Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way --- by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.
Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn't. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the world's best areas for beachcombing(海滩搜寻) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.The underlined phrase swap meets in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ___________.
| A．fitting rooms | B．trading fairs |
| C．business talks | D．group meetings |
Ebbesmeyer phoned the shoe company to find out ___________.
| A．what caused the shipping accident |
| B．when and where the shoes went missing |
| C．whether it was all right to use their shoes |
| D．how much they lost in the shipping accident |
How did Ebbesmeyer prove his assumption?
| A．By collecting information from beachcombers. |
| B．By studying the shoes found by beachcomber. |
| C．By searching the web for ocean currents models. |
| D．By researching ocean currents data in the library. |
Ebbesmeyer is most famous for _________________.
| A．traveling widely the coastal cities of the world |
| B．making records for any lost objects on the sea |
| C．running a global currents research association |
| D．phoning about any doubtful objects on the sea |
What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?
| A．To call people's attention to ocean pollution. |
| B．To warn people of shipping safety in the ocean. |
| C．To explain a unique way of studying ocean currents. |
| D．To give tips on how to search for lost objects on the beach. |
Dear friend,
For the past 17 years, you have been my best friend. I remember that you told me you were called Cigarette because of your features. You have seen me through difficult times, happy times and just about every stage of my life. You have always been here when I need you. Some of my family and friends didn’t like you so much, but I’ve always been on your side. I thought you were a great friend, and I counted on you at all times, especially when I was not very happy.
It’s hard for me to tell you this, but in the past few months, I have been seriously thinking about ending our relationship. I think that I‘ve just been too dependent on you, and I feel that at the age of 35 I should start being more independent. I thought about just maybe seeing you once in a while, but I don’t think that would work. Eventually, I’d start relying on you all the time again. I feel the only way to end our relationship is to end it forever.
I’ve always included you in everything I’ve done. But next week, I’m going on a trip, and I’ve decided not to take you along. I feel this would be a good time to break up. I will be gone for a whole week without you and if I can make it on my own for that week, I know I can make it forever.
It is a little sad for me knowing that I won’t be able to rely on you any more, but I think I will be a better person in the end.By writing the letter, the author wants to ______.
| A．say goodbye to his girlfriend |
| B．tell his friendship with Cigarette |
| C．tell his travelling plan |
| D．give up smoking |
The underlined phrase “counted on” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “_______”.
| A．worried about | B．cared for |
| C．depended on | D．got along well with |
According to the passage, the “letter-receiver” _______.
| A．is the author’s girlfriend |
| B．has done harm to the author for years |
| C．will feel sad when reading the letter |
| D．will never leave the author |
The author decided to take a trip to ______.
| A．get away from his best friend |
| B．relax himself for a while |
| C．reduce his sorrow for the break |
| D．show that he is independent |
Why does the author want to end his relationship with Cigarette?
| A．Because he wants to be more healthy. |
| B．Because they are going through difficult times. |
| C．Because his family and friends no longer like him. |
| D．Because he is going on a trip. |
Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors, cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.
After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead，he went to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time，day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise，little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)? ”
Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”
“Well then,” she asked again，“WHAT was it?”
Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(钉) to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking. ”Tommy’s mother felt surprised that his son____.
| A．was still the same as usual |
| B．ate so much at dinner |
| C．kissed her hello after school |
| D．worked hard but said little |
The underlined phrase “hitting the books” means “_______” in Chinese.
| A．用功 | B．捶书 | C．发泄 | D．振作 |
The last sentence in the passage shows that____.
| A．Tommy felt sorry for the man |
| B．Tommy was afraid of being nailed |
| C．Tommy didn’t like the plus sign |
| D．Tommy liked playing jokes on others |
From the passage, we can infer that____.
| A．teachers should be strict with their students |
| B．mistakes might do good sometimes |
| C．a catholic school is much better than other ones |
| D．nuns are good at helping children with their math |
“Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking.” We know that “the man” here is_____________
| A．one of Tommy’s classmates | B．a nun |
| C．Jesus Christ (耶稣基督) | D．a teacher |
This is not a typical summer camp. Michelle Pawlaw and eight other teenage girls are participating in the three—day camp offered by the Arlington County Fire Department located just outside Washington. Firefighter Clare Burley is in charge of the program, who said the purpose is to try to get young women interested in considering the fire service as a career.
The free-of-charge, overnight camp is designed to let the girls experience what firefighters do to protect the community. That includes some rigorous activities such as moving a fire victim. “I didn’t think I could pull that 170 pound body with a friend, but I was actually able to do it.” she said.
They take classes and learn how to climb the ladder on a fire truck, operate emergency tools and rescue an injured person. They also do their share of cleaning the firehouse and the equipment.
“Every week without fail on a Saturday, the job is to wash all the equipment. And we wanted the girls to see this is what we do. This is a typical day in a firehouse,” she said.
Firefighting is still a male-dominated service, but Burley says with 22 women on its force of 320 the Arlington County Fire Department is above the national average of 4.5 percent. She joined the department seven years ago.
“We do everything that the guys do to the same standard. We are tested to the same standard. We are expected to operate at the same standard,” she said.
Most of the girls say they had never thought about becoming a firefighter. but the camp was a great learning experience.” I think it is definitely not a job that only men can do. Women can do it just as well as men can,” said Michelle Pawlaw.What’s the purpose of the summer camp?
| A．To tell the girls how to put firefighting knowledge into practice. |
| B．To teach the girls what to do when caught in fire. |
| C．To provide the girls with a typical summer camp. |
| D．To attract more girls to take firefighting as a career. |
What can we infer from Paragraph 5?
| A．Arlington County Fire Department is in the lead in employing women firefighters. |
| B．Arlington County Fire Department is the first to employ women firefighters. |
| C．More and more women are ready to join the fire department. |
| D．No women ever want to perform the firefighting service. |
What can we infer from Michelle’s words in the last paragraph?
| A．She has determined to join the firefighters in the future. |
| B．She will persuade her fellow students to join in the camp. |
| C．She realizes that women can also be good firefighters. |
| D．She decides that she’ll join in the camp again later. |
What can we learn about the summer camp according to the passage?
| A．American fire departments often hold such events. |
| B．It is offered by Arlington County Fire Department. |
| C．The girls spent their night in the summer camp, which lasted 3 days. |
| D．It is very popular among American girl students. |
A new generation addiction(着迷,迷恋) is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive (强迫的,难以抑制的) habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessional behavior has affected teenagers and collage students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computer and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don’t concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual (虚拟的）life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident of the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.The main idea of the passage is about .
| A．the cause of weboholism. |
| B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism |
| D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined word “obsessional” in the second paragraph most probably means .
| A．attractive | B．addictive |
| C．professional | D．potential |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers. |
| B．students can hardly balance real and virtual life. |
| C．people are addicted to games on the Internet. |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway. |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will be getting more and more serious later. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
In a recent study, participants were asked to drink beer from either a straight-sided glass, or a curved “beer glass”. People took about almost twice as long to finish when drinking alcohol from the straight-sided glass, compared with the curved glass. There was no difference in drinking rates from the glasses when the drink was nonalcoholic.
People may drink their alcohol faster from curved glasses because it is more difficult to accurately judge the halfway point of these glasses, the researchers concluded. As a result, drinkers may be less able to measure how much they have consumed. “People often talk of ‘pacing themselves’ when drinking alcohol as a means of controlling levels of drunkenness, but I think the important point to take from our research is that the ability to pace effectively may be compromised when drinking from certain types of glasses,” said study researcher Angela Attwood of the University of Bristol’s School of Experimental Psychology in the United Kingdom.
In another experiment, participants completed a computer task in which they were shown pictures of two glasses containing varying volumes of liquid, and asked to judge whether each glass was more, or less, than half-full. The researchers found people made greater errors in judging the halfway point of the curved glass.
“The participants who showed the greatest error in these judgments also tended to show the greatest changes in their drinking rates,” the researchers said. “The speed at which people drink alcohol influences their level of intoxication (迷醉), and the number of drinks they consume on an occasion. Therefore, slowing down is likely to have a positive impact for the individual, and also at a population level.”If a man finishes drinking alcohol from a curved glass in 30 minutes, from a same-volumed straight glass, he will spend _____.
| A．about 15 minutes | B．about 60 minutes |
| C．about 45 minutes | D．about 25 minutes |
According to the passage, the experiment shows that _____.
| A．curved glasses mislead people’s judgment |
| B．people differ greatly when judging the same glass |
| C．people do computer tasks poorly after drinking |
| D．the type of liquid influences people’s thinking |
What advice do the researchers give drinkers?
| A．Use a curved “beer glass”. |
| B．Drink at a slower pace. |
| C．Drink with positive people. |
| D．Try different types of alcohol. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Shape may influence your drinking |
| B．Curved glass is out of date |
| C．Drink less for your health |
| D．Drinkers favor a different type of glass |
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