Last August, 1 traveled with a group of volunteers to Tres de Mayo, a small community near Tela,Honduras to help renovate(整修)a community centre, and I often could not help but think about the hardships they faced day to day, all factors considered to place children at risk for problems later in life.
During my stay there, I had plenty of opportunities to interact and work with local children.One young boy in particular,Javier, 17, stood out for me. Later I realized that his father had left a year earlier for the U.S , and the family had not heard from him since then. Lacking of money, his mother had to find work elsewhere, but unfortunately could not afford to take all four children, so Javier with his little brother was left behind.
Many of the children we met in Tres de Mayo were in similar situations. But the children tried their best to help out with the construction, and the building of this centre served as an important opportunity for them to learn from the adults·
I still remember the look in Javier’s eyes, as they welled up with tears when we told him we were leaving. One of the volunteers held him close, but it did little to console him,because he had already experienced so much loss, and it was hard to realize that our departure was adding to the list.
As I looked beyond Javier, I could see many men and women whom Javier looked up to, depended on, and gathered strength from. I did know that without parents to raise him, he was not left alone. Instead, the adults in the community took the responsibility for the care of their collective young.
In many north American cities we barely know our next door neighbors, let alone members of our community. How can people outside the family possibly play a central role in upbringing(养育)?What does the second Paragraph mainly talk about?
A.Javier faced a number of challenges that put him at some risks. |
B.Javier established good relationship with the author and his team. |
C.Javier shared the same sufferings with other kids in Tres de Mayo. |
D.Javier had to learn to be independent even since he was a little boy. |
When helping build the community centre, the children______.
A.enjoyed staying with each other |
B.enriched their social experiences |
C.received education together with the adults |
D.gained some benefits from the elders |
We can replace the underlined word “console” in the fourth paragraph with“______”.
A.affect | B.comfort |
C.inspire | D.Protect |
From the Passage,we can infer that the author is________.
A.optimistic and ambitious |
B.energetic and easy-going |
C.considerate and responsible |
D.determined and adventurous |
Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers.He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry.The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit.Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time.Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes.Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said at a news conference.
“I don' t do it in front of my lads.I don’t do it in front of my family.I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said.
"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important.The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up.What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said.
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases.The new law makes life difficult for.
A.Obama | B.tobacco industry |
C.White House | D.US Food and Drug Administration |
What do we know about Obama?
A.He no longer smokes. |
B.He still smokes as usual. |
C.He began to smoke at eighteen. |
D.He is trying hard to give up smoking. |
According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about .
A.children | B.officials | C.his family | D.businessmen |
The Body Temperature
The temperature of your body should be always just the same, no matter whether the weather is hot or cold. That is why the doctor uses his thermometer (温度计)when your are sick.
The body keeps the same temperature all the time ,because it balances the heat it produces and it gives off. It is always burning up food and , producing heat. It can produce heat faster when it needs to give off heat than when it becomes too warm. Let’s see how this happen.
The heat of your body is given off mainly through the skin. When you are cold, your skin is tight and shows “good flesh”. When you get chilly, you must dance around to keep warm or else you will shiver. Then your muscles begin to work, burn up fuel, and produce more heat. It is not pleasant to shiver, so you usually prefer to warm up by exercise, or put on more clothes to keep heat in.
When you are warm, the skin is loose and soft. It is so supplied with blood that heat is given off rapidly. If you get too warm, you begin to sweat ,and more body heat is used in evaporating the moisture(水蒸气) from your skin. You wear less clothing, too, in warm weather or warm room, so that warm can be given off freely. You feel less like exercising because your body is warm already, and the extra heat produced by exercise makes you uncomfortable.
You can see from the way you feel differently in different kinds of weather. In summer, when it is warm, you feel tired and lazy. You do not care to work or play, but enjoy lying and doing nothing. When you get out of doors in winter, the cold air makes you feel lively. You want to play.Which is another title suitable of the passage?
A.The Patients’ Temperature |
B.The Body Temperature Should Always Be the Same |
C.The Body Temperature |
D.The Temperature and Your Skin |
How does the body keep the same temperature all the time?
A.It is always producing heat from food. |
B.It gives off the heat produced in it. |
C.It balances the heat it gets and loses. |
D.It stops producing heat when necessary. |
When one feels chilly, which of the following will he do?
A.His skin becomes tight in order to keep warm. |
B.He does exercises to make his muscle produce more heat. |
C.He puts on more clothes to keep heat in. |
D.He keeps shivering to produce more heat. |
When in summer, people prefer to_____.
A.work | B.play | C.do exercise | D.relax and do nothing |
If you are in a town in a western country, you'll often see people walking with their dogs. It is still true that a dog is the most useful animal in the world. But the reason why one keeps a dog has changed Once upon a time, a man met a dog and wanted it to help him in the fight against other animals, and he found that the dog listened to him and did what he told him to. Later people used dogs for hunting other animals, and the dogs didn't eat what they got until their master agreed. So dogs were used for driving sheep and guarding chicks. But now the people in the towns and cities do not need dogs to fight other animals. Of course they keep them to frighten thieves, but the most important reason is that people feel lonely in the city. For a child, a dog is his best friend when he has no friends to play with. For a young wife, a dog is her child when she doesn’t have her own. For old people, a dog is also a child when their real children have grown up and left. Now people do not have to use a dog, but they keep it as a friend, just like a member of the family._______are more useful than a dog in the world.
A.No other animals | B.Some animals |
C.Many animals | D.A few animals |
In the past, people kept dogs because dogs _________.
A.could fight against other animals | B.met the people |
C.did not eat other animals | D.helped and listened to people |
Now people keep dogs in the cities because dogs_____.
A.fight other animals | B.are lonely |
C.are like their friends | D.are afraid of the thieves |
A dog can be _____.
A.a child's friend only | B.a young woman's son |
C.old people's real child | D.everybody's friend |
阅读下面短文并回答问题,然后将答案写到答题卡相应的位置(请注意问题后的词数要求)。
【1】Who says you need super power to save the world? On April 22, more than a billion people worldwide celebrated Earth Day by taking part in green activities in their communities. However, you needn’t wait until Earth Day. You needn’t be an adult, either! Every day, young people across the globe are doing their part to keep the Earth healthy and green. These are just a few kid heroes for the planet.
Manatee (海牛) minder
【2】When she was in second grade, Stephanie Cohen read about a baby manatee hit by a boat off the coast of Florida. Biologists saved the manatee. But caring for the sea creature was expensive. Stephanie took up a collection and raised 27 dollars in one day. Now 18, Stephanie still raises money to help these "Gentle Giants".
Goodbye paper bags
【3】When Adrienne Smith, 15, was in sixth grade, she noticed that many of her classmates carried paper lunch bags. To help kid cut down on waste, she invented an eco-friendly lunch bag. It is partly made from recycled plastic bottles. "Kids like it because they can fold it up and put it in their backpacks," said Adrienne. She sells the bags at greenearbag.com. And some of the money goes to charity.
He's skiing to save the earth
【4】Parker Liantaud, 15, wanted to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on the polar regions. He set out to become one of the youngest people ever to ski the North Pole. Although the cruel conditions forced Parker and his guide to finish the last 15 miles of the journey by helicopter, Parker felt he met his goal to inspire others. "All young people have the power to make a change," he said.
He ______ the earth
【5】Every year, Max Kesselman, from Pennsylvania, USA, celebrates his birthday December 3 by cleaning up the Earth. When Max was 6, he noticed trash on the sides of the road. He wrote a letter to local leaders suggesting a cleanup day on his birthday.(words:353)What is the main idea of the passage? (no more than 8 words)
What does the word "it" (Line 3, Paragraph3) probably refer to? (no more than 5 words )
Fill in the blanks of the title of Paragraph 5 with proper words. (no more than 5 words)
Why didn't Parker ski the North Pole all the way?(No more than 7 words)
Write out at least one other Green Activity you can take part in?(no more than 8 words)
What doomed the Titanic is well known, at least in outline. On a moonless night of April 15, 1912, the ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic ,with 1,500 lives lost.
A century later many people presented new theories to explain the real reason for the disaster. Now two new studies argue that rare states of nature played major roles in the disaster.
The first says Earth’s nearness to the Moon and the Sun — a proximity not matched in more than 1,000 years — resulted in record tides that help explain why the Titanic met with so much ice, including the fatal iceberg.
Recently, a team of researchers found an apparent explanation in the heavens. They discovered that Earth had come unusually close to the Sun and Moon that winter, enhancing their gravitational pulls on the ocean and producing record tides. The rare orbits took place between December 1911 and February 1912 — about two months before the disaster came about. The researchers suggest that the high tides refloated masses of icebergs traditionally stuck along the coastlines of Labrador and Newfoundland and sent them adrift into the North Atlantic shipping lanes.
And a second, put forward by a Titanic historian from Britain, contends that the icy waters created ideal conditions for an unusual type of mirage(海市蜃楼) that hid icebergs from lookouts whose duty was to watch carefully for danger ahead and confused a nearby ship as to the liner’s identity, delaying rescue efforts for hours.
Most people know mirages as natural phenomena caused when hot air near the Earth’s surface bends light rays upward. In a desert, the effect prompts lost travelers to mistake patches of blue sky for pools of water. But another kind of mirage occurs when cold air bends light rays downward. In that case, observers can see objects and settings far over the horizon. The images often undergo quick distortions — not unlike the wavy reflections in a funhouse mirror.
Now, scholars of the Titanic are debating these new theories. Some have different opinions on it. Over all, though, many experts are applauding the fresh perspectives. (words:353)The underlined word "It" in the title probably refers to _______.
A.the Titanic | B.the record tide | C.the cause of the disaster | D.an unusual mirage |
According to Theory First, what was the right chain of causes leading to the Titanic’s disaster?
① record tides’ forming and icebergs’ being refloated
② icebergs’ being drifted into the North Atlantic shipping lanes
③the Earth’s strange closing to the Sun and the Moon
④increasing of the gravitational force on the ocean
A.①→②→③→④ | B.③→④→①→② | C.④→③→②→① | D.②→③→④→① |
According to Theory Second, the disaster happened to the Titanic mainly because______.
A.the freezing weather made the watcher not be able to watch clear |
B.the mirage on the sea attracted the watcher and made him forget his work |
C.the high tides drove the icebergs float so fast that the watcher didn’t respond to them |
D.the mirage made the watcher not find icebergs and a nearby ship delay rescuing |
What is the chief function of the sixth paragraph?
A.to infer the possibility of the mirage appearing |
B.to explain to the readers the ways of the mirage forming |
C.to summarize the various kinds of the mirage |
D.to analyze the conditions of the mirage arising |
This passage is organized generally in the pattern of________.
A.comparison and contrast | B.time and events |
C.conclusion and proof | D.definition and classification(分类)) |