8．
Have you heard of the"Doomsday（世界末日）clock"？
While the name sounds particular enough to draw our attention，there is no way to actually predict doomsday．The clock is a visual way of representing the dangers our world faces and the urgency to act-with midnight symbolizing doomsday．
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists，the organization that maintains（維護(hù)）the clock，decided to keep the clock at 3minutes to midni-the same as last year．Despite the Iran nuclear deal that weakened the threat（威脅）of nuclear war，the organization continues to worry about the lack of progress on other global issues of concern．
The clock was created nearly 70years ago by a group of scientists who had worked on the Manhattan project-that created the world's first atomic bomb．The bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities．Though it brought an end to one of the worst wars in human history，the bombs also exposed the world to the dangers of nuclear technology．
One of the nuclear physicists on the Manhattan project was married to an artist named Martyl Kangsdorf．It was Martyl's idea to create a clock and set the hand to seven minutes to midnight when it first created．
Since then，the clock has been a powerful way to show humanity how close the world is to catastrophe due to human action．To maintain this clock，every year twenty members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists gather together and assess the biggest threats to humanity．When scientists looked back at the events of 2015．two significant threats continued to exist-climate change and investment in nuclear weapons by various nations around the world．
According to the scientists，we may be able to avoid disaster if humanity reduces spending on nuclear weapons，sharply reduces greenhouse gases，deals with commercial nuclear waste，and makes agreements to prevent the misuse of new technologies．
32．The Doomsday clock was created forD．
A．reminding people of the painful past
B．correcting time to the same standard
C．predicting the doomsday of the world
D．warning humanity of the urgent threats
33．What does the underlined word"it"in Paragraph 4refer to？C
A．The doomsday clock． B．The first atomic bomb．
C．Dropping the atomic bombs． D．The Manhattan project．
34．What are considered the most urgent threats that today's world faces？A
A．Climate change and nuclear weapons．
B．High-tech war and space research．
C．Extreme poverty and serious diseases．
D．Natural disasters and low birth rate．
35．What can be inferred from this passage？D
A．Human beings have no way to deal with their urgent threats．
B．The world will continuously face more threats whatever we do．
C．Martyl created the Doomsday clock just to amuse local citizens．
D．Most threats we face now are actually caused by humanity itself．
