Drinking Water: Bottled or From the Tap(水龙头)?
In America, people will include a case or two of bottled water when buying the week's groceries(日用杂货).When they are going to a soccer game or activity, it's common for them to grab a cold bottle of water out of the fridge with them.In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, about 29 billion bottles a year.
But all these plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment.In order to make all the 29 billion bottles, producers use 17 million barrels of crude oil, which is enough to keep a million cars going for 12 months.
So why don't people drink water straight from the tap? Some people have a strong belief that bottled water is better than water out of the tap, but that's not necessarily true.In the US, the local governments make sure water from the tap is safe.There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may go into the water.
People love the convenience of bottled water.But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a reusable steel container instead of plastic.
Some argue that plastic bottle recycling can help.Recycled bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or clothing.Unfortunately, only one in six bottles is recycled.The rest make it to landfills(垃圾填坦场) or end as trash in other places.Plastic bottles take hundreds of years for them to disintegrate.
Water is important for you, so keep drinking it.But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.
And yes, you can make a difference.Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.How many cars can be kept going for a year by the crude oil used to make 29 billion bottles?
| A.100. | B.I,000. | C.100,000. | D.I,000,000. |
Why do Americans prefer bottled water?
| A.Bottled water is better than water from the tap. |
| B.Bottled water is cheaper than water from the tap. |
| C.Bottled water contains beneficial chemicals in it. |
| D.Bottled water is more convenient than water from the tap. |
What does the underlined word "disintegrate" in the fifth paragraph probably mean^
| A.Be well recycled. | B.Become less poisonous. |
| C.Break into small pieces. | D.Go down below a surface. |
The author's intention of writing this passage is to recommend Americans
| A.drink more water from the tap |
| B.send plastic bottles to landfills. |
| C.use water bottles to power light bulbs |
| D.buy bottles filled with water from the tap |
The website FarmersOnly.com calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man, Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers.
As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But someone would invite her to meet for coffee at nine o’clock at night, when she had to start her day at five the next morning.
So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his website. “You don’t have to be a farmer to be on FarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America’s Heartland.”
You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website.
Some farmers have also found love through a group, Singles in Agriculture, which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship. Its website, singlesinag.org, says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France. Jerry Miller started singlesinag.org in order to .
| A.help farmers | B.support traditions |
| C.understand farmers | D.represent farmers |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 indicate?
| A.She dislikes city lifestyle. |
| B.She prefers late night coffee. |
| C.Country life isn’t well understood. |
| D.It’s tiring to get up early. |
Which of the following is true of singlesinag.org?
| A.Its services are free. |
| B.It provides dating services. |
| C.Only farmers can become its members. |
| D.Farmers in France can’t benefit from it. |
The author of the text intends to .
| A.advertise for the two websites |
| B.introduce two websites |
| C.encourage social activities |
| D.urge readers to help farmers |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A.all farmers desire marriage |
| B.farmers are easy to meet new people |
| C.more farmers get divorced in the USA |
| D.the Internet helps improve farmers’ social life |
根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Have you ever wondered why birds sing? 1After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy.
2Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory. Do you know what a "territory" is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims(声称) as its won. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. 3If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. 4But he expects an outsider almost all the time, especially at nesting(筑巢) season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird' s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.
5Most of it has to do with attracting males and setting up territories.
| A.A bird does the same thing. |
| B.Maybe you thought that they were just happy. |
| C.Shouting loudly is just like a bird's screaming. |
| D.You can see that birds have a language all their own. |
E. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
F. However they sing most of the time for a very different reason.
G. So, just like human beings, birds sing for almost the same reasons.
Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.
Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.
There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.
There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime(消遣), it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.
The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.According to the text, what kind of children may eat more unhealthy food?
| A.Those who often do sports. |
| B.Those who often watch television. |
| C.Those who often have meals at home. |
| D.Those who often walk to school. |
The author thinks that children are becoming overweight because ______.
| A.they can't choose what to eat |
| B.they are too busy to go out and play |
| C.their parents often cook meals for them |
| D.there are too many fast food shops around |
The word "steering" underlined in the last sentence most probably means ______.
| A.forcing |
| B.guiding |
| C.driving |
| D.moving |
The main purpose of the text is to ______.
| A.tell a story |
| B.provide facts |
| C.give advice |
| D.compare opinions |
We were on tour a few summers ago, driving through Chicago, when right outside of the city, we got pulled over(被迫停车). A middle-aged policeman came up to the ear and was really being troublesome at first. He said, "You were speeding. Where are you going in such a hurry?" Our guitarist, Tim, told him that we were on our way to Wisconsin to play a show. Then his way towards us totally changed. He asked, "Oh, so you boys are in a band?" We told him that we were. He then asked all the usual band questions about the type of music we played, and how long we had been at it.
Suddenly, he stopped and said, "Tim, you want to get out of this ticket, don't you?" Tim said, "Yes. " So the officer asked him to step out of the car. The rest of us, inside the car, didn' t know what to think as we watched the policeman talk to Tim. Then the policeman put Tim in the back of the police car and threw the car into reverse(倒车), stopping a few feet in back of our car.
Now we suddenly felt frightened. We didn't know if we were all going to prison. Suddenly, the policeman's voice came over in a loudspeaker. He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, we have Tim here singing on Route 90." Later we knew, the policeman had told Tim that if he sang one of our songs over the loudspeaker in the police car, we would get out of the ticket. Seconds later, Tim started screaming into the receiver. The policeman enjoyed the performance, and sent us on our way without a ticket.Why did the policeman stop the boys?
| A.Because they drove too fast. |
| B.Because they were late for their show. |
| C.Because they didn't see the policeman. |
| D.Because they had to answer the band questions. |
The policeman became friendly to the boys when he knew they ______.
| A.had long been at the band |
| B.played the music he loved |
| C.were driving for a show |
| D.promised him a performance |
The underlined word "ticket" in paragraph 2 means "a piece of paper that ______".
| A.allows you to enter a cinema |
| B.shows the price or size in a shop |
| C.shows that you have paid to travel on a bus |
| D.orders you to pay money because you have done something wrong |
How did the boys probably feel when they went on their way again?
| A.Happy. |
| B.Calm. |
| C.Angry. |
| D.Frightened. |
Welcome to Adventure land!
Everyone loves Adventure land! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore, enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience.
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.
Visit the Amazon jungle (丛林) village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there, who will tell you about their lives and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we'll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and you can even take a "journey" to Mars!
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several parks.
In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals and see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales.
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventure land. Need some postcards, stamps or even toys? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center.The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors _____.
| A.realize the importance of travelling |
| B.become familiar with mountain countries |
| C.learn how to make things such as fishing nets |
| D.learn something about different places in the world |
If you are interested in knowing about what people' s life will be, you may visit _____.
| A.the Travel Pavilion |
| B.the Future Tower |
| C.the Safari Park |
| D.the Pyramid |
If you want to get a toy lion to take home, where will you most likely go?
| A.The Pyramid. |
| B.The Nature Park. |
| C.The Future Tower. |
| D.The Travel Pavilion. |