Polar bears are suffering in a 1.(warm) world.
Polar bears live in environments too cold for most animals.2.much of the year, they live and hunt on the frozen Arctic sea ice. Nature has prepared 3.for the cold conditions. But nothing has prepared the bears for the danger that 4. (threat)the only home they know.
The polar bears’ world is melting. Studies show that the polar ice has reduced by 9.8% every 10 years 5. 1978. Now about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears live in the Arctic. Polar bears depend on the sea ice for their 6. (survive). “The sea ice is more than just this platform that the bears walk over,” says Andrew Derocher, 7. scientist who studies North American polar bear populations. “8. it, they can’t exist.”
Some melting and refreezing of the polar ice is natural. 9. in a warmer world, these cycles speed up, and bears have less time to hunt. Normally, they have three months in the spring when they gain more weight. The extra fat is used later, 10. the bears are not actively hunting.
For several billion years after the ”Big Bang ”, the earth was still just a cloud of dust. What it was to 1.was uncertain until between 4.5 and 3.8 billion years ago when the dust settled into a solid globe. The earth became so 2. that it was not clear whether the shape would last or not.
3.eastward, you’ll pass mountains and thousands of lakes and forests, as well as wide rivers and large cities. Some people have the idea 4. you can cross Canada in less than five days, but they forget the fact that Canada is 5500 kilometers from coast to coast. Here in Vancouver, you’re in Canada’s warmest part. People say it is Canada’s most beautiful city, 5. by mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Its population is increasing rapidly. The coast6. of Vancouver has some of the oldest and most beautiful forests in the world.
However, this was not easy. When they first arrived in Gombe in 1960, it was unusual for a woman to live in the froest.7.after her mother came to help her for the first few months8.she allowed to begin her project. Her work changed the way people think about chimps. For example, one important thing she discovered was that chimps hunt and eat meat. Until then everyone9. thought chimps ate only fruit and nuts. She also discovered how chimps communicate with each other, and her study of their body language helped her10.their social system.
1. People traveled in search of food and shelter or in order to flee from their enemies. Sometimes they were looking for gold or silver in order to become rich. On other occasions they were searching for rich farmland.
This is not to say that no one ever traveled just for fun. Even in ancient times, some pleasure travel occurred. During a typical season, 700,000 tourists. would crowd into the ancient city of Rome, where animals performed and magicians entertained them. 2.
3. International tourist arrivals alone reached as many as 546 million in 1994 and are forecast to rise to 937 million in 2010, according to the World Trade Organization.4. Probably the most common reason for traveling is related to our physical well-being. Actually, traveling to sports events is one of the fastest growing types of travel. In our fast developing, modern society where stress has become part of people’s life, people can rest and relax by having a change of environment and activities.
5. No one seems to doubt that travel broadens the mind. In 18th century Europe, young men would go on a Grand Tour to various countries in order to complete their education. Today the desire to travel to different countries is encouraged by modem mass media. People who travel to other countries can at the same time learn more about their own country and culture.
A. But why do people like traveling so much
B. Throughout history, most travel was not for pleasure
C. So they travel to a lake for a swim or to a park for a hike
D. The improvement in transportation has also encouraged people to travel
E. Wealthy Romans made trips to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games
F. The growth of tourism has become a modern phenomenon experienced by all countries in the world
G. Another important reason for traveling is to satisfy our curiosity about different places and cultures
“Did you hear what happened to Adam Last Friday?” Lindsey whispers to Tori.
With her eyes shining, Tori brags, “You bet I did, Sean told me two days ago.”
Who are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happened to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren’t very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip(闲话). I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.
An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic-breakups, trouble at home, even dropping out-that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicier the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, but cruel lies can cause pain.
If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? Theanswer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor(传言) can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don’t. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the “in group.” In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority(优越感).
Gossip also can have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The dos and don’ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.
The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your “juicy story” might have.
1.The author uses a conversation at the beginning of the passage to .
A. introduce a topic B. present an argument
C. describe the characters D. clarify his writing purpose
2.Professor David Wilson thinks that gossip can .
A. provide students with written rules
B. help people watch their own behaviors
C. force schools to improve student handbooks
D. attract the police’s attention to group behaviors
3.What advice does the author give in the passage?
A. Never become a gossiper
B. Stay away from gossipers
C. Don’t let gossip turn into lies
D. Think twice before you gossip.
One of my first memories as a child in the 1950s was a discussion I had with my brother in our tiny bedroom in the family house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
We had heard in school about a planet called Pluto. It was the farthest, coldest, and darkest thing a child could imagine. We guessed how long it would take to die if we stood on the surface of such a frozen place wearing only the clothes we had on. We tried to figure out how much colder Pluto was than Antarctica, or than the coldest day we had ever experienced in Pennsylvania.
Pluto, which famously was downgraded from a “major planet” to a “dwarf planet”(矮星) in 2006, captured our imagination because it was a mystery that could complete our picture of what it was like at the most remote corners of our solar system
Pluto’s underdog discovery story is part of what makes it so attractive. Clyde Tombaugh was a Kansas farm boy who built telescopes out of spare auto parts, old farm equipment and self-ground lenses. As an assistant at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Tombaugh’s task was to search millions of stars for a moving point of light, a planet that the observatory’s founder thought existed beyond the orbit of Neptune. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh found it. Pluto was the first planet discovered by an American, and represented a moment of light in the midst of the Great Depression’s dark encroachment(入侵).
Pluto is much more than something that is not a planet. It’s a reminder that there are many worlds out there beyond our own and that the sky isn’t the limit at all. We don’t know what kinds of fantastic variations on a theme nature is capable of making until we get there to look.
1.Why did Pluto become famous in 2006 according to the passage?
A. Because it lost its major planet status
B. Because it disappeared in the sky
C. Because it was discovered by an American
D. Because it was proved to be the coldest planet in the universe
2.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. An American Scientist: Clyde Tombaugh
B. Pluto was First Discovered by a Boy
C. Pluto’s Strange Romance
D. The Days I Spent with My Brother in Pennsylvania
3.What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?
A. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the darkness in the Great Depression
B. Pluto was the only planet that was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
C. Clyde Tombaugh’s job was to build telescopes for Lowell Observatory
D. Clyde Tombaugh’s telescopes used for searching stars were very simple
The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” --and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer--which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet--used the title in 2008. A lovely bear--popular in the US and UK--that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce(电子商务) first came into use.
Most “I” products are targeted at(针对) young people and considering the major readers of Independent’s “I”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition(定义),” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便).” adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “I” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade(十年).
But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.
1.We can infer that the Independent's "i" is designed at .
A. old readers B. young readers
C. fashionable women D. engineers
2.The underlined word “ambiguous” means “ “.
A. popular B. clear
C. uncertain D. unique
3.Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are .
A. portable B. environmentally friendly
C. advanced D. recyclable
4.The writer suggests that .
A. “i” products are often of high quality
B. iTeddy is alive bear
C. the letter “b” replaces letter “i” to name the products
D. the popularity of “i” products may not last long
