As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
| A．Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
| B．Land in the West was hard to manage. |
| C．Some railroad stops remained underused. |
| D．Land grants went into private hands. |
What is the major concern in the development of alternative energy according to the last two paragraphs?
| A．The use of money and power. |
| B．The transmission of power. |
| C．The conservation of solar energy. |
| D．The selection of an ideal place. |
What is the author’s attitude towards building solar plants?
| A．Disapproving. | B．Approving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Cautious. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．How the Railways Have Affected the West |
| B．How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
| C．How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
| D．How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
Studies show that children who eat breakfast do better in school. It doesn’t take much further thought to know that adults will feel better and do better at work as well. Whether you work at home, on the farm, at the office, at school, or on the road, it is not a good idea to have no breakfast.
If we have no breakfast, we are likely to become tired when our brains and bodies run low on fuel (食物). By mid-morning, a lot of us grab a cup of coffee or eat a sugary candy bar to wake up again. This might work for a few minutes, but by lunch time we are hungry. Eating a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Having no breakfast is a popular way to lose weight, but not a smart one. Many people believe that they will lose weight if they have no meals, but that just isn’t true; the body expects to be refueled a few times a day, starting with a healthy breakfast.Eating breakfast is good for losing weight. In fact, people who eat breakfast are more likely to keep a healthy weight.
A healthy breakfast should have some protein (蛋白质) and some fiber (纤维). Protein can come from low fat meats, eggs, or beans. Fiber can be found in whole grains, vegetables and fruits. A good example of a healthy breakfast might be something simple like a hard boiled egg, an orange, and a bowl of whole grain cereal with low fat milk. Stay away from sugary foods and white bread because they are digested (消化) quickly and will leave you hungry and tired in several hours. Protein and fiber will keep you feeling full until lunch time. The first paragraph mainly tells us that ______.
| A．it is necessary to have a good breakfast every day |
| B．many adults are too busy to have breakfast every day |
| C．many adults go to work without having breakfast |
| D．many children go to school without breakfast |
According to the passage, we feel tired at work probably because __.
| A．we need to have a cup of coffee |
| B．we don’t have a good breakfast |
| C．our brains don’t work any longer |
| D．we don’t have enough sleep at night |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．Having a good breakfast can help you to finish your work. |
| B．Eating a good breakfast is enough for the whole day. |
| C．Breakfast is really the most important meal in a day. |
| D．You will be happier if you have a good breakfast. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that ______.
| A．it is healthy only to have beans and eggs for your breakfast |
| B．you mustn’t have meat for your breakfast |
| C．you should eat sugary foods if you feel hungry |
| D．you should eat something which has protein and fiber for breakfast |
The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad (一度时髦的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” — and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer — which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet — adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and the UK — that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version of The Independent newspaper was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of The Independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, former head of the Language Center at King’s College London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBCMagazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now associated with portability (轻便).” Adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western world is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBCMagazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the trend unavoidably disappeared.People use iPlayer to _________.
| A．listen to music | B．make a call | C．read newspapers | D．watch TV programs online |
We can infer that The Independent’s “i” is aimed at _________.
| A．engineers | B．old readers | C．fashionable women | D． young readers |
Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are _________.
| A．environmentally friendly | B．easy to carry | C．advanced | D．recyclable |
The writer suggests that _________.
| A．“i” products are often of high quality |
| B．iTeddy is a living bear |
| C．the popularity of “i” products may not last long |
| D．the letter “b” replaces the letter “i” to name the products |
After Mom died, l began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading," Drink your juice." Such a gesture, l knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, l remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom "Why doesn't Dad love me?" Mom frowned, "Who said he doesn’t love you?" "Well, he never tells me, "I complained." He never tells me either," she said, smiling. " But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That's how your father tells us he loves us. "
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. l still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap (片) metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handled scrap steel into a device that chopped it as cleanly as a butcher chops a rack of ribs. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors, with blades thicker than my father's body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. "Why don' t you hire someone to do that for you?" Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment. "Why don’t you hire a cook?" Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me. l walked over, hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad." From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．My father never loved me | B．I just couldn't understand my father |
| C．My hard-working father | D．Silent fatherly love |
The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because____.
| A．that was the author's favorite |
| B．that was a gesture of love |
| C．the author was always complaining |
| D．he was sure the author would be thirsty |
The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because________. .
| A．he wanted to save money |
| B．his job required high skills |
| C．his job was too dangerous |
| D．he was not good at communicating with others |
We may infer from the passage that _______.
| A．the author's father lacked a sense of humor |
| B．the author's-father didn't love him very much |
| C．the author quite understood his father as time went on |
| D．the author's father was too strict with him |
In Canada and the United States, there is a new group of children called “satellite kids”, who live in one place but whose parents live in another place.
Asians are immigrating (移民) to Canada and the United States in larger numbers than ever before. Most Asians immigrate because they believe that they can give their children a better education in the West. In Asia, especially in China, Japan, and Korea, it is difficult to go to university. Students must first pass the strict national examination. However, in Canada and the United States, it is easy to go to university, and anyone who wants to go can go. As a result, Asian parents decide to leave their countries so that their children can go to university.
The problem is that when Asians arrive, they discover that finding a job and making money are more difficult in the West than in the East. Also, they find that they are very lonely, and that they miss their homes. For these two reasons, most Asian parents decide to go back to work while their children study in the West. Therefore, these children become “satellite kids”, and most of their parents do not know how sad it is to be a “satellite kid”.
Only until now are Canadians and Americans discovering the “satellite kid” problem. Because these children do not speak English and because their parents are not there to take care of them, they are often absent from school. To be a “satellite kid” means to grow up in a country where you know you are different and where you cannot make friends because you do not speak English well. Also, it means to grow up lonely, because your parents are elsewhere. What these “satellite kids” will probably say to their parents is that it’s better to have parents around than to have a university education.Some Asian parents send their kids abroad because ________.
| A．they hope their children may easily find a job there |
| B．all foreign universities are better than the ones in their own countries |
| C．the kids may not be accepted by universities in their own countries |
| D．the kids want to improve their English and make foreign friends |
“Satellite kids” refer to Asian kids ________.
| A．without parents | B．speaking no English |
| C．with university education | D．living abroad alone |
Some Asian immigrant children become “satellite kids” because their parents ________.
| A．want to leave their own country | B．want them to go to university |
| C．return to their countries to work | D．want them to be independent |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Parents want better education for their kids. |
| B．Parents feel lonely and miss their families. |
| C．Kids in foreign countries alone are badly in need of care from family. |
| D．Canadians and Americans begin to notice the “satellite kids” problem. |
You have the ability to decide if you are happy or not. Happiness is a choice.
You can't depend on someone else to make you happy. That is a lesson I learned early on in my marriage. I realized that I couldn't rely on my husband as my source of happiness. I learned that my happiness depended on me and not my husband's actions. I learned that you have to choose to be happy.
You can choose your emotions. True happiness comes from within; it can't be forced by outside forces. So how do you choose happiness? The same way you choose to smile or choose to wear a certain outfit. You choose it because that's what you want to experience in your life.
You want to buy a new pair of shoes so you choose a pair that you like and feel good. You wouldn't buy a pair of shoes that you don't like or that don't fit well, right? So why do we keep choosing emotions and feelings that don't make us feel good?
Choosing to be happy after you realize your anger has shown up (or even choosing to be calm) can be beneficial. We choose our feelings; no one can do that for us. If we let others get to us, influence our emotions - we are giving them power over us. When others cause us anger or pain, we are giving them our power.
We need to keep our feelings in check and not react automatically to what is thrown at us. We need to think our actions out instead of just reacting to what someone says or does.
Remember that we can always choose happiness. At first it will be difficult to just switch your thoughts and feelings from anger, self-doubt, or fear to joy and happiness. But it is only a thought away. Don't dwell on what happens to you unnecessarily but realize what is causing you to feel that way. Realize that thoughts, feelings and emotions can change. Then move on and choose to be happy.What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．Choose to Be Happy | B．Choose Your Emotions |
| C．Pretend to Be Happy | D．Find Happiness |
The lesson the writer learned in her marriage is ________.
| A．she can depend on her husband to find happiness |
| B．balancing the relationship between the husband and wife is an art |
| C．one can’t rely on someone else to make himself or herself happy |
| D．happiness can be influenced by outside forces |
Why did the writer mention buying shoes?
| A．To use it as an example to show the importance of choosing to be happy. |
| B．To offer advice on how to choose comfortable shoes. |
| C．To compare choosing shoes and choosing an outfit. |
| D．To help to move to the next paragraph easily. |
The writer suggests that we should ________.
| A．let others control our feelings |
| B．respond immediately to others’ words |
| C．pay more attention to words than actions |
| D．hold back our feelings properly |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号