话题15 自然、世界与环境(大自然)主题语篇阅读Ⅰ.完形填空For thousands of years, people farmed the land. They grew fruits and vegetables. They hunted and fished for meat. They 1 cloth, dyes(染料) and paper from plants. They used stone and metal for weapons and tools.People progressed to making machines powered by water and steam(蒸汽), and even later, by coal, oil, and petrol. Large cities were built. Factories 2 of machines created jobs in the cities for thousands of people. The Industrial Revolution(工业革命) changed the lives of many people because, for the first time, more people lived in cities than on 3 .Companies built power plants(工厂) to make 4 to run the machines, factories and cities.People did not realize these activities were 5 the Earth. They didn’t realize how 6 oil, gas, coal and minerals were being used up. As cities grew bigger and spread across the land, plants and animals began to disappear. Their nature homes were destroyed(破坏)as people moved into new places.As time passed, people began to 7 the need to protect the Earth and its natural resources(资源). They saw that plants and animals needed protection, so they wouldn’t disappear forever. People joined together to tell 8 around the world to conserve(节约)our natural resources and care for the Earth. And so, Earth Day was born. Each year more and more people take part in Earth Day. What can you do to help?( )1.A.separated B.washedC.made D.mixed( )2.A.full B.proud C.sick D.short( )3.A.mountains B.rivers C.grasslands D.farms( )4.A.metal B.water C.electricity D.oil( )5.A.helping B.harming C.wasting D.losing( )6.A. clearly B.hardly C.quickly D.slowly( )7.A.forget B.see C.remember D.get( )8.A.them B.other C.another D.othersⅡ.[2019·门头沟一模]阅读理解How Do Animals Spend the Winter?The weather gets colder, days get shorter and leaves turn color and fall offthe trees. Soon, winter is here. Snow covers the ground. People live in warm housesand wear heavy coats outside. Our food comes from shops or supermarkets. But whatabout animals?Animals do many different, amazing things to get through the winter. Some of them migrate. This means they travel to other places where the weather is warmer or they can find food.Birds can fly very long distances. For example, the Arctic tern nests(筑巢) close to the North Pole in summer. In autumn, it flies south all the way to Antarctica. Each spring it returns north again. Most migrating birds travel shorter distances. But how do they find their way to the same place each year? Birds seem to use the sun, the moon and stars for directions.How do they know when it is time to leave for the winter? Scientists are still studying this. Many see migration as part of a yearly cycle(周期) of changes a bird goes through. The cycle is controlled by changes in the amount(量) of daylight and the weather.Some animals remain and stay active in winter. They must adapt(适应) to thechanging weather. Many make changes in their behavior or bodies. To keep warm,animals may grow new, thicker fur in autumn. On snowshoe rabbits, the new fur is white to help them hide in the snow. Food is hard to find in winter. Some animals, like mice, gather extra food in autumn and store it to eat later. Some, like rabbits and deer, spend winter looking for leaves to eat. Animals may find winter shelter in holes in trees or logs, under rocks or leaves, or underground. Some mice even build tunnels through the snow.Some animals sleep for part or all of the winter. It is a special, very deep sleep called hibernation. The animal’s body temperature drops, and its heartbeat and breathing slow down. It uses very little energy. So it needs little or no food. In autumn, these animals get ready for winter by eating extra food and storing it as body fat. They use this fat for energy while hibernating.9.The underlined word “migrate” in Paragraph 2 probably means “”.( )A.controlB.changeC.fallD.move10.The passage is mainly about . ( )A.birds can fly very long distancesB.some animals remain and stay active in winterC.all animals have their own ways to get through winterD.some animals sleep for part or all of the winter11.We can learn from the passage that . ( )A.all birds fly away to the south for winterB.animals may have thinner fur in summerC.animals’ hearts beat faster in winter to keep warmD.the sun, the moon and stars can tell animals the right directionsⅢ.[2019·昌平期末]回答问题The Art of the ElephantsIf your cat walked across something you were painting and left footprints behind, would you consider your cat an artist? What if your bird held a colored pencil in its beak(喙) and painted on a piece of paper? Most people may think of animal art as a joke, but some people have been taking it very seriously.Elephants were used for hundreds of years in Thailand’s logging industry(伐木业). They moved wood from forests in areas where there were no roads. At the beginning of this century, when the forests of Thailand began to quickly disappear, the government put a stop to logging. All of a sudden, many elephants in Thailand no longer had a way to make a living.Some elephants were treated badly. Others had to try to live on their own and couldn’t find enough to eat. There were once tens of thousands of elephants in Thailand. Today, there are less than five thousand. When two Russian-American artists, Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid, first heard about the troubled elephants of Thailand, they knew that something had to be done to forever change the way people treated Thai elephants. Then, they came up with an idea to help these elephants.Komar and Melamid visited elephant camps in Thailand and began to show the elephant trainers how to teach the elephants to paint. At first, the trainers had to guide the elephants’ trunks. The elephants became more comfortable doing this with practice—and lots of sweet snacks—and finally started to paint on their own. The strange idea that Komar and Melamid had to save the elephants actually began to work. They even helped found several elephant art schools in Thailand and in other Asian countries. The elephants and their trainers go there to learn about painting and get supplies they need.Today, people begin to buy elephant artworks from galleries(画廊) all around the world. Some are even willing to pay more than $2,000 for the works of the elephant artists! Some people compare the cheerful, brightly-colored artworks to the works of some great abstract(抽象的) painters. Somepeople are just happy to buy these special and original(原创的) artworks. Others think they are helping the troubled elephants in this way. The next time you see a piece of colorful abstract art, find out who the artist is. You just may be surprised at what you learn!12.What may most people think of animal art?13.What did elephants do in Thailand’s logging industry?14.How many elephants are there in Thailand today?15.What was Komar and Melamid’s idea to help the elephants in Thailand?16.Please list one reason why people buy elephant artworks.【参考答案】Ⅰ.[主旨大意]本文是一篇说明文。