The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research．Recent studies have found positive effects．A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example，discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime．In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants．
The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT） have taken it a step further ﹣ changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions．These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they're short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater．"We're thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day，" explained Michael Strano，a professor of chemical engineering at MIT．
One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow（发光） in experiments using some common vegetables．Strano's team found that they could create a faint light for three﹣and﹣a﹣half hours．The light，about one﹣thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start．The technology，Strano said，could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self﹣powered street lamps．
In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a on﹣off treatment that would last the plant's lifetime．The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off "switch" where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight．
Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US．Since lighting is often far removed from the power source（电源） ﹣ such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway ﹣ a lot of energy is lost during transmission（传输）．Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy．
（1）What is the first paragraph mainly about？
| A． |
A new study of different plants． |
| B． |
A big fall in crime rates． |
| C． |
Employees from various workplaces． |
| D． |
Benefits from green plants． |
（2）What is the function of the sensors printed on plant leaves by MIT engineers？
| A． |
To detect plants' lack of water． |
| B． |
To change compositions of plants． |
| C． |
To make the life of plants longer． |
| D． |
To test chemicals in plants． |
（3）What can we expect of the glowing plants in the future？
| A． |
They will speed up energy production． |
| B． |
They may transmit electricity to the home． |
| C． |
They might help reduce energy consumption． |
| D． |
They could take the place of power plants． |
（4）Which of the following can be the best title for the text？
| A． |
Can we grow more glowing plants？ |
| B． |
How do we live with glowing plants？ |
| C． |
Could glowing plants replace lamps？ |
| D． |
How are glowing plants made pollution﹣free？ |
The crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy center caused by the terrible earthquake has raised questions about the future of the nuclear energy industry. Arjun is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in the United States. He says the disaster in Japan is historic.
This week, the chairman of America’s nuclear agency said there is little chance that harmful radiation(辐射) from Japan could reach the United States. Gregory also said America has a strong program in place to deal with earthquake threats. No new nuclear power centers have been built in the United States since 1979. That was when America’s worst nuclear accident happened at the Three Mile Island center in Pennsylvania. The accident began to turn public opinion against nuclear energy. At present, about twenty percent of electricity in the United States comes from nuclear energy.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would close seven nuclear power centers for the time being while energy policy is reconsidered. The European Union is planning to test all centers in its twenty-seven member nations.
Developing nations are less willing to slow down the development of nuclear. China says it will continue with plans to build about twenty-five new nuclear reactors(核反应堆). And India, under a cooperation agreement with the United States, plans to spend billions on new centers in the coming years.
Nuclear reactors supply fourteen percent of global electricity. Nuclear energy is a clean resource, producing no carbon gases. But radioactive waste is a serious problem to be solved. So is the presence of nuclear power centers in earthquake areas like the one near Bushehr, lran.We can learn from the text that America ________.
| A．experienced a terrible nuclear accident 32 years ago |
| B．has a strong program to deal with radiation danger |
| C．depends heavily on nuclear energy to produce electricity |
| D．will check all the reactors before cooperating with India |
According to the text, which country will be most likely to have a similar disaster?
| A．German. | B．Iran | C．India. | D．China. |
How does the author seem to feel about the future of nuclear energy?
| A．Satisfied. | B．Pleased. | C．Worried. | D．Surprised. |
The best title of the text is ______.
| A．Various Opinions on Japan’s Nuclear Disaster |
| B．Japan’s Disaster is Likely to Run Out of Control |
| C．America Shows Great Concern for Japan’s Nuclear Crisis |
| D．Japan’s Disaster Throws Doubt on Nuclear Energy Industry |
You are busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; let’s assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isn’t it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma(毕业文凭) represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University?
More and more people are turning to an utter deception(欺骗) like this to land their first job or to move head in their careers. For personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars(注册主任)at most well-known colleges say that they deal with dishonest claims like these at the rate of about one per week.
Personnel officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms. If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges are unwilling to accuse the applicant directly. One lvy League school refers to them as “special cases”, One well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says these claims are made by “no such people”.
To avoid complete lies, some job seekers claim that they “attended” or “were associated with” a college or university. After careful checking, a personnel officer may discover that “attending” means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being as sociated with” a college means that the job-seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century—that’s when they began keeping records, anyhow.
If you don’t want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a fake diploma. One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of non-existent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from “Smoot State University”. The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of Purdue”. As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper.The writer mainly wants to tell us that _______.
| A．college degrees can now be purchased easily |
| B．it is very hard for people to find jobs |
| C．lying about college degrees is becoming a widespread problem |
| D．employers are no longer interested in applicants’ actual performances |
The underlined word “utter” in the second paragraph means “______”.
| A．thorough | B．careful | C．incomplete | D．spoken |
Once finding applicants with false diplomas, most colleges would _________.
| A．keep the records of them | B．drive them out of college |
| C．avoid direct conflicts with them | D．accuse them of such behavior |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．US employers value their job applicants with a degree from top universities |
| B．University of Purdue and Purdue University are the same school |
| C．people with fake diplomas can get their first jobs in the US easily |
| D．people pay the same price for a fake diploma from different universities |
阅读下面的短文，请根据文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的词数要求）
[1] Teens need independence, but how do you make sure they are safe? It’s tough to decide when to give your teen more freedom. One parent’s decision for his or her teen may not be right for other parents and their teens. Although every child is different, there are many experiences common to the teenage years. The most common may be the pull and push between dependence and independence.
[2] Many teens are putting themselves at risk for committing(从事) acts of violence and other crimes. No wonder so many parents are concerned, even frightened; no wonder so many try to control the behavior of their teenage children. So, it is important for parents to make rules for their young children.
[3] However, as children get older, they need to learn to make some of their own decisions and life choices. Teens need the chance to practice good decision-making skills, and to manage new life experiences. Parents need to try their best to support their children.
[4] Respect is a two-way street but it starts with you, which means that you should give your teens the respect that you would like to be given. Give them praise for their knowledge and abilities; pay attention to and listen to them. That means showing confidence in your teens, and being supportive. Parents should believe in your teens; set high standards for them, encourage them, expect them to achieve their goals, and provide consistent（一贯的；始终如一的）love and support —including practical help—so they can achieve the promise that lies within them.
[5] Teens are learning to take care of themselves as they prepare for adulthood. That’s what growing up is all about. Give them and appropriate（适当的） amount of freedom and independence. Encourage and promote responsibility and good decision—offering support and gentle help with difficult decisions. Let your teens know they will be given _________________ as they show increasingly responsible behavior.Who is this passage most probably written for? (no more than 5 words)
____________________________________________________________________________What’s the common experience of the teenagers? (no more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________Why should parents attempt to make rules for their children?
____________________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words (no more than 5 words)
____________________________________________________________________________What are the fourth and fifth paragraphs mainly about? (no more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
Ever since they were first put on the market in the early 1990s, genetically modified (GM, 转基因) foods have been increasingly developed and marketed in many countries in the world, mainly on the basis of their promise to end the worldwide food crisis. But can GM technology solve world hunger problems? Even if it would, is it the best solution?
Despite what it promises, GMtechnology actually has not increased the production potentialof any crop. In fact,studies show that the mostwidely grown GM crop, GM soybeans, has suffered reduced productivity. For instance, a report that analysed nearly two decades of research on major GM food crops shows that GM engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop production.
Something else, however, has been on the rise, While GM seeds are expensive, GM companies tell farmers that they will make good profits by saving money on pesticides（杀虫剂）. On the contrary, US government data show that GM crops in the US have produced an overall increase in pesticide use compared to traditional crops. “Thepromise was that you could use less chemicals and boost production. But neither is true,” said Bill Christison, President of the US National Farm Coalition.
At the same time, the authors of the book World Hunger: Twelve Myths argue that there actually is more than enough food in the world and that the hunger crisis is not caused by production, but by problems in food distribution and politics. These indeed deserve our efforts and money. Meanwhile, the rise in food prices results from the increased use of crops for fuel rather than food, according to a 2008 World Bank report.
As a matter of fact, scientists see better ways to feed the world. Another World Bank report concluded that GM crops have little to offer to the challenges of worldwide poverty and hunger, because better ways out are available, among which “green” farming is supposed to be the first choice.The author develops the second paragraph mainly.
| A．by classification | B．by comparison |
| C．by example | D．by process |
What does the underlined word “boost” in the third paragraph probably mean?
| A．Control. | B．Evaluate | C．Obtain. | D．Increase. |
GM companies promise farmers that they will benefit from ______________.
| A．practicing “green” farming |
| B．use of less chemicals |
| C．fair distribution of their crops |
| D．using more crops for fuel |
Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author towards GM technology?
| A．Optimistic | B．Defensive | C．Disapproving | D．Casual |
More than one in eight U. S. adults finds it hard to stay away from the Internet for several days at a time and about one in eleven tries to hide his or her online habit, according to a study showed on Tuesday.
The study by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California found one in eight adults admitted they needed to spend less time online, saying this showed "problematic Interact use" is present in a sizable portion (部分)of the population.
The study involved a nationwide telephone survey of 2,581 respondents in the spring and summer of 2004 with researchers then examining the data and preparing the report which appears in the October issue of CNS Spectrums.
The survey found that 68.9 percent of respondents were regular Internet users and 13.7 percent of the users found it hard to stay offline for several days at a time.
It found 12.4 percent often stayed online longer than intended, more than 12 percent said they saw a need to cut back on their Internet use, and 8.7 percent tried to conceal (隐瞒) "non-essential "Internet use from family, friends and employers.
A smaller number, 8.2 percent, said they use the Internet to escape problems or a bad mood, while 5.9 percent felt their relationships suffered because of too much Internet use.
One report published earlier this year said that 5 percent to 10 percent of the population likely will experience Internet addiction (上瘾).
It said signs include a disregard for health or appearance, lack of sleep and reducing physical activities and social communications with others, as well as dry eyes and juries of hands and fingers.From Paragraph 2, it tells us _______.
| A．how to use the interact is a terrible problem to adults |
| B．how surfing the net has caused a bad result to people |
| C．why to throw off the Internet addiction becomes a hot problem |
| D．why so many adults want to spend less time on the interact |
Those who try to hide their habit of addition to the Interact make up of the respondents.
| A．12.4% | B．8.7% | C．5.9% | D．13.7% |
According to the researchers, which statement is true?
| A．Online habit of people has been a dangerous problem to society. |
| B．All of the Interact users have terrible psychological problems to solve. |
| C．The internet is more harmful to people than good. |
| D．We have to pay attention to negative effects from the internet. |