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　　黑龙江省双鸭山一中2015届高三上学期期末考试 英语试题
　　第I卷（选择题）
　　第一部分 阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
　　第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
　　阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中（A、B、C和D），选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
　　A
　　If you go to Ethiopia, you’ll find a strange palm-licture, which is called WarkaWater. It gathers water from fog and condensation（水珠）and is invented by an Italian firm.
　　When Italian designer Arturo Vittori and Swiss architect Andreas Vogler first visited Ethiopia in 2012, they were shocked to see women and children forced to walk miles to access what, for them, had always been within easy reach, water.
　　Only 34 percent of Ethiopians have access to a reliable water supply. Some travel for up to six hours a day to fetch some or, even worse, has to use pond water polluted by human waste, subject to the spread of disease.
　　Worldwide, about 768 million people—two and a half times the U.S. population—don’t have access to safe drinking water. So just imagine if we could just pull water out of thin air? That’s what Vittori and Vogler asked once they saw the severe problem and promised to take action. Their firm, Architecture and Vision, has since come up with WarkaWater, a grand palm-licture that may look like something you’d see in a modern art museum, but it’s been designed to harvest water from the air.
　　WarkaWater, which is named after an Ethiopian fig tree, is composed of a 30-foot bamboo frame containing a fog-harvesting nylon net that can catch water easily, can be easily lowered for repairs and allow communities to measure the water level. Collecting water through condensation is hardly a new technique, but the creators of WarkaWater say their tree-inspired design is more effective, maximizing surface and perfecting every angle to produce up to 26 gallons of drinkable water a day—enough for a family of seven.
　　Western organizations have been working to provide clean water access in Africa for decades, so WarkaWater joins a very long list of earlier attempts. So far, high-tech solutions, like the once promising Playpump, have failed, mostly due to high costs and maintenance issues.
　　This is where WarkaWater stands apart—a lower-tech solution that is easy to repair and far more affordable than digging wells in the rocky Ethiopian plateau.
　　1. What does the underlined phrase “subject to” in the third paragraph most probably mean?
　　A. Owing to B. Opposite to C. Sensitive to D. Giving rise to
　　2. WarkaWater is designed mainly to ______.
　　A. gather clean water efficiently B. reduce water supply costs
　　C. simplify maintenance D. preserve water supplies
　　3. According to Paragraph 6, what caused Playpump to fail?
　　A. Lack of advanced technology B. Unsuccessful designs
　　C. Lack of money and maintenance issues D. Unreasonable structures
　　B
　　EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) —they arrived before polling stations even opened, dressed for the school day in striped ties and blazers, dress slacks and tartan skirts, book bags over their shoulders —and, for the first time in British history, ballot (选票) cards in hands on September 18.
　　Scotland’s experiment of allowing more than 109,000 Scottish teenagers aged 16 to 17 took part in the Scottish independence referendum (公民投票), in which Scotland finally decided not to become independent.
　　The age group only made up a small part of the 4.29 million total voters, but they have “demonstrated how the youngest voters can be some of the most enthusiastic in a mature democracy”, commented The Associated Press. Casting their ballots, they were “proud and passionate” to help their nation decide whether to break away from the UK after 307 years in union.
　　At age 16, Scottish residents are allowed to join the military, get married, and work. Eighteen is the legal drinking age, as well as the UK’s voting age. But in 2013, Scottish law was changed to allow 16- and 1