The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.
For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen. What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?________.
| A．To seek help for Nauru’s problems. |
| B．To give a warning to other countries |
| C．To show the importance of money. |
| D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war. |
What was Nauru like before the Europeans came? ________.
| A．Rich and powerful | B．Modern and open |
| C．Peaceful and attractive | D．Greedy and aggressive |
The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from _______.
| A．soil pollution | B．phosphate overmining |
| C．farming activity | D．whale hunting |
Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem? ________.
| A．Its leaders misused the money |
| B．It spent too much repairing the island |
| C．Its phosphate mining cost much money |
| D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. |
What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?_ _______.
| A．The phosphate mines were destroyed |
| B．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. |
| C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans |
| D．The leaders will take the experts’ words seriously. |
Mr. Frank shot well and once he had come in fourth in a competition.
Then he went to a big city on business. There he joined the local rifle club. The club had a very good team, which used to take part in a lot of important shooting competitions. One of these took place while Frank was with them. But one of the members of the club's team suddenly fell ill just before the match. The captain had heard of Mr. Frank. He therefore invited Mr. Frank to take the sick man's place.
Mr. Frank felt greatly happy to be asked to shoot for such a good team, but he also felt very nervous, because he was afraid of making a fool of himself.
In fact, he was so nervous that he could not keep his hands from trembling while he was shooting, with the result that he did very badly in the competition. When he took his score card to his captain, he said:" After seeing my score, I want to go outside and shoot myself. " The captain looked at the card for a few seconds and then said, "Well, you'd better take two bullets with you if you want to do that. "
1 Mr. Frank once_________in a competition.
A. joined the fourth team
B. took the fourth place
C. was the fourth to start shooting
D. shot with the other three
2 Why did Mr. Frank feel nervous to be asked to shoot for the team? Because_________ .
A. actually he was not good at shooting
B. he thought the captain and the other members would fool him
C. he was afraid of losing face before so many good shooters
D. he would lose a lot of money if he should fail
3 When Frank said, "After seeing my score, I want to go outside and shoot myself", he meant to say that___________.
A. he wants to practice shooting all by himself
B. he wanted to find out the reason for his failure
C. he was too shamed of himself to remain inside and face the captain and the other members
D. he wanted to kill himself with the rifle
4 By saying "You had better take two bullets with you if you want to do that", the captain actually meant to say____________
A. "We haven't got so many bullets for you to practice shooting."
B. "You can't improve your shooting with only one bullet."
C. "I don't believe you can keep your hands from shaking this time."
D. "you are such a bad shooter that one bullet is certainly not enough to end you life with."
5According to this passage, which of the following is wrong?
A. He fired several shots and they all missed the target.
B. The captain wasn't satisfied with Frank and laughed at him.
C. In the big city Frank was admitted to the local rifle club.
D. Frank could have done better in the competition.
On Anger
Doctors say anger can be an extremely harmful emotion, unless you learn how to deal with it. They warn that angry feelings can lead to heart disease, stomach problem, headaches, emotional problems and possibly cancer.
Anger is a normal emotion that we all feel from time to time. Some people express anger openly in a calm reasonable way. Others burst with anger, losing control of themselves. But other people repress their anger. They cannot or will not express it.
For years many doctors thought that repressing anger was more dangerous to a person’s health than expressing it. They said that when a person is angry, the brain releases the same hormones (激素) that are produced during tense situations. They speed the heart rate, raise blood pressure, or sugar into the blood and narrow the blood vessels to the interstices (空隙). In general, the person feels excited and ready to act.
Doctors said that repressing these feelings only makes the feelings continue. And this can lead to many medical problems. Doctors thought a person could prevent these problems by letting the anger out by expressing it freely. But recently some doctors held a different view. They said that people who express anger repeatedly and violently did become, in fact, more and not less angry. They said this, too, can cause medical problems.
Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger can be dangerous. They believe that those who express anger strongly may be more likely to develop heart disease, and they believe that those who keep their anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure.
Doctors say the solution is learning how to deal with anger. They say the first step is to admit that you are angry and to recognize the real cause of the anger, then decide if the cause is serious, enough to get angry about. If it is, they say, “Do not express your anger while angry. Wait until your anger has cooled down and you are able to express yourself calmly and reasonably.”
1 Repressing anger was considered to be dangerous because of all the following EXCEPT that ________ .
A. the heart rate increases B. the blood pressure rises
C. the blood contains sugar D. some blood vessels become thinner
2 Which of the following is the more recent view about the expression of anger?
A. It is dangerous to express anger repeatedly or repress one’s anger.
B. One can avoid his medical problems by expressing his anger freely.
C. One’s heart rate will increase if his anger is repressed.
D. One is likely to suffer from high blood pressure in a fit of great anger.
3 When you get angry, which of the following should you do for the sake of health?
A. Repressing the anger.B. Expressing the anger.
C. Treating the anger properly. D. Learning how to make a deal.
4What is the central topic of this passage about?
A. The different ways of dealing with anger.
B. The dangers of anger and the solution
C. New medical discoveries.
D. The argument between the new and old views about anger.
Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.
Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.
The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast（盛宴）. The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.
In time, other colonies（殖民地）began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed（宣布）the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.
1The first to celebrate thanksgiving were .
A. some people from England B. the American Indians
C. Sarah Josepha Hale D. Governor Bradford
2 We can infer from the passage that New England must be______________. .
A. in the U. S. A. B. in Great Britain
C. in CanadaD. on some island off the Atlantic
3 Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Thanksgiving Day used to be a holiday to celebrate a good harvest.
B. Abraham Lincoln was not the first to decide on thanksgiving celebrations.
C. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated to express the American and Indian people’s thanks to God.
D. There’s little difference between the American way and the Canadian way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
4 The passage mainly tells us__________.
A. how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the U. S. A.
B. how Thanksgiving Day came into being and the different ways it is celebrated
C. that Thanksgiving Day is in fact a harvest holiday
D. how the way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day changed with the time and places
第二部分阅读理解
A beggar followed a lady and asked her for some money. She refused, so he turned away sadly and said he must do what he had made up his mind to do.
At this word, the lady was greatly frightened for she was afraid for his life. So she called him back and gave him a dollar. The beggar took the money, put it into his pocket, and thanked her a great deal. “You have saved me from a terrible fate,” he said. The lady asked him what he meant. The beggar replied, “Madame, I have been begging all day, but only you have taken pity on me. Without this dollar you gave to me, I should have had to go to work now.
1. Before meeting the lady, the beggar ________.
A. had already received some dollars already
B. had been thinking of taking his own life
C. had received no money for that day
D. had acted as if he was looking for a job
2. If the woman had understood the beggar’s words correctly, she would probably _____.
A. have given him one more dollar
B. have persuaded him to give up begging
C. have gone away without giving him any money
D. have offered him some work
3. In the story, “a terrible fate” means _______
A. to beg B. to go to work C. to die D. to live a hard life
4. The best headline(标题) for the story is ______.
A. How to Beg B. Money before Everything
C. Anything except Work D. Work for Money
| TV PROGRAMMES |
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| Channel 1 |
Channel 2 |
| 18:00 Around China 18:30 Children’s programme 19:00 News 19:30 Weather report 19:40 Around the world 20:10 TV play: Sisters 21:00 English for today 21:15 Popular music 21:55 Talk stow |
17:45 Computers 18:10 Foreign arts 18:30 English classroom 19:00 Animal world 19:25 China’ 99 20:20 Sports 21:00 Guo Lanying 21:45 English news 22:05 On TV next week |
1 If you want to watch a football game, the best programme for you would be ____ .
A. TV play B. Sports C. Around the world D. Talk show
2 The programme of _____ will let you know much about western countries.
A. Sisters B. Around China C. Around the world D. On TV next week
3 If you want to know something about tigers, elephants and monkeys, the best programme for you is___.
A. Around China B. Animal world C. TV play D. Foreign arts
4 English classroom is a programme that___.
A. lets you know something about classrooms.
B. tells you something about students
C. lets you know something about school life
D. teaches you English