A person steps on what seems like solid ground but discovers with horror that the ground is giving way underfoot. The person struggles desperately but is trapped. There is no escape. Slowly the person sinks deeper and at last is gone. The solid ground was solid only in appearance. It was actually quicksand, which is a deep mass of fine sand mixed with water.
How is quicksand formed? Water pushes up from below the surface and is held by the sand. The grains of sand are forced apart by the water. They cannot hold any weight. The subsurface water may have come from a spring, a river, or a stream. Sometimes pools of water near beaches become filled with sand. When the soil under these pools does not allow for good drainage(排水), the sand can become stretches of quicksand.
Is it true that a person who steps into quicksand is doomed to die? No, for people have fought their way from quicksand to firm land again. It is panic(恐慌) that creates the condition that can result in death, for the more a person struggles, the worse matters become. Quick movements will make the sand yield for a time, but then it rushes back and settles solidly around the body.
People trapped in quicksand should either lie back with arms outstretched, or not move at all. When the weight of the sand around his body has displaced equals that person’s weight, the victim will stop sinking. With feet held still, and with slow movements of the arms, as in the backstroke(仰泳) in swimming, people have managed to roll to safety and reach firm ground. Quick movements by a person trapped in quicksand will _______.
| A．help the person reach firm ground |
| B．help prevent panic |
| C．make the same sand yield temporarily |
| D．make the sand hold the person’s weight |
Quicksand is _______.
| A．a mass of fine sand mixed with water | B．formed only along rivers |
| C．found below subsurface water | D．solid ground |
Which statement does the article lead you to believe?
| A．Stretches of quicksand are found only under the sea. |
| B．People should never try to escape from quicksand. |
| C．It is hard to keep calm if you fall into quicksand. |
| D．Only heavy people can be trapped in quicksand. |
The passage mainly tells about _______.
| A．what solid ground looks like | B．the nature of quicksand |
| C．stepping into quicksand | D．escaping from quicksand |
Spring is the time to go out and enjoy the weather and scenery. Here are some events to attend in March of 2012 in Oregon!
Oregon Country Fair (OCF), 9 am to 7 pm on March 8-10
OCF first started in 1969, and it’s blossomed into an outstanding example of what a non-profit should be. OCF is an event of shopping & atmosphere, and food ranging from Indian & Afghani cuisine to Italian & France cuisine. Wonderful craft & music never stop. From the time you get there until the time you leave, everyone has a smile on their faces, and they wave and say hello. For tickets, go and visit www. Oregoncountryfair.org.
30th Annual Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament, 8 am to 6 pm on March 12-14
The Annual Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament is an amateur tournament that draws amateur volleyball players to the small town of seaside, as well as AVP Team players who are the best volleyball players. In the past years, it has drawn more than 700 teams playing on over 80 volleyball courts. Just go west, and you can’t miss it. It is about 20 miles south of Astoria. To learn more about it, visit the website www. Seasideor.com.
Hood to Coast Relay, 3:30 am to 6:45 pm on March 26-27
The Hood to Coast Relay is a 200-mile-long relay that consists of 15 000 runners and 4 100 volunteers. It’s the largest relay in the world, which goes from Mt. Hood to Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon. People of the Oregon coast fear Hood to Coast, because local towns and streets are flooded. There are audiences cheering riders on, and many people set up stations to give riders water. If you would like to get the race route maps, visit the website www. Hoodtocoast.com.
Other event information
To learn about other events, visit the website www. aadfv. blogspot.com.OCF covers the following EXCEPT _____.
| A．music | B．dishes | C．dance | D．artworks |
When was the first Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament held in Oregon?
| A．In 1982. | B．In 1986. | C．In 1988. | D．In 1992. |
If Lisa wants to learn more about an outing in Oregon, she may visit _____.
| A．www. Seasideor.com. | B．www. Hoodtocoast.com. |
| C．www. aadfv.blogspot.com. | D．www. Oregoncountryfair.org. |
Locals of the Oregon coast are afraid of the relay because ______.
| A．the relay will last a long period |
| B．they have to offer food and water |
| C．the weather is bad during the relay. |
| D．too many people will go there. |
Since the beginning of the year, smog has covered parts of North China. In January, Beijing saw only five days without smog. The rising PM 2.5 readings terrified many people, and some health experts said that whenever the smog gets serious, hospitals receive more patients suffering acute respiratory（呼吸系统）and heart diseases.
Later, news of polluted underground water in some provinces scared people who wondered whether the water they drink is safe.
So the need to emphasize environmental protection while developing the economy is heard everywhere.
Smog especially is a common concern. Like a popular online post said, air may be the only thing that is equal for everyone, despite your income or vocation. People with higher incomes are able to drink only bottled spring water and eat only organic food by paying higher prices, but they breathe the same air as everyone else.
At a meeting on Monday, many Representatives have expressed their concerns about the air quality, too. One talked about his experience in Beijing. “After taking a taxi from the capital airport to my hotel, which took about an hour, I washed my nose and found the inside of my nose was black. We should ask ourselves this question: Why do we want to develop? It's for living a better life. Dirty air is definitely not a better life," he said.
China needs to develop its economy and invest(投资) in high-tech. Every Chinese wants a strong country. But without blue sky, clean water and safe food, the achievements in the economy will become meaningless. Space technologies are not to be developed for building a base on Mars so that one day all human beings can migrate to the red planet because they have destroyed Earth.
What the public wants is a strong and beautiful China. Former president Hu Jintao spoke at the 18th Party Congress last November saying that great efforts must be made to promote ecological progress and build a beautiful China. The words have shown the central government's resolution to address the environment issue. The effect of smog doesn’t include.
| A．the rising of PM 2.5 readings |
| B．more people suffering diseases |
| C．the increase of people’s income |
| D．patients increased in hospital |
Why smog has become a common concern?
| A．Because people have to pay higher prices. |
| B．Because nobody can avoid it. |
| C．Because we have to develop industry. |
| D．Because a popular online-post discussed it. |
The underlined word “they” in paragraph 6 refers to.
| A．human beings | B．other plants |
| C．space technologies | D．industrial development |
From the last two paragraphs we can infer that.
| A．high-tech can completely solve the problem of pollution |
| B．space technologies should be developed in a large scale |
| C．we can move to the Mars after the earth has been destroyed |
| D．we must protect the environment while developing economy |
I knew I was all right now. Nobody else would come ahunting after me. I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them. I caught a catfish and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper.
When it was dark I sat by my camp fire, feeling pretty satisfied; but by and by it got sort of lonesome, so I went and sat on the bank and listened to the current crashing along, and counted the stars and drift logs and rafts that came down, and then went to bed; there was no better way to put in time when you are lonesome; you can't stay so, and you soon get it over.
And so for three days and nights. No difference—just the same thing. But the next day I went exploring around the island. I was boss of it; it all belonged to me, and I wanted to know all about it; but mainly I wanted to spend the time. I found plenty of strawberries and green summer grapes; and the green blackberries were just beginning to show.
Well, I went fooling along in the deep woods till I judged I wasn't far from the foot of the island. I had my gun along, but I had shot nothing; it was for protection. About this time I almost stepped on a goodsized snake, and it moved quietly and smoothly through the grass and flowers, and I was after it, trying to get a shot at it. I clipped(疾驰) along, and all of a sudden I bounded(跳) right on to the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking.
My heart jumped up among my lungs. I never waited to look further, but unlocked my gun and went sneaking back on my tiptoes as fast as I could. Every now and then I stopped a second among the thick leaves and listened, but my breath came so hard that I couldn't hear anything else. I moved quietly along another piece further, then listened again; and so on, and so on. If I saw a stump(树桩), I took it for a man; if I stepped on a stick and broke it, it made me feel that a person had cut one of my breaths in two and I only got half, and the short half, too.
There was no time to be fooling around. When getting to the camp, I got all my traps into my canoe again to have them out of sight. I put out the fire and threw the ashes around to look like an old last year's camp, and then climbed a tree.
I suppose I was up for two hours; but I didn’t see or hear anything—I only thought I heard and saw as much as a thousand things. Well, I couldn’t stay up there forever, so at last I got down, but I kept in the thick woods and on the lookout all the time. All I could get to eat was berries and what was left over from breakfast.The underlined part “put in time” in the second paragraph probably means _____.
| A．kill the time | B．take the time |
| C．employ the time | D．waste the time |
Why did the boy always carry his gun with him wherever he went?
| A．To show off his gun. |
| B．To hunt some animals for food. |
| C．To protect himself. |
| D．To play with it for fun. |
How did the boy feel when he saw the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking?
| A．Surprised. | B．Excited. | C．Frightened. | D．Puzzled. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The boy brought with himself a tent |
| B．The boy felt a bit lonely on the island. |
| C．The boy was surely the only person on the island at that time. |
| D．The boy might be bitten by some animal when the story happened. |
Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.
In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, king of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.
Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea: clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?
Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist (免疫学家)， encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.The kings of France and England in the 16th century closed bath houses because________.
| A．they lived healthily in a dirty environment |
| B．they thought bath houses were too dirty to stay in |
| C．they believed disease could be spread in public baths |
| D．they considered bathing as the cause of skin disease |
Which of the following best describes Henry IV’ s attitude to bathing?
| A．Afraid | B．Curious | C．Approving | D．Uninterested |
How does the passage mainly develop?
| A．By providing examples. |
| B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. |
| D．By following the order of importance. |
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To stress the role of dirt. |
| B．To introduce the history of dirt. |
| C．To call attention to the danger of dirt. |
| D．To present the change of views on dirt. |
The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed “the Garden City”, almost certainly the source of Howard’s name for his later building plan of towns. Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs.
The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities. At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression (萧条) and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life. Howard’s idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city. Howard’s idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside, far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price.
Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries. They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions. As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit--- Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away. Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide range of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city.How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?
| A．Through his observation of the country life. |
| B．Through the combination of different ideas. |
| C．By taking other people’s advice. |
| D．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago. |
According to Howard, garden cities should be built _____.
| A．as far as possible from existing cities. |
| B．in the countryside where the land was cheap. |
| C．in the countryside where agriculture was developed. |
| D．near cities where employment opportunities already existed. |
What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?
| A．Their number would continue to rise. |
| B．Each one would continue to become larger |
| C．People would live and work in the same place. |
| D．Each one would contain a certain type of business. |
What could be the best title for the passage?
| A．City and Countryside |
| B．The Invention of the Garden City |
| C．A New City in Chicago |
| D．A Famous Garden City in England |