The production of coffee beans is a huge, profitable business, but, unfortunately, full-sun production is taking over the industry and bringing about a lot of damage. The change in how coffee is grown from shade-grown production to full-sun production endangers the very existence of, certain animals and birds, and even disturbs the world's ecological balance.
On a local level, the damage of the forest required by full-sun fields affects the area's birds and animals. The shade of the forest trees provides a home for birds and other special(物种) that depend on the trees' flowers and fruits. Full-sun coffee growers destroy this forest home. As a result, many special are quickly dying out.
On a more global level, the destruction of the rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also threatens(威胁)human life. Medical research often makes use of the forests' plant and animal life, and the destruction of such species could prevent researchers from finding cures for certain diseases. In addition, new coffee-growing techniques are poisoning the water locally, and eventually the world's groundwater.
Both locally and globally, the continued spread of full-sun coffee plantations (种植园)could mean the destruction of the rainforest ecology. The loss of shade trees is already causing a slight change in the world's climate, and studies show that loss of oxygen-giving trees also leads to air pollution and global warming. Moreover, the new growing techniques are contributing to acidic(酸性的) soil conditions.
It is obvious that the way much coffee is grown affects many aspects many aspects of life, from the local environment to the global ecology. But consumers do have a choice. They can purchase shade-grown coffee whenever possible, although at a higher cost. The future health of the planet and mankind is surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of coffee.
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What can we learn about full-sun coffee production from Paragraph 4?
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The purpose of the text is to.
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Where does this text probably come from ?
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Which of the following shows the structure of the whole text? |
BUILDING up a close bond (关系) with friends is important in all cultures. But different cultures have different ways of socializing.
The Chinese love going to restaurants. Family, friends and colleagues all go out to eat as a way of relaxing. So Chinese restaurants are much louder and noisier places compared with those in the Western world.
Although British people do socialize by going out for dinner, most people meet in pubs. They go there in the evening and sometimes during the day. Most people order wine or beer.
Going for a drink with colleagues after work is a particularly important British tradition. A recent survey of office workers found three-quarters of people regard the after-work drink as the key to building positive relationships with colleagues.
But for the French, the preferred place to socialize is in cafés. They are a central part of daily life in France and its culture. People will go to cafes at all times during the day.
In the morning, people may go there to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee. At lunch they may go there for something to eat. Then when it's evening they may return to enjoy a glass of wine.
While the meeting place is different from culture to culture, "Essentially (本质上) they serve the same purpose, which is that humans need a place to come together to meet," said Aidan Saunders, a professor of social history at the University College London. "We are sociable animals."
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other. What is the passage mainly about?
A.Different cultures and different people. |
B.Different places where different people love to go. |
C.Different ways of building up relationships with friends |
D.Different relationships in different countries. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.The Chinese love to dine out. |
B.The Chinese always talk loudly in restaurants. |
C.Making friends is an important thing in all countries |
D.French people spend all their time in cafes. |
What does Aidan Saunders mean by "We are sociable animals."?
A.Human beings need society to survive in. |
B.Human beings need to communicate with each other. |
C.Human beings are the same as the other animals. |
D.Human beings are also animals belonging to the society. |
The following are all mentioned as ways of socializing except .
A.dining out with friends |
B.drinking in pubs with colleagues after work |
C.going to the cafes to have a cup of coffee |
D.going to the cinema to see a film |
Who are the intended readers of the passage ?
A.People in general. | B.Adolescents. |
C.Business people. | D.Educators. |
Of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists (语言学家) say, nearly half are likely to disappear this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two weeks.
Some languages die out in an instant, at the death of the only surviving speaker. Others are lost gradually in bilingual (双语的) cultures, as local tongues are edged out by the dominant (占主导地位的) language at school, in the marketplace and on television.
New research, supported by the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, has found the five regions where languages are disappearing most rapidly. They are northern Australia, central South America, North America's upper Pacific coastal zone, eastern Siberia, and Oklahoma and the southwestern United States.
K. David Harrison, an associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, US, said that more than half the languages had no written form and were vulnerable to loss and being forgotten." Their loss leaves no dictionary, no text, or no record of the accumulated knowledge and history of a disappeared culture.
Harrison and other researchers started their rescue project last year. They have been trying to identify and record endangered languages. They interviewed and made recordings of the few remaining speakers of a language and collected basic word lists. The individual projects, some lasting three to four years, involve hundreds of hours of recording speech, developing grammar and preparing children's readers in the obscure (逐渐没落的) language. The research has concentrated on preserving entire language families.
"These are probably languages that cannot be brought back, but at least we made records of them," said Gregory Anderson, director of the Living Tongues Institute, in Oregon, US.What does the passage mainly tell us?
A.Many languages are quickly disappearing. |
B.Some languages are disappearing because they are hard to remember. |
C.Chinese is one of the languages that are disappearing. |
D.Thanks to some researchers, many endangered languages have been rescued. |
What does the word vulnerable in the fourth paragraph mean?
A.easy to remember. | B.easy to forget. |
C.likely to be damaged. | D.likely to be protected. |
Which of the following is true according to the fifth paragraph?
A.Harrison and other researchers are trying to find out why some languages died out. |
B.Harrison and other researchers tried to start a rescue project. |
C.Harrison and other researchers have concentrated on preserving all the languages. |
D.Harrison and other researchers have done some rescue work on the obscure languages. |
One of the things that Harrison and other researchers did was .
A.to have more people speak the disappearing language |
B.to make records of the disappearing language |
C.to limit dominant languages |
D.to publish a dictionary of the disappearing language |
What do you think is the suggested reason for some languages disappearing?
A.Local tongues are gradually edged out by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace and on television. |
B.The number of people who speak the languages are small. |
C.There are no dictionaries for the languages. |
D.No one make records of the languages, so they gradually disappear. |
If you see someone drowning, speed is very important. Once you get him out of the water, if he isn’t breathing, you have four minutes before his brain is completely destroyed. Support his neck, lift his head back and press his chin upwards. This stops the tongue blocking the airway in the throat and is sometimes enough to get him breathing again. If that doesn’t work, start mouth-to-mouth breathing. Press his nostrils (鼻孔)together with your fingers .Open you mouth and take a deep breath. Blow into his lungs until his chest rises, then remove your mouth ,and watch his chest fall. Repeat twelve times a minute. Keep doing until help arrives.
To bring a child back to life, keep your lips around his mouth and nose and gently blow into his mouth. Give the first four breaths as quickly as possible to fill the blood with oxygen. If , in spite of your efforts, he starts turning a blue-grey color, you can feel no pulse(脉搏). Then pressing is the last chance of saving his life.
With arms straight, rock forwards, pressing down on the lower half of the breastbone. Don’t be too hard or you may break a rib (肋骨). Check how effective you are by seeing if his color improves or his pulse becomes independent to your chest pressing. If this happens, stop the pressing. Otherwise continue until rescue arrives.This passage is mainly about __________. .
A.how to save people out of the water |
B.how to give first aid to people who are drowning |
C.how to do mouth-to –mouth breathing |
D.how to save a child from a river |
Once you get a drowning man out of the water, if he isn’t breathing, you must first _______.
A.get him breathing again |
B.take him t![]() |
C.find someone to help you |
D.call the First Aid Center |
If the drowning boy has no pulse, ____________.
A.pressing his chin upwards in enough to get him breathing |
B.blowing air into his mouth is sure to save his life |
C.pressing his nostrils together with your fingers can work |
D.pressing is the last chance of saving his life |
Which of the following statements is true?
A.If a man does not breathe for four minutes, his brain will be completely destroyed. |
B.If you see someone drowning, you must give him mouth –to – mouth breathing. |
C.Don’t stop pressing his chest, if the drowning man starts breathing again. |
D.When pressing, you ![]() |
Many young people want to be pop stars. Pop stars are rich. Many people think they are leading a happy and easy life. In fact, they have very hard lives. They spend much of their time on travel. Sometimes the travel is interesting, but in most time it is boring to pop stars. The following chart is a day’s life of a pop star.
Feb. 10, 2007 |
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5:00 |
Woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, packed bags. Took taxi to airport. |
7:30 |
Plane took off half an hour later than usual for the bad weather. |
8:30 |
Plane landed. Waited for luggage for half an hour. Signed for fans at the airport. |
9:45 |
Arrived at the hotel and had a short rest. |
10:00 |
Started out to attend the meeting with fans and gave an interview to the local reporters. |
11:00 |
Went to radio station to attend the live show. |
12:00 |
Had lunch with local producer. |
13:00 |
Went to theatre and prepared for the night’s show. The lighting of the theatre was good, but the b![]() |
17:00 |
Back to hotel. Tried to have a rest. Still worried about the band. |
18:00 |
Had supper, but ate little. |
18:30 |
Went to theatre again and got ready for show. |
19:00 |
Sang very well, and audience gave a warm welcome. The band improved a little. |
22:00 |
Show was over. Very tired from it. |
23:00 |
Back to hotel. Took a bath. Too excited to sleep, so watched TV |
0:00 |
Fell asleep, with TV on. |
According to the chart, the pop star was a ________.
A.singer | B.dancer | C.player | D.pianist. |
According to his plan, his plane should have taken off at _______.
A.6:30 | B.7:00 | C.7:30 | D.:8:00 |
At the radio station, the pop star ________.
A.showed fans how to become famous | B.gave a performance on the air |
C.met fans and signed for them | D.told people how he lived his life |
From this passage we get to know that ________.
A.not all people like pop stars | B.pop stars have their own bands |
C.fans are troublesome for pop stars | D.to be a pop star is not all fun |
Having a husband means an extra seven hours of housework each week for women, according to a new study. For men, getting married saves an hour of housework a week. “It’s a well-known pattern,” said lead researcher Frank Stafford at University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. “Men usually work more outside the home, while women take on more of the housework.”
He points out that differences among households (家庭) exist. But in general, marriage means more housework for women and less for men. “And the situation gets worse for women when they have children.” Stafford said.
Overall, times are changing in the American home. In 1976, women busied themselves with 26 weekly hours of sweeping-and-dusting work, compared with 17 hours in 2005. Men are taking on more housework, more than doubling their housework hours from six in 1976 to 13 in 2005.
Single women in their 20s and 30s did the least housework, about 12 weekly hours, while married women in their 60s and 70s did the most – about 21 hours a week.
Men showed a somewhat different pattern, with older men picking up the broom more often than younger men. Single men worked the hardest around the house, more than that of all other age groups of married men.
Having children increases housework even further. With more than three children , for example, wives took on more of the extra work, clocking about 28 hours a week compared with husbands’ 10 hours.
How many hours of housework did men do every week in the 1970s?
A.About 28 | B.About 26 | C.About 13 | D.About 6 |
What kind of man is doing most housework according to the text?
A.An unmarried man. | B.An older married man. |
C.A younger married man. | D.A married man with children. |
What can we conclude from Stafford’s research?
A.Marriage gives men more freedom. |
B.Marriage has effects on job choices. |
C.Housework sharing changes over time. |
D.Having children means doubled housework. |
According to the “well-known pattern” in Paragraph 1, a married man ________.
A.takes on heavier work | B.does more housework |
C.is the main breadwinner | D.is the master of the house |