UNIT 3 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 课时分层作业(九) Ⅰ.阅读理解 A JERUSALEM—Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry asked citizens to avoid unnecessary physical activity and stay indoors on Wednesday，as a serious sandstorm struck the Middle East in a thick yellow haze (霾) for a second day with no hope to see things clearly. The ministry said heavy levels of dust and sand in the air were a threat to cities throughout the country. The ministry's website advised pregnant women，the elderly and those with heart and respiratory (呼吸的) conditions to stay indoors，and asked schools to keep children indoors. The emergency service Magen David Adom reported that it has treated more than 300 Israelis suffering from breathing problems，and that hospitals have more respiratory?related patients，including a large number of the elderly and those with asthma (气喘) and related conditions. The domestic Israeli airlines Arkia and Israir continued to ground their flights to Eilat because of reduced visibility. The sandstorm has affected Egypt，Jordan，Iraq，Lebanon and Syria，where at least five deaths have been reported. “There has been nothing that came close to the magnitude of this sandstorm，” said Daniel Rosenfeld，a professor with the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.“While Israel has experienced a number of sandstorms in the past，they started from the Sinai Desert and the Sahara Desert to the south and were joined by winter windstorms that cleared the air，” he said. In this case，the storm comes from Syria and Iraq to the north and east. Because the storm is hitting during the summer，at a time of both little wind and severe heat and humidity，forecasters expect the particles to remain in the air throughout the weekend and possibly into next week. “This is really puzzling，” said Rosenfeld，adding that he and his colleague will conduct research into the origins of the unprecedented (前所未有的) storm. 【语篇解读】 本文介绍了以色列遭受一场沙尘暴的袭击，环保部警告人们尽量不要外出，医院接待呼吸类病人增多，航班减少，预计持续到周末，其原因气候学家还没有弄清楚。 1．What's the probable meaning of the underlined word “ground” in Paragraph 4? A．Add. B．Reduce. C．Cancel. D．Fuel. C [词义猜测题。根据第四段“The domestic Israeli airlines Arkia and Israir continued to ground their flights to Eilat because of reduced visibility.”中的“because of reduced visibility”可知，由于能见度降低，因此可知以色列的航班禁止飞行，因此选C。] 2．It can be learned from the text that the sandstorm . A．happened in winter B．showed no sign of weakening C．came from Syria and Iraq to the south D．could clear the air B [推理判断题。根据倒数第二段“Because the storm is hitting during the summer，at a time of both little wind and severe heat and humidity，forecasters expect the particles to remain in the air throughout the weekend and possibly into next week.”可知，由于本次沙尘暴发生在夏季，风很小，天气炎热，湿度很低，因此预测 ... ...
