In our modern world, when something wears out, we throw it away and buy a new one.
The is that countries around the world have growing mountains of because
People are throwing out more rubbish than ever before.
How did we a throwaway society ? First of all, it is now easier to an object than to spend time and money to repair it. modern manufacturing and technology, companies are able to produce products quickly and inexpensively. Products are plentiful and .
Another cause is our of disposable(一次性)products. As people we are always looking for to save time and make our lives easier. Companies thousands of different kinds of disposable products: paper plates, plastic cups, and cameras, to name a few.
Our appetite for new products also to the problem. We are buying new things.
Advertisements persuade us that is better and that we will be happier with the latest products. The result is that we useful possessions to make room for new ones.
All around the world, we can see the of this throwaway lifestyle. Mountains of rubbish just keep getting bigger. To the amount of rubbish and to protect the , more governments are requiring people to recycle materials. , this is not enough to solve(解决) our problem.
Maybe there is another way out. We need to repair our possession throwing them away.
We also need to rethink our attitudes about . Repairing our possessions and changing our spending habits may be the best way to reduce the amount of rubbish and take care of our environment.
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It’s the place where smart people make smart machines work even smarter. It’s also in the heart of sunny California, a great place to start a family and raise kids. What could be better?
But something is happening to their children. Up until the age of two they develop normally. But then everything seems to go backwards. The children become locked into their own small world, unable to communicate at all.
They call it the “curse(诅咒)of Silicon Valley,” but the medical name for the condition is autism(自闭症). It used to be thought that autism was a kind of mental illness. Now doctors are sure that it is a neurological disease transmitted genetically. It seems that the people leading the communications revolution are having children who cannot communicate at all.
But even the parents have trouble communicating. Asperger’s Syndrome is a mild version of autism. People who have it are highly intelligent and often brilliant with numbers or system but have no social skill. This very combination of symptoms makes Asperger’s sufferers into ideal computer professionals.
The Asperger’s sufferer has always been a well—known figure in popular culture. He or she was the eccentric but dedicated scholar or the strange uncle or auntie who never married. But the high numbers of such people in Silicon Valley mean that they can meet others who understand them and share their interests. And while they might not be personally attractive, they can earn truly attractive amounts of money. They can get married and have kids. Unfortunately, many of the children of two Asperger’s parents seem to be developing serious autism.
There is little anyone can do. It takes hours of work just to make autistic child realize that anyone else exists. And there is no cure in sight. Some argue that no cure should be found. “It may be that autistics are essentially different from normal people, but that these differences make them invaluable for the evolution of the human race,” says Dr. Kirk Whilhelmsen of the University of California. “To eliminate the genes for autism could be disastrous. ”
It seems that the children of Silicon Valley are paying the price of genius.What does Dr Kirk Whilhelmsen think of autism?
| A．It is disastrous to society. |
| B．It is not completely a bad thing. |
| C．It is a punishment to those working in Silicon Valley. |
| D．People with autism should never marry. |
What can we learn about autism according to the passage?
| A．It is believed to be a king of mental illness that can be cured. |
| B．People with autism can’t find people sharing their interests. |
| C．They do not care about the presence of others. |
| D．They are a burden for the society. |
Why do people call autism “curse of Silicon Valley”？
| A．Because autistic people live in Silicon Valley. |
| B．Because many people working in Silicon Valley have autism children. |
| C．Because people with autism will be driven out of Silicon Valley. |
| D．Because people with autism are not personally attractive and not liked by others. |
What can we know about Asperger’s Syndrome according to the passage?
| A．Asperger’s sufferers are ideal computer professionals. |
| B．Asperger’s sufferers never get married and have children. |
| C．Asperger’s sufferers are ashamed of themselves and locked into their own world. |
| D．Asperger’s sufferers can be beneficial to society if they are cured. |
What would you think if someone suggested knocking down St Paul’s Cathedral to widen the road? Or pulling down Big Ben to make way for a car park? It would be ridiculous, right? But when it comes to devastation (毁灭) of the natural world, we aren’t so easily shocked. But we should be…or we’ll be in a lot of trouble.
Nature is shrinking by the day. Ancient forests are destroyed. Wetlands are becoming dry. Woodland is disappearing, and all in the name of progress. This is bad in itself, but it’s devastating for biodiversity.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals and other living things that are all interconnected. The ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis (光合作用) by green plants. Insects, worms and bacteria break down waste and make soils rich. And tiny organisms clean the water in rivers and sea. In fact, all life on the earth exists thanks to the benefits of biodiversity. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. And 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals. Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve all living things.
The loss of biodiversity could be devastating. “It is wrong to think that biodiversity can be reduced indefinitely without threatening humans,” said Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, known as the “father of biodiversity”. He warned, “We are about to reach a critical point beyond which biodiversity loss will become irreversible (不可挽回的).”
But what can we do? The present problem is that the concept of biodiversity is so vague (含糊的). People might care about giant pandas, but it is much harder to excite them about the fate of tiny sea creatures which are being boiled to death in the cooling systems of power stations along coastlines. The Guardian newspaper is trying to help. It has launched the Biodiversity 100 campaign to try to convince governments around the world to take action to deal with the widespread concerns about biodiversity. This includes persuading the UK government to create a series of marine reserves to reserve the decrease in the sea-life caused by industrial fishing, stopping fishing sharks by the Japanese fishermen and banning the killing of dingoes (wild dogs) in Australia, among many other things.
There is a lot to do. And we’d better act quickly if we don’t want to end up with a planet that can’t sustain life!The writer thinks it ________ to pull down Big Ben to make way for a car park.
| A．unreasonable | B．necessary | C．difficult | D．reasonable |
The underlined sentence “Nature is shrinking by the day.” means that ________.
| A．nature is badly polluted by humans |
| B．species are becoming fewer and fewer day by day |
| C．rainforests are being cut down every day |
| D．nature is full of mysteries |
Edward O. Wilson thinks that ________.
| A．it doesn’t matter to reduce biodiversity |
| B．people have done enough to preserve biodiversity |
| C．the situation of biodiversity is very serious |
| D．biodiversity loss has become irreversible |
When it comes to biodiversity, the present problem is that ________.
| A．people might not clearly know what is biodiversity and what should be protected |
| B．people are not aware that giant pandas are endangered |
| C．people don’t realize that biodiversity is vital to everyday life |
| D．people hunt sea creatures for food |
What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．The UK government. | B．The concept of biodiversity. |
| C．The action to deal with the problem. | D．The Guardian newspaper. |
People with bigger brains ftend to score higher on standardized tests of intelligence， according to new study findings.
However， the study author Dr Michael A.McDaniel of the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond emphasized that these findings represent a general trend， and people with small heads should not automatically believe they are less intelligent. For instance， Albert Einstein’s brain was “not particularly large”， McDaniel noted. “There’s some relationship between brain size and intelligence on the average， but there’s plenty of room for exceptions，” he said.
Interest in the relationship between brain size and intelligence grew in the1830s， when German anatomist(解剖学家) Frederich Tiedmann wrote that he believed there was “an unquestionable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man”. Since that statement， scientists have conducted numerous studies to determine if Tiedmann’s assertion was， in fact， correct. Most studies have looked into the link between head size and intelligence. More recently， however， researchers have published additional studies on brain size and intelligence， measured using MRI scan(核磁共振成像扫描).
For his study， McDaniel analyzed more than 20 studies that looked into the relationship between brain size and intelligence in a total of 1,530 people. The studies showed that on the average， people with larger brain volume tended to be more intelligent. The relationship between brain volume and intelligence was stronger in women than men， and in adults than in children. McDaniel notes in the journal Intelligence.
McDaniel is not sure why the relationship was stronger for adults and women. “Other research has shown that women， on the average， tend to have smaller brains than men， but score just as well—if not higher—in tests of intelligence，” he said.
McDaniel insisted that the relationship between brain size and intelligence is not a “perfect” one. “One can certainly find lots of examples of smaller-sized people who are highly intelligent，” he said， “But， on the average， the relationship holds.”. What does the text mainly talk about？
| A．MRI scans are applied to intelligence. |
| B．On the average， a bigger brain means higher IQ. |
| C．Dr McDaniel did well in his intelligence study. |
| D．Scientists are interested in Tiedmann’s idea. |
By mentioning Albert Einstein， the writer wants to show .
| A．Albert Einstein was intelligent |
| B．the result of intelligence test was false |
| C．being hard working is more important than intelligence |
| D．brain size doesn’t necessarily decide the level of intelligence |
The underlined word “assertion” in Para. 3 probably means “ ”.
A. experiment B. statement C proof D. demand After Frederich Tiedmann wrote his article， .
| A．many scientists agreed with him |
| B．numerous studies have failed to prove his idea |
| C．MRI scan became popularly used |
| D．lots of researchers were interested in the connections between head size and intelligence |
According to the text， Dr McDaniel’s study .
| A．proves Tiedmann’s idea was completely true |
| B．shows women are smarter than men |
| C．involves many studies and a lot of people |
| D．explains why people with smaller brains are clever |
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