Swiss national Louis Palmer fulfilled a childhood dream when he set off from his mother country on July 3, travelling over deserts, cities and seas in 17 countries in a solar taxi to reach UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
"In 1986, 1 was a 14-year-old boy. I was dreaming that when I will be an adult. I want to drive around the world, " he told reporters.
"Then it came to my mind, how can I travel around the world and enjoy the beauty of this world with a car that is polluting the world? Then I thought the perfect car would be a solar car. "
His car, which has become a major attraction at the gates of the summit of some 188 nations, was built in three years with scientific help from four universities and 15 Swiss companies. The car pulls a trailer with six square meters of solar panels which absorb the sun. The electricity is fed into the battery which powers the car, and can run for up to 100 kilometers a day.
"It's the first time in history that a car is driving around the world without a single drop of petrol, " said Palmer.
His epic solar journey is not his first adventure—he crossed Africa on a bicycle and North America in a light aircraft.
So far, Palmer has gone by land through Europe and the Middle East, then by sea to India and on to Indonesia. After covering much of Asia, Australia, North America and Africa, he will return to Switzerland to try and drum up support for the commercial possibilities of solar cars.
For the moment, he has his hands full, with more curious customers waiting to take a ride in his unique automobile which, he said, "works like a Swiss clock. "The sentence in the third paragraph "how can I travel around the world and enjoy the beauty of this world with a car that is polluting the world?" means" __________ ".
| A．Louis Palmer found it hard to choose how to travel |
| B．Louis Palmer would feel guilty about his travelling in a polluting car |
| C．Louis Palmer couldn't make up his mind whether to travel by car |
| D．Louis Palmer was trying to enjoy the scenery in spite of polluting the world |
Why did Louis Palmer take so long a journey in a "solar taxi"?
| A．To attend the conference. |
| B．To advertise the solar car. |
| C．To realize his dream. |
| D．To turn to the summit for help. |
So many visitors came to the car mainly because __________.
| A．it uses electricity as power |
| B．it works as well as a Swiss clock |
| C．it is the first solar car in the world |
| D．they were eager to have a look at it |
The underlined phrase "has his hands full" in the last paragraph probably means __________.
| A．becomes very popular | B．looks so proud |
| C．is extremely busy | D．shakes hands |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Palmer will attempt to put solar cars on the market. |
| B．Palmer dreamed of a solar car when he was a boy. |
| C．Palmer will return home from Indonesia. |
| D．Palmer has never made a journey before. |
No matter where he lives, 16-year-old Danny Lopez feels like an outsider: he is half-Mexican and half-white.
At his private high school in wealthy northern San Diego, California, US, Lopez is too brown to fit in, whereas for the Mexican side of his family in National City, just a dozen miles from the border, he is too white to belong.
Different from both sides, Lopez is silent in school. He focuses on his passion for baseball and working hard to improve the pitches (球场) that have kept him off the school team.
Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena, is about a teenager’s search for identity. It was named as one of the Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults in 2009 by the US Young Adult Library Services Association.
When Lopez’s mother decides to go to live with her wealthy white boyfriend in San Francisco, he chooses to spend the summer with his father’s family in San Diego. It’s a trip to explore roots and self-identity, filled with unexpected friendship.
There he meets Uno, of mixed heritage (遗传) like himself, also with a divorced mom. Uno understands Danny’s split background and helps him improve his baseball skills. Both boys have big league dreams, but they both have to learn to come to terms with their mixed heritages before they can achieve their goals.
Aside from discussions of racism, Mexican Whiteboy takes on other issues, such as the importance of family and the negative influence of hiding the truth. It also shows how sports can draw cultures together.The reason why Lopez feels like an outsider lies in the fact that ___________.
| A．he is a Mexican | B．he lives in San Diego |
| C．he is half-white and half-Mexican | D．he studies in a private school |
Most probably “Mexican Whiteboy” is a ____________.
| A．book | B．club | C．newspaper | D．organization |
When Lopez found it is hard for him to fit in, he ____________.
| A．starts writing a book about himself |
| B．begins to look for identity with the help of Mexican Whiteboy |
| C．loses his interest in baseball |
| D．works in the fields in which he was kept off the school team |
Lopez and Uno have a lot in common except that ____________.
| A．they both have a divorced mom |
| B．they both have mixed heritage |
| C．they were both in the school baseball team |
| D．both of them have big league dreams |
The business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors (债主) were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy (破产).
Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is troubling you.” he said. After listening to the executive, the old man said: “I believe I can help you.”
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying: “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.” Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.
The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!
“I can settle all my debts in a moment!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe, just knowing it would give him the strength to work out a way to save his business.
With renewed optimism, he made better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big deals. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.” And she led the old man away by the arm.What was the executive worried about?
| A．He couldn’t produce enough for the suppliers. |
| B．The creditors wouldn’t lend him any money. |
| C．His products didn’t sell well. |
| D．He might run into bankcruptcy. |
Which of the following statements about the old man is TRUE?
| A．The old man had known the executive was in trouble before he came. |
| B．The old man’s way of helping the executive worked out well. |
| C．The check he wrote was far from enough for the executive. |
| D．In fact the old man didn’t want to have his money back. |
The executive didn’t cash the check because ____________.
A. He was afraid that the bank didn’t have so much money.
B. The check gave him a lot of strength and encouragement.
C. He was uncertain if he could ever pay back the money.
D. He knew the old man wasn’t John D. Rockefeller at all.
.
Me More Than You
“It hurts me more than you.” and “This is for your own good.” These are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.
That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school.
The schools and the educators made it easy on us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who took a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators(计算器), turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.
Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students—“so passive”—and wonders what happened. Nothing was demanded of them, she believes. “Television”, says Klompus, “contributes to children’s passivity;” “We’re not training kids to work any more.” says Klompus. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ve never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them. Instead of saying ‘go look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say ‘no’ to a kid.”
Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, and to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’s for their own good. It’s time to start telling them ‘no’ again.
68. We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to place importance on _____.
A. discipline B. creativity C. school education D. homework
69. To today’s kids as described in this passage, _____.
A. it is easier to give a negative reply than to give a positive reply
B. it is easier to give a positive reply than to give a negative reply
C. neither is easy — to say yes or to say no
D. neither is hard — to say yes or to say no
70. The main idea of this passage is that _____.
A. parents should set a good example for their kids
B. kids should have more activities outside campus
C. educators should not be so kind to our children
D. it is time to be strict with our children
.
Classified（分类）Ads
For direct classified service, call 800-0667 10 a.m.— 4 p.m., Monday—Friday.
For Rent
Best on Campus
Excellent Room for girls, begins Jan. , 2, 4, or 8 months lease(租约). Single, $105. Double, $140. Call 800-1932.
Family Home, 3 bedrooms, large yard. $275. Call 800-4300.
For Sale
Sheepskin Coat, men’s size 42, 1year old. $85. After 6 p.m. call 800-5224.
Moving: Must sell. Color TV 21, $150; transistor radio（晶体管收音机）, $15; recorder, $25. Call 800-0739.
Help Wanted
Babysitter — My home
If you could find a few hours during the day, some evenings and weekends to care for 2 school- age children, please call 800-1111.
Lost
A black bag with a pencil-box and some books left in the reading room. Will the finder please come to Class 3, Grade 1?
Found
A green jacket was left on the sports ground yesterday afternoon (April 15th). Will the owner please ring 656-6688?
64. If you wanted to place an ad. , what number would you call?
A. 800-0739. B. 800-1932.C. 800-5224. D. 800-0667.
65. If Mary wanted a room for herself, which Room should she choose?
A. Campus. B. Single. C. Double. D. Family Home.
66. From the passage, we know __________.
A. someone lost his green jacket in the reading room
B. you can rent a transistor radio at $15
C. you can take a house at the rent of $275 for you family
D. you can call 800-5224 at any time to buy a sheepskin coat
67. If you want to find a part-time job, you will look at________.
A. For Rent B. For Sale C. Help Wanted D. Lost
.
The English language is changing fast, thanks to the rapid progress of technology. We all have a rapid choice: we can either bury our heads in the sand and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive and well. Or we can embrace (拥抱) the new English, enter into the spirit of the Internet age called Weblish.
“You can’t avoid it, for the simple reason that whenever a new variety of language comes along, it inevitably (不可避免的) impacts（冲击）on the language as a whole.” says Dr. David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics（语言学）at the University of Wales in Bangor, whose book Language and the Internet has just been published.
The trouble with keeping up with the new English is not so much that there are so many new words but that the old words no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past, if someone said they did not have Windows, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave. These days, it is probably because they use a Mac (which is a computer, not a rain coat). Spam is as disliked as it ever was ,but it once meant an unappetizing（引不起食欲的）canned meat. It now stands for unwanted “junk” email. Spellings are changing, too. Not only is text-messaging playing “hvc wth vrbs” (havoc（混乱）with verbs), but the conventions of email communication place little emphasis on “perfect speaking”.
Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs (“please bookmark this site”), and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”). Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives (e.g. dial-up, logon, print-on-demand, pull-down, upload), while others are created from simply pairing nouns: cyberspace, Etl, hyperlink, netspeak.
60. The best title of this passage would be______.
A. Keep Up with the Latest WeblishB. Keep Up with the Latest Development
C. Newly Invented English WordsD. Technology and English
61. We can infer（推断）from the first paragraph that ______.
A. Some people wish Shakespeare were still alive
B. people may have different attitudes towards Weblish
C. all people welcome Weblish
D. Weblish is not popular among people
62. The author thinks the main difficulty for people in keeping up with Weblish is that ______.
A. old words have new meanings
B. there are so many new words
C. the technology is changing too fast
D. Weblish words are full of spelling mistakes
63. Dr. David Crystal would probably agree that ______.
A. people should not accept Weblish
B. Weblish can cause misunderstandings among people
C. Weblish will destroy the English language
D. people should know something about Weblish