Everywhere you look, large quantities of information in the world are pouring. This data flood is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life. It has great potential for good — as long as consumers, companies and governments make the right choices about when to restrict the flow of data, and when to encourage it.
A few industries have led the way in their ability to gather and take advantage of the data. Credit-card companies monitor every purchase and can identify cheats with a high degree of accuracy. Stolen credit cards are more likely to be used to buy hard liquor than wine, for example, because it is easier to overlook. Insurance firms are also good at combining clues to spot doubtful claims: dishonest claims are more likely to be made on a Monday than a Tuesday, since policyholders (保险客户) who stage accidents tend to assemble friends as false witnesses over the weekend. By combining many such rules, it is possible to work out which cards are likeliest to have been stolen, and which claims are untrue. By analyzing “basket data”, supermarkets can make promotions to appeal to particular customers’ preferences. The oil industry uses supercomputers to help them before drilling wells.
But the data flood also poses risks. There are many examples of databases being stolen: disks full of social-security data go missing, laptops loaded with tax records are left in taxis, credit-card numbers are stolen by online purchase. The result can be privacy made public, identity stolen and cheats permitted large space. Rather than owning and controlling their own personal data, they very often find that they have lost control of it.
The best way to deal with the data flood is to make more data available in the right way, by requiring greater transparency in several areas. First, users should be given greater access to and control over the information held about them, including whom it is shared with. Google allows users to see what information it holds about them, and lets them delete their search histories or modify the targeting of advertising, for example. Second, organizations should be required to disclose details of security breaches (安全漏洞), as is already the case in some parts of the world, to encourage bosses to take information security more seriously. Third, organizations should be subject to an annual security check, with the resulting grade made public (though details of any problems exposed would not be). This would encourage companies to keep their security measures up to date.
64. What is the best title for this passage?
A. Information Flood B. Benefits of Data Flood
C. Harms of Data Flood D. How to Use Data in a Right Way
65. From the passage we can infer that _____.
A. lots of data are lost because of hardware problems
B. online purchases are becoming more and more popular
C. credit cards are not so secure to use and will go out of use very soon
D. insurance firms have to investigate before they confirm their policyholders’ claims
66. Which of the following is the writer’s opinion about how to deal with the data flood?
A. Personal information should be used for public benefits.
B. The users should be given the right to access public information.
C. Companies should update their measures to guarantee their data safety.
D. Organizations should keep their resulting grade of security checks unknown to the public.
67. From the passage we can conclude that _____.
A. the data flood makes peoples’ life less convenient and more expensive
B. companies and insurance firms are responsible for the data flood
C. the information flood is more useful to organizations than to individuals
D. the information flood has both positive and negative influence on modern life
Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer (发动机防盗系统), and a radio signal from a control centre miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.
The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro-processor and memory, and a GPS satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.
In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools, but only if the car is more than ten years old. Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer won’t allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition key (汽车等的点火开关).
In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31% drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997. But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars, often by getting hold of the owner’s keys .And key theft is responsible for 40% of the thefts of vehicles fitted with a tracking system. If the car travels 100 metres without the driver confirming their ID, the system will send a signal to an operations centre that it has been stolen. The hundred metres minimum avoids false alarms due to inaccuracies in the GPS signal. Staff at the centre will then contact the owner to confirm that the car really is missing, and keep police informed of the vehicle’s movements via the car’s GPS unit.
56. What’s the function of the remote immobilizer fitted to a car?
A. To allow the car to lock automatically when stolen
B. To prevent the car thief from restarting it once it stops
C. To help the police make a surprise attack on the car thief
D. To prevent car theft by sending a radio signal to the car owner
57. By saying “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed” (Lines1-2,Para.3) Martyn Randall suggests that _____.
A. Self-prepared tools are no longer enough for car theft
B. the thief has to make use of computer technology
C. it takes a longer time for the car thief to do the stealing
D. the thief has lost interest in stealing cars over 10 years old
58. What is essential in making a modern car tougher to steal?
A. A GPS satellite positioning receiver
B. A unique ID card
C. A special cellphone
D. A code ignition key
59. Why does the tracking system set a 100-metre minimum before sending an alarm to the operations centre?
A. To give the driver time to contact the operation centre
B. To allow for possible errors in the GPS system
C. To keep police informed of the car’s movements
D. To leave time for the operations centre to give an alarm
Did you ever wonder why leaves change colors in autumn, or how it happens? Here’s a quick explanation.
First of all, you’ve probably noticed that not all trees lose their leaves. There are two major types of trees: deciduous trees and evergreens. Evergreens keep their leaves and stay green all year long. The deciduous trees are the ones that lose their leaves each year.
In autumn, the days begin to get shorter. The sun is also lower in the sky at noon, which causes temperatures to be cooler. The combination of less sunshine and lower temperatures is what causes the deciduous trees to drop their leaves. In winter, deciduous trees “go to sleep”, sort of like a bear goes into hibernation.
Leaves are the food factories for a plant. Unlike animals，plants make their own food by taking energy directly from the sun. Plants do this by using a chemical in their leaves called chlorophyll.
Chlorophyll is green. During the spring and summer the leaves of a deciduous tree look green because there is a lot of chlorophyll there. In autumn, however, the sunshine becomes more scarce and the leaves on the trees stop making new chlorophyll. As the old chlorophyll starts to break down, the green color of the leaf begins to go away.
You’ve probably also noticed that the leaves of different kinds of trees change different colors. The leaves of some trees turn yellow or orange, while the leaves of other trees turn bright red or purple. The different colors are caused by the different chemical reactions that are happening in the leaves.
For example, the leaves of some trees turn yellow when the chlorophyll breaks down. When the green chlorophyll goes away, a yellow pigment in the leaf becomes visible. The yellow pigment, called cartenoid, was already there during the summer, but is was not easily seen because there was too much green chlorophyll.
In other trees where the leaves turn red or purple a different chemical reaction takes place. In those leaves the chlorophyll also breaks down, but another chemical reaction takes place at the same time. Chemicals in the leaves, called starches, begin to change into chemicals called anthocyanins, which give the leaves their red and purple colors.
So next time you see the beautiful colors of autumn you will also know the science behind that beauty.
46. What is the correct term for trees that lose their leaves in the autumn?
A. Evergreens B. Deciduous C. Cartenoids D. Anthocyanins
47. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of trees dropping their leaves?
A. A change in temperature B. The amount of daylight available
C. Extra chlorophyll D. Chemical changes in the leaves
48. If there are 50 evergreens and 10 deciduous trees in a forest, in autumn what color are most of the leaves in the forest likely to be?
A. Green B. Red and purple
C. Yellow D. not enough information to determine the answer
49. Which of the following is only present in leaves during the autumn?
A. Chlorophyll B. Starch C. Cartenoids D. Anthocyanins
50. Where would such an article mostly likely be published?
A. In a book B. In a primary school science text book
C. In a magazine for young people D. All are equally likely
Your cellphone holds secrets about you. Besides the names and numbers that you’ve programmed into it, traces of your DNA remain on it, according to a new study.
DNA is genetic material that appears in every cell. Like your fingerprint, your DNA is unique to you - unless you have an identical twin. Scientists today usually analyze DNA in blood, saliva （唾液）or hair left behind at the scene of a crime. The results often help detectives identify criminals and victims.
Meghan J. McFadden, a biologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, heard about a crime in which the suspect bled onto a cellphone and later dropped it. This made her wonder whether traces of DNA remained on cellphones - even when no blood was involved. To find out, she and a colleague collected flip-style （翻盖式）phones from 10 volunteers. They collected invisible traces of the users from two parts of the phone: the outside, where the user holds it, and the speaker, which is placed at the user’s ear.
The scientists cleaned the phones using a liquid mixture made mostly of alcohol. The aim of washing was to remove all detectable traces of DNA. The owners got their phones back for another week. Then they returned the phones and the researchers collected traces on each phone once more. They discovered DNA that belonged to the phone’s owner on each of the phones.
Surprisingly, DNA was even picked up immediately after the phones were cleaned. That suggests that washing won’t remove all traces of evidence from a criminal’s cellphone. So cellphones can be added to the list of clues that can settle a crime-scene investigation.
64. In a crime-scene investigation, now experts are likely to turn to ________.
A. the criminal’s fingerprint B. the DNA analysis of physical items
C. the detectives D. the criminal’s cellphone
65. According to the passage, McFadden was inspired by ________.
A. the secrets stored in people’s cellphones B. the special characters of DNA
C. a cellphone-involved case D. the challenging job of detectives
66. According to the passage, the potential application of the new study would be ________.
A. identifying criminals B. designing new cellphones
C. protecting individual privacy D. preventing cellphone-involved crimes
67. Which of the following has the closest meaning with the underlined word “identify” in Paragraph 2?
A. imagine B. recognize C. discover D. determine
Eat your vegetables. Wash your hands. Always say “please" and“thank you". We are full of advice for our children, but when it comes to money, we often have little to say. As a result, our children may grow up with clean hands and good manners, but without any idea how to manage their money.
Here are some basics that will help guide them their entire lives：
Show them the future. If your 13-year-old girl were to save＄1,000，invest（投资）it at 8%and add＄100 every month，by the time she's 65，she would have＄980,983！
Be careful of credit（信用）．Credit cards can help you buy necessary things and build a credit history，but they must be used responsibly, which means paying off your debt in time. Explain to your children that when you buy something using a credit card，you can easily end up paying two or three times what you would have paid if you used cash.
Teach patience. Suppose your child wants a new bicycle that costs $150. Rather than paying the cash，give him some regular pocket money and explain that by putting aside，say ＄15 each week，he will be able to buy it for himself in only ten weeks.
Provide incentive. Tell your children the importance of saving.“For every dollar he or she agrees to save and invest rather than spend, you agree to add another dollar to the pot,”says Cathy Pareto, expert in money planning.
Explain your values. Values and money are deeply intertwined, says Eilleen Gallo, co-author of The Financially Intelligent Parent. When your child demands that you buy something, explain why you really don’t want to buy it.“You might say,‘I'd rather save that money for your education,”，advises Gallo. Every time you spend or don't spend money，you have a chance to share your values.
64. The underlined word“incentive" in paragraph 6 means _____.
A. honor B. praise C. excitement D. encouragement
65. What leads the writer to write this article?
A. Parents want to know how to educate their children.
B. He wants to share his good ideas about money matters.
C. He thinks money management the most important for children.
D. Parents care little about their children's management of money.
66. The writer gives some basics to help __________ in a proper way.
A. parents teach their children how to deal with money
B. children follow their parents' instructions
C. children manage their money
D. parents save their money
Beijing plans to build huge free or low-cost parking lots beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways to the downtown area．
The plan is just one of the many measures the city plans to take to reduce its traffic jams．Low or no parking fees would be used as economic leverage(杠杆作用) to reduce growing parking demands from urban areas．
Car owners living in the suburbs will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads and take buses or subways to the downtown area．Statistics show that nearly one quarter of the city’s traffic flow is concentrated in the 62-square-kilometer downtown area within the Second Ring Road, which makes up only 12 percent of the city’s total area．
The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau receives between 400 and 500 calls reporting traffic jams every day and more than 90 percent of the roads are filled to capacity during rush hours every morning and evening．Part of the problem is the lack of easy links between bus routes, subways and cars．
According to the communication commission, half of the city’s investment in transportation will go towards public transit（公共交通） construction in the next few years, making a jump from the current only 20 per cent．Moreover, Beijing plans to change its layout （布局） by building new city centers, such as at Yizhuang, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Changping, in a bid to reduce the traffic flow to the downtown．
The current layout of Beijing-expanded ring roads around the same center of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams．The downtown area is crowded with three business centers and one financial center, as well as nearly 400 government organs and institutions．
Traffic experts say building more urban centers around Beijing may reduce the number of residents living in the suburbs and traveling long distances to work downtown every day, thus reducing traffic flow．
40．In the coming years, if a man beyond the Fourth Ring Road goes to work in the downtown of Beijing, he is encouraged to _________．
A．take buses or subways B．take a taxi
C．drive the car quickly D．park his car in a place which asks for no fees
41．According to this passage, when more and more people drive to work in rush hour in Beijing, it is likely to _______．
A．save time B．cause traffic jams
C．cause traffic accidents D．reduce air pollution
42．The aim in building new city centers is to ________．
A．make it convenient for people to go shopping
B．develop its local resources
C．reduce the traffic flow to the downtown
D．solve the problem of more laid-off workers
43．The passage suggests the author ______．
A．is tired of driving to work
B．finds it costs less to take subways than to drive
C．is for the plan to reduce Beijing’s traffic congestion(拥挤)
D．has benefited a lot by driving to the downtown every day
Dear Carol,
I wear braces （牙箍） and I know I look just terrible in them. Is there anything I can do to improve my appearance until they come off?
Connie N.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Connie,
Start by thinking about how good you are going to look when your braces come off. If you are negative about your appearance, people will pick that up right away about you. In the meantime there are several things that you can do to lift your spirits:
Change your hairstyle. Be sure to get a good cut so that the shape of your hair will be flattering to your face and also good for your type of hair （fine, thick, straight, curly, etc.） Choose a hairstyle that draws attention away from your face. Hair pulled back into a pony-tail or into a ball on top or slightly off-center can be attractive and practical for this purpose.
Keep skin clean. If you choose to wear makeup（化妆品）, it should look natural. Blusher（腮红） and lip gloss（润唇膏） in light tones of peach or pink are best.
Be well-groomed（打扮）. Neatness really counts. People see a total look about you before they ever become aware of your braces. And first impressions are lasting ones!
68. Why did Connie write to Carol?
A. Because she really cared about her clothes.
B. Because she cared much about her appearance.
C. Because her teeth were not good.
D. Because she didn’t know how to make up.
69. Carol’s idea about one’s appearance is that ___________.
A. change your hairstyle and you will look beautiful
B. wear your make-up and you will look good
C. neatness is not important
D. if you yourself don’t think you look smart, neither will people
70. Carol tries to let Connie know that ___________.
A. the deepest impressions one leaves on others is the first ones
B. spirits are important when we talk about one’s appearance
C. there are some practical ways to draw people’s attention away from where you don’t feel good
D. all of the above
71. The underlined word “count” means “___________” in the last paragraph.
A. say numbers in order B. be of importance C. not include D. be accepted
We are often asked to make a speech in life. Most of us are afraid of it and don’t do a good job. Here are some simple steps to make your speech a successful one. First of all, find out everything you can about your subject and at the same time find out as much as you can about your audience. Who are they? What do they know about your subject? Put yourself in their shoes as you prepare your speech. Then try to arrange your material so that your speech is clear and easy to follow. Use as many examples as possible. Never forget your audience. Don’t talk over their heads or talk down to them. When you are giving your speech, speak slowly and clearly, look at your audience and pause for a few seconds from time to time to give your audience chances to think over what you’ve said. Just remember: be prepared, know your subject and your audience, say what you have to say and be yourself so that your ideas will bring you and your audience together.
60. When he is giving his speech, the speaker should ___________.
A. let his eyes rest on the subject B. follow the audience step by step
C. face the audience in a natural way D. look up and down from time to time
61. During the course of a speech, it is not right for a speaker to ___________.
A. think nothing of the audience B. speak in a clear voice
C. take a short stop at times D. give a lot of examples
62. What does the underlined word “pause” mean in the passage?
A. listen B. stop C. choose D. search
63. Which title best gives the main idea of the passage?
A. How to Remember the Audience
B. How to Pick out the Topic for a Speech
C. How to Prepare the Material for a Speech
D. How to Improve Your Speech
It is time to start planning your 2010 Alaska Vcation! Take a look at newly expanded Alaska tour. Alaska hotels, and Alaska vacation packages. Our 2010 selection offers the most Alaska travel options in our history! Nowadays, we’re all desperate to find that holiday location that will have us coming back for more year after year, somewhere that has a lot to do, beautiful sights. Beautiful surroundings and fantastic deals.
We offer fully customizable（按客户要求定制的） Alaska travel and Alaska tour packages where you can build your own itinerary. The options are endless and the choices are all yours. We can customize the Alaska tours, Alaska vacations. or Alaska itineraries that you desire and fit your budget，from economical to luxurious（豪华型的）．You buy the Alaska travel items you would like to experience. Every aspect of your Alaska vacation is suitable for you.
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63．The purpose of writing this passage is to .
A. advertise a new travel choice to Alaska
B. show us how to begin the travel in Alaska
C. put forward suggestions for the travel in Alaska
D. advise us how to make a plan for Alaska vacation
64．The underlined part in the second paragraph probably means “ ”.
A. to broaden your horizon B. to strengthen your body
C. to work out your travel plan D. to begin your travel
65．According to the passage, .
A. you can take part in many activities including Sunset Viewing
B. the 2010 Alaska travel selection gives you the most choices in the world
C. if you stay at a Alaska Vacation hotel, it is convenient to go sightseeing on foot
D. if you want to go to the coast from the central part, taking a ship is not a bad choice
66．The best title of this passage probably is
A. A good option for travelling B. The most attractive place for travelling
C. Alaska Travel and Accommodation D. Your dream Alaska Vacation awaits you
67．Where can you most probably see the passage?
A. In a science journal. B. In a newspaper.
C. In a website. D. In a magazine.
An Australian company, Smart Car Technologies, has developed a system that lets drivers know when they're speeding. When the technology becomes commercially available, it could help lead-footed drivers avoid tickets and also save lives. The company that developed the product hopes to convince Australian government agencies to put the technology into use in their automobile fleets.
The product, called Speed Alert, links real-time location data and speed obtained with the help of GPS to a database of posted speed limits stored in a driver's PDA or programmable mobile phone. The setup of the product does not need to be hooked up to a car's speedometer. In fact, it is entirely portable. It will also work with newer phones and PDAs that have built-in GPS receivers. If a driver exceeds the speed limit, the speed is shown and an alert sounds.
Michael Paine, an Australian vehicle design engineer and traffic safety consultant, was hired to analyze the product. He told Live Science that his colleagues in the road safety field are “very enthusiastic” about what they're now calling “intelligent speed alert.” Other research, according to Paine, shows that 40 percent of all traffic deaths involve speeding. There is also a potentially controversial future use: “Since the system is so portable, it would be easy to make it a requirement for teenage drivers to always use a speed alert device when driving,” Paine said. “The system even has the capability to record speeding violations, so parents can monitor their teenage drivers.”The product will soon go on sale in Sydney.
63．What's the purpose of the new product?
A．To introduce some improvement in cars.
B．To inform us of the new car system.
C．To popularize the built-in car system.
D．To limit certain drivers to safe driving.
64．“Lead-footed” in the first paragraph probably refer to the ones ________.
A．who drive too carelessly B．that drive too slowly
C．who are partly disabled D．that drive extremely fast
65．The second paragraph mainly talks about ________.
A．how the product is programmed B．why the system becomes popular
C．the functions of GPS in cars D．the project of the built-in product
66．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．Future Speed Alert B．New In – Car Device Against Speeding
C．Warning for Adventurous Drivers D．Progress in Car – making Science
You get all sorts of demands, and the mark of a good hotel is to supply whatever is asked for without sounding surprise. If a guest asks for rubber gloves. You don't ask why. You say, “No problem. What colour do you want？”
There have been some demands which, much as I would have liked to fill, I couldn't. A Japanese businessman， for example， thought the manager of a hotel was like the captain of a ship so he asked me to marry him and the woman he loved. There was one time, however, we did help out. A young man thought that if he asked his girlfriend to marry him at the Ritz she would say yes. He asked us to put the ring in a cake, and she accepted.
Top hotels are used more and more to impress. They are used for doing business. If you've got something to sell, take your clients(客户) to the best hotel where the surroundings are quite helpful. A friend of mine working at Savoy Hotel tells story about a man who gave him 5 pounds to say “Good morning, Mr. Smith” when he walked through the door with two other men. This he did， and could hear Mr. Smith saying, “I do wish they would leave me alone at this place.”
According to Julian Payne， the most powerful people in any hotel are the porters， who carry bags for hotel guests. “Porters can do almost anything. They can get you tables at the best restaurants or tickets for a popular concert. Don't ask me how they do it or what their deal is because I don't know. Most of them have been there for years. They know more about the history of the hotel and the guests than anyone else. They are invaluable. A head porter will come in even on his day off so he can say hello to someone he remembers visiting the hotel years ago.”
56．When guests ask for something strange，the manager of a good hotel would think ______.
A．how he can meet their needs
B．why they have such demands
C．what problems the hotel has
D．who is the best person to go to
57．Which of the following examples explains “we did help out？”
A．The hotel bought a ring for a young lady.
B．A Japanese married the woman he loved.
C．The manager once acted as a captain.
D．A young lady agreed to marry her boyfriend.
58．Which of the following statements is true about the porters in expensive hotels?
A．They sell tickets for concerts.
B．They know how to make a good deal.
C．They know a lot about the hotels and the guests.
D．The come to work even on their days off.
59．By saying “I do wish they would leave me alone at this place”， Mr. Smith ______.
A．showed that he disliked such people at the hotel
B．gave the impression that he was a constant guest
C．tried to make his clients feel sorry for him
D．sounded as if he was tired of such greetings
The phone is ringing at the other end of the line and it clicks as it is being answered．A voice says quickly, “Hello, will you hold, please?” Then there is another click, followed by silence．It seems like hours before someone comes back on the line ---- that is, if you don't hang up first．
Office calls are, perhaps, the most difficult and the most important part of a secretary's work．The first impression that a man receives about a business is often through a telephone contact．A caller who is left hanging on “hold” will get the feeling that he or she has been forgotten or ignored．If a call is answered rudely, the caller may become angry．And if the call is not routed directly to the right person, the caller may feel that he or she is getting the “run-around”.
Laura Needham is a secretary in the executive offices of a large manufacturing company．As a good office secretary, Laura knows that all phone calls must be answered without delay and handled efficiently. She knows that a secretary must be pleasant and helpful, no matter how busy she is or what kind of feeding she may be in．She knows she must keep calm if a caller gets impatient or becomes angry; also, of course, she knows she can never allow herself to lose her temper (脾气)．If she does not have the information the caller asks for, she must know who does have the information．Finally, she knows that one of her most important responsibilities(责任)is to “screen telephone calls” and to know which calls to refer to her boss, which calls to refer to other people, and which calls to handle herself．
A well-handled telephone call will give the caller a good impression of the company he or she is dealing with．For this reason, an office secretary who can handle telephone calls cheerfully, tactfully (老练的), and efficiently is a valuable asset to any organization
63. Good secretaries find it to handle office calls well.
A. very. boring B. very important
C. quite necessary D. extremely difficult
64. The underlined word "nmaround" here means .
A. a flat refusal B. a not-so-warm welcome
C . an unpleasant refusal D. an unhelpful response
65. In Laura's opinion a secretary can never be a good one until .
A. she often asks her boss how to answer a telephone call
B. she knows how to please all the people
C. she has the information that others need
D. she can keep calm and never loses her temper
66. This passage is mainly about .
A. well-handled telephone calls ,~
B. an efficient office secretary called Laura Needham
C. the importance of how office calls are dealt with
D. a secretary being a valuable asset to her company
People living more than three thousand meters above sea level find it difficult to raise vegetables all year long. People living in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia, for example, cannot grow vegetables outdoors during the months of May through September. It is very cold in the highlands at that time of year. If traditional farming methods are used, vegetables will not survive.
However, there is another way to grow vegetables throughout the year in cold areas. It is a method of gardening developed by a private agency called World Neighbors. The method uses “hot houses” built below ground. A hot house is a building covered with plastic or glass in which vegetables or flowers are grown. The traditional hot house is built above ground.
The air temperature is cold in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia during the winter. But, the winter sun is hot. So, World Neighbors advises farmers there to build hot houses below ground. The design is simple. The material does not cost much. Here is how World Neighbors says to build it: Dig a hole two and one-half meters wide and six meters long. Make it about two meters deep. Build wall with a door in one end of the hole. Dig steps from the ground down to the door.
Now, build a wall along the top edge of the hole. Make it about one-half meters tall. Earth bricks work fine. Build two shorter walls on the ends. These will be uneven; one side will be as high as the existing wall. The other side will be at ground level. Leave a small opening in each of these sloping walls. This prevents the hot house from becoming too hot. Now, make the roof. Build a wood frame. Cover it with clear plastic. Connect it to the brick walls.
The underground hot house we have described is large enough for two raised vegetable beds. Each is one meter wide and six meters long. Each is seeded and watered just as if it were in a garden above ground.
The dirt walls protect the growing plants from the cold. The clear plastic roof permits the sun’s heat to enter. At night, the roof should be covered with straw. This helps prevent cold air from entering. An under ground hot house this size will provide enough vegetables for one family. Groups needing more vegetables can make it bigger.
66. If you lived in Peru, you _______.
A. should raise the special kinds of vegetables that can endure cold
B. could not plant at all
C. had to work out some new unusual plans
D. would not have many vegetables to eat
67. To our surprise, the “hot houses” invented by World Neighbors are _______.
A. covered with a transparent plastic ceiling
B. built under ground
C. quite small
D. hotter than traditional ones
68. The hot house can be kept warm by using _______.
A. a big oven B. an electricity heater
C. the heat of the earth’s interior D. the sun shine
69. The measure to prevent the hot house from becoming too hot is to _______.
A. make the roof sloped B. dig holes on the walls
C. make the wall not vertical D. make the walls shorter than the ground level
70. According to the passage, the method suggested by World Neighbors is _______.
A. new and difficult B. uneasy to explain
C. at trial step D. simple and practical
When you think about math, you probably don’t think about breaking the law, solving mysteries or finding criminals. But a mathematician in Maryland does, and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal (揭示) the identity of the criminal. It’s long been believed, for example, that criminals will break the law closer to where they live, simply because it’s easier to get around in their own neighborhood. If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area, they may look for a suspect who lives near the crime scenes. So, the farther away from the area a crime takes place, the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O’Leary, a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland, says that this kind of approach may be too simple. He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal’s home base by combining these patterns with a city’s layout (布局) and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets — that is, the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob. Because these stores are along roads, the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are. O’Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city. His program also includes information about the people who live in the city, and information about how a criminal’s patterns change with age. It’s been shown, for example, that the younger the criminal, the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software, but O’Leary’s uses more math. The mathematician plans to make his computer program available, free of charge, to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime. O’Leary says that criminology — the study of crime and criminals — contains a lot of good math problems. “I feel like I’m in a gold mine and I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
61. To find criminals, police usually _________.
A. check who are on the crime scene
B. seek help from local people
C. depend on new mathematical tools
D. focus on where crimes take place
62. O’Leary is writing a computer program that _________.
A. uses math to increase the speed of calculation
B. tells the identity of a criminal in a certain area
C. provides the crime records of a given city
D. shows changes in criminals’ patterns
63. By “I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like”, O’Leary means that he _________.
A. is better at finding gold than others
B. is the only one who uses math to make money
C. knows best how to use math to help solve crimes
D. has more knowledge of gold than other mathematicians
64. What do you know about O’Leary according to the passage?
A. He is a man full of impractical imagination.
B. He is a man full of self-confidence.
C. He is a man who is talkative but lazy.
D. He is a man who doesn’t like mathematics.
65. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Math could help police find criminals.
B. Criminals live near where crimes occur.
C. Crime records could be used to fight crime.
D. Computer software works in preventing crimes.
By far the most common difficulty in study is simple failure to get down to regular concentrated work. This difficulty is much greater for those who do not work to a plan and have no regular routine of study. Many students muddle along, doing a bit of this subject or that, as the mood takes them, or letting their set work pile up until the last possible moment.
Few students work to a set timetable. They say that if they did work out a timetable for themselves they would not keep to it, or would have to change it frequently, since they can never predict (foresee) from one day to the next what their activities will be.
No doubt some students take much more kindly to a regular routine than others. There are many who shy away from a self-controlled weekly timetable, and dislike being tied down to a fixed programme of work . Many able students state that they work in cycles. When they become interested in a topic they work on it attentively for three or four days at a time. On other days they avoid work completely. It has to be admitted that we do not fully understand the motivation to work. Most people over 25 years of age have become used to a work routine, and the majority of really productive workers set aside regular hours for the more important areas of their work. The “tough-minded” school of workers doesn’t fully accept the idea that good work can only be done naturally, under the influence of inspiration.
Those who believe that they need only work and study as the fit takes them have a mistaken belief either in their own talent or in the value of “freedom”. Freedom from control and discipline leads to unhappiness rather than to “self-expression” or “personality development”. Our society insists on regular habits, timekeeping and punctuality (准时), and whether we like it or not, if we mean to make our way in society, we have to meet its demands.
63．The most widespread problem in applying oneself to study is ________.
A. changing from one subject to another
B. the failure to keep to a set timetable of work
C. the unwillingness to follow a systematic plan
D. working on a subject only when one feels like it
64．Which of the following is true ?
A. Many students are not interested in using a self-controlled timetable.
B. Many students don’t like being told to study to a fixed timetable.
C. Most people over 25 years of age don’t work to a set timetable.
D. Tough-minded people agree that good work is done naturally.
65．The underlined part “as the fit takes them” in paragraph 4 means ________.
A. when they have the energy B. when they are in the mood
C. when they feel fit D. when they find conditions suitable
66．A suitable title for the passage might be ________.
A. Attitudes to Study B. A study Plan
C. The Difficulties of Studying D. Study and Self-discipline
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