If California were not already so famous for Sillicon Valley(硅谷) and Hollywood, it might be well－known for the groups of water－technology firms in its San Diego County. The reverse－osmosis (RO) spiral module, the technique that supports turning seawater and waste－water into drinkable stuff, began in San Diego in 1964. Today dozens of firms in the area supply many of the world's approximately 13，000 RO plants in places from the Persian Gulf and Israel to Australia and China.
Southern California itself, however, has not so far been a big user of its own technology. This is surprising, given that the whole American south－west faces a water problem. But now as the climate gets warmer and the population increases, there is more agreement that the existing infrastructure, consisting of vast pipes that carry water from the Sacramento Delta in the north and the Colorado River in the east, will not be enough. In places such as San Diego, which has inadequate and salty groundwater and currently imports 90% or its water, the answers must be greater conservation, reusing as much water as possible, and getting most of the rest from the sea.
The first part, conservation, has been widely accepted by the public. San Diego today uses less water with a larger population than it did in 1989, the year water consumption peaked. The second part, water recycling has been a hard sell, because of an unpleasant factor. Americans still use the term “toilet－to－tap” for recycling, even though properly treated waste－water is nowadays completely clean. Singapore made its programme acceptable in part by renaming it as NEWater.
This is where desalination comes in, which means taking the salt out of salt water. A firm called Poseidon Resources is now close to building the biggest desalination plant in America behind a power station by the beach in Carlsbad. The power plant sucks in 304m gallons of seawater a day for cooling, so Poseidon plans to change 104m gallons a day by using the RO spiral module.
Lots of people like the idea. Once fully running in 2015, the plant could produce 10% of the region's water. And there are plans for more desalination plants. Many places would need to take much less water from the endangered Colorado River. But a few people hate it a lot. Joe Geever, an expert in biology, says desalination uses too much energy and that Poseidon plant would kill too much sea life. He understands that there is a role for desalination, he says, but would rather not have it right there, right now, and on this scale.Which of the following is WRONG about the RO spiral module according to the passage?
| A．This technology is not widely used in its birthplace. |
| B．Today there are about 13，000 RO plants in the Persian Gulf, Israel, Australia and China. |
| C．This technology can be used in desalination plants to make sea water drinkable. |
| D．It is a promising water treatment technology welcomed by a lot of people. |
How many solutions to the water problem in San Diego are mentioned in the article?
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
What can we infer from the article?
| A．The Colorado River is the main water source for California. |
| B．Americans still use the term “toilet－to－tap” for recycling water. |
| C．NEWater serves as a brand for recycled clean water in Singapore. |
| D．Poseidon Resources stands for the power station by the beach in Carlsbad. |
What is Joe Geever's attitude toward building a large desalination plant at present?
| A．Supportive. | B．Negative. | C．Optimistic. | D．Vague. |
What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivated a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children.
For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34 adults, men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions (脑震荡) in the past.
Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new M.R.I. technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can’t be seen during most scans.
According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month, the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory, attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times.
This pattern of white matter loss is “similar to those seen in traumatic (外伤的) brain injury”, like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported, even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a concussion.
The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or fumbling the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less.The passage is most probably a______.
| A．news report | B．research report |
| C．story for soccer players | D．text for doctors |
In which way can we find the structural changes in the brain?
| A．Computerized test. | B．Questionnaire.. |
| C．Scanning. | D．M.R.I. technique. |
From the passage we can conclude that frequent heading may have_____.
| A．significant effect on brain | B．little effect on one’s brain |
| C．nothing to do with the brain injury | D．one’s memory improved |
The underlined word "fumbling" is closest in meaning to______.
| A．remembering | B．misunderstanding |
| C．recalling | D．missing |
After my dad died on Aug.30, 2001, my mother made sure we marked each anniversary. At first, my brothers and sister and I would travel hours to get home, but eventually we got to the point where just one or two of us would make it back to go to Mass with her and spend the day together.
The great love of her life, the man who broke up with her right before her college graduation, only to return two years later claiming he’d traveled the world and hadn’t found anyone to compare with her, remained a daily presence in her life. She spoke about him so often and kept his memory so alive that people were sometimes surprised to learn that he was gone. She took over the garden where he’d planted and made it her own.
When the 10th anniversary of his death approached, my mom began talking about it and planning for it weeks in advance. The date on her kitchen calendar was circled and marked R.I.P. (Rest in Peace). Of course she wanted all of us there and settled the dates for our coming back.
On Monday — the day before the anniversary — she went to morning Mass and walked downtown for lunch with friends, and later told my sister on the phone that she felt Dad still so close that as she was walking back home, she heard someone yell and thought, “Oh, there’s Dick.”
That evening she went out to water flowers, just as my father, 10 years before, had gone out to the garden to pick vegetables before he died. A neighbor heard the tin watering can strike the ground as she fell and hit her head. My mother died within hours, on Aug.30, 2011, the 10thanniversary. She needed to mark that anniversary, she wanted us all home and my dad had waited long enough.From the second paragraph we know that the author’s father______.
| A．traveled around the world and left her mother |
| B．left her mother first but returned two years later |
| C．had a quarrel with her before her graduation |
| D．was not the right man her mother wanted at that time |
We can infer from the passage that the author’s mother _____.
| A．knew her last day was coming on Aug.30 |
| B．kept everything of her father’s home |
| C．missed Father though he had passed away |
| D．remained a daily presence in his life |
Which of the following statements is true EXCEPT that _____.
| A．Mother died the day before the anniversary of Father’s death |
| B．Mother died in the garden as Father did ten years ago |
| C．Mother died because she fell to the ground accidentally |
| D．Mother died on the same date when Father did ten years ago |
What does the writer imply in the underlined part of the last sentence?
| A．She wanted us to stay at home. | B．Mother missed us very much. |
| C．Mother expected us to get back. | D．That day was her last day. |
Actually we have known a lot of examples and meaningful words to support the fact that we should try our best to ease the bad impression of others. Just like the old saying goes, we should give a better assumption to the one than we think he was. But many of us always fail to do this.
Take the situation of my class for example. Right at the beginning of the first semester when we were freshmen we all showed great favor to each other. And when there was an activity that needed some people to join, we would be willing to attend whether it was interesting or not. And we were really like brothers and sisters, and our class was just like a family, a warm family. But now, I feel tired of those meaningless activities not only because of the boring activities themselves but also the cool response of our classmates.
I think the reasons why the passion of most classmates is so low may be as follows:
To start with, many of us take part in more than one organization, which will certainly make us tired. Also, in the study fields, many of us may find that our courses are sometimes difficult to understand or comprehend, especially the specialized subjects. Moreover, “history” teaches us that if one does not study hard, it is possible to fail in the exams. So it is a big and good excuse to say that “I do really want to attend, but I have a lot of homework to do, so...”
Last but not least, some people believe that some of our leaders should not be regarded as a leader, maybe I should say we, as leaders, lost the reputation, support and trust of yours. At least I am the warm-hearted one, although I cannot promise you that your advice will be adopted surely, at least I will spare no effort to “give” you the right to be heard, and to serve you.
Be active to show your talents and abilities and to create a better image of our class. Most important of all, work painstakingly for a better condition that we should have reached.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Students’ passion for activities was high at first but disappeared gradually. |
| B．Students’ passion for activities grew gradually because they were interesting. |
| C．Students were too busy to take part in activities after their classes. |
| D．Students were unwilling to participate in activities because of their leaders. |
We can infer from the passage that the writer must be ______.
| A．a supporter of activities | B．a responsible teacher |
| C．a top student in class | D．a devoted class leader |
The writer hopes that all the members of the class will ______.
| A．develop better talents and skills | B．improve their abilities and creativity |
| C．work together to make a better class | D．adopt others’ advice patiently |
It’s not just women who wear skirts. In Scotland, men wear a kind of skirt called kilt. The kilt is their national dress and an important part of their tradition.
A kilt is a colored skirt reaching down to the knees. It has checks（格子）on it with different colors, like red and blue.There are many stories about it. One story is that kilt was invented in the 1720s by an English factory owner, Thomas Rawlinson.
Thomas Rawlinson had a number of Scottish workers in his factory and he thought their clothing got in the way of their work.
Today, most Scotsmen look the kilt as formal dress. They usually only wear them at wedding or big dinner.
| A．Each family in Scotland has it’s own colors. |
| B．There are only a few men who still wear a kilt every day. |
| C．How did the Scots start to wear skirts ? |
| D．It was important for Scots to wear skirts at any time. |
E.So he cut their long clothes into shorter skirts.
F.Wearing skirts is very beautiful for women.
G.Men can wear them, too.
Miss Gogers taught physics in a New York school. Last month she explained to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how successful she had been in her explanation. She said to them, “Now I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone and at the same time you were 75 feet away, listening to me from across the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?”
Tom at once answered, “Your brother. Because electricity travels faster than sound waves.” “That's every good,” Miss Gogers answered; but then one of the girls raised her hand, and Miss Gogers said. “Yes, Kate.”
“I disagree,” Kate said. “Your brother would hear you earlier because when it's 11 o'clock here it's only 8 o'clock in Los Angeles.” Miss Gogers was teaching her class_________.
| A．how to telephone | B．about electricity |
| C．about time zone(时区) | D．about sound |
Miss Gogers raised this question because she wanted to know whether______.
| A．it was easy to phone to Los Angeles | B．her student could hear her from 75 feet away |
| C．her students had grasped（理解）her lesson. | D．sound waves were slower than electricity |
Tom thought that electricity was _________.
| A．slower than sound waves | B．faster than sound waves |
| C．not so fast as sound waves | D．as fast as sound waves |
Kate thought Tom was wrong because _______.
| A．clocks in Los Angeles showed a different time from those in New York |
| B．electricity was slower than sound waves |
| C．Tom was not good at physics at all |
| D．Tom's answer had nothing to do with sound waves |
Whose answer do you think is correct according to the law of physics?
| A．Tom's | B．Kate's | C．Bath A and B | D．Neither A nor B |