Directions:There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinishedstatements. For each of them there are four choices markedA.,B.,C. andD.. Youshould decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a sin-gle line through the centre.
57、Questions 57-66 are based on the following passage.
Small increases in temperature found to add power to storms in the Atlantic.
Hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean are expected to gain considerable strength as the global temperature continues to rise, a new study has found.
Using modeling data focused on the conditions in which hurricanes form, a group of international re- searchers based at Beijing Normal University found that for every 1.8~F(1~C) rise of the Earth's temper- ature, the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic that are as strong or stronger than Hurricane Katrina will increase twofold to sevenfold.
Hurricane strength is directly related to the heat of the water where the storm forms. More water va- por in the air from evaporating ocean water adds fuel to hnricanes--also called cyclones and typhoons in different parts of the world--that build strength and head toward land.
Hurricane Katrina is widely considered the measure for a destructive storm, holding the maximum Category 5 designation for a full 24 hours in late August 2005. It lost strength as it passed over the Flori- da Peninsula, but gained destructive power right before colliding with New Orleans, killing more than200 people and causing $ 80 billion in damage.
The study points to a gradual increase of Katrina-like events. The warming experienced over the 20th century doubled the number of such debilitating storms. But the ongoing warming of the planet into the 21st century could increase the frequency of the worst kinds of storms by 700 percent, threatening coast- lines along the Atlantic Ocean with multiple Category 5 storms every year.
"Our results support the idea that changes in regional sea surface temperatures is the primary cause of hurricane variability," said Aslak Girnstead, a researcher with the Center for Ice and Climate at the Uni- versity of Copenhagen. The large impact of small sea-surface temperature increases was more than Girn- stead and his colleagues had anticipated. The entire study was published in the Proceedings of the Nation- al Academy of Sciences.
Global temperatures have steadily increased, making the past decade the warmest on record. Earlier this year, climate researchers reported that the Earth's temperatures have risen faster in the last century than at any point since the last ice age, 11,300 years ago. The primary cause, a consensus of scientists has said, is the rising emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
Past hurricanes have supported the study's finding that global temperature rise is linked to more de- structive storms. According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, while the frequency of storms doesn'.t appear to have increased, the percentage of strong ones has risen sharply over the past few decades. The trend may be similar further back in time, but comprehensive hurricane data doesn't exist.
According to the team of international researchers based at Beijing Normal University, the rise of the Earth's temperature is likely to cause
A. the coming of ice age
B. less intense hurricanes
C. more Katrina-like or worse hurricanes
D. more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
58、 The ocean water in the region where the storm forms
A. is heating the hurricanes
B. evaporates and becomes fuel
C. heads toward land
D. turns into water vapor that makes hurricanes stronger
59、 Which of the following statement is TRUE about Hurricane Katrina?
A. It did not lose its strength as it moved.
B. It claimed over 200 people's lives.
C. It caused 80 billion dollars loss for Florida Peninsula.
D. It lasted full 24 hours.
60、 According to the passage, the word "variability" (Line 2, Para. 7) refers to
A. change
B. intensity
C. fuel
D. increase
61、It can be inferred from the passage that
A. there is no link between greenhouse gases emissions and destructive storms.E B. reduction of greenhouse gases emissions may reduce destructive storms.
B. the more hurricanes, the higher percentage of strong ones.
C. past records on hurricanes included everything needed.
62、Questions 62-71 are based on the following passage.
Many people are convinced today that the birth of the web is making us stupid. That the web is only superficial. That only dense books can contain and spread real knowledge.
I am coming to the conclusion that the opposite is true. That books make us stupid and that the web,
like the campfire and for the same reasons as for the campfire is what makes us clever.
All our foundational knowledge was discovered around the campfire. The fire elicited a social dance of interaction and community. Something like this happened about 100,000~60,000 years ago. For sud- denly our tool development, art and technology took off. All the foundations of our world today were dis- covered in a 10,000 year period. Tools had been the same for a million years. Within a 1,000 years they were completely different. We invented pottery. We invented metallurgy. The wheel. Everything we de- pend on was discovered then.
My bet is that it happened because of the social process created by the campfire and by our hunter gatherer culture of equality. Such an environment extracts order from chaos. Design from intuition. It is ideal for the exploration of implicit knowledge. It is ideal for discovering things that we don't know ex- ist. It is ideal for taking half baked ideas and refining them.
But with the book comes authority. With the advent of the book, much of knowledge development stopped. Only the in group was allowed to play. What mattered was not observation. Not trial and error. Not experiment. Not sharing. But authority. Most of the accepted authority were texts that had no basis in observation or trial and error. Worse because of the "Book" people who did observe or test were killed or persecuted. Only papers written and approved inside the authority system counted as being right. Peo- ple outside the authority system were discounted.
Knowledge was seen as an explicit thing--an object. The Book was its metaphor.
But now with the web, we have a global campfire. Once again, we can play with ideas, with obser- vations and experiments. Once again we can share with equals who will not knock us down. Even better, this time the group around the fire is not 35 people but all of us
According to the author, the similarity between the web and the campfire is that ________
A. neither of them is superficial
B. both of them can be around by many people
C. neither of them has a certain shape
D. both of them can provide an ideal environment for people to become knowledgeable
63、 Why did the author say "All our foundational knowledge was discovered around the campfire" ( Line 1, Para. 3) ?
A. Because the campfire gave some hints on the discovery of the knowledge.
B. Because the campfire, our tool, technology and art had developed.
C. Because the campfire had some magic power to create knowledge.
D. Because the campfire gave us a chance to communicate with each other.
64、 According to the passage, when was knowledge developed?
A.In a 1,000 year period.
B. As soon as the campfire was set.
C. A million years ago.
D. 100,000-60,000 years ago.
65、 According to the author, what does "Design from intuition. " ( Line 3, Para. 4) most probably mean?
A. Creating something without much thinking.
B. Creating something only by one's careless imagination.
C. Creating something from daily observation freely.
D. Creating something from strange dreams.
66、 What's the author's attitude towards the book?
A. Ambiguous.
B. Indifferent.
C. Tolerant.
D. Critical.