The Friends of the Amazon is a nonprofit association helping to preserve the forest, its wildlife and its native cultures in the Peruvian Amazon. We are located 3 degrees south of the equator in the Region of Loreto, which is roughly the size of Montana and is one of the richest areas in the world in terms of flora(植物群) and fauna（动物群）. Our team consists of lawyers, ecologists, sociologists, medical professionals and native Amazonians working together to protect the forest and its people from destruction. We use litigation（诉讼）, filing lawsuits against those who seek to destroy the forest and its native cultures. In addition to legal processes, we promote health, education, and the conservation of native plants and animals.
The Amazon Rainforest is commonly referred to as the "lungs of the planet" whose trees are essential for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming) and converting it into oxygen, thereby mitigating the rise of global temperatures and climate change. An estimated 120 billion tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed in the Amazon Rainforest and global emissions of carbon dioxide increase with every tree of the rainforest that is cut down. That is why the survival of the Amazon Rainforest is vital for the survival of our planet, without which rising global temperatures could melt the polar icecaps and cause flooding of our coastal cities.
Currently, the Amazon is under siege（围攻）, with an estimated 1000 hectares being destroyed everyday. After harvesting old growth forests, corporations are often replacing the native forest with palm oil plantations instead of reforesting with native tree species. Palm oil trees are native to Africa, not the Amazon, and due to high profits, their promotion by international aid agencies and recent legislation in Peru, palm oil plantations represent perhaps the single greatest threat to the native Amazon Rainforest.
In addition to conventional logging and deforesting to make room for crops such as palm oil and soybeans, the Amazon forest faces a new threat in the form of REDD projects and “Carbon Cowboys”. REDD refers to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation by using carbon offsets (“carbon credits”). Under the guise of REDD projects, scammers are tricking native communities into signing unjust contracts in English without legal representation which essentially give these so called Carbon Cowboys the forest for free. These cheaters are making false promises of "billions of dollars in profits" from REDD and voluntary carbon offset （碳补偿）projects by lying that they are representatives of the United Nations and World Bank in order to trick vulnerable indigenous Amazonians into ceding their land by signing unjust contracts with hidden clauses that give the Carbon Cowboys a power of attorney to do whatever they want with the forest for a period of 100 years. Friends of the Amazon is actively filing lawsuits against these Carbon Cowboys and those who support them.
For further information on our programs and to find out how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest, please contact:
Friends of the Amazon
153 Túpac Amaru Street
Iquitos, Peru
Phone: (+51) 985665374
For more specific information on supporting the goals of our nonprofit organization, please contact us using the email address listed below.
If you would like to learn how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest and its indigenous people, please contact us for more information at:
info(at)friendsoftheamazon.org
1.The Friends of the Amazon is the name of _________.
A．your best friend B．a non-profit organization
C．a historic hero D．a famous carbon cowboy
2.What does the underlined word “converting ” in the second paragraph mean?
A．changing B．increasing C．reducing D．burning
3.Why is the survival of the Amazon Rainforest vital for the survival of our planet?
A．Because this forest absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide emitted by the world
B．Because people rely on this forest to get enough wood to build houses and furniture
C．Because people living here can get a large sum of compensation to offset carbon dioxide
D．Because the United Nations and the World Bank are helping preserving the land here
4.We can learn from the passage that palm oil trees _____________.
A．have produced much profit for the local people.
B．are native to Amazon and fit in well with their surroundings
C．are native to Africa and may do great harm to the native Amazon trees
D．are used to replace the native forest because the local people can profit from them
5.The purpose of this article is _______.
A．introduce the largest rain forest in the world
B．to appeal to the government to take some measures to get rid of Carbon Cowboys
C．to advertise the rain forest as a favourite tourist destination
D．to arouse the awareness of the public to help conserve the “lungs of our planet”
If you have ever gone through a toll booth(收费所), you know that your relationship to the person in the booth is not the most intimate you'll ever have. It is one of life's frequent affairs: You hand over some money; you might get change; you drive off.
Late one morning in 1984, headed for lunch in San Francisco, I drove toward a booth. I heard loud music. It sounded like a party. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm having a party," he said.
"What about the rest of the people?" I looked at the other toll booths.
He said, "What do those look like to you?" He pointed down the row of toll booths.
"They look like……toll booths. What do they look like to you?"
He said, "Vertical coffins. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions."
I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about his job. Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation, figures out a way to live. I could not help asking the next question: "Why is it different for you? You're having a good time."
He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that. I don't understand why anybody would think my job is boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. I can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and the Berkeley hills. Half the Western world vacations here……and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing."
1.According to the first paragraph, in most cases, how do you describe the relationship between drivers and toll booth?
A．most intimate B．very tense C．pretty ordinary D．extremely hostile
2.Why did the author go to San Francisco?
A. To attend a party
B. B. To have a meal
C. To dance with the worker in the toll booth
D. To hand in the repair fee of his car
3.The underlined name “Lazarus” mentioned in the eighth paragraph probably refers to a person___________.
A. who was very active in his life
B. B. who was dead and revived from death
C. who was going to San Francisco
D. who liked dancing at work
4.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．The author passed by the toll booth every day.
B．The worker enjoyed his work very much.
C．Only western people like to spend their holidays in the Berkeley hills.
D．The dancing worker was getting badly along with his colleagues.
5.After hearing what the worker said, the author would probably_________.
A．go to the worker’s senior to complain about his bad attitude towards job.
B．go climbing the Golden Gate and the Berkeley hills to have a vacation.
C．learn to take a positive attitude to job and appreciate valuable things in life.
D．go back home instead of wasting time traveling to San Francisco.
When I was six, my mother placed me in a 36.________ school. For the next nine years, I 37.______ slept in a room that 38.______ less than 30 other kids in it. So, when I was promoted to senior at the high school for my39.___ year there, I had the greatest 40._____ of rooming with just one other classmate, and the added feature of a semi-private bathroom.
We seniors also had the feature of walking around the 41._____ in special hats, we called senior bonnets, so all the other kids would know we were the 42._____ in the high school. As seniors, we frequently went on field 43._____ outside the campus, including city museums, city hall , colleges and theatres. The highlight was a senior class trip to Washington, D.C., 44.______ we sat in on a session of Congress, 45.______ the monument and many other government sites around the city.
Another 46.____ of being seniors was that many of us on athletic and other extra-curricular teams were elected to high ranking for the year. I had the honor and pleasure of47._____ captain of our state championship swim team, while my roommate was voted48.______ of the drama club.
49.______ services were on a sunny day in June. Each of us had looked forward to this moment for ten years. Now we were going out on our own to complete freedom, and we should have been flooded with joy.50.________, to my surprise, I found myself 51._____, something I hadn’t done for years. I noticed many of my 52.______, usually proud of their macho attitudes, were also wiping away tears. We knew we would never be together again as we were on that graduation day. Our senior year 53.______deep feelings of sadness for our54.______, as well as joy for our emerging into a new world 55.____the school campus.
1. A．teaching B．boarding C．playing D．mixing
2. A．never B．not C．occasionally D．frequent
3. A．lived B．included C．contained D．put
4. A．next B．first C．final D．second
5. A．pleasure B．sorrow C．happy D．merry
6. A．country B．city C．classroom D．campus
7. A．youngest B．lowest C．oldest D．highest
8. A．roads B．trips C．voyages D．travel
9. A．which B．that C．where D．when
10. A．approached B．visited C．managed D．spent
11. A．benefit B．disadvantage C．profit D．strength
12. A．being brought B．being chosen
C．being taken D．being realized
13. A．member B．monitor C．secretary D．president
14. A．Graduation B．Education C．Volunteering D．Population
15. A．Therefore B．Fortunately C．However D．While
16. A．smiling B．laughing C．crying D．screaming
17. A．students B．classmates C．teachers D．friends
18. A．began with B．ended with
C．bargained with D．associated with
19. A．loss B．result C．love D．hatred
20. A．over B．out C．beyond D．from
When Peter __________ the car door, he found the key left in his car. So he had to call for help.
A．opened B．was opening C．was to open D．had opened
He was charged with murder, but the court found him _______ and he was released.
A．ignorant B．attempted C．potential D．innocent
____________, I still couldn’t figure out what the headmaster said at the conference.
A．Though I didn’t listen attentively B．Attentively as I listened
C．Attentively as did I listen D．As long as I listened
