2013浙江省宁波二模英语试题答案(3)

    In the north of Thailand alone, it was estimated (估计) that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen.
    This was at a time when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest—a habitat that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing ploughs through thick forest better than lots of sure-footed elephants.
    By 1950 the elephant population had dropped, but still to the number of 13,397. However, today there are probably no more than 3,800, with another 1,350 wandering free in the national parks. But now, Thailand’s forest covers only 20 percent of the land. This deforestation (采伐森林) is the central point of the elephant’s difficult situation, for it has effectively put the animals out of work. This century, as the road network grew, the elephant’s role as a beast of burden decreased.
41. What can we know about African elephants from the passage?
A. It is easy to domesticate them.
B. It is hard to domesticate them.
C. They are living a better life than Asian elephants.
D. Their fate is quite similar to that of Asian elephants.
42. Thailand was once called “Land of the White Elephant” because________.
A. white elephant was a national symbol until the 1920s
B. white elephant is rarely seen and thus very special
C. white elephant has helped kings to gain the ruling authority
D. this name was so romantic that it was popular among visitors
43. Why is the Thai elephant “out of work”, according to the author?
A. Because there are too many elephants but too few jobs.
B. Because the elephants can’t do labor work any longer.
C. Because the government pays little attention to the problem.
D. Because the elephants are no longer useful to their owners.
44. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the elephant population at various times?
A. There were 100,000 domesticated elephants at the turn of the last century.
B. 20,000 elephants were employed in transport in Thailand at the turn of the century.
C. By 1950 the elephant population in Thailand has been quite small.
D. Today the elephant population is estimated at 5,150.
45. The passage is most probably from________.
A. a travel magazine                      B. a history book
C. a research report                       D. an official announcement

B
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WI-FI on Wheels It’s not enough that children complain about having nothing to watch on television. These days, they even complain about having nothing to watch in the car. Fortunately, for every unsatisfied youth, there is a new technological solution: Wi-Fi Internet access for the back seat of your vehicle. In the United States, Chrysler is the first to offer such a system, which turns any Chrysler or Dodge into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Called UConnect, the $499 dealer-installed option is a high-speed cell-like Internet connection with a wireless router that sits in your car’s trunk(行李箱). Monthly service costs $29 for Internet access, which is available to any device that has Wi-Fi and is within 100 feet of your car. With UConnect, passengers can check emails messages on a laptop, send instant messages to friends or watch YouTube videos online. It allows passengers to search for movie listings on a smart phone or connect a Sony PSP video game player to the Web. It also offers the ability to freely upload photos from a Wi-Fi-equipped digital camera to an online sharing service like Flickr. For critics who claim that putting Wi-Fi Internet access in a car feeds the danger of driver distraction(分散注意力), parents may well disagree: What’s more distracting, the temptation to check email or a lot of children talking to you from the back seat?

Watch Your Back Blind spots behind cars and SUV’s make backing up dangerous as well as potentially deadly for children. Nationally, the group Kids and Cars estimates that two children a week are killed by cars backing up. The Transportation Department is establishing visibility standards for future vehicles, but there’s no need to wait. A back-view back system can be an expensive option in a new car. In the 2008 Subaru Tribeca, for example, the back-view camera option is available only in connection with the inner navigation system, at a price of $2,400. And professionally equipped systems can cost $400 or more. However, there are now inexpensive back-view packages you can help yourself, such as the $130 Audiovox ACA250 Wireless Vehicle Rear Observation System. It includes a camera that increases on a back license-plate holder and grasps onto a vehicle’s backup light. It can send a back-view image to a small L.C.D. Monitor that can be carried into electronic equipment and increased on the dashboard(仪表板). Audiovox claims the camera housing is not afraid of dust. In some areas where radio waves are plentiful, the image can be affected by occasional interference, but the picture, with its wide 110-degree camera point, is good enough to see things or children behind you.

46. What is the best title of the passage?
A. DIY methods for your car.
B. The importance of putting internet access in your car.