Question

【題目】 Almost everyone has heard the expression “the calm before the storm”. It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument.

British sailors created the phrase in the late 1600s. They noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become static and the winds would drop. But why is it often so calm before a storm?

Science has given us the answer. According to US website How Stuff Works, a calm period occurs because many storms, such as hurricanes and tornadoes (龍卷風(fēng)), draw in all the warm and damp air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as “fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car”.

Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. As the air goes down, it becomes warm and dry. Warm, dry air is stable, so once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm. This same process also causes “the eye of the storm” in hurricanes and tornadoes. In these conditions, the calm occurs in the center of the storm because of the strong winds moving in a circle.

The Weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is. First, count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Roughly 3 seconds equal 1 kilometer. So, for example, if you count 9 seconds, the storm is about 3 kilometers away. A good judgement is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.

However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms break after calm. Given the right conditions, some storms announce themselves with heavy rain and cold winds.

So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. That’s the most reliable and sensible way to predict the next display of nature’s temper.

【1】The underlined word “static” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.

A.violent

B.warm

C.still

D.changeable

【2】What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A.To find out how a storm comes into being.

B.To explain why a peaceful period occurs before a storm.

C.To prove whether the research on storm clouds is correct.

D.To show how dangerous a storm can be in certain situations.

【3】If there’re 15 seconds between a flash of lightning and a thunder clap, how far is the storm away?

A.About 3 kilometers.

B.About 5 kilometers.

C.About 9 kilometers.

D.About 15 kilometers.

【4】What can be learned from the passage?

A.Storms don’t always blow up after calm.

B.Storms have a bad influence on our life.

C.Weather reports may fail to predict a storm.

D.Heavy storms don’t usually last a long time.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】B

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇說明文。文章從科學(xué)角度解釋了暴風(fēng)雨前的平靜。

【1】詞句猜測題。根據(jù)劃線詞后的the winds would drop. But why is it often so calm before a storm?可知，風(fēng)也會減弱，為什么暴風(fēng)雨前總是那么平靜呢？這說明在某些暴風(fēng)雨來臨之前，海水是靜止的。由此可知劃線詞意為“靜止的”，故C項正確。

【2】推理判斷題。通讀全文，特別是根據(jù)第二段中的But why is it often so calm before a storm?及第三段中的Science has given us the answer.可知，為什么暴風(fēng)雨來臨前總是很平靜呢？科學(xué)家們給出了答案。由此可知，作者寫這篇文章的目的是從科學(xué)角度解釋暴風(fēng)雨前的平靜，故B項正確。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第五段中的First, count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Roughly 3 seconds equal 1 kilometer.可知，首先，數(shù)一數(shù)閃電和雷聲之間有多少秒，大約3秒等于1公里。由此可知，如果閃電和雷聲之間有15秒的間隔，暴風(fēng)雨還有大約5公里，故B項正確。

【4】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段中的However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms break after calm.可知，然而，由于風(fēng)暴系統(tǒng)的復(fù)雜性，并不是所有的暴風(fēng)雨都會在平靜之后爆發(fā)，故A項正確。