Australia’s koalas could be dying out within 30 years, unless urgent measures is taken to stop the losing in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all related to reduce the number of wild koalas sharply. The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. Previous estimates put the number of koalas at more than 100,000, but the latest figures suggest there could now be as few as 43,000.
The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.
The foundation said besides problems caused by cutting down forests, hotter and drier conditions because of global warming had reduced the nutritional(营养的)value of their staple food, eucalyptus leaves, leading to poor nutrition for them.
Koalas, which live in the forests in Australia’s east and south, are very particular about what types of the leaves they eat.
Foundation chief Deborah Tabart said: “The koalas are missing everywhere we look. It’s really no tree, no me. If you keep cutting down trees you don’t have any koalas.”She is hoping the new figures will persuade the government’s Threatened Species Steering Committee (TSSC) to list the koala as threatened. But committee chairman Bob Beeton said a decision was not likely recently and the koala’s status as one of the country’s favorite animals would not be a factor. “There’s a number of species which are attractive and people have special feelings towards them. We don’t consider that,” Mr. Beeton was reported as saying by the AFP agency.The writer gives the example of the area in northern Queensland in Paragraph 3 to show that _____.
| A．the environment is being polluted seriously |
| B．the number of koalas is dropping quickly |
| C．the forests are being damaged heavily |
| D．koalas usually live in wild mountainous areas |
Global warming is an important cause of koalas’ reduction because _____.
| A．the leaves koalas eat are losing nutritional value |
| B．koalas cannot get enough water to drink |
| C．koalas can hardly stand the hot weather |
| D．the leaves koalas eat cannot grow in hot weather |
According to Bob Beeton, _____.
| A．they needn’t pay special attention to koalas |
| B．a decision will be made to protect koalas |
| C．koalas are his favorite animals |
| D．koalas needn’t be protected at all |
Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling(赌博) and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup(拘所),he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him.
It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid that the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly a few policemen opened the door and came in. “I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”Mr. Lang was paid much because _______.
| A．he was a worker |
| B．he worked in a factory |
| C．he had a lot of work to do |
| D．he had worked there for a long time |
Mrs. Lang did all housework because _______.
| A．she couldn’t find any work |
| B．she thought her husband was tired |
| C．her husband spent all time in gambling |
| D．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling |
_______, so he was put into lockup.
| A．Mr. Lang often gambled |
| B．Mr. Lang was late for work |
| C．Mr. Lang didn’t help his wife at home |
| D．Mr. Lang wasn’t polite to the police |
The woman had to leave Mr. Lang because _______.
| A．he didn’t love her any longer |
| B．he wouldn’t stop gambling |
| C．he had been put into lockup |
| D．he was hardly sent away by the factory |
When we don’t understand each other’s language, we can talk with the help of signs.
A Frenchman was once travelling in England. He could not speak English at all. One day he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter came, he opened his mouth, put his fingers in it, and took out again. He wanted to say . “Bring me something to eat.” The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The man moved his head from side to side. The waiter understood him and took the tea away. In a moment he came with a cup of coffee. But the man again refused it. He shook his head whenever the waiter brought him something to drink, for drinks are not food. When the man was going away, another man came in. This man saw the waiter , and he put his hand on his stomach. That was enough. In a few minutes there was a large plate of meat and vegetables on the table in front of him.
So you see, we cannot understand the language of signs as well as we can understand the language of words.According to the passage, when people do not understand each other’s language, they can talk with the help of ______.
| A．a waiter |
| B．a teacher |
| C．an Englishman |
| D．their hands, heads and other parts of their bodies. |
A Frenchman signed to the waiter_______.
| A．to give him some medicine | B．to bring him a cup of coffee |
| C．to ask him for food | D．to tell him what he said |
Another man saw the waiter, and put his hand on his stomach. He meant__________.
| A．he had a stomachache | B．he was hungry |
| C．he was very thirsty | D．he was full |
From this story we know_______
| A．people can only understand the language of words |
| B．proper gestures can help to understand each other |
| C．waiters should understand body languages |
| D．it is important to learn foreign languages |
Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all whether rich or poor, clever or stupid, one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough: we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we would get terrible diseases in our towns.
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we are educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability, and secondly, that we realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that it is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.The writer of this passage thinks that________.
| A．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world |
| B．free education can solve all of the world’s problems |
| C．free education won’t help to solve social problems |
| D．all the social problems can’t be solved by free education |
The writer wants to prove that ___________.
| A．a farmer is more important than a professor |
| B．our society needs all kinds of jobs |
| C．our society needs free education for all |
| D．people with university degrees earn more money |
According to the passage, ____________.
| A．work with hands is low work |
| B．work with hands is dirty and shameful |
| C．work with hands is the most important |
| D．we can’t regard work with hands as low work |
The purpose of education is ___________.
| A．to choose a system of education |
| B．to let everyone receive education |
| C．to prepare children for their future life |
| D．to prepare children for well-paid jobs |
Did you know that a turtle（乌龟）can lay 12 eggs in one minute? A large sea turtle lays around 150 eggs at a time. She lays all these eggs in just a few minutes..
Large sea turtles live in the warm seas of the world. Except for when they lay their eggs, they spend their whole lives in the water. When it is time to lay their eggs, the females swim to land..
They usually return to the place where they themselves were born. How they find their way back there is unknown. When they reach shore, the big, heavy turtles crawl slowly up to the high water mark. Using their flippers（脚蹼）, they pull themselves along the sand. They must struggle like mountain climbers. When they finally reach dry sand, they rest before beginning the difficult task of laying eggs.
The turtles lay the eggs in deep holes and cover them with warm sand. The sand protects the eggs from harm. Then the females leave them. After a few weeks, if you happened to be walking along the beach, you might see the sand begin to shake. You may see tiny black balls coming out of the sand. The tiny heads of baby turtles!The first sentence lets us know that this passage is about _____.
A. speed B. turtles C. time D oceans.Turtles bury their eggs to protect them from _____.
| A．deep water | B．heat |
| C．danger | D．bad weather |
We can conclude from this passage that _____.
| A．many turtles die while swimming to shore |
| B．female turtles protect their babies |
| C．once turtles land, they never return to the sea |
| D．the job of laying eggs takes great strength |
The writer compares turtles to climbers _____.
| A．because they lay their eggs in mountain areas |
| B．to give you a picture of how hard they work |
| C．to tell you that they like to climb |
| D．to show that mountain climbers are as slow as turtles |
B
| Populations and Land (1987) |
||||
| Area in |
Percent |
Population |
Percent |
|
| Square miles |
Cultivated |
In millions |
forested |
|
| United States |
3615104 |
20 |
243.8 |
28 |
| Canada |
3851792 |
5 |
25.9 |
33 |
| United Kingdom |
94525 |
29 |
56.8 |
9 |
| Australia |
2967896 |
6 |
16.2 |
14 |
| India |
1269340 |
51 |
800.3 |
21 |
| China |
3705390 |
11 |
1062.0 |
14 |
Which two countries are the closest to each other in area?
| A．The US and Canada | B．The US and China |
| C．China and Canada | D．India and China |
_____ has the highest population density(密度), and _____ has the second highest.
| A．China, India | B．India, China |
| C．India, the US | D．China, the US |
Which two countries have the closest percentage of cultivated land?
| A．The US and the United Kingdom. |
| B．The US and China |
| C．Australia and Canada． |
| D．Australia and China |
There are _____ countries whose cultivated land percentage is larger than the forest percentage.
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |