2014 高考英语二轮阅读理解三月特训 <br />The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place.Now it is an <br />ecological disaster area.Nauru's heartbreaking story could have one good <br />consequence—other countries might learn from its mistakes. <br />For thousands of years ， Polynesian people lived in the remote island of <br />Nauru，far from western civilization.The first European to arrive was John Fearn <br />in 1798.He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship.He called the island <br />Pleasant Island. <br />However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with <br />Europeans at first.The whaling ships and other traders began to visit，bringing guns <br />and alcohol.These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups <br />on the island.A tenyear civil war started，which reduced the population from 1， <br />400 to 900. <br />Nauru's real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered <br />phosphate(磷酸盐)on the island.In fact，it found that the island of Nauru was nearly <br />all phosphate，which was a very important fertilizer for farming.The company began <br />mining the phosphate. <br />A phosphate mine was not a hole in the ground；it was a strip mine.When a company <br />stripmined，it removed the top layer of soil.Then it took away the material it <br />wanted.Strip mining totally destroyed the land.Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru <br />started to look like the moon. <br />In 1968，Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world.Every year the <br />government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate. <br />Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of <br />dollars.In addition，they used millions more dollars for personal expenses.Soon <br />people realized that they had a terrible problem—their phosphate was running <br />out.Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing.By 2000，Nauru <br />was financially ruined.Experts say that it would take approximately$433，600，000 <br />an d more than 20 years to repair the island.This will probably never happen. <br />1．What might be the author's purpose in writing the text? <br />A．To seek help for Nauru's problems. <br />B．To give a warning to other countries. <br />C．To show the importance of money. <br />D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war. <br />2．What was Nauru like before the Europeans came? <br />A．Rich and powerful. <br />B．Modern and open. <br />C．Peaceful and attractive. <br />D．Greedy and aggressive. <br />3．The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from________． <br />A．soil pollution <br />B．phosphate overmining <br />C．farming activity <br />D．whale hunting <br />4．Which of the following was a cause of Nauru's financial problem? <br />A．Its l eaders misused the money. <br />B．It spent too much repairing the island. <br />C．Its phosphate mining cost much money. <br />D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. <br />5．What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph? <br />A．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. <br />B...
