Global warming threatens to hold back human progress, and make unachievable all UN targets to reduce poverty, according to some of the world’s leading international development groups.
In a report published today, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, WWF and 15 other groups say rich governments must immediately address climate change to avoid even “unbearable levels” of worldwide poverty.
“Food production, water supplies, public health and people’s living environment are already being damaged,” the report says. “The world must meet its promise to achieve poverty reduction and also deal with climate change.”
The report, which draws on UN predictions of the effects of climate change in poor countries over the next 50 years, says poor countries will experience more flooding, declining food production, more disease and the worsening or disappearing of entire ecosystems on which many of the world’s poorest people depend.
“Climate change needs to be addressed now. The poor will bear the burden of it. The frontline experience of many of us working in international development indicates that communities are having to fight against more extreme weather conditions.”
Climate change will play havoc (浩劫) with agriculture and water supplies and will increase diseases. “By 2025 the proportion of the world’s population living in countries of great water stress will almost double, to 6 billion people. Tropical and sub-tropical areas will be hardest hit — those countries already suffering from food shortage”.
Poor countries mostly do not need high-tech solutions, but would most benefit from education, research and being shown how to farm better. The report says unchecked global warming, more than wars or political confusion, will displace millions of people and destabilize (不安定) many countries.Who should play a leading role in resisting the more extreme weather conditions?
| A．International groups. |
| B．Rich countries. |
| C．Poor countries. |
| D．Tropical and sub-tropical countries. |
Which of the following is not true according to the text?
| A．Poverty and climate change are closely linked. |
| B．More and more people will suffer from the water stress and food shortage. |
| C．What the poor countries need badly is high technology. |
| D．International communities have to take steps to resist the bad climate. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．International Development Brings in Climate Change |
| B．Global Warming Is a Bigger Threat to the Poor |
| C．International Groups Work Together to Reduce Poverty |
| D．Worldwide Poverty Shall Be Avoided |
Forget Twitter and Facebook, Google and the Kindle. Television is still the most influential medium around. Indeed ,for many of the poorest regions of the world, it remains the next big thing——finally becomes globally available. And that is a good thing, because the TV revolution is changing lives for the better.
Across the developing world, around 45% of families had a TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60%. That is some way behind the U.S. , where are more TVs than people, and where people now easily get access to the Internet. Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will get a TV over the next five years. In 2005 , after the fall of the Taliban（塔利班）,which had outlawed TV, 1 in 5 Afghans had one. The global total is another 150 million by 2013——pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families.
Television’s most powerful effect will be on the lives of women. In India, researchers Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that when TVs reached villages, women were more likely to go to the market without their husbands’ approval and less likely to want a boy rather than a girl. They were more likely to make decisions over child health care. TV is also a powerful medium for adult education. In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chitrageet is a popular show that plays Bollywood songs with words in Gujarati on the screen. Within six months, viewers had made a small but significant improvement in their reading skills.
Too much TV has been associated with violence, overweight and loneliness. However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide. The underlined word “outlawed” in paragraph 2 probably means “”.
| A．allowed | B．forbidden | C．offered | D．refused |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Americans used to get access to the Internet easily. |
| B．The world’s TV sets will total 150 million by 2013. |
| C．45% of families in the developing countries had a TV in 2005. |
| D．Over two thirds of families in the world will have a TV by 2013. |
The author intends to .
| A．stress the advantages of TV to people’s lives |
| B．persuade women to become more independent |
| C．encourage people to improve their reading skills |
| D．introduce the readers some websites such as Google |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．TV Will Rule the World | B．TV Will Disturb the World |
| C．TV Will Better the World | D．TV Will Remain in World |
From the passage, we know _______________.
| A．It is impossible for women in India to get access to TVs now. |
| B．Robert Jensen and Emily Oster are Indian women. |
| C．Women in India are more likely to want a girl than a boy because of the arrival of TV. |
| D．Viewers of a popular TV show can improve their reading skills greatly in half a year. |
The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety.That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.
Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.
Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old life. "Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.
But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun. "My work," she says, "is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.
The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant. "Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed! For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to.
| A．get long lasting excitement | B．keep both man and elephants safe |
| C．send them back to the jungle | D．make the angry elephants tame |
Before Parbati studied in a boarding school,.
| A．she spent her time hunting with her father |
| B．she learned how to sing love songs |
| C．she had already been called an elephant princess |
| D．she was taught how to hunt tigers |
Indian elephants are getting increasingly angry and they revenge because.
| A．they are caught and sent for heavy work |
| B．illegal hunters capture them and kill them |
| C．they are attacked and their land gets limited |
| D．dogs often bark at them and chase them |
The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India .
| A．people easily fall victim to elephants' attacks |
| B．the man-elephant relationship is getting worse |
| C．elephant tamers are in short supply |
| D．dogs are as powerful as elephants |
Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?
| A．Both Parbati and his father are elephant tamers |
| B．Parbati spent much time living in the jungle to be an elephant tamer. |
| C．Devotion makes a great difference to an elephant tamer. |
| D．Parbati’s work is to rescue both elephants and man. |
Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density(密度)”，said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanreal systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said, “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure(晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said, “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”
Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair. Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?
| A．He teaches chemistry at MU. |
| B．He developed a chemical battery. |
| C．He is working on a nuclear energy source. |
| D．He made a breakthrough in computer engineering. |
Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4_________.
| A．to show chemical batteries are widely applied. |
| B．to introduce nuclear batteries can be safely used. |
| C．to describe a nuclear-powered system. |
| D．to introduce various energy sources. |
Liquid semiconductor is used to _________.
| A．get rid of the radioactive waste |
| B．test the power of nuclear batteries. |
| C．decrease the size of nuclear batteries |
| D．reduce the damage to lattice structure. |
According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery _______.
| A．uses a solid semiconductor | B．will soon replace the present ones. |
| C．could be extremely thin | D．has passed the final test. |
The text is most probably a ________.
| A．science news report | B．book review |
| C．newspaper ad | D．science fiction story |
Paris in the springtime was, is and always will be, something rather special. Why not experience it for yourself with this excellent break for four days? This attractive city has something to offer to everyone and with prices at just £129.
Your break begins with comfortable bus transfer (运送) from local pick-up points and travel to Paris is via cross-channel ferry, arriving at your hotel in the evening. The Ibis is an excellent quality hotel with private facilities in all rooms: satellite TV, radio, telephone and alarm clock. It has a bar and restaurant and is situated about two miles south of Notre Dame, enabling you to explore Paris with ease.
The following day, after continental breakfast (included), the bus takes you on a comprehensive sightseeing tour of the city, during which you will see the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, L’Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, in fact almost every famous landmark you have ever heard of. You then leave Paris and take a short drive to the magnificent Palace of Versailles, the home of Louis XIV. The tour ends mid-afternoon back in Paris where you will have the remainder of the day at your leisure. In the evening there is a “Paris by Night” tour showing you the beautiful buildings with bright lights.
Day three takes you to Montmarter, perhaps the most attractive quarter. In the afternoon you are free to explore this beautiful city as you wish, perhaps having a pleasant voyage on the River Seine, wandering around the beautiful gardens or looking among the antique shops（古董店）. In the evening you will have the opportunity to visit the best nightclub in the city, the splendid Paradis Latain. On the final day it’s back to the UK via channel ferry.
Included in the price of £129 per person :
●Return comfortable bus travel to Paris
●Return ferry crossings
●3 nights housing in a twin bedded room in a Central Paris hotel with private facilities
●Continental breakfast during your stay
●Guided sightseeing tour of “Paris by Day” and “Paris by Night”
●Visit to the Chateau of Versailles (admission not included )
●Tour around Montmartre What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To show the price of traveling to Paris . |
| B．To tell tourists the routes to Paris. |
| C．To introduce the city of Paris. |
| D．To attract tourists to Paris. |
During the stay in Paris, the tourists will_________.
| A．have a “Paris by Night” tour on the first evening |
| B．live in a hotel two miles away from Paris |
| C．have free time for half a day |
| D．have a pleasure voyage on the River Seine together |
What does the underlined word “quarter” mean in the passage?
| A．An area. | B．A period of time. |
| C．A coin worth 25 cents. | D．One of four equal parts. |
According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．The Palace of Versailles is not in the center of Paris. |
| B．The tourists can telephone in the Ibis without paying. |
| C．It will take you a long time to get to Montmartre from Paris. |
| D．The tourists will spend the night in the antique shops on the third day. |
This passage is probably written for _____
| A．Asians | B．Australians | C．Chinese | D．Englishmen |
On numerous drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle (甲虫) from certain tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.
Though Mother’s Day follows Earth Day, for me, they have always been related. My mom has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, Mom saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and re-uses her plastic bags.
Mom creates a kind of give-and-take relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to fend off the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it’s likely they’ll be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house are captured (捕获) in a juice glass and set loose in the garden.
I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for spent (开败的) dandelions (蒲公英) to parachute; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mom didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came compassion and an instinct (本能) for preservation.
I am slowing down and it isn’t because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and re-use packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other through the palm (棕榈树) leaves above my porch (门廊).
Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness I immediately wanted to share with my mom.Why does the author say Earth Day is connected with Mother’s Day?
| A．Because Mother’s Day falls shortly after Earth Day. |
| B．To stress that all the older women in her family are environmentalists. |
| C．To stress how much her mother cares about the environment. |
| D．Because on Mother’s Day her mother shows her how to be friend to nature. |
According to the fourth paragraph, which of the following is the author’s mother NOT likely to do?
| A．When she came across a lost dog, she helped it to find its shelter. |
| B．In spring, she spent some time watching the plants growing in the garden. |
| C．She joined in the campaign to encourage the public to contribute actively towards a better environment. |
| D．She walked to a nearby shop which was within ten minutes’ walk rather than drove there. |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．The author’s mother is very patient with her children. |
| B．The author’s mother knows how to live in harmony with nature. |
| C．The author’s mother always took care of the wildlife that came into her yard. |
| D．The author’s mother used to remind her to slow down to protect the environment. |
We can infer from the article that ______.
| A．the author thinks that too many people now label themselves environmentalists |
| B．the author’s mother knows how to get rid of the wildlife in her yard |
| C．the author believes that only by learning to slow down, can we enjoy life |
| D．the author realizes that she should teach her children by example as well |
What is the main idea of the last three paragraphs?
| A．How the author taught her children to protect the environment. |
| B．How the author’s mother influenced the author. |
| C．What inspired the author to slow down and enjoy life. |
| D．How the author spent her time with her children. |