Antarctica's icy lakes are home to a surprisingly diverse (various) community of viruses, including some that were not identified ( 确认) before.
At first sight, Antarctica's freshwater lakes don't seem very hospitable to life. They remain frozen for a good nine months out of the year, and they contain very few nutrients. Some of these lakes have little animal life and are ruled by microorganisms(微生物), including algae(海藻）, bacteria, protozoans (原生动物）and viruses.
With few animal and microbial predators (微生物的捕食性动物) around, viruses likely play an important role in controlling the number of other microorganisms, the researcher says. However, these viruses have been historically hard to study since many cannot be grown in a lab. But thanks to new technology, scientists can identify viruses without needing to grow them.
“We are just starting to uncover the world of viruses, and this is changing the way we think about viruses and the role they play in microbial ecosystems (微生物的生态系统)," said Antonio Alcami, a researcher from the Spanish Research Council.
A virus is little more than a package of DNA surrounded by a capsule structure. To survive, viruses must attack, or infect, living cells and use the host's equipment to reproduce.
Alcami and his colleagues analyzed DNA from viruses found in water samples collected from Antarctica's Lake Limnopolar, a surface lake on Livingston Island. They found nearly 10,000 species, including some small DNA viruses that had never before been identified. In total, the viruses were from 12 different families, some of which may be completely new to science, the researchers suggest.
The results show this Antarctic lake supports a virus community that's more diverse than most aquatic(水生的) environments studied in the world so far — a surprising find considering that the polar region is generally thought to have low biological variety due to the extreme environmental conditions. The scientists guess the newly discovered viruses may have got used to growing in such hard conditions.
The team also found the community of viruses changed greatly depending on the season. When the lake was ice-covered in the spring, small viruses ruled the liquid water under the ice mostly, but in the summer months when the ice melted, the lake was home to mostly larger viruses.
“It looks like a completely different lake in summer," Alcami said. The scientists think the change might be due to an increase in algae in the summertime, which affects the larger viruses.
The researchers hope to find out whether any of the viruses are unique to Antarctica. If so, that would shed light on (为…提供线索) whether microbial life developed independently in Antarctica, which has been separated for millions of years, or they were introduced there more recently.The underlined word hospitable in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to ________.
| A．pleasant | B．disturbing |
| C．harmful | D．complex |
Why are viruses likely to play an important role in the icy water environment?
| A．Viruses are stronger and more ready to attack than other microorganisms. |
| B．Viruses are better at attacking other living cells than other microorganisms. |
| C．Viruses survive well in a place with few animal and microbial predators. |
| D．Viruses exist in larger quantities than other microorganisms. |
What do scientists think of viruses on Antarctica?
| A．Their discoveries of viruses there have made them change the way they think about viruses. |
| B．They were not surprised at all to find such a large quantity of viruses in an icy lake. |
| C．They think the viruses they found on Antarctica may do harm to people on earth. |
| D．They believe the discoveries of new viruses may help them find cure of diseases. |
Which of the following about the viruses is NOT correct?
| A．10,000 species of viruses including some newly-identified ones were found in the lake. |
| B．The community of viruses changed greatly depending on the season. |
| C．Scientists have found that many new viruses discovered there are unique to Antarctica. |
| D．The appearance of larger viruses in summer might have something to do with an increase in algae. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A research center was set up on Antarctica by scientists. |
| B．Thousands of more deadly viruses have been found on Antarctica. |
| C．A huge diverse community of viruses have been found in a lake on Antarctica. |
| D．Viruses on Antarctica have made scientists realize that viruses are important. |
Internet has become part of young people’s life. You can do lots of things on line such as chatting, sending messages and emails, getting useful knowledge and information, buying things without going to the shops, visiting cool websites, and so on. But it’s also easy to be cheated online. Here’s a story about a girl named Mary.
Mary is an 18-year-old girl who lives in New York. The people in Mary’s family are so busy that they hardly have time to be with her. In fact, Mary is quite lonely. So she spends a lot of time on QQ.
Last year Mary made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and he lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Mary had a common interest in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot the time. David sent Mary a picture of “himself”: he was a tall, good-looking young man with a big, happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.
Before David’s birthday, Mary wanted to give him a surprise. She flew to San Francisco. But when Mary knocked on David’s door, she found that the special friend was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!
So when you make friends on the Internet, please be careful. Here are some rules to make sure you are safe and have fun on the Internet.
uDon’t give your password to anyone else, and never let out the following information: your real name, home address, age, school, phone number or other personal information.
uNever agree to meet someone you met on the Internet without your parents’ permission. Never meet anyone you met online alone.
uAlways remember that people online may not be who they say they are. Treat everyone online as if they were strangers.
uRemember — not everything you read on the Internet is true.Why does Mary spend a lot of her time on QQ?
| A．Because she feels lonely. |
| B．Because she doesn’t like learning. |
| C．Because she wants to make a boyfriend. |
| D．Because she likes computer games. |
Mary thought David was special because __________.
| A．he was tall and good-looking | B．he sent her a picture of himself |
| C．he was from San Francisco | D．he made her quite happy on QQ. |
It’s good for children to _________ on the Internet.
| A．give password to others |
| B．get useful knowledge and information |
| C．give phone number to others |
| D．believe everything they read |
What shouldn’t be done when you are online according to the passage?
| A．Sending messages and emails. |
| B．Visiting cool websites. |
| C．Giving your real name to others. |
| D．Treating everyone online as strangers. |
What’s the main idea of this passage?
| A．Things might not be real on the Internet. |
| B．It’s not good to chat on QQ. |
| C．Don’t meet some one you get to know on QQ. |
| D．Don’t buy anything on line. |
A German who has been a volunteer teacher in the Guangxi countryside for ten years is a celebrity ( 名人)in China these days .
42-year-old Echart Lowwe was born in Hamburg , Germany . He graduated form the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts. In the early 1990, Echart Lowwe traveled to China and became greatly interested in the country . In 1999 , he started working as a high school teacher in the city of Hechi , Guangxi , Later he went to a primary school in the remote Banlie Village to work as a volunteer teacher . He is still teaching there now .
His teaching methods are different from Chinese teachers . He never uses textbooks in class or sets exams .He seldom tells students how to do things , but instead encourages his pupils to be independent . He teaches music , nature and painting . To teach his students the spirit of teamwork , he asked them to paint a picture together .
Lowwe loves being with children . Kids love him back . He is often seen surrounded by groups of kids. “I feel he is our loved one .He is close to us ,”one of his students says.
Lowwe said “ I have always had the desire to teach in the countryside. I am doing what I want to do now . If I had to die right now , I would die happily ,” he said .
根据短文内容，判断以下句子的（ T ）误（ F ）。Echart Lowwe is a volunteer teacher from Germany .
He used to work as a painter in Hechi .
He has his own ways of teaching .
Kids love him because he helps them do exams better .
Echart Lowwe doesn’t regret what he is doing .
Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or less degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in “small talk”,usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countires--- like the UK or France--- people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected may speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realised that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural diffeerences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化环境)will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.In some countires, eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to ___________.
| A．develop closer relations | B．share the same culture |
| C．get to know each other | D．keep each other company |
The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that ______.
A, the English prefer to make long speeches
B.too many words are of no use
C.people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature
D.even talk and silence can be culturally differentAccording to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?
| A．By sharing different ways of life |
| B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By recognizing different values |
| D．By speaking each other’s language. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Multicultural Environment |
| B．Cross-Cultural Differences |
| C．How to Understand Each Other |
| D．How to Build Up a Relationship |
My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.
My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.
Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant (无关的). What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.
If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.
That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.
If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.
Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.We can infer from the 2nd paragraph that we students still _____ .
| A．have enough time | B．can meet the president |
| C．get everything done well | D．should accept the explanation |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The author’s students make good use of their time to do all their homework. |
| B．The author tried to tell the professor that he/she (author) had done a good job. |
| C．You can’t improve the quality of the work if you can’t get more time. |
| D．You’ll try to improve your skills in reading and writing if you’re a clever student. |
What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．Students don’t have enough time. | B．Don’t work harder; work smarter. |
| C．No one can get more time. | D．Read better and write better. |
I came to India a year ago to find a village in which I could live and write but it was many months before I settled down happily in this Himalayan community.I wasted a lot of time looking for the “typical” village, yet no such thing exists. Conditions vary too widely.But the villages I stayed in had much in common—poverty, dirt, ignorance. Often the villagers themselves were puzzled, suspicious. Why had I come? I had put aside my work as a political journalist because my ideas had changed. I had come to believe that what was happening in the Third World was more important than anything else. But to understand how three quarters of the world’s people live, and how their future might affect ours, I felt that I first had to try and share their way of life.In the end I chose a mountain village because it was a little cooler than those in the plains. I took the bus from town along a bumpy road. Then came a rough walk down a steep path to the river. After this I began the climb into the Mils. Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, there was a magnificent view. After several hours’ walk the village came into view. After the writer had arrived in India,________.
| A．he spent a year writing about the place he lived in |
| B．he spent quite some time looking for a suitable place to live in |
| C．he stayed in an Indian village working for the poor |
| D．he lived in a Himalayan community for many months. |
While looking for a typical village, the writer found__________.
| A．he was searching for the impossible |
| B．all the villages were exactly the same |
| C．he was doing something enjoyable |
| D．the villagers were curious about him |
Before coming to India, the writer________.
| A．had been a successful politician |
| B．had made a decision to work for India |
| C．had studied India culture for some months |
| D．had worked for newspapers and magazines |