The energy crisis has made people aware of how the careless use of the earth’s energy has brought the whole world to the edge of disaster. The over-development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more traveling, has contributed to the near-destruction of our cities and the pollution not only of local air but also of the earth’s atmosphere.
Our present situation is unlike natural disasters of the past. Worldwide energy use has brought us to a state where long-range planning is vital. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.
This country has been failing back under the continuing exposures of loss of morality and the revelation(揭露) that lawbreaking has reached into the highest place in the land. There is a strong demand for morality to turn for the better and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the devotion of all. In the past it has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own benefits that people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.
This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other people of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need to reassess our present course, to change that course and to employ new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.
To grasp it, we need a widespread understanding of nature if the crisis we and the world are facing is no passing inconvenience, no byproduct of the ambitions of the oil-producing countries, no environmentalists’ only fears, no byproduct of any present system of government. What we face is the result of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is a transformed life style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world’s children and future generation.Which of the following has nearly destroyed our cities?
| A．The loss of beliefs and ideas. |
| B．More of law-breaking. |
| C．Natural disasters in many areas. |
| D．The rapid growth of motors. |
By comparing past problems with present ones, the author draws our attention to the .
| A．seriousness of this crisis |
| B．ineffectiveness of laws |
| C．similarity of the past to the present |
| D．hopelessness of the situation |
Which of the following is used as an example to show the loss of morality?
| A．Disregard for law. | B．Lack of devotion. |
| C．Lack of understanding. | D．Destruction of cities. |
The author wrote the passage in order to .
| A．make a recommendation for a transformed life style |
| B．limit ambitions of the people of the whole world |
| C．demand devotion to nature and future generation |
| D．encourage awareness of the decline of morality |
I know what you’re thinking : pizza （比萨饼）? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.
I know lots of women who skip breakfast （不吃早餐） , and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it . Some say they don’t have time, others think they’re “saving” calories （卡路里）, still others just don’t like breakfast food .
But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking , R , D , who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.
Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.
So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it…you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects. The word “leftovers” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________.
| A．food remaining after a meal | B．things left undone |
| C．meals made of vegetables | D．pizza topped with fruit |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．Working women usually have breakfast in a hurry. |
| B．Many people have wrong ideas about breakfast. |
| C．There are some easy ways of cooking a meal. |
| D．Eating vegetables helps save energy. |
According to the last paragraph, it is important to____________.
| A．eat something for breakfast | B．be careful about what you eat |
| C．heat up food before eating it | D．eat calorie-controlled food |
The text is written mainly for those_____________.
| A．who go to work early | B．who want to lose weight |
| C．who stay up late | D．who eat before sleep |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards eating breakfast?
| A．He thinks it’s up to different people. | B．He is not sure about it. |
| C．He thinks it depends. | D．He supports it. |
As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.
Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping(录像) the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. “In general, the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says. “And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is. ”
The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to ______.
| A．report on the findings of a study |
| B．teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table |
| C．show the relationship between parents and children |
| D．give information about family problems |
Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ______.
| A．they are busy serving food to their children |
| B．they have to pay more attention to younger children |
| C．they are busy keeping order at the dinner table |
| D．they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family |
By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children ______.
| A．have to help their parents to serve dinner |
| B．find it hard to keep up with other children |
| C．are often kept away from the dinner table |
| D．get the least attention from the family |
Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?
| A．Parents should talk to each of their children frequently. |
| B．It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner. |
| C．It is important to have the right food for children. |
| D．Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner. |
“Soon, you’re going to have to move out!” cried my neighbor upon seeing the largest tomato plant known to mankind, or at least known in my neighborhood.
One tiny 9-inch plant, bought for $1.25 in the spring, has already taken over much of my rose bed, covering much of other plants, and is well on its way to the front door.
Roses require a good deal of care, and if it weren’t for the pleasure they give, it wouldn’t be worth the work. As it is, I have a garden full of sweet-smelling roses for most of the year. Bushes must be pruned(剪枝) in early spring, leaving ugly woody branches until the new growth appears a few weeks later. It was the space available in the garden that led me into planting just one little tomato plant. A big mistake.
Soil conditions made just perfect for roses turn out to be even more perfect for tomatoes. The daily watering coupled with full sun and regular fertilizing (施肥) have turned the little plant into a tall bush. The cage I placed around it as the plant grew has long disappeared under the thick leaves.
Now the task I face in harvesting the fruit is twofold; First, I have to find the red ones among the leaves, which means I almost have to stand on my head, and once found I have to reach down and under, pick the tomatoes and withdraw(缩回) my full fist without dropping the prize so dearly won. I found two full-blown white roses completely hidden as I picked tomatoes in June. But they were weak and the leaves already yellow for lack of light.
Here I am faced with a painful small decision: To tear up a wonderful and productive tomato plant that offers up between ten and twenty ripe sweet tomatoes each day or say goodbye to several expensive and treasured roses. Like Scarlett in Gone With the Wind, I’ll think about that tomorrow.What are the requirements for the healthy growth of rose?
| A．Frequent pruning and fertilizing. | B．A lot of care and the right soil. |
| C．Tomato plants grown alongside. | D．Cages placed around the roots. |
The writer planted the tomato because _________.
| A．there was room for it in the garden |
| B．the soil was just right for it |
| C．it cost only $1.25 |
| D．the roses’ branches needed to be covered |
This year the writer’s roses were __________.
| A．removed from the rose bed |
| B．largely hidden under the tomato plant |
| C．mostly damaged by too much sunlight |
| D．picked along with the tomatoes |
By saying “the prize so dearly won” in paragraph 5, the writer wants to ________.
| A．express her liking for the roses |
| B．show the hardship of growing the roses |
| C．show the difficulty in picking the tomatoes |
| D．express her care for the tomatoes |
In the situation described in the text, one good thing is that ________.
| A．the writer has a daily harvest of tomatoes |
| B．the roses cost the writer little money |
| C．someone will help the writer make the decision |
| D．the writer can now enjoy both the roses and tomatoes |
New York City schoolchildren can’t use cellphones at school because of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ban on cellphones in schools. Many parents are opposed to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ban on cellphones in schools by e-mail messages.
There was a 13-year-old student who was shot with a gun after school, unable to call his mother for help. There was a high school student robbed three times last year, twice in her school building. There was a girl who got a piece of glass placed in her eye during school and was saved from a possible cornea transplant (角膜移植) only because, having disobeyed the cellphone ban, she was able to call her mother and get an operation on time.
The ban has been on for years, but it set off a widespread parental outcry only in April, after some headmasters sent home letters reminding parents that cellphones are not allowed to be brought into school.
Mr Bloomberg has defended the ban, saying that cellphones are bad and often used to cheat or call in friends for fights. If something is important, he says, parents can call schools directly.
On the other hand, many of the e-mail messages from parents described the ban as “cruel and heartless”, “absurdly(荒谬地) wrong-headed”, “anti-parent”, “ridiculous”.
“We respect the fears that parents have,” David Cantor, a spokesman for Schools Minister Joel I. Klein said, “but after all the fact is that having phones in schools always leads to more problems.”A 13-year-old student was shot with a gun after school, unable to call his mother for help, because ____.
| A．his mother had no cellphone |
| B．his mother wasn’t at home |
| C．he didn’t take a cellphone with him |
| D．he was too frightened to call |
From the fifth paragraph we can see many parents _________ the ban.
| A．agreed to | B．thought highly of |
| C．supported | D．were opposed to |
According to what the spokesman said, the school might _______.
| A．call off the ban |
| B．continue the ban |
| C．thank the parents |
| D．allow some students to use cellphones at school |
Some of Man's closest relatives in the animal kingdom are under serious threat because of human activity, according to a recently published report.
Almost one in three of all apes and monkeys are now considered to be in danger of dying out and disappearing from our planet, if action is not taken soon.
The report, which was produced for the World Conservation Union (WCU), shows that 114 of the world's 394 kinds could be lost forever, and the main reason they are threatened is the continuing loss of forests where most of these animals live. In addition, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and commercial（商业的）hunting for meat are also endangering them.
What's more, the problem is getting worse. The number of species on the organization’s Red List has increased by 3 to 25 since 2005.
Russell Mittermeier, the main researcher of the WCU report, said, "You could fit(安置) all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium. So the problem is obviously urgent."
The scientists, who drew up the Red List, believe that the situation is now so bad that if action is not taken immediately, it will result in primate(灵长目动物) species dying out - something which has not happened in over a century.
The loss of habitat caused by the clearing of forests for wood, farmland and fuel continues to be the main reason for the decreasing number of primates, according to the report, and the problem was most severe in Asia.
The loss of forest trees is also responsible for 20 percent of all greenhouse gases - more than all the cars, trucks, trains and airplanes in the world combined.What is the main subject of the report discussed in the text?
| A．Climate change. | B．Loss of animal habitat. |
| C．Animal protection. | D．Endangered animals |
How many animals were on the Red List in 2005?
| A．22 | B．19 | C．25. | D．28. |
The spokesman refers to 'a football stadium' in paragraph 5 to stress that ______.
| A．the animals enjoy playing sports |
| B．these animals should be placed there for protection |
| C．there are not many of these animals left |
| D．the report was announced there |
What is the main cause of the greenhouse gas problem according to the text?
| A．Airplanes. | B．Loss of trees. |
| C．Factory pollution. | D．Road vehicles. |