Today about 70 countries use Daylight Saving Time (DST). Daylight Saving was first introduced during World War I in Australia. During the world wars, DST was used for the late summers beginning January 1917 and 1942, and the full summers beginning September 1942 and 1943.
In 1967, Tasmania experienced a drought（干旱）. The State Government introduced one hour of daylight saving that summer as a way of saving power and water. Tasmanians liked the idea of daylight saving and the Tasmanian Government has declared daylight saving each summer since 1968. Persuaded by the Tasmanian Government, all states except two passed a law in 1971, for a test use of daylight saving. In 1972, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria joined Tasmania for regular daylight saving, but Queensland did not do so until 1989.
Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia have had irregular plans, often changing their dates due to politics or festivals（节日）. For example, in 1992, Tasmania extended（延长）daylight saving by an extra month while South Australia began extending daylight saving by two weeks for the Adelaide Festival. Special daylight saving plans were made during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The differences in daylight saving in Australia continue to cause serious problems in transport and many other social activities. It also reduces the number of hours in the working day that are common to all centers in the country. In particular, time differences along the east coast cause major differences, especially for the broadcasters of national radio and television.
57. Daylight Saving Time was introduced in Tasmania _______________.
A. to stop the drought in 1967 B. to support government officials
C. to pass a special law in the state D. to save water and electricity
58. According to the text, which state was the last to use DST?
A. Victoria. B. Queensland. C. South Australia. D. New South Wales.
59. What can we learn about DST in some Australian states?
A. It doesn’t have fixed dates. B. It is not used in festivals.
C. Its plan was changed in 2000. D. It lasts for two weeks.
60. What do we know about the use of DST from the last paragraph?
A. There exists some undesirable effects. B. It helps little to save energy.
C. It brings about longer working days. D. Radio and TV programs become different.
The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.
Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time._______, our world is becoming much smaller.
| A．Because of the rise in pollution |
| B．Thanks to science development |
| C．Because the earth is being polluted day and night |
| D．Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year |
Hundreds of years ago, life was __________ it is today.
| A．much easier than | B．as easy as |
| C．much harder than | D．as hard as |
Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” means _______.
| A．rubbish(垃圾) | B．noise pollution |
| C．air pollution | D．water pollution |
Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution because _______.
| A．it makes much noise |
| B．it makes us angry more easily |
| C．it makes our rivers and lakes dirty |
| D．it’s bad for all living things in the world |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
| B．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
| C．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
| D．If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2. |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.A good title for this reading passage is______.
| A．Popeye the Sailor | B．The Truth About Spinach |
| C．A Mistake with Numbers | D．Folic Acid Makes You Strong |
Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
| A．They thought spinach made them strong. |
| B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
| C．Spinach had a lot of iron. |
| D．People liked folic acid. |
A research group told people that spinach______.
| A．made Popeye strong |
| B．was a green vegetable |
| C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
| D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.
| A．iron | B．folic acid | C．spinach | D．exercise |
Folic acid is ______.
| A．something in food | B．a vegetable |
| C．dangerous | D．a certain kind of spinach |
A traveller was staying in an Egyptian village. One day, she held up her camera to take pictures of the children. Suddenly the young ones began to shout at her. The traveller's face turned red and she apologized to the head for what she was doing, and told him she had forgotten that people in some places believed a person would lose his soul if his picture was taken. She explained to him the operation of a camera for a long time. Several times the head tried to say something, but he couldn't. When she believed that the head didn't fear any longer, the traveller then let him speak. With a smile, he said, "The children were trying to tell you that you forgot to take off the lens(镜头) cap!"The children shouted when the traveller was taking pictures of them because ___?
| A．they didn't want to stop playing |
| B．the traveller forgot to take off the cap on her head |
| C．they didn't want to have their pictures taken |
| D．the traveller was not doing well with her camera |
The traveller made an apology to the head because _____.
| A．she thought it was not right to take people's pictures without telling them beforehand(事先) |
| B．the children would lose their souls |
| C．she had stayed in the village too long |
| D．she didn't take a picture of the head first |
The traveller explained how to use a camera to the head because _____.
| A．the head was very interested in her camera |
| B．the head wanted to learn to take pictures |
| C．she was afraid of the head |
| D．she wanted the head not to worry about what she was doing |
When the head smiled, it's clear that _____.
| A．the children wanted to play with her |
| B．the traveller didn't know what the children meant |
| C．he wanted the traveller to tell him something else |
| D．the traveller didn't let him speak |
Which of the following is NOT right?
| A．The traveller knew something about people in some countries. |
| B．The children wouldn't mind if the traveller took pictures of them. |
| C．The head was afraid that the traveller's camera would hurt the children. |
| D．The traveller didn't understand why the children shouted. |
Lillian was a young girl who grew up in a village. At the age of 16, her father forced her to drop out of school and find a job to help the family.
With limited education, skills and hope, she would take the bus into the big cities of Windsor and Detroit, walk aimlessly about and then return home every day. She couldn’t even bring herself to knock on a door.
As the days passed, Lillian knew she would soon have to knock on a door. On one of her trips, Lillian saw a sign at Carhartt Overall Company, saying, “Help Wanted, Secretarial. Apply Within.”
She walked up to the office and was met by the office manager, who sat her down at a typewriter and said, “Let’s see how good you really are.”
She directed Lillian to type a single letter and then left. Lillian looked at the clock: 11:40 am. She figured that she could run away in the crowd then. But she knew she should at least try the letter.
On her first try, she got through one line. It had five words and she made four mistakes. The clock read 11:45. “At noon,” she said to herself, “I’ll move out with the crowd, and she will never see me again.” On her second try, Lillian got through a full paragraph, but still made many mistakes. Again she pulled out the paper. At last she completed the letter with some mistakes.
Just then, the door opened and the office manager walked in. She came directly over to Lillian, read the letter, paused and then said, “Lillian, you’ve done a good job.”Why did the office manager leave after directing Lillian to type a letter?
| A．She was not satisfied with Lillian. |
| B．She found Lillian was too young. |
| C．She wanted to let the girl be quiet. |
| D．She wanted to test Lillian |
What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence in paragraph 6?
| A．Lillian didn’t have enough confidence in herself. |
| B．Lillian didn’t like the workers there. |
| C．Lillian didn’t want the job. |
| D．Lillian wanted to have lunch then. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
The girl didn’t like to go to school.
The girl’s family was not very rich.
The girl’s father was very fond of money.
The girl was living in a poor village. From the passage it can be inferred that in the end__________.
| A．Lillian had to run away without being noticed. |
| B．Lillian’s father wanted his daughter to return to school. |
| C．the office manager was deeply moved by the girl. |
| D．Lillian was allowed to work there. |
The kids in this village wear dirty, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They have no school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can make words.
The key to their success: 20 tablet computers(平板电脑) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.
The goal is to find out whether kids using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.
The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The device’s camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accomplishment in Ethiopia.
With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn’t know any English. That’s unbelievable,” said Keller.
The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.How does the Ethiopia program benefit the kids in the village?
| A．It trains teachers for them. |
| B．It contributes to their self-study. |
| C．It helps raise their living standards. |
| D．It provides funds for building schools. |
It amazed Keller that with the tablet Kelbesa could _______.
| A． write letters to researchers. |
| B．draw pictures of animals. |
| C．learn English words quickly. |
| D．make phone calls to his friends. |
What is the aim of the project?
| A．To offer Ethiopians higher paying jobs. |
| B．To make Amharic widely used in the world. |
| C．To help Ethiopian kids read to learn in English. |
| D．To assist Ethiopians in learning their first language. |