As the United States nears the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people, President Obama announced Sunday night that the al Qaeda（基地组织） leader and mastermind of that horrific day, Osama bin Laden, has been killed.
CNN reports that a senior government official confirmed that bin Laden was shot by a small team of U.S. soldiers while in a mansion with family members outside Islamabad（伊斯兰堡）. His body is now in American custody（拘押） and is being handled according to Islamic customs. Three other adult men were killed in the firefight, including a son of bin Laden's, who was a senior member of the terrorist organization.
"Justice has been done," the president announced, saying that the operation he ordered after receiving intelligence information is "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda."
The immediate reactions ranged from cautious to ecstatic. Crowds cheered outside the White House. But officials said a "worldwide caution" would be set for Americans in case of al Qaeda retaliation（报复）.
Will bin Laden's death be the justice Americans have sought for nearly a decade?
Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93, said it does bring comfort.
"This is important news for us, and for the world. It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones. It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil," Felt said.
President Obama says this victory does not close the book.
"His death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain cautious," he noted.The underlined word “ecstatic” most probably means _________.
| A．scared | B．extremely happy and excited |
| C．doubtful | D．amazed |
The author mentions all of the items listed below EXCEPT_________.
| A．Four people were killed in the firefight. |
| B．Families of the victims in the 9/11 attacks celebrated together. |
| C．President Obama thought highly of the Anti-Terrorist Military Action |
| D．Obama thought that al Qaeda will continue attack against the United States. |
It can be inferred from the text _________.
| A．The 9/11 attacks happened on September 11, 2001. |
| B．Osama bin Laden has three sons. |
| C．Some soldiers were injured in the firefight. |
| D．More than 3000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. |
From the last paragraph we can learn that _________.
| A．Osama bin Laden’s death will put an end to terrorism. |
| B．President Obama doesn’t think bin Laden's death is a victory. |
| C．The United States will make efforts to defeat the al-Qaeda |
| D．The al Qaeda has a new leader now. |
Special Bridges Help Animals Cross the Road
—Reported by Sheila Carrick
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear (灰熊) and mountain lion can cross the road.
“Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads,” the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.
“Ecopassages ” may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. “These ecopassages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents,” said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.
But do animals actually use the ecopassages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an ecopassage that went under a highway. This showed that the lions used the passage.
Builders of ecopassages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders (火蜥蜴) and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.
The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal overpass!The writer uses the example of “ocelots” to show that _______.
| A．wild animals have become more dangerous |
| B．the driving conditions have improved greatly |
| C．the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work |
| D．an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents |
From the news story, we know an ecopassage is ________.
| A．an underground path for cars |
| B．a fence built for the safety of the area |
| C．a bridge for animals to get over a river |
| D．a path for animals to cross the road |
When the writer says that animals seem “to be catching on”, he means ________.
| A．animals begin to realize the dangers on the road |
| B．animals begin to learn to use ecopassages |
| C．animals are crossing the road in groups |
| D．animals are increasing in number |
The writer asks visitors and drivers to look around when traveling because ________.
| A．wild animals may attack cars |
| B．wild animals may block the road |
| C．they may see wild animals in the park |
| D．they may see wild animals on ecopassages |
With eco-tourism on the rise, eco-hotels are fast becoming the darling of the travel industry. These days, however, staying at an eco-hotel doesn’t necessarily mean vacationing in a tree house in the Costa Rican jungle, although that is certainly a choice.
The majority of eco-hotels fall into several categories: hotels and resorts that conserve ecologically important habitats; “green” hotels that reduce, recycle, minimize waste, and protect water; sustainable hotels that harvest food from gardens on the hotel property or get part or all of their power from renewable energy; hotels that encourage community involvement such as guests taking part in trail clearing; and hotels that offer some form of environmental education to their guests.
As such, eco-hotels are a various group. Stylish urban hotels like the Willard Inter-Continental Washington focus on energy conservation whereas the Rosario Resort & Spa on Orcas Island in Washington State offers a wildly popular “green” vacation package where guests can “take a hike, clear a trail”.
No matter what you call them, eco-hotel, eco-lodge, eco-resort, or green hotel, they’re all part of the “greening” of the tourism industry.
Part of what drives this greening of the hotel industry is no doubt competition. Going green is another way to distinguish a hotel from the mass of other excellent hotels that consumers have to choose from. But for many hotels, it’s also part of their philosophy. With the concept of “going green” firmly rooted in consumers’ minds, eco-hotels have taken it to the next level, and whether or not money is the driving factor behind the greening of the hotel industry doesn’t matter so much as it’s good for the planet.According to the passage, which of the following can match the idea of eco-hotel?
| A．It is comfortable and fashionable. | B．It uses renewable energy. |
| C．It has walls of glass. | D．It is home to endangered species. |
From the passage, we know the Rosario Resort & Spa is a kind of hotel that _______.
| A．encourages its guests to participate in its greening activities |
| B．harvests food from its own garden |
| C．has courses on the environment for its guests |
| D．protects important habitats |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that _______.
| A．money is the driving force behind eco-hotels |
| B．the hotel industry cares more about money than the environment |
| C．eco-hotels teach their guests the philosophy of eco-hotels |
| D．eco-hotels have no advantages in competing for guests |
Facebook means never having to say goodbye. The social media website has earned a reputation for reconnecting old friends. Last week, a guy whom I hadn’t seen since my bachelor party five years ago sent me a friend request. I accepted and waited for “Easy E” to send me a greeting of some kind. He had sought me out, after all.
I learned from his profile that he was in a relationship and had a son. However, I’m pretty sure we won’t ever write wall-to-wall, let alone e-mail each other. But he’ll remain a friend of online until one of us makes a point of removing the other from his official list.
My pool of friends consists of family members, college buddies, co-workers from past and present, and friends of friends. There are 35 in all. If I spent some time uploading old e-mail addresses, I’m confident that I could increase my friend count actually.
A person could make a mission out of reconnecting with childhood friends, former classmates, distant cousins, and those one would like to get to know better. And some people can even handle hundreds of on-screen relationships, keeping up with the daily happenings of their small army of companions. After all, there are worse fates than having too many friends.
Thanks to e-mail, the inability to schedule face-to-face meetings no longer means a friendship must come to a close. But even with e-mail, people will lose touch if one or both parties stop writing back. That’s normal. People move from school to school, job to job, city to city. You never have to feel guilty for breaking away.
Every day, the masterminds of Web 2.0 find new ways of making human communication easier. However, convenience can be a walking stick. Some things shouldn’t be simplified. When it comes to friendship, there can be no shortcuts.According to Paragraph 1, the website is famous because .
| A．it has an interesting name of “Facebook” |
| B．it can send people a greeting of some kind |
| C．it helps people get in touch with old friends |
| D．it reminds people of events in the past |
From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer .
| A．would write to the friend quite often |
| B．did get some information about the friend |
| C．asked the friend to e-mail him |
| D．would keep in touch with the friend forever |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The author communicates with all the 35 friends by e-mails. |
| B．There are 35 people in the author’s list of friends right now. |
| C．The list of 35 friends doesn’t include the old e-mail addresses. |
| D．It is not difficult for the author to increase his friend count. |
What does the writer mean by saying “However, convenience can be a walking stick”？
| A．The masterminds of Web 2.0 also sell walking sticks online. |
| B．Taking a walking stick is a new way of making friends online. |
| C．Convenience is dangerous for human communication. |
| D．Convenience is not really good for human communication. |
Over the past decade, cheating—an act of academic dishonesty—has become more and more common.
The latest statistics shows more than two thirds of high school students admitted cheating on an exam last year, and—even more surprising—often the best students cheat to get to the top of their class—and they don’t think it is wrong. It’s not a big deal. Everybody is doing it.
It is a big deal! Cheating is basically wrong and must be punished.
If students easily get away with it, they might be encouraged to do it again. They won’t realize that this—in the broadest sense—is an attack on our society, which is based on values like honesty and fairness. The present spreading of cheating indicates a loss of those values and cannot be tolerated. An appropriate punishment for cheating incidents would make students aware of their misbehavior.
If no one were punished for cheating, who would ever study for an exam? Tons of papers would be lifted from websites, writing crib sheets would be more important than reviewing the subjects, and highly sophisticated cheating arts would be invented. Knowledge would only exist on the Internet and on cleverly created cheat sheets, but not in the minds of the students—a rather bad precondition to enrich our society wisely and intelligently.
Students have to learn that they have to learn. Only doing what’s right will bring them a feeling of pride and accomplishment and create self-confidence—the building blocks for a successful and satisfying life and a society that keeps its values.What is more surprising is that .
| A．cheating is very common in schools |
| B．over 2/3 of the students cheat last year |
| C．even the best students cheat on exams |
| D．teachers are not aware of the problems |
How do they make the students realize their misbehavior?
| A．By letting them getting away with it. |
| B．By telling them what is right. |
| C．By catching them on the spot. |
| D．By giving them some punishment. |
How can students create self-confidence?
| A．By knowing they have to learn. |
| B．By doing what is right. |
| C．By learning the right things. |
| D．By being punished when cheating. |
What does the underlined word “lifted” mean?
| A．taken | B．removed | C．copied | D．written |
Recently, I experienced a wonderful lesson in how little things still mean a lot. My brother, mother and I live in a very rural district on the Big Island of Hawaii. Our farm is at least a dozen miles from the most basic of services. Consequently, we take weekly trips to COSTCO to procure fuel and supplies. About a month ago, we’d finished loading up the SUV and prepared to leave. As I settled into my seat, I glanced down at the roadside, when a piece of paper caught my eye. I picked it up and read it carefully. Instantly, I was grateful I did.
The form turned out to be a receipt from the State Motor Vehicle Division, documenting the owners’ payment of their Vehicle’s Registration fees. Quickly, I put myself in their shoes and figured: no one would throw this out, especially if it was current. I also looked over the form for contact or any personal data, perhaps a license tag or telephone number. But that seemed impractical. Although the form had been born on the wind, where in the busy, crowded parking lot would I find the owners? Had it been lying there for a few minutes or a week? So I checked the date, the fees paid, noted the names of the owners and pocketed the receipt. Recalling the parable of the Good Samaritan, I concluded that the best and easiest step to take was to put the form in an envelope addressed to the couple and send it to them by post. Further, I imagined how crazy I’d be if I had misplaced my receipt. Much easier to attempt returning it than to leave them angry, upset, etc. over the loss.
By the end of the week, I received a beautiful thank-you letter from a very grateful and happy couple containing a hand written message and a gift card to use at any Starbuck’s. In her note, the wife explained how a gust of wind snatched their receipt from a pocket in her car’s passenger door. They had panicked and searched crazily for quite some time before giving up. It felt great to know I’d helped someone avoid a major loss by doing something that at first glance seemed minor or even unimportant.What did the author really mean when he said “Instantly, I was grateful I did.”?
| A．He was lucky to notice the paper on the roadside. |
| B．He was happy to do shopping in the district for it was convenient. |
| C．He was right to pick the paper up because it was important. |
| D．He was thankful to pick up the paper because he found it for a long time. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the short passage?
| A．I rode my car to COSTCO to buy supplies a month ago. |
| B．The receipt was out of date, so the owner threw it away. |
| C．I waited on the roadside for the receipt owner for half a day. |
| D．I called up the owner to take back the receipt. |
The author decided to give the paper back to the owner because ______.
| A．it was useless for him |
| B．he knew the owner was upset about losing it |
| C．the owner asked him to do so |
| D．he knew the owner would reward him for it |
Which would be the best title for this passage?
| A．How I helped the couple | B．The loss of an important receipt |
| C．The owner of the receipt | D．Little things still mean a lot |