Section A Directions: In this section, there
is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank
from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the
passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is
identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on
Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
You may not use any of the words in the bank more than
once.
The concept of obtaining fresh water from icebergs that
are towed to populated areas and arid regions of the world was once treated as a
joke more appropriate to cartoons than real life. But now it is being
(47) quite seriously by many nations, especially since
scientists have warned that the human race will (48) its
fresh water supply faster than it runs out of food. Glaciers
are a possible (49) of fresh water that has been overlooked
until recently. Threequarters of the Earth’s fresh water supply is still tied up
in glacial ice, a reservoir of (50) fresh water so immense
that it could (51) all the rivers of the world for 1,000
years. Floating on the oceans every year are 7,659 trillion metric tons of ice
encased in 10,000 icebergs that break away from the polar ice caps, more than
ninety percent of them from Antarctica. Huge glaciers
that (52) over the shallow continental shelf give birth to
icebergs throughout the year. Icebergs are not like sea ice, which is formed
when the sea itself freezes, rather, they are formed (53) on
land, breaking off when glaciers spread over the sea. As they drift away from
the polar region, icebergs sometimes move mysteriously in a direction
(54) to the wind, pulled by subsurface currents. Because
they melt more slowly than smaller pieces of ice, icebergs have been known to
drift as far north as 35 degrees south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. To
control them and (55) them to parts of the world where they
are needed would not be too difficult. The. difficulty
arises in other technical matters, such as the prevention of rapid melting in
warmer climates and the funneling (传送) of fresh water to shore in great volume.
But even if the icebergs lost half of their volume in towing, the water they
could provide would be far cheaper than that produced by desalinization (脱盐), or
(56) salt from water. A) removing
B) stretch C) deriving D)
entirely E) untapped F) resource
G) outgrow H) opposite I) approximately
J) considered K) similar L)
source M) ensured N) sustain
O) steer