For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages．Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.
Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest (征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured (忍受). The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.
Then there is the time spent being "processed" at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being "processed" at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.
Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. speed controls people's lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing-or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.
What does the writer try to express in Paragraph 1?
How does the writer support the underlined statement in Paragraph 2?
According to Paragraph 3, passengers are turning back to modern high-speed trains because
What does the last sentence of the passage mean?
What is the main idea of the passage?
An Italian couple are to become the world's oldest divorcees, after the 99 - year – old husband found that his 96 - year - old wife had an affair（婚外情）in the 1940s．
The Italian man, called by lawyers in the case as Antonio C, was looking through an old drawer when he made the discovery a few days before Christmas．
In spite of the time that had passed since the affair, he was so upset that he immediately asked his wife of 77years, named as Rosa C, whether it was true, and demanded a divorce．
Stricken by the guilt, she reportedly admitted everything but was unable to persuade her husband to reconsider his decision, though her children also did much more work．
She wrote the letters to her lover during a secret affair in the 1940s, according to court papers released in Rome this week, which made people know the truth．
The couple are now preparing to split; though the marriage they built has lasted over nearly eight decades－ they have five children, a dozen grandchildren and one great – grand child．
The discovery of the letters was the final problem for their marriage which had already run into difficulty－10 years ago the husband briefly left their house in Rome and moved in with one of his sons, only to return a few weeks later．
The Italian thought the fierce split resulted from the couple's southern blood 一 he is originally from Olbia in Sardinia: while his wife was born in Naples． The couple met during the 1930s when Antonio served as a young officer．
The case appears to set a new record, at least for the age of the oldest figures – the previous oldest couple to divorce were Bertie and Jessie Wood, both aged 98, from the UK．
That pair ended their 36 - year marriage in 2009 when they were both two years away from their l00th birthdays．They got married in Elstree, Hertfordshire, in 1972, having both ended previous marriages, before moving to Falmouth, Cornwall four years later．Which is true according to the text?
| A．To find his wife' affair, Antonio C looked through an old drawer． |
| B．Rosa C' lover may be Bertie． |
| C．Rosa C admitted what she did because she was sorry for her guilt． |
| D．The Italian thought the fierce split resulted from the discovery of the letters． |
Which word can replace the underlined one in passage5?
| A．advertised | B．announced | C．concluded | D．expressed |
Which of the following best describe Antonio C?．
| A．a childish man | B．a rude man |
| C．a romantic man | D．a stubborn man |
The marriage of Antonio C and Rosa C．
| A．may come to an end because the husband sticks to his decision |
| B．appears to set a new record |
| C．may have lasted over 36 years |
| D．began in the 1930s before both ending previous marriages |
This passage may come from．
| A．a text book | B．a newspaper |
| C．a history book | D．an advertisement |
Death Valley is a land of beautiful yet dangerous extremes. Death Valley can be dangerously cold during the winter months. Storms in the mountains can produce sudden flooding on the floor of the Valley.
The air temperature during the summer has been as high as fifty- seven degrees Celsius. The sun can heat the ground so that the temperature of the rocks and soil can be as high as seventy -four degrees Celsius.
Death Valley contains evidence of several ancient volcanoes that caused huge explosions. Evidence of one of these explosions is called Ubehebe Crater. The explosion left a huge hole in the ground almost a kilometer and a half wide. In many areas of Death Valley it is easy to see where the ground has been pushed up violently by movement deep in the Earth. This movement has created unusual and beautiful rock formations. Some are red. Others are dark brown, gray, yellow or black.
The area was named by a woman in 1849. Thousands of people from other parts of the ountry traveled Lo the gold mining areas in California. They were in a hurry to get there before other people did. One group trying to reach California decided to take a path called the Old Spanish Trail. By December they had reached Death Valley. They did not have to survive the terrible heat of summer, hut there was still an extreme lack of water. There were few plants for their work animals to eat.
The people could not find a pass through the call mountains to the west of the Valley. Slowly, they began co suffer from a lack of food. To survive, they killed their work animals for food and began to walk out of the Valley. As they left, one woman looked back and said, “Good -bye, death valley.” The name has never been changed.
Almost everyone who visits Death Valley visits a huge house called Scotty' s Castle. The building design is Spanish, with high thick walls to provide protection from the fierce heat.
The castle is named for Walter Scott , called Scotty by his friends. He was a gold miner. He told everyone that he built the house with money he made from his gold mine. Many people believed him. But it was not really the truth.The first two paragraphs discuss Death Valley' s．
| A．geography | B．climate | C．location | D．size |
The volcanoes mentioned in the third paragraph proved ．
| A．a valley that is formed by explosions |
| B．a place where volcanoes are still active |
| C．a good example of the violence of nature |
| D．a symbol of rock formations in history |
The woman who named Death Valley intended to ．
| A．explore the mystery of the valley | B．find an area with plants for animals |
| C．experience the terrible heat of summer | D．look for gold in California |
If the passage continues, it will be about .
| A．the truth about Scotty's Castle | B．why Spanish built the castle |
| C．when the castle was built | D．where the castle lies in |
The main idea of the passage is about．
| A．the interesting place in Death Valley | B．the facts about Death Valley |
| C．the origin of Death Valley | D．the route to visit Death Valley |
When you get in your car, you reach for it. When you're at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it. When you get into a lift, you play with it.
Cigarette? Cup of coffee? No, it's the third most addictive thing in modem life, the cell phone. And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curb their longing to hug it more tightly than most of their personal relationships.
The costs are becoming more and more evident, and I don't mean just the monthly bill. Dr.Chris Knippers, a counselor at the Betty ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on -one personal contact, and an escape from reality. Sounds extreme, but we' ve all witnessed the evidence: The person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him. Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, notes that cell - phone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation. He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with. Despite the growing use of phones, e - mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don't have as many friends as our parents. “Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances via the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends,” he says.
If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it's because it has become very widespread. Consider that in 1987, there were only l million cell phones in use. Today, something like 300 million Americans carry them. They far outnumber wired phones in the United States.From the first two paragraphs, we can know ．
| A．cell phones have become as addictive as cigarettes |
| B．cell phone addiction is good for building personal relationships |
| C．people are longing to have their own cell phones |
| D．cell phones are the same as cigarettes |
Cell phone addiction has caused the following effects EXCEPT.
| A．a barrier to personal contact | B．fewer friends |
| C．an escape from reality | D．a serious illness |
The underlined word "curb" in Paragraph 2 means “．”
| A．ignore | B．control | C．develop | D．rescue |
The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that.
| A．women Use cell phones more often than men |
| B．talking on the phone while driving is dangerous |
| C．cell phones do not necessarily bring people together |
| D．cell phones make one - on - one personal contact easy |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Cell phones Are the New Cigarettes |
| B．Cell phones Are Harmful to the Society |
| C．The New Report about the Cell phone |
| D．The Disadvantages of the Cell phone |
Not long ago the movie 2012 came into screen. The people were threatened by those scenes of destroying flood, severe earthquake, terrifying hurricane and constructions representing human civilization being destroyed and even swallowed by disaster. Luckily, they are just the director’s imagination, but the present situation is not heading a positive direction, either.
Take my own experience in Alaska as an example. Once I took a trip to the glacier. Along the way there stood signposts marking the snow lines of different years. They started from the foot of the mountain, but it was at the top when I finally saw melting glaciers(融化的冰川). My heart ached seeing the beautiful blue ice melting at every second.
Sad but true, they are the effects of global warming and the result of our human impact. Furthermore, each year the rising sea level will kill 56 million people, and that's about the population of the en tire Italy. According to studies, if the temperature keeps on rising like this, by the year 2050, some islands and coastal cities including New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney will be drowned in water.
Our fortune is in our own hands. It depends on us to shape our future, to reduce future human impact and find ways to form a peaceful relationship with our environment. Therefore, it's time for actions to be taken right now. Contribute a little to energy saving by using more efficient light bulbs and less hot water. Let recycle become our habit by thinking twice before throwing something away. Let us take public transportation as our first choice when going to a certain place. It might cost more time for now, but it' s to the benefit of a permanent future. Take care of every tree and grass around us by watering them or simply just avoid destroying them．
In a word, small drops of water make a big ocean. The earth does not belong to us. On the contrary, we belong to the earth. Please bear in mind that the earth is our home. It is our responsibility to build a brighter and better future of our planet and prevent what happened in the movie 2012 from becoming reality．Why does the author talk about the movie 2012 in the passage ?
| A．To give example． | B．To lead into the topic． |
| C．To make prediction． | D．To provide the evidence． |
How did the author feel when he took a trip to the glacier?
| A．Worried． | B．Puzzled． | C．Scared． | D．Bored． |
It can be inferred from the third paragraph that.
| A．56 million people in Italy have been killed owing to the rising sea level |
| B．Some islands and coastal cities will be drowned in water by the year of 2050 |
| C．Human being w订l be in danger if we don't take actions to prevent the global warming |
| D．It is certain that what happened in the movie 2012 will come into reality |
According to the passage, you are advised to.
| A．drive our own private cars instead of taking buses to some place |
| B．recycle everything that is used |
| C．go to see the movie 2012 at once |
| D．work together to take good care of our planet |
What does the author mean by saying "small drops of water make a big ocean"?
| A．Think twice before taking action, |
| B．It's our duty to protect the ocean． |
| C．Everyone together can make a difference． |
| D．It's important to save every drop of water． |
Some Chinese new - rich like eating shark fin soup because they think it shows their class. However, for the Chinese NBA idol Yao Ming, doing so is unacceptable as the practice has led to the overfishing of sharks.
When Yao and his wife Ye Li got married in 2007, they publicly announced that they would not allow shark fin soup to be served at their wedding banquet.
Actually, Yao had been saying no to shark fins since 2006, when he was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for wild life protection.
Now, the 226 - cm big guy is resorting to his personal influence to encourage more to say no to eating the soup and to raise awareness of protecting animals. “Sharks are friends of human beings. They are not our food,” Yao said.
Other celebrity athletes like Olympic champions. Li Ning and Kong Linghui are following on the heels of Yao, throwing themselves into serving the public as Goodwill Ambassadors for wild animal rescue. Recent reports about Yao’s retirement have saddened tens of thousands of basketball fans both at home and abroad. Yet Yao's influence goes far beyond the basketball courts.
Yao has engaged himself in charity and public welfare services for quite a while. When the devastating 8.0 －magnitude earthquake hit Wenchuan in southwest China in 2008 , Yao donated 2 million yuan. “When I was a little boy, my parents and teachers told me to help others and to be a good man,” Yao recalled. “But I could nor donate then because I had not much pocket money. After I moved to Houston, I got involved in quite a number of community service activities and I felt a strong sense of achievement when I got people together,”Yao said.
Like Yao, newly crowned French Open champion Li Na has showed her willingness to donate. Li gave 480,000 yuan of her prize money from the open, plus 20,000 yuan from her own pocket, to a local nursing home in her hometown. Another Chinese sports icon, hurdler Liu Xiang, has also been actively involved in charity for years.The reason why some Chinese new-rich like eating shark fin soup is that they think ．
| A．it is very delicious | B．it is very cheap and healthy |
| C．it is very popular in society | D．it can show their status |
Yao Ming is against eating shark fin soup because ．
| A．too many sharks are killed | B．he dislikes eating sharp fin |
| C．it is too expensive | D．sharks are dangerous animals |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
| A．Li Na donated 500,000 yuan to a local nursing home in her hometown． |
| B．Yao Ming donated 2 million yuan after the earthquake of Wenchuan． |
| C．Yao Ming has encouraged more people to stop eating shark fin soup and protect animals． |
| D．Yao Ming was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for protecting wild life in 2007． |
What words can be used to describe Yao Ming according to the passage?
| A．Rich and generous． | B．Influential and warmhearted． |
| C．Energetic and optimistic． | D．Popular and confident． |
From the passage , we can learn that 。
| A．most athletes don't like eating shark fin soup |
| B．Yao Ming has been donating money to charity since he was a child |
| C．Yao Ming has an influence on not only the basketball courts but also charity and public welfare services |
| D．Yao Ming has taken part in many community service activities when he was in China |