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Are you afraid of sharks? You shouldn’t be! Below we cleared up the main myths about one of the world’s most perfectly formed creatures …
All sharks are the same.
This is absolutely not true. There are nearly four hundred species of sharks and they vary widely in habitat, size, features, diet and lifestyle. They range from the cigar shark, which is about 15 centimetres long, to the whale shark, which can be up to about nine meters long. More than 50 percent of sharks are less than a metre long and more than 90 percent are less than two metres long. And their habitat ranges from shallow to deep water and from the Arctic to the Tropic.
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This is not true, either. In fact, many shark populations are decreasing. The chief reason for this is that hundreds of thousands of them are caught in fishing nets. Depending on where they are caught. They are either killed for their fins(鳍), which are used in shark’s fin soup, or they are tossed back into the sea because they are unwanted. Almost all sharks which are discarded in this way die. Also, sharks mature late in life and produce very few young. If the current reduction in numbers continues, the ecological balance of the oceans will be severely threatened.
Sharks will always attack you
This is nonsense. The chances of being attacked by a shark are minimal. You are 250 times more likely to be killed by lightning than by a shark, and your chances of being killed by lightning are practically zero.
However, if you are planning to take a swim in shark territory, then follow these simple rules:
Avoid swimming at dawn or duck when visibility decreases.
Avoid areas where there are breaking waves. Turbulent(汹涌的) water makes it difficult for sharks to see and determine whether you are prey(猎物).
Do not wear jewellery in the water. Sharks are attracted to shiny fishes, and jewellery may resemble their scales(鳞片).
Do not swim near schools of small fish, which are the favorite food of some sharks.
68. The underlined word “myths” in the first paragraph means ____.
A. an idea or story that many people believe but which is not true
B. something that is impossible to understand or explain or about which little is known
C. a feeling of surprise
D. something that you are curious to know
69. From the passage we can learn sharks ____.
A. look alike B. are dangerous
C. usually live in deep sea D. hardly attack people
70. Which of the following is proper for the blank in the third paragraph?
A. Sharks’ fin soup is nutritious
B. There are too many sharks in the sea
C. Many shark populations are decreasing
D. Sharks produce many young
71. Which of the following rules should you follow when you’re going to swim in shark areas?
A. Don’t swim before day breaks.
B. Choose areas where there are big waves.
C. Wear something shiny when swimming.
D. Choose areas where there are many small fish.
Tayka Hotel De Sal
Where: Tahua, Bolivia
How much: About $95 a night
Why it’s cool: You’ve stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That’s something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt—including the beds (though you’ll sleep on regular mattresses (床垫) and blankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric dried-up lake that’s the world’s biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633-square-mile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks.
Green Magic Nature Resort
Where: Vythiri, India
How much: About $240 a night
Why it’s cool: Ridding a pulley(滑轮)-operated lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just the start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window—there is no glass!—you watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy. Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel, or just sit on your bamboo bed and read. You don’t even have to come down for breakfast—the hotel will send it up on the pulley-drawn “elevator”.
Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
Where: Cottonwood, Idaho
How much: $92 a night
Why it’s cool: This doghouse isn’t just for the family pet. Sweet Willy is a 30-foot-tall dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side. You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft in Willy’s head, or hang out inside his nose. Although you have a full private bathroom in your quarters, there is also a toilet in the 12-foot-tall fire hydrant outside.
Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Where: Ayvali, Turkey
How much: Between $130 and $475 a night.
Why it’s cool: This is caveman cool! Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool, about 65℉in summer. (Don’t worry—there is heat in winter.)What do we know about Tayka Hotel de Sal?
| A．It is located on a prehistoric wet lake. |
| B．It must be protected against rain. |
| C．Everything in the hotel is made of salt. |
| D．You have to cross a rope bridge to the hotel. |
What is the similarity of the four hotels?
| A．Being unique | B． Being expensive. |
| C．Being beautiful. | D．Being natural. |
What does the underline part “Sweet Willy" refer to?
A. The name of the hotel.
B. The name of a pet dog of the hotel owner
C. The building of Dog Bark Park InnB&B.
D. The name of the hotel owner.Which of the hotel makes you have a feeling of living in the for past?
| A．Tayka Hotel De Sal |
| B． Green Magic Nature Resort |
| C．Dog Bark Park InnB&B |
| D． Gamirasu Cave Hotel |
What may be the purpose of the writer writing the passage?
| A．To show his wide knowledge. |
| B．To introduce some interesting hotels. |
| C．To develop business in tourism. |
| D．To attract attention from the readers. |
Big Brothers Big Sisters is based on the simplicity and power of friendship. It is a program which provides friendship and fun by matching vulnerable young people (ages 7-17) with a volunteer adult who can be both a role model and a supportive friend.
Volunteer tutors come from all walks of life—married, single, with or without children. Big Brothers and Big Sisters are not replacement parents or social workers. They are tutors: someone to trust, to have fun with, to talk and go to when needed.
A Big Sister and Little Sister will generally spend between one and four hours together three or four times each month for at least twelve months. They enjoy simple activities such as a picnic at a park, cooking, playing sport or going to a football match. These activities improve the friendship and help the young person develop positive self-respect, confidence and life direction.
Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations exist throughout the world. It is the large and most well-known provider of tutor services internationally and has been operating for 25 years.
Emily and Sarah have been matched since 2008. Emily is a 10-year-old girl who has experienced some difficulties being accepted by her schoolmates at school. “I was pretty sure there was something wrong with me.”
Emily’s mum came across Big Brothers Big Sisters and thought it would be of benefit to Emily by “providing different feedback (反馈) about herself other than just relying on schoolmates to measure her self-worth.”
Sarah wanted to get involved in a volunteer program. “I googled it and found out how to be a part of it. I thought it would be fun for me to get involved in making time to do something because sometimes it is all work and no play.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been of great benefit and enjoyment to both Emily and Sarah. They love and look forward to their time together and the partnership has certainly helped Emily be more comfortable in being the wonderful, happy and unique girl she is!What is the aim of Big Brothers Big Sisters?
| A．To offer students public services. |
| B．To help students improve their grades. |
| C．To organize sport activities for young people. |
| D．To provide partnership and fun for young people. |
A volunteer is usually expected to work within a year for at least ________.
| A．24 hours | B．36 hours | C．48 hours | D．72 hours |
According to Emily’s mother, this program may provide Emily with ________.
| A．advice from her teachers |
| B．a new way to judge her schoolmates |
| C．a new way to assess herself |
| D．more comments from her schoolmates |
Why did Sarah want to get involved in the program?
| A．She used to be a volunteer. |
| B．She felt a bit bored with her life. |
| C． She needed a part-time job. |
| D．She wanted to get a challenging job. |
According to the passage, “vulnerable young people” are probably those who are ________.
| A．popular at school | B．rather weak physically |
| C．confident in themselves | D．easily hurt emotionally |
When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get good scores on certain kinds of tests or even the ability to do well in school subjects. By intelligence we mean a way of living and behaving, especially in a new or upsetting situation. If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how a person acts instead of how much he knows what to do.
For instance, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him. He tries to find out all he can, and then he acts immediately and tries to do something about it. He probably isn’t sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And if he cannot make things work out right, he doesn’t feel ashamed that he failed; he just tries to learn from his mistakes. An intelligent person, even if he is very young, has a special outlook on life, a special feeling about life, and how he fits into it.
If you look at children, you’ll see a great difference in what we call “bright” children and “not bright” children. They are actually two different kinds of people, not just the same kind with different amounts of intelligence. For example, the bright child really wants to find out about life, and he tries to get in touch with everything around him. But the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream world; he seems to have a walk between him and life in general.According to the passage, intelligence is the ability to .
| A．get high scores in some tests | B．do well in school subjects |
| C．deal with life | D．know what to do |
In a new situation, an intelligent person .
| A．knows more about what might happen to him |
| B．is sure of the result he will get |
| C．is ready to face and fit himself in the situation |
| D．cares more about himself |
If an intelligent person failed, he would .
| A．feel ashamed |
| B．learn from his experiences |
| C．try to find all he could |
| D．make sure what result he would get |
The difference between bright children and non-bright children lies in _____.
| A．their attitude towards life |
| B．the degree of cleverness |
| C．the amounts of knowledge about the world |
| D．their way of thinking |
JIUQUAN, China—China’s Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off(点火升空)at 6:37 pm Saturday, from a remote desert in western China, sending a crew of three, including the country’s first female astronaut, into space.
The successful launch, powered by a Long March 2F rocket, was shown live on state television Saturday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in western China.
The Chinese astronauts will complete the country’s first manned space docking mission(载入太空对接任务), an important step in Beijing’s ambitious plan to build a permanent space station by 2020. Possible future missions could include sending a man to the moon.
The crew is expected to spend more than 10 days in space and dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module, which China launched in September 2011. Two of them will live and work inside the module to test its life-support systems, while the third will remain in the capsule to deal with any unexpected emergencies.
China first launched a man into space in 2003, followed by a two-man mission in 2005 and a three-man trip in 2008 that featured the country’s first spacewalk. In November 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou-8 successfully docked twice with Tiangong-1 by remote control. The manned docking would be considered a milestone for China’s space program.
China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send independently maintained space stations into orbit(轨道). It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own.
The program is a source of enormous national pride for China, reflecting its rapid economic and technological progress and ambition to rank among the world’s leading nations.From the passage, we know that .
| A．China plans to build a permanent space station on the moon in the near future |
| B．the Shenzhou-9 will dock with Tiangong-1 for the third time |
| C．the success launch of Shenzhou-9 is a milestone for China’s space program |
| D．plenty of people had the opportunity to watch the live broadcast o the launch on TV |
In space, the three astronauts will complete the following tasks EXCEPT______.
| A．handling some emergencies | B．testing the life-support system |
| C．walking in space | D．docking with a space lab module |
What can be concluded according to the passage?
| A．More and more manned space stations will be sent into space from China. |
| B．The docking of Shenzhou-9 will be more successful than that of Shenzhou-8. |
| C．There are only three countries which sent space station into space. |
| D．The rapid development of China’s economy and technology has contributed a lot to the success of Shenzhou-9 program. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．China sent its first woman into outer space. |
| B．Shenzhou-9 sent three astronauts, including a female, into space. |
| C．China’s advanced space technology amazed the world. |
| D．Three Chinese astronauts began their space voyage. |
You can mail a letter or package under 16 oz. (unit of weight, 454g) in a mailbox, a blue box found on many street corners in U.S. cities and towns. Each mail box should have pick-up times clearly posted on top.
!Packages over 16 oz. placed in a mailbox will not be sent. Bring the package to the post office or retail (零售的) mailing shop instead. The clerk will process if for you.
The Post Office
In the larger cities, when you go to the post office you must take a number and wait in line. Post offices tend to be extremely crowded around Christmas. Try to go as early in the morning as possible. Post office branches open at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. while main branches close at 6 p.m.
Buying Stamps
! The cost of a first-class postage stamp to mail a letter is currently 39 cents, although rates tend to change often.
Stamps are sold individually or in booklets (小册子) of 10 (US$3.90) or 20(US$7.80) or in rolls of 100(US$9.00). You can buy stamps at the following locations:
·online, if you have a computer.
Link to the U.S. Postal Service website (http://www. usps.com) and click on “stamps online”.
·at your local post office
·at some ATMs (automated teller machine)
·at some supermarkets
·by mail
·retail mailing stores(you may have to pay extra for stamps and to mail packages through the U.S. Postal Service)
Postal Rates and Fees
The U.S. Postal Service’s online postage calculator(计算器) tells you the cost to mail a letter or package anywhere in the world. But you should know the weight of the package and the post code of the package’s origin and destination. If you don’t know the weight of the letter or package to be mailed, you can go to your local post office and the postal clerk will weigh it for you.When do the post office main branches close?
| A．At 9 p.m. | B．At 6 p.m. | C．At 5 p.m. | D．At 5:30 p.m. |
If you have only 39 cents, you can NOT buy a stamp at_____.
| A．a local post office | B．a supermarket |
| C．an ATM | D．a retail mailing store |
The cost to mail a letter can be calculated when you know _____.
①its weight ②its origin ③its destination
④its origin’s post code ⑤its destination’s post code
| A．①③④ |
| B．①④⑤ |
| C．①②③ |
| D．①②⑤ |
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