A Different Kind of Spring Break
For many American university students, the week-long spring break holiday means an endless part on a sunny beach in Florida or Mexico. In Panama City Beach, Florida, a city with a permanent population of approximately 36,000, more than half a million university students arrive during the month of March to play and party, making it the number one spring break destination in the United States.
A week-long drinking binge is not for everyone, however, and a growing number of American university students have found a way to make spring break matter. For them, joining or leading a group of volunteers to travel locally or internationally and work to address problems such as poverty, homelessness, or environmental damage makes spring break a unique learning experience that university students can feel good at.
During one spring break week, students at James Madison University in Virginia participated in 15 “alternative spring break” trips to nearby states, three others to more distant parts of the United States, and five international trips. One group of JMU students traveled to Bogalusa, Louisiana, to help rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Another group traveled to Mississippi to organize creative activities for children living in a homeless shelter. One group of students did go to Florida, but not to lie on the sand. They performed exhausting physical labor such as maintaining roving invasive plant species that threaten the native Florida ecosystem.
Students who participate in alternative spring break projects find them very rewarding. While most university students have to get their degrees before they can start helping people, student volunteers are able to help people now. On the other hand, the accommodations are far from glamorous. Students often sleep on the floor of a school or church, or spend the week camping in tents. But students only pay around $250 for meals and transportation, which is much less than some of their peers spend to travel to more traditional spring break hot spot.
1.How many university students travel to Panama Beach City every March for spring break?
A. Around 36,000. B. Around 50,000.
C. Around 500,000. D. Around 10,000.
2.The underlined word “binge” in paragraph 2 probably means ______.
A. doing too much of something B. studying for too long
C. refusing to do something D. having very little alcohol
3.Which of the following gives the main idea of the third paragraph?
A. One group of JMU students worked on homes damaged by a hurricane.
B. Children living in homeless shelters enjoy creative activities.
C. Some students work to help the environment on alternative spring break trips.
D. University students do different types of work on alternative spring break trips.
4.What is implied in this article is that ______.
A. university students spend more than $250 for traditional spring break trips
B. university students complain about the accommodations on alternative spring break trips
C. university students may take fewer alternative spring break trips in the future
D. university students would prefer to wait until they have their degrees to start helping people
Technology is playing a vital role in preservation and ecology research. Drones (无人机) hold huge _______ in the fight to save the world’s remaining wildlife from extinction. So researchers can now track wild animals through dense forests and monitor whales in vast oceans. It’s estimated that up to five living species become extinct every day, making it urgent that universities develop new technologies to capture the data that can persuade _______ to act.
The British International Education Association hosted a conference in January to _______ the importance of technological solutions in protecting vulnerable (易受伤害的) species and ecosystems. Speakers underlined how technology can help _______: drones can circle high above the ocean to spot whales, while certain cameras can identify members of an individual species.
According to Claudio Sillero, biology professor at Oxford University, technology is changing how preservation research is done — but it’s in a(n) _______ way. As technology gets better and cheaper, researchers become better at doing what they were already doing. _______, remote sensing used to be a very technical tool but is now widespread, and everyone uses global positioning system (GPS) for surveying.
But teaching preservation and ecology courses in university _______. Some teach drone surveying methods in depth while others don’t even mention them. “The fact is, using drones is quite a(n) _______ to the interdisciplinary (跨学科的) ‘unknown’ of engineering, and potentially an area where lecturers may not feel confident to teach yet,” Serge Wich, an expert in primate biology says. “Students are taught about _______ technologies such as automatic sound recorders, but drones are often missing from university teaching. Consequently, drone use among researchers is still fairly ________ and focused on getting photos.”
Wich’s team of researchers used techniques to develop a fully automated drone technology system that ________ and monitors the health of endangered animals globally. It’s designed to be cheap, stable and simple to use, so that local communities in developing countries can operate it ________ without technical background. Yet it’s not more widely used on the grounds of researchers’ lack of skills to use this technology. In biology, where drones are used, few can program an algorithm (算法) specifically for their preservation or research problem. “There’s much that needs to be done to ________ those two worlds and to make AI more user-friendly so that people who can’t program can still use the technology,” Wich says.
________, the sad truth is that better technology alone will not save any more species from dying out, Greengrass warns. “As human populations increase, so do threats and pressure on wild places. Preservationists are ________ for not doing enough but it’s often an issue of people, conflict and governance.” Technology may help provide far greater knowledge, but governments still need to act.
1.A. shortage B. threats C. potential D. responsibilities
2.A. researchers B. authorities C. opponents D. professionals
3.A. highlight B. overlook C. assess D. calculate
4.A. education B. preparation C. preservation D. distinction
5.A. evolutionary B. flexible C. virtual D. dramatic
6.A. As a result B. In conclusion C. On the contrary D. For example
7.A. differs B. equals C. multiplies D. struggles
8.A. obstacle B. leap C. equivalent D. exception
9.A. ill-intentioned B. fully-prepared C. well-established D. narrowly-applied
10.A. definite B. vague C. simple D. limited
11.A. controls B. tracks C. supervises D. improves
12.A. earnestly B. independently C. secretly D. impersonally
13.A. bridge B. fix C. dismiss D. grasp
14.A. Therefore B. Moreover C. However D. Otherwise
15.A. fired B. insulted C. qualified D. criticized
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
The Best Way of Losing Weight
Forget what the skinny movie stars and the TV adverts say - losing weight is hard work. 1. you do it through exercise, diet, or a bit of both, it’s extremely challenging to lose those pounds and then to keep them off. Sometimes it can involve 2. (change) huge parts of your day-to-day life and it can mean breaking decades-old habits.
But it turns out there’s one little thing you 3. do to help you achieve your goal and it’s got nothing to do with food or exercise. The experts at Weight Watchers did research which shows many of their members were more successful and 4. (discouraged) when they shared regular updates on their new healthy lifestyle online. They found people who shared a diary of their daily lives with friends and followers were stimulated and inspired by positive feedback 5. they lost some pounds and kept them off.
More than 50 per cent of people said the support of a weight loss community was crucial when it came 6. changing their eating habits and 53 per cent shared photos of their meals on social media. With this knowledge under their belts, Weight Watchers 7. (launch) a series of short films lately which show people recording their daily weight loss journey.
One of the members who shared her journey was Danielle Duggins, and her video shows her enjoying a range of healthy meals and a few treats, while 8. (play) with her children.
The company’s marketing director Claudia Nicholls said: “The support of a community has always proved to be an effective way of forming and sustaining healthy habits, but there has never been an easier or more affordable way 9. (tap) into the power of the crowd for support and inspiration with the explosion of online communities. Weight Watchers owns a social community for members, Connect, 10. sees over 14,000 daily posts in the UK alone, and provides our members with instant access to a community of people who are on similar journeys to them.
Questions are based on the following passage.
1.
A. She bumped into a coffee table.
B. She chatted with the cafe owner.
C. She talked with someone she knew.
D. She was listening to a lively debate.
2.
A. Newspapers were given out to customers.
B. An entrance fee was charged for getting in.
C. It was the meeting place for debating clubs.
D. It was first started in Oxford in the 16th century.
3.
A. Partly right. B. Extremely interesting.
C. Very unfair. D. A bit unreasonable.
4.
A. By providing free laptops for use.
B. By making sofas comfortable to sit on.
C. By engaging them in stimulating conversation.
D. By transporting customers to various destinations.
Questions are based on the following passage.
1.
A. Because of the course materials.
B. Because of the discussion topics.
C. Because of others’ misuse of technology.
D. Because of a rule the speaker made for his class.
2.
A. The speaker’s history class received low assessment.
B. The students think highly of the speaker’s history class.
C. The speaker made the rule because he was against technology.
D. The speaker made the rule just because of his unpleasant experiences.
3.
A. It may improve teaching and offer more help.
B. It may allow students to get on well with each other.
C. It may distract students from being involved in class.
D. It may help students to better understand complex themes.
Questions are based on the following passage.
1.
A. In multi-cultural countries. B. In developing countries.
C. In developed countries. D. In densely-populated countries.
2.
A. Lack of communication facilities. B. Temporary shelter.
C. Power failure. D. No access to recreation.
3.
A. Features of different types of poverty. B. Approaches to poverty elimination.
C. Changes in three poverty categories. D. Ways to calculate the poverty line.
