It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night.The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him.I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same.I' m so glad I did.
On the way to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape.After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea.As we got on board, we noticed two big humps (脊背) in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby.We couldn't believe it — there aren't any whales along the coast here.The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale —actually as big as our boat — was obviously stuck and could not move.The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves."She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said.At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently.With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water.Then it swam up right beside its mum.They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction.We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel.Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe -- and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes.Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half.That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day.Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.The author says "I' m so glad I did." ( in Para.2) because _________.
A.he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
B.he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
C.he experienced the rescue of the whales |
D.he spent the weekend with his family |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because __________.
A.she had stayed in the polluted water for too long |
B.the whirlpools she had made were not big enough |
C.she had no other whales around to turn to for help |
D.the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction |
What is the theme of the story?
A.Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness. |
B.Fishing provides excitement for children. |
C.It's necessary to live in harmony with animals. |
D.It's vital to protect the whale in the ocean. |
Ocean Park Hong Kong is a theme park in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island. The park was built with donations from the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (now Hong Kong Jockey Club) and opened on 10 January 1977. The park is operated by Ocean Park Corporation, which is a statutory(法定的)department. It offers affordable marine animal education and entertainment and is a private organization for commercial purposes.
In the early operation of the park, the main sources of income for the park were the ticket prices and the funding from the Jockey Club. Since the ticket price was low, most of the time Ocean Park was operating under deficit(财政赤字). In 1 July 1987, the government established a 200 million trust from the funding of Jockey Club, under the Ocean Park Corporation Ordinance. This separated Ocean Park from Jockey Club and became a non-profit organization; it needs to be responsible for its own income and was allowed to use commercial means to operate the park.
Since it was permitted to use commercial means to operate, it gradually raised its ticket price and the deficit turned into profit. In 1992, 3 million visitors visited the park. Since 1998, the East Asian financial crisis(经济危机), aging attractions, and the passing away of the killer whale; the park recorded a deficit for a couple years. Although it was allowed to host 2 pandas in 1999, the number of visitors did not go up and Ocean Park was forced to close its water attractions and the "Old Village" attraction and turned to bring in more rides in an attempt to capture the youth demand. Together with the opening up of mainland visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme, Ocean Park recorded an astonishing 4 million visitors in the year 2004-2005, the highest since the park opened.
In March 2005, Ocean Park made its redevelopment plan. On 23 November 2006, Ocean Park held a groundbreaking ceremony for its redevelopment
6. At the beginning, Ocean Park Hong Kong _________.
was built with the money from the government
was operated by Ocean Park Corporation
was a great success once it was opened
mainly got income from the ticket prices and donations
7. According to the passage, Ocean Park Corporation _________.
belongs to Hong Kong Jockey Club
is an official organization
is a non-profit organization
can not use commercial means to operate
8. How many deficits the Ocean Park experienced so far?
A. 1 B.2 C. 3 D. 4
9. Ocean Park Corporation took all of the measures to overcome the deficits except _________.
A. raise ticket price B. close some attractions
C. try to attract young customers D. host 2 pandas
10. Which of the following statements is Wrong?
Ocean Park Hong Kong is a theme park.
Ocean Park Hong Kong has taken on a new look since 2005.
The East Asian financial crisis didn’t have any influence on Ocean Park.
At present, Ocean Park Hong Kong also attracts many mainland customers.
One day Walt Disney had a vision. It was a vision of a place where children and parents could have fun together. The more Walt dreamed of a "magical park," the more imaginative and elaborate it became.
The original plans for the park were on 8 acres next to the Burbank studios where his employees and families could go to relax. Although, World War II put those plans on hold. During the war, Disney had time to come up with new ideas, and creations for his magical park. It was soon clear that 8 acres wouldn't be enough.
Finally in 1953, he had the Stanford Research Institute conduct a survey for a 100-acre site, outside of Los Angeles. He needed space to build rivers, waterfalls, and mountains; he would have flying elephants and giant teacups; a fairy-tale castle, moon rockets, and a scenic railway; all inside a magic kingdom he called "Disneyland."
The search for the best venue for the park ended in the rural Anaheim, California with a purchase of a 160-acre orange grove near the junction of the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) and Harbor Boulevard.
Construction for Disneyland began on July 21, 1954, 12 months before the park was scheduled to open.
Some 160-acres of citrus trees had been cleared and 15 houses moved to make room for the park. However, when the real designing came around, Disney met with inevitable questions. How do you make believable wild animals, that aren't real? How do you make a Mississippi paddle ship? How do you go about building a huge castle in the middle of Anaheim, California? Disney asked his movie studio staff for answers. The design of Disneyland was something never done before. There would be four uniquely different theme parts: Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland Tomorrow land. Bit by bit, Disneyland got ready for Opening Day. The staff worked around the clock to get ready.
But opening day was a terrible disaster. Beside the terrible opening day conditions, the park did eventually pick up. By 1965, ten years after opening day, 50 Million visitors had come through the gates.
1. The passage is mainly about___________.
What visitors can enjoy in Disneyland.
The difficulties Disney met in building Disneyland
How Disneyland came into being
A brief introduction to Disneyland
2. Which of the following dates would probably be the opening date of Disneyland?
A. 1953 B. 1954 C. 1955 D. 1965
3. Which of the following statements is Not True?
World War II had some influence on the building plan of the Disneyland.
Disney must have met many difficulties in building Disneyland.
About 50 million visitors have visited Disneyland so far.
Disney was a great man with great imagination and creativity.
4. You could see all the following things except_________ in Disney.
A. rivers, waterfalls, and mountains B. flying elephants and giant teacups
C. a huge castle D. wild animals
5. The underlined phrase in the last paragraph probably means _________.
A. collect B. improve C. find D. open
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi, girl! My name is Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically(热情地)responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel!”
“No seriously,” I said. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us.
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor everyday. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.
“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20 years older. If I am 87 years old, and stay in bed for a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can grow older. But every minute counts for young men,” she added.
“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Song of Rose”. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics(歌词)and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
13. Rose made herself known to the author in a ______ manner.
A. serious B. cold C. humorous D. crazy
14. From the information provided in the passage, we know ______.
A. Rose finished the college degree within a year
B. Rose did realize her dream of meeting a rich husband and getting married through college education
C. Rose enjoyed her campus life very much
D. Rose grew so old that she stopped playing
15. Rose delivered the speech ______.
A. at the graduation B. which she prepared carefully
C. ended with “The Song of Rose” D. to challenge all the other speakers
16. According to her speech, ______.
A. whenever you have a dream, you succeed
B. all people don’t grow up while growing older
C. Rose usually regretted having done something
D. a nine-year-old is as old as a 87-year-old if he doesn’t do anything
BRISBANE—Australian Olympic chief John Coates has said Greek athlete Katerina Thanou should not be awarded the Sydney Olympics 100 metres gold medal handed back by Marion Jones.
Jones, who this week admitted to steroid(类固醇)use in the build up to the Sydney Games, has returned the three gold medals and two bronzes she won in 2000.
But Thanou, the silver medalist in Sydney, was herself banned for two years after she failed to appear for a drug test at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
“I’d like to think that Katerina Thanou would not be awarded the gold medal,” Coates told the Australian Associated Press on Tuesday, “but there may be some legal difficulties for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to overcome in order to reach that conclusion.”
Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence won the 100m bronze medal in Sydney behind Jones and Thanou.
Coates also said he expected the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to hand back the medals won by the women's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
Two of Jones’s team mates in the 4x100m team which finished third in Sydney, Torri Edwards and Chryste Gaines, have also served doping(兴奋剂)bans.
The U.S. women’s 4x100m relay team won the gold medal ahead of Jamaica and Russia.
“On the relays, it’s my expectation that the United States Olympic Committee will be required to also hand back the medals won by the other ladies who competed with Jones in the two relays,” Coates said.
“That is normal practice.”
The United States Olympic Committee (USCO) has publicly apologized to the organizers and competitors of the 2000 Sydney Games and the Australian public for Jones’s actions.
As part of the USOC’s apology, president Peter Ueberroth promised that the U.S. would send a clean team to next year’s Beijing Olympics.
1. What is the best title of the passage?
A. Jones has returned the Sydney medals
B. Thanou should not receive Sydney gold
C. Steroid use at Sydney Olympics
D. The U.S would send a clean team to Beijing Olympics.
2. Thanou should not get the Sydney gold medal because________.
A. she didn’t pass the drug test.
B. she served doping ban at Sydney Olympics.
C. she didn’t take the drug test at Sydney Olympics.
D. she ran second at Sydney Olympics.
3. Which of the following statements is True?
A. Jones has got five gold medals at Sydney Olympics.
B. The USCO has returned medals in the two relays.
C. Thanou should receive Sydney gold medal.
D. Jones also took part in the women’s 4x100m relay race.
4. Why did Coates expect the USOC to hand back the medals won in the relay races?
A. Because the IOC required them to do so.
B. Because they didn’t take the first place in the relay races.
C. Because some of the runners of the U.S served doping bans.
D. Because they felt sorry for Jones’s actions.
5. What would probably happen next according to the passage?
A. Thanou would receive Sydney gold.
B. Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence would receive Sydney gold.
C. Thanou wouldn’t be allowed to take part in the Beijing Olympics.
D. Fewer or no American athletes will serve doping drugs in Beijing Olympics.
Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist who lived between 1867-1934. Together with her husband, Pierre, she discovered two new elements (radium and polonium, two radioactive elements that they extracted chemically from pitchblende ore) and studied the x-rays they emitted. She found that the harmful properties of x-rays were able to kill tumors. By the end of World War I, Marie Curie was probably the most famous woman in the world. She had made a conscious decision, however, not to patent methods of processing radium or its medical applications.
Marie Curie was born November 7, 1867 in Poland and died on July 4, 1934. Her co-discovery with her husband Pierre Curie of the radioactive elements radium and polonium represents one of the best known stories in modern science for which they were recognized in 1901 with the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1911, Marie Curie was honored with a second Nobel prize, this time in chemistry, to honor her for successfully isolating pure radium and determining radium's atomic weight.
As a child, Marie Curie amazed people with her great memory. She learned to read when she was only four years old. Her father was a professor of science and the instruments that he kept in a glass case fascinated Marie. She dreamed of becoming a scientist, but that would not be easy. Her family became very poor, and at the age of 18, Marie became a governess. She helped pay for her sister to study in Paris. Later, her sister helped Marie with her education. In 1891, Marie attended the Sorbonne University in Paris where she met and married Pierre Curie, a well-known physicist.
Marie Curie contributed greatly to our understanding of radioactivity and the effects of x-rays. She received two Nobel prizes for her brilliant work, but died of leukemia, caused by her repeated exposure to radioactive material.
What is the main idea of the passage?
To give us a general introduction to Madame Curie.
To show us how Madame Curie discovered radium.
To tell us how Madame Curie developed as a scientist.
To tell us how Madame Curie received two Nobel Prizes.
Madame Curie was given the Nobel Prize in chemistry because_________.
she discovered radium
she separated pure radium and calculated its atomic weight
she discovered polonium
she didn’t patent methods of processing radium
Which of the following statements about Madame Curie is Not True?
Madame Curie made great contributions to medical science.
Madame Curie was very smart and ambitious when she was a child.
Madame Curie received two Nobel Prizes in physics.
Madame Curie’s husband helped her a lot in her research.
4. We can infer from the third paragraph that_________.
①Madame Curie got married when she was at college.
②Madam Curie had a great ambition when she was young.
③Madame Curie loved teaching more than anything else.
④Madam Curie must have met a lot of difficulties to get high education.
⑤Her father had a great influence on Madam Curie’s future career.
⑥Madam Curie was very smart when she was a child
A. ①②④⑤⑥ B.②④⑤⑥ C. ②③④⑤⑥ D. ①②③④⑤
5. Which is the right order about Madam Curie according to the passage?
a. married Pierre b. attended University c. discovered radium
d. determined radium’s atomic weight e. won the Nobel Prize in physics
A. b, c, a, d, e B. b, a, c, d, e C. b, a, c, e, d D. b, c, a, e, d