People used to think that wetlands were wasted land. Developers would drain them with ditches（水沟），fill them in with tons of soil，and build houses，schools，and parking areas on them.Then scientists began to realize the important role wetlands played in the environment.
Wetlands act like giant sponges（海绵） during storms.They soak up extra storm water and afterward release it slowly back into the water cycle.This helps prevent flooding. Towns where people have drained wetlands have found that in a big storm，their streets and homes are often flooded because there are no wetlands to soak up the excess water.
Wetlands also act as giant filters where pollutants are absorbed and dissolved over time.Though wetlands can become polluted from dumping，wastewater，and fertilizer runoff from farm fields，they are able to process some pollutants over time because of all the microorganisms and plants living there.
Wetlands are especially important for providing homes and breeding grounds to millions of birds，fish，and amphibians worldwide. Many wetlands have become national wildlife refuges（避难所），where you can go to take pictures and look at birds and animals.
The Everglades are a huge wetland that once covered more than four million acres of southern Florida. Sometimes called the “river of grass”，the Everglades are a shallow sheet of water that slowly flowed across a grassy plain. In the late 1800s people began draining parts of the Everglades for development. Roads were built and towns sprang up.The Everglades shrank to half its original size. Cities like Miami grew up where once there was a thriving wetland. Sewage and waste from the cities were pumped into the remaining wetlands. Over time scientists began to see the importance of the Everglades. Even with its smaller size，the Everglades filtered the pollutants coming from the cities，absorbing the worst of it like a sewage treatment plant. During storms the Everglades protected the cities from storm surge flooding. They also are just a great place to visit and see wildlife.The first paragraph is intended to tell us________.
| A．wasted land used to be wetlands |
| B．people didn’t know the importance of wetlands before |
| C．wetlands used to be left undisturbed |
| D．wetlands can be used for building |
Why can wetlands be compared to giant sponges?
| A．They absorb extra water from storms. |
| B．They become large or small in size. |
| C．They absorb pollutants and dissolve them. |
| D．They are made of soft soil. |
As for the importance of wetlands，how many aspects are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
The example of the Everglades is given in the last paragraph to show________.
| A．the threat to wetlands |
| B．the protection of wetlands |
| C．the development of wetlands |
| D．the importance of wetlands |
We can infer from the passage that________.
| A．some wetlands can be used to build cities or towns |
| B．wetlands in the world are disappearing fast |
| C．wetlands play an important role in the ecosystem |
| D．wetlands are especially important to wildlife |
To face the music
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.
When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.
1. How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?
A. 1B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
2. What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”
A. To face something far less pleasant.
B. To face the stage.
C. To face the back of one’s horse.
D. To face one’s leader.
3. Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?
A. When we are playing basketball.
B. When we are making a speech.
C. When we are having a party.
D. When we are talking with somebody.
4. The underlined word “hostile” means _______.
A. unfriendly B. dislike C. unkind D. unnecessary
The 2008 Beijing Olympics began officially on Friday 8th August 2008 at 8 pm in front of a crowd of 90,000 eager spectators in the Bird's Nest stadium.Things got off to a bang with a starting firework display which lit up Beijing's skyline, followed by a total of 2,008 energetic drummers beating a countdown（倒计时）. Then the crowd was treated to an amazing sequence（系列） pretty and carefully designed scenes which took them through 5,000 years of Chinese history and culture.After these performances, it was time for the athletes themselves to take center stage. In keeping with tradition, Olympic founders Greece led the 204 competing nations into the stadium.China's 639 athletes entered last behind towering flag bearer Yao Ming, to a thunderous reception from the crowd.Finally, the main torch was lit by a jet of fire from Chinese Olympic hero Li Ning, who had been pulled up to the roof of the stadium on wires.China, of course, was not alone in watching the opening ceremony. British newspaper The Guardian said the show "outdid all of its former hosts in numbers, colour, noise and expense."
The Financial Times was equally impressed. "No country ever has--or surely will--match the Chinese in effort, human power, organization, creativity and , it has to be said, money they were willing to put into what once a little show."
No pressure on the next host city then! With just four years to go, the London Olympic organizers have promised to deliver an equally inspirational ceremony. Let's hope they can pull it off.
45. Which of the following is the right order of the opening ceremony of 29th Olympic Games?
a. China's athletes entered last behind Yao Ming.
b. A starting firework display lit up Beijing's skyline.c. The main torch was lit by a jet of fire from Chinese Olympic hero Li Ning.
d. A total of 2,008 energetic drummers beat a countdown.e. The crowd was treated to an amazing sequence of pretty and carefully designed scenes which took them through 5,000 years of Chinese history and culture.f. Olympic founders Greece led the 204 competing nations into the stadium.A. b, d, e, a, f, c B. d, c, b, a, e, f C. d, c, a, e, b, f D. b, d, e, f, a, c46. What does the underlined word outdid probably mean in this passage?
A. did well B. did worse than C. did better than D. did poorly47. Which of the following can best describe the author's attitude toward the London Olympics?
A. negative B. sad C. positiveD. satisfied48. We can find the passage in a newspaper most probably in _____________section.
A. music B. sports C. literatureD. military
Barack Obama made his victory speech in Chicago after a hard-fought campaign.Democratic Senator Barack Obama has won the US presidential election, and will become the 44th President of the United States-the first African-American in the country's history to do so.President-elect Obama marked his victory with a speech to a crowd of tens of thousands of people in his hometown of Chicago.Obama described his election as a "defining moment' in the history of the United States, saying that "change has come to America".The BBC's spokesman in Washington says that in electing Barack Obama, the American people have expressed their unhappiness with the present state and rejected their country's historical racial divisions.The Australian Prime Minister summed up how many people felt when he congratulated President-elect Obama.“Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character. Today what America has done is turn that dream into a reality," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.President-elect Obama will not take office until 20th January next year. However, when he does become president, he will face many serious challenges, including two foreign wars, climate change and what he has described as " the worst financial crisis （经济危机）in a century."But the mood of the country is optimistic, according to most commentators, and Obama himself appears to enjoy the challenge."The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be difficult. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America--I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," said the next President of the United States.41. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?A. It was not a difficult process for Obama to win the US presidential election.B. The American people welcome the historical racial divisions.C. What Martin Luther King dreamed about America has come true.D. After the election Obama didn't say anything about his victory.42. According to the passage, it seems that in the United States, _____________.A. people may still be treated unequally because of their color of skin.B. people are experiencing two civil wars.C. Americans are enjoying the economy developing.D. People are not satisfied with President-elect.43. From the last two paragraphs, we can learn that________________.A. the attitude of American people to their country's future is not clear.B. Obama has confidence in American future and ready to face it.C. the road to America will be long.D.the change of America is not hard to achieve.44. What is probablythe best title to the passage?A. Historical presidential election B. The first African-American PresidentC. Change has comeD. Comments about America
Sports shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to warrant time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.
The shoes — named Square Eyes — contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter(传话器) passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day’s efforts.
The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University to London, UK. “We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out,” she says. “And I wanted to tackle that with my design.”
Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.
Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals precisely one minute of TV time.
Existing pedometers （计步器） normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. “It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort,” she says. “That was one of my main design considerations.”
51.According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to ________.
A.keep a record of the steps of the wearer
B.deal with overweight among teenagers
C.enable children to resist the temptation of TV
D.prevent children from being tricked by TV programs
52.Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?
A.They regulate a child’s evening TV viewing time.
B.They determine a child’s daily pocket money.
C.They have raised the hot issue of overweight.
D.They contain information of the receiver.
53.What is stressed（强调）by health experts in their suggestion?
A.The exact number of steps to be taken.
B.The precise number of hours spent on TV.
C.The proper amount of daily exercise and TV time.
D.The way of changing steps into TV watching time.
54.Compared with other similar products, the new design ________.
A.makes it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat
B.counts the wearer’s steps through shaking
C.records the sudden movement of the wearer
D.sends teenagers’ health data to the receiver
55.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time B.Smart Shoes Guarantee More Exercise
C.Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise D.Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight
If you look for a book as a present for a child. You will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Patten J.K Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books ,which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.
Yet despite that ,reading is increasingly unpopular among children .According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all . In 2003, 35% did . And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computer games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile . Either way , Chancellor Cordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class .In his pre-budget report , he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.
Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds ,who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher . An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress ,and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well ,but read less often for fun than those elsewhere .Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success . According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.
46.Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?
A.Many children’s books have been adapted from films.
B.Many high-quality children’s books have been published .
C.The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.
D.The sales of presents for children have increased.
47.Statistics suggested that _______.
A.the number of top students increased with the use of computers
B.a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading
C.a minority of primacy school children read properly
D.a large percentage of children read regularly
48.What do we know about Reading Recovery?
A.An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year.
B.Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.
C.It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.
D.Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.
49.Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _________.
A.take greater advantage of the project B.show the potential to enjoy a long life
C.are likely to succeed in their education. D.would make excellent future researchers
50.The aim of this text would probably be _________.
A.to overcome primary school pupils reading difficulty.
B.to encourage the publication of more children’s books
C.to remind children of the importance of reading for fun
D.to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading