Surrounded by the towns of Davidson, Huntersville and Cornelius, Lake Norman is a man-made lake. It is also the largest lake in the state covering a shoreline of more than 500 miles. State Park on the lake gives a chance for different water activities.
People, both tourists and locals, come to the area on weekends, where during the peak season a large crowd arrives to relax and have fun. A great activity for kids is education except fun. The tour covers aquatic(水生的) life, especially that seen at Lake Norman. Since it is more of an educational one it also covers other important knowledge about water.
Those wanting to go boating are seen off into the lake on canoes and pedal boats which are rented on hourly basis. The charges are $5 per hour increased by $3 for every additional(附加的) hour. The boats can be kept on the lake all day from 10 in the morning till 5 in the evening during the summers. Both canoes and pedal boats can seat 2 to 4 people.
The park also set up a group tent camp, where a site can hold about 25 people. People from all over the country come here to catch some fishing action, obviously hoping to catch some fish as well. The inner park lake is also great for fishing, though it offers a smaller area compared to Lake Norman. Those here for adventure like to go for biking and hiking on the trails inside the park.
Lake Norman is a great place to spend time with family and friends. People come here on vacation or simply to kick back after a week’s work and relax. From the passage we learn that Lake Norman is ______.
A.the second largest lake in the USA |
B.surrounded by the town of Davidson |
C.not a natural one but made by people |
D.about five hundred metres long |
A large number of people came to the park ______.
A.to watch the performances here | B.during the peak season |
C.to have sports games | D.all the year round |
In what way does the park attract children except having fun?
A.Learning a lot. | B.Catching fish. |
C.Going hiking. | D.Going cycling. |
How much will you have to pay at least if the five of you want to go boating a day?
A.28 dollars. | B.36 dollars. | C.23 dollars. | D.46 dollars. |
If you want to save more money you can ______.
A.stay in the hotel that is near the park |
B.come to the park in summer or spring |
C.stay in the tent of the park for the night |
D.fish in the small lake in the park |
What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivate 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 MRI 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 conc ussion.
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 |
From the passage we can conclude that frequent heading may have _________________.
A.significant effect on one’s brain |
B.little effect on one’s brain |
C.nothing to do with the brain injury |
D.one’s memory improved |
What is likely to be the cause of memory loss?
A.Playing soccer frequently. | B.Tests of their memory. |
C.White matter loss. | D.Information processing. |
The underlined word "fumbling" is closest in meaning to ________________.
A.remembering | B.misunderstanding | C.recalling | D.missing |
Would the voice of Amanda Holden saying “your city had talent” encourage you to use a litter bin? Or maybe former Monty Python star Michael Palin telling you no one had expected “the Spanish bin-quisition”?
Organizers of a plan persuading celebrities(名人)to lend their voices to “talking bins”believe it can make a real difference to keeping Britain tidy. They hope that by using humor, they will succeed where fines and warnings have failed in keeping streets and parks clean.
A similar experiment in Sweden found a talking bin received nearly three times as much rubbish as an ordinary one because people were attracted by its quality of being new and unusual value.
Twenty-five specially adapted bins to be installed(安装)in the streets of London and Liverpool next month will use a sound card to play a themed message when litter is placed inside. For example,one near the Royal Opera House will play a “thank-you” message sung by Janis Kelly to the tune of Nessun Dorina. Bins installed in Liverpool will play Beatles-themed messages. For others,Britain’s Got Talent judge Holden is expected to record the message:“This is Amanda, and this city’s got talent.”
The campaign,entitled Bin Thinking, is being organized by art group Sing London. If successful,talking bins could become a familiar feature on Britain’s streets.
Colette Hiller, director of Sing London, said, “ The idea is to reward people in a small way for changing their behavior and raise awareness through a sense of fun.”What is the plan persuading celebrities to lend their voices to “talking bins” aimed at?
A.Attracting passers’-by attention on celebrities. |
B.Encouraging people to use the litter bins to keep Britain tidy. |
C.Making fun of those who won’t keep the streets and parks clean. |
D.Thanking people for cleaning the litter bins through a sense of fun. |
The following stars’ voices are to be lent to “talking bins” except_________________.
A.Amanda Holder’ s | B.Michael Palin’s |
C.Janis Kelly’s | D.Nessun Dorma' s |
We can infer from the text that_________________.
A.children are most attracted by “talking bins” |
B.different messages will be played due to different streets |
C.Britain is the first city where the experiment on “talking bins” was made |
D.“talking bins” might take the place of ordinary litter bins in Britain |
What would be the best title for the text?
A.Lending your voice to “talking bins” |
B.Sing London art organization |
C.A campaign named Bin Thinking |
D.A new experiment on litter bins |
More than half of rich Americans have not shown their full wealth to their children, a new survey showed last Tuesday.
The survey, published by the Bank of America, studied the rich with$3 million or more in possessions. It found that “surprisingly few of those surveyed have well-developed plans to preserve and pass on their possessions to their children”.
The majority of the 457 people surveyed are self-made, first-generation rich. Fifty-two percent of parents have not chosen not to tell their children just how wealthy they are,and 15 percent have given away nothing about the family wealth. One in three parents said they had never thought to do it.
They are worried that their children would become lazy, spend money freely,make bad decisions and even become a target for attractive women who use their looks to get money from rich men.
Only 34 percent strongly agreed that their children would be able to handle any inheritance(遗产)they plan to leave them.
“There is an expectation about the wealthy parents that they have a responsibility to pass down their fortune to the next generation,” said Sallie Krawcheck,president of the Global Wealth and Investment Management of the Bank of America. “Our research, however, uncovered changing views of what one generation owes the next.”
The trend is led by the world’s richest man Bill Gates, who promised in 2008 that he would leave his $58 billion fortune to the charity started by him and his wife, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation(基金会),and not to his children.
“ We want to give it back to society in the way that it will have the most positive effect,” he said.
Of his plans for his children , Gates said: “I will give the kids some money but not a meaningful percentage… they will need to work but they will feel reasonably taken care of.”We can learn from the passage that .
A.rich parents may not know how to manage their inheritance |
B.rich parents don’t equal rich kids, at least in the US |
C.American children don’t get to inherit their parents’ wealth |
D.poor children don’t expect themselves to be as rich as their parents |
According to the survey, most rich Americans .
A.think they owe their children nothing |
B.think it best to give their money back to society |
C.doubt their children’s ability to handle wealth |
D.are confident of their children’s ability to handle wealth |
The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 6 refers to.
A.responsible children |
B.Bill Gates and his wife |
C.first-generation rich |
D.rich parents |
From the last paragraph,we can see that Bill Gates wants to show .
A.the trend of leaving no inheritance to children |
B.the positive effect of charity on society |
C.the way of giving back to society |
D.the importance of independence for children |
An 8-year-old girl was dragged about 900 feet by a school bus today in Livingston County.
According to State Police, the incident occurred about 2:40 pm on State Route 436 in the town of Ossian after three sisters were dropped off the bus.
As the last sister was leaving the bus, driver John Coley, 62 , of Wayland, Steuben County, told the police that he was not paying attention when he closed the door and trapped her backpack inside. Coley then continued 900 feet before he realized the girl was being dragged, State Police said.
The girl was hurt and was transported to Nicholas H Noyes Memorial Hospital in Dansville,Livingston County, by Dansville Ambulance.
Another 8-year-old child on the bus said he hit his head on the seat in front of him when the bus came to a sudden stop, causing an earache.
●Conservation staff in New Zealand have put down 33 stranded(搁浅的)whales after several attempts to refloat them failed.
The whales were shot on Farewell Spit on the South Island. Department of Conservation area manager John Mason says staff and hundreds of volunteers had tried all week to get the whales refloated.
He says they thought they were successful on Wednesday when they got the whales into deep water——but were saddened on Thursday to find that they had swum back ashore. He says the condition of the whales had significantly become worse.
As well as the 33 whales that were shot,36 had died naturally since Monday and 17 were successfully refloated. 13 remain unknown.The last sister was dragged by the bus because______________.
A.she stood too close to the bus when getting off |
B.the bus driver stopped the bus suddenly |
C.something was wrong with the bus door |
D.her backpack was stuck in the closed door |
It can be inferred from the first news that______________.
A.three sisters were dragged about 900 feet by a school bus |
B.the driver stopped the bus immediately he realized his mistake |
C.two children were hurt and sent to hospital |
D.a boy was hurt when the bus started suddenly |
How many whales were trapped ashore in total?
A.33. | B.36. | C.99. | D.13. |
The 33 refloated whales returned ashore on______________.
A.Monday | B.Tuesday | C.Wednesday | D.Thursday |
A jobless man applied for the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.
“You are employed,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start.”
The man replied,“But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail.”
“I’ m sorry,” said the HR manager.“If you don’t have an e-mail,that means , you do not exist. And who doesn’t exist cannot have the job.”
The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do with only ten dollars in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy 10 kg tomatoes. He then sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home happily with 60 dollars.
The man realized that he could survive in this way, and started to go every day earlier, and return late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles. Five years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers(销售商) in the US.
He started to plan his family’s future and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker(经纪人)and chose a protection plan.
When the conversation was concluded the broker asked him his e-mail. The man replied, “I don’t have an e-mail.”
The broker answered curiously,“You don’t have an e-mail, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?" The man thought for a while and replied,“Yes,I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”The underlined word “tripled” can be replaced by.
A.became large | B.became 3 times |
C.increased quickly | D.decreased quickly |
According to the passage,which of the following is TRUE?
A.The man is one of the biggest food retailers in the world. |
B.The man didn’t give up though he failed the interview. |
C.He started his career by selling tomatoes in the Supermarket. |
D.Those who have e-mails can work at Microsoft. |
The man can be described as.
A.helpful and considerate |
B.positive and generous |
C.smart and hardworking |
D.stubborn and unselfish |
Which proverb can best describe the story?
A.Misfortune may be an actual blessing. |
B.Where there is a will, there is a way. |
C.Accidents will happen. |
D.No pains, no gains. |