下面是關於2016年全國公共英語二級考試精品閱讀文章，供同學們參考閱讀。
篇一:
A hurricane is a storm which can cause terrible destruction and death. Hurricanes bring tremendously strong winds, so strong they can knock down buildings. The wind travels as fast as a speeding automobile and often it is accompanied by heavy rain. Weather scientists keep track of hurricanes. They find hurricanes by using cameras in satellites, and they try to discover where the hurricanes are heading. When people are informed that a hurricane is heading their way, they move to a safer place. This new science has saved many lives.
颶風是一種能造成嚴重傷亡的暴風雨。颶風帶來可怕的強風，風的強度可以颳倒建築物。風速就像疾馳的汽車一樣快，還經常伴隨著暴雨。氣象專家跟蹤著颶風，他們通過衛星上的照相機找到颶風並嘗試找出颶風的路線。當人們得到通知颶風會吹向他們時，他們就搬到安全的地方。新的科技挽救了很多生命。
篇二：
Meat is kept fresh by storing it in refrigerators. However, there are other ways of keeping meat fresh. For example, it can be rubbed with salt or can be dried or smoked. These ways were popular before the refrigerator was invented, but they are no longer used as much.
肉可以通過儲藏在冰箱裡保鮮。當然，還有別的方法可以讓肉保持新鮮。比如，我們可以把鹽搓在肉上，或是晒乾，又或是用煙燻。這些方法在冰箱沒有被髮明以前很普遍，但已經不再那麼常用。
篇三:
In the 20th century, machines are run mostly by electricity. Two hundred years ago electricity was not in common use. Machines were often run by water, and therefore many factories grew up by running rivers. Today, however, factories can be placed far from our rivers.
在20世紀，機器大都是電動的。兩百年前，電還沒有廣泛的應用，機器都是靠水力發動，因此，工廠都是開在流動的江河邊。然而，現今的工廠可以開在遠離河流的地方。
篇四：
Wars kill millions of people. But war is not the only cause of large-scale death. 700 years ago a terrible disease called the Bubonic Plague killed more than 40 million people. In Europe it killed 1 person in 3.
戰爭奪走了數百萬人的生命。可戰爭不是大規模死亡的唯一成因。700多年前的一種叫黑死病的可怕疾病奪走了超過4000萬人的生命。在歐洲，三個人中就有一人死於這種病。
篇五：
Primitive umbrellas have been used for more than 2,000 years. However, the type of umbrella we use today was designed less than 3 hundred years ago. Our present umbrella is made of steel covered with cloth. It was first produced in the late 1700's. This umbrella was invented by six men, working together, and the product was so popular that each inventor made more than a million dollars. The invention of the parachute is believed to have come from the design of the umbrella.
原始的`傘曾用了2000多年。然而，我們現今用的這類傘設計還不足300年。我們當今的傘是用鋼做骨架，用布包著，於十八世紀末首次被製造出來。這種傘是由六個人一起發明的，這個產品是那麼的流行，以至每個發明者都賺了不止100萬美元。降落傘的發明據說是源自傘的設計。
