LONDON ( Reuters)-- Ecotourism (生态旅游) is causing a lot of damage to wildlife and may be endangering the survival(生存) of the very animals people are flocking to see, according to researchers.
Biologists and conservationists (自然环境保护论者) are worried because polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other creatures are getting stressed and losing weight and some are dying.
“Evidence is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their backyard,” New Scientist magazine said.
The immediate effects researchers have noticed are changes in behavior, heart rates, or stress hormone levels but they fear it could get much worse and over the long term “could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see”.
Although money produced through ecotourism, which has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year, has major benefits for poor countries and people living in rural areas, the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and some governments fear not all projects are audited (审计) and based on environmentally friendly policies, according to the magazine.
“The transmission(传播) of disease to wildlife, or small changes to wildlife health through disturbance of daily life or increased stress levels, while not obvious to the casual observer, may translate to lower survival and breeding,” said Philip Seddon, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Scientists have noticed that bottleneck dolphins along the northeastern coast of New Zealand become nervously excited when tourist boats arrive. Similar changes in behavior have been observed in polar bears and yellow-eyed penguins in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
Conservationists are now calling for more research into the effect of ecotourism on animals and say the industry must be developed carefully. They also want studies done before new ecotourism projects are started.
“The animals’ welfare should be very important because without them there will be no ecotourism,” said Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.What's the text mainly about?
| A．Many animals are dying because of lack of money. |
| B．There will be no ecotourism without animals. |
| C．Ecotourism could endanger the survival of the wildlife people want to see. |
| D．More research should be done on ecotourism. |
According to New Scientist magazine, more and more evidence has come to suggest that _____.
| A．polar bears are getting stressed |
| B．other creatures are losing weight |
| C．many animals do not respond well to travellers in their backyard |
| D．All of the above |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text?
| A．Ecotourism may endanger the survival of some animals. |
| B．Polar bears in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies. |
| C．Ecotourism has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year. |
| D．Studies should be done before new ecotourism projects are started. |
In 2006, a large number of new Internet sites became popular around the world. Some of these are for communication, others for entertainment(娱乐).
The blog is one form of communication that increased in popularity. Through these personal websites(网址), people can share their lives, ideas and opinions on the Internet. People of all ages have their own blogs. For young people, they are a way to show their writing and other forms of self-expression. Blogs also connect people with other people who have the same interests. For example, teachers use blogs to share ideas with other teachers’, as well as experiences and concerns about their work.
YouTube is another Internet site that became more popular last year. This website lets anyone create, share and watch short videos. These include videos of people singing or dancing, or animals doing funny things. Three young men created YouTube almost two years ago as a personal video sharing service. They recently sold it to Google for more than one and a half billion dollars.
Games and entertainment also became a larger part of the Internet last year. One Internet social site is called Second Life. It is an online world in which computer users create a new self and live a different life. They get married, build homes, operate businesses, buy and sell goods, work, play and attend school.
People also take part in fantasy sports leagues with the help of the Internet. A fantasy sport is a game in which each member of a group acts as the owner of a team. Each owner creates a team of real-life professional players to compete against other teams in the league. More than fifteen million American adults play fantasy sports. The industry earns more than one billion（十亿） dollars each year from publications, memberships and other costs.The passage is mainly about __________.
| A．the most popular Internet technology in 2006 |
| B．some new ways for people to communicate or have fun on the Internet |
| C．one online game called Second Life |
| D．the high price of playing online |
Who is the owner of YouTube now?
| A．Three young men. | B．Google. |
| C．Computer users. | D．Yahoo. |
Whom does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
| A．The people who are interested in blogs. |
| B．The people who play games on YouTube. |
| C．The people who play Second Life. |
| D．The people who are created in Second Life. |
What do we know from the passage?
| A．Teachers can share ideas, experiences and concerns about their work with other teachers on any website. |
| B．More than fifteen million American teenagers play fantasy sports. |
| C．Second Life helps people get married, buy and sell goods, work, play and attend school in real life. |
| D．Fantasy sports, a game in which each member of a group acts as the owner of a team, is very popular around the world. |
Welcome to one of the largest collections of footwear（鞋类）in the world that will make you green with envy. Here at the Footwear Museum you can see exhibits（展品）from all over the world. You can find out about shoes worn by everyone from the Ancient Egyptians to pop stars.
| Room 1 The celebrity（名人）footwear section is probably the most popular in the entire museum. Started in the 1950s there is a wide variety of shoes and boots belonging to everyone from queens and presidents to pop stars and actors! Most visitors find the celebrities' choice of footwear extremely interesting. |
Room 2 Most of our visitors are amazed and shocked by the collection of “special purpose” shoes on exhibition here at the Museum of Footwear. For example , there are Chinese shoes made of silk that were worn by women to tie their feet firmly to prevent them from growing too much! |
| Room 3 As well as shoes and boots the museum also exhibits shoe shaped objects. The variety is unbelievable. For example, there is a metal lamp that resembles a pair of shoes, and Greek wine bottles that look like legs! |
The Footwear Library People come from all over the world to study in our excellent footwear library. Designers and researchers come here to look up information on anything and everything related to the subject of footwear. |
Where would you find a famous singer’s shoes?
| A．Room3. | B．Room 2. |
| C． Room1. | D．The Footwear Library |
All exhibits in each room .
| A．have the same shape | B．share the same theme (主题) |
| C．are made of the same material | D．belong to the same social class |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．The oldest exhibits in Room 1 were made in the 1950s. |
| B．Room 2 is the most visited place in the museum. |
| C．Researchers come to the Footwear Library for information. |
| D．Room 3 has a richer variety of exhibits than the others. |
The purpose of the text is to get more people to .
| A．visit the museum | B．design shoes |
| C．do research | D．follow celebrities |
No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting.
For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. That many people feel their joints(关节) hurt is a sign of wet weather. Some birds fly high if the weather is fine, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. Such rainbows come in the evening. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in colour, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come.
Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.Which is true about weather forecasting?
| A．Weather forecasting is a way of telling what the weather will be like. |
| B．Weather forecasting is a report about the weather. |
| C．Weather forecasting is a sign of coming rain. |
| D．People can change the weather forecasting. |
Which of the following can be used here to replace the underlined phrase “on the way”?
| A．continuing | B．reducing. |
| C．coming. | D．disappearing. |
Which of the following signs can tell the weather will probably be rainy?
| A．Some birds fly high. |
| B．A rainbow appears in the morning. |
| C．The sunset is mostly red in colour. |
| D．Fogs appear in the morning just above a river. |
The best title of the passage is _______.
| A．Weather forecasting plays an important role in our life |
| B．Weather forecasting can bring people some signs of weather |
| C．Weather is forecasted only by eyes and brains. |
| D．People can predict weather by experience in daily life |
My husband had just bought a new washing machine for me . I decided to use it the very day and I washed a lot of things .
Everything worked well , but I found one of my husband’s socks(短袜) missing . I looked everywhere for it , but I couldn’t find it anywhere .
The next morning , I got ready for school as usual . When the bell rang , the students came in . I greeted them and told them what we were going to do that day .
When I turned around to write on the blackboard , the class burst into a roar (大笑声)! They laughed and laughed . They laughed so much , in fact ,that I was afraid the headmaster would come in to see all this .
I asked the class to stop , but the more I talked , the more they laughed . I decided to pay no attention to them and I continued to write on the blackboard . when I did this , they roared even more .
Finally , the teacher who had the room next to mine came in to see what all the laughter was about .
“Good heavens ,” I said , “Will someone please tell me what is so funny?”
“Oh , God,” said the teacher , “You have a brown sock to the back of your skirt !”
So that’s how I found my husband’s missing sock .
“Oh , well ,” I said to the class , “Let’s just say you have had an unforgettable lesson on static electricity(静电)。”What was the writer ?
| A．A washer | B．A student |
| C．A headmaster | D．A teacher |
What happened when the writer turned around to write on the blackboard ?
| A．The class roared with anger . |
| B．The class began to laugh loudly . |
| C．Another teacher came in |
| D．There was a loud noise outside the room |
Why couldn’t she find one of her husband’s socks?
| A．Because some students had hidden it . |
| B．Because her husband had taken it away . |
| C．Because she had left it in the classroom . |
| D．Because she never expected that it would stick to her skirt . |
What did the writer do when she got to know why her students laughed?
| A．She did nothing but laugh. |
| B．She got angry with the class . |
| C．She did nothing |
| D．She explained the matter in a clever way . |
Children and teenagers who spend lots of time in front of screens---especially TVs---are easier to get more weight as they grow, according to a new study.
The findings agree with the research suggesting all that inactive sitting and always watching advertisements may lead to poor eating habits.
Researchers used results from a long-term study of children who took part in the surveys every two years. Children were between ages 9 and 16 when the study started. Out of 4,300 girls in the study, 17 percent were overweight or obese（肥胖的）. Twenty-four percent of the 3,500 boys were also above a healthy weight.
The surveys included questions about their height and weight as well as how much time they spent watching TV and DVDs and playing computer and video games.
From one survey to the next, each one-hour increase in children’s daily TV watching was in connection with an increase of about 0.1 points on a body mass index (BMI)（体质指数）, which measures weight in connection with height. There’s an increase of about half a pound in weight per extra hour of TV.
“The weight of the evidence is so strong that television watching is connected with unhealthy changes in weight among youth,” says Jennifer Falbe, who led the study while at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
“It's important for parents to know that all the obesity-causing（引起肥胖的）screens really should be limited in their children's lives.” Falbe says. “When children watch TV, there are many food advertisements on TV that might lead them to eat a cookie or drink a soft drink.” What's more, she says, “they can get into a hibernating(冬眠) state on the sofa, even if children are sitting down while playing a computer game.”Which of the following statements can be the best title for the text?
| A．A new study on screens. |
| B．TVs do harm to children. |
| C．The less TV time, the fatter. |
| D．Too much screen time leads to obesity. |
How many children took part in the study?
| A．4,300 | B．3,500 |
| C．7,800 | D．9,800 |
According to the study, one extra hour screen time will cause children about ______ poundfatter.
| A．0.1 | B．0.5 |
| C．0.3 | D．0.7 |
According to Falbe , what should parents do to stop children getting fat?
| A．Limiting the time of children watching TV. |
| B．Buying children food advertised on TV. |
| C．Not allowing children to watch TV. |
| D．Encouraging children to play computer games. |