2: Genyornis was vulnerable to human hunting because it was
A  a delicacy.  B  very weak.
C  very small in size.  D  clumsy.
小題3:  How many models have been put forward for the extinction of Genyoris?
A  One.  B  Two.
C  Three.  D  Four.
小題4: That Australia experienced mild cooling and the Americas rapid warming suggests that
A  the climatic conditions were unfit for Genyornis to live.
B  Genyornis were highly adaptable to different climatic conditions.
C  The two climatic conditions were both bad for Genyornis.
D  The climatic conditions had nothing to do with the extinction of Genyoris.
小題5: The selection is mainly about
A  the debate over the time of the human presence in Australia.
B  the relationship between the human presence and magafaunal extinction.
C  the relationship between human activities and climatic changes.
D  the debate over factors causing megafaunal extinction.

小題1:C
小題2:D
小題3:C
小題4:D
小題5:D

小題1:［C  big animals.
【本題考點(diǎn)】 詞語(yǔ)釋義題。
【試題精解】 考生如果有一定的構(gòu)詞法知識(shí)一眼就可看出該題的答案。 “mega”在英文中指 “big”；fauna指 “animals” ，顯然［C 為正確答案�？忌绻麤]有這方面的知識(shí)，也可以利用上下文來判斷。作者在提到megafauna后緊接著提到了Genyornis,在第三段開始對(duì)其進(jìn)行了描述： “Genyornis was a ponderous bird, around 80 to 100kg in weight, about twice as heavy as the living emu and cassowary.” 足見其大。
【考點(diǎn)出處】 第二段末句，但對(duì)該詞的推斷卻應(yīng)聯(lián)系上下文。
小題2:  ［D  clumsy.
【本題考點(diǎn)】 細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題精解】 第三段中指出 “it is such characteristics that made the megafauna vulnerable to human hunting” “such characteristics” 指的是其 “heavy, short and thick”, 即 “clumsy”。
【考點(diǎn)出處】 根據(jù)第三段第二句可知它的腿短而粗，跑得慢，［D 項(xiàng)clumsy“笨拙的”與句意一致。
小題3:  ［C  Three.
【本題考點(diǎn)】 細(xì)節(jié)判斷題。
【試題精解】 文中共提到了三種：（1）Human hunting;（2）Climate;（3）Human impact and climate change。
【考點(diǎn)出處】 第二、三、四段中。
小題4:［D  The climatic conditions had nothing to do with the extinction of Genyoris.
【本題考點(diǎn)】 推理暗示題。
【試題精解】 澳大利亞經(jīng)歷了 “mild cooling”, 美洲經(jīng)歷了 “rapid warming”, 而兩個(gè)地方都出現(xiàn)了Genyornis的滅絕，說明氣候?qū)ζ錅缃^并未產(chǎn)生什么影響。在文中最后一段作者也指出 “the influence of climate becomes extremely weak, and only the arrival of humans is important in predicting extinction.”
【考點(diǎn)出處】 第二段和第四段。
小題5:［D  the debate over factors causing megafaunal extinction.
【本題考點(diǎn)】 主旨大意題。
【試題精解】 本文重點(diǎn)介紹了造成“magafaunal extinction”的三種原因，所以［D 為正確答案。
【考點(diǎn)出處】 考察對(duì)全文的理解能力，實(shí)際上從第三題的做答中我們就可得出解答該題的部分相關(guān)信息。
■核心詞匯
1.chronologyn.年代學(xué)
2.luminescencen.發(fā)光
3.erroneousa.錯(cuò)誤的 ［同義  false, incorrect, inexact
4.megafaunan.巨型動(dòng)物
5.fluctuationn.變化 ［同義  oscillation, rolling
6.ponderousa.笨重的 ［同義  heavy, weighty, massive, bulky
7.cassowaryn.食火雞
■全文精譯
澳洲古代巨鳥滅絕探因
要?jiǎng)?chuàng)建人類是何時(shí)到來的、且為人們所廣為接受的年代表同樣也是困難的。并且只有在光學(xué)模擬發(fā)光測(cè)定年代的方法發(fā)展起來后，人們才確定53，000年到60，000年前澳洲有了人類，現(xiàn)在已證明更久遠(yuǎn)的年代是錯(cuò)誤的。
之所以把澳洲稱為試驗(yàn)種族滅絕理論的天然實(shí)驗(yàn)室，其重要性在于（lie in）：人類到達(dá)這兒的年代要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)先于到達(dá)經(jīng)歷過巨型動(dòng)物滅亡的其他大陸（如歐洲和歐亞大陸北部）的年代。Miller等人向我們說明，“巨鳥”于50，000年前在澳洲南部同時(shí)滅絕，這和人們普遍接受的人類到達(dá)澳洲大陸的時(shí)間相當(dāng)接近。這也是氣候溫和的時(shí)期，隨后很久才發(fā)生了更新世晚期滅絕性的氣候劇變。Miller的資料支撐了認(rèn)為人類捕獵而非氣候變化是巨獸滅絕的原因的觀點(diǎn)。
“巨鳥”是遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)期一種巨型鳥類，重約80到100公斤，是鴯鹋和食火雞的兩倍重。它是澳洲內(nèi)陸和沿海地區(qū)的動(dòng)物，但它的腿相對(duì)短而粗，證明它不如鴯鹋跑得快。堅(jiān)持人類導(dǎo)致這種鳥滅絕的人說，它們的這種特性使它們很容易受到（be vulnerable to ...）捕殺。
在這一“滅絕爭(zhēng)論”中，新的學(xué)派又建立了。他們贊成人類及氣候因素結(jié)合導(dǎo)致（be responsible for ...）了世界范圍巨型動(dòng)物的滅絕的觀點(diǎn)。新的巨鳥資料也削弱了這種爭(zhēng)論，原因如下：50，000年前，澳洲氣候逐漸變冷；11，000到12，000年前，美洲氣溫迅速上升。這些完全相異的氣候條件正好與巨鳥滅絕時(shí)期相吻合（be coincident with）。這說明，無論氣候怎樣變化，巨型動(dòng)物還是難逃厄運(yùn)。在這種情況下（under these conditions），這種結(jié)合兩種說法的觀點(diǎn)就變得與人類導(dǎo)致其滅絕的觀點(diǎn)難以區(qū)別了。因?yàn)樵谒麄兛磥�，氣候影響是那么微弱，只有人類的到來才預(yù)示了巨型動(dòng)物的滅絕。
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

In today’s throwaway society，dealing with the city’s growing mountain of waste is an increasing challenge for the city council (市議會(huì))．
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A．recyclingB．restoring
C．buryingD．burning
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B．meet the EU requirements
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D．replace landfill sites
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A．it came from a private company
B．the council was not interested in it
C．it was not supported by EU
D．the local people were against it
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A．To open a new landfill nearby.
B．To close the Powderhall landfill in 2015.
C．To set up a plant for burning waste.
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


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A．there is a relationship between hearing and seeing
B．the saying has some influence on their research
C．you should read the research findings in this article
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Can a Language Become Extinct? 
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A．listing definitions
B．providing examples
C．presenting causes and effects
D．comparing with other opinions
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B．Environment is important in language protection.
C．People can do little about a language's extinction.
D．Measures should be taken in spite of difficulties.
小題4:The author believes that ________.
A．a(chǎn)ll languages are finally going to die out
B．human wisdom can be reflected in languages
C．the protective approaches have proved ineffective
D．the current situation of languages hardly requires attention

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

In English the spelling of words does not always represent the sound. So people say /rait/ but spell it right or write, or even rite. Combinations of letters may be pronounced in many ways. And some words just seem to have too many letters.
　 For Americans things are a little bit easier, thanks to the work of Noah Webster, a teacher who graduated from Yale University in 1778. As a young man, he had fought against the British in the American War of Independence, and he felt that written English in the newly independent United States should have a distinctive American look.
　 So he began his work on American English. His first book, The Elementary Spelling Book, suggested simplifying the spelling of English words. The book was extremely popular. By the 1850s, it was selling one million copies a year, making it one of the most popular school books ever.
　 Many of the suggestions were quickly adopted. Center instead of centre, program instead of programme, and flavor instead of flavour. Others, however, such as removing silent letters like s in island or the final e in examine, were not .
Webster is best known for his American Dictionary of the English language, which first appeared in 1828. It introduced lots of new American words, with information about their pronunciation and use, and, of course, the new spelling. The British criticized the dictionary, but it quickly became a standard reference book in the States. Today, Webster's dictionary is still the number one dictionary for American students.　　
小題1:What is the text mainly about?
A．Webster and his best sellers.
B．British and American English.
C．The history of American English.
D．The man who made spelling simple.
小題2:Which is the right order according to the text?
①Webster graduated from Yale University.
②American Dictionary of the English language came out.
③Webster's book was selling one million copies a year.
④Webster took part in the American War of Independence.
A．②①③④B．③①②④C．④①③②D．①②③④
小題3:What can we learn from the text?
A. All the spelling of words does not represent the sound.
B. The Elementary Spelling Book was published in the 1850s.
C. Webster's suggestions were accepted completely.
小題4:What attitude do the British have towards Webster's dictionary?
A．They thought highly of it.
B．They found fault with it.
C．They argued bitterly about it.
D．They followed the examples of it.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

This may be music to your ears.
Researchers P. Jason Rentfrow and Samuel Gosling gave 3,500 people a personality quiz. Then they asked them to name their favorite kind of music. “We found that the musical style people like are closely linked to their personalities,” Gosling says.
RAP/HIP-HOP
Known for their quick speech, some rappers can say more than 700 syllables (音節(jié)) a minute!
If you like rap/hip-hop, you are energetic and have a way with words. You put a fresh spin on things, whether it’s new moves on the dance floor or your hip style.
CLASSLCAL
In the 18th century, classical musicians were like rock stars. Beethoven and Mozart, for example, played in packed concert halls.
If you like classical, you are open to new ideas and like debating with friends. Creative and imaginative, you can easily spend many hours scrapbooking, writing or painting.
COUNTRY
Country music came from the folk songs of English, Scottish, and Irish settlers of the southeastern United States.
If you like country, you express your opinions well, which makes you the ideal class president or team captain. Traditional and loyal, you enjoy spending time with your family.
POP
Pop music is designed to appeal to (吸引) almost everyone, and it does. Each year, the industry brings in about 30 billion dollars!
If you like pop, you are attractive to your friends. You can make big things happen, like planning for a huge party or inspiring your team to victory.
ROCK
In the 1950s, rock music created a brand-new culture. Teenagers, for the first time, had an identity separate from adults and children.
If you like rock, you are a risk-taker who never accepts no for an answer. You rise to any challenge, like doing very well in a big exam or landing the lead in the school play.
If these personality profiles don’t match you, that’s OK. These are just for fun.
小題1:What does the underlined part “You put a fresh spin on things” mean in the passage?
A．You can express your idea in a clever way that makes it seem better than it really is.
B．You have the ability to attract others’ attention.
C．You are always willing to communicate with others.
D．You are willing to express your thoughts to others all the time.
小題2:If you like pop music,           .
A．you are traditional and prefer to stay with your family
B．you are easy to accept new ideas
C．you are welcome and your friends all like to be with you
D．you have a quick speech and can say 30 words in a minute
小題3:We can know from this passage that           .
A．in the 18th century, classical musicians were like pop stars
B．country music came from the old songs of the Native Americans
C．pop music is liked by the largest number of people in the world
D．everyone can find his personality in this passage
小題4:What’s the main idea of the passage?
A．When music came into being.
B．What your favorite music says about you.
C．Some basic information about music.
D．How to like music.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

I used to think of myself as a fairly open person, but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and the Australian and South African book, my literature collection consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I hardly ever read anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors.
So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing. As I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, I decided to ask the planet’s readers for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.
The response was amazing. Before I knew it, people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books from their home countries. Others did hours of research on my behalf. In addition, several writers sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works otherwise unavailable to the 62% of the British who only speak English. Even so, selecting books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 percent of literary works published in the UK and Ireland, getting English versions (版本)of stories was difficult.
But the effort was worth it. I found I was visiting the mental space of the storytellers. These stories not only opened my mind to the real life in other places, but opened my heart to the way people there might feel.
And that in turn changed my thinking. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe, I realised I was not alone, but part of a network that spread all over the planet. 
小題1:Which of the following might be found on the blog A Year of Reading the World?
A．Lists of English version books.
B．Research on English literature.
C．Unfinished novels by British writers.
D．Comments on English literature.
小題2:Why was it hard for the author to select the right books to read?
A．The author had a busy schedule.
B．The author was only interested in a few topics.
C．The author could only read books written in English.
D．Most books recommended are not available in local bookshops.
小題3:The author is probably from_________.
A．AmericaB．the UKC．AustraliaD．Canada
小題4:Which of the following words can best describe the author’s experience?
A．fast and effortlessB．challenging but rewarding
C．hopeless but beneficialD．meaningful but fruitless

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

More and more Italians are leaving their country because they can not get a job. One in every three Italians say they are willing to go abroad, sometimes even to other continents to get work. Currently, about 300,000 young Italians may be living abroad.
Although emigration has always been a choice for Italians, especially for those who left the country at the beginning of the twentieth century, more young Italians think leaving their home country is the only way to escape economic difficulty. These young Italians, however, are not poor farmers or laborers but bright university graduates and other talented young people.
Many of them want to go to richer places, like northern Europe, but they are also prepared to go elsewhere. Most of them describe a feeling of unhappiness and frustration. They are not sure which direction their country is heading and feel no longer proud of being Italians.
Many leave because they think that getting a good job is possible in other countries where all doors are open to you if you are young and dynamic. However, in Italy everything is boring and old-fashioned. Italy’s economic system is largely based on family structures and the elderly who don’t want to give up power. Corruption(腐敗) is also a big problem that simply won’t go away.
The Italian government is aware of the problem and says it must create new opportunities for its younger generation. But even if it starts working on a new style economy right away it may take years before things in Italy really change. The government has already passed laws which will make it easier for doctors, lawyers and other academics to start a career in Italy.
Many economic experts claim that Italy is doing a lot for its older generation but very little for its youth. For example, it spends little on housing, childcare but a lot on pensions.
小題1:Some people are leaving Italy mainly because they _____ .
A．want to get a jobB．want to travel abroad
C．prefer working abroadD．no longer love their country
小題2:The Italian government _____ .
A．is blind to the problem of emigration
B．encourages young Italians to go abroad
C．has taken some measures to change the situation
D．promise to offer more jobs to young Italians soon
小題3:Many economic experts think that the Italian government should _____ .
A．do more for its youth
B．try to improve its economy
C．stop its youth from going abroad
D．solve the problem as soon as possible
小題4:What problem is Italy facing?
A．Most of its laborers are old.
B．There aren’t any truly talented youngsters.
C．The government officials’ attitude is old-fashioned.
D．People with power are doing illegal and dishonest things.
小題5:Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
A．Italian emigration history
B．More care for old Italians
C．Young Italians are leaving Italy
D．The influence of economic difficulty

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