I. 阅读选择
The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American Southwest. It supplies water to more than 36 million people, has changed the desert into farmland, and allows cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Las Vegas to develop. But satisfying the region's need for water has come at a price.
The river once traveled all the way from Colorado's Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Now, dams control the river's water for human use. As a result,the river no longer reaches the ocean. Without water,the delta(三角洲）at the river's mouth has become dry and poor.
To bring the delta back to life, engineers recently opened the Morelos Dam near the US-Mexico border to free a temporary burst of water. This pulse flow allowed the Colorado River to reach the sea for the first time in16 years, helping the river's delta come alive.
The dams built by the US government form a system of man-made lakes. These lakes can store four times the river's yearly flow. "The lakes are like the river basin's bank accounts,"says Taylor Hawes. "They provide a place to save up water for not-so-rainy days-like right now."
In wetter times, on and off since the 1960s, the Colorado River managed to complete its journey to the sea. During those rare times, spring floods temporarily brought life back to the delta. Seeing the difference a little water could make gave scientists the idea for this year's pulse flow.
" Just add water and you can get an amazing recovery , " says Eloise Kendy . " The project serves as a model of how to manage rivers sustainably(可持续地）for both people and nature.A lot of rivers in the West have problems. We used them to make the deserts bloom and build cities. We didn't think about the environment. But it's possible to restore them. If we can do it in the Colorado River Delta, we can do it anywhere."
1.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A. The Gulf of California is flooding
B. The Colorado River's delta is dying.
C. The American Southwest is becoming poor.
D. The water in the Colorado River is running out.
2. What does " bank accounts " mean in Paragraph 4 ?
A. Lakes can store much of the river's water.
B. Many banks provide money to build dams.
C. The money made from the lakes is kept in banks.
D. People can borrow money from banks to buy lake water.
3 . What does Eloise Kendy want to express ?
A. Restoring deserts is sustainable for nature.
B. Many cities are built on deserts in the West.
C. Rivers in the West have been polluted seriously
D. Environmental protection must go with development.
4 . What did the passage mainly talk about ?
A. An effort to protect the Colorado River from drying.
B. An experiment to make the Colorado River flow freely.
C. A project to bring the Colorado River Delta back to life.
D. A way to make full use of the water from the Colorado River.
