People like different kinds of vacations. Some go camping. They swim, fish, cook over a fire and sleep outside. Others like to stay at a hotel in an exciting city. They go shopping all day and go dancing all night. Or maybe they go sightseeing to places such as Disneyland, the Tai Mahal or the Louvre.
Some people are bored with sightseeing trips. They don’t want to be “tourists”. They want to have an adventure— a surprising and exciting trip. They want to learn something and maybe help people too. How can they do this? Some travel companies and environmental groups are planning special adventures. Sometimes these trips are difficult and full of the world. Some volunteers spend two weeks and study the environment. Others work with animals. Others learn about people of the past.
Would you like an adventure in the Far North? A team of volunteers is leaving from Murmansk, Russia. The leader of this trip is a professor from Alaska. He’s worried about chemicals from factories. He and the volunteers will study this pollution in the environment. If you like exercise and cold weather, this is a good trip for you. Volunteers need ski sixteen kilometers every day. -
Do you enjoy ocean animals? You can spend two to four weeks in Hawaii. There, you can teach language to dolphins. Dolphins can follow orders such as “Bring me the large ball”. They also understand opposites. How much more can they understand? It will be exciting to learn about these intelligent animals. Another study trip goes to Washington State and follows orcas. We call orcas “Killer Whale”, but they’ re really dolphins—the largest kind of dolphin.. These beautiful animals travel together in family groups. They move through the ocean with their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Ocean pollution is chasing their lives. Earthwatch is studying how this happens.
Are you interested in history? Then Greece is the place for your adventure. Thirty-five hundred years ago a volcano exploded there, on Santorini. This explosion was more terrible than Krakatoa or Mount Saint Helens. But today we know a lot about the way of life of the people from that time. There are houses, kitchens, and paintings as interesting as those in Pompei. Today teams of volunteers are learning more about people from the past.
Do you want a very different vacation? Do you want to travel far, work hard and learn a lot? Then an Earthwatch vacation is for you.
The Tai Mabal may be _________.
| A．a shopping center | B．a hotel |
| C．a dancing ball | D．a place of interest |
From the passage, on an adventure trip, people ______________.
| A．may not spend much time on sightseeing |
| B．won’ t meet some difficulties or hardships |
| C．can’t enjoy themselves - |
| D．can’t learn something |
If you want to learn something about people of the past, you can ___________
| A．join the team to Hawaii | B．join the team to the Far North |
| C．join the team to Washington | D．join the team to Greece |
The word “intelligent” in paragraph 4 means __________________.
| A．exciting | B．beautiful | C．large | D．clever |
Which of the following is false ?
| A．Some people find sightseeing trips boring. |
| B．Earth watch is planning all these special adventures |
| C．The number orcas is decreasing. |
| D．3 volcano explosions in all broke out 3, 500 years ago in Greece. |
Facebook is now used
by 30 million people in the UK, about half the population.
Joanna Shields, vice president of Facebook Europe, made the announcement this morning at a media conference in London.
She said: "We can announce today that we have reached 30 million in the UK, which we are really excited about."
Globally, Facebook has more than 500 million registered users, a milestone it hit last summer. Last July, it also revealed that it had 26 million registered UK users. In the last eight months, it has attracted four million extra UK users, bringing the UK total to 30 million, while in January 2009, Facebook had only 150 million registered users.
Last year, Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, said it was "almost a guarantee" that the site would hit one billion users. He explained: "If we succeed in innovating, there is a good chance of bringing this to a billion people...it will be interesting to see how it comes true."
One third of women aged 18 to 34 check Facebook when they first wake up, before even going to the toilet, according to research. Twenty-one per cent of women aged between 18 to 34 check Facebook in the middle of the night, while 42 per cent of the same group think it is fine to post drunken photos of themselves onto the social network, a study by Oxygen Media found.
Shields was speaking this morning at the Financial Times Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference about the power Facebook's referrals can bring to media sites, such as newspapers and TV services.
She explained that the average Facebook user has 130 friends who they share links to media sites with on a regular basis. "Media companies which take advantage of that are really seeing the benefits", Shields said.
Shields refused to say whether Facebook would develop its own mobile phone operating system and also said it was "silly" that Google had recently disabled the feature (特点) which allowed Google users to sync their contacts with Facebook friends.What is Joanna Shields content with?
| A．the announcement | B．media conference |
| C．fast growing registered users | D．the benefits of Facebook |
How many registered users all over the world now?
A．2 6 million |
B．30 million |
| C．150 million | D．more than 500 million |
Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, take a more view about the future of Facebook.
| A．negative | B．optimistic | C．cold | D．pessimistic |
What kind of people are more interested in Facebook according to the passage?
| A．teenagers | B．middle-aged people |
| C．old people | D．young people |
From the passage we know that .
| A．Facebook would develop its own mobile phone operating system |
| B．Google didn't allow its users to sync their contacts with Facebook friends |
| C．Shields refused to admit the power Facebook's referrals could bring |
| D．Google was always silly |
Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook from scratch (从头开始 )? Have you been doing internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can't you be bothered to do?
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so idle they'd catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs.
Just over 2000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain's largest health charity. The results were surprising.
About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up.
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus. Worryingly, of the 654 respondents (回答者) with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them.
This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese (肥胖) before they start school.
Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said: "People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and obviously their pets too.
"If we don't start to take control of this problem, a whole ge
neration will become too unfit to perform even the most basic of tasks."
And Scotland's largest city,
Glasgow, was shamed as the laziest city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%.
The results pose (对... 提出) serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year. For the i
nterest of country people should .
| A．continue watching the same channel rather than get up to get the remote control |
| B．carry out even the most basic of tasks |
| C．get enough exercise to get fitter |
| D．admit they do not get enough exercise |
Which of the following statements agrees with British people?
| A．They are fond of climbing the stairs. |
| B．They are willing to accompany their children. |
| C．They like sports and get enough exercise. |
| D．They are suffering from obesity-related illnesses. |
What does the word "idle" in paragraph 2 mostly probably mean?
| A．active | B．lazy | C．optimistic | D．pessimistic |
Which country is the writer most likely to come from?
| A．America | B．China | C．U.K | D．France |
What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．UK is taking measures to get over laziness. |
| B．How lazy British people are. |
| C．British people are suffering from laziness. |
| D．Challenges for the National Health Service. |
Today's parents miss the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found.
Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to juggle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did — just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day.
And 64 percent said this was because they felt they 'had' to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the 'perfect mother', the report found.
Other findings showed social network and parenting website were important in proving help and support among female communities
Kate Fox, of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: "With increasing pressure on mothers to work a 'double shift' — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever."
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialized nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a "primary activity".
Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their chil
dren in the hands of nurseries or child minders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the 
burden of childcare still falls on them — even if their husband is not in work.
A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child — 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work.
Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．More and more modern mothers go out to work to support the families. |
| B．Today's parents would rather leave their children in the hands of nurseries. |
| C．Today's parents have less time to take care of their children. |
| D．To keep the balance of work and family is not an easy thing. |
What does the underlined word "juggle" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．keep objects in the air |
| B．do many things at once |
| C．change things |
| D．organize spending |
According to Kate Fox, .
| A．people should learn to relax by using the network |
| B．network plays an important role in society |
| C．mothers should make use of the network to gain support |
| D．it is impossible for woman to become the "double shift" |
Today's mothers lack the time to company their children mainly because .
| A．they have no choice but go to work |
| B．they are under constant pressure |
| C．they want to be "the perfect mother" |
| D．they have less time to themselves |
Which of the following statements is True?
| A．Mothers usually spend three hours looking after their children a day. |
| B．Since more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare falls on fathers. |
| C．Child minders are good to the health of the children. |
| D．Mothers spend more time with their children than fathers. |
A report by the Consumer Electronics Association says electronics are among the most popular gifts
being bought this holiday season.
Jim Barry is a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. He says the CEA study found that electronics represent three of the top five things on its "holiday gift wish list" this year.
JIM BARRY: "Notebook computers are at the top, followed by iPads and then e-readers. IPad is a touch-screen tablet computer and that's really the big player in that category."
The computer company Apple began selling its small, touch-screen computers in April. People use the touch-screen computers to surf the Web, write e-mails, watch movies and read books. Since the iPad's release earlier this year, several other companies have come out with their own tablet computers just in time for Christmas.
A report from the e-Marketer research group predicts that worldwide, tablet sales will reach more than eighty-one million in two thousand twelve. Still, Jim Barry says these devices are facing tough competition this year from another Christmas favorite.
JIM BARRY: "Another hot category right behind that are the e-readers. So you can read on an iPad or a touch-screen tablet, but the e-book readers are less expensive. The Kindle is the market leader there, from Amazon. But you also have the Nook from Barnes and Noble and the e-reader from Sony. And you have more and more of those e-readers coming into the market as well."
The Consumer Electronics Association report found that iPod music players are also in high demand this holiday season.
But not all of the things on the holiday gift wish list involved electronics. Clothes, cars and motorcycles also made the list. So did family togetherness and good health. And the one thing that people wanted most?
JIM BARRY: "At the top of the list was peace and happiness."
That is also our wish for you this holiday season.The best title of the passage is .
| A．How to choose a suitable gift for Christmas |
| B．iPads, E-Readers, Notebook Computers top wish lists |
| C．What we should buy for our kids this holiday season |
D．How modern technology is changing the way people relate |
People use the touch-screen computers to do all the following things except .
| A．surf the Web and write e-mails |
| B．watch movies and read books |
| C．surf the Web and contact others on phone |
| D．surf the internet and use it as an e-reader |
Which of the following sentences is TURE?
| A．iPads are the most popular gift among all the electronics. |
| B．Only the computer company Apple releases a touch-screen tablet computer. |
| C．All of the things on the holiday gift wish list are electronics. |
| D．There are more and more kinds of e-readers in the market. |
You don't have enough money for an iPad, but you can buy for a friend who enjoys reading.
| A．notebook computers | B．iPod music players |
| C．touch-screen tablet computer | D．e-book readers |
We can infer from the last paragraph that .
| A．people value peace and happiness more than anything else |
| B．clothes, cars and motorcycles are also popular gifts for Christmas |
| C．family togetherness and good health don't make the list |
| D．JIM BARRY also sends their wish for us this holiday season |
A pair of pandas being lent by China to Japan was set to arrive in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in the Japanese capital and raising hopes that the animals may help improve bilateral (双边的)ties.
Bi Li and his female partner, Xian Nu, both 5, were due to touch downat Narita international Airport in Tokyo on a flight from Shanghai.
Together with their keeper, the pair were transferred from Chengdu, to Shanghai on Monday morning, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the Wolong Nature Reserve.
The pair, which are young adults, will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo since April 2008, when the institution's beloved Ling Ling died.
Ueno Zoo had spent 90 million yen ($1.1 million) installing under-floor heating, a playground with a sandbox and landscaping.
The pair will dine on rare bamboo from the central Japanese mountain of Izu that is similar to what they are used to at home in China.
The zoo's first pair of pandas arrived in 1972, marking the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Expectations are running high that the pandas that will stay in Japan for 10 years will boost the local economy and improve troubled relations between Tokyo and Beijing.
Business and tourism officials expect them to bring in around 20 billion yen a year, or 10 percent of the local economy.
In 1993, a year after Ling Ling arrived in the zoo, an additional 1 million people visited the attraction. Visitors have fallen to around 3 million a year from 3.5 million since Ling Ling's death.
Since a boat collision near the Diaoyu Islands in September, Sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point. The media outlets expressed hope that bilateral relations will improve with the arrival of the pandas. The passage mainly tells us .
| A．a pair of pandas was lent to Japan by China |
| B．the pair of pandas from China brought hope of improving Sino-Japanese relations |
| C．the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan |
| D．sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point since the Diaoyu Island incident |
en the pair of pandas arrives in Japan, .
| A．an additional 1 million people will visit the zoo |
| B．they will eat what they are used to from China |
| C．they will stay there for 10 years |
D．the y will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo |
According to the passage, we know that Ling Ling stayed in Japan for about .
| A．5 years | B．10 years | C．15 years | D．20 years |
What does the underlined phrase "touch down" probably mean ?
| A．take off | B．land | C．come up | D．meet |
The arriving of the pandas is expected to bring several positive effects except .
| A．boosting the local economy |
| B．improving the troubled relations between China and Japan |
| C．bringing in around 20 billion yen a year |
| D．attracting 3.5 million visitors from China |