Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, then decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition(探险) towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite（冻疮）, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled（雪橇） up and over rocky ice. www.zxxk.com
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis.
1.What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?
A. He became good at most sports. B. He made friends with a runner.
C. He joined a sports team. D. He began to build up his body.
2.The underlined word “exploits” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to ______.
A. journeys B. adventures C.researches D. operations
3.Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Saunders?
a. He ran his first marathon. b. He skied alone in the North Pole.
c. He rode his bike in a forest. d. He planned an adventure to the South Pole.
A. a c d b B. c d a b C. c a b d D.a c b d
4. What does the story mainly tell us abut Saunders?
A. He is a success in sports. B. He is the best British skier.
C. He is Ridgway’s best student. ` D. He is a good instructor at school.
Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country’s bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated (交配)it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.www.zxxk.com
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbors -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them.
1. The results of the South American experiment .
A. are not yet certain B. have proved to be wrong
C. have caused a serious trouble D. are not important
2. The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to .
A. make African bees less active
B. make Brazilian bees more easy-going
C. increase the number of bees in Brazil
D. increase the amount of honey in Brazil
3. Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
A. Their production of honey. B. Their living environment.
C. Their hard work. D. Their bad temper.
4. The last paragraph implies that .
A. the bees have been driven to Central and North America
B. the bees must be stopped from moving north
C.the bees may bring about trouble in more countries
D. the bees prefer to live in Brazil
The survey about childhood in the Third World shows that the struggle for survival is long and hard. But in the rich world, children can from a different kind of poverty — of the spirit. , one Western country alone now sees 14, 000 attempted suicides ( 自杀 ) every year by children under 15, and one child five needs psychiatric (心理上的) advice.
There are many good things about in the Third World. Take the close and constant relation between children and their parents, relatives and neighbors for example. In the West, the very nature of work puts distance between and children. But in most Third World villages mother and father do not go miles away each day to work in offices. , the child sees mother and father, relations and neighbors working and often shares in that work..
A child in this way learns his or her role through joining in the community's ：helping to dig or build, look after animals or babies -- rather than playing with water and sand in kindergarten, keeping pets playing with dolls.
These children may grow up with a less oppressive sense of space and time than the children. Their sense of days and time has a lot to do with the change of seasons and positions of the sun or the moon in the sky. Children in the rich world, , are provided with a watch as one of the signs of growing up, so that they can along with their parents about being late for school times, meal times, bed times, the times of TV shows …
Third World children do not usually to stay indoors, still less in high-rise apartments. Instead of dangerous roads, "keep off the grass" signs and "don't speak to strangers", there is often a sense of to study and play. Parents can see their children outside rather than observe them from ten floors up.
, twelve million children under five still die every year through hunger and disease. But childhood in the Third World is not all
1.A. come B. survive C. suffer D. learn
2.A. As usual B. In fact C.For instance D. In other words
3.A. in B.by C. to D. under
4.A. childhood B. poverty C. spirit D. survival
5.A. neighbors B. fathers C. adults D. relatives
6.A. Anyhow B. Instead C.However D. Still
7.A. away B. alone C. nearby D.along
8.A. working B. living through C.playing D. growing up
9.A. fun B. life C. study D. work
10.A. by B. through C.from D. with
11.A. or B. but C. and D. so
12.A. Western B. good C. poor D. Eastern
13.A. at any moment B. at the same time C. on the other hand D. on the whole
14.A. easiest B. quickest C. happiest D. earliest
15.A. care B. worry C. hurry D.fear
16.A. dare B. expect C. have D. require
17.A. freedom B. danger C. disappointment D.control
18.A. eagerly B. anxiously C. impatiently D. proudly
19.A. Above all B. In the end C. Of course D. What's more
20.A. poor B. good C. rich D. bad
—Dad, dad! My head hurts so much. I think I’m dying.
—________, darling! The doctor says you will feel better soon.
A. That will do B. There, there C. Hi, there D. So long
Zhang Hua is clever and works hard at his subjects.
A. So is Li Ming B. So does Li Ming
C. It was the same with Li Ming D. So it is with Li Ming
Attractive ________ the device might seem, “my wife has already done that by herself” was a common response after people seeing it when it was introduced on show this week.
A. while B. although C. as D. when
