Baggy has become the first dog in the UK﹣and potentially the world﹣to join the fight against air pollution by recording pollutant levels near the ground.
Baggy wears a pollution monitor on her collar so she can take data measurements close to the ground. Her monitor has shown that air pollution levels are higher closer to ground level， which has helped highlight concerns that babies and young kids may be at higher risk of developing lung problems.
Conventional air pollution monitors are normally fixed on lampposts at about nine feet in the air. However， since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair （婴儿车）， she frequently records pollution levels which are much higher than the data gathered by the Environment Agency.
The doggy data research was the idea of Baggy's 13﹣year﹣old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. The English youngster noticed that pollution levels are around two﹣thirds higher close to the ground than they are in the air at the height where they are recorded by the agency. Tom has since reported the shocking findings to the government in an attempt to emphasise that babies are at higher risk of developing asthma （哮喘）.
Matt Hunt said he was "very proud" of his son because "when the boy gets an idea， he keeps his head down and gets on with it， and he really does want to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma."
"Tom built up a passion for environmental protection at a very early age，" Matt added. "He became very interested in gadgets （小装置）. About one year ago， he got this new piece of tech which is like a test tube. One Sunday afternoon， we went out to do some monitoring， and he said， 'why don't we put it on Baggy's collar and let her monitor the pollution？' So we did it." Tom said， "Most of the time， Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time she is a super dog， and we are all really proud of her."
（1）With a monitor on her collar， Baggy can .
| A． |
take pollutant readings |
| B． |
record pollutant levels |
| C． |
process collected data |
| D． |
reduce air pollution |
（2）What can we learn from the Baggy data？
| A． |
High places are free of air pollution. |
| B． |
Higher pushchairs are more risky for kids. |
| C． |
Conventional monitors are more reliable. |
| D． |
Air is more polluted closer to the ground. |
（3）What is Tom's purpose of doing the research？
| A． |
To warn of a health risk. |
| B． |
To find out pollution sources. |
| C． |
To test his new monitor. |
| D． |
To prove Baggy's abilities. |
（4）According to the passage， which word can best describe Tom Hunt？
| A． |
Modest. |
| B． |
Generous. |
| C． |
Creative. |
| D． |
Outgoing. |
Host family accommodation, or living with host families, remains popular among language travel students for its advantages. These days, host families are trying to offer more in terms of quality, for they still have something to worry about.
Host family accommodation is often seen as the number-one choice for its advantages in language study, cultural communication and cost of living. Staying alongside host families enables students to get enough practice for the short time of their studying so that their language acquisition is likely to become faster. Living in host families also has the advantage for students of being able to spend a lot of time communicating with their “host parents”, and get to know the local way of life, people and culture. Another advantage is that host family accommodation can sometimes be the least expensive. It attracts students for it ensures them a family type of living at a low cost.
The advantages, however, have not prevented host families form worrying. On one hand, some host families are losing their unique selling point. The problem is that the majority of hosts in big cites, now generally single and young, have less times available for students but the selling point for host family accommodation is communication practice. One the other hand, students’ expectations have risen. They are becoming more demanding and asking for more than ever from their accommodation, as they come mainly from high socio-economic groups in their own countries.
To get out of the difficult situation, host families are now making efforts to improve the quality of service. They are trying to making living conditions better, including broadband Internet service, private bathroom, and access to plenty of hot water for long showers. They are also providing students with structured family activities.
It is believed that host family accommodation will keep the popularity vote with language travel students.
Host family accommodation
| Theme |
Host families are improving the accommodation |
|
| 【小2题】 __________ |
Language study |
Possibly becoming |
| Cultural communication |
Communicating with Knowing the local way of life, people and culture |
|
| Cost of |
Being least expensive sometimes |
|
| Loss of selling point |
Hosts’ having less time for students |
|
| Rise in |
Students’becoming more demanding |
|
| Service quality improvement |
||
| Organizing structured family activities |
||
| Host family accommodation will keep the popularity vote with students. |
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet （彗星）is heading towards the earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the earth.
On 17 July, a piece of 4 kilometers wide comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion（爆炸）. About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the seabed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards form the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned（淹死）.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes ash set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end? What is mainly described in the passage?
| A．A historic discovery. |
| B．An event in imagination. |
| C．A research on space. |
| D．A scientific adventure. |
When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes________.
| A．an earthquake |
| B．hunger |
| C．an Earth explosion |
| D．huge waves |
Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long?
| A．Because the land is covered with water. |
| B．Because the light and heat form the sun cannot reach the earth. |
| C．Because people there cannot live at the temperature of zero. |
| D．Because wars break out among countries. |
By giving the example of dinosaurs, the author tries to prove_________.
| A．animals could not live in the cold climate |
| B．what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story |
| C．the human beings will die out in 2094 |
| D．the Earth could be hit by other objects in space |
It's time to be water efficient!
As populations increase across Australia and the rest of the world, demand for water will also increase. If we don’t reduce each individual’s demand for water (both directly and through embodied water) the water situation will become dire.
It is obvious that we cannot increase demands for water much more without detrimental(有害的) effects to the environment, society and the economy.
It’s all too easy to blame someone else for the water situation –“if 70% of water is used for agriculture then that’s what we should target” – but it’s not that easy. We all depend on the food and resources that agriculture provides, and while there are definitely opportunities to increase water efficiency on the farm, the solution will take more than that.
We each share responsibility for the sustainable management of our water resources, which means using less water at home, in the workplace, at school, on holidays, on the farm, … everyone, everywhere, every time.
It's time to become water efficient! This involves reassessing our relationship with water, and learning to use it more sparingly. On the most basic level, it requires a behavioural（行动的） change, and assigning a value to water that truly reflects its worth.
We can also unlock economic benefits of being water efficient. There are many real world examples given in the case studies on this site.
Everybody has a responsibility to save water, if future generations are to enjoy a similar standard of living to the one we enjoy now. In fact, many of the impacts associated with water use are likely to have an effect on our own lives!
www.savewater.com.au has been designed to help you respond to the challenge to become water efficient. It acts as a central repository for relevant information and further advice, so that you can actually achieve significant savings. It also showcases those companies with products that will assist you in your goal.Can you infer where this passage is from?
| A．newspaper |
| B．TV programme |
| C．Radio broadcast |
| D．Internet |
What can we do to save water?
| A．find more water resources |
| B．use less water everywhere, every time |
| C．realize the importance of saving water |
| D．unlock economic benefits of being water efficient |
What is not the reason to save water?
| A．There are more and more people in the world. |
| B．The water resources are limited. |
| C．Agriculture needs more water. |
| D．The water is very important for us. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Water is very important for the human. |
| B．Everybody has a responsibility to save water. |
| C．It's time to be water efficient. |
| D．Let’s save water for our future generations. |
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 range 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．Through his observation of the country life. |
| B．Through the combination of different ideas. |
| C．By taking other people's advice. |
| D．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago. |
The underlined phrase “drawing on” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
| A．making use of |
| B．making comments on |
| C．giving an explanation of |
| D．giving a description of |
According to Howard, garden cities should be built .
| A．as far as possible from existing cities |
| B．in the countryside where the land was cheap |
| C．in the countryside where agriculture was developed |
| D．near cities where employment opportunities already existed |
What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?
| A．Their number would continue to rise. |
| B．Each one would continue to become larger. |
| C．People would live and work in the same place. |
| 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 |
When Christopher Columbus landed on the then unnamed Costa Rica in 1502, he saw many
Indians wearing gold earrings. So he thought the land must be rich in gold. He named the place
Costa Rica, which means "rich coast" in Spanish.
Though little gold was found, Costa Rica today is indeed rich with coffee and bananas. Coffee
is the most important product in Costa Rica and most of it is exported (出口) to other countries
like America and West Germany. Bananas are the country's second most important export.
Costa Ricans also grow many other crops such as fruits, corn and beans for their own use. Costa
Ricans love colors and their houses are painted in bright colors.
Education is very important to the Costa Ricans. Almost every village has a school and education
is a must for children between seven and fourteen years of age. Boys and girls go to separate
(单独的) schools. Classes begin in March and end in November. The other three months of the
year are harvest time and the children have to help their parents to pick coffee beans. What's the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．How Columbus found Costa Rica. |
| B．How Costa Rica got its name. |
| C．What the Costa Ricans wore. |
| D．What language the Costa Ricans spoke. |
The Costa Ricans may NOT paint their houses ______.
| A．pink and red |
| B．grey and black |
| C．blue and green |
| D．yellow and orange |
In Costa Rica, boys and girls between seven and fourteen ______.
| A．must go to school |
| B．study in the same school |
| C．do not have to go to school at all |
| D．can choose to stop schooling at any time |
From December to February, school children in Costa Rica______.
| A．have lessons every day |
| B．have their examinations |
| C．help their parents pick coffee beans |
| D．help their parents decorate their houses |
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