ThePacificislandnationofNauruu-优题课

Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slowmoving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
　　For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
　　Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activityphysical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
12. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. causes of unfitness
B. bad features of living in towns
C. the things we can completely do away with
D. unavoidable things in town
13. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often
B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs
D. don’t find them interesting
14. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active B. keep fit and learn to relax
C. be active and practise Yoga D. have a sound mind
15. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted

BTB BUS COMPANY
The BTB BUS Company serves all parts of the city, and also provides an extensive service to nearby towns and villages.
BTB CITY BUSES are usually orange, and operate from 06∶30. There are four kinds of tickets you can use:
Tourist Ranger is the ideal(理想的) ticket for tourists and visitors to the city. The tickets are valid(有效的) for 2, 3 or 5 days, and can be used on all city buses. They cost ￡4, ￡5.5 and ￡7.50.
Monthly Season — Going to work by bus? This is the one for you! For only ￡26.5 you have the freedom of the city for a whole calendar month.
Bus Card — lasts for one day. For ￡2.50 you can travel anywhere on the bus system for one day — but you must clip your card in the machine every time you board a bus.
Single Journey — 50p, valid for just one journey. Clip the ticket when you get on the bus. Books of ten tickets also available(可获得的).
　　These tickets are only valid on BTB City Buses. They are available from post offices, tobacconists and BTB offices. TICKETS CANNOT BE PURCHASED ON THE BUSES.
BTB COUNTRY BUSES (which are usually blue) serve the towns of Conby, Rashville and Grill as well as numerous villages in the area. Services run from 07∶00 to 21∶30.
Tickets are bought on the bus. The minimum fare is 75p, increasing with distance. Buses depart from the main railway station and Coshley Square.
　　A MAP of the routes for both City and Country buses can be obtained (price 20p) from the BTB offices at the main railway station or 27 Part Square. Timetables for both services can be found at the bus stop.
9. If you are staying in the city for two days and want to see the city as much as possible, which ticket is the best for you?
A. Tourist Ranger. B. Monthly Season.
C. Bus Card. D. Single Journey.
10.Which of the following statements is not true?
A. Bus Card is the best ticket if you want to show your friend around on a Saturday.
B. Tickets for the BTB blue buses can be purchased on the buses.
C. You can buy tickets for the orange BTB buses from post offices, tobacconists, BTB offices or on the buses.
D. The four kinds of tickets are valid on BTB orange buses.
11.To catch a bus to Rashville, you should probably go to______.
A. the towns of Conby B. Coshley Square C. Grill D. BTB offices

　　The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures (生物) from the earth. This idea may sound like something from a science fiction (科幻小说), but it is actually being taken seriously by many researchers.
　　This suggested future for the “red planet” will be the main topic for discussion at an international conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend the event. It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research programme. “Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction,”said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA’s senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). “Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars.”
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money would be needed to achieve this goal.
　　But many experts are shocked by the idea. “We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet,” said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK. Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they will find Martian life forms. Europe and America’s robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientists announced on March 28 that they had found signs of methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet’s soil.
　　But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be put in danger by the little earth project. “Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native lifeforms, all the strange microbes that we hope to find buried in the soil,” said Dr Pratt. This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. “We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for.” she said， “This is just wrong.”
5. The passage is about________.
A. a plan turning Mars into a little earth
B. the necessity of changing Mars
C. Mars supporting life
D. finding water in the Mars
6. Which of the following is NOT the reason why some scientists are against the plan?
A. The project would wipe out all the native lifeforms on the Mars.
B. The project will cost too much money and work.
C. We would ruin Mars.
D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.
7. We can infer from the passage that________.
A. water is a crucial factor for life
B. the project will have little effect on the native lifeforms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction
8. Which of the following supports the conclusion of microbes living in the Mars’s soil?
A. Scientists found liquid water in the Mars.
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.

Can trees talk? Yes — but not in words. Scientists have reason to believe that trees do
communicate with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree attacked in the woods by caterpillars（毛毛虫）changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. Then even more astonishing, the tree sent out a special vapor—a signal causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty.
Communication, of course, does not need to be in words. We can talk each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds and animals use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds, and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar for honey. So why shouldn’t trees have ways of sending messages?
1．It can be inferred from the passage that caterpillars do not feed on leaves that .
A．have an unpleasant taste
B．are lying on the ground
C．have an unfamiliar shape
D．bees don’t like
2．According to the passage, the willow tree was able to communicate with each other by .
A．waving its branches B．giving off a special vapor
C．dropping its leaves D．changing the color of its trunk
3．According to the passage, bees communicate by .
A．touching one another B．smiling one another
C．making special movement D．making unusual sound
4．The author believes that the incident described in the passage .
A．cannot be taken seriously B．seems completely reasonable
C．should no longer be permitted D．must be checked more thorough

The Migration of Birds
Here is a scientific experiment on the homing of birds, the fact of which are quite certain. A few years ago seven swallows were caught near their nests at Bremen in Germany. They were marked with a red dye on some of their white feathers, so that they could easily been seen. Then they were taken by plane to Croydon, near London. This is a distance of 400 miles.
Then the seven swallows were set free at Croydon. Five of them flew back to their nests at Bremen. How did the birds find their way on that long journey, which they had never made before? That is the great puzzle. It is no good saying that the swallows have a sense of direction. These are just words and explain nothing. We want to know exactly what senses the animals use to find their way, how they know in which direction to go until they can see familiar landmarks. Unfortunately practically no scientific experiments have yet been made on this question.
Perhaps migrating birds are the greatest mystery of all. Swallows leave England in August and September, and they fly to Africa, where they stay during our winter. The swallows return to England in the late summer for the south. A lot has been found about the journeys of migrating birds by marking the birds with aluminum rings put on one leg. An address and a number is put on the ring.
Swallows from England go as far as South Africa and as many as fourteen birds, marked with rings in England, have been caught again in South Africa. From England to South Africa is a journey of 6,000 miles. And the birds not only return from Africa to England next spring, but often they come back to the nests in the very same house where they nested the year before.
17．The seven swallows were marked on some of their feathers because .
A．they would be taken away by plane
B．they would be free in London
C．Croydon was 400 miles away
D．they could easily be seen for the red colour
18．Which of the following is true? .
A．Seientists have found why the animals can see their nests.
B．No one knows why the swallows can fly back to their familiar landmarks.
C．It’s very simple that the birds use sense of direction.
D．Many experiments have been made on how birds can fly their way home
19．Swallows like to spend ”our winter” in .
A．England B．London C．Africa D．Germany
20．When do the birds return from South Africa to England every year?
A．summer B．spring C．winter D．Both A and B

A．Rich and powerful	B．Peaceful and attractive
C．Modern and open	D．Greedy and aggressive