Today there are 7 billion people on the earth．By the year 2050 there may be 9.0 billion．We will have a lot more people to feed．We need more food．
One way to produce more food is by growing stronger plants．For thousands of years，farmers have made plants better．Every season，they pick the best plants for the next season．It works very slowly．Since1983 scientists have been able to change plants more quickly by changing their genetic(遗传的) material. Foods from plants grown in this way are called genetically modified foods(转基因食品)，or GM foods.
By changing the genetic material of a plant，it is possible to make new plants. They make plants which are strong against plant diseases. They can also help in our diseases：a kind of rice is being prepared，for example，which stops people from becoming blind．Rich countries produce GM foods because they are easy to grow and they bring in more money．Poor countries are interested in them because they help produce more food．
GM plants are not natural．No one knows how good or bad they are．Making GM foods is only one way of feeding people in 2050．But there are strong feelings against them，because they are unnatural. They may feed people，then hurt them or their children later．But both rich and poor countries are very interested in their use，and they are not going to die．In 2050 we may think differently about them．Who invented the GM plants?
| A．Farmers． | B．Workers |
| C．Scientists． | D．Plants． |
People plant the GM plants because .
| A．they make plants strong against diseases |
| B．they are unnatural |
| C．they can help in human diseases |
| D．both A and C |
What do you think of the GM plant?
| A．It grows too slowly． |
| B．It is bad for people’s body． |
| C．It can greatly help the poor countries． |
| D．It produces less food than the general plant. |
Why do some people dislike the GM plants?
| A．The GM foods may harm the human body． |
| B．The GM foods have terrible taste． |
| C．The GM foods are bad for the adults． |
| D．The GM foods are not cheap． |
From the passage we can find out__________
| A．the GM plants can produce more food |
| B．scientists want to make more money |
| C．scientists find the GM plants by accident |
| D．scientists work on the subject for fun |
Trees are useful to man in three important ways: they give him wood and other useful things, they give him cool places, and they help to stop drought and flood.
Unluckily, in many parts of the world, man has not found that the third of these points is the most important. Man wants to make money from trees, so he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And also, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even worse: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil-make the rain in-and also bind the soil, thus stopping it from being washed away easily; but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When all the top-soil is gone, nothing is left but useless desert.
| A．they help him to make money |
| B．they give him cool |
| C．they give him wood and other things |
| D．they help him to stop drought and floods |
| A．many trees have been cut down by man |
| B．new trees are not well looked after |
| C．man has not paid enough attention to planting trees |
| D．all the above |
| A．roots of trees break up the soil |
| B．there are too many rainfalls |
| C．strong winds bring a lot of sand |
| D．there are no longer trees to keep the rain and protect the top-soil. |
| A．Trees and Man. |
| B．The Function of Tree Wood. |
| C．How do People do with Trees? |
| D．The Usage of Tree Roots. |
When we can see well, we do not think about our eyes often. It is only when we can not see perfectly that we come to see how important our eyes are.
People who are nearsighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Many people who do a lot of close work, such as writing and reading, become nearsighted. Then they have to wear glasses in order to see distant things clearly.
People who are farsighted face just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length. If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts. Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
When night falls, colors become fainter to the eyes and finally disappear. After your eyes have grown used to the dark, you can see better if you use the side of your eyes rather than the centers. Sometimes, after dark, you see a small thing to one side of you, which seems to disappear if you turn your head in its direction. This is because when you turn your head, you are looking at the thing too directly. Men on guard duty sometimes think they see something moving to one side of them. When they turn to look straight at it, they can not see it any more, and they believe they were mistaken. However, this mistake happens because the center of the eye, which is very sensitive in daylight, is not as sensitive as the sides of the eye after dark.
| A．we think about our eyes |
| B．we cannot see clearly |
| C．we wear glasses |
| D．we have to do much reading |
| A．tailor | B．doctor | C．guard | D．painter |
| A．cannot do a lot of close work without glasses |
| B．can only see things that are very close to their eyes |
| C．have difficulty reading a book if they hold it at arm’s length |
| D．have the same problem as the nearsighted people |
| A．with wide open eyes |
| B．with half shut or narrowed eyes |
| C．straight at it |
| D．in a slightly different direction |
“How can I learn English well?” This is a question many students ask. In my opinion, the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you’ve learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you’re a very successful learner indeed. Your English will be quite perfect.
This is a difficult task. However, if you try to learn by heart only part of each lesson, you’ll find it not half so hard as you might have thought.
Learning this way, you will make rapid progress. Of course, writing is also necessary. It helps you a lot on our way to success in English.
Equally important is to feel the language. You should be able to laugh at jokes and be shocked at bad news. When using English, try to forget your mother tongue. Instead of helping you, your own language gets in your way. So, never try to see English through translation.
| A．to practise speaking, writing and feeling it |
| B．to forget your own native language |
| C．to translate everything into his own language |
| D．to memorize the English words and grammatical rules |
| A．help you to study English well |
| B．stop you mastering English |
| C．make English easy to learn |
| D．help you notice mistakes |
| A．to get a knowledge of English by touching |
| B．to be able to read and write English |
| C．to translate English into your own by imagining |
| D．to be able to experience the rich sensation of the language |
Imagine the situation. You are driving along a desert or on a mountain. You have no idea where you are. You passed the last house two hours ago. Then your car breaks down. It is night and it is cold. You have no mobile phone. What do you do? Well, next time take a GPS with you. This invention may be able to help you. It is a device (装置) which uses satellites (卫星) to find the user’s position (位置). It can find your position to within 20 metres. A GPS cannot start your car, but at least you will know where you are.
GPS, which means Global Positioning System, is a small radio receiver. It looks like a mobile phone. It is sometimes put into a watch or a telephone. We also find GPS devices in cars, planes, or boats. Some of these devices have electronic maps, so you know where you are. For example, in a city they can tell you the name of the street.
There are three parts to the Global Positioning System. The first part is the receiver. You can hold it in your hand, or have it fixed into your car, plane, etc. The second part is a group of satellites orbiting(环绕…运行) the Earth. The receiver contacts at least four of the satellites and calculates its position. The third part of the system is a network of ground stations. They are all over the world. They control the satellites and make sure they are working well.
Some people think that in the future the GPS will be as common as the mobile. They are becoming cheaper and more and more accurate. Also there will be new uses for the GPS. Perhaps they will become like watches. Everyone will have one and you will never be lost anywhere.GPS can help you find your position, can’t it?
What does a GPS look like?
How many things are mentioned that GPS devices can be put into?
Why do some people think GPS devices will be popular in the future?
What is the use of ground stations?
What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
An 8-year-old Miami boy, Joshua Williams, is president of his own non-profit organization---Joshua’s Save the World. His organization provides food and clothes for p
people and families in Miami and the neighboring areas.
Joshua has rthousands of dollars for his organization. He started to help the hungry when he was just 5. He was in his mother’s car when they passed a beggar. Joshua asked his mother to stop so that he could give him $20. “It’s my m
. I want to help him, Mum,” Joshua recalled. One year later, he created his organization with the help of his mother and Francine Hanna, a local businesswoman. “He just thought that was what he wanted to do,” his mother said. “And there was nothing that could s
him.”
The organization now provides clothing, furniture and food for the poor people in America. At the same time, Joshua never misses a cto encourage other people to follow what he did whether at church or on the streets. Earl Laird lost his job two years ago and hasn’t managed to get a n
one. Without money, he can’t pay for the flat and has to live on the street. He depends on food from Joshua’s Save the World. “Joshua is an angel (天使) from God,” he said.
Joshua has won Miami’s “Do the Right Thing” award and the “Kids Who Care” competition, which awarded him a $1,000 note. Even though he has adone plenty, he said that his
mission (使命)to provide for the poor is far from finished. “I want to get a team together,” Joshua said. “I want my team to go out and give food to people who have a need for it. I want to spread love to countries in Africa.”