Question

Ever wonder how much a cloud weighs? What about a hurricane? A meteorologist（气象学家） has done some estimates and the results might surprise you.

Let’s start with a very simple white puffy cloud—a cumulus cloud(积云). How much does the water in a cumulus cloud weigh? Peggy LeMone, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, did the numbers. “The water in the little cloud weighs about 550 tons,” she calculates. “Or if you want to convert it to something that might be a little more meaningful...think of elephants.” Assume（假设） an elephant weighs about six tons, she says, that would mean the water inside a typical cumulus cloud would weigh about one hundred elephants.

The thought of a hundred elephants’ worth of water floating in the sky begs another question—what keeps it up there?

“First of all, the water isn’t in elephant-sized particles(微粒); it’s in tiny tiny tiny particles,” explains LeMone. And those particles float on the warmer air that’s rising below. But still, the concept of so much water floating in the sky was surprising even to a meteorologist like LeMone. “I had no idea how much a cloud would weigh, actually, when I started the calculations（计算）,” she says.

So how many elephant units of water are inside a big storm cloud—10 times bigger all the way around than the “puffy” cumulus cloud? Again, LeMone did the numbers: About 200,000 elephants.

Now, come to the calculations for a hurricane about the size of Missouri and the figures get really massive. “What we’re doing is weighing the water in one cubic meter theoretically pulled from a cloud and then multiplying by the number of meters in a whole hurricane,” she explains.

The result? Forty million elephants. That means the water in one hurricane weighs more than all the elephants on the planet. Perhaps even more than all the elephants that have ever lived on the planet.

1.The weight of ________ is NOT mentioned in the passage.

A. a cumulus cloudB. a storm cloud

C. a hurricaneD. a tornado

2.How did Peggy LeMone feel about the result of her calculations?

A. She found it not convincing.

B. She thought it needed further calculations.

C. She considered the calculations inaccurate.

D. She was quite surprised at it.

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. A storm cloud weights about 200,000 elephants.

B. The water in the cloud is in very tiny particles.

C. There are less than forty million elephants living on the earth.

D. The water in a hurricane weights more than that in any other kind of cloud.

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A. Surprising Results

B. Elephants in the Sky

C. How Much a Cloud Weighs

D. How Much a Hurricane Weighs

Answer

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文是一篇说明文，说明了气象学专家对积雨云和飓风的重量进行了测量，测量结果令人吃惊。

1. 细节理解题。根据第一段第一行Ever wonder how much a cloud weighs? What about a hurricane？第二段第一行a cumulus cloud第五段a big storm cloud可以知道，a tornado没有被提到，故选D。

2. 推理判断题。根据第一段最后一句A meteorologist has done some estimates and the results might surprise you.可以知道，Peggy LeMone对这个结果很惊讶，故选D。

3. 推理判断题。由最后一段The result? Forty million elephants. That means the water in one hurricane weighs more than all the elephants on the planet. Perhaps even more than all the elephants that have ever lived on the planet.可知，地球上的大象不到4千万，故选C。

4. 主旨大意题。气象学专家对云的重量进行了测试，把云的数量和地上的大象进行比较，就是把天上的云看成大象，以用来称重，B项能概括文意又能吸引读者，适合作为标题，故选B。

考点：考查科普类短文阅读。

【名师点睛】

主旨大意题的解题思路与应试技巧

做这类题时常用略读法。快速阅读文章找出各个段落的主题句。把各个段落的主题句联系起来着眼于全文结构安排，了解文章的重心，就能概括出文章的中心。文章的标题是中心思想最精炼的表达形式，选择的标题意义范围要能涵盖全文，不能太大也不能太小。命题者在出这类题时，常常利用生活常识编造干扰项，把文中的细节当主旨，利用局部信息编造干扰项，编制超出文章范围的标题或不能涵盖文章中心意义的标题来考查考生的理解程度，考生要特别留意。

概括主旨的方法是：先看首尾或各段开头再看全文找主题句，若无明显主题句，就通过关键词句来概括(如议论文中寻找表达作者观点态度的词句，记叙文寻找概括情节和中心的动词或反映人物特点的形容词。) 。文中出现两种或两种以上的不同观点时，务必牢记作者的观点才是体现全文中心的。此时，要注意一些转折词，如but, yet, however, although, in spite of, by contrast, on the contrary等。当文章中表示相反的观点时，往往用到这些词。答题时要弄清哪个是作者的观点，排除迷惑性信息，准确归纳主旨大意。