Hu Li's heart sank due to the color of the air.Driving 140 kilometers from Tianjin City to Beijing last week,she held her breath as the air became a charcoal grey haze(炭灰色的阴霾).The 39yearold businesswoman has lived in Beijing for a decade,and this past month,she said,brought the worst air pollution she has ever seen.It gave her husband a cough and left her sevenyearold daughter housebound(足不出户).“My husband as well as I is working here,so we have no choice,” she said.“But if we had a choice,we'd like to escape from Beijing.”
The extended heavy pollution over the last month,which caused punishment in return for a day last week-called the “airpocalypse” by internet users- has largely changed the way that Chinese think about the country's air.On one day,pollution levels were 30 times higher than levels considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO).Flights were cancelled.Roads were closed.One hospital in east Beijing reported they had treated more than 900 children for breathing issues.Bloomberg found that for most of January,Beijing's air was worse than that of an airport smoking area.
The smog's(烟雾) most threatening aspect is its high concentration(浓度) of PM 2.5 - particulate matter that is small enough to breathe deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream,causing breathing infections,lung cancer and possibly damaging children's development.The WHO has estimated that outdoor air pollution accounts for two million deaths per year,65% of them in Asia.Which conclusion can we draw from the first paragraph?
A.Hu Li is living in Beijing. |
B.Hu Li traveled to Tianjin for business. |
C.The haze is harmful to people. |
D.The pollution is the worst in Beijing's history. |
The haze affected people mainly in________.
A.the way they traveled |
B.the opinion about national air |
C.the way they lived their life |
D.the life style of internet |
From the passage we know high concentration of PM 2.5________.
A.can lead to choke |
B.can cause heart cancer |
C.will damage children's development |
D.will damage people's organ |
What's the best title for the passage?
A.Hu Li's attitudes to Beijing's haze |
B.The damages of Beijing's haze |
C.WHO suggests improving Beijing's air |
D.What caused air pollution in Beijing |
How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grew them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples.”
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples. Jefferson never spoke to his honored (忠实的) guests about the fact.From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were .
A.people from other countries | B.from France |
C.people of his own country | D.men only |
After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?
A.Americans never ate tomatoes after they began to plant them. |
B.Americans didn’t eat tomatoes before 19th century. |
C.Even now Americans don’t eat tomatoes. |
D.In the 18th century Americans ate a lot of tomatoes. |
The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes .
A.while he was in Paris | B.when he was a little boy |
C.because his parents told him so | D.from books |
According to the text, _______ made the beautiful pink soup served at the President’s party?
A.the President himself | B.a French cook |
C.the President’s cook | D.the President’s wife |
Forgiving someone who has hurt you or let you down is never an easy thing. Several new studies, however, say that it could have a lot of health benefits. When you think of forgiveness, you probably don’t think of it as being a health or medical problem. Studies from Stanford University, on the other hand, show that something like anger can change your well-being.
When cartoon book characters like the Incredible Hulk get angry, they change colours and often gain special power. In the real world, anger is less obvious and may be more dangerous. That’s why Professor Fred Luskin, founder of the Stanford Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good, says holding on to anger and hatred can harm your physical and mental health. Two new studies seem to show the same idea.
The studies find that people who are able to forgive feel less stress, less back pain, and less depression. They also have fewer headaches, lower blood pressure, and fewer problems on sleeping.
So it doesn’t matter if your anger is caused by the traffic or other things. Learning to let it go is important. Techniques such as deep breath or thought can help. Or just ask yourself if it’s worth hurting yourself by staying angry with someone else.
Forgiveness does not mean that you simply accept what happened and say it’s OK. Instead, it’s a way of making peace with yourself about what happened in the past. The author of the passage tries to make his viewpoint clear ______.
A.by raising his own examples |
B.based on his own experience |
C.by mentioning some studies |
D.by mentioning some typical patients |
The example of the cartoon book characters is taken in the passage to______.
A.support the viewpoint that anger and hatred harm physical and mental health |
B.introduce a famous expert |
C.let the reader know the different colours of cartoon faces |
D.show how to control one’s temper |
The underlined phrase“holding on to”in this passage possibly means“______”.
A.removing | B.keeping up | C.getting rid of | D.learning about |
The best title for this passage is probably _______.
A.Forgiveness | B.Forgiveness Is Good for Health |
C.A Secret to Keeping Health | D.Anger Is Bad for Health |
You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation(撤离)of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.
During the 20th century , sea level rose 8—12 inches. As a result ,Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.
Paani Laupepa , a Tuvaluan government official ,reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years .Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.
Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions(导致温室效应的气体排放),which are a main cause of global warming . “By refusing to sign the agreement ,the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.
Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries .
Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的)to rising sea levels .Maumoon Gayoon ,president of the Maldives ,told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”. The text is mainly about .
A.rapid changes in earth’s temperature |
B.bad effects of global warming |
C.moving of a country to a new place |
D.reasons for lowland flooding |
According to scientists ,the direct cause of more and fiercer storms is .
A.greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations |
B.higher surface water temperatures of the sea |
C.continuous global warming |
D.rising sea levels |
Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not .
A.agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions |
B.sign an agreement with Tuvalu |
C.allow Tuvaluans to move to the US |
D.believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real |
The country whose situation is similar to that of Tuvalu is .
A.Australia | B.New Zealand | C.the Maldives | D.the United States |
My husband, my four-month-old daughter and I set out on a five-day driving journey from California to Washington. We had to stop frequently because our little child needed to stretch from the car seat.
One of our stops, once we crossed the Oregon border, was at a Black Bear Diner. Walking towards the front door we noticed a gentleman standing at one side. He was clearly untidy, without shoes and wearing worn clothing. We passed right by him and opened the restaurant door. Then something told me to go back.
Holding my daughter, I turned around and said to the gentleman, “Sir. Are you hungry?” He said, “Yes.” I then asked, “May we buy you something to eat?” He responded with, “Sure, I can order something myself.”
My husband opened the door and the gentleman went straight to the counter. I told him to order whatever he wanted. The manager of the restaurant came over quite quickly and looked frightened. I spoke before he had an opportunity to. “This gentleman will have lunch with us today,” I said. “Please add his order to our bill.” The manager said with a frown(皱眉), “Okay.” We turned to our table and the gentleman said, loudly and quickly, “Thank You!” We were seated and upon completing our meal we were handed our bill. I asked my husband what the gentleman had ordered. One fresh orange juice, one coffee, one breakfast combination with a side of hash browns.
When we left the restaurant I looked for the gentleman but didn’t see him, but that very small act just made my day. I hope in some small way we were able to add some joy to his life, even if only for a few minutes.From the appearance of the gentleman, we can guess he was probably a(n) _____.
A.waiter | B.actor | C.beggar | D.worker |
The manager of the restaurant looked frightened because _____.
A.the man was not friendly |
B.he had fired the man before |
C.the man had stolen something from the restaurant |
D.he was afraid the man wouldn’t afford to pay the food |
From the passage, we can infer the man _____.
A.was thankful for their kind act |
B.felt ashamed and slipped away |
C.was hungry and ate a lot of food |
D.was too proud to accept their offer |
The phrase “made my day” in the last paragraph probably means ______.
A.wasted my money | B.moved me deeply |
C.made me feel sorry | D.made me very happy |
Little Mark is only 6, but he has an IQ of 200, a genius among geniuses. But his intelligence comes at a cost. His parents must keep him intellectually simulated(启发)while making sure he is like any other little boy.
Mark has been attracted by the way how the world works since he was a baby. When he was 3, Mark was reading fluently, mostly self-taught. His parents haven't been able to keep him away from books since.
"I tried many times to stop him reading. We worry about his crazy fond of reading because he constantly wants to read every-thing whatever it is.”
A psychologist at the Centre for gifted children tested Mark and gave him an IQ of 200. The average child of Mark's age has an IQ of 100. At 200, Mark is a genius-even compared with other child geniuses.
"With children like Mark you can tell that's a bright child as soon as they walk in. They just have this sort of intensity, and maybe they're not so good at communicating with people," the psychologist said. "He will never fit perfectly into a class where he's with children of his age.”
But Mark's mother worries about the "socially isolated" labels. "Nobody wants their child to grow up with that image. I want him to communicate with others freely, but not to be frustrated academically, so it's really hard to find a balance," she says.
Helen Dudeney from the Talented and Gifted Children Association says Mark is one in a million with such a high IQ. She points out that geniuses are still rare and difficult for the public education system to handle. "The lack of coping comes because teachers aren't trained in teaching gifted children," says Dudeney.
Helen believes it's also extremely important for them to be recognized and supported in their talents. Mark's parents are trying to figure out how best to help Mark. At the moment, there are few options. Mark finds first year work boring and simple, but he must learn to complete the work. His mother says, "We just want to be happy. Just to have a happy childhood and want to go to school every day.”By saying "But his intelligence comes at a cost. ",the author means that
A.Mark must pay for his intelligence at a high price |
B.Mark's intelligence brings him negative effects at the same time |
C.Mark's intelligence results from his parents |
D.Mark's parents make Mark clever at all costs |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A.Mark's parents are very satisfied with his love for reading. |
B.Mark began to teach himself reading at the age of 3. |
C.Many child geniuses are not good at communicating with others. |
D.It is hard for parents to bring up a genius. |
If there are 6. 6 billion people in the world, the number of geniuses with an IQ of 200 will be________.
A.about 4,400 | B.about 5,500 | C.about 6,600 | D.about 7,700 |
What would be the best title for the passage?
A.A genius' craziness for books |
B.The life of the genius' parents |
C.The burden of being gifted |
D.The characteristics of Mark |