Passage Three

　　The US. government has recently helped people learn more about the dangers of earthquakes by publishing a map. This map shows the chances of an earthquake in each part of the country. (83)The areas of the map where earthquakes are most likely to occur are called earthquake “belt”. The government is, spending a great deal money and is working hard to help discover the answer to these two questions: l. Can we predict earthquake? 2. Can we control earthquakes?

　　To answer the first question, scientists are looking very closely at the most active fault(斷層)systems in the country such as the San Andreas fault in California, a fault is break between two sections of the earth’s surface. These breaks between sections are the place where earthquake occurs. Scientists look at the faults for changes that might show that an earthquake was about to occurs. But it will probably be many years before we can predict earthquakes accurately. And the control of earthquakes is even farther away.

　　Nevertheless, there have been some interesting developments in the field of controlling earthquakes. The most interesting development concerns the Rocky Mountain Arsenal earthquakes. Here water was put into a layer of rocks 4000 meters below surface of the ground. Shortly after this injection of water, there were a small number of earthquakes. Scientists have decided that the water which was injected into rocks works like oil on each other. When the water“oiled”the fault, the fault became slippery and the energy of an earthquake was released. Scientists are still experimenting at the site of these earthquakes. They have realized that there is a connection between injection of the water and the earthquake activity. They have suggested that might be possible to use this knowledge to prevent very big destructive earthquakes, that is, scientists could inject some kind of fluid like water into faults and change one big earthquake into a number of small, harmless earthquakes.

　　51. Earthquake belts are .

　　A. maps that show where earthquakes are likely to occur

　　B. zones with a high probability of earthquakes

　　C. breaks between two sections of the earth’s surface

　　D. the two layers of earth along a fault

　　52. The San Andreas’ fault is .

　　A. an active fault system

　　B. a place where earthquakes have been predicted accurately

　　C. a place where earthquake have been controlled

　　D. the location of the Rocky Mountain

　　53. What did scientists learn about earthquakes at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal?

　　A. They occur at bout 4000 meters below ground level

　　B. The injection of water into earthquake faults prevents earthquakes from occurring.

　　C. They are usually caused by the oil in the faults.

　　D. Harmful earthquakes can be possibly prevented by causing small harmless earthquake.

　　54. What can be said about the experiments at Rocky Mountain Arsenal?

　　A. They have no practical value in earthquake prevention.

　　B. They may have practical value in earthquake prevention.

　　C. They are certain to have practical value in earthquake prevention.

　　D. he article does not say anything about their practical value in earthquake prevention.

　　55. What is the most appropriate title for the passage?

　　A. Dangers of Earthquake

　　B. Earthquake Belts and Prediction

　　C. Earthquake Prediction and Control

　　D. Earthquake Engineering in California

　　Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage:

　　Passage Four

　　Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behavior. Viewed biologically, the modern footballer is in reality a member of a hunting group. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football and his prey into a goalmouth. If his aim is accurate and he scores a goal, he enjoys the hunter’s triumph of killing his prey.

　　To understand how this transformation has taken place we must briefly look back at our forefathers. They spent over a million years evolving(進(jìn)化) as Cooperative hunters. Their very survival depended on success in the hunting field. (84)Under this pressure their whole way of life, even their bodies, became greatly changed：They became chasers, runners, jumpers, aimers, throwers and prey killers. They cooperated as skillful male group attack.

　　Then about ten thousand years ago, after this immensely long period of hunting the food, they became farmers. Their improved intelligence, so vital to their old hunting life was put to a new use——that of controlling and domesticating (馴養(yǎng)) their prey. The hunt became suddenly out of date. The food was there on the farms, awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of the hunt were no longer essential for survival.

　　(85)The skills and thirst for hunting remained, however, and demanded new outlets. Hunting for sport replaced hunting for necessity. This new activity involved all the original hunting sequences(后果), but the aim of the operation was no longer to avoid starvation. Instead the sportsmen set off to test their skill against prey that was no longer essential to their survival. To be sure, the kill may have been eaten, but there were other purposes, much simpler of obtaining a meaty meal.

　　56. What is the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Hunting is very important in human civilization.

　　B. Sporting activities satisfy the desire of modern society.

　　C. It’s hunting that provides human beings with food.

　　D. The importance of sporting activities in modern society.

　　57. According to the author, sporting activities .

　　A. are essential to the survival

　　B. have actually developed from hunting

　　C. evolve as biological development

　　D. are football games

　　58. For over a million years. our forefathers were basically .

　　A. skillful sportsmen B. successful farmers

　　C. runners and jumpers D. cooperating hunters

　　59. The word“operation (Par. 4)refers to .

　　A. sports activities B. hunting C. farmers D. prey killing

　　60. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

　　A. The goalmouth is equal to the weapon in hunting.

　　B. Without hunting our forefathers couldn’t live.

　　C. After our forefathers became farmers they still hunted for food.

　　D. Farmers are satisfied with stable lives and they didn’t have enthusiasm for hunting any more