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Many people today are worried about the quality of the food they eat. This concern has led to an increasing number of organic products appearing on supermarket shelves. Many people refuse to buy products that contain artificial colorings or preservatives, or foods that come from genetically modified (GM) crops, fearing that these foods are unhealthy and can cause cancer and other diseases. Some advocates of genetically modified foods consider such attitudes unjustified. I am one of them, and in this essay I will try to justify why I think concerns about GM foods have little value.
First of all, GM foods have been around for almost 20 years. Contrary to the claims of those who oppose GM foods, there have not been any officially reported cases of such foods causing cancer or any other diseases. In fact, research into GM foods has been unable to confirm any harmful effects on human health whatsoever.
Secondly, not everyone can afford organic foods. Climate change and rising fuel costs have led to global increases in the price of food, and as a result, many poor people are spending more money on feeding themselves. Many can hardly afford to buy food. GM plants are generally more resistant to droughts, floods and pests, and have higher production per hectare（公顷）, which leads to more affordable food prices.
The world population keeps growing and is expected to reach eight billion by 2015. People in fast-developing countries such as India and China are consuming more energy and food. The only solution to the ever-increasing demand for food is to grow more GM crops. Unless scientists and governments come up with a better solution, GM foods are here to stay.
To conclude, people are free to eat the food of their choice, whether it is organic or not. However, I think that many people overlook major benefits of GM foods, and instead choose to focus on the unproven negative effects of such foods.
Phenomenon | Many people today are worried about the equality of the food they eat, and refused to buy products1. ________ artificial colorings and preservatives, or foods that come from GM crops. |
The author’s attitude | As an 2.________ of GM foods, the author consider 3.________ about GM foods of little value. |
4.________ for the author’s opinion | GM foods have come into 5.________ for almost 20 years. And there’s no 6.________ showing that GM foods have harmful effects on human health. Contrary to organic foods, GM plants are generally more resistant to natural 7. ________ and pests, and have higher production. As a result, more people can afford to buy GM foods. GM foods are the only8.________ to the increasing demand for food at present. |
9. ________ | People are free to choose what they eat. However, they should 10.________ on the major benefits of GM foods. |
Everybody in this world is different from one another. But do you know that understanding differences can help you better manage your money?
As we grow up, we gradually develop a set of our own values or beliefs. These are influenced by society, our family, the education we receive and so on. Once this value system is set up, it’s not easy to change later in life.
Financial experts say that everyone also has their own belief of how to manage their finances. This is part of our value system and it has a great impact on the way we look after our money.
According to our different values, experts put us in three categories. They are the ant, the cricket and the snail.
◆ The ant— works first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order to store food for winter, these people don’t care about enjoying the moment. They work very hard and save money they earn so that they can enjoy life when they get old and retire. The ant loves to save but they could make more out of their money if they were willing to invest in some funds and stocks with low risk.
◆ The cricket— fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn’t think too much about the future. They even borrow money when they really want something. Many young people now belong to this group. These people have little savings. When they get old, they might have problems. They should learn to save and buy insurance.
◆ The snail— lives under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for themselves. They take big long-term loans from the bank in order to buy things such as luxury houses. They are happy to take big loans even though they are not sure they can afford it. This can cause problems in the future. They should plan more carefully.
1.Our beliefs and values are affected by the following except ______.
A. society B. the family
C. the education D. money
2.People with the character of the snail would like to _______.
A. enjoy life at the moment without thinking much about the future
B. put work before everything else.
C. live a luxury life at all costs
D. take the risk of investing a large sum of money
3.Which of the following has the character that the author prefers?
A. the ants B. the cricket
C. the snail D. none of the above
4.This passage mainly talks about _______.
A. spending nature of people
B. the reaction between man and insects
C. the insects in nature
D. the problems with dealing with money
Jasmine Meyers had the last laugh when the ocean swallowed her SUV Monday morning and brought it up an hour later, damaged, on the beach. Meyers was staying in Campbell River’s Eagles Nest Motel（汽车旅馆）during the wild storm that attacked the east coast of Vancouver Island early this week.
“We woke up to my mom screaming ‘Your car! Your car! Your car’s about to go in the water,’”she said Wednesday.
She’d parked her car in the hotel’s parking lot that she described as a sort of a sea wall.
The storm that swept throughout coastal areas hit extra hard in the Campbell River area.
At about 8:30 am the bank below the parking lot gave way. Huge waves caught hold of the Toyota and took it into the water.
Her mother took pictures while the terrible waves pulled the car out to sea. Then Meyers and her family members could only watch helplessly as the car was struck and pushed around in front of the hotel.
“It floated around out there for about an hour.”
Then the ocean spit the car back up on the beach. Meyers said it sat there until Wednesday, when a tow truck finally recovered the destroyed car.
That’s the crazy part of the story. The fun part is what happened next.
“I went mad,” said Meyers. “I didn’t cry because I knew that I had insurance, but I went mad and I didn’t know what to do.”
Yeah, insurance: not just insurance, but replacement insurance.
“Replacement insurance only ever lasts for three years,”said Meyers. “Mine ends on Nov.22 I would have been crying if it had been 10 days later.”
1.Who witnessed the disaster first according to the passage?
A. Jasmine Meyers.
B. Jasmine Meyers’ husband
C. Jasmine Meyers’ mom
D. The hotel manager
2.What can we learn about the motel from the passage?
A. It has a large car park.
B. It is not far away from the coast.
C. It sells cars and insurance.
D. It can stand a storm.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Jasmine is very brave.
B. The car is very expensive
C. The mother enjoys taking pictures
D. The insurance company will pay for Jasmine’s loss
Our environment isn’t as green and beautiful as it should be. There are steel monsters blocking out the sun, blowing out dangerous smoke, and letting out poisonous chemicals into rivers, cars producing harmful waste gas, people throwing out waste in a wrong way and all other kinds of sources that ruin the planet. Facing current environmental problems, people need to do their best to save the Earth.
You can see many big garbage dustbins in the streets. They’re not there for a show, but for you to drop your waste. We should realize that what a little we do does count. So next time you get that urge to throw gum or a chocolate package out of the car window, or “ accidentally” drop as you walk down the street, ask yourself how much waste you’ve been contributing to the environment with that bad habit going on for years.
At home, the first thing we can do to protect the environment is avoid letting water run continuously and make sure that taps（水龙头）are not leaky（泄露的），which would help greatly in scrimping. Another is to use energy-saving lights, and turn them off before you leave the rooms. It’s not only energy-saving, but also cuts down electricity costs.
Recycling is a method to make items reusable. Many things you want to throw out can be made into new products through the reproducing process. Use your imagination to come up with ways on things that you can use again.
Pass the message of simple ways to save the environment on to kids. Starting with kids is a good way of teaching the message early in their lives, in the hope that they can carry it forward as they grow older.
With environmental protection awareness in mind, we can do what we can, for the results are to have a big effect on the planet. As long as we do our part, the world is one small step closer to being saved.
1.The underlined word “scrimping” in the third paragraph can be replaced by _____.
A. saving B. cleaning
C. cooking D. drinking
2.From the fifth paragraph, we can know that ________.
A. protecting the environment begins with small chores
B. protecting the environment should start from childhood.
C. wonderful life comes from environmental protection
D. protecting the environment benefits the country and the people
3.Which of the following isn’t true?
A. The more people do their part, the greener the environment will be.
B. Selling what you don’t want any more is a kind of recycling.
C. To protect the environment may help you save some money.
D. Your bad habits for the environment are a valuable contribution.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A. The Use of Garbage Dustbin
B. How to Save Water and Electricity
C. How to Save the Environment
D. Our Current Environmental Problems
A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package: What food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Retreating（撤退） to the farmyard, the mouse declared the warning, “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me, I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.” “I am so sorry, Mr Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “A mouse trap, am I in grave danger, huh?”
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and depressed to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was an evil snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knew to treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral. The farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
1.We may infer that the passage is most probably a ______.
A. fairy tale B. fable
C. science fiction D. news report
2.We could see from the passage that the mouse was ______.
A. kind and warm-hearted B. well-informed
C. good at cheating others D. foolish and rude
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The pig was comparatively less friendly than the others in the farmyard.
B. The mouse trap that the mouse discovered was not a practical one.
C. The farmer and his wife trapped an evil snake that night.
D. The farmer’s family was in fact poor and they had no friends.
4.The underlined word “ingredient” (Paragraph 7) refers to ______.
A. the mouse B. the pig
C. the snake D. the chicken
Nick was not the kind of boy I had expected to spend my summer with. I was hoping to have a relaxation the summer before my busy senior year, ____ my mother asked me to do her a ____. One of her colleagues needed a full－time ____. “You planned to volunteer at the local hospital; why not volunteer to ____ Nick instead？” Then she told me that this six-year-old boy was not a ____ child.
Nick was a lovely little boy who suffered from many disorders. Normal day-care centers would not ____ him. As a baby, he had serious ear infections which left him with equilibrium(平衡)problems. He couldn't ____ or run properly. I was hesitating ____ I was to take the job when my mother ____, “Don't you want to be a nurse in the future? I doubt if you even have the ____.”
Then I told her I was ____ for the job.
The day started at 7：00 a．m. Nick was my wake-up call! With so much energy and very little ____ , he was quite a mix.
At the park, when he saw all the other children play on the jungle gym and swings, the boy's face ____ up—How he wished he belonged to the group of his age! You would think it would be___ to get a child to go down a slide. Believe me, it wasn't! It took time, a lot of time. But with patience and support, Nick took one step up the slide each day. We worked together to face his ____ and gradually he got closer to taking the slide of his life.
Halfway through the summer, he ____ it to the top of the slide. With my arms ___ him tightly, we flew down the slide! I waited for his reaction. After realizing that he was safe and sound, he gave me a big ____ and asked, “May I go down again, alone？”
I had never been happier in my life when I saw this little child climb the ladder and enjoy what other children ____ for granted.
This ____ child taught me that being a nurse means respect, kindness and patience.
1.A. and B. however C. so D. but
2.A. service B. business C. favor D. trade
3.A. nurse B. waitress C. guard D. guide
4.A. protect B. attend C. defend D. comfort
5.A. naughty B. clever C. normal D. happy
6.A. admit B. receive C. accept D. adopt
7.A. speak B. play C. stand D. walk
8.A. if B. what C. why D. where
9.A. suggested B. argued C. challenged D. commented
10.A. courage B. energy C. faith D. time
11.A. eager B. sorry C. grateful D. ready
12.A. awareness B. knowledge C. balance D. control
13.A. delighted B. cheered C. lit D. shut
14.A. difficult B. interesting C. simple D. terrible
15.A. fears B. worries C. chances D. situation
16.A. climbed B. got C. managed D. made
17.A. taking B. holding C. bringing D. greeting
18.A. kiss B. clap C. welcome D. surprise
19.A. play B. do C. take D. enjoy
20.A. miserable B. smart C. brave D. special
