Without the atmosphere, there would be no weather, no wind, rain, snow, or clouds. Air is all around us; we live at the bottom of a great ocean of air. It is invisible, but we can feel it when it moves. There are miles of all above us, pressing down with great weight on the earth and everything on it. Because air presses down on us from all directions at the same time, and because we are able to bear (忍受) this weight, we do not seem to feel it. But scientists have proved that air has this weight, and that anything that has weight creates (产生) a force called pressure. As changes in air pressure take place, they make air move.
Air is a gas that expands (膨胀) when heated, gets lighter, and moves upward. When air is cooled, it gets heavier, sinks close to the earth's surface, and flows like water in a great river. As warm air rises, cold air rashes to take its place. Thus winds originate (起源). The winds that blow high above us are caused by the warmer air running away from colder air. The wind we feel near the earth's surface is the heavy colder air trying hard to catch the warmer air. Changes in temperature cause the air to move. And of course there are many changes, so air movements are taking place practically all the time.

单选题 The first paragraph mainly tells us ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[考点] 推断题
[解析] 根据文意可知,本段主要论述为什么我们周围的空气无处不在,我们的头上有数英里厚的大气层,但我们感觉不到。文中也涉及到选项D。但题干上mainly说明要找主要的内容,故选A。
单选题 Air moves under such conditions that ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[考点] 细节题
[解析] 空气的流动在于气压的变化,故选C。
单选题 Which of the following pictures best tells the movements of warm air and cold air?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[考点] 推断题
[解析] 根据第二段的第三句可知:热空气上升,冷空气取而代之,故选B。
单选题 According to the passage, we can conclude that in some areas if farmers who grow grapes light fires in the early morning, that is because the farmers want to ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[考点] 推断题
[解析] 从文章提到的空气运动推断:有些地方的葡萄农为了给葡萄保温而点火。目的是想让地面上的冷空气经火加温而升高,故选B。