2007年湖南高考考试英语阅读简答卷
阅读下面短文，依据第73至第75小题的具体需要，简要回答问题。
The north magnetic poleis no longer a resident of Canada. It has drifted across the Canadian Arctic and is now angling toward Siberia.
Not to be confused with the geographic North Pole—the northern extremity of the Earth’s axis,the north magnetic poleis moving due to natural changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, a process that originates about 3, 000 kilometers below our feet, in the outer core（核心）of the planet. But scientists are now noticing that the magnetic pole has picked up its pace.
Over the past century, the pole has been migrating at an average speed of about 10 kilometers per year, says Larry Newitt, head of Geomagnetic Laboratory at Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa. Since the 1970s, this speed has increased to about 50 kilometers per year.
Scientists are wondering why the speed is increasing, says Newitt. One Hypothesisrelates it to “magnetic jerks”, sudden shiftsin the rate of change of the magnetic field. There have been three jerks in the past four decades, each one correlating to an increase in speed.
If the north magnetic pole continues at its current rate, it could reach Siberia by 2056.
“For most of recorded history, the pole has been a part of Canada, and now it’s not,” says Newitt. “It may be a blow to our collective psyche, but other than that, it doesn’t have a major effect on most people’s existence.
73. Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “angling”.
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74. What could happen to the north magnetic pole by the middle of the 21 century?
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75. What is the main idea of the passage? （回答词数低于8个）
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73. Moving/ Migrating
74. It could reach Siberia
75. The north magnetic pole is moving faster.
