Many of the world’s pollution problems have been caused by the crowding of large groups of people into the cities. Supply for the needs of the people leads to further pollution by industry. If the rapid increase of world population in countries continues at the present rate, there may be much greater harm to human beings. Some scientists speak of the increase in numbers of people as “population pollution.”
About 2,000 years ago, the world population was probably about 250 million. It reached a billion in 1850. By 1930 the population was two billion. It is now three and a half billion. It is expected to double by the year 2,000. If the population continues to grow at the same rate, there will be 25 billion in the world a hundred years from now.
Man has been using the earth’s resources more and more rapidly over the past years. Some of them are almost used up. Now many people believe that man’s greatest problem is how to control the growth of the population. The material supplies in the world will be far from enough to support the human population, in time to come, if the present rate of increase continues. Already there is overcrowding in many cities and starvation in some countries. Should man’s population keep on growing so rapidly as before? Many people believe that human survival in the future depends on the answer to this question.
59. The rapid increase in population is considered to be __________.
A. the increase of resources B. population pollution
C. the development of mankind D. the present rate
60. The world population will be _________ by the year 2,000.
A. 7 billion B. 250 million C. 25 billion D. 3.5 billion
61. If the present rate of increase continue, ________________.
A. the world is going to end
B. the earth won’t be able to support the growing population in the future
C. pollution has nothing to do with the rapidly increasing population
D. there would be four billion in the world a hundred years from now
62. Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
A. In 1850 the world population reached a billion.
B. Man must fight a battle against population pollution.
C. The world’s population is increasing with years.
D. All of the earth’s resources are gone now.
Tuesday
October 23 11:00 am
World Tree Day; World Tree Cuisine
For World Tree Day, Snook gives out badges（徽章）to everyone who is nice to the tree, but Bob can’t think of what to do -until he comes up with a song．Also: Madge and Snook plan a party to celebrate the World Tree's birthday．
Wednesday
October 21 11:00am
The Sloth Must Be Crazy; Smarter than You Think
Bob investigates a shiny green object that fell from the sky, and, with Madge's help, figures out what it is． Also: Winslow fears that everyone else is smarter than he is．
Thursday
October 22 11:00 am
Fish out of Water; Burdette's Nest
Bob fears that Ick is stuck inside a rock, but soon learns that the rock is a fossil; Smooch and Snook help patch Burdette's nest．
Friday
October 23 11:00 am
Bones; Food and Plenty of It
After Winslow injures his arm, he refuses to slow down and winds up hurting his leg too．Also: Burdette is upset when the nuts on her favorite tree disappear．
Thursday
November 5 11:00 am
The Sting; Growing
Wartz's frog friend Greenie is frightened by Stripey the bee; Madge and Snook think about everything that's occurred at the World Tree during the past year．
Friday
November 6 11:00 am
The Big Race; You Are What You Are
Winslow, Smooch and Snook organize a relay race(接力赛) for all the animals of the World Tree．Also: Wartz wonders if fish and plants are related since they both need water to survive．The information above is most probably about _________．
| A．different science fiction films shown each day |
| B．a series of TV programmes for parents |
| C．a series of TV programmes for children |
| D．different children's films shown each day |
The theme of the song that Bob comes up with is probably about_________．
| A．protecting animals | B．birthday celebration |
| C．alien legend | D．protecting trees |
If Jane wants to know how Winslow gets injured, she will be interested in _____．
| A．The Sloth Must Be Crazy; Smarter than You Think |
| B．Bones; Food and Plenty of It |
| C．The Sting; Growing |
| D．The Big Race; You Are What You Are |
What is TRUE of Wartz?
| A．Wartz has many foolish ideas. | B．Wartz is not clever as others. |
| C．Wartz is curious and imaginative. | D．Wartz wins a relay race. |
On the morning of November 18, 1755, an earthquake shock Boston． John Winthrop, a professor at Harvard College, felt the quake and awoke. “I rose”, Winthrop wrote, “and lighted a candle, looked at my watch, and found it to be 15minutes after four.” John Winthrop hurried downstairs to the grandfather clock．It had stopped three minutes before, at 4:12．Except for stopping the clock, the quake had only thrown a key from the mantel（壁炉台）to the floor．
The clock had stopped because Winthrop had put some long glass tubes he was using for an experiment into the case for safekeeping． The quake had knocked the tubes over and blocked the pendulum（钟摆）．Winthrop, therefore, had the key on the floor． The quake had thrown it forward in the direction of the quake’s motion by a shock coming from the northwest, perhaps in Canada．What does “it” in the second paragraph refer to?
| A．the floor | B．the key | C．the clock | D．the case |
The text suggests that．
| A．earthquakes are common in Boston |
| B．John Winthrop was a scientist |
| C．John Winthrop often had difficulty in sleeping |
| D．Harvard College was a center for earthquake researching |
Which of the following is true? .
| A．Some tubes were broken into pieces and stopped the old clock |
| B．The professor lit a candle because of power failure |
| C．Boston is in the southeast of Canada |
| D．The shocks were slight in one way |
John Winthrop put some tubes into this clock case because ．
| A．he wanted to do an experiment |
| B．he thought an earthquake was probably to happen soon |
| C．he thought it safe for them to be put there |
| D．he wanted to record the exam time of the earthquake． |
Oh, boy! Time for a game now． oldest brother is the seeker so k have to hide extra good because he’s smart and will find me quickly．But where? Behind the garage won’t work. The barn is too easy. Wait, I know. The door leading under the porch is perfect. No one would look for me under there.
It smells unpleasant under this porch． Wish I had picked another place to hide． Smelly cats! Too late now, I can hear brother seeking everyone out. I’ll just sit here quiet as a mouse. Hah hah hah! I can hear you out by the barn! You’ll never find me over t
here!
It’s been a while and he hasn’t found me yet. What’s that I hear? Now all my brothers are looking for me. They’ve all been caught, but not me. They’ll never trick me into coming out to catch me. Wait, is that Dad I hear calling my name? Oh no, now I hear someone going to call Grandpa to help look for me. I’m not coming out now because I’m in really big trouble.
What to do? If I come out and say I heard them calling me, I’ll be in big trouble. Think, think! How do I get out of trouble? I know what to do! I’ll tell them I fell asleep while waiting. Is that Grandpa’s voice? Heh heh heh! Now’s my chance. I’ll crawl out slowly and rub my eyes. Now that I see Grandpa go towards me quickly, I say. “I feel asleep.”
“Oh! You had us all worried!” says Grandpa. “You little devil, I’m just glad you’re all right, but next time try not to fall asleep and scare us like that, okay?” says Dad. Whew! I pulled it off (成功). Now to keep my mo
uth shut. And I did, for over 42 years. Once in a while, a kid pulls the wool over people’s eyes. So that’s one of my little secrets I’ve never revealed before. Don’t tell anyone now!The place where the boy was hiding smelt terrible because it .
| A．was too wet there | B．was used as a barn |
| C．was dirtied by animals | D．was just under the garage |
Which of the following correctly shows the boy’s emotional changes when he was under the porch?
| A．Happy – excited – nervous. | B．Regretted – happy – anxious. |
| C．Excited – nervous – disappointed. | D．Happy – nervous – regretted. |
By saying “a kid pulls the wool over people’s eyes”, what does the writer mean?
| A．Children can win others’ trust more easily than adults. |
| B．Children can tell a lie that others believe to be true. |
| C．Children can be easily fooled by adults. |
| D．Children are good at telling lies. |
The story is most probably written by .
| A．a teenager | B．a naughty boy child |
| C．a young adult | D．a middle – aged man |
Why should I teach my children history? That sounds like a stupid question to even ask．But, as I hear different home schooling teachers discuss history, I get the idea that there may be different reasons for teaching history．Let me briefly explain the three good reasons for studying history and two bad reasons for studying history．
The major reason I see for studying history is that we can learn from the past．I am convinced that the world would be a much better place if more people understood the successes and failures of the past and the things that made these successes and failures．However, as the unfortunately true statement goes "the one thing we seem to learn from history is that we don't seem to learn from history". Perhaps at least in teaching history, to my children I can do a small part in changing this．
A second major reason for studying history is th
at it is hard to understand the current political climate in the absence of an understanding of its historical context．We can’t even understand why we are and where we are without history, much less （更不必说） try to figure out where we are going or how we should get where we want to be．
I teach my children history, for one more reason．I purchased a set of historical audio （录音机） tapes for our children．My seven-year-old son listened to them over and over．It was my hope that he would become inspired by the accomplishments of people like the Wright brothers to accomplish things by himsel
f．I think that it is good that we celebrate the accomplishments of people like Martin Luther King Jr．if, in doing so, young people are called on to stand for the principles that he stood for and accomplish what he accomplished．I also think that by studying people like Adolph Hitler, people can learn to stand against the things that he stood for．What message can we get from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 ?
| A．Many people aren't clever enough to learn well from the past． |
| B．Many people fail to make good use of history and make the same mistakes． |
| C．Many people feel it hard to understand history． |
| D．Many people have no interest in studying history． |
In Paragraph 3, the author shows that history is useful because _______________．
| A．It makes the current political situation go smoothly |
| B．It helps us realize the importance of historical events |
| C．It helps us understand why things are the way they are |
| D．It helps people accept the present situation where they live |
Some historical figures are mentioned in the last paragraph to show ______________．
| A．People can be inspired to do good, while also learning to fight against evil |
| B．People may also learn from bad historical figures |
| C．More celebrations should be held to honor their achievements |
| D．Today’s people can also achieve what they achieved |
What would be talked about in the following paragraph?
| A．How to teach history effectively． |
| B．Some negative reasons for studying history． |
C．Ho w to get more people to study history． |
| D．Some bad historical figures． |
The main purpose of this passage is to ____________．
| A．inspire the parents to teach their children history |
| B．show the importance of history in politics |
| C．explain the reasons why children study history |
| D．introduce the writer' s own way of teaching history |
THIS was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, 
floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, snow storms, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter of a million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird（古怪的） year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable（脆弱的） buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes "are pretty much constant," said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. "All the change that's made is man-made."
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people - many of them living in poverty - and more poorly built shanties than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
In February, an earthquake that was more than 500 times stronger than the one that struck Haiti hit an area of Chile that was less populated, better constructed, and not as poor. Chile's bigger quake caused fewer than 1,000 deaths.
Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
In the summer, one weather system caused oppressive heat in Russia, while farther south it caused flooding in Pakistan that inundated 161,200 square kilometers, about the size of Wisconsin. That single heat-and-storm system killed almost 17,000 people, more people than all the worldwide airplane crashes in the past 15 years.
Scientists have calculated that the killer Russian heat wave—setting a national record of 43.9℃—would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.What is responsible for the most human deaths in 2010?
| A．Natrual disasters. | B．Terrorist attacks. |
| C．Poor buildings. | D．Too rapid developrnent. |
According to Andreas Schraft, .
| A．earthquakes are happening more often because of human beings |
| B．earthquakes are causing more damage because of human beings |
| C．stronger houses should be built to limit storm damage |
| D．Port—au—Prince is now overpopulated |
The main point of the article is to.
| A．list the natural disasters that occurred in 2010 |
| B．give the details of some natural disasters of 2010 |
| C．warn that more natural disasters are to strike |
| D．blame humanity for not helping those affected by the disasters |