Are GM（转基因的) foods safe for people? Can they help solve the poverty problem? They have been the subjects of a hot debate.
This debate is related to increasing challenges from rising climatic change, population growth, urbanization（城镇化), and natural resource consumption. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, food production needs to increase by 60 percent by 2050 in order to feed 9 billion people. Scientists and policymakers are searching for effective ways to gain nutritious food, for today and future. Unlike previous agricultural methods (such as the Green Revolution), GM crops are to fight food safety and poverty challenges.
The great expansion of GM crop varieties over the last two decades can be seen easily. The total area devoted to GM crops has increased 100 times from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 170 million hectares in 2012. Developing countries now grow more GM crops than developed countries (in terms of area), largely driven by Brazil’s rapid adoption of GM crops. China is home to about 4 percent of the total global area devoted to GM crops. Beans, corn, and cotton are main global GM crops, while China’s focus is on cotton, papaya, and poplar.
Recently, a scientific study shows that GM crops are safe for people and the environment. According to a 2010 report on the safety of GM crops by the EU, “the main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 research groups, is that biology methods, are not more risky than traditional planting technologies, for example.” Other international and national scientific bodies, such as the World Health Organization, have reached the same conclusion. Nowadays, people are developing GM foods mainly to fight against______.
| A．urbanization |
| B．population growth |
| C．rising climatic change |
| D．natural resource consumption |
As for GM crops, what do people mainly focus on ?
| A．Food production. | B．Food nutrition. |
| C．Food safety. | D．Food variety. |
What does Paragraph 3 talk about?
| A．More GM crops in developing countries. |
| B．Less GM crops in developed countries. |
| C．Rapid adoption of GM crops in Brazil. |
| D．The expansion of GM crop varieties of the world. |
From a recent scientific study, we can infer that______.
| A．traditional planting technologies are more risky |
| B．the safety of GM crops has been proved in many ways |
| C．the safety of GM crops was reported by the EU in 2010 |
| D．present GM crops are safe for people and the environment |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards GM crops?
| A．Supportive. | B．Opposed. |
| C．Unknown. | D．Indifferent. |
A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a person came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch: “It’s 8:05,” he said. Then he went to sleep again. But soon he was waken up again because a second person was knocking at the window. “Sir, do you know the time?” he asked. The driver looked at his watch again, and told him it was half past eight.
In this way, the driver thought he could not have a good rest, so he wrote a short note and stuck it on the window for all to see. It said, “I don’t know the time.”
Again, he lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came and began to knock at the window, “Hey, sir,” he said, “It’s a quarter to nine.”Where did the driver sleep?
| A．At the window | B．In the street road |
| C．In his car | D．In his room. |
How long had the driver been there when the third person called him?
| A．40 minutes | B．25 minutes |
| C．50 minutes | D．70 minutes |
Why did the driver write a note and stick it on the window?
| A．Because he didn’t know the time |
| B．Because he didn’t want anybody to trouble him |
| C．Because he needed somebody to wake him up. |
| D．Because he wanted somebody to tell him the time |
More than four out of five people admit to telling little white lies at least once a day and the preferred way of “being economical with the truth” is to use technology such as cellphones, text messages and e-mails, a survey said last Thursday. The research found that “techno-treachery （高科技说谎）” was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets (小器具) made it easier to fib (撒小谎). Just over half of the respondents （被调查者） said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face. The workplace was a favorite location for fibbing with 67 percent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work. The top lie was pretending to be ill (43 percent), followed by saying work had been completed when it hadn’t (23 percent). Worryingly for bosses 18 percent said they lied to hide a big mistake. But, employers were not the only ones on the receiving end of dishonest statements. Just over 40 percent of the respondents said they had lied to their families or partners. Key topics to lie about were: buying new clothes or the cost of them (37 percent), how good someone looked in something (35 percent), how much they had eaten (35 percent) and drunk (31 percent) and how much they weighed (32 percent). The underlined phrase “being economical with the truth” probably means______.
| A．telling lies | B．making apologies | C．feeling guilty | D．admitting mistakes |
It can be inferred(推断) from the passage that ______.
| A．employers sometimes lie to their employees, too |
| B．75% of people have ever lied to someone |
| C．without gadgets, people may feel more pressure when telling white lies |
| D．more people lie to their family than to their bosses |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Cell phones make people more likely to lie. |
| B．Some people might lie to their bosses when they are not doing their work well. |
| C．40% of employers admit that they have lied to their families or partners. |
| D．Nearly 1,500 people were questioned in the survey. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．People are getting more likely to lie. |
| B．People tend to fib using gadgets. |
| C．Most people tell white lies at the workplace. |
| D．18% of people lie to their bosses. |
There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers(梦游者). People have been said to climb on roofs, solve mathematical problems, write music, walk through windows, and do murder in their sleep.
In Revere, Massachusetts, a hundred policemen searched for a lost boy who left his home in his sleep and woke up five hours later on a strange sofa in a strange living room, with no idea how he had got there.
At the University of Lowa, a student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three-quarters of a mile to the Lowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed.
An American expert on sleep claims(声称) that he has never seen a sleepwalker. He is said to know more about sleep than any other living man, and during the last thirty-five years he has lost a lot of sleep watching people sleep. He says, “Of course, I know that there are sleepwalkers because I have read about them in the newspapers. But none of my sleepers ever walked, and if I were to advertise for sleepwalkers for an experiment, I doubt whether I would get many takers(应征者).”
Sleepwalking, however, is a scientific reality. It is one of those strange things that sometimes look quite fantastic(奇特的). Doctors say that sleepwalking is much more common than is generally supposed. Many sleepwalkers do not try to find help and their sleepwalking is never recorded. Generally speaking, sleepwalkers are people who __________.
| A．do fantastic things during their sleep |
| B．walk through windows |
| C．climb on roofs |
| D．walk in a half-awake state |
It was reported that a boy ________.
| A．was found on a strange sofa, telling how he had got there |
| B．lost his way five hours after he left home |
| C．slept in his own room but woke up in a strange room |
| D．was searched for by policemen when he lost his way |
There was a college student who got into the habit of _______.
| A．walking three-quarters of a mile every day |
| B．getting up in the middle of the night and walking down to the river |
| C．swimming in the Lowa River before going to bed |
| D．walking about before he went to bed |
Why do people think sleepwalking is nothing but a fantastic thing which doesn’t have any explanation?
| A．It is so common that it needn’t be recorded. |
| B．Scientists take no interest in it. |
| C．No records about it have been made. |
| D．Most sleepwalkers do not seek help for their problem. |
The Healthy Habits Survey（调查）shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.
1. How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?
·Finding：A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day.
·Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day.
2. How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday?
·Finding：Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day—half of the number doctors recommend.
·Step：We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day—often inviting germs（病菌）to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.
3. How often do you think about fighting germs?
·Finding：Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.
·Step：Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge（海绵）that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.What is found out about American seniors?
| A．Most of then have good habits. |
| B．Nearly 30% of then bathe three days a week. |
| C．About one third of them brush their teeth only once a day |
| D．All of them are fighting germs better than expected. |
Doctors suggest that people should wash their hands______.
| A．twice a day |
| B．three times a day |
| C．eight times a day |
| D．four times a day |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．We should keep from touching our faces. |
| B．A kitchen sponge can carry more germs than a toilet. |
| C．There are less than 300 types of bacteria in the mouth. |
| D．We should wash our hands before touching a door handle. |
The text probably comes from______.
| A．a popular magazine |
| B．a guide book |
| C．a book review |
| D．an official document |
When I was young, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard. I remembered him as a neighbor who was nicer than anyone else in the neighborhood.
When Dr. Gibbs was happy, he was planting trees. And his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
Dr. Gibbs had some interesting theories about planting. He talked about trees that weren’t watered would grow deep roots in search of water. So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak (橡树) and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with the rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs died a couple of years. Every now and again, I walk by his house and look at the trees that he planted twenty-five years ago. They’re very strong now.
I planted a couple of trees a few years later. I watered them regularly and took good care of them. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake their leaves and branches.
The funny thing about those trees of Dr. Gibbs was that difficulty seemed to help them in ways comfort and ease never could.What was Dr. Gibbs’ life goal?
| A．To build a forest. | B．To save more lives. |
| C．To make a lot of money. | D．To study plants. |
One of Dr. Gibbs’ theories about planting was that ______.
| A．he often talked to the trees |
| B．he kicked the trees heavily |
| C．he never watered the trees |
| D．he buried the leaves around the roots |
What does the writer mainly want to tell us?
| A．Trees are not as weak as we think. |
| B．We should listen to others’ advice. |
| C．Planting trees is good for the environment. |
| D．Difficulty is necessary for growth. |