However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing ever more rapidly. Some of this growth has occurred in the developed world, but the most dramatic increase has been in the Third World. Almost all the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will take place in the cities of developing countries
By the year 2030, for the first time in history, 60 percent of the world’s people will be living in cities.
This is actually good news in some ways. “Cities are the fundamental building blocks of prosperity,” says Marc Weiss, chairman of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, “ both for the nation and for families.” Industrial and commercial activities in urban areas account for between 50 and 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries of the world“ there’s the crazy notion that the way to deal with a city’s problems is to keep people out of them,”Weiss continued. “But the problems of the rural life are even more serious than those of the city.” For better or worse, urban-watchers are clear on one point: The quality of life for most people in the future will be determined by the quality of cities. Those cities will be bigger than ever. And yet, population numbers by themselves don’t determine a city’s prospects; after all, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Hamburg, Germany, have the same population. Nor is explosive growth necessarily the determining factor. “City problems,” one authority points out, “mostly have to do with weak, ineffective, and usually unrepresentative city governments.”The passage mainly discusses ______________.
| A．Big cities. | B．City life. | C．Population. | D．Gross Domestic Product. |
According to the passage, in the year of 2030 _______.
| A．there will be 21 cities having a population of more than 10 million. |
| B．rural area will be extinct. |
| C．most people will live in cities. |
| D．the third world will keep abreast with the developed world. |
In the author’s opinion, _________.
| A．better city, better life |
| B．both urban and rural areas have a larger population |
| C．the larger population, the faster a city develops |
| D．both urban and rural areas have larger gross domestic products |
Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The developing countries develop faster than the developed countries. |
| B．Cities contribute more to the GDP than the villagers. |
| C．Some problems are more easily solved in cities than in country. |
| D．It’s impossible to solve urban problems by getting people out of cities. |
The last paragraph implies that ____________.
| A．Public services are ineffective. |
| B．Cities are increasing too fast. |
| C．Population is not linked with development. |
| D．Government should be responsible for the problems in the cities. |
The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.
For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen. What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?
| A．To seek help for Nauru’s problems. |
| B．To give a warning to other countries |
| C．To show the importance of money |
| D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war. |
What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?
| A．Rich and powerful | B．Modern and open |
| C．Peaceful and attractive | D．Greedy and aggressive |
The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from _______.
| A．soil pollution | B．phosphate overmining |
| C．farming activity | D．whale hunting |
Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem?
| A．Its leaders misused the money |
| B．It spent too much repairing the island |
| C．Its phosphate mining cost much money |
| D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. |
What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?
| A．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. |
| B．The leaders will take the experts’ words seriously. |
| C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans |
| D．The phosphate mines were destroyed |
If you are looking for an animal to take the title of “most violent fish in the sea”, then the tiger puffer (河豚) fish would have to be a strong contestant. Not only is it deadly poisonous --- though that doesn’t stop people trying to eat it --- but it is also able to scare off enemies by inflating itself to become much larger than normal, when it is young it even chews on its own brothers and sisters.
Tiger puffer fish attach their eggs to rocks near the bottom of the sea, often at the mouths of bays. Then the larvae (幼鱼) move to the entries of rivers and lakes once they have grown a little. Then, having put on a lot of weight, they head out to sea. There’s no innocent childhood for the puffer fish, as Shin Oikawa of Kyushu University in Japan and his colleagues found out when they put the larvae of tiger puffer fish in the lab and monitored them for two months. They found that the larvae went through three steps in which their metabolic(新陈代谢) rates increased dramatically when they reached body weights of 0.002g, 0.01g, and 0.1g. When a larva went through one of these steps, its behavior also changed. For instance, once a larva had passed the first level it would have grown its first tooth and could start attacking larvae that had not yet reached that stage. Similarly, any larva that had reached the 0.01g or 0.1g levels would start attacking lighter larvae.
The researchers noted that the baby fish had a “relatively small mouth”, so rather than swallowing their brothers and sisters whole, they would bite pieces out of them. Despite this limitation, the fish caused plenty of deaths --- up to 12 per cent of the deaths that happened in the lab each day.
Those fish that grew fast enough to be able to chew on their fellows had an advantage. The extra food accelerated their growth and development. Tiger puffer fish are likely to be faster and swifter, so they can deal better with enemies.
As the name suggests, puffer fish can inflate to make themselves seem much larger than they really are, thus scaring off enemies. They do this by filling their stomachs, which are extremely elastic(弹性的), with water. If that’s not enough of a threat, the tiger puffer fish --- like most of the other puffer fish in the family --- carries a deadly toxin(毒素). Eat one puffer fish and the poison will paralyze (瘫痪) your muscles, including the muscles responsible for breathing, so death is usually caused by a lack of oxygen. Famously, the fish is a delicacy in Japan, where highly qualified chefs produce dishes that contain the safe level of the poison. Interestingly, the puffer fish does not go to the trouble of producing the poison itself. Instead, it hosts bacteria (细菌) that produce the stuff. It obtains these bacteria from its diet, so the youngest adult fish are not poisonous.All of the following statements account for the violence of puffer fish except that_____.
| A．they are very difficult to catch |
| B．they can become larger to threaten enemies away |
| C．they kill their younger companions as they grow up |
| D．they are deadly poisonous |
We can learn from the second paragraph that puffer fish _____.
| A．can only grow to a weight of 0.1g |
| B．do not change their behavior as they grow up |
| C．like to find a safe place to hatch the next generation |
| D．begin to grow teeth when they reach the third level |
Where does the poison in the puffer fish’s body come from?
| A．Its inner organs. | B．The air it breathes in. |
| C．The diet it eats. | D．The bacteria around it. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Puffer fish can only produce poison when they face danger. |
| B．People like eating puffer fish even though they are poisonous. |
| C．The larvae are more aggressive than adult puffer fish. |
| D．Young puffer fish taste better than adult puffer fish. |
There are four types of persons who go to work part-time. These include retirees who want a bit more income or socialization, parents who want to spend more time with their children, college and high school students and temporary agency workers who want more experience. Many people enjoy the advantages of working part-time, but benefits are rarely offered to part-time employees.
Most people are hoping for health insurance and retirement benefits when taking a job. Traditionally, companies only offer benefits to employees who work 30 hours or more a week. This is only a 25% reduction in hours, so it doesn’t free up a lot of time for the employee who needs part-time hours. Even when a part-timer is offered health benefits, he is rarely offered paid time off and retirement benefits. Dental benefits are almost never offered to part-time employees.
Many businesses hire part-time employees for the simple reason of saving money. If they work less than a certain number of hours, the employers don’t need to pay for benefits. There are companies, however, that are beginning to offer benefits to part-time employees. This includes benefits for health, paid time off and retirement plans. Some companies have begun to offer this in order to take in high quality, trained professionals who just want part-time hours. If a company wants a qualified employee, it will have to compete with other companies. People who may only want to work part-time may be forced to take a full-time job to get the benefits. Companies who offer benefits to part-timers have an advantage by offering more choices to their employees in terms of hours.
Conducting an Internet search is probably the quickest way to find companies that provide benefits for part-time employees. Many large corporations like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods offer benefits to part-time employees among other things. Look for companies that offer a team approach to their employees. Employees are given choices and part of decision-making in the business. Businesses that allow employee input are more likely to offer benefits to part-timers.People prefer to work part-time mainly because they __________.
| A．don’t want to spend more time on work |
| B．have so many household and social affairs |
| C．hope to have more money, time and experience |
| D．only expect to make more friends |
From the second paragraph we can learn that part-timers _______.
| A．can enjoy as many benefits as full-timers |
| B．prefer retirement benefits to health insurance |
| C．often retire without enjoying any benefit |
| D．often enjoy fewer benefits than full-timers |
What’s the advantage of hiring part-time employees?
| A．They don’t need the insurance. |
| B．They can save employers some money. |
| C．They have no choice but to work hard. |
| D．They can be also changed into full-timers. |
We can infer from the last paragraph that _________.
| A．it’s easy to find companies providing benefits |
| B．companies not allowing employee input don’t offer any benefit to part-timers |
| C．Starbucks in England doesn’t provide benefits to full-timers |
| D．employees are often forced to choose their jobs |
Children’s Storybooks and Tales: This site is dedicated to Children’s Story Books and how to tell Children’s Stories. If you enjoy a child’s story or have kids of your own then please browse (浏览) this site to find some great stories and how to read them.
The Cat in the Hat---Dr. Seuss
In the first book featuring the character (The Cat in the Hat, 1957), the Cat brings chaos (混乱) to a household of two young children on one rainy day while their mother is out. Bringing with him two creatures appropriately named Thing One and Thing Two, the Cat performs all sorts of tricks to amuse the children, with mixed results. The Cat’s tricks are vainly opposed by the family pet, who is a conscious goldfish. The children (Sally and her older brother) finally prove good ones, capturing the Things and bringing the Cat under control. He cleans up the house on his way out, disappearing seconds before the mother comes back.
The Famous Fire---Enid Blyton
The Famous Fire is Enid Blyton’s most popular and celebrated series of children’s books. The sequence (顺序) began life in 1942, when the first book, Fire on a Treasure Island was published and it has won great praise from both fans and critics. The series has gone on to become amongst the best-loved stories ever to have been written for children.
Tom and Pippo in the Garden---Helen Oxenbury
In 1988 Helen Oxenbury created a series of books featuring Tom, a naughty young boy, and his beloved stuffed monkey, Pippo. Ms. Oxenbury remarked that Tom was very much like her son “when he was a little boy”. Like Tom, her son would often blame his misdeeds on his trusted buddy, the friendly family dog.
The BFG---Roald Dahl
The story is about an orphan girl named Sophie. One night when Sophie cannot sleep during the “witching hour” and sees a giant blowing something into bedroom windows down the street. The giant sees her, and although she tries to hide in the bed, he reaches through the window and carries her away to his home.It can be inferred from the The Cat in the Hat that ________.
| A．the goldfish likes to keep company with the cat |
| B．all tricks performed by the cat are not amusing |
| C．Sally has to clean up the house before her mother comes back |
| D．the cat finally takes control of the Things |
From the book Tom and Pippo in the Garden, we know ________.
| A．Pippo is a naughty dog causing trouble in the family |
| B．Tom likes to keep a pet dog at home |
| C．Ms. Oxenbury complained about her son’s dishonesty |
| D．Pippo always gets the blame for everything that goes wrong |
According to the book The BFG, “the witching hour” may refer to a time ________.
| A．when magic things can happen | B．when a girl can’t fall asleep |
| C．when a person dreams a nightmare | D．when a child can be taken away |
For whom is the passage most likely intended?
| A．Children. | B．Parents. | C．Teachers. | D．Writers. |
As the Internet’s influence grows, the potential for danger also escalates (逐步上升). One of these dangers is from cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying (网络欺凌) is repeatedly hurting someone else through the use of technology. It consists of sending or posting cruel messages, photos, or videos on the Internet or other electronic media with the intent of damaging the reputation of the target. Imagine being a 13-year-old girl discovering a cell phone picture of her changing clothes for gym class has been sent to all her classmates. Or imagine being an 11-year-old boy who is scared to go to school because an unknown bully sent him an instant message saying that he is so fat that he should kill himself. Cases such as these are happening every day, leading kids to be depressed and unable to concentrate.
Worse yet, parents are oblivious (忽视的) to what is happening. Only 15 percent of parents even know what cyber-bullying is. And anyone who thinks that their child is not a victim or a bully is probably wrong. 90 percent of middle school students have had their feelings hurt online and 75 percent have admitted to visiting a website attacking another student.
Unlike traditional schoolyard bullying, where a bully has a name and a face, cyber-bullying gets much of its power from anonymity (匿名). A cyber bully might design a website posting cruel remarks about a classmate and never tell anyone that he or she was the creator. The cyber-bullying also gets its power from the scope (范围) of its audience. Within seconds, a cyber bully can send an e-mail to everyone he or she knows, inviting them to take part in an online poll (民意测验) of who is the ugliest kid in their class. Victims can be picked on day and night from any place.
The good news is that you can help stop cyber-bullying. By making parents and educators aware of what is going on and encouraging them to take quick and strong action when cyber-bullying cases happen, you can help make technology constructive, not destructive, for young people.What can we learn from the second paragraph?
| A．Not many students have known of cyber-bullying. |
| B．Parents may not know their child is a victim of cyber-bullying. |
| C．Parents know a lot of cyber-bullying. |
| D．Most of the students have not been hurt by cyber-bullying. |
What does the author think of the cyber-bullying?
| A．It is not as harmful as people think. |
| B．It is too complex a problem to settle. |
| C．It will not affect the relationship between classmates. |
| D．It can be stopped through our efforts. |
What will probably be discussed in the following passage?
| A．How to prevent cyber-bullying. |
| B．What parents and educators think of cyber-bullying. |
| C．How to make parents aware of cyber-bullying. |
| D．How to make good use of technology. |
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