The Book of Life
So far, scientists have named about 1.8 million living species（物种）, and that’s just a small number of what probably exists on Earth. With so many plants, animals, and other living things coveting the planet, it can be tough to figure out what type of grass is growing by the roadside or what kind of bird just flew by.
A soon-to-be-started Web site might help. An international team of researchers has announced the creation of Web-based Encyclopedia （百科全书）of Life（EoL）. The project aims to list every species on Earth in a single, easy-to-use reference guide.
To get the encyclopedia started, the creators will use information from scientific databases （数据库） that already exist. And eventually, in special sections of the site, non-scientists with specialized knowledge will come to help. Bird-watchers, for example, will be able to input what birds they’ve seen and where. To make sure the encyclopedia is accurate, scientists will review much of the information added to it.
As the EoL develops, you might find it useful for school projects. The site will feature （以……为特色）special pages for kids who are studying ecosystems in their neighborhoods. Another convenient feature of the EoL is that you’ll be able to pick the level of detail you want to see to match your interests, age, and knowledge.
It now takes years for scientists to collect all the data they need to describe and analyze species. The creators of the Encyclopedia of Life hope that their new tool will speed up that Process.
60. The Web-based EoL aims to__________ .
A. find out what covers the earth B. list all living things on Earth
C. work out the number of birds D. save the existing plants
61. One characteristic of the EoL is that__________ .
A. it is run by school students B. it focuses on different types of grass
C. it provides different levels of information D. it allows non-scientists to review its data
62. In the last paragraph, "that process" means__________ .
A. analyzing species B. creating a new tool C. collecting data D. describing species
第二部分：阅读理解（第一节：共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
L’HAY-LES-ROSES, France: Three teenage girls admitted starting a fire in a suburban Paris housing project over the weekend that killed 17 people, including three children, police said yesterday. A fourth girl was held yesterday morning.
The fire in a 19-storey building south of Paris was the third fatal blaze in the Paris area in nine days. The death toll rose to 16 after a man died late Sunday in a hospital, where seven others were being treated for serious injuries, police said.
Three teenagers taken in for questioning on Sunday admitted having started the fire for fun, police said. Two of the suspects were 18-year-old, the other was 16, police said. Further details were not available.
Witnesses claimed to have seen a group of youths who lived in the building start the fire, said Patrick Seve, mayor of the town of L’HAY-LES-ROSES, near Orly airport, where the building was located.
The fire is believed to have broken out in the lobby（门厅）of the building before raging up a stairwell at least three floors. Some residents jumped from windows as the fire spread through the building’s entrance.
Authorities were investigating possible criminals in an August 26 fire that killed 14 African children and three adults in a Paris apartment building. Three days later, another fire killed seven in a building.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggested on French television on Sunday night that copycats（盲目模仿者）were at work. “Each time there is a new story, sometimes that gives ideas to people who then turn into criminals,” Sarkozy said, promising severe punishment for anyone found guilty of arson（纵火）.
56. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs？
A. Three girls were caught setting fire to a building.
B. The fourth girl wasn’t present when the fire broke out.
C. All the people lost their lives before police came.
D. Paris was troubled by fire during that period.
57. Why did the teenagers start the fire？
A. They were interested in playing with fire.
B. They wanted to make fun of their parents.
C. They were not satisfied with the surroundings.
D. They wanted to warm themselves.
58. From the fourth and fifth paragraphs we know that ________.
A. the witnesses must have put out the fire
B. the lobby of the building was covered with wood.
C. the witnesses were familiar with the teenagers
D. the residents shouldn’t have jumped from windows
59. What the Minister said in the last paragraph means that ________.
A. he doesn’t like to listen to new stories
B. he has no time to write new stories
C. teenagers often have ideas to turn into criminals
D. teenagers may do the same as others have done
Japan's 24-hour convenience stores, already struggling with lagging sales and growth, may soon face yet another threat - moves to limit business hours and close the stores late at night. The district of Saitama, which borders Tokyo, may follow in the footsteps of the western city of Kyoto and urge convenience stores to close during late night hours in an effort to limit carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）emissions, Japanese media reported. Kyoto, a former capital, wants to persuade convenience and other 24-hour stores to close late at night so as to improve evening views of the city and cut down on energy use. The Nikkei business daily said closures could last from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. The move is strongly opposed by the industry, which fears a bad impact on an already troubled sector also grappling with the specter of a higher tobacco tax, which could hit overall sales. "Even if we only operate the stores for 16 hours, we can't stop the refrigerators," said Toshiro Yamaguchi, the president of Seven-Eleven Japan Co, which is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, at a news conference in Saitama on Tuesday. He said such cuts in operating hours would reduce each store's profit by 20 percent. "If this happens, our current business model will lose its foundation." Analysts said that while it is difficult to estimate the potential impact of the move without a concrete plan, their overall impression was that it was likely to be negative. "This could cut profits and lead to less efficient operations and the increased loss of opportunities," said Masafumi Shoda, an analyst at Nomura Securities. "But it depends on the store -- urban stores do better than others. There are some in the countryside that are inefficient." Some have suggested that if governments were sincere about reducing carbon emissions there were much more efficient methods, such as cutting back on the huge number of automatic vending machines（自动售货机）68. Which of the followings was the first to try to limit convenience store hours? A. Saitama B. Tokyo C. Kyoto D. Nomura Security 69. What's the main goal of the proposal? A. To give employees more free time. B. To limit carbon dioxide emissions. C. To sell more tobacco products. D. To reduce each store’s profit.
70. How's the convenience store sector doing in Japan? A. It is not mentioned. B. It's doing great. Business is booming. C. Not very well. D. It’s about to close.
The world's oceans have warmed 50 percent faster over the last 40 years than previously thought due to climate change, Australian and US climate researchers reported on Wednesday. Higher ocean temperatures expand the volume of water, contributing to a rise in sea levels that is submerging small island nations and threatening to great damage in low-lying, densely-populated delta regions around the globe.The study, published in the British journal Nature, adds to a growing scientific chorus of warnings about the pace and consequences of rising oceans. It also serves as a corrective to a massive report issued last year by the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change（IPCC）, according to the authors. Rising sea levels are driven by two things: the thermal（热）expansion of sea water, and additional water from melting sources of ice. Both processes are caused by global warming. The ice sheet that sits at the top of Greenland, for example, contains enough water to raise world ocean levels by seven metres（23 feet）, which would bury sea-level cities from Dhaka to Shanghai. Trying to figure out how much each of these factors contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say. But up to now, there has been a confusing gap between the projections of computer-based climate models, and the observations of scientists gathering data from the oceans. The new study, led by Catia Domingues of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, is the first to reconcile（与…一致）the models with observed data. Using new techniques to assess ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 metres（2,300 feet）from 1961 to 2003, it shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.53 millimetre-per-year rise in sea levels rather than the 0.32 mm rise reported by the IPCC.64. What happens when the ocean's temperature rises? A. It causes sea levels to rise.B. It causes sea levels to remain constant.C. It causes sea levels to decrease.D. It causes sea level to change. 65. Which of the followings would be buried by the rising sea? A. Small island nations. B. All coastal cities around the world. C. People who enjoy holiday on the beach. D. Low-lying regions.66. The new study in this passage _____________.A. shows that thermal warming contributed to a 0.32 millimeter-per-year rise in sea levels. B. did not reveal anything that scientists hadn't already known. C. used new techniques to assess ocean temperatures. D. shows that models contradict the observed data. 67. What was the main finding of the study? A. Nothing enough is being done about global warming. B. That ocean waters have warmed faster than scientists had previously thought. C. That the warming of the world's oceans is not a threat. D. A massive report issued last year by IPCC was wrong.
Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, U.S. researchers said on Monday. In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer（前列腺癌）who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy. The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation（冥想）. As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements. But the researchers found more profound changes when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes. After the three months, the men had changes in activity in about 500 genes -- including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off. The activity of disease-preventing genes increased while a number of disease-promoting genes, including those involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, shut down, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was led by Dr. Dean Ornish, head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and a well-known author advocating lifestyle changes to improve health. "It's an exciting finding because so often people say, 'Oh, it's all in my genes, what can I do?' Well, it turns out you may be able to do a lot," Ornish, who is also connected with the University of California, San Francisco, said in a telephone interview. "'In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live'. That's pretty exciting," Ornish said. "The implications of our study are not limited to men with prostate cancer." 60. The article basically states that a healthy lifestyle__________. A. can even change your genes for the better. B. has no effect on your genes. C. is good for the environment. D. helps men recover from prostate cancer. 61. Apart from eating healthy food and exercising, the men in the study__________. A. were put under a lot of stress. B. were walking for hours a day.. C. were taught stress management methods. D. were thinking for a whole day. 62. In total, how many disease-preventing genes turned on as a result of the healthy lifestyle? A. 30 B. 453 C.500 D. 48 63. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the article? A. The men with low-risk prostate in the study lost weight and lowered their blood pressure. B. A famous author and Dr. Dean Ornish led this research. C. Dr. Dean Ornish expressed his optimism about this research in a telephone interview. D. Conventional medical treatment has no effect on the men with prostate cancer.
第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
选择题（共17小题：每小题2分，满分34分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 Three armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints from an art museum in downtown Sao Paulo on Thursday, which was the city's second high-profile art theft in less than a year. The bandits also took two oil paintings by well-known Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall, said Carla Regina, a spokeswoman for the Pinacoteca do Estado museum. The Picasso prints stolen were "The Painter and the Model" from 1963 and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Secretary of State for Culture, which oversees the museum. The prints and paintings have a combined value of $612,000, the statement and a museum official said.About noon, three armed men paid the $2.45 entrance fee and immediately went to the second-floor gallery where the works were being exhibited, bypassing more valuable pieces, authorities said. "This indicates to us that they probably received an order" to take those specific works, Youssef Abou Chain, head of Sao Paulo's organized crime unit, told reporters at a news conference. The assailants overpowered three unarmed museum guards and grabbed the works, officials said. The robbery took about 10 minutes and the museum was nearly empty at the time. The assailants took the pieces — frames and all — out of the museum in two bags. The institution has no metal detectors. In December, Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" by Candido Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crowbar（铁撬棍）and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors. The framed paintings were found Jan. 8, covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city. One of the suspects in that robbery — a former TV chef — turned himself over to police in January, who already had two suspects in custody（监禁）. 56. What did the armed men steal on Thursday?A. Two prints by Pablo Picasso B. Two oil painting by Brazilian artistsC. Two prints by Pablo Picasso and two oil paintings by two Brazilian artists. D. Two prints by two Brazilian artists and two oil paintings by Picasso Pablo. 57. Why didn't the thieves take other more valuable works? A. Because they didn't know that the other pieces were worth more. B. Probably because they had received an order for the prints that they took. C. Because they didn't have enough time. D. Because they were in such a hurry that they couldn’t get them all. 58. How many people were in the museum during the robbery? A. A lot. The museum was crowded. B. Not too many. It was almost empty. C. There were a lot of people outside the museum. D. Only three of them. 59. According to the passage, which of the followings is TRUE? A. In December, "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" painted by Candido Portinari were stolen. B. There are steel doors and no detectors in Sao Paulo Museum of Art. C. Three robbers defeated three armed museum guards and took away the works on Thursday.
D. Three suspects in the first high-profile art theft in less than a year were arrested.
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