Question

A vast dust storm that blew in from the deserts of Australia’s red centre has blanketed the country’s largest city and eastern coast in a red fog，causing widespread traffic chaos and severe flight delays.

      Residents from Sydney in New South Wales to Canberra inland and towns in southern Queensland awoke to a red sky and greatly reduced visibility after the country’s worst dust storm in 70 years blew in overnight. The Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House were covered in the red fog and hundreds of people were reported to have breathing problems. Children，the elderly and those suffering from asthma (哮喘) or heart or lung diseases were advised to stay indoors ,as even healthy adults reported "itchy throats" and a metallic aftertaste in their mouths after walking through the thick fog.

 Commuters used face masks，originally intended to protect them from the spread of swine flu, to hurry across the blocked streets on their way to work. Some schools were closed and sports activities were called off as the conditions pushed air pollution levels to 1500 times their normal levels – the highest on record.

 Passengers at the busy Sydney Airport faced delays of up to six hours for international flights and three hours for domestic trips，and even some international flights were cancelled as visibility was reduced to just a few feet.

 Locals，phoning radio stations to express their shock at the red dawn.” It’s like a nuclear winter morning，" tourist Peter Wilson told Daily Telegraph, "It is so terrible." adding that when he awoke the sky was "bright red" and "all the cars were covered in dirt".

The dust hanging over Sydney had largely cleared by midafternoon, although national carrier Qantas said severe delays would last all day because of direction-changed and late-running flights.

The sand storm，which measured more than 310 miles wide and 620 miles long， was caused by dust clouds blowing east from Australia’s dry places，which has been attacked by the worst drought on record. It covered dozens of towns and cities in two states as strong winds swept away tons of topsoil threw it high into the sky and carried it hundreds of miles.

1.What was the face mask originally intended for? (No more than 10 words) (2 marks)[

2.When did most residents of Sydney discover the vast storm ? (No more than 3 words) (3 marks)

3.What do you think the underlined word Qantas is? (No more than 3 words)(2 marks)

4.What is the main idea of the last paragraph ? (No more than 10 words) (3 marks)

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.Protecting people from the spread of swine flu

2.In the morning

3.A flight company/An airline.

4.The cause of the dust/sand storm

【解析】

試題分析： 本文敘述了澳大利亞23日遭遇了70年以來最猛烈的沙塵暴襲擊，一些城市均被籠罩在紅色沙暴中。澳大利亞衛(wèi)生部門發(fā)出健康警報，要求兒童、老人，以及罹患哮喘和其他呼吸系統(tǒng)疾病的患者待在室內，不要外出。出行的人們都戴著面罩，部分學校關閉，體育活動也被叫停。據(jù)悉，此次沙塵源于澳大利亞中部干旱地區(qū)，當天悉尼的空氣污染程度為平日的1500倍，是迄今為止最高的污染指數(shù)紀錄。悉尼機場的國內和國際航班均延誤3到6小時，部分國際航班因為能見度太低而被取消。

1.根據(jù)Commuters used face masks，originally intended to protect them from the spread of swine flu,人們戴口罩主要用來防止豬流感，故用Protecting people from the spread of swine flu。

2.根據(jù)Residents from Sydney in New South Wales to Canberra inland and towns in southern Queensland awoke to a red sky 人們醒來后發(fā)現(xiàn)的，所以應該是在早晨，故用In the morning。

3.根據(jù)national carrier 可知航空公司，故用A flight company/An airline.

4.根據(jù)The sand storm，which measured more than 310 miles wide and 620 miles long， was caused by dust clouds blowing east from Australia’s dry places主要敘述的是風暴的原因，故用The cause of the dust/sand storm。

考點： 閱讀表達。