Since 1984, Philadelphia has been cleaning up its act. One by one, graffiti-covered walls are being changed into outdoor art. So far, more than 1,800 murals(壁画)have been painted. Philadelphia now has more murals than any other American city.
The walls that were once ugly with graffiti(涂鸦)are now covered with beautiful pictures of historical heroes and modern art, thanks to the Mural Arts Program (MAP). Its work makes schools and public places attractive, and its citizens very proud. The program began as part of Philadelphia‟s Anti-Graffiti Network. Jane Golden is the MAP‟s artistic director. “When people ask me what our program is about,” she says, “I answer them with one word: hope.” Each year, the MAP offers youth art programs and workshops. Some one-time graffiti writers even help paint MAP murals.
The MAP‟s work, says Golden, is all about developing a sense of community(社区).When a neighborhood requests a mural, the MAP works with the people there to develop a message. Some messages have been “Safe Streets,” “Love and Care,” and “Peace Walk.”
The MAP receives up to 50 requests for murals each week. Last year, the workers painted 140 murals.
“The making of a mural enters people‟s collective memory as an extraordinary, pleasant moment in neighborhood history,” says Golden, who began as a muralist in Los Angeles. What can be the best title for the text?
A.Love, from Graffiti Writers to Muralists |
B.MAP, a New Company in Philadelphia |
C.Jane, an Excellent Mural Artist |
D.Hope, One Wall at a Time |
What is the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia aimed at?
A.Helping the young find jobs. |
B.Protecting the neighborhood. |
C.Fighting against graffiti. |
D.Attracting more visitors. |
How does the MAP decide on the message for a mural?
By having discussions with people in the community.
B. By seeking advice from the city government.
C. By learning from the young graffiti writers.
D. By studying the history of the city. Which of the following words best describes the work of the MAP?
A.Difficult. |
B.Dangerous. |
C.Experimental. |
D.Successful. |
Surface Exploration. Robots make great explorers on planets,moons,and other landing areas. Aside from earth,just about every surface in the solar system is unsafe for humans to explore. The air on most other planets is insufficient(不足的) for humans to breathe,making it necessary to wear a space suit and oxygen equipment. The temperatures on these surfaces are much too hot or much too cold for any humans to withstand(禁得起).Plus there would be complications with radiation,weather,and a lack of gravity. Robots have much less limitation in these areas and can survive much longer under these conditions.
Data Collection. Robots are designed for collecting scientific data. Robots are also able to perform many tasks at a time and can process information much quicker and more efficiently. Important scientific projects from detecting minerals,analyzing ground samples,and finding water are all performed much quicker and more accurately (精确地) by robots.
Cost Effective. The use of robots has made the cost of space exploration much less expensive than it would cost for humans to do the work. In order to successfully send humans into space we would need to build a vehicle that can not only carry humans,but also enough food and water to keep them alive for the duration of the trip. Moreover,robots have no problems working for hours on end. Robots never complain,they don't require food or water,and they never need a bathroom break.
Space Travel. Over the past 30 years or so there have been many different types of robots used successfully in the exploration of space. Perhaps the most famous and successful robots are the Spirit and Opportunity who have both been exploring the surface of Mars. They have both been very successful with experiments on soil and rocks and have even found evidence of water in Mars' history.According to the passage,which of the following is NOT true?
A.The use of robots in space exploration costs more than the use of humans. |
B.It may be dangerous for humans to explore the solar system except the earth. |
C.Both the Spirit and Opportunity have found the evidence of water in the Mars. |
D.Many different types of robots have explored the space successfully. |
Which column could the passage come from?
A.Education. | B.Finance. |
C.Travel. | D.Science. |
The underlined word “withstand” most probably means“________”.
A.arise | B.bear | C.defeat | D.diverse |
What is the writer's attitude in this passage?
A.Negative. | B.Persuasive. |
C.Subjective. | D.Objective. |
While sending an astronaut into the space,we should consider the following EXCEPT ________.
A.the radiation | B.the oxygen | C.the diet | D.the alien |
French surgeons have performed what they said on Wednesday was the world's first partial face transplant--- giving a new nose, chin and lips to a woman attacked by a dog.
Specialists from two French hospitals carried out the operation on a 38-year-old woman on Sunday in the northern city of Amiens by taking the face from a brain-dead woman, who had hanged herself just hours before the operation. Her family agreed on the operation.
“The patient is in an excellent state and the transplant looks normal,” the hospitals said in a brief statement after waiting three days to announce the pioneering surgery.
The woman had been left without a nose and lips after the dog attacked her last May, and was unable to talk or chew properly. Such injuries are “extremely difficult, if not impossible” to repair using normal surgical techniques, the statement said.
The statement did not say what the woman would look like when she had fully recovered, but medical experts said she was unlikely to resemble the woman who had been the source of her new face.
The operation was led by Jean-Michel Dubernard, a specialist from a hospital in Lyon who has also carried out hand transplants,
Skin transplants have long been used to treat burns and other injuries, but operations around the mouth and nose have been considered very difficult because of the area's high sensitivity to foreign tissue.
Teams in France, the United States and Britain had been developing techniques to make face transplants a reality
There was a short-term risk for the patient if blood vessels became blocked, a medium-term danger of her body rejecting the new skin and a long-term possibility that the drugs used could cause cancers.
Experts say that although such medical advances should be celebrated, the transplant had thrown up moral(道德的)and ethical(伦理的)issues. Little is known about the psychological effect of the transplant. The best title for the passage would be ________.
A.French Woman has First Partial Face Transplant |
B.First Face Transplant Opens Debate |
C.Risks and Ethical Problems of a Face Transplant |
D.A Complete Face Transplant of a French Woman |
Why did the woman need such an operation?
A.Her face had been bitten by a dog |
B.Her face had been burnt in a fire. |
C.She was born especially ugly |
D.She wanted to test such an operation. |
The underlined word "resemble" means ________.
A.to remember forever |
B.to recognize immediately |
C.to set as an example |
D.to presents similarity or likeness to |
What can we learn about the operation?
A.The woman had used the dead woman' s whole face. |
B.There has arisen a debate about the operation. |
C.The woman will suffer from psychological damage soon. |
D.Such transplants have been performed by doctors. |
Which of the following is NOT one of the risks of the operation?
A.Block of blood vessels. |
B.Organ rejection |
C.Heart damage. |
D.Side effect of the drugs |
The United Nations says forty million people or so around the world went hungry in 2008, mainly because of higher food prices. Early estimates(估计) from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that 963 million people did not get enough to eat.
World food prices have dropped since early 2008. Prices of major crops have decreased by more than half from their height earlier last year. But they remain high compared to earlier years.
But FAO official Hafez Ghanem says lower prices have failed to end the food crisis (危机) in many poor countries. “For millions in developing countries,” he says, “getting enough food every day to live an active and healthy life is a distant dream.”
The FAO says food shortage is a threat to people's health. Today, two-thirds of the world's undernourished people live in just a few countries. These are India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ethiopia and so on.
A report on food insecurity warns that the current economic crisis could send even more people into hunger and poverty.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of the people who continually go hungry fell from 34% in 1997 to 30% in 2008. But the FAO says Ghana is the only country that has reached two sets of hunger reduction targets. These were set by the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Development Goals. The main reason is the growth in agricultural production in Ghana.
The FAO says some countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand and Vietnam have made progress in hunger reduction goals. But South Asia and Central Asia haven't, and North Korea is still in hot water.What FAO official Hafez Ghanem says implies(暗示)__________
A.it's easy but takes long to provide people with enough food |
B.enough food can make people more active and healthier |
C.there is difficulty solving the food shortage in a short time |
D.people in developing countries will never get enough food |
Ghana has reached the targets of hunger reduction mainly because of ________.
A.the still high food prices |
B.the donation of developed countries |
C.the two targets of hunger reduction |
D.the growth in agricultural production |
The underlined word "undernourished" in Para. 4 probably means ________.
A.hungry and unhappy |
B.unhealthy for lack of food |
C.not fat because of poverty |
D.undeveloped and poor |
Which country has not made progress in hunger reduction?
A.North Korea | B.Thailand | C.Vietnam | D.Ghana |
What is the best title of this passage?
A.The food production of the world |
B.The hunger reduction target of the FAO |
C.The food shortage around the world |
D.The solution to the global food shortage |
Most people go to a doctor in their own town or suburb (郊区). But people in the Australian outback can’t get to a doctor quickly. The nearest doctor is sometimes hundreds of kilometers away so they have to call him on a two-way radio. This special doctor is called the “flying doctor”. He visits sick people by plane.
When someone is very sick, the doctor has to fly to the person’s home. His plane lands on a flat piece of ground near the person’s house. Sometimes the doctor has to take the patient to hospital. Flying doctors take about 8,600 people to hospital each year.
However, most of the time the person isn’t very sick, and the doctor doesn’t have to visit. He can give advice on the radio from the office at the flying doctor center. He can tell the patient to use some medicine from a special medicine chest (箱子). There is one of these chests in every home in the outback. Each bottle, tube (管子) and packet (包) in the chest has a number. The doctor often says something like this,” take two tablets (药片) from bottle 5 every four hours.” Some people in the Australian outback can’t get to a doctor quickly. Because_________
A.there are few doctors there |
B.the nearest doctor is sometimes very far away from them |
C.there is always heavy traffic on the road |
D.they don’t want to see a doctor |
The word “outback” in the passage probably means__________.
A. the part of a country far away from cities
B. downtown
B. forest
D. market-placeThe doctor there usually goes to visit his patient__________.
A.by sea | B.by air |
C.on foot | D.in a car |
If the person isn’t very sick, the doctor only _________.
A.tells him to have a rest |
B.tells him what food to eat |
C.gives him some advice |
D.gives him some medicine |
From the passage we know that_________.
A.people in Australia are seldom ill |
B.every family in the outback has a special medicine chest |
C.a “flying doctor” is a man who flies people to hospital |
D.there are very few hospitals in Australia |
October 15th is Global Handwashing Day. Activities are planned in more than twenty countries to get millions of people in the developing world to wash their hands with soap.
Experts say people around the world wash their hands but very few use soap at so-called extremely moments. These include after using the toilet,after cleaning a baby and before touching food.
Global Handwashing Day is the idea of the Public Private Partnership for handwashing with soap. The goal,they say,is to create a culture of handwashing with soap. The organizers say all soaps are equally effective at removing disease-causing germs (细菌).They say the correct way to wash is to wet your hands with a small amount of water and cover them with soap. Rub it into all areas,including under the fingernails. Then,wash well under running water. Finally,dry your hands with a clean cloth.
The Partnership says soap is important because it increases the time that people spend washing. Soap also helps to break up the dirt that holds most of the germs. And it usually leaves a pleasant smell,which increases the chances that people will wash again.
It also says that washing hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet could save more lives than any medicine. It could help reduce cases of diarrhea (痢疾),which is the second leading cause of child deaths,killing more than one and a half million children a year,by almost half.Which of the following is the right way to wash hands?
a. Washing hands well under running water.
b. Covering hands with soap.
c. Drying hands.
d. Rubbing hands with soap.
e. Wetting hands.
A.a-c-b-e-d | B.e-d-a-b-c |
C.a-c-b-d-e | D.e-b-d-a-c |
Which fact can’t explain why soap is important?
A.It gives people a longer handwashing time. |
B.It helps to remove a lot of germs from hands. |
C.It attracts people to do more handwashing. |
D.It gets all people into the habit of washing hands. |
According to the last paragraph,diarrhea is a disease that______.
A.kills half of the kids in the developing countries a year |
B.causes the greatest number of child deaths |
C.can be prevented to some degree by washing hands with soap |
D.can’t be cured without washing hands |