Robert Ballard was born in 1942. From an early age, he loved the sea. Ballard grew up in Southern California. He spent his free time at the beach near his home. He enjoyed fishing and swimming. He even learned to dive.
When Ballard wasn’t at the ocean, he loved reading about it. At age 10, he read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a book which describes the undersea adventures of Captain Nemo. Ballard decided he wanted to be like Captain Nemo when he grew up. His parents helped him follow his dream.
Ballard was a hardworking student. He spent many years learning all he could about the ocean. By the age of 28, he was an expert. In 1970, he took a job as a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. There he studied underwater mountains of the Atlantic Ocean. He came up with ways to predict（预知）volcanoes under the oceans. Working with other scientists, Ballard also found previously（以前）unknown sea animals. These animals lived far below the ocean’s surface, where scientists had believed no animals could live.
By the 1980s, Ballard’s interests changed. He developed unmanned（无人的）vehicles to explore the ocean bottom. His first find, the well-known ship Titanic, made Ballard famous. He was not happy with just one big find, however. He looked for — and found — other well-known ships. One was the German battleship Bismarck. Another was the U.S.S. Yorktown, an aircraft carrier (航空母舰) that sank during World War II.
Today Robert Ballard is still an underwater explorer. He also heads an organization that encourages students to learn about science. Ballard hopes that some of the students will follow in his footsteps. After all, the world’s huge oceans are mostly unknown. Who knows what remains to be discovered under the sea?What was Ballard’s dream when he was young?
| A．To be a science teacher. |
| B．To be an underwater explorer. |
| C．To be an animal expert. |
| D．To be a famous writer. |
When Ballard worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, he _____.
| A．explored the undersea world by ship |
| B．thought of ideas to predict underwater volcanoes |
| C．found some unknown sea animals alone |
| D．set up an organization to teach students science |
Which is the correct order of the events mentioned in the text about Ballard?
a. He found the German battleship Bismarck.
b. He read a book about Captain Nemo.
c. He found the famous ship Titanic.
d. He became an expert in science.
| A．b-c-d-a |
| B．d-b-c-a |
| C．b-d-c-a |
| D．d-c-a-b |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Ballard’s parents felt disappointed at his undersea adventures. |
| B．Ballard didn’t like fishing and swimming in his childhood. |
| C．Ballard was greatly influenced by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. |
| D．Human beings have explored more than half of the sea. |
I began working in journalism when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was supper time, I walked back home.
“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“None.”
“Where did you go?”
“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“What did you do?”
“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“You just stood there?”
“Didn’t sell a single one.”
“My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle(五分镍币). It was the first nickle I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.Why did the boy start his job young?
| A．He wanted to be famous in the future | B．The job was quite easy for him. |
| C．His mother had high hopes for him. | D．The competition for the job was fierce. |
From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
| A．excited | B．interested | C．ashamed | D．disappointed |
What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?
| A．She forced him to continue. | B．She punished him. |
| C．She gave him some money. | D．She changed her plan. |
The phrase “this battle” in the last paragraph refers to.
| A．the war between the boy’s parents |
| B．the arguing between the boy and his mother |
| C．the quarrel between the boy and his customers |
| D．the fight between the boy and his father |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The early life of a journalist. |
| B．The early success of a journalist. |
| C．The happy childhood of the writer. |
| D．The important role of the writer in his family. |
Climbers at the top of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, will now be able to make video calls and surf the Internet on their mobile phones, a Nepalese (尼泊尔的) telecom group claims.
Ncell, a branch company of Swedish phone giant TeliaSonera, said on Thursday it had set up a high-speed third-generation (3G) phone base station at an altitude of 5,200 metres in the Everest region.
“Today we made the world’s highest video call from Mount Everest base camp successfully. The coverage (覆盖范围) of the network will reach up to the peak of Mount Everest,” Ncell Nepal chief Pasi Koistinen told reporters in Kathmandu.
The installation (安装) will also help tens of thousands of tourists and hikers who visit the world’s highest mountain every year.
Climbers who reached its 8,848-metre peak previously depended on expensive satellite phones and a voice-only network set up by China Mobile in 2007 on the Chinese side of the mountain.
“This is a great milestone for mobile communications as the 3G high speed Internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services from the world’s tallest mountain,” said Lars Nyberg, chief executive of TeliaSonera, which owns 80 percent of Ncell.
The 3G services will be fast enough to make video calls and use the Internet, said the company, which also claimed the world’s lowest 3G base at 1,400 metres below sea level in a mine in Europe.
Despite the installation in Mount Everest, telecom services cover less than one-third of the 28 million people of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world.
TeliaSonera said it planned to invest $ 100 million in the next year to ensure that mobile coverage increases to more than 90 per cent of the Himalayan nation’s population.
The 3G network on Mount Everest puts TeliaSonera ahead of state-controlled Nepal Telecom, Indian-owned United Telecom and China Mobile.
Around 3,000 people have climbed to the Everest summit since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to conquer the peak in 1953.Who are most likely to benefit from the 3G services at Mount Everest?
| A．The telecom firm. | B．The local residents. |
| C．Travelers to Nepal. | D．Mount Everest explorers. |
According to Lars Nyberg, the 3G services they provide __________.
| A．are fast and convenient | B．are a little expensive |
| C．can make voice-only calls | D．offer free emailing |
What do we know about TeliaSonera?
| A．80 percent of it is owned by Ncell |
| B．It belongs to Nepal Telecom. |
| C．It is in the charge of Pasi Koistinen |
| D．It provides services for Pasi Koistinen. |
What is the best title of the text?
| A．Telecommunication in Nepal |
| B．3G services reach Mt. Everest summit |
| C．TeliaSonera takes lead in communication |
| D．Good news for hikers and climbers |
To help make the most of your experience at Auckland Zoo we suggest:
Plan Your Day:
Plan your day to learn more about your favorite zoo animals.
Don’t forget your camera – the best way to capture your visit forever.
Keep Safe at the Zoo:
Children aged 12 years and under need to be accompanied (陪同) by a caregiver.
To keep the safety of our animals, any throwing games are not permitted in the zoo grounds.
The zoo animals are not trained. Do not enter any enclosure (围场), or put any part of your body into an enclosure.
There are a number of natural waterways at the zoo, so please take care of your children at all times.
General Information:
Check out the weather before you come. In winter we suggest you bring a jacket and an umbrella, and in summer, be sure to bring sunscreen and a hat.
Every zoo animal enjoys its own specific: well-balanced food. We hope that you enjoy some great food treats on your zoo visit, but please do not feed any of our animals. Our keepers work strictly on this.
Feel free to take personal photos and make videos. However, any commercial photography or filming needs written permissions from zoo management.
Not all animals are permitted in the zoo grounds. We welcome people with guide dogs, but they must contact us ahead of time about their visit. Please phone the Zoo Information Center on +64(0)9-360-3805.
Smoking is not permitted in covered areas.
Auckland Zoo does not allow entry to any unaccompanied children 12 years and under. If the children are found by themselves, the staff do have the right to call the police.When visiting Auckland Zoo, parents should tell their children that _________.
| A．they could play throwing games |
| B．they couldstay close to the animals |
| C．the zoo animals have been well-trained |
| D．it’s dangerous to play near the waterways |
The underlined word “this” in the part of “General Information” refers to the fact that ____.
| A．zoo animals enjoy their well-balanced food |
| B．visitors are not allowed to feed animals |
| C．visitors enjoy their own food treats |
| D．children offer food to the zoo animals |
The main purpose of the passage is to _________.
| A．give people some tips on visiting Auckland Zoo |
| B．introduce Auckland Zoo animals |
| C．ask people to stop polluting Auckland Zoo |
| D．attract people to the zoo |
A winter wonderland on the outskirts of Quebec City has become one of Canada's hottest attractions and most sought out accommodations. Guests stay close for warmth in sleeping bags on beds of ice, hats pulled over their ears to prevent frostbite, while sipping cocktails (鸡尾酒) in glasses also made of ice.
A cool place to host a memorable wedding or for a romantic getaway, the Quebec Ice Hotel has attracted 600,000 curious tourists, including 30,000 who stayed overnight, since opening seasonally 11 years ago. Like Victoria and Jeremy Martin, dozens of couples will exchange vows (誓约) this winter in a temporary church next to the hotel, made entirely from blocks of ice with seats covered in furs.
Average temperatures fall below minus 20 degrees C (minus four F) in winter, but inside the hotel's 36 rooms it is relatively comfortable. Thick walls of packed snow and ice act as an insulator, trapping body heat inside. Each room is uniquely decorated, using designs created by Quebec architecture students. Two hotel bars also sell special cocktails in ice glasses.
First-time guests of the hotel, however, are recommended to stay only one night as sleeping in sub-zero temperatures is not very refreshing. This year for the first time the ice hotel has teamed up with a brick and concrete Quebec City hotel to offer packages(全套服务) for one-night accommodations at each. Prices for one night only at the ice hotel start at 200 US dollars per person.
The 3,000-square-metre (32,300-square-feet) buildings take six weeks starting in December to build, using 15,000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice, at a cost of some 750,000 US dollars. Eleven weeks after its seasonal grand opening, the hotel will close on March 27 and then melt away with the arrival of spring.What is true with the ice hotel?
| A．630,000 people have visited it. |
| B．Its rooms all look alike. |
| C．It stays open for two months each year. |
| D．Wedding ceremonies are often held there. |
The underlined word “insulator” in Paragraph 3 possibly refers to something that ______.
| A．stops heat passing through it | B．collects and reflects light and heat |
| C．makes things become very cold | D．works like an air-conditioner |
First-time guests are advised to stay there only one night because _______.
| A．they may not be able to stand the cold |
| B．their other night is with an ordinary hotel |
| C．new guests have no advantages over old ones |
| D．they may find the beds made of ice too hard to sleep on. |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.A good title for this reading passage is______.
| A．Popeye the Sailor | B．The Truth About Spinach |
| C．A Mistake with Numbers | D．Folic Acid Makes You Strong |
Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
| A．They thought spinach made them strong. |
| B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
| C．Spinach had a lot of iron. |
| D．People liked folic acid. |
A research group told people that spinach______.
| A．made Popeye strong |
| B．was a green vegetable |
| C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
| D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.
| A．iron | B．folic acid | C．spinach | D．exercise |