A meteor(陨星) that exploded over Russia’s Ural mountains and sent burning to earth has set off a rush to find fragments of the space rock which hunters hope could fetch thousands of dollars a piece.
Friday’s explosion and following shockwave shattered windows, injured almost 1200 people and caused about $33 million worth of damage, said local authorities.
It also started a “meteorite rush” around the industrial city of Chelyabinsk,where groups of people have started combing through the snow and ice.
“The price is hard to say yet… The fewer meteorites that are discovered, the higher their price is.” Said Dmitry Kachkalin, a member of the Russian Society of Amateur Meteorite Lovers.
Meteorites are parts of a meteor that have fallen to earth.
Scientists at the Urals Federal University were the first to announce a significant find-53 small, stony, black objects around Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, which tests confirmed were small meteorites.
The fragments were only 0.5 to 1 cm across but the scientists said larger pieces may have crashed into the lake, where a crater in the ice about eight metres wide opened up after Friday’s explosion.
“We just completed tests and confirm that the pieces of matter found by our experts around Lake Chebarkul are really meteorites.” said Viktor Grokhovsky, a scientist with the Urals Federal University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Many other people were in the area just hoping to find a meteorite after what was described by scientists as a once-in-a-century event.
Residents of a village near Chelyabinsk searched the snowy streets, collecting stones they hoped prove to be the real thing. But not all were ready to sell.
“I will keep it. Why sell it? I didn’t have a rich lifestyle before, so why start now?” a woman in a woollen hat and winter jacket, clutching a small black pebble(小圆石), told state television.
The Internet was filled quickly with advertisements from eager hunters hoping to sell what they said were meteorites - some for as little as 1,000 roubles ($33.18).
One seller of a large, silver-hued rock wrote in an advertisement:” Selling an unusual rock. It may be a piece of meteorite. It may be a bit of a UFO. It may be a piece of a rocket!”According to the passage, lots of people rushed to find meteorites for_____.
| A．fun | B．money |
| C．research | D．fame |
The underlined phrase in the third paragraphmeans ______.
| A．striking hard |
| B．enjoying the happiness of |
| C．searching carefully |
| D．making a place tidy and clean |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．The price of meteorites will be very high without doubt. |
| B．A meteor exploded over Russia’s Ural mountains on Friday. |
| C．All meteorites hunters want to sell what they found and become rich. |
| D．People from all across Russia have rushed to Ural mountains to find meteorites. |
Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?
| A．How to identity a meteorite |
| B．To sell or to keep your meteorite |
| C．Meteorite rush around Chelyabinsk |
| D．Meteor explosion caused great damage |
Our risk of cancer rises rapidly as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened(拍片检查) for new tumors (肿瘤) or doesn’t it?
While such tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it s important to weigh the health benefits of screening against the risks and costs of routine testing.
In many cases, screening can lead to additional examinations and operations to remove cancer, which can cause side effects, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not cause serious health problems in patients’ remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so ingrained (根深蒂固的) that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a noisy reaction among doctors, patients and social groups.
It’s hard to uproot deeply-held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history or previous personal experience with the disease, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the rest, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like remaining life expectancy.
A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more objective decisions about who will truly benefit from screening—especially considering the explosion of the elderly.
It’s not an easy calculation to make, but one that makes sense for patients. Dr. Otis Brawley said, “Many doctors are ordering these tests purely to cover themselves from medical disputes（争端）. We need to think about the wise use of health care, which means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients, and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.” Routine cancer screening for the elderly people makes sense because ______.
| A．it is believed to contribute to a long life |
| B．it is part of their health care package |
| C．they are more sensitive about the health |
| D．they are in greater danger of tumor growth |
How do some researchers now look at routine cancer screening for the elderly?
| A．It adds too much to their medical bills. |
| B．They are doubtful about its necessity. |
| C．It helps increase their life expectancy. |
| D．They think it does more harm than good. |
What is the traditional view about women screening for breast cancer?
| A．It is a must for adult women. |
| B．It applies to women over 50. |
| C．It is intended for young women. |
| D．It doesn’t apply to women over 74. |
What does the writer say is the general view about health care?
| A．Better care, longer life. |
| B．Prevention is better than cure. |
| C．Better early than late. |
| D．The more, the better. |
HOLIDAY FUN AT THE POWERHOUSE
500 HARRIS STREET
ULTIMO ·TELEPHONE (02)9270111
Join in the holiday fun at the powerhouse this month linked to our new exhibition, Evolution & Revolution: Chinese dress 1700s to now. DON’T FORGET our other special event, the Club Med Circus School which is part of the Circus（马戏团）！150 years of circus in Australia exhibition experience!
◆Chinese Folk Dancing: Colorful Chinese dance and musical performances by The Chinese Folk Dancing School of Sydney. Dances include: the Golden and the Chinese drum dance. A feature will be the Qin dynasty Emperor’s count dance. Also included is a show of face painting for Beijing opera performances.
Sunday June29 and Wednesday July2 in the Turbine Hall, at 11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
◆Australian Chinese Children’s Arts Theatre: Well-known children’s play experts from Shanghai lead this dynamic youth group. Performances include Chinese fairy tales and plays.
Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 July in the Turbine Hall, at 11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
◆Chinese Youth League: A traditional performing arts group featuring performance highlights such as Red scarf and Spring flower dances, and a musician playing Er Hu.
Sunday 6 to Tuesday 8 July in the Turbine Hall. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
◆Kids Activity: Make a Paper Horse: Young children make a paper horse cut-out. (The horse is a frequent theme in Chinese painting, including a kind of advancement.) Suitable for ages 8-12 years.
Sunday 28 June to Tuesday 8 July in the Turbine Hall. 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
◆Club Med Circus School: Learn circus skills, including the trapeze, trampolining and magic. Note only for children over 5. There are 40 places available in each 1 hour session and these must be booked at the front desk, level 4, on the day.
Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 July at 11:30 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.
Enjoy unlimited free visits and many other benefits by becoming a Family member of the Powerhouse. Our family memberships cover two adults and all children under the age of 16 years at the one address.
All this for as little as $50.00 a year! Call (02)92170600 for more details.When can you watch the Chinese drum dance?
| A．On July 2. | B．On July 3. |
| C．On July 6. | D．On July 8. |
To learn the magic tricks, you can go to ____________.
| A．Kids Activity. |
| B．Chinese Youth League. |
| C．Club Med Circus School. |
| D．Children’s Arts Theatre. |
What is required if you want to enjoy free visits to the Museum?
| A．Calling (02)92170600. |
| B．Gaining family membership. |
| C．Coming for the holiday fun. |
| D．Paying Powerline $50.00 a year. |
What is the main purpose of the text?
| A．To attract visitors. |
| B．To present schedules. |
| C．To report the performances. |
| D．To teach kids Chinese arts. |
Security—for the information on your smartphone, as well as for the phone itself---is a hot topic these days. The truth is that you’re packing a lot of sensitive information on your phone, and you should keep it safe.
When it comes to physical security, iPhone users would do well to download Find My iPhone, a free app from Apple that allows you to visit a website and see your (lost, stolen or misplaced) phone on the map. You can then sound an alarm, send a message that will pop up on its screen, lock the phone or erase all your data.
Android does not have an exact equivalent(等价物), but there are plenty of alternatives. A free app called Lookout offers the find-my-phone feature. The paid version allows you to wipe the data from your phone remotely.
Then there is your coffee shop’s WiFi network. Anyone with minimal technical expert skill can snoop on(窥视) people using shared wireless networks, harvesting passwords and other personal data. Lookout’s apps will caution you when you’ve logged on to an insecure network, but cannot protect you once you’re there.
In order to protect yourself on such networks, you can use a virtual private network, or V.P.N. This turns all your activity into nonsense to anyone trying to read along with you from across the Starbucks. It also keeps websites from tracking you and, if you’re traveling, allows you to get access to sites that may be blocked in other countries.
If you have an iPhone, the simplest V.P.N. app is probably Hotspot Shield, whose distinguishing feature is said to be that it automatically kicks in each time you start browsing (浏览), as opposed to other V.P.N. apps that require you to start them up manually(手动). This matters, because even if you decide you want a V.P.N. app, you want to spend approximately zero time thinking about it. For the most part, that was true of Hotspot Shield, though occasionally it took a while to connect or temporarily lost connection without warning. I found myself having to turn the app on and off sometimes, which involved setting my phone constantly.
If even reading about the setting on your phone drives you crazy, then it is probably best to stay away from a V.P.N. app. But if you’re the type who can’t resist checking your bank balance from your comer bar, the hassle (麻烦) may be preferable to the risk.Which of the following can warn you against the insecure network?
| A．Android | B．V.P.N. | C．Lookout | D．Find My iPhone |
By using V.P.N., users can ________.
| A．find their lost phone on the Internet |
| B．remove all the data form the phone remotely |
| C．check the bank balance now and then |
| D．save their browsing from being tracked |
The underlined word “that” in Para.6 refers to the fact that _________.
| A．a V.P.N. app kicks in automatically |
| B．the users starts V.P.N. apps manually |
| C．the app take a while to connect |
| D．users spend no time thinking about it |
One evening last summer, when I asked my 14-year-old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response shocked me. "What’s a colander(漏勺)? " he asked.
I could only blame myself. In the family, nobody else’s hands went in the sauce except my own. But that night, as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for.
As parents, while we focus on our sons’ confidence and character, we perhaps don’t always consider that we are also raising someone’s future roommates, boyfriends, husbands, or fathers. I wanted to know that I’d raised a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, "What’s for dinner?" So I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course. I was delighted to find that he didn’t say no. For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine. One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for roasting. Then he rolled out the piecrust (馅饼皮) and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven.
I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops in the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother—he tried to beg off sewing lessons, even though I insisted that one day, someone would find the sight of him fixing his own shirt very attractive— but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. "I appreciate what you do as a mom," he told me one day. Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more importantly, he realizes there’s nothing masculine (男子气概的) about being helpless.
Now, not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family. That’s what I call a man. I’m glad that I prepared so great a present for my future daughter-in-law.Why was the author shocked at her son’s response?
| A．Because he was not well behaved. |
| B．Because he refused to help with dinner. |
| C．Because he didn’t know the common kitchen tools. |
| D．Because he was very curious about kitchen tools. |
In the author’s opinion, some parents pay little attention to _______.
| A．building up children’s confidence |
| B．telling kids what is right and wrong |
| C．preparing children for their future life |
| D．making children live a hard life |
After learning to do housework, Ray _______.
| A．fell in love with sewing |
| B．did other work in the house |
| C．began to be more hardworking |
| D．acknowledged his mother’s efforts |
We can infer from the text that Ray _______.
| A．made great progress in cooking. |
| B．always thought housework interesting. |
| C．preferred sewing to cooking. |
| D．was unwilling to learn cooking at first. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Useful education for boys |
| B．The importance of housework |
| C．Boys should be involved in housework. |
| D．Cooking and sewing make boys masculine. |
There are many fun, free activities that you can do as a family. All that is required is a bit of imagination and some time set aside for fun. And the best part is that these are the kind of memories a child will remember for a lifetime.
Family game night
Find out any of the games that are already around the house. Kids often get computer games for Christmas or birthdays, and would love to have a chance to play with their family. Or, make up some games of your own. “Charades” is a fun game to play that will challenge a child to use his/her imagination. Divide the family into teams and let each team come up with words that the other has to act out.
________________________
Pick some time for the family to sit down and come up with their own masterpiece. It doesn't need to be just a drawing -- take some old magazines sitting around the house, let the kids cut out pictures and paste them into their own montage. Or, use items from nature. Let them use leaves, pine cones（松果）, twigs and whatever else they can find to create something from their imaginations.
Family Picnic
Taking the family for a picnic is a great way for some fun that doesn't cost any money. If the weather is nice, take them to a park or playground and let the kids have a day of playing. Or, if it is the middle of winter and a foot of snow is on the ground, set up a picnic in the living room.
Family Field Trip
A family field trip doesn't have to cost a dime. Ask a nearby farm if it would be alright to bring your kids out for a tour and to see some of the animals. Or take them to a park and make a scavenger hunt(寻物游戏) where they need to find certain items from nature. Ask a local business if you could bring the family for a tour to see how things work -- you might be surprised at the number of people who would be thrilled to share what they do with others, and it could be an interesting lesson for the kids.We can learn from the passage that “charades” ________.
| A．is a computer game |
| B．is too difficult for children |
| C．involves acting out words |
| D．should be played by more than four people |
What is the best title to be put in the blank of part two? ____________.
| A．Family art time | B．Family gardening time |
| C．Family music time | D．Family cleaning time |
According to the passage, the family picnic____________.
| A．should be held in the middle of winter |
| B．can be held inside your house |
| C．will be very meaningful if held in offices |
| D．will cost much money if held on a farm |
The writer wrote this passage mainly to _____________.
| A．encourage children to use imagination. |
| B．share precious family memories |
| C．discuss young children’s interests |
| D．suggest fun activities to families |