In summer, millions of people will head for the beach.And while the ocean can be a great place to swim and play, it may also be useful in another way.Some scientists think that waves could help make electricity.
“Have you ever been on a surfboard or boat and felt yourself being lifted up by a wave? Or have you jumped in the water and felt the energy as waves crashed over you?” asked Jamie Taylor of the Wave Energy Group at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.“There is certainly a lot of energy in waves.”
Scientists are working on using that energy to make electricity.
Most waves are created when winds blow across the ocean.“The winds start out by making little ripples (波纹) in the water, but if they keep on blowing , those ripples get bigger and bigger and turn into waves, ”Taylor said.“Waves are one of nature’s ways of picking up energy and then sending it off on a journey.”
When waves come towards the shore, people can set up dams or other barricades to block the water and send it through a large wheel called a turbine (涡轮) .The turbine can then power an electrical generator (发电机) .
The United States and a few other countries have started doing research on wave energy , and it is already being used in Scotland.
The resource is huge.We will never run out of wave power, besides, wave energy does not create the same pollution as other energy sources, such as oil and coal.
Oceans cover three quarters of the earth’s surface.That would make wave power seem perfect for creating energy around the world.There are some drawbacks, however.
Jamie Taylor said that wave power still cost too much money.He said that its effects on animals in the sea were still unknown.Plus, wave power would get in the way of fishing and boat traffic.
With more research, however, “many of these problems might be overcome,” Taylor said.“Demand for energy to power our TVs and computers, drive our cars, and heat and cool our homes is growing quickly throughout the world.Finding more energy sources is very important, for traditional sources of energy like oil and gas may run out some day.”
In the future, when you turn on a light switch, an ocean wave could be providing the electricity!Which of the following is NOT true?
| A.Wave power costs too much money. |
| B.Wave energy creates the same amount of pollution as other energy sources. |
| C.Wave power affects fishing and boat traffic. |
| D.Wave power may affect marine animals. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A.finding new energy sources like wave energy is important |
| B.wave energy is a resource that will never run out and is used all over the world |
| C.wave power is perfect for creating energy around the world |
| D.wave power doesn’t create any pollution. |
The underlined word “drawbacks” probably means ______.
| A.regrets | B.adventures |
| C.disadvantages | D.difficulties |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A.How to Get Electricity by Waves. |
| B.A Huge Resource of Energy. |
| C.Can Waves Make Electricity? |
| D.The Disadvantages of Wave Energy. |
Ben and his wife Susan were on their way to have dinner with their friends. It was a dark,windy night, and they did not know the way very well. They drove through a town until they found what they thought was the road to Dorling,where their friends lived. But it soon became clear that they were not on the road to Dorling at all. The road that they were on was getting narrower,and there were no other cars on it. The wind was blowing harder with every minute that passed.
They came to a small village .They drove past a church and then two houses without lights on. There was nobody about to tell them where they were,or where the road went. Just then,Ben saw a telephone box,twenty meters or so further on. While he walked back along the road to see if there was a name outside the church,Susan telephoned their friends and told them that they were still on their way.
Their friends were just saying that the dinner was already getting rather cold,when Ben came back to the telephone box,his head down against the wind. He said that there was a tree lying across the road,and that the telephone lines were down. Susan heard nothing more from their friends about the dinner.Some time later Ben and Susan found they took a wrong road because ________.
| A.their friends lived nearer than they drove |
| B.the road was getting narrower and their car alone was on it |
| C.the hard wind made them get lost |
| D.the road was not the same as before |
Ben went to the church to see if there was a name outside because ________.
| A.he was sure to find some people who knew Dorling |
| B.he hoped to get help from there |
| C.he wanted to telephone his friends where they were |
| D.he wanted to stay there for the night |
Susan could hear nothing more from their friends because ________.
| A.the telephone lines were broken by a tree |
| B.the strong wind made too much noise |
| C.they got angry |
| D.they had all left |
From the passage we know ________.
| A.Ben and his wife often went out for dinners |
| B.Ben and his wife lived in the country |
| C.both Ben and his wife were shortsighted(近视的) |
| D.Ben and his wife seldom(很少) went to Dorling |
A recent study, published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how risky(冒险的) it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a deadly accident as a teenager driving alone, while the risk of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional passenger.
The authors also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased sharply after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.
Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. “The basic issue,” he says, “is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is.”
Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate (使……缓解)the problem is to have states set up so-called graduated licensing systems, in which getting a license is a multistage process. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself capable of driving in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with night or passenger limits, before graduating to full driving licenses.
Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes, according to recent studies. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place, but only 10 of those states have limits on passengers. California is the strictest, with a new driver under 20 forbidden to carry any passenger (without the presence of an adult over 25) for the first six months. Which of the following situations can we infer is most dangerous according to the passage?
| A.A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car. |
| B.Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m. |
| C.Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night. |
| D.A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight. |
According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly because of _______.
| A.their frequent driving at night |
| B.their improper ways of driving |
| C.their driving with passengers |
| D.their lack of driving experience |
According to Paragraph 3, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A.The licensing departments are partly responsible for teenagers' driving accidents. |
| B.Driving is too complex a skill for teenagers to learn. |
| C.Teenagers should be forbidden to apply to take driving lessons. |
| D.Teenagers should spend more time learning to drive. |
A suggested measure to be taken to reduce teenagers' driving accidents is that_______.
| A.driving in the presence of an adult should be made a rule |
| B.the licensing system should be improved |
| C.they should not be allowed to drive after 10 p.m. |
| D.they should be forbidden to take on passengers |
Eight days for just¥12,000
Departs:May—October 2007
Includes:
● Return flights from 6 China’s airports to Naples
● Return airport to hotel transport
● Seven nights’accommodation at the 3-star Hotel Nice
● Breakfast
● The service of guides
● Government taxes
Join us for a wonderful holiday in one of the Europe’s most wonderful-Naples in Italy if you want to have a nice time in a beautiful small quiet place.The ancient Romans called the city“happy land”with attractive coastline,colorful towns,splendid views and the warm Mediterranean Sea.Your best choice for a truly memorable holiday!
Choose between the peaceful villages of Sant’ Agata,set on a hillside six miles away from Sorrento,or the more lively and well-known international resort(名胜) town of Sorrento,with wonderful views over the Bay of Naples.
Breathtaking scenery,famous sights and European restaurants everywhere.From the mysterious Isle of Capri to the hunting ruins of Pompeii,and from the unforgettable“Amalfi Drive”to the delightful resorts of Positano,Sorrento and Ravello,the area is a feast for the eyes! Join us,and you won’t be disappointed!
Price based on two tourists sharing a double room at the Hotel Nice.A single room,another¥2,000.A group of ten college students,¥10,000 for each.
Like to know more ? Telephone Newmarket Air Holidays Ltd on:0845-226-7788(All calls charged at local rates).All the following are included in the price of ¥12,000 EXCEPT ___________
| A.transport between the airport and the hotel |
| B.double rooms for every two tourists |
| C.the service of guides to tourists |
| D.telephone calls made by tourists |
If you don’t like sharing a room with others,you have to pay __________ in all for the trip?
| A.¥12,000 | B.¥10,000 | C.¥14,000 | D.¥2,000 |
In which section of a newspaper can we see the ad?
| A.news | B.sports | C.life | D.book review |
A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It is unusual for what it contains: the news from local crime to international politics, from sports to business to fashion to science, and the comments and special features(特写)as well, from editorial page to feature articles, from interviews to criticism of books, art, theatre, and music. A newspaper is even more unusual for the way one reads it never completely, never straight through, but always by jumping from here to there, in and out, glancing at one piece, reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraphs of the next.
A good modern newspaper offers a variety to attract many different readers, but far more than any one reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality, that is, its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But this immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it also mean that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than temporary value. For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper: what each person does is to put together, out of the pages of that day’s paper, his own selection and order, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need but without wasting time, demands skill and self-awareness(意识) as you change and apply the techniques of reading.What does the underlined word in the second paragraph mean ?
| A.wide coverage | B.speed in reporting news |
| C.various style | D.popularity among readers |
According to the passage, the reason why no two people really read the same newspaper is that ___________.
| A.people are interested in the same kind of news |
| B.different people prefer different newspapers |
| C.people scan for the news they are interested in |
| D.people have different views about what a good newspaper is |
A good newspaper offers “a variety” to readers because ___________.
| A.readers like to read different newspapers |
| B.it has to cover things that happen in a certain locality |
| C.readers are difficult to please |
| D.it tries to serve different readers |
The best title for this passage would be ___________.
| A.The Characteristics of a Good Newspaper |
| B.The Importance of a good Newspaper |
| C.Good Newspapers and Bad Newspapers |
| D.Some Advice on How to Read a Newspaper |
The young man arrived on the Massachusetts beach early carrying a radio, a shovel(铁锹), and a strange set of tools: a brick layer’s trowel, a palette knife, spatulas, spoons, and a spray bottle.
He walked down near the water — the tide(潮水) was out — and switched on the radio to listen to soft rock. Then he shoveled wet sand into a pile nearly four feet high and as many feet across. Then he created a square shape.
After that, he set to work with palette knife, spatulas, and spoons. He shaped a splendid tower, topped walls, fashioned beautiful bay windows, and carved (雕刻)out a big front gate.
The man knew his sand. He smoothly finished some surfaces and carved artistic designs on others. As the shapes began to dry, he gently kept them slightly wet with water from the spray bottle, in case they might break in the wind.
All this took hours. People gathered. At last he stood back, obviously satisfied with a castle worthy of the Austrian countryside or Disneyland.
Then he gathered his tools and radio and moved them up to drier sand. He had known for a while what many in the crowd still ignored: the tide was coming in. Not only had he practiced his art with confidence and style, he also had done so against a powerful, irresistible(不可抵抗的) deadline.
As the crowd looked on, water came at the base of the castle. In minutes it was surrounded. Then the rising flood began to eat into the base, walls fell, the tower fell, and finally the gate fell. More minutes passed, and small waves erased bay windows — soon no more than a small part was left.
Many in the crowd looked terribly sad; some voiced fear and discouragement. But the man remained calm. He had, after all, had a wonderful day, making beauty out of nothing, and watching it return to nothing as time and tide moved on.In this passage, why did the young man start early in the day?
| A.He needed the sun to help dry the sand. |
| B.It gave plenty of time for the crowd to gather. |
| C.He knew the tide was out on this particular morning. |
| D.It was easier to begin his work with only a few people around. |
In this passage, what does the incoming tide signal?
| A.It is time to begin working. |
| B.It is the end of a day’s work. |
| C.It is the busiest time of the day. |
| D.It is time for lookers-on to leave. |
How did the lookers-on react when the tide began to come in?
| A.They were disappointed to see the art ruined. |
| B.They tried their best to save the sand castle. |
| C.They were nervous about their own belongings. |
| D.They helped the artist finish the castle. |
We can tell that the young man’s reward for his work is ___________.
| A.payment for his work |
| B.personal satisfaction |
| C.popularity as an artist |
| D.attention from the crowd |