Question

People sometimes say, “It’s raining cats and dogs!” when there is a heavy rain. Nobody has ever really seen cats and dogs falling from the sky, but there have been many reports of other strange things “raining” down. In 1956, the people of a town in the USA saw a small black cloud in the sky. It started to rain from the cloud normally, but only in a small area. The cloud then turned white, and fish started to fall to the ground. Most of them were still alive.

    During a storm in July 1901 in Minneapolis, people heard something falling from the sky that did not sound like rain. When they went outside, they found all kinds of frogs covering four streets.

    There are other reports of strange “rains” falling from the sky including worms (蠕虫), insects and snakes.

    Can these strange “rains” be explained by science? Scientists usually say that a tornado(龙卷风)has picked up the animals from a river or ocean, carried them for miles, and then dropped them somewhere else. But this does not completely explain all of them. On May 15th, 1890, in Italy, there was a rain of blood — birds’ blood. Scientists said that flying birds must have been torn to pieces by strong winds. But if so, why did only their blood fall from the sky, and not other parts of their bodies? And anyway, there were no strong winds that day!

1.What does it mean when people say, “It’s raining cats and dogs”?

A. Cats and dogs are falling from the sky.    B. It’s raining heavily.

C. Animals started to fall to the ground.    D. There is a black cloud.

2.Which of the following has not been reported as strange things falling from the sky?

A. Cats and dogs.    B. Worms and insects.

C. Fish and blood.    D. Snakes and frogs.

3.What does the underlined word “torn” mean in Chinese?

A. 破裂    B. 撕破    C. 切碎    D. 割破

4.Scientists’ explanation for rain of blood is that ________.

A. the tornado picked up the birds’ blood

B. flying birds were torn into pieces by strong winds

C. there were no strong winds that day

D. other parts of birds’ bodies did not fall with the blood

5.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. Strange “Winds”    B. Strange “Clouds”    C. Strange “Rains”    D. Strange “Animals”

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.B

4.B

5.C

【解析】本文介绍了一些奇怪的“雨”。有的地方下雨降落的是鱼、有的是青蛙，还有的是昆虫，甚至有的地方降落的是血。

1.B

推理判断题。根据People sometimes say, “It’s raining cats and dogs!” when there is a heavy rain.可知“It’s raining cats and dogs!”表示雨下得大。故选B。

2.A

推理判断题。根据Nobody has ever really seen cats and dogs falling from the sky, but there have been many reports of other strange things “raining” down.可知据报道当奇怪的东西从天上掉下来，但是没有人看见猫和狗从天上降落，故选A。

3.B

词义猜测题。根据Scientists said that flying birds must have been torn to pieces by strong winds.可知后面的pieces可知此处表示碎片，因此推断飞鸟被强风撕破了，故选B。

4.B

细节理解题。根据On May 15th, 1890, in Italy, there was a rain of blood — birds’ blood. Scientists said that flying birds must have been torn to pieces by strong winds.可知科学家解释血雨是因为飞鸟被强风撕成了碎片导致的，故选B。

5.C

标题归纳题。根据全文围绕着天上下雨，有是会降落鱼、昆虫和血，这些奇怪的东西，故题目为奇怪的雨，故选C。

点睛：根据题干内容，在文中寻找答案所在的语句和段落，进行分析理解，概括归纳，词义猜测和推理判断，选出正确的选项。例如小题2，根据Nobody has ever really seen cats and dogs falling from the sky, but there have been many reports of other strange things “raining” down.可知据报道当奇怪的东西从天上掉下来，但是没有人看见猫和狗从天上降落，故选A。