The United Nations says forty million people or so around the world went hungry in 2008, mainly because of higher food prices. Early estimates from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that 963 million people did not get enough to eat.
World food prices have dropped since early 2008. Prices of major crops have decreased by more than half from their height earlier last year. But they remain high compared to earlier years.
But FAO official Hafez Ghana says lower prices have failed to end the food crisis（危机）in many poor countries. "For millions in developing countries," he says, "getting enough food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream.”
The FAO says food shortage is a threat to people's health. Today, two-thirds of the world's undernourished people live in just a few countries. These are India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ethiopia and so on.
A report on food insecurity warns that the current economic crisis could send even more people into hunger and poverty.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of the people who continually go hungry fell from 34% in 1997 to 30% in 2008. But the FAO says Ghana is the only country that has reached two sets of hunger reduction targets. These were set by the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Development Goals. The main reason is the growth in agricultural production in Ghana.
The FAO says some countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand and Vietnam have made progress in hunger reduction goals. But South Asia and Central Asia haven't, and North Korea is still in hot water. What FAO official Hafez Ghana says implies _________.
| A．it's easy but takes long to provide people with enough food |
| B．enough food can make people more active and healthier |
| C．there is difficulty solving the food shortage in a short time |
| D．people in developing countries will never get enough food |
Ghana has reached the targets of hunger reduction mainly because of ________.
| A．the still high food prices | B．the donation of developed countries |
| C．the two targets of hunger reduction | D．the growth in agricultural production |
The underlined word “undernourished” in Para. 4 probably means _________.
| A．hungry and unhappy | B．unhealthy for lack of food |
| C．not fat because of poverty | D．undeveloped and poor |
Which country has not made progress in hunger reduction?
| A．North Korea | B．Thailand | C．Vietnam | D．Ghana |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．The food production of the world | B．The hunger reduction target of the FAO |
| C．The food shortage around the world | D．The solution to the global food shortage |
Even if you are naturally shy, these three tricks will help you to quickly build a new social circle in any new city.
1. Take pictures
One of the great things about taking pictures at an event or party is that it gives you an excuse to get in touch with the person later. Everybody loves seeing pictures of themselves, and it’s very easy after taking a picture to say “If you’d like I can email it to you”. This can be the seed that leads to new connections. The next time you hear about a fun event email your new contacts to let them know about it.
2. Eat alone in public
You might feel self-conscious eating by yourself but it has an important benefit: you are much easier to approach when you are alone. People may be afraid of interrupting you or being rude if you are in a conversation with someone else. Bring a book or newspaper to read (this will make you feel less self-conscious). Plus, having an interesting book with you will give others an excuse to start a conversation if they’ve read it.
3. Join a class, sports team, or club
Yoga, salsa dancing, volleyball, Toastmasters (a public speaking club), a class for work, etc. Take up a new hobby or continue an old one!
These are all great places to meet new people, primarily because you will be forced to see the same people over and over again in the class. You will automatically make friends with them if you have a common interest and are forced to see each other again.
Tips:
* In the beginning, never turn down an invitation from someone, even if it’s something you wouldn’t normally do.
* Email your new friends with fun things to do instead of always asking what their plans are. If they have a better plan you can drop yours and join them. This will help establish you as someone who is contributing value instead of just taking it (people want this in a friend).
* Don’t let little things in life upset you or be a negative person. People don’t want to be around someone like that! ____ can give you an excuse to start new connections.
| A．Taking pictures of others | B．Eating by yourself in public |
| C．Reading interesting books | D．Joining group activities |
When having meals, you’d better ____ if you want to make new friends.
| A．sit on your own in public places |
| B．start a conversation with those who have friends aside |
| C．invite others to your apartment to eat together |
| D．approach others to show conscious friendliness |
According to the text, which of the following is NOT mentioned as an advantage of joining a class?
| A．It helps you find out your interest and take up a new hobby. |
| B．It helps you find out people who share a common interest with you. |
| C．It offers an opportunity to meet the same people repeatedly. |
| D．It is a good way to meet new people and make friends in a new city. |
Which of the following pieces of advice is a tip from the text?
| A．Try to be outgoing and talkative instead of being shy. |
| B．Never turn down an invitation from your friends. |
| C．Offer suggestions on how to spend time together. |
| D．Don’t give a negative response to any request. |
By writing the text, the author intends to tell us ____.
| A．why you should change when you move to a new city |
| B．why you should make new friends in a new city |
| C．how you can make new friends in a new city |
| D．how you can keep in touch with strangers |
OSLO — Excited with pride, Norwegians sang in the streets of Oslo on Sunday, celebrating Norway’s National Day and the country’s Eurovision Song Contest victory.
Hundreds of Norwegians sang along to Alexander Rybak’s winning song Fairytale as they walked in the country’s traditional National Day parade (游行) celebrating the Norwegian constitution.
Alexander Rybak — called “Alexander the Great” by the Norwegian media — won a great victory in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) by gaining the most votes in its 53-year history in Moscow on Saturday.
Alexander has played violin and piano since he was five years old, and he also composes his own music and sings. In 2006 he won the Norwegian talent show Kjempesjansen with his own song Foolin. Alexander has performed with one of the world’s most celebrated violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, won the Anders Jahres Culture Price and has been the concertmaster for Norway’s largest symphony orchestra (交响乐队) for youths, Ung Symfoni.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said there was clearly something special about the 23-year-old and his folk music. “This is a phenomenal performance by a young and talented musician,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
Rybak is expected to draw a large crowd of fans to Oslo’s Gardermoen airport when he arrives next Sunday, after having invited all his countrymen from the stage in Moscow.
With Rybak’s win, Norway will host next year’s Eurovision finals, a show that reaches a television audience of over 100 million people. Norway’s Minister of Culture, Trond Giske, promised that Norway would put on a splendid show next year but without spending as much as Moscow, which spent 24 million euros this year. “I don’t think that is necessary,” he told national broadcaster NRK.
The win was Norway’s third. The Nordic country also won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 and 1995. What do Norwegians usually do on the country’s National Day?
A. Sing Fairytale. B. Have a parade. C. Hold a song test.D. Watch the ESC.Which of the following statements about Rybak is TRUE?
A. He has a lot of fans all over the world.
B. He is the first Norwegian to win the ESC.
C. He is called “Alexander the Great” when he was born.
D. He showed a great talent for music before this ESC.The underlined word “phenomenal” in Para. 5 means “____”.
| A．very unusual and impressive | B．too special to be understood |
| C．with an educational purpose | D．able to draw a large audience |
What’s Trond Giske’s opinion?
| A．Norway will host next year’s Eurovision finals. |
| B．It doesn’t require too much money to win the finals. |
| C．Norway is determined to win next year’s Eurovision finals. |
| D．It doesn’t require a lot of money to make the finals splendid. |
The main idea of the text is that ______________________________.
| A．the Eurovision Song Contest belongs to the world |
| B．National Day is being celebrated in Norway |
| C．Crazy fans expect to meet their idol at the airport in Norway |
| D．Norway celebrates a Eurovision win on National Day. |
Saturday, October 7th, was a marathon of sad tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier, her father, a retired official in the department of foreign affairs, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow Metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya’s mother, Raisa Mazepa, in the hospital. She had just been diagnosed(诊断) with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband’s funeral. “Your father will forgive me, because he knows that I have always loved him,” she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later, she had an operation and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her deal with her grief.
Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her twenty-six-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into Politkovskaya’s apartment, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. “Anna had so much on her mind,” Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. “And she was trying to finish her article.” Politkovskaya was a special reporter for the small newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that can be seen all over the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to report repeated cruel acts done by people faithful to the Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, who are in favour of Russia. In the past seven years, Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book “A Small Corner of Hell: reports from Chechnya.” Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, and the uncontrolled cruelty of life in a place that few other Russians—and almost no other reporters—cared to think about. Politkovskaya’s father died of ______.
| A．tiredness | B．a disease | C．an attack | D．an accident |
From the text we know that Raisa Mazepa ______.
| A．didn’t love her husband |
| B．didn’t attend her husband’s funeral |
| C．was having an operation the day her husband was buried |
| D．was too sad to attend her husband’s funeral |
The underlined word “emerged” most likely means ______.
| A．came out | B．went into | C．looked into | D．left for |
How many family members of Anna are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Three. | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
Which of the following words can best describe Politkovskaya’s character?
| A．curious | B．easy-going | C．careless | D．responsible |
Researchers believe that the insect(昆虫) is better at managing congestion (拥挤) than humans. Ants are the most many type of animal on earth with brains that contain about 250,000 cells ---- the largest among insects.
Now an intelligence expert Dr. Dirk Helbing says understanding more about ants could help solve one of the headaches of modern life -- road congestion.
His team set up an "ant motorway" with two routes of different widths from the nest to some sugar syrup (糖浆). Soon the narrower（更窄的） route soon became crowded（拥挤的）. But when an ant returning along the crowded route to the nest met with another ant just starting out, the returning ant pushed the newcomer onto the other path. However, if the returning ant had enjoyed a trouble-free journey, it did not send the newcomer in a different direction.
The result was that just before one route became clogged , the ants had turned to another route and traffic jams never formed.
The researchers also created a computer model of more complex ant networks with routes of different lengths. The team found that even though ants being sent in another direction sometimes took a longer route, they still got to the food quickly and efficiently.
Dr. Helbing, of the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, said that while you cannot allow cars to meet with traffic coming in the opposite（相反的）direction as a form of traffic control, you could do the next best thing and allow them to communicate.
His plan is to force cars traveling in one direction to tell oncoming traffic what the conditions they are about to meet with-- so they can avoid that situation if necessary.The first paragraph suggests that _______.
| A．ants have a special way to manage congestion |
| B．ants are clever and good at dealing with the traffic jams because of developed brain |
| C．insects are similar to animals in dealing with the traffic jams because of developed brain |
| D．insects have more advantages than humans |
The underlined word "clogged" can be replaced by _______ in the following four words.
| A．cleaned | B．narrowed | C．crowded | D．shortened |
If an ant returns along crowded route to the nest, how does the ant solve the traffic problem?
| A．The ant will change the direction of its own. |
| B．The ant stopped the newcomer from moving ahead and forced the newcomer to wait there patiently. |
| C．The ant can't direct the newcomer. |
| D．The ant will push the newcomer to the other route, so traffic jams won't form. |
What's the advice that Dr. Helbing gives us?
| A．The cars cannot be allowed to communicate with traffic coming in the opposite direction. |
| B．The cars can communicate with traffic in the same direction. |
| C．The cars that travel in one direction can tell oncoming traffic about the traffic conditions. |
| D．We should build more routes of different lengths and widths. |
Bicycle tour and race
A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27（ Sat. &Sun.）at 5:30 am, the riders will leave Tian’an Men Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training leg. Then the next 55 kilometers leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive (比赛的)part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli.
The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to seaside of Nandaihe, covering a distance of 20 kilometers. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.
Cost: 200 yuan
Telephone: 4675027
Brazilian footballers
The Brazilian Football Club play Beijing Guo’an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26．The club has four nation team players. Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Ronario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.
Ticket prices: 60/100/150 yuan
Time /date: 4:30 pm, August 26（Sat.）
Telephone: 5012372`
Rocking climbing
The third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26~27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators（观众）.
Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.
Time/Date: 9~12 am, August 26 and 27
Telephone: 7143177, 7144850 Wang ZhenghuaThe main purpose of announcing the above events is to give information about .
| A．visiting teams | B．things to do for the weekend |
| C．famous players | D．prices to pay for the sports events. |
If you take part in the bike tour, you will ride for .
| A．110 kilometers | B．55 kilometers | C．75 kilometers | D．35 kilometers |
What is special about the rock climbing competition?
| A．You don’t have to be a sportsman to take part in. |
| B．The bus trip to the places of the competition is free. |
| C．You can watch it without paying. |
| D．Many foreign teams take part in it. |
If you want to do something on Saturday afternoon, which telephone number will you call?
| A．7144850 | B．7143177 | C．4675027 | D．5012372 |