Twenty years later, Li stands out as the 1) woman tennis player in China. In 2011 Li won t

Underground Coal Fires -- a Looming Catastrophe

Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surrounding vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned.

"Coal fires are a global catastrophe," said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them.

Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tones of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Coal Ecology. Once underway, coal fires can bum for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases, poisonous fumes and black particles into the atmosphere.

The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to detect. One of the members of the panel, Assistant Professor Paul Van Dijk of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands, has been working with the Chinese government to detect and monitor fires in the northern regions of the country.

Ultimately, the remote sensing and other techniques should allow scientists to estimate how much carbon dioxide these fires are emitting. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Gary Colaizzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices), which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.

According to the first paragraph, one of the warnings given by the scientists is that

A．underground fires loom large in the forests.

B．coal burning deep underground is found in China.

C．poisonous elements released by the underground fires can pollute water sources.

D．arsenic and mercury are the most poisonous elements to water sources.

Underground Coal Fires A Looming Catastrophe

Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surroundings vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned.

"Coal fires are a global catastrophe," said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them.

Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the US economy consumes about one billion tons of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of coal ecology, once underway, coal fires can burn for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases; poisonous gases fumes and black particles in to the atmosphere.

The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to protect. One of the members of the panel, Assistant Professor Pan1 Van Dijk of the International Institute for Goo-Information Science' and Earth Observation in the Netherlands, has been working with the Chinese government to detect and monitor fires in the northern regions of the country.

Ultimately, the remote sensing and other techniques should allow scientists to estimate how much carbon dioxide theses fires are emitting. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Cary Colaozzi, of the engineering firm Goodson,' which bas developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices,) which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.

According to the first paragraph, one of the warnings given by the scientists is that ______.

A．underground, fires loom large in the forests

B．coal burning deep underground is found in China

C．poisonous elements released by the underground fires can pollute water sources

D．arsenic and mercury are the most poisonous elements to water sources

听力原文： The University of Michigan carries out a survey of the drug habits among young people every year. And this year it concluded that the teenage drug use is rapidly getting worse. 25% of the teenagers surveyed said they used an illegal drug at some time in their lives, an increase of 3% from the figure for 1993. Marijuana use is climbing back towards levels not seen since the late 1970s. And today Marijuana is up to ten times more potent than in the past. Cocaine use, which leveled off in the early 1990s is also making a comeback among thirteen to fifteen-year-olds. The LSD, which had dropped considerably in the 1980s, is also on the rise. Officials involved in the survey say the results indicate that young people no longer see drugs as dangerous. Instead the researchers say they are viewed as glamorous or trendy. The health secretary said it was time to sound the alarm and the secretary calls for a powerful antidrug message to be sent to children with parents leading the way.

We can infer from the news that ______ of teenagers under survey in 1993 were drug users.

A．28%.

B．22%.

C．25%.

D．21%.

What does the head of the IEA suggest as the reason for the increase of emission in China?

A．Because of the rapid development of private cars in big cities.

B．Because of the further promotion of China's open-up policy.

C．Because of governmental policy of refusing to limit gases.

D．Because of the rising consumption of gases in domestic heavy industries.

听力原文： The University of Michigan carries out a survey of the drug habits among young people every year. And this year it's concluded that teenage drug use is rapidly getting worse. 25 percent of teenagers surveyed said they'd used an illegal drug at some time in their lives, an increase of 3 percent from the figures for 1993. Marijuana use is climbing back towards levels not seen since the late 1970s. And today's marijuana is up to ten times more potent than in the past. Cocaine use, which levelled off in the early 1990s, is also making a comeback among 13- to 15-year-olds. And LSD, which had dropped considerably in the 1980s, is also on the rise. Officials involved in the survey say the results indicate that young people no longer see drugs as dangerous; instead, the researchers say, they are viewed as glamorous or trendy. The Health Secretary said it was time to Sound the alarm. And the Secretary calls for a powerful anti-drug message to be sent to children, with parents leading the way.

We can infer from the news that ______ of teenagers under survey in 1993 were drug users.

A．28%

B．22%

C．25%

D．21%

听力原文：Los Angeles today is the second largest city in America, sprawling over 464 square miles along the southern California coast. It is the center of the entertainment industry, end it has a balmy climate of mostly sunny days.

But there was a time when Les Angeles was nothing more than a tiny Indian village. The Spanish expedition searching for Monterey Bay camped there the night of August 1,1769. Twelve years later, other Spaniards started a settlement at the village, which remained unchanged for decades. Yankee sea traders used the settlement as a port, and the California gold rush brought some new economic life to the village, but the town remained quite small. It was not until the completion of the transcontinental railroads in 1869, and the discovery of oil in the 1890s, that the population began to grow.

Later, during the two world wars, Los Angeles experienced move growth, in part because of the new airplane industry. At about the same time, the arrival of two New York motion picture producers in search of sunny weather marked the beginning of an entertainment industry that has become a multibillion-dollar industry today. In just the past 100 years, this tiny sea village has grown into the sprawling metropolis that we know today.

(27)

A．European expeditions in the 1700s.

B．Famous sites in Los Angeles.

C．The growth of Los Angeles.

D．The entertainment industry.

In eyes of the writer, the best solution to the traffic problem in Atlanta seems to lie in

A．the enforcement of traffic regulations.

B．the challenge to Governor Barnes's arrogance.

C．the increase of commuter and car taxes.

D．the improvement of its public-transport systems.