When people want to know about the weather,they usually go to their radios,TVs, newspapers,or to the Internet.However,you can also find many weather signs among wildlife, because of their highly developed senses.Drops in air pressure(压力) produce an effect on small animals in many ways.Mice and deer are good weather indicators.People who spend a lot of time outdoors have observed that,before a storm,field mice come out of their holes and run around.Deer leave high ground and come down from the mountains.
Birds are especially good weather indicators because they also show the effect of a pressure drop in many ways.For example,some birds become irritable(急躁的) and quarrelsome and will fight over a piece of bread.Other birds chirp(叽叽喳喳) and sing just before a storm.It seems they know they won’t get another chance for an hour or two.Birds also seek safe places before a storm.You will sometimes see birds settling in trees or gathering together on a wire close to a building.Pre-storm low pressure makes the air so thin that birds have difficulty flying.
It is unusual to see many birds flying overhead in the summertime,rather than during the periods in the spring or autumn.Watch for other weather signs if you see this.If they fly in the wrong direction,they may be flying ahead of a storm.
By paying closer attention to some important signs in nature,we can become better prepared for any kind of weather.The word “indicators” in Paragraph 1 probably means______.
| A．maps | B．services |
| C．signs | D．stations |
There will be a storm if birds______.
| A．make more noise than usual |
| B．fly in different directions |
| C．come down from tall trees |
| D．share a piece of bread |
How can birds sense the coming of a storm?
| A．By feeling a drop in air temperature. |
| B．By noticing the change of wind directions. |
| C．By feeling a drop in air pressure. |
| D．By noticing the movements of other animals. |
The best title for the text would be______.
| A．Signs of a Storm |
| B．Drops in Air Pressure |
| C．Animals’ Sharp Senses |
| D．Nature’s Weather Signs |
If your parents take out a loan, remind themselves to make the payments on time. Otherwise it will become a negative record in their personal credit reports, which are playing an increasingly big role in people's daily lives. A story carried by Chongqing Morning Post in June, underlines this trend.
According to the report, a Chongqing student borrowed money from the bank to finance his university studies. After he graduated in 2005, he went to work in Shenzhen. Later, he wanted to buy a house using loans. But several banks turned down his loan applications. The reason was that he had not paid back 1,500 yuan he borrowed from a bank when he was at university.
A personal credit rating is becoming an essential “pass” in everyday life, as China establishes a nationwide credit database. Personal credit systems go back 150 years. In developed countries, enterprises and banks use them to decide whether or not to loan money or do other business with a person.
A credit report estimates the credit worthiness of an individual, a company, or even a country. It is an evaluation made by credit bureaus of a borrower's overall credit history and his or her ability to repay debt. A poor credit rating means a high risk of defaulting on a loan, and thus leads to the refusal of a loan by the lender.
Today in China, credit history in banks is the major content of a credit report. But in the future, reports will include information about the payment of telephone bills, water use fees, electricity and natural gas bills, and taxes, according to officials of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.
Personal information such as appearance, genetic data, fingerprints, blood type, disease history, ethnic identity, family and religious beliefs are not to be included in credit reports, according to a draft regulation on credit rating issued last year by the Sate Council. The authors of the draft have just finished soliciting(征求) public opinions.
The Credit Reference Center run by the People's Bank of China is in charge of developing a nationwide credit database. Credit reports for all people with bank transactions (交易)began in 2006.
A personal credit rating is important to the social and economic activities of a person. According to the draft, if you have a personal negative credit record, it will be kept for five years.The author took the story as an example in order to ________.
| A．warn us of the importance of our personal credit report |
| B．tell us the story of a Chongqing student |
| C．encourage us to use credits widely |
| D．inform us to apply for a loan at university |
Credit reports will include the following except ________.
| A．taxes | B．telephone bills |
| C．water use fees | D．genetic data |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Personal credit systems go back 150 years in China. |
| B．You can turn to the People's Bank of China for the information about your credit report. |
| C．Credit history in banks is the only content of a credit report. |
| D．Credit reports began in 2006 in China. |
What's the best title for the passage?
| A．A Credit Report Rating |
| B．Credit in China |
| C．Credit Really Counts |
| D．Credit Report Contents |
Live the “American Dream”
What is it: Work & Travel USA
Who are qualified: Fulltime college students, above 18 years old
About the program: Application for the 2009 Work & Travel USA program has just started. It's an 8～16 weeks' summer program for college students to work and travel in the U．S.. Employers include Boeing, Hilton Hotel and 7Eleven. For next summer, about 3,500 positions are open to Chinese students. Applicants must pass a language test and sometimes an interview, and pay a registration fee to join the program.
(Source: www. Cultureexchange. org)
Hundreds needed by Volkswagen
What is it: Shanghai Volkswagen jobs
Who are qualified: College students graduating in 2009
About it: Shanghai VW offers over 300 positions from engineering to marketing to college students graduating in 2009. Applicants should have an excellent academic record, CET6 or the same level language certificate in German, and good computer skills. Campus talks will take place in Shanghai, Changchun, Harbin, Wuhan, Changsha, Nanjing, Beijing and Xi'an from October.
(source: campus chinahr. com/2009/pages/csvw)
Xiaonei looking for graduates
What is it: Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) internships (实习)
Who are qualified: College juniors and firstyear postgraduate students
About it: OPI is now offering internship positions for test engineer, development engineer and assistant to the director of corporate culture. For engineering positions, candidates should major in computer science or a related field, have communication ability and be familiar with various development languages. For assistant to the director positions, candidates should be adept in document writing, activities organizing and office software.
(source: campus. xiaonei. com)These advertisements are most probably advertisements ________.
| A．on the Internet intended for college students to read |
| B．in a newspaper intended for large companies to read |
| C．on the Internet intended for the general public to read |
| D．in a newspaper intended for college students to read |
The opportunity of ________ is offered only to college students graduating in 2009.
| A．working in America |
| B．traveling in America |
| C．OPI internship |
| D．positions in VW |
If you want to apply for assistant to the director positions you must ________.
| A．study computer science |
| B．be good at document writing |
| C．have communication ability |
| D．be familiar with various languages |
Last fall，beekeepers from states with warm climates began to report a sudden loss of honey bees.Losses were reported in twentyfour states and spread to Canada.Today，some beekeepers say thirty percent to ninety percent of their honey bees are gone.Food price could go up as a result.And some beekeeping businesses have failed.
Many kinds of plants，trees and grasses need bees to pollinate them.Bees gather nectar from flowers during this process.The liquid gives them food and material to make honey.As the bees land on flowers，their bodies pick up and drop off particles of pollen(花粉)．Most flowering plants need pollination to reproduce.
Honey bees can die during the winter.But few dead bees have been found this time.Instead，the bees seem to have disappeared.Experts call the condition “colony collapse disorder”．
Agriculture Department official Caird Rexroad said the colony collapse disorder threatens about fifteen billion dollars worth of the country's farm economy.Mr.Rexroad commented at a hearing of a House of Representatives agriculture subcommittee.
Mr.Rexroad said the cause of the sudden loss of bees was not clear.The number of honey bees had already fallen before the colony collapse disorder began.
Experts say the varroa mite is at least partly responsible for the earlier decrease in honey bees.The mite is a tiny creature that feeds on honey bees.It may play a part in colony collapse disorder by carrying bee viruses.Or the problem may be caused by other disease and weather conditions.
Diana CoxFoster of Pennsylvania State University is part of the scientific group.Ms.CoxFoster says the nation needs honey bees that can defend themselves better against disease and insects.The recent mapping of most of the honey bees' genes offers the hope of a stronger honey bee some day.Some people have failed in beekeeping businesses because ________.
| A．they want to make more money by doing something else |
| B．the climates were too warm to raise bees last fall |
| C．too many bees have disappeared for no reason |
| D．more and more people are beginning to raise bees |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to this passage?
| A．It is normal that some bees die in the cold season. |
| B．The plants can't live without bees at all. |
| C．Many bees have died because of the bad weather. |
| D．Researchers have found the reason of the death of bees. |
The passage is mainly to tell us that ________.
| A．the honey bees are important to plants，trees and grasses |
| B．many Americans are surprised at the loss of honey bees |
| C．strong honey bees are in great need in America |
| D．something has happened to American honey bees |
Outside her shabby cottage，old Mrs. Tailor was hanging out laundry on a wire line，unaware that some children lay hidden in the leaves of a nearby tree watching her every move. They were determined to find out if she really was a witch.
They watched as she took a broomstick to clean the dirt from her stone steps.But，much to their disappointment，she did not mount the broomstick and take flight.Suddenly，the old lady's work was interrupted by the cackling of her hen－a signal that an egg had been laid in the warm nest on top of the haystack.
The old broomstick was put aside as she hobbled off towards the haystack followed by Sooty，a black cat she had rescued from a fox trap some time back.With only three legs，it was hard for Sooty to keep up with the old lady.The cat provided proof－ the children were sure that only a witch would own a black cat with three legs.
There，standing on a wooden box，was Mrs.Tailor，stretching out to gather her precious egg.Taking the egg in one of her hands，she began to climb down when，without warning，the box broke and the old lady fell.
“We have to go and help her，”whispered Amy.
“What if it is a trick？” replied Ben.
“Don't be silly，Ben.If she were a witch，she would have turned us into frogs already，” reasoned Meg.“Come on Amy，let's go.”The girls climbed down the tree and ran all the way to the haystack.
Approaching carefully，they could see a wound on the old lady's face.She had knocked her head on a stone and her ankle was definitely broken.“Go and get Dad，” Amy yelled to her brother.“Tell him about the accident.”
The boys did not need another excuse to leave.They ran as fast as they could for help，hoping that Mrs.Tailor would not wake and turn the girls into frogs.Why were the children hiding in the tree?
| A．They wanted to watch Mrs.Tailor do her housework closely. |
| B．They were playing a hideandseek game. |
| C．They wanted to find out if the rumors about Mrs.Tailor were true. |
| D．They were pretending to be spies. |
Mrs.Tailor stopped sweeping when________.
| A．her front steps were clean |
| B．she noticed the children in the tree |
| C．she was ready to take a flight |
| D．she heard the hen cackling |
Ben did not rush to help Mrs.Tailor because________.
| A．he thought that she could be tricking them |
| B．he knew that they should not have been in the tree |
| C．he did not see the old lady fall down |
| D．he was afraid of the threelegged cat |
Which of these old sayings best suits the story's lesson for us?
| A．Make hay while the sun shines. |
| B．Never judge a book by its cover. |
| C．People in glasshouses should not throw stones. |
| D．A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. |
Rachel Carson，a wellknown nature author in America，was happiest writing about the strength and stability of natural systems.Her books mainly described the inter connectedness of nature and all living things.
Completing Silent Spring took Carson four years.First published in The New Yorker in June 1962，the book alarmed readers across America.It described how DDT entered the food chain and accumulated (堆积) in the fatty tissues of animals，including human beings，and caused cancer and genetic damage.
Carson begins by describing exactly these effects in the first chapter，creating strong images and drawing the readers in.As the book continues，she gives various examples of how insecticides(杀虫剂) are not only unsuccessful，but actually very costly and damaging.She also explains about the biological controls which are less expensive and much more efficient.
A single application on a crop，she wrote，killed insects for weeks and months，and not only the targeted insects but countless more，and remained poisonous in the environment even after it was washed out by rainwater.Carson concluded that DDT and other pesticides had definitely harmed birds and animals and had destroyed the entire world's food supply.The book's most famous chapter，A Fable for Tomorrow，described a nameless American town where all life—from fish to birds to apple blossoms to human children—had been “silenced” by the harmful effects of DDT.
The most important effect of Silent Spring，though，was a new public awareness that nature was so easily destroyed by human intervention(干预)．Rachel Carson had made a brave proposal：that，at times，technological progress is so basically at odds with(与……不一致) natural processes that it must be prevented.
What are Rachel Carson's books mainly concerned about?
| A．The relationship between man and nature. |
| B．The balance of natural systems. |
| C．The interconnection of nature and living things. |
| D．The pollution of the environment. |
According to the text，Silent Spring________.
| A．didn't draw the readers' attention when first published |
| B．mainly describes people's quiet lives in an American town |
| C．effectively tells people how to keep the balance of nature |
| D．showed the harmful effects of DDT on nature |
Rachel Carson thinks that the more efficient way to kill insects is to use ________.
| A．DDT |
| B．human controls |
| C．biological controls |
| D．technical progress |
The publication of Silent Spring makes people ________.
| A．understand the author's outstanding writing talent |
| B．realize the importance of technical progress |
| C．aware of the necessity of environmental protection |
| D．rethink the harmful effects of developing industry |