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2014考研英语：阅读理解模拟题及答案(十七)
A mysteriousblack cloudapproaches the earth-our planet's weather isseverely affected.
Throughout the rest of June and July temperatures rose steadily allover the Earth. In the British isles the temperature climbed through theeighties, into the nineties, and moved towards the hundred mark. Peoplecomplained, but there was no serious disaster.
The death number in the U. S. Remained quite small, thanks largelyto the air-conditioning units that had been fitted during previous years andmonths. Temperatures rose to the limit of human endurance throughout the wholecountry and people were obliged to remain indoors for weeks on end.Occasionally air-conditioning units failed and it was then that fatalitiesoccurred.
Conditions were utterly desperate throughout the tropics(热带地区)as maybe judged from the fact that 7943 species of plants and animals became totallyextinct. The survival ofMan himself was only possible because of the caves and cellars(地窖)he wasable to dig. Nothing could be done to reduce the hot air temperature. More thanseven hundred million persons are known to have lost their lives.
Eventually the temperature of the surface waters of the sea rose,not so fast as the air temperature it is true, but fast enough to produce adangerous increase of humidity(湿度). It was indeed this increase that produced the disastrousconditions just remarked. Millions of people between the latitudes of Cairo andthe Cape of Good Hope were subjected to a choking atmosphere that grew damperand hotter from day to day. All human movement ceased. There was nothing to bedone but to lie breathing quickly as a dog does in hot weather.
By the fourth week of July conditions in the tropics lay balancedbetween life and total death. Then quite suddenly rain clouds appeared over thewhole globe. The temperature declined a little, due no doubt to the cloudsreflecting more of the Sun's radiation back into space, But conditions couldnot be said to have improved. Warm rain fell everywhere, even as far north asIceland. The insect population increased enormously, since the burning hotatmosphere was as favorable to them as it was unfavorable to Man many otheranimals.
81. In the British Isles the temperature.
A)stayed at eighty B)ranged from eighty to ninety
C)approached one hundred D)exceeded thehundred mark
Passage 17
1.C2.D3.B4.D5.A
82. Few people in the United States lost their lives because.
A)the temperature was tolerable
B)people remained indoors for weeks
C)the government had taken effective measures to reduce the hottemperature
D)people were provided with the most comfortable air-conditioners
83. Millions of people in Cairo(开罗)and the Cape ofGood Hope(好望角)were subjected to a choking atmosphere because.
A)the temperature grew extremely hot
B)the temperature became damper and hotter as the humidity of thesurface waters of the sea increased
C)their conditions were too dangerous
D)nothing could be done with the hot temperature
84. By the fourth week of July conditions in the tropics were suchthat.
A)human survival would be impossible
B)more and more people would lose their lives
C)fewer people could be saved
D)survival or death was still undecided
85. The insect population increased due to.
A)the hot air B) the tropical climate C)the rain clouds D)the dampatmosphere