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Before we start a voyage, we usually try to find out more or less definitely where we are bound and how we are supposed to get there.
I happen to have the “Concise Oxford dictionary” on my desk and that will do as well as any other. The word I am looking for appears at the bottom of Page 344. edition 1912.
“Geography: the science of the earth's surface, form, physical features, natural and political divisions, climate, productions and population.”
I could not possibly hope to do better, but I still stress some of the aspects of the case at the expenses of others, because I intend to place man in the centre of the stage. This book of mine will not merely discuss the surface of the earth and its physical features, together with its political and natural boundaries. I would rather call it a study of man in search of food and shelter and leisure for himself and for his family and an attempt to his background or has reshaped his physical surroundings in order to be comfortable and well nourished and happy with his limited strength.
Among the two million human beings in the world, there is of course the widest possible range for all sorts of experiments of an economic and social and cultural nature. It seems that those experiments deserve our attention before anything else. For a mountain is after all merely a mountain until it has been seen by human eyes and has been walked on by human feet and until its slopes and valleys have been occupied and fought over and planted by a dozen generation of hungry settlers.
The Atlantic Ocean was just as wide and deep and as wet and salty before the beginning of the 13th century as after, but it took the human touch to make it what it is today—a bridge between the New World and the Old, the highway for the commerce between East and West.
For thousands of years the endless Russian plains lay ready to offer their abundant harvest to whoever should take the trouble to sow the first grain. But the aspect of that country today would he a very different one if the hand of a German or a Frank, rather than that of a Slav, had guided the iron-pointed stick that plowed the first furrows (犁沟).
The island of Nippon would shake and quake just as continually, whether they happened to be settled by Japanese or by the Tasmanian race, but in the latter case they would hardly be able to feed 60,000,000 people.
Generally speaking, I have paid more attention to the purely “human” side of geography than to the commercial problems which are so important in a day and age devoted to mass production.
In the first four paragraphs, the author wants to share with the readers ______.
| A．his approach to planning a voyage |
| B．his emphasis on using a dictionary |
| C．his definition of the word “geography” |
| D．his altitude to the earth's physical features |
Which of the following will the author NOT consider to be on experiment according to Paragraph 5?
| A．Exploring a mountain. |
| B．Climbing a mountain. |
| C．Planting on slopes and valleys. |
| D．Becoming hungry. |
The author mentioned the Russian plains and the island of Nippon to show that _____.
| A．they both feed a lot of people |
| B．they enjoy very good natural conditions |
| C．different people may make the same place different |
| D．their natural conditions haven't changed for many years |
How is the passage organized?
| A．Topic ---Argument --- Explanation |
| B．Introduction --- Supporting examples --- Conclusion |
| C．Opinion --- Discussion --- Description |
| D．Main idea --- Comparison --- Supporting examples |
The world's largest solar thermal plant(太阳热能发电站)is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company — BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine (涡轮) to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death.Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert?
| A．Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert. |
| B．Because there is no life in the desert. |
| C．Because there is much salt in the desert. |
| D．Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert. |
Why can the plant make electricity at night?
| A．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of steam. |
| B．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of molten salt. |
| C．Because the sun'ss thermal energy can be stored through mirrors |
| D．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the boilers. |
According to Lisa Belenky, in order to reduce the effect,_____.
A. we should move all the plants and animals away from the solar plant
B. we should guide the bird not to hit the solar plant
C we should build the solar plant in disturbed areas
D. we should build the solar plant in the desertThe author’s attitude towards the solar projects is _____.
| A．supportive | B．critical | C．indifferent | D．cautious |
Many people believe that teaching children music makes them smarter, better able to learn new things. But the organizers of a new study say there's no scientific evidence that early musical training affects the intelligence of young people.
An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music lessons improve children's abilily to learn or their performance in school. They say that the satisfaction for learning to play a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University, however, have found that there's one thing musical training does not do. They say it does not make children more intelligent. Samuel Mehr is a graduate student at Harvard's School of Education. He said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child's intellectual development. He says the evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of 4-year-olds and their parents. One group attended music class, the other went to a class that places importance on the visual arts—arts that can be seen.
"The evidence there is 'no'. We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music clases," said Mehr.Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter. He says the results have been mixed. He says only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ, intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons. He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of child's intelligence. He says researchers in his study compared how well children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks or projects, then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons. There was no evidence that the musical training group did much better on the mental tasks than the other group.
The researchers comfirmed the results with a larger group of children and their parents.Mr Mehr says music lessons may not offer children a fast easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life. But he says the training is still important for cultural reasons. In his words, "We teach music because music is important for us."According to the new study, musical training______.
| A．makes children smarter |
| B．helps a child express creativity |
| C．does not make children more intelligent |
| D．improve children's ability to learn in school |
Samuel Mehr may agree that______.
| A．the children who attended music class are smarter than those who attended arts class |
| B．IQ is a good measure of a child's intelligence |
| C．we needn't to teach children music |
| D．music training is still important for cultural reasons |
In order to confirm his view, Samuel Mehr______.
| A．conducted more than one research |
| B．interviewed many American adults |
| C．taught two groups of 4-yetr-olds music and arts |
| D．offered children a fast way to be admitted to the best schools |
The artical may be taken from a report about _____.
| A．health | B．education | C．culture | D．economy |
Researchers conducting a study of hospital stays for over two hundred and eighty six thousand older folks found something interesting in their data.
The number of hospitalizations for heart disease and stroke went down significantly among a certain group of people at a certain time of year. What folks, and what time of year, you ask? Flu season and the lucky people were the ones who got flu shots(流感疫苗).
It’s generally recommended that people over fifty get their flu shots every year. Influenza(流行性感冒) is no small thing. it’s responsible for around thirty six thousand deaths a year in the U. S. alone. Getting the shots also cuts down on the chances of getting pneumonia(肺炎), which is especially dangerous in seniors.
But what wasn’t known was that there seems to be an added benefit to getting a flu shots in terms of warding off heart problems. The data,in fact, are quite strong in suggesting this is the case.
In this study, flu shots cut clown the number of hospitalizations for heart disease by nineteen percent. Stroke went down sixteen percent one season and a whopping twenty-three percent a second season.These are big results.
So what's the connection between getting a flu shot and having a stronger heart? It isn’t yet known.
Researchers speculate that the flu virus itself may do damage to blood vessels(血管), possibly making clots(血块)more likely. Blood clots in the heart can cause heart attacks, and blood clots in the brain can cause strokes.
Whatever the specific details are, there's one more good reason to follow your doctor’ s advice and get that annual flu shot.According to the study, the number of hospitalizations for heart disease and stroke went down significanntly among the ones who _____.
| A．got flu shots after they were ill |
| B．got flu shots before they were ill |
| C．got flu shots at the flu season |
| D．got flu shots whenever convenient |
The benefits of getting flu shots can be listed except that_____.
| A．it can cut down on the chances of getting pneumonia |
| B．it can cut down the number of hospitalizations for heart disease |
| C．it can kill the flu virus |
| D．if can make blood clots |
The underlined phrase "warding off" probably means_______.
| A．keeping away | B．dealing with | C．setting off | D． picking up |
According to the passage, we'd better ______.
| A．work out to fight against influenza | B．get flu shot every year |
| C．follow our doctor's all advice | D．protect our blood vessels |
It's time to remind myself what I love about life here in California,USA, to remember what I desperately miss when I go home.
Real radio
In the USA there are so many radio stations that those iPod tuner things don’t work at all. There is, simply, no dead air. It took me a while to discover the USA's many public radio stations, which don't broadcast any advertisements. KCRW is my favorites station, for its blend of indie music and current affairs. But I also listen to KJAZZ and KPCC. But before you feel jealous — it’s all online. My favorites: American life Snap Judgement and Henry Rollins live every Saturday night. Take listen online for free News? Well, there's not a lot of news from South Africa, and when it is, it's bad and full of fear, so I ignore it. But I care about any place I live in, and that includes the USA. And on public radio, the USA is covered in depth, from the perspective of individual stories rather than statistics.
The festivals
I’m jealously watching tweets and Facebook boasts and reviews from SXSW — seems like half the people I used to work with in South Africa are there,meeting Grumpy Cat and watching bands they’ve always wanted to see live. It’s great to know that these 1000s of festivals are so close, and that one day,if film school schedule ever allows me to leave campus for more than a few days, I can go to one or two of them. I have already exchanged my much loved Ford Mustang for a bigger, less sexy car — a car spacious enough to sleep in — so that next year I can be there, not just dream of it.
The famous people
When I go back to SA, I'm often asked if I’ve spotted any famous people. It's awkward for me. I feel the the same way about it as I feel when an American asks me if there are lions in the streets. Except yes, I have. No,not lions. I have met some famous people. I chatted to RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad outside a dub in West Hollywood. Many of my professors are famous directors. The problem is, once you meet these famous people, they're just people, FFS. This feels disappointing at first, like you're missing a Jesus moment of some sort. But if you think about it, it's inspiring. What it means, is that I, litlle me (right now, also "just a person") could be a famous just-a-person person one day, and get to make all the films I just dream of now.The underlined sentence "There is,simply, no dead air." probably means____.
| A．there is no useless radio programmes in the USA |
| B．there is no useful radio programmes in the USA |
| C．there is no polluted air in the USA |
| D．there is no advertisements from the radio programmes in the USA |
There are so many festivals that_____.
| A．I often leave campus for more than few days |
| B．I often attend some of them in person |
| C．I bought a bigger Ford? Mustang |
| D．I can share many reviews and performances online with my friends in South Africa |
The author thinks the famous people in the USA _____.
| A．are just Like lions | B．are well-known but ordinary |
| C．are disappointing | D．are inspiring |
The author is most likely to be _____.
| A．a director in America | B．a professor in South Africa |
| C．a student in America | D．an actor in South Africa |
One day, when I was working as a psychologist in England, an adolescent boy showed up in my office. It was David. He kept walking up and down restlessly, his face pale, and his hands shaking slightly. His head teacher had referred him to me. "This boy has lost his family," he wrote. "He is understandably very sad and refuses to talk to others, and I'm very worried about him. Can you help?" '
I looked at David and showed him to a chair. How could I help him? There are problems psychology doesn't have the answer to, and which no words can describe. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically.
The first two times we met David didn't say a word. He sat there, only looking up to look at the children’s drawings on the wall behind me. I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that he played chess with me every Wednesday afternoon - in complete silence and without looking at me. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit I made sure David won once or twice.
Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chess board and pieces from the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down. It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?
"Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with," I thought. "Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering." Some months later, when we were playing chess, he looked up at me suddenly.
"It's your turn," he said.
After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times about his biking with some friends, an d about his plan to get into university. Now he had really started to live his own life.
Maybe I gave David something. But I also learned that one - without any words – can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a shoulder to cry' on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens.When he first met the author, David________.
| A．felt a little excited |
| B．walked energetically |
| C．looked a little nervous |
| D．showed up with his teacher |
As a psychologist, the author_______ .
| A．was ready to listen to David |
| B．was skeptical about psychology |
| C．was able to describe David's problem |
| D．was sure of handling David's problem |
David enjoyed being with the author because he ______.
| A．wanted to ask the author for advice |
| B．need to share sorrow with the author |
| C．liked the children's drawings in the office |
| D．beat the author many times in the chess game |
What can be inferred about David?
| A．He recovered after months of treatment. |
| B．He liked biking before he lost his family. |
| C．He went into university soon after starting to talk. |
| D．He got friends in school before he met the author. |
What made David change?
| A．His teacher's help. |
| B．The author's friendship. |
| C．His exchange of letters with the author. |
| D．The author's silent communication with him. |