Five Olympic mascots were announced exactly 1000 days before the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. The long--anticipated mascots represent four of China's most popular animals — the fish, the panda, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow .The fifth mascot is the brightly burning Olympic flame.
Each of the mascots has a repeated two-syllable name. This type of name is a traditional way of showing affection for children in China. BeiBei is the fish, JingJing is the panda, HuanHuan is the Olympic flame, YingYing is the Tibetan antelope and NiNi is the swallow. The first characters of their two-syllable names read “Beijing Huanying Ni,” or, in English, “Welcome to Beijing.”
The five elements of nature, including the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky are found in the mascot's origins and headpieces. These special headpieces also display the folk and culture of China. Each mascot also symbolizes a different blessing ---prosperity, happiness, passion, health and good luck.
It is the first time more than three mascots will share the important duty of representing their host country. Han Meilin, chief of the mascot design team explained that, “China has such a rich culture that no single mascot could possibly represent it! That is why we chose to produce five mascots instead of one.”
Called the “Five Friendlies,” the figures embody（体现） the Chinese people’s hope for peace and friendship in the world and the spirit of the Olympics, representing not only multi-ethnic(多民族的) cultures of China, but also the traditional Chinese philosophy of harmony between humans and nature.
In order to help Beijing 2008 spread its theme of One World, One Dream to every continent, the Five Friendlies reflect the deep desire of the Chinese people to reach out to the world in friendship through the Games — and to invite every man, woman and child to take part in the great celebration of human union in 2008.
51. What’s the theme of Beijing 2008 Olympics?
A. Welcome to Beijing.
B. Prosperity, Happiness, Passion, Health and Good luck.
C. New Beijing, New Olympics.
D. One World, One Dream.
52. What did Han Meilin, chief of the mascot design team, think of the five mascots?
A. He thought highly of the five mascots.
B. No single mascot could represent China.
C. The five mascots represented the culture of China.
D. They would reflect the desire of Chinese people.
53. Which of the following statements is not true?
A. It’s for the first time that five mascots are chosen to represent their host country in the Olympic history.
B. One of the five mascots YingYing stands for the Olympic flame.
C. Beijing announced its five 2008 Olympic mascots just 1000 days before the big event.
D. The five mascots express affection for Chinese children by two-syllable names.
54. Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage?
A. The 29th Olympic Games will be held in Beijing in 2008.
B. The theme of 2008 Beijing Olympics — One World, One Dream.
C. The significance of five 2008 Olympic mascots — the Five Friendlies.
D. How the Five Fantastic Mascots came into being.
55. What do the five mascots — the Five Friendlies represent?
A. “Beijing Huanying Ni,” or, in English, “Welcome to Beijing.”
B. Chinese multi-ethnic cultures, philosophy of harmony between humans and nature and five elements of nature.
C. Chinese people’s hope for peace and friendship in the world and the spirit of the Olympics.
D. The deep desire of the Chinese people to reach out to the world in friendship through the Olympics.
Hurricane Irene caused a frightening landscape in West Hartford, Vermont. The White River jumped its banks and shipping containers, gas bottles, and even entire trucks were spotted being washed down the river near Patriots’ Bridge.
Patti and Scott Holmes had a special connection to the flood zone. Their son, Jeffery Holmes, was one of three soldiers honored on a monument in a memorial garden next to the bridge. Jeffery died on Thanksgiving Day 2004 during a war. Patti took some comfort knowing that her son had died instantly, serving the military (军队) he wanted to join since he was nine years old.
The August hurricane spared Patti and Scott’s home. Patti didn’t realize how bad the situation had been at the monument site until one of Jeff’s friends sent a photo the next day. “When I opened it, I just started crying,” she said. All the flowers that volunteers lovingly tended were gone. The monument had toppled (倒塌) off its concrete base and was likely ruined. Alone at her desk, Patti wept for the fun-loving blue-eyed son who didn’t live to see his 21st birthday, the boy she still wrote on Christmas and birthdays. Now another piece of him had slipped away.
Scott drove to the bridge that night to see exactly what had happened but was forced to turn back because the flooding had destroyed roads and the bridge. Who knows how the angry waters had damaged the monument?
But when Patti and Scott were finally able to get there later in the week, they were greeted with an extraordinary sight. Local residents had returned the monument to its proper place, unharmed. “I didn’t see a scratch, not even on top of it,” Patti said in joy and relief.The monument was set up ______.
| A．to honor three dead soldiers |
| B．to respect the local residents |
| C．to protect the bridge |
| D．to decorate the garden |
Why did Patti cry when she opened the photo?
| A．Her home was ruined in the flood. |
| B．The memorial garden was destroyed. |
| C．She couldn’t visit the monument anymore. |
| D．She couldn’t celebrate her son’s birthday. |
What does the part “another piece” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．The photo. | B．The birthday. |
| C．The base. | D．The monument. |
From the last paragraph, we can learn that the couple felt ______.
| A．moved | B．ashamed |
| C．encouraged | D．embarrassed |
We all know that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases, largely carbon dioxide, which is given out by everything ranging from home appliances(电器) and cars to the heating and lighting systems of office buildings. But since we don’t see the gas, most of us simply shake our heads and then continue with our bad habits. Now, researchers at Arizona State University are trying to change that.
Directed by associate professor Kevin Gurney, the Hestia Project’s main goal is to make something that is currently intangible (无形的) into something a little more tangible, by allowing all of us to visually see how much each and every one of us is “contributing” to global warming.
In order to obtain a complete picture of the city’s environment, the team begins by collecting data from all different sources. Then, using special software they divide the emissions (排放) into three categories — commercial entities (实体) (office buildings and industrial plants), households and vehicles. This is the stage where things start to get really interesting. That’s because instead of showing all this information using graphs that we all instantly lose interest in, they create a visual “film” that shows not only the carbon emitted by each entity, but also the exact location it is coming from and the amount, which varies depending on the time of day or season. For example, the car emissions during rush hour are the highest, as is the case for commercial buildings during the day, especially during winter months when the heating is on.
Kevin knows that some of the data shown may start a blame game among the residents (居民) of the city. However, he is hoping that the people will go beyond that and instead use it to make changes in their daily lives. According to the text, most people ignore the problem of greenhouse gases mainly because _____.
| A．the problem is not very serious |
| B．bad living habits are hard to change |
| C．greenhouse gases can’t be seen |
| D．they think they have done nothing wrong |
With the efforts of Kevin’s team, people can _____.
| A．see a film about the effects of greenhouse gases |
| B．study methods of cutting greenhouse gases |
| C．know a certain place’s emission at different times |
| D．get information on emissions with various graphs |
By saying “some of the data shown may start a blame game among the residents of the city”, the author means that _____.
| A．Kevin’s team may get criticized |
| B．the Hestia Project may be treated as a game |
| C．residents may feel guilty of their bad behavior |
| D．people may accuse each other of carbon emissions |
What’s the purpose of the text?
| A．To introduce a research project. |
| B．To give advice on cutting emissions. |
| C．To show the harm of carbon emissions. |
| D．To call on people to protect the environment. |
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请阅读以下人员信息，然后匹配人员与相关网站： Lucas is experiencing the hardest time in life these days. As manager of a trade company, he is responsible for the loss of a big business contract as he made a wrong decision. He wonders whether he has the ability to be a good manager, and he’s even considering leaving his job. He doesn’t know what to do and badly needs help.
Whitney has been out of work for several weeks now since she left her last job. She has been trying to find another one, but with no luck. She urgently needs a new job, so she’s searching for advice on how to make the best use of her time so as to successfully get a job.
After a job interview, Ralph was told that the company would like to have him as one of its staff. He would sell the company’s products if he worked there. However, he’s not sure whether he is good at selling things or not, so he’s looking for a way to find out about this before taking the job.
Thomas Howard is 23 years old, working at a gas station. He earns little money every week, feels that his life is hopeless, and never thinks that things will be better for him. His mother is worried about this and wishes to find a way to inspire her son.
Katrina is quite worried recently, because her manager seems to be turning on her, criticizing her in front of her colleagues for things that she does quite well. What’s worse, he even tells others that she has several boyfriends at the same time, which is of course not true. She really wishes to find a way for her problem.
What will man be like in the future — in 5,000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example. Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively a short period of time, so we may suppose that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity(容量). As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and finally we shall need our brains more and more, and finally we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald.
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. All the same, in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and motions similar to our own.The passage mainly tells us that __________.
| A．Man’s life will be different in the future |
| B．Future man will look quite different from us |
| C．Man is growing taller and uglier as time passes |
| D．Man’s organs’ functions will change |
What serves as the evidence that man is changing?
| A．Man has got stronger eyes now than he ever had. |
| B．Man’s hair is getting thinner and thinner. |
| C．Man’s arms and legs have become lighter and weaker. |
| D．Man has been growing taller over the past 500 years. |
The change in man’s size of the forehead is probably because __________.
| A．he makes use of only 20% of the brain’s capacity |
| B．his brain has grown larger over the past centuries |
| C．he will use his brain more and more as time goes on |
| D．the other 80% of his brain will grow in due time |
Which of the following is TRUE about a human being in the future?
| A．He is hairless because hair is no longer useful. |
| B．He has smaller eyes and wears better glasses. |
| C．His fingers grow weaker because he doesn’t have to make use of them. |
| D．He thinks and feels in a different way. |
It is implied that __________.
| A．human beings will become less attractive in the future |
| B．body organs will become poorer if they are not used often |
| C．human beings hope for a change in the future life |
| D．future life is always predictable |
Plants are very important living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air， water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air， water and sunlight. Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us. If you look carefully at the plants around you， you will find that there are two kinds of plants： flowering plants and non-flowering plants. Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed， some have two， three or four， and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit. Most non-flowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores（胚芽）。 Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air. We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds. When these spores are all on wet and shady places， they usually grow into new plants.The main idea of the first paragraph is that ______.
| A．plants are important for life | B．plants cannot grow without air |
| C．there are many plants in the world | D．we can not live without water |
Plants can make food from ______.
| A．flower， water and air | B．water， sunlight and air |
| C．air， water and soil | D．air， sun and light |
What can we infer（推断） from the passage ？
| A．Of all living things animals are most important |
| B．Spores are seeds |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds |
| D．Without plants， man will die out |
This passage may be taken from ________.
| A．a medicine book | B．a novel |
| C．a science magazine | D．an experiment report |
The underlined word “protected” in the third paragraph can be replaced by ______.
| A．damaged | B．polluted | C．prevented | D．guarded |