The new automobile fuel economy standards formally adopted by the Obama administration on Thursday will produce a series of benefits: reduced dependence on foreign oil, fewer greenhouse gas emissions(排放), and consumer savings at the pump.
This was truly a moment to celebrate. But it was tempered by the fact that some in Congress are trying to cancel the laws that made the new standards possible.
The standards will require automakers to build passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles and minivans that average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 — a 30 percent increase over today’s cars, and the biggest single jump in fuel economy since the original standards were adopted in the 1970s. Cars will cost more, but the government estimates that consumers will save an average of $3,000 in fuel over the life of a new vehicle.
The standards will also place the first-ever limits on automobile greenhouse gas emissions, and are expected to reduce emissions by 21 percent by 2030 compared with what the output would have been without the standards. Because emissions from passenger vehicles represent about one-fifth of America’s greenhouse gases, this is a step forward for the planet.
The automakers, who fought the rules until they went broke（破产）, have come to accept this as a step forward as well. A single national standard provides regulatory certainty, and they’ve got to get more efficient to survive.
However, some in Congress seemed determined to roll back the laws that got us here. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, and several other senators have added a challenge to the federal government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act — not just from automobiles but from other sources. The Supreme Court gave the Environmental Protection Agency that authority three years ago, and the new emissions standards would have been impossible without it.
There has also been talk in the Senate of eliminating California’s special authority under the Clean Air Act to set more aggressive motor vehicle standards than the federal limits. California used that authority to pass a law in 2002 setting greenhouse gas emissions limits for cars sold there. It was the first law of its kind in this country, and it provided the drive and the foundation for the new nationwide standards.
What all of these opponents mean to do is to roll back history and the hard-won environmental protections it has produced. That would be a huge mistake.
66. The following are the benefits of the new automobile economy standards EXCEPT ________.
A. reduced dependence on foreign oil
B. cancelling some of the laws
C. fewer greenhouse gas emissions
D. consumer savings at the pump
67. What goal is set for the year 2016?
A. Cars will cost more so fewer people will buy them.
B. There is a 30 percent increase in car manufacturing.
C. An average vehicle can go 35.5 miles with one gallon of gas.
D. Consumers will save an average of $3,000 in fuel per car.
68. The underlined word “it” in paragraph six refers to ________.
A. The Clean Air Act
B. The Supreme Court
C. The Environment Protection Agency
D. The federal government’s authority
69. What seems to be the root of the new automobile fuel economy standards?
A. California’s motor vehicle standards.
B. The Environment Protection Agency.
C. Some Senators, like Lisa Murkowski.
D. Greenhouse gas emissions.
70. According to the writer, the new automobile fuel economy standards will probably lead to the result that ________.
A. everyone wins
B. more cars will be sold
C. it would be a big mistake
D. nobody agrees
Schools have banned cupcakes, issued fatness report cards and cleared space in cafeterias for salad bars. Just last month, Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood fatness promised to get young people moving more and restore school lunch, and drink makers said they had cut the number of liquid calories shipped to schools by almost 90 percent in the past five years.
But new research suggests that interventions(干预) aimed at school-aged children may be, if not too little, too late.
More and more evidence points to essential events very early in life — during the child years, babyhood and even before birth, in the womb(胎) — that can set young children on a fatness path that is hard to change by the time they’re in kindergarten. The evidence is not ironclad, but it suggests that prevention efforts should start very early.
Among the findings are these:
The fat angel-like baby who is growing so nicely may be growing too much for his or her own good, research suggests.
Babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are at risk of becoming fat, even though the babies are usually small at birth.
Babies who sleep less than 12 hours are at increased risk for fatness later. If they don’t sleep enough and also watch two hours or more of TV a day, they are at even greater risk.
Some early interventions are already widely practiced. Doctors recommend that overweight women lose weight before pregnancy rather than after, to cut the risk of fatness and diabetes in their children; breast-feeding is also recommended to lower the obesity risk.
Like children and teenagers, babies and toddlers have been getting fatter. One in 10 children under age 2 is overweight. The percentage of children ages 2 to 5 who are fat increased to 12.4 percent in 2006 from 5 percent in 1980. But most prevention programs have avioded intervening at very young ages, partly because the school system offers an efficient way to reach large numbers of children, and partly because the rate of fat teenagers is even higher than that of younger children — 18 percent.
Scientists like Dr. Birch worry about what are called epigenetic changes. The genes taken over from mother and father may be turned on and off and the strength of their effects changed by environmental conditions in early development. Many doctors are concerned about women being fat and unhealthy before pregnancy because the womb is the baby’s first environment.
Experts say change may require abandoning some treasured cultural attitudes. “The idea that a big baby is a healthy baby, and a crying baby is probably a hungry baby who should be fed, are things we really need to rethink,” Dr. Birch said.
61. What is NOT included in Michelle Obama’s campaign?
A. To restore school lunch.
B. To get young people moving more.
C. To issue fatness report cards.
D. To end childhood fatness.
62. Why should fatness prevention efforts start very early?
A. Because children now are growing too much for their own good.
B. Because there is too much liquid calories in drinks for children.
C. Because experiences even when in the womb can affect a child.
D. Because fat children cannot be healthy ones when they grow up.
63. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “ironclad” in paragraph three?
A. right B. protective C. objective D. positive
64. Which of the following is NOT right?
A. 18% of the younger children are fatter than fat teenagers.
B. 10 % of the children under age 2 gain too much weight.
C. 12.4% of the children ages 2-5 were overweight in 2006.
D. In 1980, only 5% of the children ages 2-5 were too fat.
65. What does Dr. Birch’s statement mean in the last paragraph?
A. Feeding the baby when it is crying is not right.
B. Fat babies may not be so healthy as people think.
C. Parents should take responsibility for fat babies.
D. Lovely babies shouldn’t be so fat as people think.
PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
A previously unknown kind of human group disappeared from the world so completely that it has left behind the merest piece of evidence that it ever existed — a single bone from the little finger of a child, buried in a cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia.
Researchers removed DNA from the bone and reported that it differed obviously from that of both modern humans and of Neanderthals（尼安德特人）, living in Europe until the arrival of modern humans on the continent some 44,000 years ago.
The child carrying the DNA line was probably 5 to 7 years old, but it is not yet known if it was a boy or a girl. The finger bone was unearthed in 2008 from a place known as the Denisova cave.
Researchers are careful not to call the Denisova child a new human species, though it may prove to be so, because the evidence is initial.
But the genetic material removed from the bone, found in a layer laid down on the cave floor between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago, belonged to a distinct human line that traveled out of Africa at a different time from the two known ancient human species. Homo erectus（直立人）, found in East Asia, left Africa two million years ago, and the ancestor of Neanderthals moved away some 500,000 years ago. The numbers of differences found in the child’s DNA indicate that its ancestors left Africa about one million years ago.
The region was inhabited by both Neanderthals and modern humans at that time. Counting the new human line, three human species may have lived together.
The standard view has long been that there were three human resettlements out of Africa — those of Homo erectus; of the ancestor of Neanderthals; and finally, some 50,000 years ago, of modern humans. But in 2004, archaeologists reported that they had found the bones of small humans who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until 13,000 years ago, causing a serious problem to this view. The new line is the second such challenge.
If the nuclear DNA of the Denisova child should differ as much as its mitochondrial（线粒体） DNA does from that of Neanderthals and modern humans, the case for declaring it a new species would be strengthened. But it would be unusual for a new species to be recognized on the basis of DNA alone.
In new diggings starting this summer, archaeologists will look for remains more analytical than the finger bone. Researchers will also begin re-examining the fossil collections in museums to see if any wrongly assigned bones might belong instead to the new line.
56. According to the passage, ________.
A. modern humans arrived in Europe before Neanderthals
B. modern humans arrived in Europe about 44,000 years ago
C. Neanderthals arrived in Europe about 44, 000 years ago
D. Neanderthals arrived in Europe soon after modern humans did
57. Evidence from the bone of the child shows that _________.
A. the Denisova child belonged to Neanderthals
B. the Denisova child is a new human species
C. its ancestor moved to Europe 1,000,000 years ago
D. the habitat of its ancestor was in Africa
58. Which human line is the first challenge to the standard view of human resettlement?
A. Neanderthals.
B. Modern humans.
C. Small humans in Indonesia
D. Homo erectus.
59. The underlined part in last paragraph implies ________.
A. some other bones of the new line must have been wrongly identified
B. some other bones might give some evidence to support the new line
C. some other bones could help find the belongings of the new line
D. some other bones belonging to the new line might not have been found yet
60 The best title of the passage could be ________.
A. Bone May Reveal a New Human Group
B. Bone of a New Human Group Is Found
C. Human Group Once Existed in Southern Siberia
D. Bone Gives Evidence to a New Human Group
SECTION C
Directions: Complete the following passage by filling in each blank with one word that best fits the context.
Apple said Monday that it sold more than 300,000 iPads on Saturday, the day the product was released across the country.
“It feels great 48 have the iPad launched into the world — it’s going to be 49 game changer,” said Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, in a statement. “iPad owners, on average, downloaded more than three apps(applications) and close to one book within hours of unpacking 50 new iPad.”
The figure includes iPads 51 were pre-ordered and delivered to customers on Saturday as well 52 sales in Apple’s retail stores. By comparison, Apple sold 270,000 first-generation iPhones 53 the device went on sale in 2007.
In addition, iPad owners were hungry 54 apps and downloaded plenty over the weekend: Apple said that on Saturday, iPad owners downloaded more than a million applications from its app store 55 more than 250,000 electronic books.
SECTION B
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with word or phrases that best fits the context.
“Leave him alone,” I shouted as I walked out of the orphanage(孤儿院) gate and saw several of the Spring Park School bullies(欺负弱者的人) pushing the deaf kid around. I did not know the boy at all 36 I knew that we were about the same age, because of his size. He lived in the old white house across the street from the orphanage where I 37 . I had seen him on his front covered entrance several times doing absolutely nothing, except just sitting there making funny hand movements.
In the summer time we didn’t get much to eat 38 Sunday supper, except watermelon and then we had to eat it behind the dining room so we would not make a mess on the 39 inside. The only time that I would see him was through the high chain-link fence that surrounded the 40 when we ate our watermelon outside.
The deaf kid started making all kinds of hand 41 , really fast. “You are a stupid idiot,” said the bigger of the two bullies 42 he pushed the boy down on the ground. The other bully ran around behind the boy and kicked him as hard as he could in the back. The deaf boy’s body started 43 all over and he curled up in a ball trying to protect and hide his face. He looked like he was trying to cry, or something but he just couldn’t make any 44 .
I ran as fast as I could back through the orphanage gate and into the thick bushes. I uncovered my home-made bow which I had 45 out of bamboo and string. I grabbed four arrows that were also made of bamboo. Then I ran back out the gate with an arrow lifted in the 46 and I just stood there quietly, breathing really hard just 47 either one of them to kick or touch the boy again.
36. A. after B. and C. for D. but
37. A. lived B. worked C. studied D. visited
38. A. with B. during C. for D. after
39. A. tables B. desks C. beds D. benches
40. A. white house B. orphanage C. dinning room D. school
41. A. signals B. shakes C. symbols D. efforts
42. A. since B. as C. if D. whenever
43. A. changing B. moving C. shaking D. pushing
44. A. choices B. noises C. voices D. sounds
45. A. cut B. constructed C. found D. figured
46. A. direction B. hand C. bow D. face
47. A. daring B. encouragingC. asking D. warning
By midnight the floor was wet with beer. One young technician slipped and bumped into another. They struggled, ________ trying to get the other in a head-lock.
|
A．every |
B．all |
C．everyone |
D．each |
