Sunny countries are often poor. A shame, then, that solar power is still quite expensive. Eight19, a British company by Cambridge University, has, however, invented a novel way to get round this. In return for a deposit of around $10 it is supplying poor Kenyan families with a solar cell able to generate 2.5 watts of electricity, a battery that can deliver a three amp（安培）current to store this electricity, and a lamp whose bulb is a light-emitting diode（二极管）.The firm thinks that this system, once the battery is fully charged, is enough to light two small rooms and to power a mobile-phone charger for seven hours. Then, next day, it can be put outside and charged back up again.
The trick is that, to be able to use the electricity, the system's keeper must buy a scratch card—for as little as a dollar—on which is printed a reference number. The keeper sends this reference, plus the serial number of the household solar unit, by SMS to Eight19. The company's server will respond automatically with an access code to the unit.
Users may consider that they are paying an hourly rate for their electricity. In fact, they are paying off the cost of the unit. After buying around $80 worth of scratch cards—which Eight19 expects would take the average family around 18 months—the user will own it. He will then have the option of continuing to use it for nothing, or of trading it in for a bigger one, perhaps driven by a 10-watt solar cell.
In that case, he would go then through the same process again, paying off the additional cost of the upgraded kit at a slightly higher rate. Users would therefore increase their electricity supply steadily and affordably.
According to Eight19's figures, this looks like a good deal for customers. The firm believes the average energy-starved Kenyan spends around $10 a month on oil—enough to fuel a couple of smoky lamps—plus $2 on charging his mobile phone in the market-place. Regular users of one of Eight19's basic solar units will spend around half that, before owning it completely. Meanwhile, as the cost of solar technology falls, it should get even cheaper. What should the user do when the electricity in the battery is used up?
| A．Recharge it outside. | B．Buy another solar cell. |
| C．Return it to the company. | D．Buy a scratch card. |
How much would users pay for the cell and scratch cards before they own a 2.5-watt solar cell?
| A．Around $10. | B．Around $80. | C．Around $180. | D．Around $90. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ________.
| A．Kenyan families would find it difficult to afford the solar cell |
| B．the company will make a great profit from selling solar cells |
| C．few Kenyan families use mobile phones for lack of electricity |
| D．using the solar cell would help Kenyan families save money |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Solar Energy: Starting from Scratch. |
| B．Eight19: a creative British Company. |
| C．Kenyan Families: Using Solar Energy for Free. |
| D．Poor Countries: Beginning to Use Solar Energy. |
55% of deaths caused by road accidents occur in the first few minutes after a crash. Up to 85% of these deaths could be prevented if first aid were given. The first person on the scene of a road accident will almost certainly be another road user. So as a driver your knowledge of first aid could make a real difference to someone in the event of a road accident.
Assess conditions
·Remain calm. Judge the scene and seriousness of the collision.
·Determine what has happened, how many people and vehicles are involved and the exact location.
·Determine how many casualties(伤亡人数) there are, what is the severity of the injuries, whether anyone is trapped, and whether there is a danger of fire.
Make safe
·Make sure you stay safe and keep off the road. If you need to stop or warn approaching cars, signal to them from the pavement. Wear reflective clothing, use warning triangles, flashing lights and warning lights. Don’t smoke.
·If you are in a car and you come across an accident, first park safely and turn off the engine before you get out to help. Use a triangle warning danger if necessary.
·Consider the safety of others. Don’t move the vehicles, look out for dangers — leaking fuel, chemicals, broken glass or dropping loads — guide uninjured passengers to a place of safety.
Call for help
Dial 999 (or 112) for the emergency services. If there is no phone nearby, send two people in opposite directions to seek help.
Do this as soon as you can or get someone else to do it while you deal with an injured person. You will need to tell the emergency services:
·where you are
·what has happened (describe the accident)
·how many people are injured
·whether they are breathing or bleeding.
The operator will talk you through what to do while you wait for an ambulance to arrive.
Apply emergency first aid
·Remain calm. Reassure the victims.
·Do not allow smoking or offer food or drink to casualties as this could hamper urgent medical treatment. The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．how to reduce road accident deaths |
| B．how to perform first aid in a road accident |
| C．how to treat the injured people on the scene |
| D．how to protect us from being injured in an accident |
When a driver is applying first aid, which of the following is proper?
| A．Stand in the middle of the road to stop or warn approaching cars. |
| B．Leave the engine working when he gets out of his car to help. |
| C．Call 999 for an ambulance to come and leave the scene immediately. |
| D．Make sure the scene is safe enough and stay away from dangerous gas leaking. |
What does the underlined word “hamper” mean in the last paragraph?
| A．Affect. | B．Improve. | C．Demand. | D．Judge. |
The passage is most likely to appear in a newspaper’s ______ section.
| A．business and finance | B．sports and entertainment |
| C．travel and traffic | D．customs and cultures |
This Christmas, maybe different from previous years, a strong desire drives me to make my own Christmas gifts. Honestly speaking, I’ve promised myself this more than once. As a crafter (工匠), I’ve frequently thought I am supposed to turn it into action. However, this year I really plan to stick to it. It’s partly because I run short of money. More importantly, I’ve recently returned from an inspiring trip around Britain, collecting some information about crafting for BBC’s Newsnight.
Actually I planned the trip couples of months ago. The idea of traveling the country — making things as I went, meeting artists and craftspeople — sounded perfect to spend the summer. I’d pack a tent and a sewing machine and I’d set off. But by the time I determined my plans and hit the road, leaves made a sighing sound under foot. It seemed crazy to camp with winter on the way; Luckily, Newsnight viewers offered me accommodations in return for help with a craft task.
My tasks ranged from sewing worn-out clothes to making trousers. Textile students in Harpenden offered to pay for my petrol in return for a talk about hats. In Derby, Amy needed help to change an old pair of curtains.
I was really struck by people’s increasing enthusiasm for making things. When I asked some people if they could sew, only a few raised their hands. But when I asked who wanted to learn, nearly everyone responded positively, hoping to learn something practical.
Craft is definitely popular at the moment. But besides fashion, we’re learning to appreciate effort and quality again. Perhaps once people rediscover the pleasure to be gained from making something unique, it may stick.
Sue is director of quilts at the V&A, where next spring she’ll be putting on the museum’s first major quilting exhibition. Sue believes the return to crafting is related to how we rethink ourselves. “People, especially women, are beginning to think about the way they live their lives. It’s 40 years since the first women’s liberation(解放) conference was held in Oxford. Since then we’ve been in the workplace, and we’ve had the opportunity of choice. Now we’re carefully choosing to go back into the home.”
Whether you agree with that or not, there’s something about Christmas that brings out the artistic flavor(气息) in everyone. Whether it’s baking bread or pies or decorating the halls or rooms, we’re all prepared to have a try at any time. So if you fancy having a different and joyful party or holiday and making a few presents, try these really simple ideas, each inspired by my recent journey there. They make small and interesting gifts, and take no longer than 30 minutes each. Enjoy Christmas songs and settle down with a cup of hot cocoa, and the cold is gone. You’ll save yourself a small quantity of money and spread a little bit of love, too!Why did the author promise to make herself a Christmas gift this year?
| A．She wanted to enjoy a different Christmas. |
| B．She wanted to make more money. |
| C．She was inspired by her trip for a BBC TV program. |
| D．She hoped to present herself with a surprise. |
The author had her plans carried out and set out for Britain in ______.
| A．spring | B．summer | C．fall | D．winter |
What happened during the author’s trip to Britain?
| A．She met many artists and craftspeople on her way to Britain. |
| B．She spent a whole summer in Britain making crafts. |
| C．She was asked to sew clothes, and curtains and made much money. |
| D．Many people showed great interest in making things themselves. |
According to the passage, people learn to ______ through crafting.
| A．be grateful to what they have gained |
| B．keep up with fashion |
| C．stick to something interesting |
| D．know more information about craft |
What is the author’s opinion on homemade Christmas presents?
| A．Making Christmas presents can only convey a bit of your love. |
| B．People can find their artistic talent in making Christmas presents. |
| C．A cup of hot cocoa can inspire you to make a creative present. |
| D．It would take a long time to prepare a homemade Christmas present. |
“Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen hade been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.” We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.
| A．Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug |
| B．George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug |
| C．the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century |
| D．both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century |
What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean?
| A．Explanation. | B．Finding. | C．Origin. | D．Fault. |
The passage is mainly concerned with__________________.
| A．the misunderstanding of the word bug |
| B．the development of the word bug |
| C．the public views of the word bug |
| D．the special characteristics of the word bug |
Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tire. It sounds absurd. But a years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情绪的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated---those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body. What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
| A．Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood. |
| B．Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn after a day’s work. |
| C．The brain could work for many hours without fatigue. |
| D．A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins. |
According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?
| A．Challenging mental work. | B．Unpleasant emotions. |
| C．Endless tasks. | D．Physical labor. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ idea?
| A．He agrees with them. | B．He doubts them. |
| C．He argues against them. | D．He hesitates to accept them. |
We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to ___________.
| A．have some good food. | B．enjoy their work |
| C．exercise regularly | D．discover fatigue toxins |
Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the tow of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My wife and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going Green. | B．Protecting the Planet. |
| C．Keeping Open-Minded | D．Celebrating Our Green Year. |
It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.
| A．they were expected to follow the green fad |
| B．they didn’t know how to educate other people |
| C．they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
| D．they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
| A．They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
| B．They ignore others’ ungreen behavior. |
| C．They chose better chemical cleaners. |
| D．They sold their home-made food. |
What can we infer form the last paragraph?
| A．The government will give support to the green people. |
| B．The couple may continue their project in the future. |
| C．Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
| D．Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |