CALCUTTA, India Mar 24, 2006 (AP) — One of the world’s oldest creatures, a giant tortoise believed to have been about 250 years old, has died in the Calcutta zoo where it spent more than half its long life.
Addwaita, which means “the one and only” in the local Bengali language, was one of four Aldabra tortoises brought to India by British sailors in the 18th century. Zoo officials say he was a gift for Lord Robert Clive of the East India Company, who was instrumental in establishing British colonial① rule in India, before he returned to England in 1767. Long after the other three tortoises died, Addwaita continued to thrive②, living in Clive’s garden before being moved to the zoo in 1875.
“According to records in the zoo, the age of the giant tortoise, Addwaita, who died on Wednesday, would be about 250 years,” said zoo director Subir Chowdhury. That would have made him much older than the world’s oldest documented③ living animal: Harriet, a 176-year-old Galapagos tortoise who lives at the Australia Zoo north of Brisbane, according to the zoo’s Web site. She was taken from the island of Isla Santa Cruz by Charles Darwin in the 19th century.
Aldabra tortoises come from the Aldabra atoll④in the Seychelle islands in the Indian Ocean, and often live to more than 100 years of age. Males can weigh up to 550 pounds. Addwaita, the zoo’s biggest attraction, had been unwell for the last few days, said local Forest Minister Jogesh Burman.
“We were keeping a watch on him. When the zoo keepers went to his enclosure on Wednesday they found him dead,” Burman said.
Notes:
① colonial adj. 殖民的
② thrive v. 茁壮成长
③ documented adj. 备有证明文件的
④ atoll n. 环礁
Choose the best answers according to the above:According to the passage, Addwaita ________.
| A．was sent to India as a gift by British government |
| B．was sent to India by British sailors in 1767 |
| C．lived together with three other Aldabra tortoises in India |
| D．belonged to Lord Robert Clive for some time |
By now, the oldest animal in the world is about at ________.
| A．176 years old | B．100 years old | C．250 years old | D．200 years old |
In the last few days before Addwaita died, he ________.
| A．had been sent to hospital for treatment |
| B．had been playing with travelers |
| C．had been found not better than before |
| D．had stayed in his enclosure for days |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．An Old Aldabra Tortoise Died in India |
| B．A Remarkable Life: Tortoise Dies at 250 |
| C．A Special Kind of Tortoise — Addwaita |
| D．The Oldest Animal Aldabra Tortoise Died |
A gadget which makes water out of air could become the greatest househo1d invention since the microwave.
Using the same technology as a dehumidifier（除湿器），the Water Mill is able to create a ready supply of drinking water because it can always get it from an unlimited source—the air．
The company behind the machine says not only does it offer an alternative to bottled water in
developed countries, but it is a solution for the millions who face a daily water shortage．
The machine works by drawing in wet air through a filter（过滤器）and over a cooling instrument which changes it into water droplets．It can produce up to 1 2 liters a day．The Water Mill will also produce more water when storms pass over, as the amount of water which is contained in the air increases. 
In keeping with its eco-development, the machine uses the same amount of electricity as three lights.
Inventor Jonathan Ritchey said: “The demand for water is off the chart. So people are looking for freedom from water distribution systems that are shaky and unreliable.”
The machine, which is about 3 feet wide, is likely to cost ￡800 when it goes on sale here in the spring. Its make
r, Canadian Firm Element Four, roughly calculates that a litre of water cost around 20p to produce.
Environmentalists state that half the world’s population will face water shortage because of climate change by 2080. One in five is said to lack access to safe drinking.
The Water Mill is not effective in areas where the amount of water contained in the air is below about 30 percent, but in Britain that won’t be much of a problem.
63．What does the underlined word “it” refer do?
A．Drinking water. B．Invention. C．Microwave. D．Water Mill.
64．What do we learn about the machine?
A．It works in the same way as microwaves.
B．It is very expensive for families to afford.
C．It absorbs steam and turns it into water.
D．It helps to make the water clean to drink.
65．What does the passage lead us to believe?
A．The cost of water will go up. B．Bottled water will disappear sooner.
C．The machine is energy saving. D．The machine will be popular worldwide.
66．What’s the best title for the passage?
A．A New Way to Solve Water Problem. B．A Machine to Make Water out of Air.
C．A Dehumidifier to Produce Water. D．An Absolutely New Invention
The man traveling in the back of the ambulance which was running at a high speed along the streets of Baltimore that morning in 2008 had no business to be alive．By everything that was reasonable，and there were plenty of such things before，he should have been very dead indeed．But he wasn’t．As the people in the hospital pointed out after they had examined him，he was only slightly hurt．Yet he had just fallen 150 feet down a hotel lift shaft（电梯通道）!
Unknown to the man，two things had occurred which were to affect his life that day．On the thirteenth f1oor of the hotel, somebody had carelessly left the lift gate open．Down in the basement, a pipe had burst and，it had flooded the bottom of the lift shaft to a depth of two feet．
Modern lifts have all sorts of fail-safe system to prevent accidents，but this was ancient equipment unreliable，slow，dangerous，and suitable material to recycle．
The man had plenty of things to occupy his mind that morning. He had overslept. The hotel had forgotten to call him and now he was late for an important business appointment. He dressed quickly, shaved hurriedly, took hold of his briefcase and hurried off down the hotel corridor.
Good! The life gate was open. The life must be there. He need not press the button and wait while the large, clumsy life made its way upwards. Without looking or thinking, he stepped out into space. The lift cag
e was, in fact, one floor above him on the fourteenth. The would which he had walked was a narrow space of not very fresh sir, ending 150 feet below in two feet of dirty water.
The man fell, making his journey to the ground at a speed he had never dreamed of. Confused patterns, a rush of air, time enough to be afraid, split-second thoughts of death, then-crash!
Perhaps this gave him the record for some sort of high-diving act. No doubt in future he always looked before he jumped. Certainly be learnt that this was no way to save time. The experts said that those two feet of water had saved his life.
59．What do we learn about the man?
A．He fell from the 13th floor. B．He was hit by an ambulance．
C．He got caught in a serious flood． D．He made a record for high-diving.
60．By “……had no business to be alive”，the writer means that the man_______.
A．had missed his business appointment B．was alive with excitement
C．was alive and this was surprising D．didn’t do any business
61．Tile lift did not have a fail-safe system because it was____________.
A．narrow B．slow C．1arge D．old
62．Which of the following was NOT the cause of the accident?
A．A pipe burst． B．The man overslept
C．The hotel forgot to call him D．Someone left the lift door open
第三部分：阅读理解（共阴节，40分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
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If you know exactly what you want, the best way to get a job is to get specialized training. A recent report shows that companies like graduates in such fields as business and health care who can go to work immediately with very little on-the-job training.
That’s especially true of booming fields that are challenging for workers. At Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, for example, bachelor's degree graduates get an average of four or five job offers with salaries ranging from the high teens to the low 20s and plenty of chances for rapid advancement. Large companies especially like a background of formal education coupled with work experience. But in the long run, too much specialization does not pay off. Business, which has been flooded with MBAs, no longer considers the degree an automatic stamp of approval. The MBA may open doors and command a higher salary initially, but the impact of a degree washes out after five years.
As further evidence of the erosion of corporate faith in specialized degrees, Michigan State’s Scheetz cites a pattern in corporate hiring practices. Although companies tend to take on specialists as new hires, they often seek out generalists for middle and upper-level management. This sounds like a formal statement that you approve of the liberal-arts(文科) graduate. Time and again labor-market analysts mention a need for talents that liberal-arts majors are assumed to have: writing and communication skills, organizational skills, open-mindedness and adaptability, and the ability to analyze and solve problems. David Birch, manager of the Boston Red Sox, says that he does not hire anybody with an MBA or an engineering degree. “I hire only liberal-arts people because they have a less-than-canned way of doing things,” says Birch.
For a liberal – arts degree, students focus on some basic courses that include literature history, mathematics, economics, science, human behavior and a computer course or two. With these useful and important courses, you can feel free to specialize, “A liberal-arts degree coupled with an MBA or some other technical training is a very good combination in the marketplace,” says Scheetz.
67．The job market is in great need of people with ______________
A．special training in special fields B．a bachelor’s degree in education
C．formal schooling and work experience D．an MBA degree from top universities
68．The underlined sentence in Paragrph 2 means_________.
A．an MBA degree does not help in future promotion
B．MBA programs will not be as popular as they are now
C．people will not forget the degree the MBA graduates have got
D．most MBA programs fail to provide students with a foundation
69．David Birch says that he only hires liberal – arts people because___________.
A．they will follow others’ ways of solving problems
B．they can do better in bundling changing situations
C．they are well trained in a variety of specialized fields
D．they have attended special programs in management
70．The author supports the idea that__________________.
A．on – the – job training is less costly in the long run
B．formal schooling is less important than job training
C．specialists are more expensive to hire than generalists
D．generalists will do better than specialists in management
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Why People Get Tattoos
Jack lay, quiet and unmoving, for thirty minutes while a stranger |
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub – point (次要点) C: Conclusion
