Beijing had its coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮）since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the US south.
Whatever happened to global warming?
Such weather doesn't seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the coldness doesn't deny global warming at all—it's just a blip in the long-term heating trend.
"It's part of natural variability(变化性），" said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. With global warming, he said，"We'll still have record cold temperatures. We'll just have fewer of them. ”
Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes, such as heat waves, storms, floods, droughts and even coldness. But experts did not connect the current cold weather to climate change.
So what is going on?
"We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere，"Arndt said. In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a pronounced (明显的）“z” pattern, moving from north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you will get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.
But in some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is moving down from the north. And that's how you get the low temperature in Beijing, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain, where a member of Parliament who said the snow "clearly indicates a cooling trend " was laughed at by colleagues.
The “z” pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it's so strong right now, said Michelle Heureux, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The center says the pattern should begin to weaken in a week or two. Many areas are suffering low temperature except __________.
| A．Beijing |
| B．Washington state and Alaska |
| C．the US south |
| D．Britain |
The underlined word “blip” in Paragraph 3 means __________.
| A．temporary phenomenon |
| B．abnormal phenomenon |
| C．common phenomenon |
| D．rare phenomenon |
From the text, it can be learned that __________.
| A．global warming trend has proved wrong |
| B．there will be less coldness in the future |
| C．the “ z ” pattern Arctic air flow seldom happens |
| D．scientists haven't found out the reason of coldness |
The present coldness is probably caused by __________.
| A．climate change |
| B．Arctic air traveling west to east |
| C．the “z” pattern Arctic air flow |
| D．the cooling trend |
I will tell you the truth about plastic bags－the positive and the negative sides and provide a solution to this problem. Whether it is a shopping bag, a food bag or a trash bag, they are all made of plastic bags. Grocery store owners are very generous in using plastic bags. They place the fruit in one bag and drop the box of milk in another. Ever wonder why?
The positive side of plastic bags
Grocery stores, shopping centres, and restaurants are not thrifty in using and giving out plastic bags because they cost no more than a cent each, while a paper bag costs four cents. Plastic bags are produced so cheaply and massively（大量地）that they are used by 80% of store owners. In addition, they are light and very easy to carry and store.
The production of plastic bags has increased greatly over the last 20 years and producers of plastic bags are making large profits. However, the negative side of plastic bags is becoming well-known. More people are now getting worried that the earth is becoming a victim of the plastic bag success story.
The negative side of plastic bags
While production and consumption（消费）of plastic bags is good for business, it is not so for our Mother Earth. They have resulted in an increase in the amount of litter found floating in water or in the streets where we live.
Plastic storage bags, after usage, usually go to landfills（垃圾填埋地）as trash bags. They make the oceans poison sea animals. They give off toxins（毒素）when burned. They simply pollute the ground, air and water.
That is the true cost of plastic bags, and it looks like it is more than a cent. These are very alarming concerns and proper action needs to be taken.According to Paragraph 3, plastic bag producers ________.
| A．are now worried that the earth will become a victim of plastic bags |
| B．don’t think they have done enough to popularize plastic bags |
| C．have not realized the harm of plastic bags |
| D．have succeeded in popularizing the use of plastic bags |
From the last three paragraphs, we learn that .
| A．plastic bags harm the earth severely |
| B．most plastic bags are not made use of |
| C．the prices of plastic bags are reasonable |
| D．plastic bags are the leading polluter on the earth |
What will the writer most probably talk about in the following paragraph?
| A．How plastic bags are produced. |
| B．How plastic bags are used. |
| C．How to popularize the use of paper bags. |
| D．How to solve the problems caused by plastic bags. |
Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it’s not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who the true winners of a game were.
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test---unless the person cheats again.
People lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and may be at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating, even when there seems to be a good reason for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before the day and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with you parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions(解决办法) together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.The author thinks that when kids cheat in class, ______.
A it is unfair to other people. B it does harm to their health.
C teachers should punish them. D teachers shouldn’t stop them at once.Some students like cheating mainly because______.
A the material in the test is very difficult.
B they want to do better than the others.
C cheating can make hard things seem very easy.
D they have little time to study their lessons.The fourth paragraph mainly tells us______.
A some kids can’t pass the test without cheating B why kids cheat in the test.
C. cheating isn’t a good idea. D some kids don’t spend the time studying.We can learn from the passage _______.
A cheaters are often thought highly of
B people show no respect for those who cheat.
C parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble.
D kids cheat in the test because of swim practice.
The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.
Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time._______, our world is becoming much smaller.
| A．Because of the rise in pollution |
| B．Thanks to science development |
| C．Because the earth is being polluted day and night |
| D．Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year |
Hundreds of years ago, life was __________ it is today.
| A．much easier than | B．as easy as | C．much harder than | D．as hard as |
Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” means _______.
| A．rubbish（垃圾） | B．noise pollution | C．air pollution | D．water pollution |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
| B．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
| C．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
| D．If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2. |
The expression “Go for it!” is a way of encouraging someone to try something.
“Go for it!” means you should not worry about failure or be too careful. You should take a chance, be brave, and act firmly.
“Go for it!” gets name from football. Not football as it is played in most countries such as England, Egypt or Japan, but the kind of football played in the United States and Canada.
One of the most exciting times in football comes when a team has failed, after three attempts, to move the ball forward ten yards. The team must make a critical decision.
The conservative choice is to kick the ball and accept temporary defeat in order to gain a good position for your team the next time it gets the ball. The more exciting choice, however, is to try a fourth and final time to gain the remaining yards needed.
In the nineteen eighties, people began using this expression in many kinds of situations to encourage someone to act bravely.
There is no guarantee(保证) that the action you “Go for it!” will succeed. But that is the chance you take when you decide to go for it. You put your fears behind. You choose courage over safety. You hold your breath and go for it.The expression “Go for it!” comes from______.
| A．English football | B．Egyptian football | C．Japanese football | D．American football |
According to the passage, when we decide to go for it, we only consider______.
| A．safety | B．action | C．result | D．situation |
In which of the following situations should we use the expression nowadays?
| A．We decide to avoid trouble or danger for the future. |
| B．We try to improve our English for better education. |
| C．We need to make a quick decision at the last moment. |
| D．We have to make a choice between success and failure. |
Most people think the first pies were made by early Romans. They may have learned about pie making from the Greeks. These pies were sometimes made in"reeds (芦苇叶)", which were used for the purpose of holding the filling (馅 ), and were not eaten.
The Romans spread the word about pies around Europe and the word"pie"became a popular word in the 14th century. The first pie recipe (食谱) was also published by the Romans.
Pies first appeared in England as early as the twelfth century. The early pies were mostly meat pies. There was actually more crust(皮)than filling. Often these pies were made from fowl ( 家禽) and the fowl's legs were left to hang over the side of the dish and used as handles. Fruit pies were probably first made in the 1500s. It is said that Queen Elizabeth I made the first cherry pie.
Pie came to America with the first English settlers. The early settlers cooked their pies in long narrow pans. As in the Roman times, the early American pie crusts were often not eaten, but simply used to hold the filling during baking(烘焙).
Over the years, pie has become what it is today --- "the most traditional American dessert". Pie has become so much a part of American culture that we now often use the phrase "as American as apple pie".Which people might probably first grasp the skill to make pies?
| A．The Romans. | B．The Greeks. | C．The Englishmen. | D．The Americans. |
Which of the following is NOT true about pies?
| A．English settlers brought pies to America. |
| B．Early Romans ate not only pies but also the crusts. |
| C．The Romans first published pie recipe. |
| D．The word “pie ” became popular because of the Romans` efforts. |
What can best show pies have become part of American culture?
| A．Americans use long narrow pans to cook pies. |
| B．People use "as American as apple pie" to show something about American characteristics. |
| C．Americans don't eat crusts but use them to hold the filling during baking. |
| D．Pies are the most traditional American dessert. |
The best title of this passage is "______________".
| A．The History of Pies | B．Pies, the Delicious Food |
| C．Pies, American Dessert | D．How to Make Pies |
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