Today most Chinese teenagers are happy to be favored by two parents and four grandparents in their families. But have you ever thought about how to take care of four to twelve old people when you grow up and get married? This could be a problem for most Chinese youths as China is entering a new stage of an aging society.
An aging society refers to one where 10 percent or more of its population is over 60. By the end of 2007, Chinese over 60 years old have made up 11.7 percent of the nation’s total population. “China is getting old before becoming rich,”said Cai Chuang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The population increase that has powered Chinese growth for three decades will give way over the next ten years to a rapid aging of the society. This will lead to weaker economic growth, because of a lack of labor resources.
As a result of the family planning policy, it is expected that the country’s total working population will decrease after 2015.
China is not the only country getting old. More that 60 countries have become aging societies and one in three people in the European Union is a senior citizen.
However, experts said that China doesn't have a highly developed social security network to support the old. Social security is an insurance program protecting those in need, including the old, the disabled and others.An aging society is a society that _________.
| A．less that 10% of its population is over 60 |
| B．10% or more of its population is over 60 |
| C．there are four old people in a family |
| D．most of its population is over 60 |
If China enters an aging society, __________.
| A．there will not be enough labor resources |
| B．the family planning policy will be ended |
| C．everyone needs to take care of four to twelve old people |
| D．China will have a highly developed social security network |
What does Cai Chuang mean by saying“China is getting old before becoming rich.”?
| A．China will be an aging society, then be a developed country. |
| B．China will be a rich country before being an aging society. |
| C．An aging society will affect Chinese economy development. |
| D．China will stop developing because of its aging problem. |
The passage mainly talks about .
| A．an aging society | B．Chinese social problem |
| C．family panning policy | D．aging problem in China |
Let These Plants Swat the Bugs for You Some plants get so hungry that they eat flies，spiders, and even small frogs. What's more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they're found on every continent except Antarctica.
You've probably seen a Venus' flytrap. It's often sold in museum gift stores, department stores, and even supermarkets. A small plant，it grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (are specially modified leaves that act like traps. Inside each trap is a lining of tiny trigger (触发)hairs. When an insect lands on them, the trap suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus' flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants， says Barry Meyers-Rice ， the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society's Newsletter. Note： Despite any science-fiction stories (科幻小说)you might have read, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Dr. Meyers-Rice says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following："attract, kill, digest, and absorb" some form of insect, including flies, butterflies, and moths. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants—well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar through a process called photosynthesis (光合作用). Plants use the sugar to make food. What makes "meat-eating" plants different is their bug-catching leaves. They need insects for one reason ： nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can't obtain any other way. Why?
Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. "Meat-eating" plants can't. They live in places where nutrients are hard or almost impossible to get from the soil because of its acidity (酸度). So they've come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soil is poisonous to "meat-eating" plants. Never fertilize (施肥)them! But don't worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they'll grow very slowly. Venus flytrap ______.
| A．is a small plant which grows in a container |
| B．is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily |
| C．can attract, kill， digest and absorb some form of insects |
| D．grows 6—8 inches tall |
From the passage, we know ______.
| A．"meat-eating" plants are found on every continent |
| B．all green plants get nitrogen from the soil |
| C．bug-catching leaves make "meat-eating" different from other plants |
| D．some "meat-eating" plants in the rainforest do danger to humans |
"Meat-eating" plants grow very slowly, ______.
| A．so you'd better fertilize them |
| B．probably because the source of nitrogen is cut off |
| C．simply because they can't absorb nitrogen from the soil |
| D．and then they will die slowly |
Which of the following is true?
| A．"Meat-eating" plants look and act like other green plants. |
| B．No insects, no "meat-eating" plants. |
| C．The reason why Venus flytrap needs flies is that it needs to get nutrient from them. |
| D．Green plants make sugar at night. |
LONDON, England (CNN) —The youngest person to sail solo around the world returned home Thursday from his 30,000-mile, 282-dav ocean journey.
Mike Perham, 17 , sailed into Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Britain, at 9:47 a. m.，his race team said.
" It feels absolutely brilliant," Mike told CNN by phone hours before crossing the finish line. "I'm really, really excited to be going across the line at last. It doesn't feel like long since I crossed it first."
Mike set off on his round-the-world trip on November 18， 2008. He has been sailing his yacht single-handedly, though a support team has been sailing next to him along the way.
The teen has now achieved the title of Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe Solo, according to the Guinness World Records.
Mike learned how to sail when he was seven years old from his father, Peter and at age 14，he sailed across the Atlantic alone.
The teenager's school—which Mike describes as "highly supportive" of his trip—has redesigned his coursework to fit in with his trip. It also gave him some coursework to do during "quiet moments," according to Mike's Web site.
There haven't been many of those quiet moments. Repeated autopilot failures forced him to stop for repairs in Portugal, the Canary Islands，South Africa，and twice in Australia，according to his Web site.
Bad weather in the Southern Ocean—between Australia and Antarctica—forced Mike to battle 50ft waves and 57 mph winds. He said at one point，a "freak wave" picked up the boat and turned it on its side.
"My feet were on the ceiling at the time，" he told CNN. "That was a really hairy moment， and I was certainly thinking， 'Why am I here? ’ But we took the sails off and the day after I thought/This is brilliant!’"
Mike describes his father as his biggest hero，always supportive of what he wanted to achieve. Peter Perham said he wasn't too worried about his son facing dangerous situations at sea, as long as he knew what to do and stayed safe. Mike Perham returned to Britain in ______ .
| A．August | B．September |
| C．October | D．November |
Mike Perham is ______ that went on the round-the-world trip in the world up till now.
| A．the first | B．the bravest |
| C．the luckiest | D．the youngest. |
We can infer from the passage that ______ .
| A．the English school is the same as ours |
| B．the English school doesn't care for students |
| C．the English school has a humane management |
| D．the English school gives students a lot of course work |
The passage mainly tells us ______ .
| A．Mike's exciting sail trip around the globe |
| B．how Mike's father taught him to sail a boat |
| C．why CNN wanted to report the news to the public |
| D．the introduction of the Guinness World Records |
Polar bears depend on ice to hunt (猎取)for food in the Arctic Ocean. They climb up on the ice to look for seals and other animals. But scientists say sea ice is decreasing (减少)because of climate change. They say rising temperatures have reduced the area in which polar bears can hunt.
Recently, a number of studies found that future reductions of sea ice could result in a loss of many polar bears within fifty years. The studies found a direct link between sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and the health of polar bears. The scientists say the animals will disappear from the north coasts of Alaska and Russia in the next fifty years. The only polar bears to survive will be in Canada's far north and the west coast of Greenland.
The scientists found that almost two thirds of the world's nineteen polar bear populations will disappear from the earth by the middle of this century. The studies showed that three more groups of polar bears will disappear within seventy-five years.
Scientists say polar bears still can be saved. But they say the world must begin taking steps to reduce climate change to do this. The center for Biological Diversity says governments around the world need to reduce the release (释放)of pollution like C02 gas.
Scientists say one step toward this goal would be to include polar bears on America's list of endangered species. Then the government would be able to make sure that industrial activities do not threaten their survival. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to examine the new findings when it considers whether polar bears should be included on the Endangered Species List. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The living conditions of the polar bears are improving. |
| B．Almost two thirds of polar bears will disappear within seventy-five years. |
| C．The health of polar bears is directly connected with the sea ice. |
| D．The polar bears mainly feed on sea ice. |
According to the passage, the number of the polar bears is directly decided by ______.
| A．the climate change | B．the amount of sea ice |
| C．C02 gas | D．industrial activities |
Whether polar bears should be included on America's Endangered Species List or not is decided by ______.
| A．the United States Fish and Wildlife Service |
| B．the Center for Biological Diversity |
| C．the polar bears themselves |
| D．American government |
This passage mainly tells us ______ .
| A．the relationship between climate change and sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. |
| B．the influence of the weather change on the polar bears in the Arctic Ocean. |
| C．one step to save the endangered polar bears. |
| D．the fact that the number of the polar bears is decreasing. |
With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That’s more similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called Noah’s Ark.
Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos (胚胎) and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M'S College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer (核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available (capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort.” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed.”The aim of Noah's Ark project is to ____ .
| A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
| B．save endangered animals from dying out |
| C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
| D．transfer the nuclear of one animal to another |
How long will the Chinese panda cloning project take according to the passage?
| A．1 Year. | B．3 to 5 years. | C．2 years. | D．25 years. |
According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of ____.
| A．available panda eggs | B．host animals |
| C．qualified researchers | D．enough money |
From the passage we know that ____ .
| A．Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B．scientists try to implant a panda's egg into a rabbit |
| C．Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D．about two thousand species will probably die out in a century |
The best title for the passage may be ____.
| A．China's Success in Pandas Cloning |
| B．The First Cloned Panda in the World |
| C．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
| D．China --- the Native Place of Pandas Forever |
Two American scientists told the people in industrial nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since human first appeared on earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times. So they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes ( 中风 ) are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that early stone-age people used very little alcohol ( 酒精 ) or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and life today.
Stone Age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than farm animals. They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables, and fruits. They did not use milk and other dairy products, and they made a very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of dairy products and grain foods. We eat six times more salt than stone-age people. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less Vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live as people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate as those ancient people did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods.The people in industrial nations would be much healthier if they ate _____.
| A．more food as humans living 10,000 years ago did |
| B．as humans living 10,000 years ago |
| C．more kinds of food eaten by people living 10,000 years ago |
| D．more of the same kind of food eaten by people over 10,000 years ago |
New kinds of sicknesses have been found because _____.
| A．the human body has changed compared with human first appearing on earth |
| B．the way we live has changed a little |
| C．our body can’t deal with the changes in life style |
| D．the way we live today is proper for the human body |
What is the main cause mentioned in the article why people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
| A．Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise. |
| B．People today have a lot of alcohol. |
| C．People today have more tobacco. |
| D．Food is quite different between life today and life in ancient times. |
Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of _____.
| A．milk and other dairy products |
| B．grain foods and farm animals |
| C．salt and sugar |
| D．wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits |
From this article, we know that the following choices are good to our health except _____.
| A．protein and Vitamin C |
| B．milk and grain foods |
| C．wild animals, vegetables and fruits |
| D．a huge amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods |
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