2017届高考英语第一轮题型提能练习题8.docVIP

高考题型提能练(九)　Unit 9 Ⅰ.阅读理解 A (2016·河南省普通高中毕业班适应性测试)Is geography important? Heres a question for you to answer. What have the following countries got in common: Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Iceland and Madagascar? Quite easy if you can picture them on the globe — they are all islands. All of these nations are surrounded by sea. What have these five nations got in common? Hungary, Botswana, Kazakhstan, Paraguay and Liechtenstein. They are all landlocked. In other words, in contrast to the first five countries whose coastline forms their border, the second five have no coastline at all. If you are a Hungarian or a Paraguayan, you have to pass through somebody elses country if you want to go to the beach. Liechtenstein is even more of a geographical phenomenon; it is “doubly landlocked” because the countries that surround it — Austria and Switzerland are also landlocked. There is only one other country in the world in a similar position, Uzbekistan, which is surrounded by five other landlocked countries. Go and have a look at the map if you want to know which. So how do countries become landlocked? If you are Swiss or Nepalese, you have probably never thought things could be any other way. Switzerlands mountains, like the Himalayas, have formed a natural boundary for thousands of years. But there are borders. Where one country ends and another begins is not something that is fixed for all time. There are countries like Ethiopia and Bolivia which did have a bit of coast but dont any more. Does it matter? The Ethiopians are not happy that the creation of Eritrea means they now have to use another countrys port, when before they had a long coastline on the Red Sea. But why does coastline matter so much? Throughout history people have preferred to live near the sea, and not just for the fish. Sea means trade, which means wealth. Think of the great successful cities like Singapore, New York or Hong Kong today. Russia has fought several wars over the centuries so that