We are going to talk again this week about higher education for disabled students who want to study in the United States.As we noted last time,there are no special colleges or universities for blind students.But there are for deaf students.One of them is Gallaudet University in Washington,D.C. Gallaudet is said to be the world’s only liberal arts university where everything is designed for deaf or hard-of-hearing students.About 2,000 students attend Gallaudet.The cost for international students is about 33,000 dollars a year.
Financial aid is available in the form of scholarships,but only after the first year of studies. Most scholarship aid goes to students in financial need who do well in their first year.One scholarship for international students is for deaf students from developing countries.Another is just for students from China.The university also offers an English Language Institute.But Gallaudet says this program does not guarantee (担保)acceptance to the university.
In the past year,students at Gallaudet protested against the administration’s choice of a new president for the university.The protests led to the choice of a different president who is more popular with the students,Robert Davila.He is a former officer of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.This technical college is in Rochester, New York. It is one of the eight colleges in the Rochester Institute of Technology.
More than one thousand students attend the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. About one hundred of them are international students.They come from Africa, Asia,Europe and South America.
The cost is about 28,000 dollars a year for an international Technical Institute student.Foreign graduate students pay about 20,000 dollars. Both undergraduate and graduate student can receive limited financial aid. They can also take part in the student employment program.This program makes it possible for students to work at the school. The passage is written for _______ .
A.blind students | B.deaf students | C.art students | D.dumb students |
The second paragraph mainly shows ________ .
A.students can get scholarships easily | B.foreign students call receive more scholarships |
C.some information about Gallaudet | D.the costs in Gallaudet are low . |
Robert Davila is the president who __________ .
A.is well received there | B.is hated by the students |
C.has high fame world-wide | D.was appointed by the government |
To those who study in Gallaudet,__________ .
A.foreign students can earn more | B.the costs are different |
C.receiving financial aid is easy | D.every student can find a suitable job |
The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates(种植园). The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.
Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing(加工) tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.
Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill .There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required .For black tea ,the young green leaves are first spread out o shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this ,the leaves are passed through heavy rollers .This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its colour and taste .Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment (发酵)under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea .The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves .The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.
68.In the first paragraph ,the word “pruning” means .
A.regular cutting of the plants B.frequent watering
C.regular use of chemicals D.growing the plants high in the mountain
69.One of the reasons why women are employed to do the picking is that .
A.they work harder than men do in the picking
B.they can throw their pickings more easily into the baskets
C.their fingers fit them better for the job.
D.they can more easily find the twin leaves.
70.How many processing steps are mentioned in the last paragraph?
A.Three. B.Four. C.Five. D.Six.
71.What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?
A.To introduce various methods of tea processing.
B.To persuade readers to buy tea from Sri Lanka.
C.To tell a story that had happened in the tea gardens.
D.To inform readers of tea growing ,picking and processing.
At Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the lights are controlled by sensors that measure sunlight. They dim immediately when it's sunny and brighten when a passing cloud blocks the sun.
A wall of windows at a University of Pennsylvania engineering building has built-in blinds (百叶窗) controlled by a computer program that follows the sun's path.
Buildings are getting smarter -- and the next generation of building materials is expected to do even more.
Windows could catch the sun's energy to heat water. Sensors that measure the carbon dioxide breathed out by people in a room could determine whether the air conditioning needs to be turned up.
Many new materials and technology have been designed in the last 15 years. They now being used in a wave of buildings designed to save as much energy as possible. They include old ideas, like "green roofs," where a belt of plants on a roof helps the building keep heat in winter and stay cool in summer, and new ideas, like special coating for windows that lets light in, but keeps heat out.
As technologies such as sensors become cheaper, their uses spread.
The elevators (电梯) at Seven World Trade Center, which is under construction in New York, use a system that groups people traveling to nearby floor into the same elevator, thus saving elevator stops. People who work in the building will enter it by swiping (刷) ID cards that will tell the elevators their floor; readouts will then tell them which elevator to use. The building also has windows with a coating that blocks heat while letting in light.
More new building materials and technology are in development. A Philadelphia building firm is now working on "smart wrap" that uses tiny solar collectors to catch the sun's energy and transmitters (传输器) the width of a human hair to move it. They are expected to change the face of the construction industry in the next ten years or so.
72. ______ will be developed and used in the construction industry.
A. "Green roofs" that cool or heat buildings
B. "Smart wrap" that catches the sun's energy
C. Sunlight-measuring sensors that control lights
D. Window coating that lets light in, but keeps heat out
73. The elevators at Seven World Trade Center are special because they can ___
A. send people to floors with fewer stops
B. teach people how to use their ID cards
C. make people stay very cool in summer
D. help people go traveling in the building
74. The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to _____.
A. a human hairB. smart wrap
C. the sun's energyD. a transmitter
75. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A. Buildings Are Becoming Smarter
B. Buildings Are Getting More Sunlight
C. Buildings Are Lacking in Much Energy
D. Buildings Are Using Cheaper Materials
Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After 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. However ,they sing most of the time for a very different reason .Their 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 own .Only he and his family are welcome there .No other families of the same species(物种)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. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him .A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any 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.
You can see that birds have a language all their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.
56.Some scientists believe that most of the time birds’ singing is actually .
A.an expression of happiness B.a way of warning
C.an expression of anger D.a way of greeting
57.What is a bird’s “territory”?
A.A place where families of other species are not accepted.
B.A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice.
C.An area for which birds fight against each other.
D.An area which a bird considers to be its own.
58.Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?
A.Because they want to invite more friends.
B.Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.
C.Because they want to find outsiders around.
D.Because their singing helps get rid of their fears.
59.How does the writer explain birds’ singing?
A.By comparing birds with human beings.
B.By reporting experiment results.
C.By describing birds’ daily life.
D.By telling a bird’s story.
Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy, warm, damp and thick. But if you had been around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, would it have been the same ?For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted(反应)to the cold ,dry climates of the ice ages ,but until now ,no one has reached a satisfying answer.
Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO2 from the atmosphere and helping to slow global warming . Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tons of CO2 each year; equal to the total amount of CO2 giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier ,will it still survive and continue to draw down CO2 ?Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.
Unfortunately ,getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult .To study past climate ,scientists need to look at fossilized pollen ,kept in lake muds .Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep down into lake sediments (沉淀物),which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery .There are very few roads and paths ,or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes .Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest ,but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled(未取样).So far ,only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change.
64.The underlined phrase “mopping up” in the second paragraph means .
A.cleaning up B.taking in C.wiping out D.giving out
65.How will the Amazon rainforest react to future climate change?
A.It’ll get drier and continue to remove CO2 .
B.It’ll remain steamy ,warm ,damp and thick .
C.It’ll get warmer and then colder and drier.
D.There is no exact answer up to present.
66.What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
A.It’s important to drill deep down into lake sediments to collect information.
B.It’s impossible to prove how climate changes in the Amazon rainforest.
C.It’s hard to collect information for studies of the past climate in the Amazon rainforest.
D.It’s necessary to have specialized equipment and machinery to study the past climate.
67.The best title for this passage may probably be .
A.Studies of the Amazon B.Climates of the Amazon
C.Secrets of the Rainforests D.Changes of the Rainforests
You either have it, or you don’t—a sense of direction, that is. But why is it that some people could find their way across the Sahara without a map, while others can lose themselves in the next street?
Scientists say we’re all born with a sense of direction, but it is not properly understood how it works. One theory is that people with a good sense of direction have simply worked harder at developing it. Research being carried out at Liverpool University supports this idea and suggests that if we don’t use is, we lose it.
“Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way around,” says Jim Martland, Research Director of the project. “However, if they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car, they never develop the skills.”
Jim Martland also emphasizes that young people should be taught certain skills to improve their sense of direction. He makes the following suggestions:
●If you are using a map, turn it so it relates to the way you are facing.
●If you leave your bike in a strange place, put it near something like a big stone or a tree. Note landmarks on the route as you go away from your bike. When you return, go back along the same route.
●Simplify the way of finding your direction by using lines such as streets in a town, streams, or walls in the countryside to guide you. Count your steps so that you know how far you have gone and note any landmarks such as tower blocks or hills which can help to find out where you are.
Now you need never get lost again!
65. Scientists believe that_______.
A. some babies are born with a sense of direction.
B. people learn a sense of direction as they grow older
C. people never lose their sense of direction
D. everybody possesses a sense of direction from birth
66. What is true of seven-year-old children according to the passage?
A. They never have a sense of direction without maps
B. They should never be allowed out alone if they lack a sense of direction
C. They have a sense of direction and can find their way around
D. They can develop a good sense of direction if they are driven around in a car.
67. If you leave your bike in a strange place, you should ________.
A. tie it to a tree so as to prevent it from being stolen
B. draw a map of the route to help remember where it is
C. avoid taking the same route when you come back to it
D. remember something easily recognizable on the route
68. According to the passage, the best way to find your way around is to ________.
A. ask policemen for directions.
B. use walls, streams, and streets to guide yourself
C. remember your route by looking out for steps and stairs
D. count the number of landmarks that you see