北京地区成人本科学士学位英语统一考试
2011.11.05
Part I Reading Comprehension (30%)
Directions: There are three passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. Passage 1
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:
The reflective towers of New York City, which is on the Atlantic migrating(迁徙的) route, can be deadly for birds.“We live in an age of glass,”said Ms. Laurel,an architect. (76) “It can be a perfect mirror in certain lights, and the larger the glass, the more dangerous it is.”About 90,000 birds are killed by flying into buildings in the city each year. Often, they strike the lower levels of glass towers after searching for food in nearby parks. Such crashes are the second-leading cause of death for migrating birds, after habitat (栖息地) loss, with an estimated number of death ranging up to a billion a year.
(77) As glass office and apartment towers have increased in the last decade, so, too have calls to makethem less deadly to birds. San Francisco adopted bird-safety standards for new buildings in July. The United States Green Building Council, a nonprofit industry group that encourages the creation of environmentally conscious buildings, will introduce a bird-safety credit this fall as part of its environmental certification process.
There are no easy fixes, however. A few researchers are exploring glass designs that use ultraviolet (紫外线的) signals, but they are still in their infancy. Covers, dot patterns, shades and nets are the main options available.
Often, only one section of a building needs to be changed. "You don't necessarily have to treat every window," Ms. Laurel said. "It would be too expensive to do the whole building." The Jacob IC Javits Convention Center, which has been undergoing alterations, is the most recent building to voluntarily correct the problem of bird crashes. The architects used less reflective glass and dot patterns.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. New York is a city of glass towers.
B. Glass towers are dangerous for migrating birds.
C. New York adopted new safety standards for buildings.
D. Glass towers are a new trend in the United States.
2. What is the number one cause of death for migrating birds?
A. Climate change.
B. Habitat loss.
C. Lack of food.
D. Crashing into buildings.
3. What does the word“fixes”in the third paragraph probably mean?
A. Choices.
B. Explanations.
C. Solutions.
D. Developments.
4. are used in the alteration of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
A. Dot patterns
B. Shades
C. Nets
D. Covers
