In the United States and several other countries, 2.5 million children play baseball in an organization called Little League. They play on teams in their hometowns. Their parents and other adults in the community coach or instruct them and serve as umpires to make sure that everyone follows the rules. Local businesses give money for the ball fields and the uniforms. Local teams compete against each other and the winners get to play teams that are more distant. Eventually, the top teams go to the Little League World Series.
One hundred years after Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839, Little League got started in Pennsylvania. Three men started the game for neighborhood boys with a smaller playing field and fewer innings than adult baseball. Little League became popular after World War II when the game spread across the United States. By 1955 it was played throughout North America and within five years it had spread to Europe. Children’s baseball really caught on in Japan and Taiwan of China and teams from those areas won the World Series seven out of eight years. After this, the organization tried banning foreign teams from the World Series, but the ban came to an end after one year.
At first, Little League was only for boys aged nine to twelve. However, in 1974, the parents of girl baseball players brought a law suit. The courts ruled that Little League had to include both boys and girls. Later Little League added on softball and other games for teenagers up to age eighteen. Occasionally a Little Leaguer becomes a professional player. For example, Gary Carter went from Little League to play nineteen seasons in the Major Leagues, ten of them as an All-Star player. But, by and large, youngsters play baseball for fun and because their parents are proud of them.
1.The mothers and fathers of Little League players ______.
A. help run the games B. travel in coaches
C. give the teams money D. play in the World Series
2.In what year was Little League established?
A. 1839 B. 1939 C. 1955 D. 1960
3.Why do most players take part in Little League?
A. To play in the Major League.
B. To have fun and please their parents.
C. They expect a profit from All-Star games
D. They want to learn how to serve as umpires.
4.What is true about players today?
A. Little League is only for neighbourhood boys.
B. Girl players have to buy their suits.
C. Girls and boys can participate to age eighteen.
D. Children can only play until age twelve.
Dan Bebber is a senior research fellow at the University of Exeter in Britain. He says research has shown that wild plants and animals are moving toward Earth's North and South poles as the planet warms.
Mr Bebber wanted to know if the same thing was happening with organisms that attack agricultural crops. He examined reports of first sightings of new insects and diseases around the world. The records came from CABI - the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International. He says the group began collecting information from developing and industrialized countries years ago.
Dan Bebber and his research team studied 612 different organisms - from viruses and bacteria to insects like beetles and butterflies. They found that since 1960, crop pests and diseases have been moving toward the poles at an average rate of about 3 kilometers each year. Mr Bebber says this puts the most productive farmland in the world in danger.
"As new species of pests and diseases evolve and potentially the environment for them becomes more amenable at higher latitudes, the pressure on the breadbaskets of the world is going to increase."
Farmers face other threats. Invasive species passed through trade are also causing problems. Gene Kritsky is an Entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. He specialises in the study of insects. He says climate change may improve conditions for some invasive species.
“It means that species in other parts of the world that might do well in warmer temperatures can now do well in the breadbasket of America.”
Another Entomologist Christian Krupke of Purdue University says the effects of these changes will depend very much on the crop, the insect and the disease. But he says the research is a warning sign that people should care about climate change and do something about it.
1.The purpose of Dan Bebber’s research was to find ______.
A. if farmland could be moved to colder places thanks to global warming
B. if diseases and insects harmful to crops were going towards colder areas
C. if organisms were moving to the north and south poles
D. if the number of crop pests was increasing
2.According to Dan Bebber, if crop pests keep moving towards the poles, ______.
A. it will be hard for farmers to kill them
B. the most productive farmland will produce more crops
C. the earth will not produce enough food to support the world
D. the conditions for some crops may be improved
3.Which of the following is not a threat that farmers have to face?
A. Climate change helps crop pests to adapt to new environment.
B. Foreign species are brought in by trade.
C. Invasive species doing well in warmer places might do well in America.
D. The impacts of the climate and species changes on crops are not easy to determine.
4.The underlined word “amenable” in the fourth paragraph most probably means ______.
A. agreeable B. terrible C. unfriendly D. changeable
Sam, an unemployed piano tuner, said it was only the second thing he had ever won in his life. The first thing was an Afghan blanket at a church raffle when he was 25 years old. But this was much bigger: it was $120,000! He had won the Big Cube, a state lottery game. To win, a contestant must first guess which number a spinning cube will stop on. The cube has six numbers on it: 1X, 10X, 50X, 100X, 500X, and 1000X. If he is correct, the contestant must then guess which of two selected variables is going to be greater. So, just guessing which number appears on the cube does not guarantee that you will win any money. Sam correctly guessed 1000X, but he still had to choose between two variables. One variable was the number of cars that would run the stop sign at Hill Street and Lake Avenue in six hours. The other variable was the number of times that a teenage boy would change TV channels in a three-hour period. This was a tough decision.
Finally, Sam flipped a coin. It came up heads, so Sam picked the teenager. He picked right. The stop sign was run only 76 times, but the teen clicked 120 times. Sixty-year-old Sam jumped for joy, for he had just won 1000 times 120, or $120,000. Sam dreamily left the lottery studio. Talking excitedly on his cell phone while crossing the street, he got hit by a little sports car.
Sam is slowly getting better. He was in the hospital for a month. His hospital bill was $110,000. And the insurance company for the little sports car's owner sued Sam for $9,000 worth of repairs. Also, Sam still has to pay federal taxes on his winnings. Sam doesn't play the state lottery any more. He says it's better to be unlucky.
1.When Sam won the second thing that he’d won in his life, he was ______.
A. 25 years old
B. six years old
C. 76 years old
D. sixty years old
2.To win the game, the contestants had to make ______ guesses.
A. three B. two C. six D. four
3.Sam won the lottery because ______.
A. he was lucky B. he was good at math
C. he was smart D. he was tough
4.Sam’s experience shows that ______
A. everything has its time and that time must be watched.
B. he who risks nothing, gains nothing.
C. everything comes to him who waits.
D. he who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.
Are supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more? When you enter a supermarket, the manager knows than you do how you will behave — which you will walk, where you will , what will make you one product rather than another. When customers go into a shop, they look to their left move towards the right. So supermarket entrances are usually on the left of the building, and the arrangement is to take shoppers the store ,aisle after aisle, from left to right. Then shoppers will pay attention to all the .
Fresh fruit and are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the that only healthy food is sold in the shop. foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea are put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are to buy products that they do not really .
People walk quickly through aisles, but they move more slowly in wide aisles and give more attention to the products. One best-selling for products is at the end of aisles, because shoppers to turn into the next aisles.
Sweets are often placed at children’s level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children the sweets and put them in the trolley.
Customers buy more when shelves are than when they are half empty because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.
1.A. sooner B. better C. more D. less
2.A. side B. approach C. place D. way
3.A. go B. look C. stop D. stand
4.A. buy B. enjoy C. see D. prefer
5.A. naturally B. simply C. easily D. hurriedly
6.A. or B. then C. but D. and
7.A. into B. along C. around D. through
8.A. prices B. signs C. shelves D. products
9.A. wines B. vegetables C. sweets D. meat
10.A. impression B. effect C. thought D. expression
11.A. Fresh B. Important C. Fast D. Basic
12.A. when B. unless C. before D. until
13.A. invited B. encouraged C. willing D. ready
14.A. use B. know C. need D. like
15.A. narrow B. short C. high D. long
16.A. case B. point C. example D. position
17.A. slow down B. hurry up C. walk down D. come up
18.A. hand B. eye C. head D. height
19.A. pay for B. care for C. look for D. reach for
20.A. low B. neat C. full D. high
Without the earth’s atmosphere to protect them, astronauts can be exposed to intense radiation from the sun, ____ them at risk of cancer.
A. to leave B. leaving C. having left D. left
If there were no automatic washing machines, people would have to wash their clothes ______ hand or ______ hand-operated machines.
A. by; by B. with; with C. on; with D. by; with
