The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about. But one more has just been added - a communications blackout caused by solar storms.
After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a flesh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.
Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending five Olympic broadcast from London.
"The Sun's activity has a strong influence on the Earth. The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites," said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections (日冕物质抛射) occur in the Sun's atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically-charged matter. " A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometers per hour. Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications," Professor Harrison added. The risk is greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots.
Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available.
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high-tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares (太阳耀斑) and explosions as they occur.
Professor Richard Hold away, the lab's director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth "If we have advance warning, we'll be able to reduce the damage. What you don't want is things switching off for a week with no idea of what's caused the problem," he said. The phrase "communications blackout" in paragraph 1 most probably refers to _______during the 2012 Olympics.
| A．the extinguishing of the Olympic torch |
| B．the collapse of broadcasting systems |
| C．the transportation breakdown in London |
| D．the destruction of weather satellites |
What can be inferred about the solar activity described in the passage?
| A．The most fatal matter from the corona falls onto Earth. |
| B．The solar storm peak occurs in the middle of each cycle. |
| C．It takes several seconds for the charged matter to reach Earth. |
| D．The number of sunspots declines after coronal mass ejections. |
According to the passage, NASA will launch a satellite to _________.
| A．take images of the solar system |
| B．provide early warning of thunderstorms |
| C．keep track of solar activities |
| D．improve the communications on Earth |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Solar Storms: An Invisible Killer |
| B．Solar Storms: Earth Environment in Danger |
| C．Solar Storms: Threatening the Human Race |
| D．Solar Storms: Human Activities to Be Troubled |
For a small town, Manhattan, Kansas has some big surprises. And one of them is the Holiday Inn Hotel, with rooms built around a swimming pool and a friendly family atmosphere.
The Holiday Inn is where Manhattan people often go for a special party, or a night out. A lot of them choose to eat in the brightly lighted restaurant near the pool. And many of them will be served by Ellen Logan, who has worked as a waitress here for more than two years.
Ellen, like most of the waitresses, is also a student. She comes from Nebraska, but she’s planning one day to be a veterinary surgeon, and to care for small animals. But in order to support herself at college, she works twenty hours a week at the Holiday Inn.
Ellen soon learned what every waitress finds out. Your best friend has a good pair of shoes. She paid forty -five dollars for hers, much more than she would usually spend. She’s discovered something else too. You don’t have to know much about food to be a good waitress, but you do have to know a lot about people.
“A lot of business people always stay here when they come to Manhattan,” she explains. “They like you to recognize them and remember their favorite dishes. But some couples come for a night out together. They just want to be left alone. Then there are people who can’t make up their minds. They look down the menu and say‘What do you suggest?’So I ask them how hungry they are. If they say, ‘Not very’, I suggest the salad bar, with soup, salad, bread, and a fruit plate. But if they say they’re very hungry, I suggest a Kansas Strip Steak, with potatoes or rice. You get salad and bread as well. It’s very nice. Real good value.”
Ellen may get tired feet sometimes, but at least she’s learning too much about people. She’ll probably make a good animal doctor, but if she find she doesn’t like it after all, she can always become a psychiatrist（心理医生）instead.A good title for this passage is______________.
| A．Ellen Logan at the Holiday Inn | B．American Holiday Inn |
| C．A Special Holiday Inn Hotel in Manhattan | D．How to Deal with People |
The word “a veterinary surgeon” probably means____________.
| A．an animal doctor. | B．an animal trainer | C．a hotel manager | D．a food expert |
From the passage we can infer that_______________.
| A．waitresses in the Holiday Inn are all students |
| B．waitresses are required to buy a good pair of shoes before they go to work |
| C．waitresses should be familiar with the food there |
| D．it is more important for the waitresses to know much about people than food |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The Holiday Inn hotel is one of the big surprises in Manhattan. |
| B．Businessmen like to be recognized by the people and suggested what to eat. |
| C．Some couples prefer to be left alone without being bothered too much. |
| D．One of the reasons why people like to eat in the hotel is that it is full of a friendly atmosphere. |
Lisa was running late. Lisa, 25, had a lot to do at work, plus visitors on the way: her parents were coming in for Thanksgiving from her hometown. But as she hurried down the subway stairs, she started to feel uncomfortably warm. By the time she got to the platform, Lisa felt weak and tired—maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to give blood the night before, she thought. She rested herself against a post close to the tracks.
Several yards away, Frank, 43, and his girlfriend, Jennifer, found a spot close to where the front of the train would stop. They were deep in discussion about a house they were thinking of buying.
But when he heard the scream, followed by someone yelling, “Oh, my God, she fell in!” Frank didn’t hesitate(犹豫). He jumped down to the tracks and ran some 40 feet toward the body lying on the rails. “No! Not you! ”his girlfriend shouted after him.
She was right to be alarmed. By the time Frank reached Lisa, he could feel the tracks shaking and see the light coming. The train was about 20 seconds from the station.
It was hard to lift her. She was just out. But he managed to raise her four feet to the platform(站台) so that bystanders could hold her by the legs and drag her away from the edge. That was where Lisa briefly regained consciousness(知觉), felt herself being pulled along the ground, and saw someone else holding her purse.
Lisa thought she’d been robbed. A woman held her hand and a man gave his shirt to help stop the blood pouring from her head. And she tried to talk but she couldn’t, and that was when she realized how much pain she was in.
Police and fire officials soon arrived, and Frank told the story to an officer. Jennifer said her boyfriend was calm on their 40-minute train ride downtown - just as he had been seconds after the rescue(营救), which made her think about her reaction at the time. “I saw the train coming and I was thinking he was going to die,” she explained.What was the most probable cause for Lisa’s weakness?
| A．She had run a long way. | B．She felt hot in the subway. |
| C．She had done a 1ot of work. | D．She had donated blood the night before. |
Why did Jennifer try to stop her boyfriend?
| A．Because they would miss their train. |
| B．Because he didn’t see the train coming. |
| C．Because she was sure Lisa was hard to lift. |
| D．Because she was afraid the train would kill him. |
How did Frank save Lisa?
| A．By lifting her to the platform. | B．By helping her rise to her feet. |
| C．By pulling her along the ground. | D．By dragging her away from the edge. |
When did Lisa become conscious again?
| A．When the train was leaving. |
| B．After she was back on the platform. |
| C．After the police and fire officials came. |
| D．When a man was cleaning the blood from her head. |
The passage is intended to _____________
| A．warn us of the danger in the subway | B．show us how to save people in the subway |
| C．tell us about a subway rescue | D．report a traffic accident |
American like to visit the national parks. In 1996, over 250,000,000 people visited areas run by the National Park Service. Experts predict that by 2010, 500,000,000 people per year will visit the parks. As a result, people are trying to think of ways to protect the parks from the crowds.
The crowding of the parks has caused several problems. One is that there is not enough space for all of the people who want to use the parks. To cope with this problem, national parks may require reservations （预约）months in advance for some spots. The Park Service may also raise entrance fees at these places.
Another problem caused by increased park use is pollution. Some garbage and waste can be cleaned up, and the cleanup can be paid for by increased entrance fees. To cut down on noise pollution and air pollution, officials may decrease（减少） the number of cars allowed in parks. If this happens, people may use buses to travel around the parks. Officials may also limit（限制） the use of jet-skis, snowmobiles (摩托雪橇), motorboats, and sightseeing helicopters and planes.
The parks are also threatened by development that is going on around them. For example, around Yellow Stone Park, many motels (汽车旅馆), golf courses, resorts, and other tourist attractions have been built. Some of these developments affect areas that are used by animals. People will have to learn to agree about ways to protect the parks. If they do not, there will soon be no reason to visit these national treasures. By 2010, the number of visitors will rise by ______.
| A．250 million | B．500 million | C．2.5 billion | D．5 billion |
If you want to visit the national parks, you may have to _____ in the future.
| A．pay less than before | B．stay there for months |
| C．book the ticket before months | D．fill in a form to apply for the ticket |
Entrance fees may be increased _______.
| A．just for the benefit of the National Park Service |
| B．either to limit the number of visitors or to pay for the cleaner |
| C．not only to protect the animals but to reduce the noise pollution |
| D．merely for the development of the national parks |
What does the underlined sentence in the passage mean?
| A．People are not supposed to visit the national parks for fear that they will harm the animals. |
| B．Only if more man-made tourist attractions are built will more people visit the parks. |
| C．It is reasonable to keep the balance between the development of the parks and the reserve. |
| D．People will not visit the national parks since there are no golf courses and resorts. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A．High fees may probably keep some people out of parks. |
| B．Helicopters and planes will not be used in parks any longer. |
| C．The bus will become the only tool in parks with the purpose of pollution reduction. |
| D．The National Park Service welcomes as many visitors as possible. |
I am an e-mail user. When I first started to use the e-mail system I used to read all my e-mail. I didn’t have much mail. I was very excited about receiving any e-mail. I gave my friends my e-mail address. Soon I had more mail than I wanted. Some of the mail was junk mail. I was worried. I didn’t want my mail to control me.
I’ve tried some methods to help me get control of my mail. First, I check my mail at the same time every day. Also I try to allow myself only 15-20 minutes every day to process my e-mail. This doesn’t always work, but I try. Sometimes I save the messages. Sometimes I just read them, maybe answer a few, and then delete them.
Sometimes I’m not at all interested in a message, so I don’t even open it. I delete it right away. This is very much the way I go through the mail that the postal service delivers to my home.
These methods are very simple. I have some friends who are very clever with computers. From time to time, they teach me new tricks for managing my e-mail. I’ve also learned to transfer some messages to a disk so they don’t fill up my mail files. Then I can read them later and maybe use them in my work. I’m still amazed at what e-mail can do for me! I’m still worried, however, about having too much to read.Which is the best title for this passage?
| A．How I Go through my E-mail | B．How I Manage my E-mail |
| C．How I Transfer my E-mail | D．How I Use my E-mail System |
What does the writer suggest by “This is very much the way I go through the mail that the postal service delivers to my home.”
| A．That he deals with the mail delivered by the post service almost in the same way. |
| B．That he receives more postal mail than e-mail. |
C．That he likes e-mail mu ch better than the mail delivered by the post service. |
D．That he likes going through the mail delivered by the post servic e. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Sometimes the writer checks his mail in the morning and sometimes in the evening. |
| B．The writer teaches his friends how to manage their e-mail. |
| C．The writer always spends less than 15 minutes processing his e-mail. |
| D．After giving his friends his e-mail address the writer had more e-mail than he wanted. |
In the first paragraph, the underlined phrase “junk mail” probably means .
| A．常规邮件 | B．病毒邮件 | C．垃圾邮件 | D．商务邮件 |
In the last paragraph, the underli
ned word “transfer” probably means .
| A．转换 | B．改变 | C．传递 | D．转移 |
Linda Evans was my best friend—like the sister I never had. We did everything together: piano lessons, movies, swimming, horse back riding.
When I was 13, my family moved away. Linda and I kept in touch through letters, and we saw each other on special time—like my wedding and Linda’s. Soon we were busy with children and moving to new homes, and we wrote less often. One day a card that I sent came back, stamped “Address Unknown. ” I had no idea how to find Linda.
Over the years, I missed Linda very much. I wanted to share happiness of my children and then grandchildren. And I needed to share my sadness when my brother and then mother died. There was an empty place in my heart that only a friend like Linda could fill.
One day I was reading a newspaper when I noticed a photo of a young woman who looked very much like Linda and whose last name was Wagman — Linda’s married name. “There must be thousands of Wagmans,” I thought, but I still wrote to her.
She called as soon as she got my letter. “Mrs Tobin!” she said excitedly, “Linda Evans Wagman is my mother. ”
Minutes later I heard a voice that I knew very much, even after 40 years, laughed and cried and caught up on each other’s lives. Now the empty place in my heart is filled. And there’s one thing that Linda and I know for sure: We won’t lose each other again!The writer went to piano lessons with Linda Evans .
| A．at the age of 13 | B．before she got married |
| C．after they moved to new homes | D．before the writer’s family moved away |
They didn’t often write to each other because they .
| A．got married | B．had little time to do so |
| C．didn’t like writing letters | D．could see each other on special time |
There was an empty place in the writer’s heart because she .
| A．was in trouble |
| B．didn’t know Linda’s address |
| C．received the card that she sent |
| D．didn’t have a friend like Linda to share her happiness or sadness |
The writer was happy when she .
| A．read the newspaper |
| B．heard Linda’s voice on the phone |
| C．met a young woman who looked a lot like Linda |
| D．wrote to the woman whose last name was Wagman |
They haven’t kept in touch .
| A．for about 40 years | B．for about 27 years |
| C．since they got married | D．since the writer’s family moved away |
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