Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day. World Tuberculosis (infections disease in which growths appear on the lungs) Day is on Saturday March 24th.
Tuberculosis was once terribly fashionable. Dying of “consumption” seems to have been a favorite activity of garret-dwelling 19th-century artists, has, however, been neglected of late. Researchers in the field never tire of pointing out that TB kills a lot of people. According to figures released earlier this week by the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, compared with about 3m for AIDS and 1m for malaria. But it receives only a fraction of the research budget devoted to AIDS. America’s National Institutes of Health, for example, spends 20 times as much on AIDS as on TB. Nevertheless, everyone seems to getting in on the TB-day act this year.
The Global Fund an international organization responsible fur fighting all three diseases but best known for its work on AIDS, has used the occasion to trumpet its tuberculosis projects. The fund claims that its anti-TB activities since it opened for business in 2002 have saved the lives of over 1m people. The World Health Organization has issued a report that contains some good news. Although the number of TB cases is still rising, the rate of illness seems to have stabilized; the caseload, in other words, is growing only because the population itself is going up.
Even drug companies are involved. In the run-up to the day itself, Eli Lilly announced a $ 50m boost to its MDRTB Global Partnership. MDR stands for multi-drug resistance, and it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the limelight. Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant strains to evolve all over the world. The course of drugs needed to clear the disease completely takes six mouths, anti persuading people to stay that course once their symptoms have gone is hard. Unfortunately, those infected with MDR have to be treated with less effective, more poisonous and more costly drugs. Naturally, these provoke still more. non-compliance and thus still more evolution.
The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS. The (global Fund’s joint responsibility for the diseases is no coincidence. AIDS does not kill directly. Rather, HIV, the virus that causes it, weakens the body’s immune system and exposes the sufferer to secondary infections. Of these, TB is one of the most serious. It kills 200 000 AIDS patients a year. However, some anti-TB drugs interfere with the effect of some anti-HIV drugs. Conversely, in about 20% of cases where a patient has both diseases, anti-HIV drugs make the tuberculosis worse. The upshot is that 125 years after human beings worked out what caused TB, it is still a serious threat.
1.The first sentence “Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day.” means _______.
A.every dog enjoys good luck or success sooner or later
B.human beings can deal with problems caused by disease
C.Tuberculosis becomes a serious infection disease
D.people attach importance to Tuberculosis recently
2.By referring to AIDS in Paragraph 2, the author intends to show _______.
A.the US government is reluctant to spend millions of dollars on Tuberculosis
B.the death rate of AIDS is higher than that of Tuberculosis
C.the officials didn’t pay much attention to the research of Tuberculosis in the past
D.compared with AIDS, Tuberculosis can be cured effectively
3.Which of the following is best defines the word “upshot” (Para 5)?
A.Outcome. B.Uphold.
C.Achievement. D.Project.
4.Which of the following proverbs is closest in meaning to the message the passage tries to convey?
A.Forgive and forget.
B.Forgotten, but not gone.
C.When the wound is healed, the pain is forgotten.
D.Every dog is brave at his own door.
Stewart Island Ferry Services
While most visitors spend at least one night on Stewart Island, it is also readily accessible by ferry as a day excursion from Invercargill and Bluff.
Experience Foveaux Strait in comfort and style on board our express catamarans. During the one-hour crossing between Bluff and Stewart Island keep a lookout for wildlife, especially seabirds. Watching mollymawks (albatross) soaring behind the ferry is a fantastic sight.
Interesting landmarks commonly seen include Dog Island Lighthouse, Ruapuke Island, Titi Islands and Mt Anglem - Stewart Island’s highest point.
Free tea and coffee on board
Interpretation handouts are available (English only).
Wheelchair access available
Personal baggage is carried free on the ferries - max. two bags per person (one stowed and one small carry-on). Additional baggage is by prior arrangement.
Vehicle parking available at Bluff (extra cost - reservations recommended)
FERRY TO STEWART ISLAND | FERRY TO BLUFF |
Other departures as locally advertised |
_____________on Return Ferry Services
Buy 2 or more different excursions and SAVE 20% off all lower priced!
Kids Go FREE on selected departures during NZ School Holidays!
Kids Go FREE for travel 20 April - 5 May 2013.
1.If leaving a car at Bluff, a traveler had better _____.
A.refer to the handouts first
B.use wheelchair access
C.make a reservation
D.park it 30 minutes before departure time
2.John, who went to Stewart Island on Dec. 28th, got to the ferry dock at 7:55am. When did he most probably leave Bluff?
A.At 8:00a.m.. B.At 9:30a.m.. C.At 11:00a.m.. D.At 3:00p.m..
3.Which of the following is false about the ferry services?
A.Tea and coffee are free for passengers.
B.Children go free for travel for about 15 days.
C.Travelers are sure to see some seabirds during the crossing.
D.Passengers have to pay extra cost for extra pieces of luggage.
The definition of the standard kilogram is fundamentally imperfect. Getting the definition right is a challenge that has tried the patience and intelligence of scientists for decades.
Scientists use just seven basic units to define all the other quantities we use --- quantities such as speed, density, or electric power. All of those basic units except the kilogram are themselves defined in terms of natural properties that are beyond human control.
For example, the standard second (time) is defined as a specific number of vibration of a type of radiation released by atoms of a special metal. The standard meter (length), in turn, is defined as the length of the path light travels in a vacuum during a specific fraction of a second.
Not so the kilogram. This orphan of the basic unit family is simply the mass of a small platinum-iridium alloy cylinder (铂-铱合金筒) locked away by the international Bureau of Weighs & Measures in France.
Embarrassingly, the last time the copies were brought for a checkup in the 1980s, officials found that some copies had gained about 20 parts per billion in weight compared to the master cylinder since the previous checkup in the 1940s. This implies that the master cylinder itself may be an inconstant standard.
No one knows what causes the weight changes. But the uncertainty can’t be tolerated when precision(精密度) in research and some manufacturing now demands accuracy to a few parts per billion.
Several efforts in several different countries are under way to redefine the kilogram in terms of basic physical quantities such as counting the actual number of atoms of a specific substance in a kilogram or the electromagnetic force that balances a kilogram mass against gravity.
A project of the latter type at the NIST laboratories in Gaithersburg hopes eventually to define mass in terms of electrical units. So far, none of these redefinition projects has borne fruit. They require precision of measurement and control of experimental conditions. The slightest pollution, tiny vibrations, or other influences --- even changes in weather --- can ruin results. You’ve got to hand it to scientists who are willing to devote many years to such painstaking but fundamentally important research.
1.Which of the following best paraphrases the sentence “Not so the kilogram.” in paragraph 4?
A.The kilogram is not as accurate as the standard second.
B.The kilogram is not universally accepted in the world.
C.The kilogram is not defined in terms of natural properties.
D.The kilogram is not well defined as time and length.
2.Which of the following can NOT be concluded from the passage?
A.Experiments are being carried out to redefine the kilogram.
B.The uncertainty in the standard kilogram can seriously affect some research.
C.The redefinition of the standard kilogram is quite complicated.
D.Scientists will achieve success in redefining the kilogram in the near future.
3.According to the passage, to define the weight of mass in terms of electrical units _______.
A.is one of the best methods to redefine the kilogram
B.has been accepted as the only possible redefinition project
C.is not as simple as what people can understand
D.has been considered by some scientists as a better approach
4.We can know from the passage that the redefinition of the kilogram is _________.
A.more important in keeping market honesty
B.worth years of scientists’ painstaking research
C.the urgent requirement of business and manufacturing.
D.bring about important and fruitful results
The beauty, majesty, and timelessness of a primary rainforest are indescribable. It is impossible to ______ on film, to describe in words, or to explain to those who have never had the awe-inspiring experience of standing in the heart of a primary rainforest.
Rainforests have ______ over millions of years to turn into the incredibly complex environments they are today. Rainforests represent a store of living and ______ renewable natural resources that for eons, by virtue of their richness in both animal and plant species, have ______ a wealth of resources for the survival and well-being of humankind. These resources have included basic food supplies, clothing, shelter, fuel, spices, industrial raw materials, and medicine for all those who have lived in the majesty of the forest. ______, the inner dynamics of a tropical rainforest is an intricate and fragile system. Everything is so ______ that upsetting one part can lead to unknown damage or even destruction of the whole. Sadly, it has taken only a century of human intervention to destroy what nature designed to ______ forever.
The scale of human _____ on ecosystems everywhere has increased enormously in the last few decades. Since 1980 the global economy has tripled in size and the world population has increased by 30 percent. Consumption of everything on the planet has risen——at a cost to our ______. In 2001, The World Resources Institute estimated that the demand for rice, wheat, and corn is expected to grow by 40% by 2020, increasing irrigation water demands by 50% or more. They further reported that the demand for wood could double by the year 2050; ______, it is still the tropical forests of the world that supply the bulk of the world's demand for wood.
In 1950, about 15 percent of the Earth's land surface was covered by rainforest. Today, more than half has already gone up in ______. In fewer than fifty years, more than half of the world's tropical rainforests have fallen ______ to fire and the chain saw, and the rate of destruction is still accelerating. Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year. If nothing is done to curb this ______, the entire Amazon could well be gone within fifty years.
Massive ______ brings with it many ugly consequences-air and water pollution, soil erosion, malaria epidemics, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and the ______ of biodiversity through extinction of plants and animals. Fewer rainforests mean less rain, less oxygen for us to breathe, and an increased threat from global warming.
1.A.present B.capture C.claim D.prove
2.A.changed B.evolved C.expanded D.existed
3.A.energizing B.healing C.isolating D.breathing
4.A.contributed B.stored C.reduced D.affected
5.A.However B.Furthermore C.Therefore D.Otherwise
6.A.active B.sensitive C.interdependent D.delicate
7.A.restore B.support C.revive D.last
8.A.pressure B.power C.concern D.strength
9.A.existence B.ecosystem C.planet D.survival
10.A.unfortunately B.consequently C.naturally D.similarly
11.A.store B.food C.smoke D.wealth
12.A.subject B.down C.apart D.victim
13.A.trend B.practice C.decrease D.attitude
14.A.destruction B.industrialization C.modernization D.deforestation
15.A.appearance B.explosion C.loss D.increase
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Living Jewels
Before I went to the British Koi Keepers Annual Show, I didn’t understand 1. people could take fish so seriously. However, the more I learned about koi, the more interested became. As one expert told me, "Collecting koi is far more addictive than you might think. They’re as beautiful as butterflies and very calming to watch." Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, would have agreed the pool in his specially-built Japanese garden was home to 89 koi,2. cost up to $10,000 each.
At the show I met koi enthusiast Jean Kelly. “Koi are getting more and more expensive,” she told me. “One recently sold for $250,000.” I was shocked that's almost as much as I paid for my house. Well, that was a record,3.(admit) Jean. The normal price is nowhere near as high as that.
Nevertheless, serious collectors can pay up to $15,000 for a fully 4.(grow) koi, which is nearly as expensive as a new luxurious car, and the bigger they are, the more they cost. The cheapest I 5. find was $75 each, but they were only about twice as big as my goldfish.
Jean wasn’t impressed by one of the koi on sale either. “Actually, these koi aren’t any nicer than 6.,” she commented. “7. they are slightly bigger than the ones I’ve got, I paid considerable less than this.”
I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as Jean, but I did consider8.(buy) one. Then I remembered that all but 5 of Freddie Mercury's koi died when someone accidentally turned off the electricity supply to their pool. Jean assured me that with all the new equipment available the survival rate was getting better and better, and that looking 9.koi was no harder than taking care of any other pet. However, in the end I decided to stick with my goldfish. They’re not nearly as beautiful as koi ——but they’re a great deal cheaper 10.(replace) !
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors (流星) but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts 1. our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants 2.(make) the food which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun 3. (screen) off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere, they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuit or the walls of their spacecraft,4. they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.
Radiation is 5.(great) known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called "rem". Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more than 0.1 rem without 6.(damage); the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is 7. it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage - a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered 8. the birth of deformed children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated (积累) a large amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply don't know yet 9. men are going to get on when they spent weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage 10.(do) by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.
