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How are typhoons or hurricanes (depending on geography) named? The practice of naming these storms has a long history. Before the 20th century, they were named by the time they appeared or the place where they landed. For example, the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900, killing 6,000 — 12,000 people, is remembered as the Great Galveston Hurricane.

The practice of giving storms personal names appears to start from Clement Wragge. He was an Australian meteorologist (气象学家). In 1890s, he named storms after women, story characters, and politicians that he didn’t like. The modern system of using personal names developed during World War II. At that time, people began using women’s names. Short and quickly understood, names were easier to send by the radio and easier to keep straight if there was more than one storm in a given area. In 1953, the system was made formal. And men’s names were added to the list in 1979.

How are storm names picked today? A special group of the World Meteorological Organization maintains lists of names to be used for storms. The names on the list must be short, special, and have something to do with their cultural and geographic areas. For the Atlantic basin (海盆) there are six lists of 21 names each. If there are more than 21 named storms, Greek letters are used. For the Western Pacific/South China Sea basin, names on the lists are given by countries. The lists recur yearly. But if a hurricane or typhoon is especially destructive (破坏性的), that name will not repeat again, such as Katrina (2005), Sandy (2012), Haiyan (2013), Meranti (2016), Harvey (2017), Irma (2017), and Michael (2018).

1.1.The writer starts the passage with _______.

A an accident

B an example

C a question

D a fact

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据第一段第一句可知，作者以提问开始本文。故选C。

2.2.The Great Galveston Hurricane was named after _______.

A the time

B a place

C a person

D an animal

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据第一段中的“the hurricane that destroyed Galveston”可知，加尔维斯顿飓风是根据地名命名的。故选B。

3.3.Why did people use personal names to name storms during World War II?

A To make it easier to remember.

B To name every storm differently.

C To remember someone special.

D To follow the modern system.

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“Short and quickly understood, names were easier to send by the radio and easier to keep straight if there was more than one storm in a given area.”可知，二战期间，风暴开始以人名命名，人名简短易懂，更容易通过无线电发送，如果一个地区有不止一个风暴，也更容易区分。由此可推知，人名更容易被记住。故选A。

4.4.The names today should be _______.

A scary

B simple

C famous

D common

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“The names on the list must be short, special, and have something to do with their cultural and geographic areas.”可知，现在台风命名必须简短、特殊，并与他们的文化和地理区域有关。故选B。

5.5.What does the underlined word “recur” probably mean?

A Add.

B Reduce.

C Change.

D Repeat.

解析：选D。D 词义猜测题。根据最后一段划线单词后文的“But if a hurricane or typhoon is especially harmful, that name will not repeat again”但是，如果某个飓风或台风的危害特别大，这个名字就不会再出现了。即一般情况下，名单上的台风名字会重复使用。故选D。