Saturday, October 7th, was a marathon of sad tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier, her father, a retired official in the department of foreign affairs, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow Metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya’s mother, Raisa Mazepa, in the hospital. She had just been diagnosed(诊断) with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband’s funeral. “Your father will forgive me, because he knows that I have always loved him,” she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later, she had an operation and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her deal with her grief.
Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her twenty-six-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into Politkovskaya’s apartment, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. “Anna had so much on her mind,” Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. “And she was trying to finish her article.” Politkovskaya was a special reporter for the small newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that can be seen all over the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to report repeated cruel acts done by people faithful to the Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, who are in favour of Russia. In the past seven years, Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book “A Small Corner of Hell: reports from Chechnya.” Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, and the uncontrolled cruelty of life in a place that few other Russians—and almost no other reporters—cared to think about. Politkovskaya’s father died of ______.
A.tiredness | B.a disease | C.an attack | D.an accident |
From the text we know that Raisa Mazepa ______.
A.didn’t love her husband |
B.didn’t attend her husband’s funeral |
C.was having an operation the day her husband was buried |
D.was too sad to attend her husband’s funeral |
The underlined word “emerged” most likely means ______.
A.came out | B.went into | C.looked into | D.left for |
How many family members of Anna are mentioned in the passage?
A.Three. | B.Four | C.Five | D.Six |
Which of the following words can best describe Politkovskaya’s character?
A.curious | B.easy-going | C.careless | D.responsible |
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behaviour. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory , Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.What is the function of the first paragraph?
A.Leading the following paragraphs. |
B.Showing the main idea of the passage. |
C.Introducing the background of the passage. |
D.Giving a summary of the passage. |
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
A.is weaker than | B.is stronger than |
C.is better than | D.is worse than |
What can we learn from the passage?
A.Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving. |
B.When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical. |
C.A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical. |
D.Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other. |
Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?
A.Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places. |
B.Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants. |
C.Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior,and then did some tests to prove his theory. |
D.Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own |
New York: When the first plane struck 1 World Trade Center at 8:48 am on Tuesday, the people in 2 World Trade Center who saw the instant (瞬间的) damage to the other tower realized clearly what they, too, must do: get out fast.
Katherine Ilachinsiki, who had been knocked off her chair by the blast (一阵)of heat exploding from the neighboring tower, was one of those. Despite her 70 years of age, Mrs Ilachinsiki, an architect working on the 91st floor of 2 World Trade Center, the south tower, went for the stairs. Twelve floors above her, Judy Wein, an executive (经理), cried sharply and set off too.
But others up and down the 110 floors, many without seeing the damage across the way and thus unclear about what was happening, were not so sure. And the 18 minutes before the next plane would hit were ticking off.
Most people had no idea about what was the best thing to do, formal announcements inside the south tower asked people to stay put, assuring them that the building was sound and the threat was limited to the other tower.
Some left, others stayed. Some began to climb down and, when met with more announcements and other cautions (警告) to stop or return, went back up. The decisions made in those instants proved to be of great importance, because many who chose to stay were killed completely when the second plane crashed into the south tower.
One of those caught in indecision (犹豫不决) was the executive at Fuji Bank USA.
Richard Jacobs of Fuji Bank left the 79th floor with the other office workers, but on the 48th floor they heard the announcement that the situation was under control. Several got in the lifts and went back up, two minutes or so before the plane crashed into their floor.
“I just don’t know what happened to them,” Mr Jacobs said. From the passage, we know that the south tower was hit by the plane ________.
A.at 8:30 | B.18 minutes earlier than the north tower |
C.at around 9:06 | D.at 8:48 |
The underlined words “stay put” means ________.
A.stay in the building | B.leave at once |
C.put everything back and then leave | D.keep silent |
Which floor was hit by the second plane?
A.The 91st floor | B.The 103rd floor | C.The 60th floor | D.The 79th floor |
Fewer people would have died if .
A.more announcements had been made | B.people hadn’t used the lifts |
C.the attack had happened on a weekend | D.the people had obeyed the office rules |
One of India’s top engineering schools has restricted Internet access in its boarding houses, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students’ performance, making them lonely and even suicidal.
Authorities at the best Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socializing and many were late for morning classes or slept through them. “Now, a student doesn’t even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the Internet,” said Prakash Gopalan, dean of Student Affairs. “The old dormitory culture of companionship and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion.”
IITMumbai, with about 5,000 students, is one of the seven IITs across India which are considered to be among the finest engineering schools in the world. They are also a talent pool for global technology giants. But their hard courses, tough competition and lonely campus lifestyle have taken an effect on students. Depressive and dysfunctional lifestyles are known to be common among IIT students, and at least nine have committed suicide in the past five years. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their boarding houses to help them in their studies, but many also use it to surf, chat, download movies and music, blog and for gaming.
“Starting Monday, Internet access will be banned between 11 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. at IITMumbai’s 13 boarding buildings to encourage students to sleep early and to try and force them out of their shells.” Gopalan said. But the move has not gone down well with students who say they hate their lives being regulated. “Now they will say we need to listen to a lullaby (摇篮曲) to go to sleep.” said Rajiv, an electronics student. According to the text, the students addicted to the Internet in IIT-Mumbai are likely to ______.
A.perform well in studies | B.participate in social activities |
C.know their classmates better | D.feel lonely and even suicidal |
The underlined word “dysfunctional” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “______”.
A.unpopular | B.meaningful | C.abnormal | D.exciting |
What measures have been taken in IITMumbai?
A.Students must go to bed before 11 p.m. |
B.Students are forbidden to surf the Internet on campus. |
C.Students have unlimited free Internet access in their dormitories. |
D.Internet access is unavailable in deep night in boarding buildings. |
We may infer from the last paragraph that ______.
A.all electronics students hate the banning order |
B.some students complain about the banning order |
C.there is no Internet access on the IIT campus ever since |
D.more students prefer listening to music to surfing the Internet |
Consult the page adapted from an English dictionary and do Questions 65~68. What does the phrase “green shoots” mean in “Green shoots have begun to appear in different markets”?
A.Signs of recovery. | B.High prices. |
C.Environmental protection. | D.Change in policy. |
Fill in the blank in the sentence “I can’t believe this is Joshua—he’s ______ since we last met!”
A.shot out | B.shot through | C.shot up | D.shot down |
When you are talking about unimportant things, we say you are ______.
A.shooting yourself in the foot | B.shooting the breeze |
C.shooting your mouth off | D.shooting questions at somebody |
Choose a word to complete the sentence “The ______, which killed a policeman and wounded a passer-by, was reported to have lasted only 13 seconds.”
A.shooter | B.shoot | C.shot | D.shooting |
In recent years, the world has made progress in reducing deaths among children under the age of five. A new report says an estimated 6.9 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday. That compares to about twelve million in1990.
The report says child mortality rates have fallen in all areas. It says the number of deaths is down by at least 50 percent in eastern, western and southeastern Asia. The number also fell in North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ties Boerma is head of the WHO’s Department of Health Statistics and Informatics. He says most child deaths happen in just a few areas.
TIES BOERMA: “Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia face the greatest challenges in child survival. More than eighty percent of child deaths in the world occur in these two regions. About half of child deaths occur in just five countries—India, which actually takes twenty-four percent of the global total; Nigeria, eleven percent; the Democratic Republic of Congo, seven percent; Pakistan, five percent and China, four percent of under-five deaths in the world.”
Ties Boerma notes that, in developed countries, one child in one hundred fifty-two dies before his or her fifth birthday. But south of the Sahara Desert, one out of nine children dies before the age of five. In Asia, the mortality rate is one in sixteen.
The report lists the top five causes of death among children under five worldwide. They are pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and problems both before and during birth.
Tessa Wardlaw is with the U-N Children’s Fund. She is pleased with the progress being made in Sub-Saharan Africa. The area has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world. But she says the rate of decline in child deaths has more than doubled in Africa.
TESSA WARDLAW: “We welcome the widespread progress in child survival, but we importantly want to stress that there’s a lot of work that remains to be done. There’s unfinished business and the fact is that today on average, around nineteen thousand children are still dying every day from largely preventable causes.”
The World Health Organization says one way to solve these problems is to make sure health care services are available to women. In this way, medical problems can be avoided or treated when identified.Since 1990, the number of the children who died before 5 in the world has dropped by about__________.
A.6,900,000 | B.12,000,000 | C.1,200,000 | D.5,100,000 |
What does the underlined word “mortality” ( in Paragraph 2)mean?
A.illness | B.reduction | C.death | D.problem |
According to the passage, the readers are likely to believe that __________.
A.child mortality rates have fallen just in five areas |
B.Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world |
C.in developed countries, no children die before the age of five |
D.the world has made little progress in reducing the rates of child mortality |
______ is the top-one cause of death among children under five worldwide.
A.Global warming | B.Malaria | C.Pneumonia | D.Diarrhea |
What will be probably referred to in the following paragraph?
A.Women do not want to have babies. |
B.How more health care services are available to women. |
C.Medical problems are completely solved. |
D.The World Health Organization. |
MUMBAI – Indian commandos battled into the early hours of Friday to end a multiple hostage crisis in Mumbai after suspected Islamic militants killed 125 people across the city.
Officials said they had almost totally cleared the luxury Taj Mahal hotel where gunmen had been held up for more than 24 hours.
Indian security forces personnel released hostages from Nariman House in Mumbai.Thirty-nine people were rescued from the five-star Oberoi hotel, where "mopping up(清理火场)" operations were still underway, police said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the militants had come from "outside the country.”
The Press Trust of India said one Pakistani militant had been arrested, although Pakistan's government fiercely denied any involvement.
Indian media reports said between six and nine foreign nationals were among the dead in Mumbai -- including a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a Briton , a German and an Italian.
At least five gunmen had been shot dead and one captured, police said.Fourteen security personnel were also killed, including the head of Mumbai's anti-terror squad.
To draw maximum international attention, the militants used small groups to attack a total of about a dozen targets in India's financial hub , including the main railway station, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.
An unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen claimed responsibility, with one gunman telling an Indian TV channel by phone that the outfit(装备)was of Indian origin and motivated by the treatment of Indian Muslims.
Up to 327 people were reported wounded.
The main Bombay Stock Exchange was closed until further notice, as were shops, schools and businesses.
Prime Minister Singh said the aim had clearly been to spread panic by choosing high profile(知名度高的)targets and "indiscriminately(随心所欲地)killing foreigners."
Witnesses said the gunmen had been very particular in their choice of hotel hostages."They said they wanted anyone with British and American passports," said one British guest at the Taj Mahal hotel.The following statements are NOT true except ________.
A.thirty-nine hostages were rescued from the Taj Mahal Hotel |
B.fourteen gunmen were killed in Nariman House |
C.the target of the attack was obviously on Britons and Americans |
D.an American was among the killed foreigners |
The best title of this passage can be _______.
A.Hostages Released by Indian Commandos |
B.Mumbai Under Terrorist Attack |
C.Islamic Militants Attacking Westerners in Mumbai |
D.Unfortunate Britons and Americans in Mumbai |
The Hunan Satellite TV (HNTV) show “Where are we going, Dad?” is a big hit. Many famous stars brought their children to a strange village alone, and they had to spend 72 hours with their children there. The program fully showed us a modern version of the “how to be a good father”. As the young parents today are too busy to take care of their children, this new form of“Lost on the way”played by nanny (保姆式的) daddy and cute kids triggered(触发)a lot of people’s emotional resonance(共鸣). Both the kids and their parents will find that their hearts are being drawn closer. But this kind of feeling has just proved that there is a big spiritual barrier between the modern parents and children.
The TV shows like “Children are hard to support!”, “Where are we going, Dad?”, “hot mom” and “cute kids” are becoming more and more popular. All of these show the new parents’ confusion in children’s education and the appeal for the balance between career and family.
In real life, on the one hand, the young parents feel helpless because they are too busy to accompany their children under the pressures of work and life; on the other hand, they continue to do so. The data collected by HNTV show that nearly two-thirds of their audience are female, among whom 36% are aged from 25 to 34. We can imagine such a scene that one evening a young mother is watching the show with her young children, while her husband is still at work or trapped in socializing, or maybe is just playing computer games in the bedroom. The story of a child without the company of father is still going on. In fact, it is sometimes the same to mothers. In a modern family, it is often the old who take the responsibility for raising a child. The participation of mother in the children’s education is also very low.
It is just this kind of confusion where the parents have gone in the modern family education, and where the parents will guide their children to go that “Where are we going, Dad?” shows us. If a child wants to grow up healthily and safely into a modern citizen with independent personality and free spirit, it is very important for him or her to follow the parents who serve as their first teacher. Maybe this is the real reason why such kind of TV programs could get hot. The truth is that children will go where their parents go, and society will go where the children go.Which of the following can be inferred in the passage?
A.Parents shouldn’t entirely leave the education of children to the old. |
B.36% of the audience of the program are female aged from 25-34. |
C.The program shows us the confusion where the parents and children will go to play. |
D.In a modern family it is often mothers who are responsible for raising a child. |
In raising a child in modern society, parents should ________.
A.play computer games with their children |
B.break down the barrier between children and teachers |
C.balance well between family and career |
D.keep their children at home to avoid socializing |
What attitude towards modern family education does the author express in the passage?
A.Optimistic. | B.Proud. |
C.Negative. | D.Worried |
Which one is the best title of the passage?
A.Confusion behind “Where are we going, dad?” |
B.Modern Education is Important |
C.Nanny Daddy and Cute Kids |
D.New Problems in Modern Children’s Education |
Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories,destroying fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged that their owners had to leave them,and fifteen others had broken windows or broken roofs. One person was killed,several were badly hurt and taken to hospital,and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.
A farmer,Mr. Tan,said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted for over an hour.
“I was eating with my wife and children,”he said,“When we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best to climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went back inside and found him,safe but very frightened.”
Mrs. Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she felt that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.
“There was no time to take anything,”she said,“A few minutes later,the roof came down.”
Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department (福利机构) brought them food,clothes and shelter. How many homes altogether were damaged in the storm?
A.Fourteen | B.Twenty-one |
C.Twenty-nine | D.Thirty-six |
Where was Mr. Tan when the storm first began?
A.He was in bed. | B.He was inside the house. |
C.He was outside the house. | D.He was on the roof. |
The underlined word “shelter” in this passage means ______.
A.something to eat | B.something to wear |
C.somewhere to study | D.somewhere to stay |
Which of he following may be the best title for this passage?
A.A Terrible Storm | B.A Lucky Woman |
C.Good Soldiers | D.Clever People |
The Washington post – NASA’s newest space habitat looks sort of like a kids’ moon bonce, a big, bright, inflatable globe that could be lots of fun to play in. Soon astronauts on the International Space Station could get the chance to try . The expandable habitat made by Bigelow Aerospace recently passed NASA’s strict certification requirements and is scheduled to be flown to the station in September.
Called the BEAM ( Bigelow Expandable Activity Module), the habitat would be attached to the space station, where it would stay for two years. While there, it would be tested to see how it handles the rigors of space – the radiation, the station’s movement and even how it stands up to the debris (碎片) flying around in orbit.
The private Las Vegas company, founded by millionaire real estate mogul(地产大亨) Robert Bigelow, won a $17.8 million contract from NASA to provide the module to the space station.
“Today is the first step, but it’s a big step,” said Bigelow’s George Zamka. Replace the space station or make it larger. It also hopes to build the habitats on the moon. Its B330 module would be even bigger, with 330 cubic meters of internal (内部的 ) space. The modules could be connected. Creating research facilities, the company says, or even space hotels.
In an interview ,NASA’s William Gerstenmaier, said he was eager to see how the module performs , and said he was especially pleased “ to see how the private sector can step up and help us meet our requirements.” The module will be flown to the space station by SpaceX, the first commercial company to resupply the space station.
What would be the best title for this passage?
A.NASA’s space habitats flown to the station. |
B.NASA’s space habitat it the station. |
C.NASA’s new expandable space habitat. |
D.NASA’s newest inflatable globe. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.NASA’s newest space habitat is a kids’ moon bounce. |
B.Astronauts of Bigelow Aerospace could get the chance to try the space habitat. |
C.NASA was founded by Robert Bigelow. |
D.The B330 module to be built on the moon would be with an inside space of 330 cubic meters. |
The underlined word “rigors” in Paragraph 2 refers to “_________”.
A.difficulties | B.environments |
C.movements | D.changes |
The passage is most probably taken from ________.
A.a newspaper | B.a booklet |
C.a magazine | D.a science fiction |
C
NEWS BRIEF
● "New labels to show calories
The US government ruled that all food establishments(场所) should put the calorie information of their foods on their menus. Within a year chain restaurants, like fast food KFC, will have to say clearly on their menus how many calories their fried chicken wings, fries, and other items contain. Amusement parks, movie theaters and supermarkets will also have to follow the rules. The move is designed to fight against the problem of obesity(肥胖) in the US.
● Antibiotics leading to world problem
The entire world is facing this problem; antibiotic resistance. And the resistance will lead to the deaths of 10 million people across the world by 2025, predicted a new report released by the UK government. Antibiotics are used to destroy or slow the growth of harmful bacteria in our bodies. But overuse and misuse of them can encourage bacteria to develop new ways of overcoming antibiotics, which makes it increasingly difficult for humans to fight diseases.
●___________________________________
Australia is the world's most expensive destination for international students, according to a study done by Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). They have to spend an average of $ 42,000 ( about 258 ,000 yuan) a year to study at Australian universities. Singapore is not far behind, with an average yearly cost of $ 39,229, followed by the US at $ 36,564 and the UK at 35,045. However, Australia's education quality only ranks joint fourth with Canada, well below the US, the UK, and Germany. In addition, international students studying in Germany only have to pay about one-sixth the cost of studying in Australia.
● New Games sports may be added
The International Olympic Committee has canceled the 28-sportcap for future summer Olympics But each summer Games will still only be allowed 10, 500 athletes and 310 events. Countries that could host the games will discuss plans with the committee during a new invitation stage before bidding. They are also allowed to hold events outside their own countries and get financial support from the committee. No changes will be introduced for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The news brief covers ______________.
A.medicine, disaster, finance, events |
B.health, medicine, education, sports |
C.service, health, education, events |
D.business, medicine, economy, sports |
The underlined word "antibiotics" in Line 7 refers to ___________.
A.serious diseases |
B.varieties of resistance |
C.harmful bacteria |
D.medical drugs |
Which of the following fits in the blank best in the news brief?
A.Australian study most expensive |
B.The cost of studying overseas |
C.International students in Australia |
D.Australia's education quality |
Which of the following statements is best supported by the news brief?
A.Some events may be held outside the host country in future summer Olympics |
B.It is Australia's best education quality that will cause students to make a wise choice. |
C.It is necessary for the UK government to try hard to encourage using lots of antibiotics. |
D.Popcorn sold in cinemas in the world will soon have calorie information labels. |
FIVE Americans swept the three Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology (生理学) or Medicine last week. It was the first American sweep of the Nobel science prizes since 1983.
It’s rare for Americans not to receive any of the science prizes, especially in recent years. In 2004, seven Americans were among the 10 laureates (获奖者) for the science prizes. Last year, the figure was five out of 10.
The huge sums of money invested in scientific research is one factor that has helped many Americans to win awards. Another reason is the vast number of researchers working in the US. American universities also often have a more “creative university environment”where people can focus on research for a long period without any pressure, said Anders Liljas, member of the Nobel Committee.
New hope for AIDS patients?
AMERICAN scientists Craig Mello (top) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Andrew Fire (above) of Stanford University School of Medicine won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine last Monday. Their discovery is a process that researchers hope to use to silence disease-causing genes (基因). It offers new ways for disease treatment.
Scientists now hope to develop a new technique that could be used to treat diseases, such as cancers, AIDS and Parkinson’s disease.
Like father, like son?
AS the son of a Nobel Prize winning professor, Roger D. Kornberg (left) had a lot to live up to. But, nearly half a century after his father, won his award, Kornberg, 59, a Stanford University professor, won his own last Wednesday: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His research into how cells read their genes is very important. It could help lead to the development of new drugs to fight cancer (癌症), heart disease and other illnesses, experts said.
First light of the universe
TWO Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physics last Tuesday for measuring the oldest light in the heavens. It is considered as “one of the greatest discoveries of the century”. It convinced (使确信) scientists that the Big Bang theory (大爆炸理论) of the universe’s origin is correct. George F. Smoot (top), 61, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, and John C. Mather (above), 60, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, will share the US$1.4 million prize for their work. Beginning in 1989, they measured weak light that originated (源于) as early as 380,000 years after the Big Bang.What does the underlined word “swept” in Paragraph 1 mean ?
A.cleaned by brushing | B.crossed completely |
C.spread quickly | D.took each of the winning |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Craig Mello and Andrew Fire have found the way to cure cancers, AIDS and Parkinson’s disease.
B. Roger D. Kornberg’s father once won a Nobel Prize.
C. George F. Smoot will get US$1.4 million prize for his work.
D. Roger D. Kornberg is the youngest of the Nobel Prize owners of this time.The passage is probably taken from________.
A.a science report | B.a news report |
C.a history lecture | D.an advertisement |
The end of the World Cup does not mean the end of international competition, in Brazil this year. A major football event will happen in the South American country later this month, but with teams of robots playing the game, which is known as soccer in the United States. The robot teams are guided by teams of humans from around the world. The event is known as RoboCup.
Technology students at the University of Pennsylvania are trying for their fourth victory at the competition, which is held this year in the coastal city Joao Pessoa. The students have won the last three RoboCup competitions.
Watching robots play football is similar to watching children play the game. The kicks are not good, there's a lot of falling down, and people are there to guide and support the team members. Jian Qiao Li is one of the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania team.
He says one goal he has for the robot team is to make sure the machines can find the goal and the ball. He also wants the robots to be able to know where they are on the playing field. And he wants the team to be able to better control the walking and kicking abilities of the robots.
Qin He is another leader of the robot team. She says the abilities of the robots increase every year. Ms. He says the US team is meeting its goals. The robots know the differences between the colors green and red, and they can decide where to go and where the ball is on the playing field. She says if there are three robot players on the field at the same time, they will communicate with each other to decide the different responsibilities for each robot.
U. S. Team member Christopher Akatusuka hopes for another victory in Brazil. The team has won the RoboCup the past three years in the Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.
“They have every good team player right now. As long as their detection is good, I think they'll be very competitive; we just hope to compete against the real good German teams eventually, because the Germans always do very well, ” says Akatsuka.
Mr Akatsuka says RoboCup is an exciting technology competition.
“Each team develops their own software; basically it's a competition of who has the best software, who has the best decision—making at a given point... it’s really exciting, ” says Akatsuka.
The event begins July 19th and ends July 25th. Some RoboCup participants hope to develop a team of robots that can play against humans by 2050.According to the first paragraph, Robocup _____.
A.is held every four years |
B.is played by robots |
C.is a symbol of World Cup's ending |
D.is a celebration of World Cup |
The robots' performance of playing the game is _______ .
A.marvelous | B.awkward |
C.flexible | D.awesome |
The same goal for the robots that Jian Qiao Li and Qin He mention is _______ .
A.to locate the ball | B.to communicate with each other |
C.to play at will | D.to distinguish colors |
Akatsuka's final hope for his robot team is ______ .
A.to invent the best software |
B.to win the championship in Brazil |
C.to make the best decision |
D.to compete with humans |
Police fired tear gas and arrested more than 5,000 passively resisting protestors Friday in an attempt to break up the largest antinuclear demonstration ever staged in the United States. More than 135,000 demonstrators confronted police on the construction site of a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant scheduled to provide power to most of southern New Hampshire. Organizers of the huge demonstration said, the protest was continuing despite the police actions. More demonstrators were arriving to keep up the pressure on state authorities to cancel the project. The demonstrator had charged that the project was unsafe in the densely populated area, would create thermal pollution in the bay, and had no acceptable means for disposing of its radioactive wasters. The demonstrations would go on until the jails and the courts were so overloaded that the state judicial system would collapse.
Governor Stanforth Thumper insisted that there would be no reconsideration of the power project and no delay in its construction set for completion in three years. “This project will begin on time and the people of this state will begin to receive its benefits on schedule. Those who break the law in misguided attempts to sabotage the project will be dealt with according to the law,” he said. And police called in reinforcements from all over the state to handle the disturbances.
The protests began before dawn Friday when several thousand demonstrators broke through police lines around the cordoned-off construction site. They carried placards that read “No Nukes is Good Nukes,” “Sunpower, Not Nuclear Power,” and “Stop Private Profits from Public Peril.” They defied police order to move from the area. Tear gas canisters fired by police failed to dislodge the protestors who had come prepared with their own gas masks or facecloths. Finally gas-masked and helmeted police charged into the crowd to drag off the demonstrators one by one. The protestors did not resist police, but refused to walk away under their own power. Those arrested would be charged with unlawful assembly, trespassing, and disturbing the peace.What were the demonstrators protesting about?
[A] Private profits.
[B]Nuclear Power Station.
[C] The project of nuclear power construction.
[D] Public peril.Who had gas-masks?
[A] Everybody.
[B]A part of the protestors.
[C] Policemen.
[D] Both B and C..Which of the following was NOT mentioned as a reason for the demonstration?
[A] Public transportation.
[B]Public peril.
[C] Pollution.
[D] Disposal of wastes..With whom were the jails and courts overloaded?
[A] With prisoners.
[B]With arrested demonstrators.
[C] With criminals.
[D] With protestors.What is the attitude of Governor Stanforth Thumper toward the power project and the demonstration?
[A] stubborn.
[B]insistent.
[C] insolvable.
[D] remissible.
Vocabulary
1.tear gas 瓦斯
2.passively resisting protestor 不抵抗的抗议者
3.stage 发起,举行,上演
4.break up 驱散,终止
5.cordon 警戒线,警戒
6.nuke (美俚)核武器,核电站
7.defy 公然蔑视/反抗
8.canister 罐,筒,榴霰弹筒
9.islodge 赶走
10.charge 冲锋,向前冲
11.trespass 非法侵入,扰乱
The Americans have been voted the world’s “funniest nationality” ---the one “best at making people laugh” ---in a global poll (民意调查), which also names the Germans the “least funny” nationality and the British “not as funny as they think”.
30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name both the “funniest” and “least funny” nationality in a poll conducted by Badoo.com, the world’s largest social network for meeting new people, with 119 million users worldwide.
The Americans were voted the funniest nationality, ahead of the Spanish --- the funniest Europeans --- in second, Italians in third and British in seventh.
The voting for the “least funny” nationality confirmed the view of America’s Mark Twain that “a German joke is no laughing matter”. The Germans won, ahead of the Russians and Turks. The stereotype of German humourlessness is believed to derive from their reputation for efficiency, punctuality and rationality(理性). Examples of German jokes include: “Yesterday, I met my friend Horst at the hospital. He’d swallowed a sponge. He says it doesn’t hurt but he’s always thirsty.”
“When we meet someone new, one of the first things we notice is whether they make us laugh”, says Lloyd Price, Badoo’s Marketing Director. “America is a worthy poll winner”, says Price. “It’s the world’s only comedy superpower.”
The British pride themselves on their humour but learn from the poll that they’re not as funny as they think. They placed just seventh of 15 --- behind the Brazilians, French and Mexicans.According to the poll, which is the right order from the funniest nationality to the least funny one?
A.Spanish, Americans, French, Mexicans, British |
B.Americans, Spanish, Italians, Brazilians, French |
C.British, Mexicans, Brazilians, Spanish, Americans |
D.Italians, French, British, Mexicans, Brazilians |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.The poll was conducted among 119 million people by Badoo. com. |
B.Spanish are the funniest nationality in Europe. |
C.That Germans are named the “least funny” nationality is because of Mark Twain. |
D.Some people think that British are funny while others think the opposite in the poll. |
Which can be the substitute of the word “derive” in the fourth paragraph?
A.acquire | B.suffer | C.translate | D.accomplish |
What is the author’s purpose of telling us a German joke?
A.The author wants to show that Germans are good at telling jokes. |
B.The author wants to confirm what Mark Twain said. |
C.The author wants to prove that Germans are not funny at all. |
D.The author just wants to say that swallowing a sponge is no harm. |
It seems that the best title for this passage is ______.
A.The Funniest Nationality |
B.A Global Poll Conducted by Badoo.Com |
C.Americans Won the Funniest Nationality |
D.Americans Voted “Funniest Nation”, Germans “Least Funny” |
试题篮
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