Major Cities Take Steps to Protect Water Resources
Faced with the threat of water shortages, Beijing and Shanghai will take effective measures to save water and protect water resources.
Beijing will stick more strictly to water-saving policies through the readjustment of industrial structures. Beijing is expected to be short of 1.185 billion cubic meters of water by 2020. Beijing will shut down factories with high water consumption and pollution including electric power, steel and paper manufacturing equipments. Advanced water-saving technology will be introduced to new industrial projects in the capital city.
Grain-growing areas will be reduced to save ground water and more trees will be planted. Animal breeding and other “highly efficient” agriculture with modern water-saving irrigation methods will be developed.
It is said that water used in agriculture will drop to 35 percent of the city’s water consumption in 2010 from 43 percent in 1998, and the figure will continue to drop to 28-30 percent in 2020. Beijing will increase the speed of renovation of its urban water supply equipments. It’s reported that more than 15 percent of water is lost during distribution(分发). Water-saving equipment and efficient management can save Beijing more than 537 million cubic meters by 2010.
Shanghai still faces key problems connected with its water resources and environment. Since 1998, the city has invested nearly US$169 million to treat its rivers, especially Suzhou Creek. The city’s rivers have become noticeably clearer since putting it into action.
The government will provide a further US$24 million for the treatment of rivers and US$12 million to treat sewage(污物).
This year’s task is to improve the water quality at the three ports of Longhua, Yang-shupu and Hongkou. Another emphasis to raise the water system in Songjiang New Area with a project worth US$4.8 million. Efforts will be made to improve public awareness about the need to protect water resources.
53. How many measures has Beijing taken to save water and protect water resources?
A. three B. four C. five D. six
54.Grain-growing areas in Beijing will be reduced because _____.
A. grains can’t fetch a good price in China.
B. a lot of ground water will be saved by this area.
C. Beijing helps to develop advanced technology.
D. highly effective agriculture needs fewer farmland.
55. From the passage, we know Shanghai will invest _____ million dollars on the treatment of river and sewage.
A. 169 B. 36 C. 40.8 D. 201.7
56. The author wrote the passage to tell us _____.
A. Beijing and Shanghai are short of water
B. to save every drop of water in our daily life
C. big cities like Beijing and Shanghai are trying their best to protect water resources
D. water shortages have become one of the most important problems that China has to deal with
Disneyland may look like a straightforward theme park. But there’s a secret world hidden behind the balloons, castles and cotton candy — a place where wild cats wander at midnight, Mickey Mouse hides in the wallpaper, and movie stars drink martinis behind closed doors.
Cat security — It’s not easy keeping the ground of Disneyland spotless, as well as free of unwanted pests. Every night after closing time, 200 wild cats were freed into the park to help keep the rodent（啮齿）population under control. Though Disney doesn’t comment on the matter, rumor（传闻）has it that the cat taskforce dates back to 1957. After unsuccessful attempts to chase them out of the park, Disney decided to put the cats to work instead.
Hidden Mickeys—At Disneyland the round-eared Mickey Mouse image is everywhere. But you can also see hundreds of “Hidden Mickeys” across the park, which are very difficult to spot: they’re camouflage （伪装）in the architecture and landscaping as well as in the smallest stylistic details.
Cocktail（鸡尾酒）behind closed doors—Disney is dry unless you can manage to get your name on the list at Club 33. The secret cocktail club has a limited membership of just 487 and a waiting list of approximately 14 years. Walt Disney designed the club as a special space to entertain possible investors; since then, it has hosted US presidents, film stars and foreign guests.
Always on stage—At Disneyland, a doorman isn’t a doorman, he is a “cast member”. So are the large numbers of cashiers, painters, ride operators, gardeners and performers. All “cast members” are trained to follow a specific rule that helps preserve the Disney magic. On the list of dos and don’ts? Never break character. If wearing a costume that belongs in Fantasyland, don’t set foot in Tomorrowland—it might Confuse visitors or break the park’s orderly image. Cast members have a Disney “look book” that details the fresh-faced ideal—no long fingernails, beards, or unnaturally colored hair allowed. It’s a return to Walt Disney’s All-American standards: when the park opened even guests with facial hair weren’t allowed entrance.The reason why there are many wild cats in Disneyland is that ________.
| A．they’re in charge of the cleaning of the park |
| B．they’re allowed to act as cleaners and guards |
| C．they have to keep watch in the daytime |
| D．they have a comfortable house to live in |
From the passage we can know that in Disneyland “Hidden Mickeys” are _________.
| A．small | B．obvious | C．everywhere | D．dishonest |
What do the underlined Words “Disney is dry” in paragraph 4 mean?
| A．It’s easy to join the Club 33. | B．The ground keeps dry. |
| C．It doesn’t often rain. | D．Drinking alcohol is forbidden. |
From the last paragraph, we can know the workers in Disneyland _______.
| A．must know the dos and don’t |
| B．needn’t have their facial hair shaved |
| C．can wear unnaturally colored hair |
| D．mustn’t get in Tomorrowland |
Can a fish hear fishermen moving along the stream? What are the facts about the ability of a fish to see? Can they tell the difference between colors?
The sharp hearing of a fish has been proved by two scientists, who trained a fish to expect its food when it heard the sound of a whistle. And a slight sound two hundred feet away could drive fishes away. That should make fishermen start thinking.
One scientist had made experiments to prove fish can recognize different colors such as red, brown, yellow and green.
Fish also have an eye for different shapes. One scientist proved this by teaching fish to connect certain patterns with food. He used a small circle and a square. If the fish swam towards the circle, they received food as a reward. If they swam towards the square, they received nothing. The fish learned in time to go to the circle but not to the square. Does this mean that in time fish might learn to leave alone all food on hooks that they have seen often before? Here is something for all fishermen to think about!
These facts help to make more believable some of the “believe it or not” stories that have been told about fish. It is clear that fish have sometimes shown their ability to gain knowledge as man does. A good example of what we might call “thinking” by a fish is given by an experience of Dr. Andrew Gage. Fishing over a bridge, he hooked a fish. It struggled and dragged the line two hundred feet away before he stopped it. Then it swam back to the bridge. The clever fish then swam round a pile and, with a sudden push, broke the line. If the story ended there, one could say that the fish had freed itself by chance. However, Gage went on fishing. Below him he could see the fish that had broken loose. After another twenty minutes the fish again seized the food on the hook. This time it did not swim out but swam round one of the piles and again broke the line.
Many stories are told of the fish that get away and the clever “old hand” ones that can’t be caught. The more often a fish is nearly caught, the more difficult it will be to interest it next time.The last two paragraph’s mainly discuss _________.
| A．whether a fish can think as man does |
| B．how a fish could escape from danger |
| C．how to catch a fish more easily |
| D．whether a fish is believable |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Fish can hear and see |
| B．How clever is a fish? |
| C．Fish can play tricks |
| D．How scientists help fishermen. |
We can infer from the last paragraph that _________.
| A．it’s difficult to catch fish; |
| B．fish are cleverer sometimes than fishermen |
| C．fish seem to learn by their experience |
| D．fewer people will be interested in fish |
I was eight when my neighbors got a TV. It was small and expensive, but that didn’t matter. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. That was in 1948.
Soon, a lot of people got a TV, but not us. My parents didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good son, I didn’t argue with them. But I secretly watch TV—at my friends’ homes.
By 1955, televisions weren’t so expensive and were much larger. My parents still thought they were not good for us, but my sisters insisted, saying they were the only people in the neighborhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but they couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, which made them feel very unhappy. My youngest sister cried, saying she was never going back to school and that life without a TV wasn’t worth living. Nothing my parents said made her feel better. The next morning, without telling us, they went out and got a new TV.
When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV for two hours a night. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, and TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said.
Today people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV, which has a powerful influence on our lives. On average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.
The people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers away off the coast of Maine, don’t have electricity, and they decided; once again, that they liked that way. Electricity, they think, would make life too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying at home and watching TV.How old was the author, when their family got a TV?
| A．About 15. | B．8. | C．18. | D．About 10. |
The author’s parents finally decided to buy a TV because _______.
| A．they wanted to meet their daughters’ needs . |
| B．the children couldn’t go to school without a TV |
| C．the sisters would like to be like their friends |
| D．they had to do as the youngest daughter told them to |
The author thinks “to judge whether a TV’s influence is good or bad” is ________.
| A．concerning | B．hard | C．meaningless | D．important |
The last paragraph is written to show ________.
| A．the disadvantage of TV |
| B．TV influences people a great deal |
| C．the advantage of TV |
| D．we can change what we don’t like |
Kelly Reeves was getting ready for a trip when her phone slipped into a sink full of water. Panic moment! She quickly picked up the wet phone and tried to turn it on, but nothing worked. Her first reaction? She got dressed, drove to the nearest store, and bought a new mobile at full price.
A new study finds that fear of losing your phone is a common illness. About 66 percent of those surveyed suffer from nomophobia or “no mobile phone phobia”. Interestingly, more women worry about losing their phone than men.
Fortunately, there’s a solution.
The first step is to figure out if you have nomophobia. Checking your phone too often is one thing, but the true sign of a problem is that you can’t conduct business or go about your routine when the fear becomes so severe.
Do you go to unusual lengths to make sure you have your phone? That’s another sign of a problem. If you find you check your phone plenty of times per hour, or a total of an hour per day, there may be a problem.
Some of the treatments are similar to those for treating anxiety attacks: leaving the phone behind and not checking e-mail or text messages, and then learning to tolerate the after anxiety. Even if this leads to a high level of worry and stress, the solution is to push through the fear and learn to deal with not having your phone.
Of course, there are also technological alternatives. Luis Levy, a co-founder at Novy PR, says he uses an application called Cerberus that can automatically track the location of his phone. To find it, he can just go to a website and see the phone’s location.
He also insures his phone through a service called Asurion. The company’s description of its product reads like a prescription for anxiety：“60 million phones are lost, stolen or damaged each year. You’ll have complete peace of mind knowing that your phone is protected and you can quickly reconnect with family, friends and work, as soon as the very next day!”Why does the author mention Kelly’s experience in the first paragraph?
| A．To introduce the topic for discussion. |
| B．To inform us that mobile phones are useful. |
| C．To warn us that we should be careful. |
| D．To tell us we should get phones ready for a trip. |
The underlined word “nomophobia” in Paragraph 2 means “ ” .
| A．habits of using mobile phones |
| B．fear of losing mobile phones |
| C．eagerness for new mobile phones |
| D．independence of mobile phones |
Which of the following is a way to treat nomophobia?
| A．Avoiding using a phone for some time |
| B．Learning more about modern technology |
| C．Protecting one’s phone against any damage |
| D．Not using a mobile phone in one’s daily work |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Attitude toward mobile phones |
| B．New mobile phone technology |
| C．Disadvantages of mobile phones |
| D．Solutions to nomophobia |
Do you have any skiing equipment you no longer need? A ski school in the far north of India could put it to good use.
In March we published a photo story about the extraordinary Zsnskar region in northern India，which is cut off from the outside world for more than seven months of the year，and only accessible (可通行的)via a frozen river．We also included information about the limited use of skiing in the region and the recent creation of the Zanskar Ski School:
“Despite the difficulties of travelling through the region when the snow comes，skiing hasn’t traditionally been used as a means of transport by the locals，largely because trees don't grow here, so there is little in the way of raw materials from which to make skis．In 1995, a group of British scientists in the region noticed the lack of skis and one of them returned to set up the Zanskar Ski School in Padam．The school provides lessons for a small fee and rents skis to the local people. Among the benefits that the school hopes to bring are improved education—children often find it difficult to get to school through the deep snow—and the possibility of offering ski tours to tourists in the future．So far，more than 300 local people have received training，and local doctors and policemen regularly borrow skis.”
But what we weren't able to include in the article is that the ski school is always on the look out for old skiing equipment—particularly of a size suitable for children—and, I thought. Now the European ski season is drawing to a close，there might be a few of you out there who have some old equipment you'd like to see go to a good home．If that's the ease you can get in touch with the school via their website www.zanskarski school.org.What's the purpose in writing the text?
| A．To raise money to develop this area |
| B．To attract more tourists to the area |
| C．To appeal to more locals to attend the school |
| D．To ask people to give away their skis to the school |
The local people don't use skiing to go about because .
| A．it is against the local custom |
| B．they don't have the wood to make skis |
| C．trees are in the way of the skiing route |
| D．it is dangerous to go skiing in this region |
Who would be the most helpful to the school now?
| A．People having old skiing equipment． |
| B．Students in the Zanskar Ski School |
| C．Locals in Zanskar region |
| D．Tavellers enjoying skiing |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．An extraordinary region in India |
| B．A home for old skis |
| C．A good means of transport |
| D．A popular sport—skiing |