Common indoor plants may prove to be a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only pretty, but NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing possible harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.
NASA have announced the finds of a 2-year study that suggested the common indoor plants may provide a natural way of helping fight against “Sick Building Syndrome(综合症)”.
Research into the use of biological processes as a means of solving environmental problems, both on Earth and in space habitats, has been carried out for many years by Dr. Bill Wloverton, a senior research scientist at NASA.
Based on preliminary evaluations(初步评估) of the use of common indoor plants for indoor air purification(净化),NASA funded a study using about a dozen popular varieties of attractive plants to determine their effectiveness in removing several key pollutants linked with indoor air pollution. NASA research on indoor has found that living plants are so efficient at absorbing pollutants in the air that some will be launched into space as part of the biological life support system aboard future orbiting space stations.
While more research is needed, Wolverton says the study has shown that common indoor plants can remove certain pollutants from the indoor environment. “We feel that future results will provide an even stronger argument that common indoor plants can be a very effective part of a system used to provide pollution free homes and work places,” he concludes.
“Combining nature with technology can increase the effectiveness of plants in removing air pollutants,” he said.
NASA research has always shown that living, green and flowering plants can remove several poisonous chemicals from the air inside buildings. You can use plant in your home or office to improve the quality of the air to make it a more pleasant place to live and work—where people feel better, perform better, and enjoy life more.The main idea of the passage is _______.
| A．plants are very useful to human beings |
| B．indoor plants can help remove indoor air pollution |
| C．indoor plants should be raised in both homes and offices |
| D．NASA have studied indoor plants for many years |
Why do you think NASA are very interested in indoor plants?
| A．Some indoor plants would be used in space stations. |
| B．They want to find a way to cure Sick Building Syndrome. |
| C．They need indoor plants to carry out their experiments. |
| D．Indoor plants are pretty and attractive. |
The underlined word “pollutants” refers to _______.
| A．some kinds of indoor plants | B．ways to solve air pollution |
| C．research on indoor plants | D．poisonous chemicals in the air |
B
When a rather dirty, poorly dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg for a few coins, do you hurry on, not knowing what to do, or do you feel sad and hurriedly hand over some money? What should our attitude to beggars be? There can be no question that the world is full of terribly sad stories. It must be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is going to come from. It seems cruel not to give some money to beggars.
Certainly, most of the world’s great religions (宗教) order us to be open-hearted and share what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves. But has the world changed? Maybe what was morally (道德方面) right in the old days, when one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help, is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars. Let us look at their arguments.
First, some believe that many city beggars dress up on purpose to look pitiable and actually make a good living from begging. Giving to beggars only encourages this sort of evil (恶行). Secondly, there is the worry that the money you give will be spent on beer, wine or drugs. Thirdly, there is the opinion that there is no real excuse for begging. One might be poor, but that is no reason for losing one’s sense of pride and self-dependence.
Related to this is the opinion that the problem should be dealt with by the government rather than ordinary people. Some people think beggars should go to the local government department and receive help.
It is hard to come to any final conclusion; there are various cases and we must deal with them differently. A few coins can save a life in some situations, and even if the money is wasted, that does not take away the moral goodness of the giver.
59. What is mainly discussed in the passage?
A. Moral deeds of people. B. Religious activities of the church.
C. Moral goodness of the giver. D. Arguments on giving to beggars.
60. What can we infer from the sentence “But has the world changed?” in the second paragraph?
A. People no longer know who suffers misfortune in the village.
B. Some people will not do what was morally right in the past .
C. We don’t meet with those who need help any more.
D. Now it is the government’s duty to help the beggars.
61. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Some people dress up to pretend to be beggars.
B. Some beggars want money to help their children go to school.
C. Some beggars use the money to buy drugs.
D. Some beggars have no excuse for begging.
62. In the last paragraph, the writer thinks that it is hard to come to any final conclusion, because______.
A. the cases can be so different
B. there are so many beggars
C. there is so much money wasted
D. there are so many different arguments
第三部分：阅读理解
第一节阅读下列短文，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。（共15小题，每小题2分，共30分）
A
HOW TO BOOK
Booking opens for Beckett Shorts on 8 September.
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Booking opens for all other plays on 19 September
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56. In which of the following ways of booking does one probably have to pay extra money?
A. In person B. By telephone C. By faxD. By post
57. One has to wait for 2 days or longer for a reply if he/she pays_________.
A. in person B. by telephone C. by fax D. by post
58. What is useful number to call at 11 a.m. Sunday?
A. 01789 295623 B. 0541 541051 C. 01789 261974 D. 01862 387765
Daredevil climber Alain Robert, known as the French Spiderman, stood strong winds and rain to climb the world's tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, Saturday．
Robert, dressed in red rain jacket, tights and climbing shoes, climbed up ropes hung down the side of the 101 storey, 1,667-foot office tower, reaching the top in around four hours．"It was a very big moment and I felt a lot of satisfaction though I was so tired and nearly all of my muscles were painful．I felt completely eased．" said Robert after taking the ride down in one of the tower's lifts, the world's fastest．
Several hundred on-lookers and shoppers gathered at the base of the tower watching and cheering Robert's progress through live pictures on a large television screen．At times he disappeared from view as clouds passed by the top of the tower surrounding the upper stories．
The 42-year-old Frenchman has covered scores of well-known structures around the world including the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower——without permission or any safety equipment or ropes．
This time Robert was wearing a harness (背带) fastened to safety ropes for the entire climb．He used the ropes to pull himself up most of the way, using his hands and feet to climb up the walls for only short sections．He said that the management had requested he wear the ropes and safety equipment, which had also become necessary due to the rain making the windows and frames very slippery．Robert said he would not carry his pity the next time．The text mainly tells us that _________．
| A．another world record was broken by a Frenchman |
| B．The French Spiderman climbed the world's tallest building |
| C．How Alain Robert got the name" Daredevil" |
| D．Alain Robert was praised for his great success |
During his climbing up Taipei 101, Alain Rober
t ________．
| A．never felt tired all the time |
| B．never used his hands and feet |
| C．stayed somewhere for a short rest |
| D．was not seen on the television screen now and then |
When Alain Robert climbed the Empire State Building, he was likely to ________．
| A．use only his hands and feet | B．be 42 years old |
| C．carry some safety equipment | D．get permission of someone |
According to the text, we can infer that Alain Robert ________．
| A．spent three hours climbing Taipei 101 | B．chose a rainy day on purpose |
| C．will climb Taipei 101 a second time | D．got lots of help from on-lookers |
Starting the day on an egg could keep your blood pressure(血压) under control, research suggests．Scientists have shown that eggs produce proteins with a function similar to that of powerful blood pressure-lowering drugs．
The research, from the University of Alberta in Canada, showed that when eggs come in contact with stomach enzymes(酶) they produce a protein that acts in the same way as Ace inhibitors, but more work is needed to show the effects outside a lab and in the human body．
Earlier this month, British researchers declared that, contrary to popular beliefs, it is healthy to go to work on an egg．They concluded that the type of cholesterol (胆固醇) found in eggs has little effect on increasing heart disease risks．
Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin, from the University of Surrey, said:“The wrong beliefs linking egg eating to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected ．The amount of fat in our diet has an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of cholesterol found in eggs．The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat．They can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature’s most nutritious foods．”
The British Heart Foundation dropped its three-egg-a-week limit in 2005．However, almost half of Britons believe the limit still applies．From the text we know that Ace inhibitors are ．
| A．a kind of medicine | B．a kind of protein |
| C．a kind of illness | D．a kind of food |
According to what Professor Brcue said, eggs ．
| A．are the most nutritious food． |
| B．have no effect on blood cholesterol |
| C．can be included in a healthy diet |
| D．are forbidden to be eaten in the UK |
We can infer from the text that ．
| A．drugs to lower blood pressure will be replaced by eating eggs |
| B．stomach enzymes mixed with eggs can cure heart diseases |
| C．most Britons agree the three-egg-a-week limit should be dropped |
| D．about 50% of Britons think eating an egg a day is bad for their health |
The text is meant ．
| A．to introduce scientific findings about eggs |
| B．to introduce a medicine made from eggs |
| C．to tell people how to lower their blood pressure |
D．to advise people to eat as ma ny eggs as possible |
When important events are happening around the world, most people turn to traditional media sources, such as CNN and BBC for the news．However, during the war in Iraq in 2003, many people followed the war from the point of view of an unknown Iraqi citizen who called himself “Salam Pax ” ．(Salam Pax means peace)
Salam Pax wrote a diary about everyday life in Baghdad during the war, and posted it on his website．Pax’s online diary was a kind of website known as a “blog”．Blogs are online diaries, usually kept by individuals, but sometimes by companies and other groups of people．They are the fastest growing types of website on the Internet．
A blog differs from a traditional website in several ways．Most importantly, it is updated much more regularly．Many blogs are updated every day, and some are updated several times a day．Also, most blogs use special software or websites, which can help ordinary people easily set up and start writing their own blogs．
There are many different kinds of blogs．The most popular type is an online diary of links where the blog writer surfs the Internet and then posts links to sites or news articles that they find interesting , with a few comments about each one ．Other types are personal diaries, where the writer talks about their life and feelings．Sometimes these blogs can be very personal．
There is another kind of blogging, called “moblogging ”, short for “ mobile blogging ”．
Mobloggers use mobile phones with cameras to take photos, which are posted instantly to the Internet．The use of mobile phones in this way made the headlines in Singapore when a high school student posted a movie he had taken of a teacher shouting at another student on the Internet．Many people were shocked by what the student did, and wanted phones with cameras to be banned from schools．
Many people think that as blogs become common, news reporting will rely less on big media companies, and more on ordinary people posting news to the Internet．They think that then the news will be less like a lecture, and more like a conversation, where any one can join in．Which statement about Salam Pax was true?
| A．He worked for CNN． |
| B．Salam Pax was not his real name |
| C．He was famous as a host in BBC |
D．He used a mobile phone  for his blog |
What is the biggest difference between blogs and traditional websites?
| A．Blogs are updated much more often | B．Blogs contain links to other websites |
| C．Blogs use special software | D．Blogs contain personal information |
According to the passage, which statement ab
out the future is most likely ? In the future …
| A．everyone will have a blog |
| B．large media companies will be unnecessary |
| C．people will be able to learn the news from other points of view |
| D．blogging technology will be banned |
What is the passage mainly about ?
| A．the history of the Internet | B．new types of media |
| C．the war in Iraq | D．the increase of using computers |