It’s amazing what a little free beer can accomplish. In 1997 the small Danish island of Samso, located in the Kattegat Strail, won a contest hosted by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Samso, then known for its dairy and pig farms, would become Denmark’s showcase for sustainable power, eventually going carbon-free. How that would happen, however, was far from clear, since the government initially offered no funding, tax breaks or technical expertise(专门知识).
Given that almost all its power came from oil or coal — and the island’s 4,300 residents didn’t know a wind turbine(风力发电机) from a grain silo(谷仓) — Samso seemed an strange choice. Soren Hermansen, though, saw an opportunity. A restless native son who grew up on a family farm, Hermansen was teaching environmental studies at a local school when he heard about Samso’s award. He volunteered to be the first — and only — participant. “I realized this could happen,” he says. “This was realistic.” He may have been the only one who thought so.
Hermansen knew Samso islanders were conservative, but that could be an advantage: once he convinced enough potential first movers to act, the rest would follow. So Hermansen showed up at every community or club meeting to campaign for the renewable-energy project. He pointed to the island’s unexplored potential for wind power and the economic benefits of making Samso energy-independent. He sometimes brought free beer.
It worked. The islanders bought shares in new wind turbines to build 11 large land-based turbines, enough to meet the entire island’s electricity needs. Not satisfied with that, they supported the constru
ction of 10 huge offshore turbines，which provide power that the island’s dependence on cars and ferries needs. Today Samso isn’t just carbon-free — it actually produces 10% more clean electricity than it uses, with the extra power fed back into the national electricity network at a profit.
Hermansen has become a green angel, traveling from country to country telling the story of Samso’s success when he’s not at home running the Energy Academy, a research center for clean power. But he’s the first to say that the real credit belongs to the islanders，and that Samso’s lesson is that environmental change can only come from the ground up.What was Hermansen’t response to the Samso’s winning the contest?
| A．He regarded it as a chance. |
| B．He was not satisfied with the award. |
| C．He thought it was strange. |
| D．He thought it was reasonable. |
From the second paragraph we can learn that __________.
| A．many Samso islanders participated in the green project actively |
| B．most Samso islanders were against the renewable energy project |
| C．Samso has a long history of making use of renewable energy |
| D．at first people showed little interest in the renewable energy project |
Why did Hermansen show up at every community or club meeting?
| A．It was his duty to keep the islanders informed of government policies. |
| B．He wanted to convince the islanders to use clean power instead of oil or coal. |
| C．He wanted to persuade the islanders to be involved in the wind power project. |
| D．He wanted to share his beer with other islanders. |
What can we learn about Hermansen’s personality from the last paragraph?
| A．He is practical. | B．He is courageous. |
| C．He is modest. | D．He is ambitious. |
Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance.
Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．What’s Yoga? | B．The Benefits of Yoga |
| C．How I Do Yoga Poses | D．The Varieties of Yoga |
According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________.
| A．grow taller | B．lose weight |
| C．become flexible in thinking | D．make more friends |
People feel tired after yoga because __________.
| A．they spend too much time on yoga |
| B．they respond well to yoga poses |
| C．they force themselves into yoga poses |
| D．they consume energy in practicing yoga |
If this passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?
| A．Yoga as a means to keep fit. |
| B．Different yoga poses. |
| C．Popularity of yoga all over the world. |
| D．Encouraging people to do yoga. |
Remembering names is an important social skill. Here are some ways to master it.
Recite and repeat in conversation
When you hear a person’s name, repeat it. Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips .You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial.
Ask the other person to recite and repeat
You can let other people help you remember their names. After you’ve been introduced to someone, ask that person to spell the name and pronounce it correctly for you. Most people will be pleased by the effort you’re making to learn their names.
Admit you don’t know
Admitting that you can’t remember someone’s name can actually make people relaxed. Most of them will feel sympathy if you say, “I’m working to remember names better. Yours is right on the tip of my tongue. What is it again？”
Use association
Link each person you meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual. For example, you could make a mental note: “Vicki Cheng-tall，black hair”. To reinforce your association, write them on a small card as soon as possible.
Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.
When meeting a group of people, concentrate on remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering everyone. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.
Go early
Consider going early to conferences, parties and classes. Sometimes just a few people show up on time. That’s fewer names for you to remember. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others-an automatic review for you. If you can’t remember someone’s name, you may________
| A．tell them the truth | B．tell them a white lie |
| C．ask him for pity | D．ask others to help you |
The underlined word “reinforce” mostly means “______”.
| A．get | B．simplify | C．strengthen | D．collect |
When you meet a group of people, it is better to remember______
| A．all their names | B．a couple of names first |
| C．just their last names | D．as many names as possible |
What does the text mainly tell us?
| A．How to recite and repeat names | B．Importance of attending parties |
| C．How to make use of associations | D．Tips on an important social skill |
Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big ambition—to play the drums in a band. But one big obstacle lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy.
One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut.
With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit (成套设备)and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.
It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band.
Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: "If those old people next - door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened."Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places?
| A．Because she didn't mean to disturb others. |
| B．Because she didn't want others to hear her play. |
| C．Because she didn't have her own room. |
| D．Because she didn’t like her neighbors. |
Brenda started to give concerts _______.
| A．when people came to see her in the space bubble |
| B．when she became part of the unique space journey |
| C．after she became a real musical astronaut |
| D．after she practiced in her space bubble |
Brenda became famous because _______.
| A．she was good at music and science |
| B．she invented a special way of practice |
| C．she became a real musical astronaut |
| D．she played well and had a talent |
Which of the following can be used to describe Brenda?
| A．Lovely, brave and kind. |
| B．Brave, kind and hardworking. |
| C．Kind, hardworking and clever. |
| D．Nervous, kind and clever. |
As they migrate (迁移), butterflies and moths choose the winds they want to fly with, and they change their body positions if they start floating in the wrong direction. This new finding suggests that insects may employ some of the same methods that birds use for traveling long distances. Scientists have long thought that insects were simply at the mercy of the wind.
Fascinating as their skills of flight are, migrating behavior has been difficult to study in insects because many long distant trips happen thousands of feet above ground. Only recently have scientists developed technologies that can detect (测出) such little creatures at such great heights.
To their surprise, though, the insects weren’t passive travelers on the winds. In autumn, for example, most light winds blew from the east, but the insects somehow sought out ones that carried them south and they positioned themselves to navigate directly to their wintering homes.
Even in the spring, when most winds flowed northward, the insects didn’t always go with the flow. If breezes weren’t blowing in the exact direction they wanted to go, the insects changed their body positions to compensate (补偿). Many migrating birds do the same thing.
The study also found, butterflies and moths actively flew within the air streams that pushed them along. By adding flight speeds to wind speeds, the scientists calculated that butterflies and moths can travel as fast as 100 kilometers an hour. The findings may have real-world applications. With climate warming, migrating insects are growing in number. Knowing how and when these pests move could help when farmers decide when to spray their crops. What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Insects migrate with the seasons． |
| B．Wind helps insects greatly in migrating． |
| C．Windsurfing insects have real direction． |
| D．Scientists have trouble in observing insects． |
Scientists originally thought that ________．
| A．insects always waited for their favorable winds |
| B．insects chose the winds they wanted to ride |
| C．insects were just blown about by the wind |
| D．insects positioned themselves in the winds |
It is not easy to study the migrating behavior of the insects because ________．
| A．the little creatures can fly very fast |
| B．they have no regular migrating courses |
| C．the wind’s direction is hard to foresee |
| D．their flight is long and high above ground |
We can learn from the text that _________．
| A．insects fly in the way birds do |
| B．insects travel more easily in autumn |
| C．insects never position themselves when flying low |
| D．insects rest a lot when the wind pushes them along |
According to the passage, the findings can__________．
| A．increase insects in number | B．instruct farmers when to spray |
| C．prevent climate warming | D．help protect insects |
Fear is an emotion like others such as happiness, anger, hurt, sadness. We need emotions to process information we receive and decide how to respond. Being afraid of fast cars, for example, is something that might protect us from harm. Being afraid of the consequence of a choice may prevent us getting into trouble.
Fears in young children commonly center on certain animals like snakes or big dogs. Fears are caused often because of experiences or ideas expressed by others, and at times, the media. Many normal fears during the early years, like men with beards, or large dogs, disappear with age. Those relating to personal failure and ridicule (嘲笑) remain through adulthood and may need special help to overcome.
Children’s fears are often trivial, but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. They need to be recognized and accepted as real for that child. Only when we help children understand their fears can they grow normally in their ability to deal with them.
Research shows that as a child grows up, the center of his fears changes a lot. Things like divorce, a teacher who “shouted at me”, people with guns, bullies, big boys, or “making fun of me” top the list of childhood fears.
We can not always prevent these experiences from happening, but it’s essential that children be allowed to freely express their emotions without judgment. Sympathy and a caring listener will help ease the pain of these fears. Read books and stories to your child about children who have experienced similar fears. This helps children talk about their fears and find ways to cope. With all emotions, fears become less of a problem for children as they gain self-confidence and they find that fear is normal and can be dealt with.According to Paragraph 2, we can know that fears in young children_______. .
| A．only center on frightening animals | B．are not born but learned |
| C．can make sure of their safety | D．need special help to deal with |
The underlined word “trivial” in the third paragraph probably means “_______”.
| A．small | B．serious | C．harmful | D．common |
In dealing with children’s fears, the final goal of the parents is to _______.
| A．stop unpleasant experiences happening to children |
| B．let children know about the nature of fear |
| C．create an environment where there is nothing to fear |
| D．develop children’s ability to treat their fear on their own |
From the passage we can learn that ________ .
| A．some childhood fears may have a lasting influence |
| B．children should avoid the media to reduce their fear |
| C．fears can be judged according to the environment |
| D．children with similar fears can communicate easily |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．How to Overcome Children’s Fears | B．Children’s Fears |
| C．The kind of Children’s Fears | D．The Bad Effects of Fears |
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