Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons（季风）, but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.
Every year, damp air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.
According to Edward Cook , a weather expert at Columbia University in New York., the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.
Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.
Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.
“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”What’s the passage mainly about？
| A．The effects of Asian monsoons. |
| B．The necessity of weather forecast. |
| C．The achievements of Edward cook. |
| D．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction. |
It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because _______.
| A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records. |
| B．they are formed under complex climate systems. |
| C．they influence many nations. |
| D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research. |
| B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years. |
| C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak. |
| D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas. |
According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees _______.
| A．determine the regional climate. |
| B．have a great influence on the regional climate. |
| C．offer people information about the regional climate. |
| D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information. |
Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?
| A．Matter-of –fact | B．Pessimistic | C．Humorous | D．Friendly. |
Celebrity(名人) has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption(消费) on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own.
Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.
However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial(最初的) attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty(忠诚) returning to tried-and-true labels.
Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s(自我的) potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion—like celebrity—has always been temporary.Fashion magazines today .
| A．seldom put models on the cover |
| B．no longer put models on the cover |
| C．need not worry about celebrities’ market potential |
| D．judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly |
A change in the consumer market can be found today that .
| A．price rather than brand name is more concerned |
| B．producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements |
| C．producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements |
| D．quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned |
The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly .
| A．decrease the popularity of a celebrity and the sales of his products |
| B．damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public |
| C．cut short the artistic career of a celebrity in show business |
| D．influence the price of a celebrity’s products |
The passage is mainly about .
| A．celebrity and personal style | B．celebrity and market potential |
| C．celebrity and fashion design | D．celebrity and clothing industry |
In the computer age, most of us take a broadband（宽带）Internet connection for granted. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.
There’s a catch, of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.
Technology experts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs, it’s relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely (稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn’t cover the expense.
But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’t available everywhere.
Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber optics cables (光纤电缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users.
Still, the “last mile” problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cell phone technology is any indication (迹象), it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go.The underlined part “a catch” (in Paragraph 2) probably means “_____”.
| A．a rare challenge | B．a desirable plan | C．an efficient device | D．a hidden problem |
What can we know from the third paragraph?
| A．Internet connection has not been popular in most cities. |
| B．Internet service providers care about rural（农村的）customers. |
| C．Computer is popular in developing countries. |
| D．It is hard to bring Internet access to users in remote areas. |
Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that technological advancements _____.
| A．make TV and telephone available everywhere |
| B．bring great change to people’s everyday life |
| C．make it possible for more people to use the Internet |
| D．bring faster Internet connections to users |
What may eventually settle the “last mile” problem?
| A．The broadband connection’s getting faster. |
| B．More and more Internet users. |
| C．more and more Internet connections. |
| D．The rapid progress in cell phone technology. |
Every year in the first week of English class, some students inform me that writing is too hard. They never write, unless homework requires it. They find the writing process painful and difficult.
How awful it is to be able to speak in a language but not to write in it, especially with its rich vocabulary. Being able to speak but not write is like living in an enormous mansion and never leaving one small room. When I meet students who think they can’t write, I know, as a teacher my duty is to show them the rest of the rooms. My task is to build fluency and accuracy while providing the opportunity in any writing activity to enhance（增强）the moral and emotional development of my students.
One great way to do this is by having students write in a journal in class every day.
Writing ability is like strength training. Writing needs to be done just like exercise; just as muscles grow stronger with exercise, writing skills improve quickly with writing practice daily. I often see a rise in student confidence and performance after only a few weeks of journal writing.
Expressing oneself in writing is one of the most important skills I teach to strengthen the whole students. When my students practice journal writing, they are practicing for their future academic, political, and emotional lives. They build skills so that some say they might write a great novel, a piece of sorely needed legislation（法规）, or the perfect love letter. That they write in their journals every day puts them a step closer to fluency, eloquence（雄辩）and command of the language.What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To encourage students to keep a journal every day. |
| B．To analyze students’ problems in learning languages. |
| C．To stress the importance of writing in language learning. |
| D．To introduce an effective way of improving students’ writing. |
The underlined phrase “an enormous mansion” in Paragraph 2 refers to students’ .
| A．writing opportunity | B．large house |
| C．large vocabulary | D．emotional life |
In the author’s view, what can students benefit from the journal writing?
| A．It is beneficial to students’ future career. |
| B．It can make students more emotional. |
| C．It is helpful to students’ homework. |
| D．It can enlarge students’ vocabulary. |
The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his Hunches (串) of bananas and bags of peanuts．Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life．“Banana 300 naira．Peanuts 200 naira.” He said in a low voice．I bargained him down to 200 total for the fruit and nuts．When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill．He didn’t have change, so I told him not to worry．He said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.
When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it’s not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun．My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us. I pulled over and rolled down my window．He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready．I waved them away．“What’s up?” I asked him．“I … I don’t have money to buy books for school.” I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills．
“Will this help?” I asked．He looked around nervously before taking the money．One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year．
“Thank you, sir,” he said．“Thank you very much!”
When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for schoolbooks.
What if he’s a swindler (骗子)? And then I wondered why I did it．Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I realized that I didn’t know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.
Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive．When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face. “Oh, gosh! Long time.” “Are you in school now?” I asked. He nodded. “That’s good,” I said．A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted．“Here,” I held out a 500 naira bill．“Take this.” He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt．“What’s wrong?” I asked．“It’s a gift.” He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back．His face shone with sweat．He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, “I’ve been waiting to give these to you.”What was the author’s first impression of the boy?
| A．He seemed to be poor and greedy． | B．He seemed to have suffered a lot. |
| C．He seemed younger than his age | D．He seemed good at bargaining. |
The second time the author met the boy, the boy _____.
| A．told him his purpose of selling fruit and nuts |
| B．wanted to express his thanks |
| C．asked him for money for his schoolbooks |
| D．tried to take advantage of him |
Why did the author give his money to the boy?
| A．Because he had enough money to do that. |
| B．Because he had learnt to help others since childhood. |
| C．Because he held a higher position in the society. |
| D．Because he had been asked by the news agency to do so. |
Which of the following best describes the boy?
| A．Brave and polite． | B．Kind and smart. |
| C．Honest and thankful． | D．Shy and nervous. |
A couple of years ago, I went to a lady's house to buy some vitamins. Upon entering the house, I 16 that there was an electronic keyboard on a stand, leaning 17 the wall. Being a piano music lover and 18 , I asked if the woman played. She nodded and added that she had been 19 lessons--at age 54! I told her that it was very 20 that she was pursuing (追求) her 21 to play the piano.
Then she asked me the same question.
"I have been playing for 8 years now," I answered.
"Then you must play a song for me before you leave," she requested.
I 22 she was kidding and I simply smiled. At the end of the 23 of the vitamins, she 24 me of our musical " 25 ". She then showed me to an old upright piano in the living room and asked me to play a song for her. I thought 26 and decided to play David Lanz's "Return to the Heart", since she had so much passion for 27 , and it was my soul-searching song.
I played the song to the best of my 28 , and with my emotions pouring into it as possible. She loved it. 29 I was about to step out of the door, I heard a weak voice calling out, "Young man!"
I turned around. And there was an old lady 30 one little step at a time with the help of another woman. "I wanted to come out to 31 you for the beautiful song that you played. I have been very sick, and it's very hard for me to 32 my bed, but I really wanted to thank you for the song. It made me feel good..." she said. With that, she turned around and walked 33 back to her room.
I was deeply touched by her 34 and felt a deeper understanding for the song. It served its purpose beautifully, returning to one's 35 for peace and joy.
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