Move Earth—It’s Not Science Fiction
LONDON—Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet from overheating: move it to a cooler spot. All you have to do is send a few comets(彗星)in the direction of Earth, and its orbit will be changed. Our world will then be sent spinning into a safer, colder part of the solar system.
This idea for improving our climate comes from a group of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)engineers and American astronomers. They say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet—effectively doubling its working life.
The plan put forward by Dr. Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams, needs carefully directing a comet or asteroid so that it passes close by our planet and sends some of its gravitational energy to Earth.
“Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun, ”Laughlin said.
Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn. The comet would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated.
In the short term, the plan provides an ideal way to global warming, although the team was actually concerned with a much greater danger. The Sun is certain to heat up in about a billion years and so“seriously compromise” our biosphere(生物圈)—by cooking us.
That’s why the group decided to try to save Earth.
The plan has one or two worrying aspects, however. For a start, space engineers would have to be very careful about how they directed their asteroid or comet towards Earth. The smallest miscalculation(误算)in orbit could fire it straight at Earth—with deadly consequences.
There is also the question of the Moon. As the current issue of Scientific American magazine points out, if Earth was pushed out of its current position, it is“most likely the Moon would be stripped away from Earth”. This would greatly change our planet’s climate.What makes the scientists plan to move Earth?
| A．A few comets are moving to the direction of Earth. |
| B．Earth’s working life is coming to an end soon. |
| C．Earth will become too hot for mankind to keep alive. |
| D．The moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth. |
If the plan is successful, Earth will have a working life of years.
| A．12 billion | B．6 billion |
| C．18 billion | D．24 billion |
What serious problems might the plan cause according to the passage?
| A．The comet might hit Earth and man might lose the Moon. |
| B．Earth might be moved too far away and man might be frozen to death. |
| C．The comet might hit Jupiter or Saturn and never return to Earth. |
| D．Earth’s working life might be greatly shortened. |
What does the underlined word“compromise”mean?
| A．Provide. | B．Benefit. |
| C．Share. | D．Endanger. |
The China Daily newspaper group is looking for English-language senior business editors, senior copy editors, copy editors and graphic designers to strengthen its international team. We offer a competitive salary package, accommodation with furniture paid for 90 percent medical reimbursement（报销）, a seven-day paid leave, eleven-day public holidays and a return ticket to the country of residence.
Senior Business Editor
You must:
（1）Assist the business editor in setting goals and working on achieving them;
（2）Be an excellent team person who can generate ideas and think creatively and be able to rewrite totally if needed;
（3）Ideally have been working or have worked in a position of Responsibility and
understand what leadership intends;
（4）Have had at least five years' editing experience working on editing the Business Desk and be familiar with industry software.
Senior Copy Editor
You must:
（1）Work on shifts in the Business Desk and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print;
（2）Edit or rewrite copy and give smart headlines and captions (文字说明);
（3）Have had at least two years' editing experience working on editing desks and be familiar with industry software.
Copy Editor
You must:
（1）Be good at editing or rewriting copy and writing smart headlines and captions:
（2）Be able to work on shifts for different pages, and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print;
（3）Have two years of editing experience working on copy desks, and be familiar with industry software.
Graphic Designer
You must:
（1）Have excellent skills in information graphics;
（2）Be good at illustrations and freehand drawings;
（3）Be experienced in newspaper or magazine layouts（布局）;
（4）Have a good sense of typography（活版印刷术）;
（5）Have good news judgment;
（6）Be fluent in English.
For enquiries or to apply, write to job @ chinadaily.com.cn.What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To advertise for employing some good employees. |
| B．To tell you how to become part of this group. |
| C．To describe the working conditions of the China Daily newspaper group. |
| D．To describe the positions of the China Daily newspaper group. |
What is not required about Graphic Designer?
| A．Having a good sense of typography. |
| B．Have excellent skills in information graphics. |
| C．Writing smart headlines and captions. |
| D．Be expert in Photoshop. |
How many positions need editing experience?
| A．Two | B．Three. | C．Four | D．Five |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．China Daily: New Employees Wanted |
| B．China Daily: The Best Working Condition |
| C．China Daily: Newspaper |
| D．China Daily: An International Team |
On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a New York subway station, playing his violin. Many of passers-by slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
The next day, at the same place, he put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different than the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.
The words read, “Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat mistakenly. Please come to claim it soon.”
Seeing this, people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there hurriedly and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, “Yes, it’s you. You did come here. I knew that you’re an honest man and would certainly come here.”
“Are you Mr. George Sang”? asked the young violinist.
The man nodded. “Did you lose something?” “Lottery. It’s lottery.” “Is it?” The violinist took out a lottery ticket and asked.
George nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, then he danced with the violinist.
The story turned out to be this: George Sang bought a lottery ticket, winning a prize of $500,000. After work, he passed the station and felt the music was so wonderful that he took out 50 dollars and put it in the hat. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend further study in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.
When asked why he didn’t take the lottery ticket for himself, the violinist said, “Although I don’t have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won’t be happy forever.” What is the sequence(顺序) of the story?
a. The violinist tried to look for the ticket-owner
b. George Sang won a lottery
c. George Sang threw $50 and his ticket in the hat of a violinist’s
d. The violinist found the owner of the lottery ticket
e. A young student played the violinist near a subway station.
| A．c, d, e, a, e | B．b, c, e, d, a | C．b, e, c, a, d | D．c, a, d, b, e |
George Sang was so ______that he kissed the lost ticket and danced with the violinist.
| A．moved | B．disappointed | C．mad | D．pleased |
By telling the story, the writer intends to tell us that__________.
| A．getting rich overnight is important |
| B．showing sympathy for others is important |
| C．being honest is of great importance |
| D．school fees are high at the present time |
We can infer from the passage that______.
| A．The Arts College the young violinist was going to attend is not in New York. |
| B．Many people usually put their money in their hat in the distant past. |
| C．George Sang may give some money to the young violinist as a reward. |
| D．all the people who win lotteries are generous and easy-going. |
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一个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
By teaching your children fire safety rules you can ensure they know what to do when a house fire occurs. Making sure your children know exactly what is required of them cuts down the chaos of the emergency situation and helps keep your family safe and secure.
All children should know about important fire safety procedures. For example, tell your children to stay low to the ground in a smoky room, which keeps them from breathing smoke, as smoke always rises towards the ceiling. Also tell them that they can put a damp towel or a piece of clothing over their faces and breathe in through it to cut down the effects of breathing smoke even more.
In addition, make sure your children know how to correctly stop, drop and roll when their clothes catch fire. Because it results in loss of oxygen, which puts out the flames. Also your children should know to touch door handles before opening the doors to see if they’re hot. If they are, it means there’s a fire in the next room, and they should leave the door closed and find another route out of the house.
Make sure your children never play with lighters or matches. Usually, many children are attracted by lighters and matches and want to experiment with setting things on fire to see what happens. So hide lighters and matches in some place your children can’t reach.
Do regular fire drills to act out and improve your evacuation（疏散）plan. Make sure everyone knows all the possible exits of the house they can use, and that all members of your family know your evacuation plan well enough so that they don’t have to waste time thinking if a fire starts. Quick, determined response to a fire will save your family members’ lives.
| Title: Teach your children fire safety rules |
|
| Reasons |
Children should know what to do in __ It can help __ |
| Teach children fire safety ___ |
Stay low to the ground and __ Correctly stop, drop and roll to put out the fire on the ___ Don’t open the doors with ___ |
| Keep lighters or matches away from children |
It’s dangerous to ___ Keep lighters and matches out of children’s ___ |
| Do fire drills ___ |
Make all exits and the evacuation plan known to everyone. Ensure every family member can __ |
Most people will praise many technological gadgets（小装置） that they use in their everyday lives. Technology is developing at a very fast rate, and what most people did not even think could be real a few years ago is now becoming a reality. Although many will use and advertise modern technology for many of its achievements and advancements, what many don’t realize is that it has affected and continues to affect society and people in general in a negative way.
Newspaper companies, as we all know, have been hit very hard by the advancements in technology. Big newspapers have been forced to either lay off a percentage of their work force or shut down altogether because news is readily available for free on the Internet. Music does not have to be purchased at a music store any more because MP3 files are readily available on the Internet as well, thus causing big music store chains to shut their doors for good. The movie industry has also been hit hard because DVD sales have decreased since people can pay for and download their favorite movies online.
Technology has its benefits, but when you take a look at how people communicate with one another, you will quickly see that it has a negative impact. Modern technology has allowed people to communicate with just about anyone they want to at any given time. The fact remains that people do not interact personally with one another as often as they used to. This has created a barrier for face-to-face communication among people because they no longer have to hold a meeting in an office or they no longer have to call friends or family members together to wish them a happy birthday or congratulate them on their recent success.
As a result, people don’t feel the urgent need to step outside of their home to find entertainment, such as participating in a dynamic game of basketball with friends, meeting a friend at a coffee shop, etc.The first paragraph is mainly to tell us that _____.
| A．technology is developing rapidly |
| B．many dreams have come true. |
| C．technology benefits us a lot |
| D．technology has its disadvantages |
The author shows us the negative effects of the technology by _____.
| A．telling some stories | B．giving some examples |
| C．listing some figures | D．doing some experiments |
What does he underlined word “interact” in the third paragraph probably mean?
| A．argue | B．consult | C．communicate | D．work |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The negative effects of advancing technology |
| B．The benefits of the modern technology |
| C．The development of the modern technology |
| D．The social problems caused by the technology |
Some say the Internet will kill off papers. Others say not so fast.
Are newspapers dying?
That’s the heated debate these days. Many say the disappearance of the daily paper is just a matter of time. The future of journalism is in news websites, not newsprint.
However, others say, newspapers have been with us for hundreds of years, and while all news may be online some day, papers can exist for some time.
So who’s right? I’ll outline the arguments on both sides, and then you can decide.
Newspapers Are Dead
Newspapers are in trouble. Circulation is dropping, display and classified ad income is drying up, and the industry has experienced a hard time. Big metro papers like the Rocky Mountain News have stopped operating, and even bigger newspaper companies like the Tribune Co. go bankrupt（破产）.
And where are newspaper readers going? To the Web. A recent study has found that Internet users read online newspapers for an average of 53 minutes per week in 2008. That’s highest level recorded in the eight years when the study has been done.
The study found that 22 percent of users said they stopped their subscription（订阅）to a printed paper or magazine because they could access the same content online.
Some people say the Internet is just a better place to get the news. “On the Web, newspapers are live, and they can supplement（增补）their coverage with audio, video, and the valuable resources of their vast contents,” says Geffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future.How does the author present the topic to be discussed?
| A．By presenting others’ prediction |
| B．By asking a question |
| C．By providing opposite opinions |
| D．By talking about the background |
The purpose of writing the text is to _____.
| A．try to draw a general conclusion |
| B．encourage readers to use their judgment |
| C．compare the advantages of two media |
| D．invite readers to express their opinions freely |
Some readers no longer buy printed newspapers because they _____.
| A．want to save money |
| B．hope to protect the environment |
| C．don’t care about news |
| D．can read online newspapers |
What’s the advantage of the news website compared with printed newspapers?
| A．it provides news vividly | B．the news is more reliable |
| C．it can reach more readers | D．it is much cheaper in price |