Edward Wilson is America's, if not the world's, leading naturalist. In The Future of Life, he takes us on a tour of the world's natural resources. How are they used? What has been lost? What remains and is it able to continue with the present speed of use? Wilson also points out the need to understand fully the biodiversity(生物多样性)of our earth.
Wilson begins with an open letter to the pioneer in environment protection, Henry David Thoreau. He compares today's Walden Pond with that of Thoreau's day. Wilson will use such comparisons for the rest of the book. The problem is clear: man has done great damage to his home over the years. Can the earth, with human help, be made to return to biodiversity levels that will be able to support us in the future?
Biodiversity, Wilson argues, is the key to settling many problems the earth faces today. Even our agricultural crops can gain advantages from it. A mere hundred species(物种) are the basis of our food supply, of which but twenty carry the load. Wilson suggests changing this situation by looking into ten thousand species that could be made use of, which will be a way to reduce the clearing of the natural homes of plants and animals to enlarge farming areas.
At the end of the book, Wilson discusses the importance of human values in considering the environment. If you are to continue to live on the earth, you may as well read and act on the ideas in this book.We learn from the text that Wilson cares most about .
A.the environment for plants |
B.the biodiversity of our earth |
C.the waste of natural resources |
D.the importance of human values |
How many species are most important to our present food supply?
A.Twenty | B.Eighty | C.One hundred | D.Ten thousand |
Wilson suggests that one way to keep biodiversity is to .
A.learn how to farm scientifically |
B.builds homes for some dying species |
C.makes it clear what to eat |
D.use more species for food |
We can infer that the text is
A.description of natural resources |
B.a research report |
C.a book review |
D.an introduction to a scientist |
D
Many of the snacks are high in sugar, fat and salt. Vending machines(自动售货机) filled with unhealthy snacks in leisure centres run the risk of fuelling childhood obesity.
The British Heart Foundation found that despite being banned from schools and children’s TV, crisps and chocolate are on sale where children exercise. And children’s meals on offer at the 35 venues spot-checked were mostly chips, chicken nuggets(鸡肉块), sausages and burgers.
The charity (慈善机构) wants stricter regulation over the food choices available.
The report was prepared by the Food Commission, which looked at leisure centres, bowling clubs, ice skating centres and park cafes.
The average calorie content of vending machine snacks was 203 calories, which would take a seven-year-old 88 minutes of swimming to use up.
Fresh fruit was displayed at less than half of the places visited, and nutritional information was displayed at just two of the places visited. The BHF said this severely limits children’s and parents’ ability to assess the nutritional values of the products they are buying.
BHF’s chief executive Peter Hollins said: “It’s fantastic that these kids are getting fit and having fun at the same time but this is being undermined by junk food sold to them.
“Councils and leisure providers need to reconsider the food choices they are providing and make it easier for parents and children to make healthier choices.”
The charity is now calling for public and private sector providers to lead the way in ensuring healthy food choices available and easily identifiable(可辩认的). It says it should be made a requirement that vending machines in publicly owned facilities be stocked with healthier products.
A spokeswoman of the Department of Health said: “We fully encourage the adoption of healthy vending machines across the country and expect local authorities to make sure there are healthy food options available in their leisure centres.”
53. Children’s meals offered at leisure centres mostly consist of ____.
A. snacks, vegetables, chips and burgers
B. chips, chicken nuggets, sausages and burgers
C. fresh fruit, vegetables, sausages and burgers
D. fresh fruit, vegetable, crisps and snacks
54. Which of the following can make the children and their parents aware of the nutritional values of the products they are purchasing?
A. Displaying the nutritional information. B. Displaying fresh fruit.
C. Selling junk food to them. D. Reconsidering food options.
55. It is implied in the passage that ____.
A. vending machines sell a lot of unhealthy food that causes obesity.
B. leisure centres provide children with food that is not healthy.
C. there isn’t a requirement yet that vending machines sell healthier products.
D. it’s fantastic that kids are getting fit and having fun in leisure centres.
56. The underlined word “fuelling” in the first paragraph most probably means_____.
A. preventing B. filling with gas C. increasing D. Planning
C
We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively(被动地).We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else.Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive.Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem.It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(谣言).
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone.Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person.That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game.The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it.Then the two written statements are compared.Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life.The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story.Then, too, most people listen imperfectly.And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping(打上标记)it with their own personal style.Yet those who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.
49.According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.
A.doing a medical experiment B.solving a math problem
C.visiting an exhibitionD.doing scientific reasoning
50.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.
A.active learning B.knowledge C.communication D.passive learning
51.The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.
A.a message may be changed when being passed on
B.a message should be delivered in different ways
C.people may have problems with their sense of hearing
D.people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor
52.What can we infer from the passage?
A.Active learning is less important.
B.Passive learning may not be reliable.
C.Active learning occurs more frequently.
D.Passive learning is not found among scholars.
B
I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street.The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices.You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore.The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam.The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物).They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal.Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK.My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid.Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work.Charity shops raise more than £110 million a year, funding(资助)medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more.What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense.You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
45.The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
A.its convenient location B.its great variety of goods
C.its spirit of goodwillD.its nice shopping environment
46.The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ____.
A.sell cheap productsB.deal with unwanted things
C.raise money for patients D.help a foreign country
47.Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
A.The operating costs are very low. B.The staff are usually well paid.
C.90% of the donations are second-hand. D.They are open twenty-four hours a day.
48.Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
A.What to Buy a Charity Shops.
B.Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development.
C.Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate.
D.The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops.
第二部分阅读理解(共两节,满分45分)
第一节:阅读下列短文,然后从A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
A
My husband, Tom, is a born shopper. He loves to look at things and to touch them. He likes to compare prices between the same things in different stores. He would never think of buying anything without looking around in several stores. I, on the other hand, am not a shopper. I regard shopping as boring and unpleasant. If I like something and can afford it, I buy it immediately. I never take a time to look around for a good sale or a better deal (交易). Of course my husband and I never go shopping together. Doing shopping together would be too painful for both of us . When it comes to shopping, we go our separate ways.
Sometimes I ask my son Jimmy to buy some food in the shop not far from our home. But he is always absentminded. This was his story.
One day I said to him , “ I hope you won’t forget what I have told you to buy.” “No,” said Jimmy. “ I won’t forget . You want three oranges, six eggs and a pound of meet.”
He went running down the street to the shop. As he ran , he said to himself over and over again , “ Three oranges , six eggs and a pound of meat.”
In the beginning he remembered everything but he stopped several times. Once he saw two men fighting outside a clothes shop until a policeman stopped them. One of them was badly hurt. Then he stopped to give ten cents to a beggar. Then he met some of his friends and he played with them for a while. When he reached the shop, he had forgotten everything except six eggs.
As he walked home, his face became sadder and sadder. When he saw me he said, “ I’m sorry , mum . I have forgotten to buy oranges and the meat . I only remembered to buy six eggs , but I’ve dropped three of them.”
41. The husband loves shopping because _______.
A. he has much money
B. he likes the shops
C. he likes to compare the prices between the same items
D. he has nothing to do but do shopping
42. The wife doesn’t like shopping because _______.
A. she has no money B. she has no tome
C. she doesn’t love her husband D. she feels it boring to go shopping
43. They never go shopping together because _________.
A. their ways of shopping are quite different B. they hate each other
C. they needn’t buy anything for the family D. they don’t have time for it
44. Jimmy didn’t buy what his mother wanted because _________.
A. the shop was closed that day B. the policeman stopped him
C. he forgot some of them D. he gave all the money to the beggar
E
When we Americans shop at the grocery stores today, we don’t seem to be surprised at the sight of strawberries in the winter or perfect tomatoes from Holland. In the space of a generation, we’ve become accustomed to eating food that’s never grown roots in local soil. In fact, most produce(农产品) grown in the United States travels an average of 1,500 miles before it gets sold.
Trucking, shipping and flying in food from around the country and the globe has a very bad effect on the environment and on public health. Take grapes for example. Every year, nearly 270 million pounds of grapes arrive in California, most of them shipped from Chile to the Port of Los Angeles. Their 5,900-mile journey in cargo ships and trucks gives off 7,000 tons of global warming pollution each year, and enough air pollution to cause dozens of asthma(哮喘) attacks and hundreds of missed school clays in California.
The way we eat has a great influence on the health of the planet. By choosing to eat lower on the food chain, and focusing on local and organic(有机的) produce, we can reduce global warming and air pollution, avoid poisonous chemicals, support local farmers and enjoy fresh, tasty food.
People are rediscovering the benefits of buying local food. How your food is grown, stored, transported, processed and cooked can all influence how it affects climate and the environment. Transportation-related influences are particularly important for imported foods. NRDC calculated the transportation influences of importing fresh produce and wine widely consumed in California. They directly compared the climate and air quality influenced by importing these foods instead of growing and consuming them in California. Their analysis shows that—all else being equal—locally grown foods are a better choice.
72. From the passage we can learn that most produce sold at the grocery stores in the US .
A. is grown by local farmers B. is from foreign countries
C. comes from far away D. is out of season
73. What would be the effect of transportation of foods?
A. It pollutes the foods during the transportation.
B. It makes the cost of the foods much higher.
C. It makes the foods less fresh and tasteless.
D. It causes air pollution and global warming.
74. Which of the following may have a bad effect on the health of the planet?
A. Eating higher on the food chain. B. Eating locally grown foods.
C. Eating more organic produce.D. Eating fresh and tasty foods.
75. The main purpose of the passage is .
A. to help the local farmers grow and sell their produce
B. to tell people that imported foods are less healthy
C. to warn people of the harmfulness of food transportation
D. to get local people to reject the imported foods