D) We only hear about earthquakes in the news every once in a while, but they are actually aneveryday occurrence on our planet. According to the United States Geological Survey, more than3 million earthquakes occur every year. That’s about 8,000 a day, or one every 11 seconds! Thevast majority of these 3 million quakes are extremely weak. The law of probability also causes agood number of stronger quakes to happen in uninhabited places where no one feels them. It is thebig

　　quakes that occur in highly populated areas that get our attention.

　　E) Earthquakes have caused a great deal of property damage over the years, and they haveclaimed many lives. In the last hundred years alone, there have been more than 1.5 millionearthquake-related fatalities. Usually, it’s not the shaking ground itself that claims lives; it’s theassociated destruction of man-made structures and other natural disasters it causes, such astsunamis, avalanches (雪崩)and landslides.

　　F) The biggest scientific breakthrough in the history of seismology—the study of earthquakes—came in the middle of the 20th century, with the development of the theory of plate tectonics(筑造學).Scientists proposed the idea of plate tectonics to explain a number of peculiar phenomena onearth, such as the apparent movement of continents over time, the clustering of volcanic activityin certain areas and the presence of huge ridges at the bottom of the ocean.

　　G) The basic theory is that the surface layer of the earth—the lithosphere—is comprised ofmany plates that slide over the lubricating (潤滑的)asthenosphere layer. At the boundaries betweenthese huge plates of soil and rock, three different things can happen.

　　H) Plates can move apart. If two plates are moving apart from each other, hot, molten rockflows up from the layers of mantle below the lithosphere. This magma (巖漿) comes out on thesurface (mostly at the bottom of the ocean), where it is called lava (熔巖).As the lava cools, ithardens to form new lithosphere material, filling in the gap. This is called a divergent plateboundary.

　　I) Plates can push together. If the two plates are moving toward each other, one plate typicallypushes under the other one. This plate below sinks into the lower mantle layers, where it melts. Atsome boundaries where two plates meet, neither plate is in a position to push under the other, sothey both push against each other to form mountains. The lines where plates push toward eachother are called convergent plate boundaries.

　　J) Plates slide against each other. At other boundaries, plates simply slide by each other—onemoves north and one moves south, for example. While the plates don’t drift directly into each otherat these transform boundaries, they are pushed tightly together. A great deal of tension builds atthe boundary.

　　K) We understand earthquakes a lot better than we did even 50 years ago, but we still can’t domuch about them. They are caused by fundamental, powerful geological processes that are farbeyond our control. These processes are also fairly unpredictable, so it’s not possible at this timeto tell people exactly when an earthquake is going to occur. The first detected earthquake waveswill tell us that more powerful vibrations are on their way, but this only gives us a few minutes’warning, at most.

　　L) So what can we do about earthquakes? The major advances over the past 50 years havebeen in preparedness, particularly in the field of construction engineering. In 1973, the UniformBuilding Code, an international set of standards for building construction,7 added7 specifications7to7 strengthen7 buildings7 against7 the7 force7 of7 earthquake7 waves.7 This7 includes7strengthening7 support7 material7 as7 well7 as7 designing buildings so they are flexible enough toabsorb vibrations without falling or deteriorating. It’s very important to design structures that canundergo this sort of attack, particularly in earthquake -prone areas.

　　M) Another component of preparedness is educating the public. The United States GeologicalSurvey (USGS) and other government agencies have produced several brochures explaining theprocesses involved in an earthquake and giving instructions on how to prepare your house for apossible earthquake, as well as what to do when a quake hits.

　　N) In the future, improvements in prediction and preparedness should further minimize theloss of life and property associated with earthquakes. But it will be a long time, if ever, before we’llbe ready for every substantial earthquake that might occur. Just like severe weather anddisease, earthquakes are an unavoidable force generated by the powerful natural processes thatshape our planet. All we can do is increase our understanding of the phenomenon and developbetter ways to deal with it.

　　1. Earthquake-related fatalities are usually caused by buildings，collapse and other ensuingnatural disasters, not by the shaking ground itself.

　　2. Besides movements of the earth’s plates, other forces such as volcanic eruptions, meteorimpacts and so on, can also cause earthquakes.

　　3. Earthquakes actually occur every day; most of them are not big enough to get our attention.

　　4. People generally think the ground beneath their feet is completely stable, but earthquakesshatter that idea in no time.

　　5. We cannot prevent earthquakes but we can actively find better ways to face them.

　　6. Earthquakes are hardly predictable, and people cannot be told when an earthquake is goingto occur.

　　7. Scientists have found out forces that cause earthquakes through years of efforts.

　　8. Architects now have designed flexible buildings to minimize the damages of earthquakes.

　　9. Scientists use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the apparent movement of continentsover time.

　　10. The convergent plate boundaries refer to the lines where plates push toward each other.

　　內容概要：

　　地震危害巨大，了解地震對減少其帶來的損失有著重要意義。本文講解了引發地震的因素、與地震有關的地殼板塊運動和地震的危害，并指出盡管人類還無 法準確預測地震，但一些必要的防御措施能夠減少地震帶來的損失。

　　答案解析

　　1. E 本題是對E段最后一句話的同義轉述。定位關鍵詞是Earthquake-related fatalities。原文用it’snot...that claims lives; it’s...結構指出“通常不是地殼晃 動引起的死亡，而是伴隨而來的房屋倒塌或其他自然災害導致的死亡”， 題目用...be caused by...not by...結構表達了同樣的意思。

　　2. C 本題是對C段最后兩句的歸納，題目將兩句話的含義概括為一句話。定位關鍵詞是 movements of theearth$s plates, volcanic eruptions, meteor impacts。

　　3. D 本題是對D段的總結。定位關鍵詞是get our attention。D段首句就提到每天都會發生地震，最后一句提到只有大地震才能引起人們的注意，本題就是 對這兩句話的概括。

　　4. A 本題是對A段最后兩句的同義轉述。定位關鍵詞是shatter。題目中的the ground beneath their feet同義轉述了原文中的the ground we stand on。

　　5. N 本題是對N段最后兩句的概括。定位關鍵詞是better ways。文章最后一句提到，我們能做的就是增加我們對地震的認識，尋找更好的方法來應對它， 與題干表達一致。

　　6. K 本題是對K段第三句的同義轉述。定位關鍵詞是hardly predictable。原文提到：雖然我們對地震有了更深的了解，但地震仍然不受我們的控制，地震 是無法預測的，人們不可能得知地震什么時候會發生，表達與題干一致。

　　7. B 本題是對B段第三、四句的同義轉述。定位關鍵詞是cause earthquakes。題目中的found out同義轉述了原文中的identified。

　　8. L 本題是對L段最后兩句的概括。定位關鍵詞是designed。原文提到：過去50年我們在應對地震方面取得了進步，尤其是在建筑工程領域。我們用特殊 材料加固房屋以應對地震的破壞，我們設計足夠靈活的房屋，確保地震不 會導致房屋倒塌，這與題干表達的完全一致。

　　9. F 本題是F段中舉例的一部分。定位關鍵詞是the theory of plate tectonics。原文提到科學家用the ideaof plate tectonics解釋很多現象，其中之一就是the apparent movement of continents over time。

　　10. I 本題是對I段最后一句的同義轉述。定位關鍵詞是convergent plate boundaries。題干中的refer to與原文中的are called屬于同義轉述。

　　做完這篇長篇閱讀練習題后，考生要記得掌握文中出現的重要單詞，希望大家好好準備，順利攻破六級大關。

　　According to the latest research in the' United States of America, men and women talk suchdifferent languages that it is like people from two different cultures trying to communicate.Professor Deborah Tannen of Georgetown University, has noticed the difference in the style of boy'sand girl's conversations from an early age. She says that little girls' conversation is less definitethan boys' and expresses more doubts. Little boys use conversation to establish status with theirlisteners.

　　These differences continue into adult life, she says. In public conversations, men talk most andinterrupt other speakers more. In private conversations, men and women speak in equal amounts—although they say things in a different style. Professor Tannen believes that, for woman, privatetalking is a way to establish and test intimacy. For men, private talking is a way to explore thepower structure of a relationship.

　　Teaching is one job where the differences between men's and women's ways of talking show.When a man teaches a woman, says Professor Tannen, he wants to show that he has moreknowledge, and hence more power in conversation. When a woman teaches another woman,however, she is more likely to take a sharing approach and to encourage her student to join in.But Professor Tannen does not believe that women are naturally more helpful. She says women feelthey achieve power by being able to help others. Although the research suggests men talk andinterrupt people more than women, Professor Tannen says, women actually encourage this tohappen because they believe it will lead to more intimacy and help to establish a relationship.

　　Some scientists who are studying speech think that the brain is pre¬programmed for language.As we are usually taught to speak by women, it seems likely that the brain must have a sexualbias(傾向性) in its programming,

　　otherwise male speech patterns would not arise at all.

　　1. In the opinion of the writer, women encourage men to talk because

　　A. it will lead to more intimacy and help to establish a relationship

　　B. it will help to establish status with their listeners

　　C. it will help to express more clearly

　　D. it will help to communicate better

　　2. There are_______in little girls' conversation than in boys'.

　　A. fewer doubts B. more demands

　　C. more doubts D. fewer uncertainties

　　3. Some scientists believe that brain is pre-programmed for language. The word "preprogrammed" means_______.

　　A. programmed already B. programmed before one is born

　　C. programmed early D. programmed by women

　　4. In private conversation, women speak

　　A. the same things as men B. less than men

　　C. more than men D. as much as men

　　5. The theme of this article is _______.

　　A. women are naturally more helpful

　　B. men and women talk different languages

　　C. men talk most and interrupt other speakers more

　　D. little girls' conversation is less definite

　　參考答案：

　　1. A 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. B