The holidays are a time to give. These organizations are looking for volunteers and donations (捐赠). Read on to learn more about them. Then, find out how you can help.
American Red Cross
This holiday season, your donation can make a difference at home and abroad. The American Red Cross is making it easy to help people who have experienced natural disasters (灾害), members of the U.S. armed forces, and children all over the world. With just one click (点击), you can give the gift of caring.
National Military Family Association
Each year hundreds of Americans serve both at home and abroad to keep our country safe. This holiday season, we can help serve them. Through donations, National Military Family Association helps to provide military members and their families with scholarships, family retreats, camp programs for kids, and more.
Network for Good
This website allows its users to donate to organizations and discover volunteer chances. After natural disasters, the Network for Good provides a system of help and support for those in need. The website also offers tips to kids who want to give. Visit the website to find out how you can help make someone’s holiday season shine bright.
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Sometimes all it takes is one wish made come true to make someone smile. The work of Make-A-Wish Foundation is to make the wishes come true. Through support and donations, the foundation has made dreams come true for hundreds of thousands of children with serious illnesses.
If you want to help others, don’t wait for a better time. Help now! Your help will be valued highly.
1.What do we know about the American Red Cross?
A.It serves members of armed forces all over the world.
B.It mainly supports people in natural disasters.
C.It helps children at home and abroad.
D.It doesn’t often ask for donations.
2.To help American soldiers’ parents, which organization will you donate things to?
A.Network for Good.
B.American Red Cross.
C.Make-A-Wish Foundation.
D.National Military Family Association.
3.Who would most probably visit Network for Good?
A.People who want to learn about natural disasters.
B.People who have volunteering experiences.
C.People who want to volunteer.
D.People who want to offer tips.
It's fourteen years since I left the Philippines to live with my family in the USA. A month ago, while on summer vacation back in my motherland, I learned a lesson from mosquito (蚊子) bites. Right before_______Kennedy Airport in New York, my grandma_______me of the behavior of the native mosquitoes around the_______like me. She said, "There's an old saying—the_______you stay away from the motherland, the sweeter your blood_______to the mosquitoes. " Not_______it, I replied, "Grandma, that's just an old wives' tale!"
Well, less than a week_______my arrival in Manila, I was already carpeted with a_______of mosquito bites. I took many measures to keep myself from being_______, but they all proved useless.
Late one_______ in my cousin's home, I couldn't bear the_____ of the bites. Hoping to find some comfort, I________my cousin, who was sleeping peacefully in the bed next to mine. Unhappy for being________she said, "There is nothing you can do. Go back to sleep. " With a few turns, she slept again. Enviously (妒嫉地)________her sleep, I hoped a big mosquito would________on her face. However, the mosquitoes would just lightly dance around her forehead and fly away quickly, never biting her. Amazed (惊奇的), I ran to others'_______, only to find they were all sleeping________as the same thing occurred again and again.
From those bites, I came to________my grandma's silly tale. From then on, I've always tried to keep a(n)_______mind about those strange old wives' tales________they do have some truth to them.
1.A.leaving B.passing C.visiting D.finding
2.A.persuaded B.reminded C.warned D.informed
3.A.students B.foreigners C.passengers D.visitors
4.A.earlier B.longer C.sooner D.later
5.A.grows B.goes C.flows D.remains
6.A.expecting B.understanding C.recognizing D.believing
7.A.after B.before C.when D.as
8.A.shade B.pile C.cloud D.blanket
9.A.touched B.bitten C.defeated D.discovered
10.A.morning B.afternoon C.evening D.night
11.A.noise B.hit C.pain D.effect
12.A.woke up B.shouted at C.looked for D.dropped on
13.A.blamed B.interrupted C.moved D.frightened
14.A.having B.watching C.making D.helping
15.A.land B.fly C.fall D.wait
16.A.houses B.flats C.rooms D.homes
17.A.joyfully B.anxiously C.soundlessly D.worriedly
18.A.tell B.know C.remember D.accept
19.A.open B.active C.clear D.honest
20.A.and B.so C.because D.until
For years，the giant squid (大王乌贼) had remained a modern mystery.Living in the dark depths of the ocean，the creature is difficult for scientists to observe directly.It had also managed to avoid all attempts to film it.That changed last July：for the first time ever，scientists were able to catch the giant squid on video in its natural habitat.They were amazed by what they saw.The scientists filmed the squid in the North Pacific Ocean，south of Tokyo，Japan.They followed it down to a depth of 2，952 feet.They shot more than 23 minutes of video before the squid swam off into even darker depths.The video footage will be released to the public later this month on The Discovery Channel.
Tsunemi Kubodera，a zoologist at Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science，led the team that filmed the squid.The team went into the ocean in a small submarine with lights invisible to both humans and squid.Since giant squid eat smaller squid，the scientists released a small squid as bait (诱饵)．Then the scientists waited in the pitch black for the giant squid to approach.
The color video shows the creature floating vertically，eating the bait squid.The giant squid is 9 to 10 feet long and is missing its two longest tentacles (触须)．With those tentacles，it could have measured up to 26 feet long.It has huge black eyes，the size of dinner plates，“It was shining and so beautiful，” Kubodera said.
Because the deep ocean is so unfriendly to humans，little is known about the giant squid.Scientists say catching the mysterious creature on video is an important step toward understanding it.For centuries，sailors had reported seeing a huge，ocean－dwelling beast，thought to be the giant squid.The creature is also believed to be the subject of the Nordic myth of the kraken，a sea creature that supposedly attacked ships in Scandinavian waters over the past thousands of years.
1.Why is it difficult to film the giant squid?
A.Because it is illegal to film the giant squid.
B.Because it is too expensive to make such a film.
C.Because the giant squid lives in the dark deep ocean.
D.Because the giant squid is dangerous to humans.
2.We can learn from the first paragraph that scientists ________．
A.first saw the giant squid in the ocean
B.discovered a new sea creature in the ocean
C.have the ocean bottom secretly recorded on video
D.have first caught the legendary giant squid on video
3.According to the passage，the giant squid's longest tentacles can be ________．
A.16 to 17 feet long
B.9 to 10 feet long
C.more than 26 feet long
D.about 36 feet long
4.The scientists released a small squid in the ocean to ________．
A.increase the number of the giant squid
B.trick the giant squid into coming out
C.make an educational film about it
D.show concern for the giant squid
单词拼写
1.I need to___________（加长）my skirt.
2.The___________（村民们）helped the little girl find her parents.
3.He___________ （检查）his passport and stamped it.
4.The___________ （进攻）from the enemy was so strong that we were required to fall back.
5.It was a terrible accident and she was the only girl to have ___________（幸存）the accident.
6.The little boy doesn't have the___________ （力气）to lift that heavy box.
7.In the interview, he had finally___________（使相信）several customers of the advantages of his product.
8.Do you have to ___________（预订）tickets in advance?
If anyone had told me three years ago that I would be spending most of my weekends camping, I would have laughed heartily. Campers, in my eyes, were people who enjoyed insect bites, ill-cooked meals, and uncomfortable sleeping bags. They had nothing in common with me. 1.
The friends who introduced me to camping thought that it meant to be a pioneer. 2. We slept in a tent, cooked over an open fire, and walked a long distance to take the shower and use the bathroom. This brief visit with Mother Nature cost me two days off from work, recovering from a bad case of sunburn and the doctor’s bill for my son’s food poisoning.
I was, nevertheless, talked into going on another fun-filled holiday in the wilderness. 3. Instead, we had a pop-up camper with comfortable beds and an air conditioner. My nature-loving friends had remembered to bring all the necessities of life.
4. We have done a lot of it since. Recently, we bought a twenty-eight-foot travel trailer complete with a bathroom and a built-in TV set. There is a separate bedroom, a modern kitchen with a refrigerator. The trailer even has matching carpet and curtains.
5. It must be true that sooner or later, everyone finds his or her way back to nature. I recommend that you find your way in style.
A.This time there was no tent.
B.Things are going to be improved.
C.The trip they took me on was a rough one.
D.I was to learn a lot about camping since then, however.
E.I must say that I have certainly come to enjoy camping.
F.After the trip, my family became quite interested in camping.
G.There was no shade as the trees were no more than 3 feet tall.
If you want to disturb the car industry, you'd better have a few billion dollars: Mom-and-pop carmakers are unlikely to beat the biggest car companies. But in agriculture, small farmers can get the best of the major players. By connecting directly with customers, and by responding quickly to changes in the markets as well as in the ecosystems(生态系统）, small farmers can keep one step ahead of the big guys. As the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC, 美国青年农会）and a family farmer myself. I have a front-row seat to the innovations among small farmers that are transforming the industry.
For example, take the Quick Cut Greens Harvester, a tool developed just a couple of years ago by a young farmer, Jonathan Dysinger, in Tennessee, with a small loan from a local Slow Money group. It enables small-scale farmers to harvest 175 pounds of green vegetables per hour—a huge improvement over harvesting just a few dozen pounds by hand—suddenly making it possible for the little guys to compete with large farms of California. Before the tool came out, small farmers couldn't touch the price per pound offered by California farms. But now, with the combination of a better price point and a generally fresher product, they can stay in business.
The sustainable success of small farmers, though, won't happen without fundamental changes to the industry. One crucial factor is secure access to land. Competition from investors. developers, and established large farmers makes owning one's own land unattainable for many new farmers.
From 2004 to 2013, agricultural land values doubled, and they continue to rise in many regions.
Another challenge for more than a million of the most qualified farm workers and managers is a non-existent path to citizenship — the greatest barrier to building a farm of their own. With farmers over the age of 65 outnumbering(多于）farmers younger than 35 by six to one, and with two-thirds of the nation's farmland in need of a new farmer, we must clear the path for talented people willing to grow the nation's food.
There are solutions that could light a path toward a more sustainable and fair farm economy, but farmers can't clumsily put them together before us. We at the NYFC need broad support as we urge Congress to increase farmland conservation, as we push for immigration reform, and as we seek policies that will ensure the success of a diverse and ambitious next generation of farms from all backgrounds. With a new farm bill to be debated in Congress, consumers must take a stand with young farmers.
1.The author mentions car industry at the beginning of the passage to introduce .
A.the progress made in car industry
B.a special feature of agriculture
C.a trend of development in agriculture
D.the importance of investing in car industry
2.What does the author want to illustrate with the example in paragraph 2?
A.Loans to small local farmers are necessary.
B.Technology is vital for agricultural development.
C.Competition between small and big farms is fierce
D.Small farmers may gain some advantages over big ones.
3.What is the difficulty for those new famers?
A.To gain more financial aid.
B.To hire good farm managers.
C.To have fans of their own.
D.To win old farmers’ support.
4.What should farmers do for a more sustainable and fair farm economy?
A.Seek support beyond NYFC.
B.Expand farmland conservation.
C.Become members of NYFC.
D.Invest more to improve technology.
