The United Nations is warning that the world is not prepared to deal with the fast growth of cities. The World Economic and Social Survey 2013 calls for new ways to meet the needs of city populations. More than 6.5 billion people are expected to be living in cities by 2050.
Most new city dwellers will be in developing countries. The United Nations says the effect on limited resources in many countries will be huge. The World Economic and Social Survey points to the increasing demand for energy, water, sanitation, public services, education and health care.
The world population is expected to rise to more than nine billion by 2050, two-thirds of all people are expected to live in cities. The United Nations says about 80 percent of this growing urban population will be found in Africa and Asia.
The report says sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues, these include land-use, food security, job creation and transportation.
Willem Van Der Geest is with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, he says cities need to work closely with rural communities, so that food supplies can be secured, and the environment can be protected.
"We need enough integration(整合,融合) with cities... An integration between the rural and urban economies is absolutely vital for issues of nutrition, food security, and environmental sustainability."
The report says development in a sustainable(可持续发展)way is important to end poverty. The report also examines the problem of food insecurity, which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. One in eight people still severely lack nutrition.
UN officials say some things are clear. The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Shamshad Akhtar, says world food production will have to increase by 70%, that increase will be needed to feed the additional 2.3 billion people expected on the planet by the middle of the century. She says an important part of meeting that need is to waste less food. "There has to be efforts to reduce food wastage. ."
Food and nutrition security are core elements of the sustainable development agenda.The survey includes the following statements except that ______.
| A.varieties of demands are hard to meet because of the increasing population in Africa and Asia. |
| B.one way to put an end to poverty is to be able to develop for a long time. |
| C.transportation is an important issue to deal with when it comes to sustainable development of urban areas. |
| D.hundreds of millions of people around the world are affected by the problem of food insecurity. |
From the passage we can infer that ______.
| A.cities grow so fast that the world can’t find out new ways to deal with the growing population. |
| B.the growing city dwellers who mainly come from the developing countries greatly challenge limited resources in the world. |
| C.sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues |
| D.food wastage is an effective way to feed the additional 2.3 biilion people by the middle of the century. |
What is the best titile of the passage?
| A.The World Economic and Social Survey 2013. |
| B.City Population Will Increase to 9 Billion. |
| C.Cities Need to Cooperate with Rural Areas. |
| D.The World Is Not Prepared to Deal with the Fast Growth of Cities. |
The passage is chosen from ______.
| A.a textbook | B.a travel guide | C.a novel | D.a newspaper |
I was very fond of hunting when I was a young man. In the autumn of 1915, I was in the northwest of India. One evening, after hunting in the forest all
, I was returning alone to the place where I had
up my tent. I was tired
hungry. It was getting
and darker, and I was walking slowly
a narrowpath. On my right was a wide river; on my left, a
, dark forest. All of a
I saw two green eyes looking at me from among the trees. I knew it
be a man-eating tiger. The tiger was getting ready to
on me.
My heart . What could I do? Should I jump
the river and hope to save my life
swimming? Ilooked to the
. In the river there was a
crocodile waiting to welcome me with its mouth
open. I was so
that I shut my eyes. And I thought it would be the end of my
. I heard branches moving
the tiger roared (咆哮) and jumped.
then I opened my eyes. What do you think had happened? The tiger had jumped right over me and now in the jaws (嘴) of the crocodile.
A. practicing B. studying C. planting D. traveling
A. day B. night C. the time D. the year
A. turned B. put C. made D. brought
A. but B. and C. or D. nor
A. colder B. warmer C. brighter D. latter
A. by B. beside C. along D. on
A. thick B. strong C. tall D. short
A. shock B. joy C. sudden D. surprise
A. could B. can C. must D. should
A. live B. depend C. look D. jump
A. beat B. sank C. ached D. jumped
A. across B. over C. into D. from
A. on B. of C. with D. by
A. front B. back C. left D. right
A. big B. small C. dead D. dying
A. long B. short C. wide D. narrow
A. tired B. excited C. frightened D. surprised
A. work B. study C. day D. life
A. though B. asC. but D. or
A. Just B. Even C. Still D. Only
根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项.选项中有两项为多余选项.
Kids' health: Four steps for fighting stress
Everybody gets stressed from time to time. Some ways of dealing with stress- like screaming or hitting someone - don't solve(解决)much. But other ways, like talking to someone you trust, can lead you to solving your problem or at least feeling better.
Try taking these four steps the next time you are stressed:
(1) Get support. When you need help, reach out to the people who care about you. Talk to a trusted adult, such as a parent or other relatives. They might have had similar problems, such as dealing with a test, or the death of a beloved pet.
(2) Don't take it out on yourself. Sometimes when kids are stressed and upset they take it out on themselves. Oh, dear, that's not a good idea. Remember that there are always people to help you. Don't take it out on yourself.
(3) Try to solve the problem. After you're calm and you have support from adults and friends, it's time to get down to business.Even if you can't solve it all,you can solve a piece of it.
(4) Be positive. Most stress is temporary (暂时的). Remember stress does go away,especially when you figure out the problem and start working on solving it.These steps aren't magic, but they do work. And if you can stay positive as you make your way through a tough time, you'll help yourself feel better even faster.
| A.Ask for a helping hand to get you through the tough situation. |
| B.Notice your friends' feelings and find a way to help them. |
| C.Different people feel stress in different ways. |
| D.Ah, it feels so good when the stress is gone. |
E. You need to figure out what the problem is.
F. And don't forget about your friends.
G. Then, find a way to calm down.
Saturday,March 24th
We have arrived in the hot, wet city of Bangkok. This is our first trip to Thailand (泰国). All the different smells make us want to try the food. We are going to eat something special for dinner tonight. The hotel we are staying in is cheap and very clean. We plan to stay here for a few days, visit some places in the city, and then travel to Chiang Mai in the North.
Tuesday, March 27th
Bangkok is wonderful and surprising! The places are interesting. We visited the famous market which was on water, and saw a lot of fruits and vegetables. Everything is so colourful, and we have taken hundreds of photos already! Later today we will leave for Chiang Mai. We will take the train north, stay in Chiang Mai for two days, and then catch a bus to Chiang Rai.
Friday,March 30th
Our trip to Chiang Rai was long and boring. We visited a small village in the mountains. The village people here love the quiet life—no computers or phones. They are the kindest people I have ever met. They always smile and say “hello”. Kathy and I can only speak a few words of Thai, so smiling is the best way to show our kindness. I feel good here and hope to be able to come back next year. The diaries above show the writer’s ______ days in Thailand.
| A.3 |
| B.7 |
| C.15 |
| D.8 |
It seems that visitors ______ in Bangkok.
| A.often feel hungry |
| B.can’t take any photos |
| C.can enjoy themselves |
| D.feel a little bored |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A.Chiang Mai is a beautiful city in the south of Thailand. |
| B.The writer left Chiang Mai for Chiang Rai by bus. |
| C.The writer is traveling alone in Thailand. |
| D.The writer will take a bus to Chiang Mai. |
The people in the village _______.
A. are friendly to others
B. like to speak English
C. hope to live in the cities
D. Live a very busy life
5. The best title of this article is_________.
A. My First Travel
B. The Outside World
C. Traveling in Thailand
D. My Trip to Chiang Mai
请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意:每空格1个单词。
A new set of brain images shows why: Reading the Roman alphabets and Chinese characters uses different parts of the brain.
The results also suggest that Chinese schoolchildren have reading problems in a different part of the brain used in reading alphabet-based languages. This shows that the learning disorder dyslexia ( inability to read properly) is not the same in very culture and does not have a universal biological cause.
Scientists described the results as “very important and revolutionary”. While dyslexia has certain common roots, they said, they now have some proof that this kind of functional problem works differently according to the different demands that Western and Eastern languages place on the brain.
Dyslexia is a common developmental disorder in which people of normal intelligence have difficulty learning to read, spell and master other language skills.
The results suggest that treating dyslexia around the world probably will require different treatments.
“Reading is complex,” said Guinevere Eden, Georgetown University professor. “This shows we need to be more open-minded about diverse treatment approaches.”
Its origins are complex. There appears to be a genetic aspect to the illness. It also may result from brain injury before birth that changes visual and hearing pathways in the brain.
Earlier brain scans show that English-reading dyslexics don’t function properly in a left part of the brain associated with the awareness of 44 sounds from the English alphabet. However, according to the new study, reading Chinese uses some different parts of the brain located in the left-front of the brain. It is associated with symbol interpretation. Unlike alphabet letters, Chinese characters represent entire thoughts and physical objects.
Dyslexia
| Definition |
a learning(1)______ in which people of average IQ find it (2)_____to learn to read and acquire other language skills |
| Origins |
Genetic causes or brain (3)______ before birth, which affects (4) and hearing abilities |
| Finding of the earlier study |
(5)_____reading dyslexics don’t function properly in a left part of the brain |
| Discovery of the new study |
Reading Chinese uses the(6) _____part of the brain |
| Conclusion |
Reading Roman alphabets and reading Chinese characters place different(7)____on the brain. Dyslexia is not the same in every(8) _____and does not have the same(9)_____roots. |
| (10)_______ |
Dyslexia needs to be treated in different ways |
It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.
Then one day. Some visitors from the city arrived. The told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog’s legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other place.
This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a batter future. But the dream didn’t last long.
The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.
The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides(杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.
Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job---eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.
Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning. From paragraph I we learn that the villagers __________.
| A.worked very hard for centuries |
| B.dreamed of having a better life |
| C.were poor but somewhat content |
| D.lived a different life from their forefathers |
Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?
| A.the frogs were easy money |
| B.They needs money to buy medicine |
| C.they wanted to please the visitors |
| D.the frogs made too much noise |
What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?
| A.the crops didn’t do well |
| B.there were too many insects |
| C.the visits brought in diseases |
| D.the pesticides were overused |
What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?
| A.Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country |
| B.Health is more important than money |
| C.The harmony between man and nature is important |
| D.good old day will never be forgotten |