The U.S. government’s push to decrease the nation’s output of greenhouse gases by increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars Americans drive is arousing again an emotional argument: Does driving a small, fuel-efficient car make you more likely to die on the road?
Engineers and statistical analysts can point to data that suggest more-efficient cars don’t necessarily put motorists at greater overall risk. But most of us care less about the “overall” risk than we do about ourselves. Driving a big Chevrolet Tahoe SUV makes many of us believe we are safer than we would be in a smaller car — even if statistical measures across a large population of vehicles and all kinds of car accidents suggest the advantage of safety isn’t quite as wide as SUV owners believe.
The Obama government has put the fuel-efficiency and safety question back on the front burner by calling for new-vehicle fuel economy to rise to an average of 35 miles per gallon (加仑) by 2020 from about 25 mpg today. That goal could move higher if the government decides to adopt California’s requirement to cut vehicle greenhouse-gas giving off, which would result in stricter mileage standards.
Those moves, and the effects of last summer’s gas-price shock, are driving auto makers to offer cars such as the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Daimler AG’s Smart For Two — which get the kind of mileage today that law says should be the average in a decade. Beyond that, auto makers will launch a wide range of new compact (紧凑的) vehicles, and decrease production of large, body-on-frame SUVs.
That’s leading to new concerns about “green safety”, a term for managing the balance between reducing vehicle size for efficiency and adding safety and protection features that tend to make vehicles heavier and less efficient. Undoubtedly, further work has to be done before Americans make the choice.The U.S. government requires to improve the fuel efficiency in order to ________.
A. push Americans to drive smaller cars
B. reduce the output of greenhouse gases
C. drive auto makers to produce fewer SUVs
C. cause Americans to make an argumentAccording to Paragraph 2, engineers and analysts’ idea ________.
| A．fails to relieve people of their worry about safety |
| B．persuades people to purchase smaller cars instead of SUVs |
| C．is based on research and therefore persuasive enough |
| D．makes people think of their safety as well as others’ |
About the Obama government’s new moves, the auto makers are ________ and average
Americans are ________.
| A．uncertain; positive | B．doubtful; uncertain |
| C．supportive; positive | D．positive; uncertain |
The best title for the text should be ________.
| A．New Law Reduces Greenhouse Gases Output |
| B．Can Small Cars Overcome Accident Fears? |
| C．New Compact Cars Gets Popular in the U.S. |
| D．Do We Have to Follow the Government? |
To protect you and your fellow passengers, the Transportation Security（安全） Administration (TSA) is required by law to check all checked baggage. As part of this process, some bags are opened and checked. Your bag was among those selected for check.
During the check, your bag and its contents may have been searched for items forbidden by law such
as fireworks, fuels, gunpowder, etc. At the completion of the check, the contents were returned to your bag, which was resealed（重新封口）with a "special" lock.
If the TSA screener was unable to open your bag for check because it was locked, the screener may have been forced to break the locks on your bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, and has taken care to reseal your bag upon completion of check. However, TSA is not liable for damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution (预防措施) .
For packing tips and other suggestions that may assist you during your next trip, visit: WWW.TSATravelTips.us.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation. If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact the Transportation Security Administration Consumer Response Center:
Phone: toll-free at (866) 289-9673
Email: TellTSA@tas.dot.govThe passage is trying to ______.
| A．introduce one of the security acts |
| B．tell people about baggage check |
| C．warn against the damage of locking the baggage |
| D．persuade people to contact TSA |
The passage is most probably written to those who ______.
| A．had their baggage selected for checking |
| B．refused to check their baggage |
| C．kept some damaged items in their baggage |
| D．left their baggage unlocked |
The underlined word “liable” means “______”.
| A．suitable by law | B．permitted by law |
| C．responsible by law | D．prepared by law |
For packing tips and other suggestions, visit ______.
| A．TellTSA@tas.dot.gov |
| B．TSA Consumer Response Center |
| C．toll-free at (866) 289-9673 |
| D．WWW.TSATravelTips.us |
My son and I were trying to sell the house we had repaired, but in the barn（谷仓）there were bats and they would not leave. The barn was their home. They told us so in their own way they hung for the season. “Don’t worry about it, Dad.” Patrick said. “They keep down the mosquitoes（蚊子）.”
Unfortunately they also kept the buyers away. When we had asked a person to sell the house for us he had refused to show it because of the bats. “Bats are popular,” Patrick comforted me. “They are ecological.” “Isn’t there a machine you can buy that produces high-frequency sounds to keep bats away?” “ I don’t know,” said Patrick. “But I like bats, and whoever buys this house will probably like them too.’ “Probably?” I hated that word. “How many bats are there, anyway?” “I counted about 90 last night,” said Patrick. “They were dropping out from under the edge of the roof.” “You mean there are more------outside?” “They’re everywhere, Dad. But look at it this way. When the cold weather comes, they’ll be off to Mexico. Maybe in the spring we can keep them out. Don’t worry about it,” he said for the
the hundredth time. “It’s not a problem.”
The bat expert I called was even more active than Patrick. “I think you’ve got a large number there,” he said in wonder. “I’ve been trying to attract bats to our house for 25 years. A single bat ears up his weight in mosquitoes and black flies three times every night. You’ve a very lucky man.” I offered to share my luck with him. He could take them away. “Bats have a remarkable homing instinct（本能）,” he said. “They’d fly straight back even if I transported them 100 miles. Once they have settled, you can’t stop them from coming back.” I was silent.
Finally we managed to rent the house to a young family, who were also interested in buying it. “What about the bats?” I said to Patrick. “Oh, they love the bats,” he said. “No mosquitoes. No black flies. It’s one of the things that attracted them.” “Do you think they will really buy the house?” “Probably? Well, if they do, I suppose I’ll have to admit that I was wrong.” “You mean you’re going to eat your words?”
“Yes. I am.”What was the problem the author had with his house?
| A．Bats were living in the barn and wouldn’t go away. |
| B．The author and his son couldn’t sleep well because of the bats |
| C．The author and his son might be able to stay for the season. |
| D．The house was still badly in need of repair. |
What did Patrick suggest the author should do to stop the bats living in the barn?
| A．Buy a high-frequency machine. |
| B．Close the barn in the spring. |
| C．Reduce the number of mosquitoes. |
| D．Move them one hundred miles away. |
What happened to the house in the end?
| A．Some people agreed to rent the house. |
| B．The author failed to find anybody who wanted to live in the house |
| C．The bat expert made the decision to buy the house. |
| D．The bats left the house for Mexico in the spring. |
Why did the author think he might have to “eat his words”?
| A．He felt sorry for the bats. |
| B．He was happy about selling the house. |
| C．He realized they might be wrong about the bats’ actions |
| D．He might be mistaken about being unable to sell the house. |
Have you ever suddenly felt that someone you knew was in trouble —and was he? Have you ever dreamed something that came true later? Maybe you have ESP（特异功能）. ESP stands for Extrasensory Perception. It may be called a sixth sense. It seems to let people know about events before they happen, or events that are happening some distance away.
Here’s an example. A woman was ironing clothes. Suddenly she screamed, “My father is dead! I saw him sitting in the chair!” Just then, a telegram came. The woman’s father died of a heart attack. He died sitting in a chair.
There are thousands of stories like this one on record. Scientists are studying them to find out what’s behind these strange mental messages. Here’s another example —one of hundreds of dreams that have come true.
A man dreamed he was walking along a road when a horse and carriage came by. The driver said, “There’s room for one more.” The man felt the driver seemed dead, so he ran away. The next day, when the man was getting on a crowded bus, the bus driver said. “There’s room for one more.”
Then the man saw that the driver’s face was the same face he had seen in the dream. He wouldn’t get on the bus. As the bus drove off, it crashed and burst into flames. Everyone was killed!
Some people say stories like these are coincidences. Others, including some scientists, say that ESP is real. From studies of ESP, we may someday learn more about the human mind.According to the passage, the author believes that the sixth sense is ______.
| A．possible | B．imaginative |
| C．not real | D．impossible |
By studying ESP, scientists may get to ______.
| A．learn how people tell lies |
| B．know more about human dreams |
| C．know more about human mind |
| D．learn how strange things happen |
In the last paragraph the underlined word “coincidences” probably means “______”.
| A．things that may not happen |
| B．things that happen by accident |
| C．things that must happen |
| D．things that happen in a dream |
This article is mainly about ______.
| A．the human dream | B．a crowded bus |
| C．the human mind | D．the sixth sense |
How many men do housework? Recently a European Commission tried to find out people’s ideas and reactions to the women’s movement. As part of their survey (调查), they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!
The housework they asked people about were: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework, many of them said they never helped at all!
But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most trustful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives’ answers.
Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.The survey was carried out in ______.
| A．Britain | B．Europe | C．Denmark | D．Italy |
The subject for the survey is ______.
| A．how many boys do the housework |
| B．who are more diligent（勤劳）, wives or husbands |
| C．how many women do the housework |
| D．who does the housework at home |
From the passage we can see that ______.
| A．there were more husbands who did the housework than wives |
| B．husbands did half of the housework all the time |
| C．there were more wives who did the housework than husbands |
| D．wives did all the housework at home |
More ______ husbands help in the house than ______ husbands.
| A．British; Danish | B．Italian; Danish | C．Danish; British | D．Italian; British |
The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety. That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.
Parbati Barua’s father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer（驯兽者）. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.
Parbati hasn’t always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old life. “Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase,” she says.
But Parbati doesn’t catch elephants just for fun. “My work,” she says, “is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man.” And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.
The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant. “Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans,” she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed!For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to ______.
| A．get long lasting excitement |
| B．make the angry elephants tame |
| C．send them back to the jungle |
| D．keep both man and elephants safe |
Before Parbati studied in a boarding school, ______.
| A．she spent her time hunting with her father |
| B．she learned how to sing love songs |
| C．she had already been called an elephant princess |
| D．she was taught how to hunt tigers |
Indian elephants are getting increasingly angry and they revenge（报复）because ______.
| A．they are caught and sent for heavy work |
| B．illegal hunters capture them and kill them |
| C．they are attacked and their land gets limited |
| D．dogs often bark at them and chase them |
The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India ______.
| A．people easily fall victim（受害者）to elephants attacks |
| B．dogs are as powerful as elephants |
| C．elephant tamers are in short supply |
| D．the man-elephant relationship is getting worse |
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