A sun-starved Norwegian town has finally seen the light—by installing giant mirrors on the surrounding mountains to reflect rays onto its market square.
The small town of Rjukan sits deep in the narrow Vestfjord Valley，in the Telemark region south-west of Oslo. The towering peaks that surround it rise to almost 2,000 meters above sea level and block out the sunlight for half the year, meaning Rjukan residents live in a permanent shadow from September to March.
But all that changed this week, with the official launch of a project first proposed a century ago. Three high-tech mirrors，with a combined reflective surface of 50 square meters, have been put into operation on a ridge(山脊) on Gaustatoppen mountain，brightening up the previously gloomy town center by flooding it with up to 600 square meters of sunlight.
Twenty-first century technology has made the $850, 000 project possible, with heliostats—computer-powered mirrors—shifting every 10 seconds to track the movements of the sun during the day.
But the idea to lighten up the dark town actually dates back 100 years. Rjukan was originally founded as a company town for Norsk Hydro, which set up a fertilizer plant here to make use of the hydro power from the nearby 104 meter Rjukanfossen waterfall. The story goes that the aluminum(铝) and renewable energy company’s founder，Sam Eyde，wanted a way to brighten up the existence of his shadowed 1aborers--and also to make them work more effectively during the winter.
The local newspaper published a suggestion by local bookkeeper Oskar Kittelsen to use a mirror to reflect sunlight onto the town，and Eyde picked up on the idea. Technological limitations of the day meant the plan never came to fruition，however, and instead northern Europe’s first cable car was built in 1928 to give Rjukan residents sunlight exposure at the top of the mountain.Rjukan residents used to 1ive in a permanent shadow from September to March .
| A．because it sits near the ArcticCircle(北极圈) |
| B．because it is located in a deep valley |
| C．because the sunlight was stopped by peaks |
| D．because it 1ies to the southwest of Oslo |
The underlined word“flooding”in the third paragraph means .
| A．covering | B．counting |
| C．widening | D．viewing |
Norsk Hydro set up Rjukan because .
| A．there were quantities of cheaper labors |
| B．there existed large amounts of hydro power |
| C．it was very convenient to use water |
| D．there was rich aluminum and water resources |
One Saturday afternoon in February, 1943, a farmer in Mexico stopped working for a moment and looked across his fields of corn. Suddenly he saw a thin line of white smoke curling up out of his field, about 200 feet from where he stood. As he went toward the smoke to see what it was, he heard a strange noise. The line of smoke became bigger. It looked as if some great force were pushing it up into the sky.
The farmer rushed home to get his wife. While he was urging his wife to hurry from the house, the earth shook violently. When he stood up after the earth stopped shaking, he looked across the field and saw that great flames were rising from his cornfield. A volcano was being born!
They hurried across the shaking earth to the village of Particutin, which was toward their farm. They found the village was seriously destroyed and the road from the village was filled with frightened people hurrying to safety.
Particutin did not become dark that night. The volcano lighted up the sky for miles around. Flames rushed out of the ground. The volcano threw hot stones a thousand feet through the air. Great explosion shook the earth and heavy black ashes fell from the sky, covering the roofs in Mexico city, 180 miles away.
But that was not all. On 
the third evening a float of lava（火山岩）began to boil up from the centre of the volcano. It came over the edge in a heavy flow, 2,000 feet wide, and travelled slowly across the valley, bringing certain death to everything that could not move from its path..
. From the passage we can conclude EXCEPT that .
| A．the volcano threw out a lot of ashes and hot stones |
| B．the volcano lasted several days |
| C．many people had to escape from the village |
| D．it caused many deaths and great loss |
.
. You can find the passage in a .
| A．newspaper | B．government report |
| C．leaflet for travellers | D．handbook |
.
. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．At the beginning the farmer heard a strange cry. |
| B．The farmer was working in the field when the disaster happened. |
| C．The farmer’s wife was working in the field at that moment. |
| D．The village was badly damaged. |
.
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．The damage of a volcano. | B．A terrible volcano. |
| C．An unforgettable memory. | D．A farmer’s experience. |
One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one's mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like "I was wrong about that," and it is even harder to say, "I was wrong, and you were right about that."
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighbourhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg boxes. Then he related an incident and I began to remember vaguely the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen boxes. The boxes were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of boxes. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.
The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting some of the boxes to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as if I was the culprit (做错事的人). He severely scolded me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I tried to explain it wasn’t me who had broken them, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, obviously the manager did not..
. How old was the author when he wrote this article?
| A．About 8. | B．About 18. | C．About 23. | D．About 15. |
.
Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of boxes?
| A．The author. | B．The man ager. |
C．A woman. | D．The author's mother. |
.
. Which of the following statements is not true?
| A．The woman who knocked off the stacks of boxes was seriously criticized by the manager. |
| B．The author was severely criticized by the manager. |
| C．A woman carelessly knocked off the stacks of boxes. |
| D．It was the author who put the display back together. |
.
. The tone of the article expresses the author's .
A．regret for the mistake he made in th e store |
| B．admiration for the manager's willingness to admit mistakes |
| C．anger against the woman who knocked off the stacks of boxes |
| D．anger to the manager for his wrong accusation |
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Do you quake when your teacher says, “Now it’s time for grammar”? Do your verbs agree with your subjects?
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Grades: 6-8Ages: 11-13.
If a ten-year-old boy wants himself to be admired because of his speech ability, he may buy .
| A．Word Power | B．Word Smart Junior |
| C．Grammar Smart Junior | D．Grammar Smart: An Audio Guide to Perfect Usage |
.
By saying “You’ll finally know your grammar backwards and forwards”, the writer means “”.
| A．You will be clearly familiar with grammar |
| B．You will know the history of grammar |
| C．You will know the make-up of grammar |
| D．You will learn about the future of grammar |
.
The four books are all about .
| A．fiction and mysteries | B．parenting and teaching |
| C．literature and arts | D．language study |
Environmental protection is frequently talked about nowadays. The authorities are doing their best to arise the public awareness of the vital importance of the environmental protection. This issue is, indeed, worth following up.
Environmental protection is closely related not only to our personal life, but also to the entire human race and the world’s further development. For one thing, the environment, in a narrow sense, determines the quality of
our individual life. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, etc. , all come directly from the environment. If they continue to be contaminated, we may have neither clean water, nor healthy food. For another thing, in a broader sense, the environment plays a decisive role in fate of mankind. As is known to all, the earth, up to now, is human being’s only dwelling place. We can expect that some day we will live on another planet, but I doubt that this day will come earlier than the day when the earth becomes a globe of waste, if we keep damaging the environment. Finally, the environment is essential to the further development of the world. Extensive industrialization, which has brought about all the convenience and facilities we enjoy today, has been depending on the comprehensive exploitation of the earth’s natural resources found in the environment. If we do not protect the environment properly, further development cannot be guaranteed. In a word, to protect the environment is an urgent task.
Nevertheless, environmental protection is indeed a demanding task. Many people are still, either unconscious of the urgency of the task or deliberately damaging the environment for the interests of their own. Hence, we should adopt severe measures to prohibit people from doing more harms to the environment. Meanwhile, we need to make the gravity of the present situation known to all. In other words, punishment and instruction should be equally emphasized. Only in this way can we look forward to a cleaner and greener world..
. What does the underlined word contaminated（in paragraph 2）probably refer to?
| A．polluted | B．protected | C．wasted | D．guaranteed |
.
The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to ________.
| A．stress the importance of protecting environment |
| B．enjoy beautiful environment happily |
| C．try to develop our industrialization fast |
| D．take severe measures to the environmental destroyers |
.
. From the passage we can know that ________.
| A．environmental protection is indeed a demanding task to our government |
| B．not all the people in the world realize the urgency of the task |
| C．only a few people are damaging the environment on purpose |
| D．some day we will live on another planet before the earth is damaged |
Dear editor,
I am Paul , a sen
ior English teacher in Linchuan No. 1 Middle School in Jiangxi Province , China. This letter is written to ask for your opinion.
The other day, I met with a multiple - choice exercise. We teachers argued heatedly with each other over its answer. Unfortunately, neither side could convince the other. The sentence is to be attached at the end of the letter. There is no doubt that the reference answer C is correct. But I don’t think it is the only answer. Personally, I do think A is also a reasonable choice in sense as well as in grammar, if the case is treated from another aspect.
What puzzles me is why we should deal with so many multiple - choice exercises with not rigorous（严谨的）enough reference keys. But being a teacher, it’s very important and necessary to make it clear to students which answer is correct, which is more appropriate, and which is the best one. Regrettably, Multiple - choice test, which is a bit old - fashioned in western countries, seems to be quite popular and covers a rather high percentage in all sorts of English tests in China, especially in NMET.
Personally speaking, I don’t think multiple - choice test form making up more than 75 percent of the total scores in college entrance examination is a very good and effective testing method. Instead, more subjective testing forms depending on one’s own thinking and his ability to use the language like key words falling, question answering, paragraph or passage summarizing, English - Chinese or Chinese - English inter - translation, etc. should be applied to English proficiency tests. Through the test forms mentioned above, students’ ability to use the language will be better developed. Consequently, more advanced and outstanding English learners could be picked out. In fact, a test paper focusing on multiple - choice test influences, in a sense, students to form their own language thinking, which hinders（阻碍）the development of their language ability as well. Do you think so?
I am looking forward to your authoritative opinion. Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Liao.
. What can be learnt from the letter is that the writer ________.
| A．writes to argue with the editor over China’s present test system |
| B．thinks the reference answer to the sentence is completely wrong |
| C．thinks subjective test forms constitute a rather high percentage in NMET |
| D．doesn’t think highly of China’s present English proficiency test forms |
.
. In order to better develop students’ ability to use English, the writer suggests ________.
| A．dealing with more multiple - choice exercises |
| B．laying stress on the practice of subjective exercises |
| C．arguing hotly with teachers over reference answers |
| D．considering a problem from different aspects |
.
Which of the following does NOT belong to subjective exercises in English learning?
| A．Keeping a diary. | B．Summarizing a paragraph. |
| C．Copying a test. | D．Translating a passage. |
.
The writer seems to feel ________ as to the future development of students’ language ability.
| A．concerned | B．curious | C．confused | D．satisfied |