You may have known several kinds of police --- traffic police, fire police and street police. But have you ever heard of energy-saving(节能) policeman?
A group of 22 energy-saving policemen went to work last week in Beijing. They go around the city to see the use of energy in hotels, office buildings, shopping centers and other public places. One of their aims is to make sure that these places have set their air conditioning(空调) no cooler than 26℃.
They also set up a special phone line so that people can tell them which buildings fail to follow the rule.
“If everyone sets their air conditioning at 26℃, Beijing will save 400 million kilowatthour of electricity in one summer. That’s one-third of all the usages of the city in the season,” said a TV advertisement.
Other Chinese cities, like Wuhan in Hubei Province and Yangzhou in Jiansu Province, are going to follow Beijing’s steps in setting up a similar police team.
As one of the fastest developing countries, China is using a lot of energy. This has a great effect on the country’s environment and limited(有限的) energy.
From 1986 to 2005, the country experienced 20 warm winters continuously(连续). Numbers show that Chinese cities have to spend billions of yuan solving environmental problems every year.
At the beginning of this month, China made its first action plan to fight pollution. It aims to reduce energy usage by 20% and increase renewable(可更新的) energy up to 10% from 7% by 2010.
To introduce the public to a green life, last week Beijing held a show on energy-saving technology and productions. Environment-friendly machines, such as a vending machine that helps collect used bottles, have attracted lots of attention. “We want to tell people that there are certain ways to protect the environment. Each of us can find effective ways to do it on our daily lives,” said Liu Qianguang, an environmental engineer in Beijing. The job of the energy-saving policemen is ______.
| A．to set up a special phone line |
| B．to set the air conditioning cooler |
| C．to check the use of energy in public places |
| D．to make sure that more energy will be produced |
Beijing uses ______ million kilowatt-hour electricity in summer.
| A．1200. |
B．800. |
C．400. |
D．133. |
Which of the following years’ winters were all warm in China?
| A．1968—1988. |
B．1999—2003. |
C．2002—2006. |
D．2005—2009. |
In the year 2010 China’s energy usages is going to be cut by ______.
| A．7%. |
B．10%. |
C．17%. |
D．20%. |
According to Liu Qianguang, ______.
| A．there are few ways to protect the environment |
| B．it’s difficult to find good ways to save energy |
| C．it’s easy for one to do something good for the environment |
| D．it’s difficult for one to do something good for the environment |
French kids can be editors for a day
Can kids make their own newspapers? They do in Paris. Student editors at a French newspaper for kids called Mon Quotidien, do every day.
The ten-year-old newspaper sometimes sells 200,000 copies every day. It gets more than one million dollars every year! This is much more than many other newspapers.
How do they decide what to put in the paper? All the adult editors working on the children’s newspaper agree that the paper should be simple to read. Kids should be able to finish it within 10 minutes. The paper covers(报道) kids’ favorite subjects like school life, animals and science. It also talks about big world problems.
In order to make the paper more popular with kids, adult editors invite students aged 10 to 15 to join them. They have meetings every Wednesday and Sunday. Adult editors, reporters and kids sit together and decide which topics should come out in the paper and on which page. Which topic should come out on the front page, world news or bears in the zoo? Often the kid editors and adult editors disagree. Sometimes, the adult editors have to give up because their little editors won’t give in. Usually the student editors stay in the newspaper office for three hours at each meeting. Any kid in France can call the newspaper if they are interested in being a one-day editor.The French newspaper Mon Quotidien has a history of 10 years.
The newspaper is for the kids to create and practice, not to earn any money.
The editors of the newspaper are all kids.
The children can finish reading the newspaper within 10 minutes because it’s simple.
Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don’t have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.
Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2,159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year that a French worker.
Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don’t pay overtimes. Their workers don’t get more money for more work. Some people think it’s their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don’t work more hours.
Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull (迟钝的) boy.” If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.A Japanese worker works ________ more hours a year than a French one.
| A．513 | B．1,646 |
| C．2,519 | D．3,805 |
The underlined word “extra” in Paragraph 3 means “___________”.
| A．正常的 | B．额外的 |
| C．有用的 | D．少量的 |
People on _________ get only two weeks of paid vacation a year.
| A．France | B．Germany |
| C．The United States | D．Great Britain |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．No companies offer vacation to their workers. |
| B．Many people say they have enough time to relax. |
| C．Not all companies pay their workers for more work. |
| D．More than half of workers use all their vacation days. |
We each have a memory(记忆力). That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things in a short time, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the students have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.Some people can easily learn many things in a short time because______.
| A．they always sleep very well | B．they often eat good food |
| C．they read a lot of books | D．they have very good memories |
Everybody learns his mother language _________. .
| A．at the age of six | B．when he is a small child |
| C．after he goes to school | D．when he can read and write |
Before a child can speak, he must _____________. .
| A．read and write | B．make sentences |
| C．hear and remember the sounds | D．think hard |
Why can a Chinese learn English easily if he is in England?
| A．Because he must speak English every day. |
| B．Because he will have a good memory in England, not in China. |
| C．Because his father is an Englishman. |
| D．Because his English teacher is better in England. |
Wearing the wrong type of glasses will do harm to your eyes. Incorrect glasses may not be good for the children under 10. You may see better with glasses that are specially made for you.
Watching too much television may be bad for your eyes. This is not true for everyone. People with easily affected eyes may find they get red and achy (痛) from watching TV for long. Carrots will help you see in the dark. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene (β胡萝卜素). The body can change beta-carotene into vitamin A, and too little beta-carotene can cause night blindness. However, a lot of research shows that night blindness is more likely to be connected with some other vision problems.Night blindness can be caused by _____.
| A．wearing incorrect glasses | B．watching TV for long |
| C．too little beta-carotene | D．too much vitamin A |
Watching TV for a long time may cause _______.
| A．night blindness | B．easily affected eyes |
| C．no eye trouble for some people | D．vision problems for everyone |
The purpose of this passage is to tell people _______ .
| A．to have more carrots | B．how to protect their eyes |
| C．of the importance of their eyes | D．something more about their eyes |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Eating too many carrots can cause night blindness. |
| B．Watching too much TV may do harm to everyone. |
| C．Wearing wrong glasses may do harm to children's eyes. |
| D．The human body is unable to change beta-carotene into vitamin |
The people inneedn’t go to work on Fridays.
| A．Canada | B．Scotland |
| C．Japan | D．Egypt |
If it is 8:00 a.m. in western Canada, the time is _______ in eastern Canada.
| A．11:00a.m | B．2:00 p.m. |
| C．12:30 p.m. | D．4:00 a.m. |
While Canadian children are waking up, children in Scotland are ________.
| A．having lessons | B．sleeping |
| C．watching TV | D．playing games |