With the development of society and economy, animals and their habitats are getting pushed aside as households decrease in size and increase in number.
Small numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of this problem may be insufficient natural resources to meet consumer demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.
Personal freedom and social choice may come at huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.
The effects of such “personal freedom and social choice” have already surfaced in south-west China’s Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong, they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood consumed for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has contributed to disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas.
Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing similar phenomena, they got the support of a team of researchers including Stanford’s Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the difficult choice of Wolong is part of a global trend.
In the 76 countries considered biodiversity “hotspots”, such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Kenya, the number of households grew by 3.1% every year, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decline in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hotspot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.
In the 10 non-hotspot countries — those without high-density areas of animal and plant species — similar results were found, though on a lesser scale. Even in countries experiencing population decline, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size.
1.What does the underlined word “insufficient” mean?
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A．Plenty of. |
B．Not enough. |
C．Abundant. |
D．Little. |
2.It can be learned from the passage that China’s Wolong Nature Reserve_____
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A．is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world |
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B．sets a good example in protecting animals |
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C．is a place where giant pandas and their habitats are not affected |
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D．is a place where animals and their habitats are seriously damaged |
3.Which of the following is best supported by the last two paragraphs?
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A．Biodiversity is better kept in countries with smaller populations. |
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B．Biodiversity is better kept in hotspot countries. |
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C．The threat to nature from reduction in household size is a worldwide problem. |
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D．Both hotspot countries and non-hotspot countries face the threat of the same scale. |
4. What does the passage mainly talk about?
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A．Reduced household size leads to an increase in household number. |
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B．Modern homes consume more natural resources. |
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C．How to meet consumer demand without endangering animals and their habitats. |
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D．Reduction in household size as well as increase in household number threatens nature. |
Recently, online high schools in America have sparked (激发) a debate about whether or not taxpayers’ money should be used to support online education. Online schools receive the same amount of funding as all other public schools, even though they don’t have to pay for rent or school equipment. States should use their educational funds to improve education at real schools, not to support online programs.
Some students only use online classes to supplement their school work. They benefit from the social experience of a traditional high school, while still taking online courses.
However, about 90 thousand students in America receive their education only from online schools. 50 thousand of these students take courses at Florida Virtual School, the largest online school in the country. While this method of schooling helps students who live in remote regions, most school systems are upset that they are losing more students each year to these online programs.
Although online learning allows children to work at their own pace, these online schools have only one teacher per several hundred students. Often, teachers can’t give struggling students the help they need as they are unable to talk face-to-face with them, to find exactly what they’re having difficulty with.
Additionally, even though online schooling accommodates (顾及) students who live in more remote states, students in online programs may suffer in social situations because they will not learn valuable communication skills from their schooling. Similar to students who are home schooled, those who take only online classes won’t learn social etiquette (礼节), and will be treated differently by their peers.
Online schooling might be useful for places where there are not enough students for a real school, such as agricultural regions, but states should only spend taxpayers’ money on online schools in extreme cases.
1.What is the passage mainly about?
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A．Whether students should study at online schools. |
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B．Whether online schools should be allowed to exist. |
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C．Whether taxpayers should pay for online schools. |
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D．Whether traditional schools should be replaced. |
2.According to the passage, online schooling _____.
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A．is helpful to students living in remote regions |
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B．allows students to work together |
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C．makes it possible for students to get immediate help |
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D．develops students’ critical thinking |
3.According to Paragraph 5, the author worries that students at online schools _____.
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A．might lose interest in learning |
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B．would play online games |
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C．could not receive teachers’ help |
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D．could not become fully developed |
4. What is the author’s attitude?
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A．Taxpayers should not pay for online schools at all. |
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B．Taxpayers should pay more for online schools than real schools. |
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C．Taxpayers’ money should be spent on online schools conditionally. |
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D．Taxpayers should support online schools in different ways. |
Ibrahim became disabled after contracting polio (小儿麻痹症) when he was three years old. At first his parents, like many other parents of disabled children in Niger, did not want to send him to school. They were worried he would be laughed at by his classmates.
Despite his disability, and his parents’ doubts, Ibrahim was determined to go to school. “When I was eight,” Ibrahim says, “other kids of my age were going to school while I stayed at home. I did not like that. So, I pestered (缠着) my parents until they finally let me go to school.”
Ibrahim’s parents sent him to a private school nearby. Although the journey to and from school was a short one, it still wasn’t easy for Ibrahim. He had to use his hands to help him move along, protecting them with plastic slippers. But at least he was getting an education.
However, after only a year in school, Ibrahim’s education was interrupted when his parents separated. His mother did not have the means to continue paying for his tuition.
In 2007, Ibrahim received some money to be fitted with a leg brace (支架), corrective shoes and his first pair of crutches (拐杖). Now that he was more mobile than before, the most important thing for him was to find a way to go back to school.
“I wanted to start school again last October,” Ibrahim says. “After my mother told me she could not afford it, I went to visit some of my relatives for support. And I collected 5,000 francs CFA (US $8) to pay my tuition for half a year. I will find the rest of the money somehow.”
Ibrahim attends a school in which he is the only disabled student. According to his teacher, he is among the top five students in a class of 55.
1.Why did Ibrahim’s parents prefer Ibrahim to stay at home?
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A．There was a lot of housework for him to do. |
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B．They had no money to pay for his tuition. |
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C．There were not enough schools in the country. |
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D．They were afraid the students would make fun of him. |
2.How did Ibrahim go to school before his parents separated?
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A．He went to school on his wheelchair. |
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B．He went to school on his parents’ bicycle. |
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C．He walked to school with the support of his hands. |
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D．He walked to school using a pair of crutches. |
3. Ibrahim’s education was interrupted because of his _____.
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A．parents’ doubts |
B．lack of tuition |
C．physical disability |
D．terrible mood |
4.The best title for the passage might be _____.
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A．A long way to go |
B．Determined to learn |
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C．The only disabled student |
D．I did not like that |
It’s never easy to admit you are in the wrong. Being human, we all need to know the art of 31 . Look back with honesty and think how often you’ve judged 32 , said unkind things, pushed yourself ahead at the 33 of a friend. Then count the occasions 34 you indicated clearly and truly that you were 35 . A bit frightening, isn’t it? Frightening because some deep 36 in us knows that when even a small wrong has been 37 , some mysterious moral feeling is disturbed; and it stays out of balance until fault is acknowledged and 38 is expressed.
I remember a doctor friend, the late Clarence Lieb, telling me about a man who came to him with a variety of 39 : headaches, insomnia and stomach trouble. No 40 cause could be found. Finally my friend said to the man, “ 41 you tell me what’s worrying you, I can’t help you.” After some 42 , the man confessed that, as executor of his father’s will, he had been 43 his brother, who lived abroad, of his inheritance (继承权). Then and there the wise old doctor made the man write to his brother 44 forgiveness and enclosing a cheque as the first step in restoring their good 45 . He then went with him to mail box in the corridor. As the letter disappeared, the man 46 crying. “Thank you,” He said, “I think I’m 47 .” And he was. A heartfelt apology can not only heal a damaged relationship but also make it 48 . If you can think of someone who 49 an apology from you, someone you have wronged, or just neglected, do something about it 50 .
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We are lucky to be among the generation of people who have ________ and experienced the great social changes in our country.
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A．conflicted |
B．responded |
C．witnessed |
D．associated |
The written record of our conversation doesn’t ______ what was actually said. There are a lot of mistakes.
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A．correspond with |
B．relate to |
C．look into |
D．compare with |
