It doesn’t look like the heart of a green revolution. The huge chimneys stick up above the line of pine trees and don’t make for the most scenic view as you wander around the clear blue waters of the nearby lake.
But it is this power plant that has helped the small Swedish city of Vaxjo become arguably the greenest place in Europe. On closer observation, the only thing emerging from the chimneys is the faintest mists of steam. And inside it smells more like a sauna(桑拿) than a furnace(炉子). That’s because it is not oil fuelling the plant, but woodchip and other wood waste from the area’s sawmills. And as well as generating electricity, it also supplies 90 per cent of this southern Swedish town with heating and hot water.
The gases produced as the wood burns are changed into liquid form, and are purified before they reach the chimney. And instead of wasting this liquid, the power plant pumps it around town. Some runs out of the town’s public taps; the rest is directed through pipes that run through individual heaters, warming homes and offices.
The pile of wood chippings in the yard towers above head height and takes almost five minutes to walk around. That’s enough to keep Vaxjo warm on the snowiest day in winter, or supply it with hot water for a fortnight in summer, and it’s good way of using the paper industry’s waste. As well as the centuries-- old Swedish policy of planting a new tree for every one felled, the ashes swept out of the furnace each day find their way back to the forest as fertilizer(肥料).
It was this green plant that netted Vaxjo the European Union’s award for sustainable(可持续的)development, making it the greenest city on the continent.
However, it is not just the citizen’s consciences and moral histories to which the town’s current day authorities are appealing. They know how to talk to their wallets too. Oil-generated electricity costs about 16,000 kronor a year(￡1,170) per person, while the new power plant’s electricity comes in at two thirds of the price.
They’ve been planning for over ten years to become a “Fossil Fuel Free City”. But according to Anders Franzen, the head of planning and development department at the city council: “The battle in the energy sector has been won, yes, but the next battleground is transport.”What’s the main reason for “inside it smells more like a sauna than a furnace”?
| A．It is surrounded by pine trees. |
| B．It produces lots of hot water. |
| C．It is fuelled by woodchip and wood waste . |
| D．It sends out the smoke from the chimneys. |
It can be concluded from the passage that the power plant .
| A．promotes tree planting |
| B．makes full use of waste |
| C．relies heavily on paper industry |
| D．mainly supplies hot water and heating |
What impresses the town’s current-- day authorities most?
| A．The citizens’ consciences. |
| B．The town’s moral histories. |
| C．The lower cost of electricity |
| D．The award for sustainable development |
What Anders Franzen said in the last paragraph indicates that .
| A．they will continue their effort in green plan |
| B．they have great difficulty in transport |
| C．they have no room for further development |
| D．they are perfectly content with the achievement |
第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节（共15小题，每题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The days of a pain-free visit to the dentist may not be far off. This is thanks to a little Japanese woman in a pink sweater, named Simroid. With a limited vocabulary, Simroid, the 160cm-tall robot is happy to feel your pain.
Simroid is designed to be used at medical colleges. She has realistic looking skin, eyes, and a mouth fitted with replica (仿制) teeth. Her chest also rises and falls as if she is breathing. Simroid releases a clear “ouch!” whenever a trainee dentist presses her teeth too hard with a tool. And she gives a reassuring “that’s better” when the drill hits the right place.
“We want to use the robots to train dentists to worry about whether patients are comfortable, and not just focus on medical techniques,” said Naotake Shubui, a professor at Nippon Dental University in Japan who helped develop Simroid.
The robot was one of hundreds of cutting-edge devices on display at the world’s biggest robot exhibition last week in Japan.
As scientists improve the design of robots, they could soon be serving tea to office workers or directing shoppers. Today’s robots look and act much like the humans who invented them.
In Japan, robots can already be found working as home helps, office receptionists and security guards, as well as on the factory floor. There were more than 370,000 industrial robots in use in Japan in 2005, according to a report by Macquarie bank,40 percent of the world total, with 32 robots for every 1,000 workers. The economy ministry believes that the Japanese robot market will be worth more than $52 billion by 2025.
Human work is being helped, and even replaced, by mechanical efficiency in almost every area, from golf-bag carriers to public toilet cleaners.
But many scientists believe the age of the service robot is not far off. It will arrive once machines are capable of connecting with humans on an emotional level. Judging by the Tokyo exhibition, that process has already begun.
56. Simroid is designed to _________.
A. aid dental trainees to focus on their medical techniques
B. train dentists to be able to share patients’ feelings
C. help patients relax during dental surgery
D. serve as the dentists’ assistance during dental surgery
57. Which of the following about Simroid is NOT true according to the text?
A. She is a robotic dental patient with a realistic appearance.
B. She will let out a scream whenever she feels a pain.
C. She can communicate a lot with dentists.
D. She is able to react in a human –like way to mouth pain.
58. We can learn from the text that ________.
A. robots are widely used in Japan
B. Japan has taken the lead in developing robots
C. the Japanese robot market has greatest potential in the world
D. the world’s biggest robot exhibition is held in Japan every year
59. The phrase “that process” in the last paragraph refers to ________.
A. replacing human work with robots
B. improving mechanical efficiency
C. entering the age of the service robot
D. producing a robot capable of connecting with humans on an emotional level
Now that the recession（经济衰退）is most likely over, it’s time to start looking at which companies, institutions, and individuals developed well during this unpleasant period. In the downturn that began in December 2007, the recession ruined the wealthiest consumer markets—the united States, Europe, Japan—there were very few safe shelters. But some countries, such as Peru, managed to grow right through the global recession. And some companies arranged their business so that they resisted the contraction and benefited from the trends affecting their industry. Some even managed to bring more business.
Chief among the Great Recession’s winners is McDonald’s. McDonald’s sales growth in 2008 was greater than in 2006 and 2007. while many restaurants reduced their business operation, it opened nearly 600 stores in 2008. and the chain has achieved same-store sales growth in each of 2009’s first seven months.
In 2008, after a decade of severely trading up to higher quality consumer goods and services, Americans began to trade down with a vengeance（报复）. McDonald’s, which has 44 percent of its 32,000 stores in the United States, was set up to profit from trading down in two ways. Fist, in a recession, people eat out less and at home more frequently. And when they eat out, they eat at cheaper places. McDonald’s is so cheap, efficient, and convenient that it was a practical alternative to casual restaurants like Ruby Tuesday.
In the United States, McDonald’s may be a cheap source of calories in food. In other parts of the world, McDonald’s is an appealing brand, identified with middle-class, westernized consumerism. Much of the world, such as China, India, is still not developed for the Golden Arches. Coincidentally, these are the right places where its business has continued to grow during the global recession. While it faces operational challenges in markets, McDonald’s has benefited form a weakening dollar and rising incomes in Asia.
The question now for investors（投资者）is whether McDonald’s can survive the recovery. When people feel better-off, will they still stop by? The growth in same-store sales in the United States has come down a little in recent months. And there’s a rising amount of the population that has grown accustomed to eating healthier and better. Going forward, McDonald’s may face larger cultural barriers in the United States than in China.
50．From the passage we can infer that_______ in the recession.
A．the developing countries grew wealthier
B．the rich countries became unable to recover
C．the Western companies suffered a great loss
D．the opportunities were brought as well as challenges
51．McDonald’s managed to remain popular in the recession mainly because of______.
A．its good operation B．the American food culture
C．its low price and convenience D．the weak value of dollars
52．The underlined word “contraction” in Paragraph I means__________.
A．formal written agreement B．influence on industry
C．disappointing management D．process of reduced trade
53．What can be the best title for this passage?
A．Who Won the Recession
B．Who Traded down in the Recession
C．How Western Business Survived the Recession
D．How McDonald’s Kept Growing after the Recession
To be concerned with proper child development is to be concerned about making sure that children have daily access to both mothers’ and fathers’ parenting.
If Heather is being raised by two mommies and Brandon is being raised by Daddy and his new husband-roommate, Heather and Brandon might have two adults in their lives, but they are being deprived of the benefits found in the unique influences found in a mother and father’s differing parenting styles. Much of the value mothers and fathers bring to their children is due to the fact that mothers and fathers are different. And by cooperating together and complementing each other in their differences, they provide these good things that same-sex caregivers cannot. The important value of these gender-based differences in healthy child-development will be explored here.
The fathering difference is explained by fathering scholar Dr. Kyle Pruett of Yale Medical School in his book Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child. Pruett says dads matter simply because “fathers do not mother.” A father, as a male parent, brings unique contributions to the job of parenting that a mother cannot.
Likewise, a mother, as a female parent, uniquely impacts the life and development of her child, as Dr. Brenda Hunter explains in her book, The Power of Mother Love: Transforming Both Mother and Child. Erik Erikson explained that father love and mother love are qualitatively different kinds of love. Fathers love more dangerously because their love is more expectant than a mother’s love.
Dr. Pruett also explains that fathers have a clear style of communication with children. Babuism by 8 weeks, can tell the difference between a male or female communicating with them. Stanford psychologist Eleanor Maccoby, in her book The Two Sexes, explains mothers and fathers respond differently to babies. Mothers are more likely to provide warm care for a envying baby. Whether they realize it or not, children are learning at earliest age that men and women are different and have different ways of dealing with life, other adults and their children.
58．This passage is mainly about___________.
A．three experts’ differen t arguments
B．the introductions to the three famous books
C．mothers and fathers’ different parenting styles
D．the value of parents’ parenting in healthy child－development
59．Which can replace the underlined phrase “deprived of” in Para. 2?
A．providedB．keptC．taken awayD．turned down
60．Which of the following about Dr. Pruett is TRUE?
A．He thinks fathers make more contribution to the job of parenting than mothers.
B．He thinks fathers have better communication with children than mothers.
C．He thinks same – set caregivers cannot bring children good things.
D．He thinks children need father care as well as mother card.
My Best Enemy
Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Lisa. That’s where the similarities ended.
I was tall and she was small. My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while she was 11 and the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my enemy. But she liked me and wanted to be friends.
One day, she invited me over and I said yes—I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school. She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all-right bookstore, a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, I tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the three –story house with a front porch? I got very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.
When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies, which was my next surprise. I had never played with them. We sat on the floor, laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had wild imaginations. We had a great day that afternoon.
Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood. The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines; the movie theater gave her free tickets…. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other’s houses and spent every free moment together.
Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough years of early adolescence（青春期）and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: you worst enemy can turn out to be your best friend.
54．The writer and Lisa were similar in the way that________ .
A．they were both new students B．they had the same hair styles
C．they were both tall D．they were of the same age
55．One day Lisa invited the writer____________.
A．to go to the movie B．to go to her home
C．to go to walk in a parkD．to go to a pizza place
56．In the passage the writer described Lisa as a girl who was___________ .
A．awkward and shy B．rich and happy
C．quiet and lonely D．friendly and lovely
57．Which of the following did the writer learn from Lisa?
A．How to make up stories. B．How to deal with enemies.
C．How to make friends. D．How to live a better life.
If you need extra employment support because of a disability, your local job center put you in touch with one of their Disability Employment Advisers(DEA). Disability Employment Advisers can give you help and support regardless of your situation. They can help you find work or gain new skills even if you have been out of work for a long time, or if you have little or no working experience.
Referral service
Your DEA can offer you an employment assessment to identify what type of work or training suits you best and also offer you a work program designed to help disabled people, like the Job Introduction Scheme, WORKSTEP or Access to Work. The DEA can let you know about jobs that match your experience and skills and offer you more work information.
Employment assessments
An important employment assessment can help you identify your abilities. Your employment assessment will usually take place at your local Job centre. You will have an interview with your DEA, which is an opportunity for you to talk about your skills and abilities and any previous working experience you may have. As part of the assessment, you may be asked to carry out some practical tasks and written work. These tasks will be similar to common tasks involved in various types of work. The assessment may take half a day or longer, depending on your individual needs. The DEA will discuss the length of your assessment with you beforehand.
After the assessment
You and your DEA will talk about your assessment and agree on an action plan to help you achieve your job goals. Your action plan may include training or taking part in the “Work Preparation” program.
An employment assessment does not affect your benefits. You can claim travel expenses for attending an assessment.
45. DEA will help you find a job even if you ______.
A. don’t like your former work at all
B. have been seriously ill for a long time
C. are disabled and have no working experience
D. are a normal man without knowledge
46. The program “Access to Work” aims at ______.
A. exchanging working experience
B. helping the disabled people
C. offering more work information
D. advertising some products
47. From the passage we can learn that ______.
A. the employment assessment is not necessary
B. the employment assessment takes place in a company
C. the employment assessment is carried out by employers
D. the time of the employment assessment is up to you
48. Before you take your job you need ______.
A. training or preparation
B. some travel expenses
C. paying DEA some money
D. very excellent skills
49. According to the ad, which of the following is TRUE?
A. An employment assessment can be done in every Job centre.
B. DEA is a job agency only for disabled people.
C. DEA can help the disabled a lot in finding a job.
D. An employment assessment can value a job seeker in every aspect.