The U.S. government’s push to decrease the nation’s output of greenhouse gases by increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars Americans drive is arousing again an emotional argument: Does driving a small, fuel-efficient car make you more likely to die on the road?
Engineers and statistical analysts can point to data that suggest more-efficient cars don’t necessarily put motorists at greater overall risk. But most of us care less about the “overall” risk than we do about ourselves. Driving a big Chevrolet Tahoe SUV makes many of us believe we are safer than we would be in a smaller car — even if statistical measures across a large population of vehicles and all kinds of car accidents suggest the advantage of safety isn’t quite as wide as SUV owners believe.
The Obama government has put the fuel-efficiency and safety question back on the front burner by calling for new-vehicle fuel economy to rise to an average of 35 miles per gallon (加仑) by 2020 from about 25 mpg today. That goal could move higher if the government decides to adopt California’s requirement to cut vehicle greenhouse-gas giving off, which would result in stricter mileage standards.
Those moves, and the effects of last summer’s gas-price shock, are driving auto makers to offer cars such as the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Daimler AG’s Smart For Two — which get the kind of mileage today that law says should be the average in a decade. Beyond that, auto makers will launch a wide range of new compact (紧凑的) vehicles, and decrease production of large, body-on-frame SUVs.
That’s leading to new concerns about “green safety”, a term for managing the balance between reducing vehicle size for efficiency and adding safety and protection features that tend to make vehicles heavier and less efficient. Undoubtedly, further work has to be done before Americans make the choice.The U.S. government requires to improve the fuel efficiency in order to ________.
A. push Americans to drive smaller cars
B. reduce the output of greenhouse gases
C. drive auto makers to produce fewer SUVs
C. cause Americans to make an argumentAccording to Paragraph 2, engineers and analysts’ idea ________.
| A．fails to relieve people of their worry about safety |
| B．persuades people to purchase smaller cars instead of SUVs |
| C．is based on research and therefore persuasive enough |
| D．makes people think of their safety as well as others’ |
About the Obama government’s new moves, the auto makers are ________ and average
Americans are ________.
| A．uncertain; positive | B．doubtful; uncertain |
| C．supportive; positive | D．positive; uncertain |
The best title for the text should be ________.
| A．New Law Reduces Greenhouse Gases Output |
| B．Can Small Cars Overcome Accident Fears? |
| C．New Compact Cars Gets Popular in the U.S. |
| D．Do We Have to Follow the Government? |
It was early morning. Peter Corbett helped Mark Wellman out of his wheelchair and onto the ground. They stood before El Capitan, a huge mass of rock almost three-quarters of a mile high in California’s beautiful Yosemite Valley. It had been Mark’s dream to climb El Capitan for as long as he could remember. But how could a person without the use of his legs hope to try to climb it?
Mark knew he couldn’t finish the climb alone, but his friend Peter, an expert rock climber, would be there to lend a helping hand. He and Mark thought that it would take seven days to reach the top.
Peter climbed about 100 feet up and hammered
a piton(岩钉) into the rock. Fastening one end of a 165-foot rope to the piton, he let one end of the rope fall down. Mark caught the rope and fastened it to his belt with a special instrument. This instrument would allow Mark to move upward, but would prevent him from falling even as much as a single inch. He next reached above his head and fastened a T-shaped bar to the rope, using the same kind of instrument.
Mark took a deep breath, pushed the T-bar up almost as far as his arms could reach, and began the first of the 7, 000 pull-ups needed to reach the top. High above, Peter let out a cheer. “You’re on your way.”
Seven years before, at the age of twenty-one, Mark
had fallen while mountain climbing, injuring his backbone. The fall cost him the use of his legs, but he never lost his love of adventure or his joyful spirit.
For the first four days the two men progressed steadily upward without incident. But on the fifth day an unbearably hot wind began to blow, and as time went by, it became stronger and stronger, causing Mark to sway(摇摆) violently on his rope. But Mark kept on de
terminedly pushing up the T-bar and pulling himself up. In spite of that, he had to admit that he felt a lot better when the wind finally died down and his body touched solid rock again.
It took them one day more than they had expected, but on July 26 at 1:45 in the afternoon, the crowd of people waiting on the top went wild with joy as the two heads appeared. Mark Wellman had shown that if you set your heart and mind on a goal, no
wall is too high, no dream impossible.What had Mark Wellman long desired to do?
| A．To finish one of the most difficult rock climbs in the world. |
| B．To be the first to climb El Capitan. |
| C．To climb the highest mountain in California. |
| D．To help his friend Peter climb El Capitan. |
How did Mark climb the mountain?
| A．He fastened the rope to his wheelchair. |
| B．He hammered in pitons so that he had something to hold on to. |
| C．He held on to the T-bar and Peter pulled him up. |
| D．He pulled himself up using a T-bar and special equipment. |
How did Mark lose the use of his legs?
| A．He lost his footing and fell from the side of a mountain. |
| B．He fell during his first attempt on El Capitan. |
| C．His legs were broken by falling rocks. |
| D．While working out in the gym, he injured his backbone. |
What was the worst problem Mark had during the climb?
| A．He struck against the rock and hurt his arms. |
| B．A strong wind blew him away from the rock. |
| C．He kept falling several inches. |
| D．While swaying in space, he became terrified. |
How did Mark react to difficulties during the climb?
| A．He admitted that he was frightened. |
B．He often worried about his friend’ s condition. |
| C．He was able to remain clam and determined. |
| D．He was joking to cheer himself up. |
The fiddler crab (蟹) is a living clock. It shows the time of day by the colour of its skin, which is dark by day and pale by night. The crab’s changing colour follows a regular twenty—four hour plan that exactly matches the daily rhythm of the sun.
Does the crab actually keep time, or does its skin simply answer to the sun’s rays, changing colour according to the amount of light strikes it? To find out, biologists kept crabs in a dark room for two months. Even without daylight, the crab’s skin colour continued to change exactly on time.
This characteristic probably developed gradually in answer to the daily rising and setting of the sun, to help protect the crab from sunlight and enemies. After millions of years it has become completely regulated (受控制) inside the living body of the crab.
The biologists noticed that once each day th
e colour of the fiddler crab is especially dark, and that each day this happens fifty minutes later than on the day before. Fro
m this they discovered that each crab follows not only the rhythm of the sun but also that of the tides (潮水). The crab’s period of greatest darkening is exactly the time of low tide on the beach where it was caught!The fiddler crab is like a clock because it changes colour ______.
A in a regular 24—hour rhythm B. in answer to the sun’s rays
C.
at low tideD. every fifty minutesThe crab’s changing colour ______.
| A．tells the crab what time it is | B．protects the crab from the sunlight and enemies |
| C．keeps the crab warm | D．is of no real use |
When the fiddler crabs were kept in the dark , they ______.
| A．did not change colour | B．changed colour more quickly |
| C．changed colour more slowly | D．changed colour on the same timetable |
The crab’s colour—changing ability was probably developed ______.
| A．in the process of evolution (进化) | B．over millions of years |
| C．by the work of biologists | D．both A and B |
The best title for this selection would be ______.
| A．The Sun and the Tides | B．Discoveries in Biology |
| C．A scientific Study | D．A Living Clock |
Shu Pulong has helped at least 1000 people bitten (咬) by snakes. 
“It was seeing people with snake bites (伤口) that led me to this career,” he said.
In 1963, after his army service, Shu entered a medical school and later became a doctor of Chinese medicine. As part of his studies he had to work in the mountains. There he often heard of people who had their arms and legs cut off after a snake bite in order to save their lives.
“I was greatly upset by the story of an old farmer I met. It was a very hot afternoon. The old man was pulling grass in his fields when he felt a pain in his left hand. He at once realized he had been bitten by a poisonous snake. In no time he wrapped a cloth tightly around his arm to stop the poison spreading to his heart. Rushing home he shouted ‘Bring me the knife!’ Minutes later the man lost his arm forever.”
“The sad story touched me so much that I decided to devote myself to helping people bitten by snakes,” Shu said.The best headline (标题) for this newspaper article is ______ .
| A．Astonishing Medicine | B．Farmer Loses Arm |
| C．Dangerous Bites | D．Snake Doctor |
The farmer lost his arm because______.
| A．the cloth was wrapped too tightly | B．he cut it off to save his life |
| C．Shu wasn’t there to help him | D．he was alone in the fields |
She decided to devote himself to snake medicine because______.
| A．he wanted to save people’s arms and legs | B．he had studied it at a medical school |
| C．he had seen snakes biting people | D．his army service had finished |
Why did Shu go into the mountains? ______
| A．He wanted to study snake bites . | B．He wanted to help the farmers . |
| C．He was being trained to be a doctor . | D．He was expected to serve in the army . |
Which of the following words can take the place of the word career in the first paragraph(段)? ______
| A．conclusion | B．story | C．incident | D．job |
There have been great changes in the lives of women. During the twentieth century ,there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to hav
e about eight children, of whom about five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which custom, chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty. Even while she has the care of children, her work is lightened by household appliances(家用电器) and convenience(方便) foods.
This important change in women’s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards, return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money and running the home, according to the abilities and interest of each them.Women marrying at the end of the 19th century ________.
| A．would have fewer children than those today. |
| B．would have more children than those today. |
C．lived as hard as those in the 20th century |
| D．lived more comfortably than those in the 20th century |
According to the passage, a woman in the 19th century would likely to have about eight children and _______.
| A．only about three of them could live more than five years old. |
| B．only about three of them could live for five years. |
| C．about eight children lived to be more than five years. |
| D．about eight children lived to be less than five years. |
From the second paragraph, we know _______.
| A．women today are not willing to run their home together with their husbands. |
| B．women today wouldn’t like to do any housework. |
| C．women today will return to work after they have their babies. |
| D．were unlikely to find jobs like the mothers before . |
According to the passage, which of the following is right ?
| A．in the past most women often stay at home after leaving school |
| B．women today like to marry men younger than themselves |
| C．women today are playing important parts in work and family life. |
| D．husbands today needn’t do any work at home. |
For children with cancer(癌),the facts of life include the facts of death.
There is always the fear that they might not live to grow up．Yet they realize that fighting cancer is the only way of beating it. So they fight．And sometimes, they win.It may take years．It certainly takes support from parents and doctors.
Unfortunately, many parents can't deal with their child's illness．And doctors, no matter how caring, have other patients to care for. At times like these, the Children's Cancer Foundation can help. We are a group of Hong Kong doctors, nurses, psychologists, parents of children with cancer and concerned persons (有关人士).All of us are volunteers (offer one's help without payment).We're with the children every day, listening to, and encouraging them.
We also advise parents, educate the public and send doctors overseas to study new cancer treatments. Our funding (providing money) has brought better equipment to the wards (large rooms of a hospital), and paid for special flat
s where the children can recover.
We want to do even more．But to do it, we need your help. It will be money well spent．One who looks at our past achievements should prove that．
To the children, your contribution （贡献）will also be a show of support.A sign that you're behind them is just the sort of news that a six-year-old chlid with cancer needs to hear. This passage is likely_________.
| A．a story | B．an advertisement |
| C．a report | D．diary |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．the people who work for the children with cancer are not paid. |
| B．the Children's Cancer Foundation gets money from the children with cancer |
| C．every child can get help from the Children's Cancer Foundation. |
D．only psychologi sts and parents of children with cancer are willing to help the children with cancer |
The Children's Cancer Foundation _________.
| A．has set up many hospitals. |
| B．is made up of many volunteers including doctors, nurses, psychologists and so on. |
C．hasn’t done anything for the the  children with cancer. |
D．can’t help the children with cancer in many ways. |