Kiribati covers a massive 3.5 million square kilometers stretch of the Pacific Ocean, but in population terms it is one of the smallest countries in the world, with only 100,000 people. More than half of them live in the capital Tarawa—strip of coral which measures just 450 meters at its widest point. As well as being narrow, Kiribati is extremely low lying, which makes it one of the most easily influenced countries in the world when it comes to climate change.
“We are counting the days rather than the decades…We don't have the time that we thought we had previously,” Kiribati President Anote Tong said.
Pelenise Alofa returned to Kiribati six years ago. The changes she saw led to her becoming one of the islands principal climate change campaigners. "Things began to change when I came here. I realized the king tides were big, and I told them 'have you heard of climate change, have you heard of global wanning, this is part of it, you're in it,'" Ms Alofa told SBS.
Linda Uan and her New Zealand born husband John have been documenting the changing climate in Kiribati for nearly 20 years. They didn't have to travel far to film the effects of a storm three years ago when for the first time it washed through their home. "There's been a lot of changes," Linda said, “When we were little there was a definite dry season and a definite wet season, now you can't feel the difference anymore.”
Kiribati is not just facing one knock-out punch but a whole round of killer blows. Because of its sensibility to the El Nino and La Nina weather patterns, climate scientists say droughts and floods will be more severe than in the past. Warmer seas could affect the migration patterns of fish, taking away vast taxes it gains from selling fishing licenses to foreign trawlers, while increased storms are expected to destroy crops and make the limited supply of water in the shallow water pools undrinkable.
It’s a claim the country will take to Copenhagen as it seeks to get the world's big emitters （排放者） to face up to the consequences of their actions. “It's a whole world issue,” President Tong said. “It’s a moral issue…it's almost criminal.”
57．According to the passage, we can infer that________.
A．Kiribati covers a land area of 3,500,000 km2
B．the country's average altitude is 450 meters in Kiribati
C．Kiribati is one of the countries facing the climate change calmly
D．Over fifty thousand people live in Tarawa
58．President Anote’s words are quoted in order to show________ .
A．the high pressure from time B．the importance of measuring time
C．the different timing units D．the personal attitude towards time
59．Which of the following statements does Ms Alofa probably agree with?
A．The tides hitting Kiribati used to be bigger than they are now.
B．Most people in the world have never heard of global warming.
C．Nobody can keep away from the effects caused by climate changes.
D．Changes in this country will make you a climate change campaigner.
60．Climate changes have brought about the consequences EXCEPT________ .
A．Severe droughts and floods B．abundant fresh water
C．fiercer storm and tide D．changed living patterns of fish
In-line skating（滚轴溜冰）is a fun sport that everyone can enjoy. Follow these safety tips to keep skating safe and fun.
Step 1: Gear up!
Even before you put on your skates, put on all your safety gear（护具）.
Step 2: Buckle up!
Strap（绑紧）on your skates. Make sure they fit well and are snugly（紧贴）around your ankles. This helps your ankles stay strong and straight.
Step 3: Fall down!
You probably do not usually try to fall. But it is good to practice falling on skates. Fall forward onto your knee pads. Put out your hands and let your wrist guards hit the ground. See? Are you surprised that it doesn’t hurt?
Practice falling until it is easy to fall forward and get up again. If you are not afraid to fall, you will try new things. Knowing how to fall will help you be a better skater and find your balance. When you can stay balanced, you won’t fall as much.
Step 4: Stop!
Make sure you can stop on your skates. The quickest and safest is probably the brake stop. The brake is usually on the back of the right skate.
The brake stop:
Roll forward with your skates pointing the same way. Let your right skate roll a little forward. Bend your knees as if you are sitting down. Then press your right heel down hard. This will make your brake pad drag on the ground until you stop.
The T stop:
Roll forward with your skates pointing the same way. Then turn your right foot out so the toes are pointing to your right. Drag your right skate. Let the wheels drag on the ground until you come to a stop.
Another way to stop is to run or jump onto the grass.
Step 5: Roll around!
Find a flat, smooth place to practice. Do not skate in streets. Parks and playgrounds are good places to practice. Look for “No skating” signs to make sure you can skate there.According to the article, which of these steps are most important for a new skater?
| A．Learn to fall and stop safely. |
| B．Find a class and skate fast. |
| C．Relax and have fun. |
| D．Buy expensive gear and skates. |
In the step right after “Buckle up!” you should practice how to _____________.
| A．skate fast | B．brake | C．fall safely | D．put on gear |
To begin a brake stop, you should let your right skate roll forward, bend your knees, and _________.
| A．turn your foot |
| B．press your right heel down |
| C．put your wrists out in front |
| D．tighten your skates |
How is the passage organized?
| A．It tells stories about skating. |
| B．It gives descriptions of skates. |
| C．It uses a question-and-answer form. |
| D．It gives step-by-step instructions. |
Today, people all over the world are moving out of small villages in the country to go and live in big, noisy cities. They are moving from the peaceful hills, mountains, fields, rivers and streams of the countryside to the busy world of streets, buildings, traffic and crowds. This movement from rural (乡下的) areas to urban areas has been going on for over two hundred years.
In many countries, the main reason people come to live in towns and cities is work. After one or two large factories have been built in or near a town, people come to find work, and soon an industrial area begins to grow. There is usually a residential area nearby, too. The families of these workers need schools, hospitals and shops, so many people come to live in the area to provide these services and a city grows.
In every major city in the world, there is a business district where the big companies have their main offices. In the United States, this area is usually in the city center downtown. It is here that you can see many huge skyscrapers (摩天大楼) and office blocks. The people who work here often travel a long way to work each day. Many of them live in the suburbs of the city, far away from the industrial area and the city center. Some suburbs are very pleasant, with nice houses and big gardens. There are usually parks for children to play in and large department stores where you can buy all you need.
But what is the future of the big cities? Will they continue to get bigger and bigger? Perhaps not. Some major cities have actually become smaller in the last ten years, and it is quite possible that one day we will see people moving out of the major cities and back into smaller towns and villages.The underlined phrase “a residential area” means an area ________.
| A．where people can buy things |
| B．which is near a city center |
| C．where people can do business |
| D．which is suitable for living in |
Why do people move to live in cities or towns?
| A．Because they can live more comfortably there. |
| B．Because they mainly want to find work there. |
| C．Because they are sure of having a better life there. |
| D．Because they like noisy life better than peaceful life. |
What can we know about the business district?
| A．Big companies usually have their main offices in the business district. |
| B．People usually work and live in the skyscrapers in the cities. |
| C．A business district usually lies not far away from the city center downtown. |
| D．It’s reasonable for a business district without a park for children to play in. |
We can infer that this movement from rural to urban areas ________.
| A．has been going on for more than 2,000 years |
| B．will surely continue in the future |
| C．may not continue in the future |
| D．has now stopped already |
Most of my earliest childhood memories are of the beach — in the hot sun, building sandcastles, burying Dad in the sand.
Now the coast has a pleasant and relaxing attraction beyond words. I look forward to a windy cliff-top walk or a rainy day rock-picking just as much as those rare moments when I get to a short sleep in the sun. But there’s nothing more pleasurable than turning up at a beach to find it deserted.
These are my favourite secret beaches — ones either not well known or take a bit of effort to get to. Most of those listed scored highly in the Marine Conservation Society Good Beach Guide 2009; the others are too secret even for them.
Sennen Clove is just a mile northeast of Land’s End, the westernmost point of mainland England. It’s a beautiful spot, with white sands, deep green sea and amazing sunsets over the Isles (群岛) of Scilly, 28 miles away.
The west-facing beach is popular with surfers, with bigger waves and winds often found at the Gwenver end. There’s a beach restaurant with good views of the bay and the sunsets.
The smallest of Isles of Scilly, Bryher is a mile long, half a mile wide — and a natural wilderness of unbelievable scenery. Walk along the narrow sandy roads to the eastern seaboard and you come to two quiet beaches.
Green Bay has views over to the palm trees of Tresco’s Abbey Gardens, and a little further south is Rushy Bay, a beautiful beach facing the deserted island of Samson.
On Bryher, farm shops sell locally grown produce, and they trust you to leave the money in the pot. It’s that kind of place.The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．The Beautiful British Isles |
| B．Secret Beaches on the British Isles |
| C．The Most Pleasurable Place in Britain |
| D．My Experience of Searching Beaches |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The author is a tourist guide in a tourist agency. |
| B．The author likes walking on a rainy cliff-top most. |
| C．The author wrote the article to advertise for the beaches. |
| D．The author loves beaches that are not known to most people. |
Which of the following maps can correctly describe the geography position?
(LE="Land’s" End SC="Sennen" Cove IS="the" Isles of Scilly)
In the author’s view, farmers on Bryher are ________.
| A．sincere | B．selfish | C．courageous | D．mean |
Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”. While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes.
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources（来源）at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time.
There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial (空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. “A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher. That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: Why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses (胎儿) are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one. A boy would try to climb a barrier before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t. “The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it,” says a biologist.Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?
| A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s. |
| B．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain. |
| C．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter. |
| D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter. |
What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?
| A．Women don’t need to tell directions. |
| B．Women prefer doing many things at a time. |
| C．Men have weaker spatial abilities. |
| D．Men do better dealing with one job at a time. |
Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?
| A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls. |
| B．Women may have stronger feelings than men. |
| C．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills. |
| D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills. |
What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?
| A．Defensive. | B．Persuasive. | C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050.
TV channels will have disappeared. Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers, and books will come to us by computer.
Cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Space planes will take people halfway around the world in 2 hours. Today, the United States Space Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just 2 hours.
Robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots — they don’t ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere — in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Medical technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are devices（设备）that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people to see and hear again.
Scientist will have discovered how to control genes（基因）. Scientists have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people, and decide how they look, how they behave and how clever they are. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they? We can learn from the passage that some big companies prefer robots to human workers, because human workers __________.
| A．often ask for more pay |
| B．can work 24 hours a day |
| C．are not clever enough |
| D．are often late for work |
The underlined word “conquered” in Paragraph 5 most probably means ________.
| A．discovered | B．treated | C．caused | D．cured |
It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that _________.
| A．few diseases will attack people by 2050 |
| B．there will be no blind and deaf people by 2050 |
| C．medical technology will be more effective by 2050 |
| D．devices are connected directly to the brain to help people hear |
What is the author’s attitude towards the cloning technology?
| A．The author does not support the use of cloning technology. |
| B．The author thinks human cloning is impossible. |
| C．The author does not really support the idea of human cloning. |
| D．The author is quite excited about human cloning. |
According to the passage, which of the following can be realized today?
| A．Read newspapers on a computer. |
| B．Make a space shuttle to go into the land. |
| C．Use computers to control car speed. |
| D．Choose TV programs freely from a “menu”. |