Claude and Louris are “giraffes”. So are police officers Hankins and Pearson. These men and women don’t look like giraffes; they look like you and me. Then, why do people call them “giraffes”?
A giraffe, they say, is an animal that sticks its neck out, can see places far away and has a large heart. It lives a quiet life and moves about in an easy and beautiful way. In the same way, a “giraffe” can be a person who likes to “stick his or her neck out” for other people, always watches for future happenings, has a warm heart for people around, and at the same time lives a quiet and beautiful life himself or herself.
“The Giraffe Project” is a 10-year-old group which finds and honors “giraffes” in the US and in the world. The group wants to teach people to do something to build a better world. The group members believe that a person shouldn’t draw his or her head back; instead, they tell people to “stick their neck out” and help others. Claude and Louris, Hankins and Pearson are only a few of the nearly 1,000 “giraffes” that the group found and honored.
Claude and Louris were getting old and they left their work with some money that they saved for future use. One day, however, they saw a homeless man looking for a place to keep warm and they decided that they should “stick their neck out” and give him some help. Today, they lived in Friends’ House, where they invite twelve homeless people to stay every night.
Police officers Hankins and Pearson work in a large city. They see crimes every day and their work is sometimes dangerous. They work hard for their money. However, these two men put their savings together and even borrowed money to start an educational center to teach young people in a poor part of the city. Hankins and Pearson are certainly “giraffes”.
66. Which of the following is true?
A. Some of the people around us look like giraffes.
B. Giraffes are the most beautiful animal in the world.
C. “Giraffes” is a beautiful name for those who are ready to help other people.
D. A “giraffe” is someone who can stick his neck out and see the future.
67. “The Giraffe Project” is a group _____.
A. of police officers B. which appeared ten years ago
C. of ten-year-old children D. which takes care of children
68. People call Claude and Hankins “giraffes” because they _____.
A. do what is needed for a good world B. are not afraid of dangerous work
C. found a home for some homeless people D. made money only for other people
69. What does “The Giraffe Project” do?
A. It tells people how to live a quiet life.
B. It helps the homeless and teaches the young people.
C. It tries to find 1,000 warm-hearted people in the US.
D. It shows people what their duty is for a better world.
70. The underlined word “crime” in the last paragraph has the similar meaning to ____.
A. mistake B. happiness C. failure D. wrongdoing
Around the world coral reefs(珊瑚礁) are facing threats(威胁) brought by climate change and great changes in sea temperatures. While ocean warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold events can also whiten corals. A new study by scientists compared damaged to corals exposed to heat as well as cold stress. The results show that cool temperatures can cause more damage in the short term, but heat is more destructive(破坏性的) in the long run.
Climate change is widely known to produce warming conditions in the oceans, but extreme cold-water events have become more frequent and serious as well. In 2010, for example, coral reefs around the world faced on of the coldest winters and one of the hottest summers on record.
During a unique experiment, corals under cold temperatures suffered greater damage in just days compared with heat treated corals. Yet the researchers found that corals were eventually able to adjust to the cold conditions, make their health stable and continue to grow. However, over the long term corals subjected to heat suffered more greatly than those in cold, with evidence of severe whitening and growth stoppage, which leads to death.
The coral’s ability to adjust to cool temperatures surprised the researchers, who say the study’s results show the complexities(复杂性) of monitoring coral health in response to different environmental factors(因素).
“Global warming is associated with increases but also decreases of temperatures,” said Deheyn, one of the researchers. “Not much has been known about the comparative effects of temperature decrease on corals. These results are important because they show that corals react differently to temperature differences, which is important for future management of coral reefs in the field of climate change.”Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Corals are unable to adjust to temperature changes. |
| B．Cold temperature causes greater damage to corals. |
| C．Hot temperature helps coral reefs to grow quickly. |
| D．Heat and cold damage corals in their own ways. |
We can learn from the passage that .
| A．scientists used to pay no attention to the effect of cold events on corals |
| B．2010 witnessed one of the greatest temperature differences on record |
| C．corals prefer warmer conditions to cold temperatures in the long run |
| D．global warming has nothing to do with the decrease of temperature |
According to the research, .
| A．corals may continue to grow in cold events after a few days |
| B．cold events help corals grow more quickly in a short time |
| C．corals show no response to hot temperatures in the first days |
| D．corals are whitened mainly because of warm temperatures |
Scientists reached the conclusion through .
| A．news report | B．scientific study | C．great imagination | D．natural conditions |
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899—July 2, 1961) was an American writer and journalist. His writing style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image(形象) affected later generations. Hemingway produced most of his works between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
Hemingway was raised in Illinois. After high school he reported for The Kansas City Star, before leaving for the Italian front to enlist with the World War I ambulance drivers. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. In 1922, he married Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where he worked as a foreign journalist. Advised and encouraged by other American writers in Paris—F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, he began to see his work appear in print there, and in 1925 his first important book, a collection of stories called In Our Time, was published. A year later, he published The Sun Also Rises, a novel with which he scored his first solid success. The writing of books occupied Hemingway for most of the postwar years. He remained based in Paris, but he traveled widely for bullfighting(斗牛), fishing, and hunting that by then had become part of his life and formed the background for much of his writing. Hemingway’s love of Spain and bullfighting resulted in Death in the Afternoon (1932). His position as a master of short fiction had been advanced by Men Without Women in 1927. The harvest of Hemingway’s considerable experience of Spain in war and peace was the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). In the public view, however, the novel A Farewell to Arms (1929) overshadowed such works.
Shortly after he published The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, Hemingway went to Africa, where he was almost killed in a plane crash that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life. Hemingway lived in Florida and Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho, where ended his life in the summer of 1961.Which best arranges Hemingway’s works in the correct order of time?
a. A Farewell to Arms b. Men Without Women
c. The Old Man and the Sea d. Death in the Afternoon
e. The Sun Also Rises f. For Whom the Bell Tolls
| A．e, a, b, f, d, c | B．e, b, a, d, f, c |
| C．b, a, d, f, e, c | D．b, d, a, e, c, f |
The underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 probably means that A Farewell to Arms .
| A．was thought to be better than other works of Hemingway’s |
| B．was considered to make a show in Hemingway’s life |
| C．was only as excellent as the other works of Hemingway’s |
| D．was believed to be among the worst works of Hemingway’s |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Hemingway must have spent his childhood in Italy.
B. Hemingway was an energetic writer with a wide interest.
C. Hemingway’s first book In Our Time was published before 1925.
D Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature just before his death.It can be concluded from the passage that .
| A．Hemingway produced most of his works in Africa |
| B．Hemingway led a very happy life in his last few years |
| C．most of Hemingway’s works were based on his life experience |
| D．Hemingway’s writing style affected the life of later generations |
The New York Philharmonic(爱乐乐团) came to an unexpected stop on Tuesday night when an audience member’s cell phone started ringing and wouldn’t stop.
Conductor Alan Gilbert was nearing the end of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony(交响乐) when the interruption began. As eh New York Times writes, the symphony, “contains some of the most spiritual and peaceful music ever written.”
As the cell phone continued to ring, the iPhone’s signature ringtone, Gilbert stopped the entire performance. And yet shockingly the phone continued to ring. “Nothing happened,” Gilbert told the Times, “Nobody was to blame for it. It was unbelievable.”
Gilbert said minor cell phone interruptions have become common and rarely interfere with a live performance. The Philharmonic does what it can to remind to audience to turn off their cell phones before the performance begins. But the audience and performers stood by in astonished silence as Gilbert asked the offender(肇事者) to silence the phone, only to hear it continue.
Mr Gilbert said audience pointed out two people sitting where the sound was coming from. “They were staring at me firmly,” he said of the couple. Eventually, the man put his hand in his pocket and the ringing stopped.
The conductor said he asked the man if he was sure the phone was quieted. “Then he nodded his head,” Mr Gilbert said.
People in the hall had been shouting for the sound to stop. Mr Pelkonen reported that they yelled: “Thousand-dollar fine!” “Kick him out!” “Get out!”
Once the phone was finally silenced, Gilbert apologized to the audience. They responded with cheers and applause(掌声). And the performance continued.The underlined words “interfere with” in the third paragraph means “ ”.
| A．enjoy | B．attend | C．disturb | D．complete |
What do we know about the offender?
| A．He silenced the phone the moment he was reminded to. |
| B．He enjoyed the ringtone so he kept the phone ringing. |
| C．He quieted the phone after hearing people’s angry shouts. |
| D．He didn’t like the music so he wouldn’t silence the phone. |
What does the writer of this passage intend to imply?
| A．It’s not acceptable to carry an iPhone to a concert. |
| B．It’s rude to attend a concert with the phone ringing. |
| C．It’s necessary to quiet the phones when the performance is over. |
| D．It’s common for a conductor to make an apology to the audience. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．iPhone ringtone bring New York Philharmonic to a stop |
| B．iPhone signature ringtone defeats New York Philharmonic |
| C．New York Philharmonic puts on a successful performance |
| D．New York Philharmonic stops the audience using iPhone |
Express delivery: How you can buy your groceries from a virtual supermarket
Aug, 1st, 2011 Daily Mail
A “virtual supermarket” consisting of posters of goods put on platform walls is set to be introduced at London Underground stations. Passengers “shop” by scanning QR—Quick Response—codes of the items they want to buy using their smart phones. These goods are later delivered to their home address. Supermarket giant(巨头) Tesco successfully trialed the hi-tech store in a South Korean underground station and there are now plans to bring the concept to Britain.
NYPD to Scan Facebook, Twitter for Trouble
Aug, 11th, 2011 Forbes
The New York Police Department announced it will form a new unit to search social media as part of its law enforcement(执行) efforts, responding to the criminals’ growing use of these sites to plan and celebrate illegal activities. The NYPD unit created particularly to comb social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry messenger for information on planned crimes and their criminals.
Space Junk(太空垃圾) reaching “tipping point”, report warns
Sep 3rd, 2011 Toronto Sun
The amount of debris(碎片) orbiting the Earth has reached “a tipping point” for crashes, which would produce more debris that may be dangerous to astronauts and satellites, according to a US study. According to the US Space Surveillance Network, the number of orbital debris jumped from 9,949 in December 2006 to 16,094 in July 2011.The “virtual supermarket” would be introduced to Britain because of .
A. the successful experience of a hi-tech store in South Korea
B. the wide use of smart phones for scanning QR codes
C. the large varieties of goods in the supermarket
D the convenient home delivery system around Londonwe can learn from the news that .
| A．people with mobile phones can shop at London Underground stations |
| B．Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry messenger are not popular in the US |
| C．the amount of space junk has more than doubled in the past few years |
| D．more and more criminals are using social media sites for crimes |
what does the underlined word “comb” in the second piece of news mean?
| A．Create. | B．Operate. | C．Block. | D．Search. |
The third piece of news will be in the section of the newspaper.
| A．sports | B．opinion | C．science | D．business |
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps. One should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting us in age.
Men often discover their similarity to each other by the common love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love my, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond(纽带) of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best container of a life preserving the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which become our steady companions and comforters.
Books are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay(腐朽), but good books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Preserved in books, their spirits walked abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect(智者) to which one still listens.The writer introduces the topic of the passage by .
| A．describing life experience of great writers |
| B．telling his own story of reading good books |
| C．presenting the best thoughts in good books |
| D．comparing good books to good friends in life |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．Readers feel sympathy for the author. |
| B．Readers live together with the author. |
| C．Readers and the author share the same feeling. |
| D．Readers are the author’s companions and comforters. |
which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．We can learn about the great and good through books. |
| B．The most important part of a man’s life is his treasures. |
| C．Good books help us to know about their authors’ friends. |
| D．Books are often regarded as best containers in our life. |
the passage mainly tells us that .
A. one should have some good friends
B one should read as many books as possible
C. one should keep company with good books
D books are the most lasting products of human efforts