The better, simpler idea is to remember that the easiest way to reduce something is to tax it—in this case, by taxing the carbon content power. The dirtier the power, the more tax it would pay. So dirty coal would be more expensive than clean coal, which would see its price rise in relation to oil, which would be more expensive compared with gas, which would lose some of its price advantage over renewables.

Unless a carbon tax was so huge as to be economically crippling, it would not remove the price differential between all renewables and fossil fuels. But it would narrow that gap, by fixing the differing environmental costs into the price—a useful principle in itself. It would also give renewable producers a strong incentive to cut costs, and fossil-fuel suppliers the motivation to clean their products.

Precedents suggest strongly that a carbon tax would be effective. But the disadvantage to carbon tax is political. After almost a decade of trying, the Europe Union gave up an attempt at a European carbon tax last year. Germany’s ruling coalition is fighting against a proposed energy tax. In America, political believe that even mentioning the notion is certain death. But many of the political objections could be met if a carbon tax were made up for the loss elsewhere, for example by lowering payroll or sales taxes. There is always suspicion when governments come up with clever new ways to tax, and rightly so. The response to that suspicion should be to win the argument, not to abandon it. [选项] [答案] [解析] [难度] 中 [分数] 10 [子题]

[子题型]

[题干] According to the passage, the easiest way to remove global warming is ______. [选项]

A. to encourage people to use renewable energies

B. to cut down the cost of wind, hydro, solar and all living organisms C. to force people to pay more tax for the carbon content of power D. to talk less but act more [答案] C

[解析] 第一段指出，全球温室效应的产生，主要是由于大量使用含碳燃料；第二段指出，收取一定的税费是减少任何东西的最有效方法。对于治理威胁气候变化的含碳燃料来说，这种方法当然也适用，所以选C。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] The standard of paying tax was ______. [选项]

A. that the more carbon content of power it contained, the higher tax one would pay B. that oil would be more expensive than clean coal C. that renewables would be most expensive of all

D. in the order that renewables are the most expensive while clean coal the cheapest [答案] A

[解析] 第二段说明了收税的标准是根据能源的含碳量来确定税率，含碳量越高，收取的税费就越高。所以A符合题意。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] We can infer from the passage that carbon tax ______. [选项]

A. may not be as effective as people expect

B. has encouraged renewable producers to cut costs

C. has reduced consumption of the carbon content energy successfully D. couldn’t be that effective if fossil fuels would not be forbidden [答案] A

[解析] 第四段指出税费应该行之有效，但由于政治原因，它并没有像人们所期待的那样发挥应有的作用，所以A符合题意。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] The word “crippling” (Paragraph 3) most probably means ______. [选项]

A. greatly increasing B. seriously weakening C. sharply declining D. abruptly halting [答案] B

[解析] “crippling”在此有“削弱”的意思，与选项B一致。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] The reason why many countries stopped introducing carbon tax eventually was mainly that ______. [选项]

A. governments had tried to put it into effect for many years but with no obvious result B. if one country made up the loss by paying the carbon tax, other countries would follow it

C. governments were afraid of being suspected if they adopted the new tax

D. governments had been discussing what to do with carbon tax for a long time, but they hadn’t come to an agreement [答案] C

[解析] 第四段明确指出此种税收的不利条件是政治原因所导致的。各国政府并没有行之有效的推行碳税，因为一些政府通过减少其他税收作为碳税的补偿；一些政府甚至都不敢提及碳税，因为他们害怕招致公众的怀疑，所以C为正确的答案。 [分数]

[题型] 阅读理解 [章节] 英语 [类别] 测试 [题干]

All animals must rest, but do they sleep as we know it? The answer to this question seems obvious. If an animal regularly stops its activities and stays quiet and unmoving—if it looks as though it is sleeping—then why not simply assume that it is in fact sleeping? But how can observers be sure that an animal is sleeping?

They can watch the animal and notice whether its eyes are open or closed, whether it is active or lying quietly, and whether it responds to light or sound. These factors are important clues, but they often are not enough. Horses and cows, for example, rarely close their eyes, and fish and snakes cannot close them. Yet this does not necessarily mean that they do not sleep. Have you ever seen a cat dozing with one eye open? Even humans have occasionally been observed to sleep standing up, like elephants with their tusks (Note: long teeth of an elephant) resting in the fork of the tree. Finally, while “sleeping” animals often seem unaware of changes in the sounds and light and other stimuli around them, which does not really prove they are sleeping either.

Observations of animal behavior alone cannot fully answer the question of whether or not animals sleep. The answers come from doing experiments in “sleep laboratories” using a machine called the electroencephalograph (EEG) (Note: An instrument used in the detection and diagnosis of heart diseases). The machine is connected to animal and measures their brain signals, breathing, heartbeat, and muscle activity. The measurements are different when the animals appear to be sleeping from when they appear to be awake.

Using the EEG, scientists have confirmed that all birds and mammals studied in laboratories do sleep. There is some evidence that reptiles such as snakes and turtles, do not truly sleep, although they do have periods of rest each day, in which they are quiet and unmoving. They also have discovered that some animals, like chimpanzees cats, and moles (Note: a kind of little animal who lives underground), are good sleepers while others, like sheep, goats, and monkeys, are poor sleepers. Interestingly, the good sleepers are nearly all hunters with resting places that are safe from their enemies. Nearly all the poor sleepers are animals hunted by other animals; they must always be watching for enemies, even when they are resting. [选项] [答案] [解析] [难度] 中 [分数] 10 [子题]

[子题型]

[题干] The author uses the horse as an example of an animal that ______. [选项]

A. does not sleep at all B. can sleep with eyes open C. is a poor sleeper

D. can sleep standing up [答案] B

[解析] 第二段第三句指出，马和牛几乎不闭上眼睛；第四句说，然而这并不一定意味着它们不睡觉，由此推断，选项B正确。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] The best method to tell if an animal is sleeping is ______. [选项]

A. to observe if its eyes are open

B. to see if it reacts to such stimuli as light and sound C. to use an EEG

D. to use both an EEG and observation [答案] C

[解析] 第三段开头两句说，仅观察动物的行为不能完全回答动物等是否睡觉的问题，答案来自于在“睡眠”实验室利用脑电图记录仪（EEG）所做的实验，因此选项C符合题意。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] What can we learn from the passage concerning the EEG? [选项]

A. Whether the animal appears awake or not, it should be measured in the same way B. With this machine, scientists proved that all birds studied do sleep

C. The EEG can be carried by studied animals wirelessly to get wanted data D. Using the EEG, we can fully believe that reptiles do not truly sleep. [答案] B

[解析] 第四段第一句指出，科学家已经证实实验室里研究的所有鸟类和哺乳动物都睡觉。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] Scientists who study sleep think that some animals are poor sleepers because they ______. [选项]

A. have not resting places

B. are always hunted by other animals during sleep C. cannot awaken fast if an enemy finds them sleeping D. must observe the surroundings while resting [答案] D

[解析] 文章最后一句说，几乎所有的睡眠差的动物都是受到其他动物追捕的；它们必须一直观察敌人，即使休息的时候也是如此。 [分数]

[子题型]

[题干] This passage is about ______. [选项]

A. sleeping patterns of animals B. how animals can sleep well C. an example on EEG

D. why animals and humans need sleep [答案] A

[解析] 本文主要介绍人们了解动物睡眠的方法。 [分数]

[题型] 词汇与语法 [章节] 英语 [类别] 测试

[题干] I’d like to ______ this old car for a new model, but I can’t afford it. [选项]

A. interchange B. exchange C. replace D. convert [答案] B

[解析] interchange things: 交换；exchange sth. for sth. with sb. 与某人交换；replace sb. / sth. with sb. / sth. 以代替；convert sth. to / into sth. 转换，故选B。 [难度] 中 [分数] 2 [子题] [子题型] [题干] [选项] [答案] [解析] [分数]

[题型] 词汇与语法 [章节] 英语 [类别] 测试

[题干] You may get good grades by studying only before examinations, but you will only succeed