阅读理解.
The World's Water Shortage
The world is not only hungry, but it is also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since
nearly 70 percent (百分比) of the earth's surface is covered with water. But about 97 percent of this
huge amount is sea water, or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3 percent－the fresh
water from rivers, lakes, underground, and other sources (资源). And we cannot even use all of that,
because some of it is in the form of icebergs and glaciers (冰川). Even worse, some of it has been
polluted.
However, as things stand today, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us. But our need
for water is increasing (增加) rapidly－almost day by day. Only if we take steps to deal with this
problem now can we avoid (避免) a severe (严重的) worldwide water shortage later on.
We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable water. One of the first steps is to develop ways
of reusing it.
Today in most large cities, water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system (下水道).
From there it returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks. But it is possible to pipe used
water to a purifying (净化) plant. There it can be treated with chemicals so that it can be used again,
just as if it were fresh from a spring.
But even if every la
rge city purified and reused its water, we still would not have enough. All we'd
have to do to make use of the vast reserves (贮备) of sea water in the world is to remove the salt.
If w
e take these steps we'll be in no danger of drying up.
1. The world is thirsty for water because we can only use _____ percent of the water covering the
surface of the earth.
A. 3
B. more than 3
C. less than 3
D. 97
2. Which of the following statements is Not true?
A. As things remain unchanging, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us.
B. Our need for water is becoming larger and larger.
C. There will be no water shortage in the future.
D. We should take steps to deal with the water shortage problem.
3. To reuse water, we should _____.
A. treat it with chemicals
B. use it only once
C. send it out into a sewer system
D. make it flow into underground tanks
4. In order to have enough water, we should also make use of _____.
A. icebergs and glaciers
B. sea water
C. rivers and lake
D. underground water
5. In the passage, the writer tells us _____.
A. to make enough water
B. to pay more attention to the water shortage problem
C. to pipe used water to a purifying plant
D. to reuse the water
