Last night’s meteor(流星) shower left many people in the community dissatisfied and demanding answers. According to Gabe Rothsclild, Emerald Valley’s mayor, people gathered in the suburbs of the city, carrying heavy telescopes, expecting to watch the brightly burning meteors passing through the sky. What they found instead was a sky so brightened by the city’s lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead.
“My family was so frustrated,” admitted town resident Duane Cosby, “We wanted to make this an unforgettable family outing, but it turned out to be a huge disappointments.”
Astronomers---scientists who study stars and planets----have been complaining about this problem for decades.They say that light pollution prevents them from seeing objects in the sky that they could see quite easily in the past. They call on people and the government to take measures to fight against it.
There is yet a population besides professional and amateur star observers that suffers even more from light pollution. This population consists of birds,bats frogs,snakes,etc. For example,outdoor lighting severely affects migrating(迁徙的)birds. According to the International Dark-Sky Association. “100 million birds a year throughout North America die in crashes with lighted buildings and towers.”
Countless more animals casualties(伤亡）result from the use of artificial lighting. Clearly, people enjoy the benefits of lighting their evenings,but some scientists think it can be harmful for humans,too. They worry that exposure to light while sleeping can increase person’s chances of getting cancer.
Emerald Valley is only one community that is becoming aware of the negative effects of hight pollution. For years, Flagstaff,Arizona, has enforced lighting regulations in its city in order to help astronomers at the Lowell Observatory. Similar efforts have been made worldwide, and a movement is underway to remind us to turn off lights when we are not using them, so that other creatures can share the night.It happened last night that __________ .
| A．the city light show attracted many people |
| B．the meteors flew past before being noticed |
| C．the city’s lights affected the meteor watching |
| D．the meteor watching ended up a social outing |
What do the astronomers complain about?
| A．Light pollution has remained unsolved for years |
| B．Their observation equipment is in poor repair |
| C．Meteor showers occur less often than before |
| D．Their eyesight is failing due to artificial lighting |
What the author concerned about according to Paragraph 4?
| A．Birds may take other migration paths |
| B．Animal’living habits may change suddenly |
| C．Varieties of animals will become sharply reduced |
| D．Animals’survival is threatened by outdoor lighting |
Lighting regulations in Flagstaff,Arizona are put into effect to__________.
| A．Lessen the chance of getting cancer |
| B．ensure citizens a good sleep at night |
| C．create an ideal observation condition |
| D．enable all creatures to live in harmony |
What message does the author most want to give us?
| A．Saving wildlife is saving ourselves |
| B．Human activities should be environmentally friendly |
| C．Great efforts should be made to save energy |
| D．New equipment should be introduced for space study |
It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” Deluca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘you should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $ 1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did — in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain. Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ________.
| A．support his family | B．pay for his college education |
| C．help his partner expand business | D．do some research |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
| A．He put money into the sandwich business. |
| B．He was a professor of business administration. |
| C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
| D．He rented a storefront for Deluca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
| A．It stood at an unfavorable place. |
| B．It lowered the prices to poor management. |
| C．It made no profits due to poor management. |
| D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwich. |
They decided to open a second store because they _________.
| A．had enough money to do it |
| B．had succeeded in their business |
| C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
| D．wanted to make believe（假装）that they were successful |
What contributes most to their success according to the author?
| A．Learning by trial and error. | B．Making friends with supplies. |
| C．Finding a good partner. | D．Opening chain stores. |
Ever wondered how one person could save the planet from the effects of climate change?
A British-made computer game on trial release on Monday creates different ways of doing just that．
“Fate of the World”puts the Earth’s future in players’ hands, placing them in charge of an international environmental body which could save the world from the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions（排放）or let it destroyed by more emissions．
Through different scenes, players can explore options such as geoengineering（地球工程） and alternative energy sources to save the planet from rising temperatures, decreasing natural resources and a growing population over the next 200 years．
An improved version of the game will be followed by a three-month feedback period from players, with final release due in February next year．
Created by Oxford-based games developer Red Redemption, the game is different from other mainstream action games mainly by using data from real climate models and advice from scientists and economists．
“Science data is often inaccessible and we are trying to put players in a position of power and connected with the issues,” Gobion Rowlands, Red Redemption’s founder and chairman said．
This year, a series of apparent errors in climate science and the failure of UN talks to reach an international deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions appeared to weaken the public’s interest in climate change．
However, games centered on sustainability（持续性）and human rights have been growing in popularity and are welcomed by green groups as a way of raising awareness．
Using climate change as inspiration for entertainment shows the issue has affected global culture, which can only be a good thing．Friends of the Earth’s head of climate Mike Childs said.“We need creative industries to work with these big issues as the results can be extremely powerful and can help us to understand what a sustainable future looks and feels like,”he added．“Fate of the World” in the passage refers to．
| A．a book on computer games | B．a company developing computer games |
| C．a computer game on climate change | D．a player in charge of computer games |
What makes the climate computer game different from the other games?
| A．It uses data from real climate models and advice from experts． |
| B．It is the only computer game about climate． |
| C．It can save the planet from the effect of climate change． |
| D．It aims to affect the global culture． |
It can be concluded from the passage that ．
| A．games on sustainability and human rights are very popular among young players |
| B．the game increases players’ awareness of environmental protection |
| C．only computer experts can play the new climate computer game |
| D．after a three-month feedback period from players, the new game is on sale now |
Which of the following can NOT the players experience while playing the new game?
| A．Challenging the climate change in an unreal world |
| B．Understanding what a sustainable future looks and feels like |
| C．Enjoying the power to decide the earth’s fate |
| D．Predicting what will happen in 200 years |
In which column of a newspaper can you probably read this article?
| A．Weather & Climate | B．Science & Technology |
| C．Life & Entertainment | D．Sports & Culture |
“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move,” said David Belle, the founder of parkour(跑酷).
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond’s wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that’s parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy(理念) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, “I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”
Another philosophy we’ve learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence. Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of .
| A．its founder, David Belle | B．the film, Casino Royale |
| C．its risks and tricks | D．the varieties of participants |
The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “”.
| A．streets | B．objects | C．barriers | D．roofs |
Which of the following is true of parkour?
| A．It challenges human abilities. | B．It is a good but boring sport. |
| C．It needs special training. | D．It is a team sport. |
As its participants move around a city, .
| A．they can ask for help | B．they may choose to escape |
| C．they should run to extremes | D．they must learn to survive |
Which of the following is the philosophy of parkour?
| A．Sports and extremes. | B．Excitement and popularity. |
| C．Dreams and success. | D．Determination and freedom. |
From a very early age, some children show better self-control than others. Now, a new study that began with about 1,000 children in New Zealand has tracked how a child’s low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in their adult years.
Researchers have been studying this group of children for decades now. They observed the level of self-control the youngsters displayed. Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like “acting before thinking” and “Persistence in reaching goals.”
The study led by Moffitt of Duke University and colleagues followed 1,000 children from birth to age 32 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
“The children who had the lowest self-control when they were age three to ten, later on had the most health problems in their 30s,” Moffitt said，“and they had the worst financial situation. They were more likely to have a criminal record and to be raising a child as a single parent on a very low income.” Moffitt explained that self-control problems were widely observed, and weren’t just a feature of a small group of misbehaving kids.
Moffitt said it’s still unclear why some children have better self-control than others, though she said other researchers have found that it’s mostly a learned behavior, with relatively little genetic influence. But good self-control can be set to run in families because children with good self-control are more likely to grow up to be healthy and prosperous parents. But the good news, Moffitt said, is that self-control can be taught by parents, and through school curricula that have been shown to be effective.From the first two paragraphs we learn that.
| A．the research has been carried out for five years |
| B．self-control in kids tends to determine their future |
| C．self-control was assessed by children’s intelligence |
| D．children’s self-control is almost the same at early age |
Children with low self-control are more likely to .
| A．become wealthy in later life | B．get good school performance |
| C．have better financial planning | D．adopt negative behaviors |
According to Moffitt，.
| A．only good genetic factors can shape their lives in the future |
| B．scientists know well why some children have better self-control |
| C．self-control in childhood has nothing to do with criminal activity |
| D．willpower as a child really influences people’s chances of adulthood |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Self-control cannot be taught in schools. |
| B．The study is restricted within few participants. |
| C．It’s never too late to deal with self-control problems. |
| D．Good parenting can improve self-control and life success. |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage？
| A．Child’s self-control predicts future health and success |
| B．Kids are encouraged to take risks at an early age |
| C．Children’s development cannot be changed by teachers |
| D．How to teach the kids a bit of self-control in schools |
Most American students go to traditional public schools. There are about 88,000 public schools all over the US. Some students attend about 3000 independent public schools called charter schools.
Charter schools are self-governing. Private companies operate some charter schools. They are similar in some ways to traditional public schools. They receive tax money just as other public schools do. Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning. These governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits them to operate.
Charter schools are different because they do not have to obey most laws governing traditional public schools. Local, state or federal governments cannot tell them what to teach. Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach them. Class size is usually smaller than in traditional public schools.
The Bush Administration strongly supports charter schools as a way to re-organize public schools that are failing to educate students. But some education agencies and unions oppose charter schools. One teachers’ union has just made public the results of the first national study comparing the progress of students in traditional schools and charter schools.
The American Federation of Teachers criticized the government’s delay in releasing the results of the study, which is called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Union education experts say the study shows that charter school students performed worse on math and reading tests than students in regular public schools.
Some experts say the study is not a fair look at charter schools because students in those schools have more problems than students in traditional schools. Other education experts say the study results should make charter school officials demand improved student progress.If a private company wants to operate a charter school, it must.
| A．try new methods of teaching | B．prove its management ability |
| C．obey the local and state laws | D．get the government’s permission |
Charter schools are independent because .
| A．they make greater progress | B．their class size is smaller |
| C．they enjoy more freedom | D．they oppose traditional ways |
What’s the government’s attitude toward charter schools?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supportive. | C．Subjective. | D．Optimistic. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．More students choose to attend charter schools. |
| B．Charter schools are better than traditional schools. |
| C．Students in charter schools are well educated. |
| D．People have different opinions about charter schools. |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．charter schools are part of the education system |
| B．one-on-one attention should be paid to students |
| C．the number of charter schools will be limited |
| D．charter schools are all privately financed |