The Greenbelt, a wide belt of open land around the cities and towns of the San Francisco Bay Area, includes about 3.75 million of the Bay Area’s 4.5 million acres. The Bay Area Greenbelt is one of the largest areas of open land in any U.S. urban area. Open land is land that has few buildings and lots of natural areas. The Greenbelt’s open land includes parks, forests, beaches, and more than 8,500 farms.
What are the advantages of the Greenbelt?
The Greenbelt has many advantages for people in the Bay Area, which include:
l walking and biking areas close to the cities and towns;
l places for wild plants and animals;
l cleaner air and water;
l income from farms.
Is the Greenbelt in danger?
Five hundred seventy thousand acres of the Greenbelt are in danger. There are builders who want to build suburbs on them. If those acres become suburbs, many things will change:
l the urban and suburban area will almost double;
l many farms will disappear;
l traffic will become worse;
l the air will become dirtier.
What is Greenbelt Alliance (联盟)?
Greenbelt Alliance, an organization that saves land in the San Francisco Bay Area, works alone and with other groups to save the Greenbelt in four ways:
1. Try to persuade people to build new buildings on land that is already urban, not on open land.
2. Make sure that the city and town governments are all making plans to save the Greenbelt.
3. Help Bay Area towns and cities to buy pieces of open land to make into natural areas.
4. Teach people in the Bay Area why the Greenbelt is important and what they can do to help save it.What can we learn about the Greenbelt from the first paragraph?
| A．The Greenbelt is the largest open land in the United States. |
| B．The Greenbelt covers much more than half of the Bay Area. |
| C．There are few farms on the open land of the Greenbelt. |
| D．There are more than 8,500 natural areas on the Greenbelt. |
One of the advantages of the Greenbelt for people in the Bay Area is __________.
| A．convenience for exercise | B．income from sightseeing |
| C．cleaner city streets | D．more plants and animals |
The Greenbelt is in danger because __________.
| A．traffic is getting worse |
| B．some plans to build suburbs on it |
| C．the suburban area has doubled |
| D．pollution is becoming serious |
Which of the following is TRUE about Greenbelt Alliance?
| A．It builds new buildings on open land. |
| B．It buys large open land for the Bay Area. |
| C．It educates people how to save the Greenbelt. |
| D．It helps the city governments make plans. |
A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was alarmed to discover that it was a rat trap (捕鼠夹).
Going back to the farmyard the rat gave a warning: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!” The chicken raised her head and said: “Excuse me, Mr Rat, I can tell this is a big concern to you, but it is of no business to me. I cannot be bothered with it.”
The rat turned to the pig and told him: “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!”“I am so very sorry, Mr. Rat,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. I will make sure that you are in my prayers.”
The rat turned to the cow. She said, “Like wow, Mr. Rat. A rat trap. I am in grave danger. Duh?”
So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s rat trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey (猎物). The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet (短柄斧) to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer killed the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.The underlined word “dejected” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to .
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．confused | D．doubtful |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
| A．The chicken showed great concern for the rat. |
| B．The pig helped the rat get rid of the trap. |
| C．The cow didn’t care about what the rat said. |
| D．The snake was killed after being caught in the trap. |
We can conclude from the article that .
| A．the farmer’s wife got good treatment in the hospital |
| B．the farmer regretted setting up the rat trap |
| C．the rat was very wise in avoiding the trap |
| D．none of the other animals felt threatened by the rat trap |
What message does the story intend to convey?
| A．We should mind our own business. | B．Everything is related to something else. |
| C．Helping others is always a virtue. | D．We should treat animals in a friendly way. |
Nowroz: Iranian New Year or Nowroz is celebrated on the first day of spring sometime in March. Nowroz ceremonies are symbolic representations of good and evil. People sing, dance and parade as in a carnival through the streets with drums and trumpets to spread the news of the coming new year.
Rosh Hashanah: The Jewish New Year is called “Rosh Hashanah”, and is celebrated in the month of September. It is a holy time when people think of the things they have done wrong in the past, and promise to do better in the future. Special prayers are held, and an instrument called a Shofar is played. Children are given new clothes, and New Year loaves are baked and fruits are consumed to remind people of harvest time.
Shogatsu: In Japan, the New Year (Shogatsu) celebrations are from January 1 to January 3 and most Japanese don’t work during these days. In Japan, years are traditionally seen as completely separate from each other, and the New Year is a fresh start. This means that in December all duties should be completed. Parties are held to forget the worries and troubles of the old year. Homes and cars are decorated. On New Year’s Eve, most people spend their time with their families.
Bahai New Year: The Bahai people have their own calendar consisting of nineteen months of nineteen days plus a couple of extra days between the eighteenth and nineteenth months. They have, however, adopted the Iranian custom of beginning the New Year in the spring equinox (春分). The day begins at sunset rather than midnight, and the New Year celebrations are held on the evening of March 20th.During the Jewish New Year, .
| A．people don’t mention things they have done wrong |
| B．children often wear new clothes |
| C．loaves and fruits are often forbidden to be served |
| D．Shofar is their favourite food |
Which of the following festivals are celebrated in the same month?
| A．Nowroz and Shogatsu. | B．Rosh Hashanah and Shogatsu. |
| C．Nowroz and Rosh Hashanah. | D．Nowroz and the Bahai New Year. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Japanese families often stay together to celebrate Shogatsu. |
| B．The Bahai people usually hold a carnival to celebrate the New Year. |
| C．The Jewish harvest fruits to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. |
| D．The Iranians often hold family parties to celebrate Nowroz. |
Restaurant owners should not use disposable chopsticks for the good of their health and the environment , an official of the China Cuisine Association（中国烹饪协会）said.
Bian Jiang, its secretary general, recently called on restaurant owners to say no to one-off tableware(餐具), especially wooden chopsticks. “The country produces and throws away over 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year, at a cost to the environment of about 25 million tree.” Bian said.
“That’s a heavy blow to the county’s shrinking(正在减少的) forests,” he said, “We should not turn a deaf ear to the call for environmental protection. We should stop using disposable tableware from now on.”
In order to discourage the use of wooden chopsticks and to protect wooden resources, the government put a 5% tax on them in April.
The use of disposable chopsticks has been discussed for years. Their supporters say that both restaurant owners and consumers prefer them, and that an industry has grown up around their production.
.
The secretary general suggests that wooden chopsticks be stopped from being used because .
| A．they cause a lot of pollution of the environment |
B．the environment is no longer gre en |
| C．the government is not happy with that |
| D．too many trees are cut |
From the text we know that the idea of no disposable tableware will be .
| A．hard to put into practice | B．welcomed by a lot of people |
| C．receiving indifferent attitudes | D．rejected by some people |
What does the underlined word “disposable” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Waste | B．Expensive | C．Man | D．One-use |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Many people support the idea of saying no to using wooden chopsticks. |
| B．The government calls on people to stop using wooden chopsticks. |
| C．Disposable tableware wastes a lot of forests and does damage to the environment. |
| D．People are aware of the cost of using disposable tableware |
A young woman carrying a three-year-old child got on a bus. The conductor hurried to give her a warm welcome and then kindly asked the other passengers to make more room for the woman and her child. On seeing this, people began to talk. "You know this conductor used to be very rude. Now suddenly he has changed his bad behavior, "said a middle-aged man.
"Yes, he should be praised and we must write a letter to the company," said a second passenger. "That's right," another lady said, "I wish a newspaper reporter were here so that more people could learn from this conductor.”
Just then a gentleman who looked like a teacher turned to the conductor and said, "Excuse me, but can I know your name, please? Your excellent service must be praised..."
Before he could open his mouth, the three-year-old child sitting on the young woman's lap interrupted, "I know his name. I call him Dad."
One passenger suggested writing a letter to the company to ______ .
| A．make a demand for more buses | B． thank the conductor for his good service |
| C．criticize the conductor for his rude behavior | |
| D．invite a newspaper reporter to write about the conductor |
What was the gentleman?
| A．A teacher. | B．A newspaper reporter. |
| C．Not known from the story. | D．The conductor's friend from his company. |
. The word "he" in the last paragraph refers to _______.
| A．the gentleman | B．the conductor |
| C．the middle-aged man | D．the three-year-old child |
It is clear from the story that the conductor _______.
| A．has changed his attitude towards his work |
| B．has now been kind and polite to all passengers |
| C．has not changed his rude behavior to passengers |
| D．has now been kind and polite to women with children |
Neighbors rescued a woman from her burning home early Monday morning，and three firefighters were hurt putting out the flames in Green Bay.
The fire was discovered around 4 o'clock at a three-story home in the South Quincy Street on the city's east side. Investigators(调查者) say 68-year-old Mary Taylor lives there with her two dogs.
“I got out of bed and went to the front window and could hear somebody was yelling(叫喊)，‘Fire!’” Curt Dworak said.When he realized what was happening, he threw on some clothes and ran to help. “I was just hoping Mary wasn't in there，but her car was in the driveway，so I just reacted,” he said, “I just broke the glass and then went in through the window.”
Dworak yelled for Mary but got no response. As he searched，the fire grew and debris(碎片) started falling around him. I didn't know what to do. I yelled for her a couple more times，and then I heard her. Disoriented(分不清方向的)and unable to move, Mary was sprawling(趴) on the floor in the back of her house，so Dworak picked her up and carried her to safety.
Dworak, who has been hailed as a hero by Green Bay Fire Department but shrugged of the praise，said，“They would have done the same thing. Mary is a nice lady，and how could you live with yourself if you didn't do something like that?”
Mary was up and talking before she was taken to the hospital to be checked out. Dworak escaped without a thin cut.
As soon as Dworak realized there was a big fire，he.
| A．went to his front window and stood watching |
| B．put on his clothes quickly and rushed there |
| C．searched for Mary's crying in her room |
| D．put away his clothes and jumped off his house |
The sentence “ but her car was in the driveway” in Paragraph 3 implies(暗指) that
.
| A．Mary was just in the house. | B．Mary's car was in Dworak's way. |
| C．Mary's car was broken. | D．Mary's car was in good condition. |
The underlined Word “ hailed” in Paragraph 5 can be replaced by “”.
| A．named | B．checked | C．praised | D．trained |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．It was Dworak who found the fire first. |
| B．Dworak was badly injured by the fire. |
| C．Mary lost consciousness in the flames. |
D． Mary is friendly to her neighborhood. |