Two years ago, the Funk family of suburban Chicago adopted a Chinese baby girl who had been abandoned on a sidewalk near a Yangzhou textile factory.
Last year and halfway across the United States, the Ramirez family of suburban Miami adopted a girl who had been abandoned a week later on the same spot.
Both families named their daughters Mia. It turns out, a first name and Chinese heritage aren’t the only things the three-year-olds have in common. The girls’ mothers—Holly Funk and Diana Ramirez—met on a website for parents who had gone through international adoptions. After a flurry of e-mails comparing photographs and biographical details, DNA testing proved the families’ suspicions: The girls are probably fraternal (手足般的) twins.
“I was in shock,” said Ramirez, who lives with her husband Carlos in Pembroke Pines, Florida. “Well, now this is for real.”
The Internet and Web groups revolving around international orphanages are increasingly being used to link adopted children with biological kin(亲属). The site that the Funks and Ramirezes used has a membership of 137 people, with 15 sets of twins and seven sets of siblings whose relationships have been confirmed.
At a reunion on Friday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Mia Diamond Funk Mia Hanying Ramirez shyly surveyed each other, then reached for each other’s hand.
DNA tests established an 85 percent probability that the girls are at least half sisters. Scientists did not have a biological parent to test and reach a greater certainty, but given their ages and physical similarities, experts say it is likely they are fraternal twins.
Douglas and Holly Funk hope to take Mia to Miami in October. Both sets of parents say they are committed to staying in touch and often let the twins talk to each other on the phone.. Both the adopted girls shared a first name ________.
| A．because they both came from China |
| B．because of their physical similarities |
| C．because their US parents suspected they were twins |
| D．for no good reason |
Why did the girls’ mothers meet on the Internet?
| A．To compare photographs of the two girls. |
| B．To communicate with other people who had adopted children abroad. |
| C．To test their suspicion. |
| D．To exchange experiences on adopting children. |
Experts are still not 100 percent sure that the two girls are fraternal twins because ________.
| A．DNA tests are still not accurate enough |
| B．the two girls were born by different parents |
| C．the DNA of a biological parent is still missing |
| D．one girl is born a week later than the other |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Adopted Twins Reunited on Internet |
| B．Adopted Twins Live happily in the US. |
| C．Suspicion Turned into Reality |
| D．The Story of Adopted Twins and Their Parents |
根据对话内容，从对话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。
Sandy is at home. She is now calling Lisa, her classmate.
Sandy: Hi, Lisa. Have you finished helping your parents?
Lisa: I finished cleaning the living room a little while ago, but I haven’t cleaned my bedroom yet. 61
Sandy: I know what you mean. 62Do you think you’ll be finished soon?]
Lisa: It should be done in about an hour.
Sandy: 63
Lisa: I did the English homework last night. 64I don’t understand it.
Sandy: Me neither. 65 We can help each other work it out.
Lisa: OK. Then we can go and have our hair cut.
Sandy: Great. See you in a little while.
| A．I don’t math at all. |
| B．But I haven’t started my math yet. |
| C．Housework is tiring, and I’m tired |
| D．What do you think we should do then? |
E. Why don’t we do it together this afternoon?
F. Have you looked at Monday’s homework yet
G. I also hate doing the cleaning around the house.
根据对话内容，从对话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。
----- Can you help me?
----- Sure, what’s the problem?
----- ____81___.
----- Well, how about San Francisco? We went there last year and had a great time.
-----82
-----Well, there is Golden Gate Bridge of course, and Golden Gate Park. It’s a really big park. You can go for long walks or take a rest in the Japanese Tea Garden. It’s beautiful there.
-----83
----- There is also a place called Fisherman’s Wharf. That’s really popular with tourists. There are lots of shops, cafes and restaurants. And from there you can go on a boat trip to Alcatraz. You know, it’s a small but very beautiful island.
-----84
----- No, you can’t stay on the island; there aren’t any hotels. You can only go for the day. I think I’ve still got a book about San Francisco. I can lend it to you.
-----85
What can you do there?
Oh, great! What a great place to stay in!
What an idea! What is the best time to go there?
I can’t decide where to go for the holiday-----any ideas?
Thanks a lot. San Francisco, here I come!
Hmm, that sounds good.
How can I go there?
根据对话内容，从对话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。
－Mary, do you want to see the pictures of my holiday in Italy?
－61
－Ah, it was great! The food was great! The wine was great! But the traffic was terrible!
－62
－Those Italians are crazy drivers! I don’t want to think about it!
— 63
－Yes, so here’s a picture of the Tower of Pisa.
－How nice!
－It was raining that day, but it was still wonderful. We climbed to the top!
－64
－That’s a photo of the Arno River. That’s the “Ponte Vecchio”, the old bridge.
－65
－It was very interesting. There were beautiful old buildings in the city, and lots of wonderful museums.
－That’s nice.
| A．And what’s this? |
| B．Why was it so bad? |
| C．Yes, it was wonderful. |
| D． What was Florence like? |
E.Let’s return to the good parts.
F.Sure, what was your holiday like?
G. Well, did you like your hotel there?
President Bush may talk about a plan to Mars, but Bruce Jones thinks there is still a healthy thirst for exploration into underwater worlds on our own planet. After growing up with a grandfather in the marine construction①business, Jones quickly got a feel for the water. He started diving at age 9 and, by the 1980s, began offering advice for those interested in the submarine②business. By 1993, he was running his own company, U.S. Submarines, which designs and builds submarines for others.
Jones has $40 million spent in building a hotel where the most expensive rooms will be 50 feet under the sea off Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. Unlike the Jules Undersea Lodge — the only undersea hotel now, just off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. — guests at the Poseidon won’t need to put on a wet suit to their rooms. They also won’t need to worry about changing pressure levels since the rooms will be kept at above-surface pressure. Instead, they can move easily to their $1,500-a-night underwater rooms by escalator③.
“I think there are a large number of people who would be interested,” said Jones, “including anyone who is looking for a different experience.”
Each room will feature strong walls that look out onto coral④gardens. There will be controls in each room that guests can use to change the lighting of the underwater worlds outside their windows and to provide food to fish swimming just outside. It sounds exciting— but will it happen? It’s hard to say.
“By now I envisioned⑤we’d have whole underwater cities,” Cooper said. “It’s about time some of these visions became reality.”
Notes:
① marine construction海洋建筑
② submarine adj. 海下的
③ escalator n.自动梯
④ coral n.珊瑚
⑤ envision v.展望
1. The first paragraph takes President Bush for example in order to ______.
A. praise President Bush’s plan to Mars
B. humorously introduce the main subject to readers
C. support President Bush’s plan to Mars
D. show Bruce Jones is against President Bush’s plan
2. According to the text, who had a great effect on Bruce Jones?
A. His father. B. His friends. C. His grandfather D. His grandmother
3. According to Bruce Jones’s undersea hotel, we know that ______.
A. fish outside can be seen through the hotel’s walls
B. the hotel has been built and came into use
C. it will be easy to swim into the underwater rooms
D. visitors will have to wear wet suits against water
4. According to Cooper’s words, his attitudes towards the underwater hotels are ______.
A. disappointed B. critical C. objective D. hopeful
A new study shows one of the largest glaciers①in Greenland is becoming smaller and speeding to the sea faster than scientists expected. If it continues, Greenland itself could become much smaller during this century and global seas could rise as much as 3 feet.
The rates②of change that we’re noticing are much higher than expected. If these rates continue, it is not unlikely that Greenland could shrink③by several tens of percent this century. However, it’s not known how quickly this coastal response of the Greenland ice sheet melting will have an effect on the vast inland ice.
Greenland is the world’s largest island, covering an area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it is covered by ice, and there are many glaciers. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers of ice. Where a glacier meets the sea, its weight keeps it firmly resting on the bottom. A glacier’s front is the point where the water is deep enough that the glacier floats.
Since the 1970s, the front of Helheim stayed in the same place. Then it began melting rapidly, moving back 4.5 miles from 2001 through this past summer. It has also grown thinner, from top to bottom, by more than 130 feet since 2001. And over these past four years, its trip to the sea has sped up from about 70 feet per day to nearly 110.
The melting is driven by a warmer climate. Temperatures in Greenland have risen more than five degrees Fahrenheit in the last decade. Since most of Greenland’s ice is on land, seas will rise as the ice melts. If all Greenland’s ice sheet melted, oceans would be 15-20 feet higher. Nobody expects that to happen anytime soon.
Notes:
① glacier n.冰川
② rate n.比率
③ shrink v.缩小
1. Which of the following about the glaciers is TRUE?
A. Glaciers only lie in Greenland. B. Water in glaciers is more than sea water.
C. Glaciers sometimes float on the water. D. Glaciers can increase the water level of lakes.
2. According to the text, we know that Greenland ______.
A. belongs to Canada B. is the largest island in North America
C. is all covered with glaciers D. is sinking under the sea level
3. Which of the following may be the result of the disappearing of Greenland glaciers?
A. the climate of the world will be warmer.
B. the glaciers in other area will be bigger.
C. It will be easy for explorers to visit the island.
D. Some coastal cities may be under the sea.