LONDON ( Reuters)-- Ecotourism (生态旅游) is causing a lot of damage to wildlife and may be endangering the survival(生存) of the very animals people are flocking to see, according to researchers.
Biologists and conservationists (自然环境保护论者) are worried because polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other creatures are getting stressed and losing weight and some are dying.
“Evidence is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their backyard,” New Scientist magazine said.
The immediate effects researchers have noticed are changes in behavior, heart rates, or stress hormone levels but they fear it could get much worse and over the long term “could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see”.
Although money produced through ecotourism, which has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year, has major benefits for poor countries and people living in rural areas, the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and some governments fear not all projects are audited (审计) and based on environmentally friendly policies, according to the magazine.
“The transmission(传播) of disease to wildlife, or small changes to wildlife health through disturbance of daily life or increased stress levels, while not obvious to the casual observer, may translate to lower survival and breeding,” said Philip Seddon, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Scientists have noticed that bottleneck dolphins along the northeastern coast of New Zealand become nervously excited when tourist boats arrive. Similar changes in behavior have been observed in polar bears and yellow-eyed penguins in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
Conservationists are now calling for more research into the effect of ecotourism on animals and say the industry must be developed carefully. They also want studies done before new ecotourism projects are started.
“The animals’ welfare should be very important because without them there will be no ecotourism,” said Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.What's the text mainly about?
| A．Many animals are dying because of lack of money. |
| B．There will be no ecotourism without animals. |
| C．Ecotourism could endanger the survival of the wildlife people want to see. |
| D．More research should be done on ecotourism. |
According to New Scientist magazine, more and more evidence has come to suggest that _____.
| A．polar bears are getting stressed |
| B．other creatures are losing weight |
| C．many animals do not respond well to travellers in their backyard |
| D．All of the above |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text?
| A．Ecotourism may endanger the survival of some animals. |
| B．Polar bears in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies. |
| C．Ecotourism has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year. |
| D．Studies should be done before new ecotourism projects are started. |
To me，life without music would not be exciting.I realize that this is not true for everybody.Many people get along quite well without going to the concert，and listening to the record. But music plays an important part in everyone’s life，whether he realizes it or not.Try to imagine，for example，what films or TV plays would be like without music.Would the feelings，the moving plot，and the greatest interests，be so interesting or dramatic? I’m not sure about it.
Now we have been speaking of music in its more common meaning—the kind of music we hear in the concert hall.We discover them in our everyday life too—in the rhythm of the sea，the melody of a bird in the woods and so on.So music surely has meaning for everyone，in some way or other. And，of course，it has special meaning for those who have spent all their lives working on playing or writing music.
It is well said，“Through music a child enters a world of beauty，expresses himself from his heart，feels the joy of doing things alone，learns to take care of others，develops his mind and makes his body strong.”From the text, we learn that many people .
| A．don’t realize the importance of music |
| B．get along quite well without music |
| C．go to the concert instead of enjoying music |
| D．think music would be less exciting than moving plot |
In the writer’s opinion，if there was no music in the films or TV plays，_______.
| A．the cinema and theatre would be quiet |
| B．we would lose some of the audience |
| C．everything would be as exciting as before |
| D．it would be hard to imagine the result |
The underlined word “melody” in the second paragraph means “______”.
| A．flying | B．looking | C．singing | D．living |
Winners Club
You choose to be a winner!
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account (交易账户) where you receive a key – card so you can get to your money 24/7 – that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers:
●No account keeping fees!
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transaction fees!
●Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits (储蓄) without taking them out in a month.
●Convenient
Teenagers are busy – we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet … You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part – time job!
●Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key – card) but it is easy. We can’t want to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner!Which of the following is TRUE about the Winners Club?
| A．Special gifts are ready for parents. |
| B．The bank opens only on work days. |
| C．Services are convenient for its members. |
| D．Fees are necessary for the account keeping. |
The Winners Club provides magazines which_______.
| A．encourage spending |
| B．help to make more of your money |
| C．are free to all teenagers |
| D．are full of adventure stories |
If you want to be a member of the Club, you must________.
| A．be an Internet user |
| B．be permitted by your parent |
| C．have a big sum of money |
| D．be in your twenties |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To set up a club. |
| B．To provided part – time jobs. |
| C．To introduce a new banking service |
| D．To organize key – cards. |
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five fays off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.” I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because_______.
| A．she missed the only train back home |
| B．she was going home for her holidays |
| C．the town was far away from Sydney |
| D．her work delayed her trip to Sydney |
Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?
| A．He gave the girl a ride back home. |
| B．He helped the girl find a ride. |
| C．He bought sandwiches for the girl. |
| D．He watched the girl for three hours. |
The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that_________.
| A．she realized he was Gordon |
| B．she had known him for decades |
| C．she wanted to repay the favour she once got |
| D．she was going to the nearby town |
What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?
| A．Those who give rides will be rapid. |
| B．Good manners bring about happiness. |
| C．People should offer free rides to others. |
| D．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
One sunny day last September, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search for a football. Once they'd rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves. "Everything went quiet in my head," Tim recalls(回忆). "I was trying to figure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line."
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. "At one point, I considered turning back," he says. "I wondered if I was putting my life at risk." After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, "Take down the umbrella!"
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
"Let's aim for the pier(码头)," Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. "Can you guys swim?" he cried. "A little bit," the boys said.
Once the were in the water, Tim decided it would he safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swan toward land as water washed over the boys' faces.
“Are we almost there?" they asked again and again. "Yes," Tim told them each time.
After 30minutes, they reached the pier.what does “it” in paragraph 2 refer to ?
| A．The beach | B．the water | C．the wind | D．the boat |
why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．to take in enough fresh air |
| B．To consider turning back to not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella |
How did the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| B．They were washed to the pier by the wave. |
| C．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
| D．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850 – 1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed "the Garden City", almost certainly the source of Howard's name for his later building plan of towns．Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs．
The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities．At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression（萧条）and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life．Howard's idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city．Howard's idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside; far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price．
Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries．They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions．As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit-Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away．Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide rang of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city．How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?
| A．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago． |
| B．Through his observation of the country life． |
| C．Through the combination of different ideas． |
| D．By taking other people's advice． |
The underlined phrase "drawing on "in Paragraph 1 probably means______．
| A．making comments on | B．giving an explanation of |
| C．giving a description of | D．making use of |
What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?
| A．Each one would continue to become larger |
| B．People would live and work in the same place |
| C．Their number would continue to rise |
| D．Each one would contain a certain type of business |
What could be the best title for the passage?
| A．City and Countryside |
| B．The Invention of the Garden City |
| C．A New City in Chicago |
| D．A Famous Garden City in England |
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