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ERATH WEEK---A DIARY OF THE PLANET
Enduring Storms
Several more rounds of severe storms, tornadoes and flash flooding struck many parts of the American Midwest and Northeast as bad weather continued across the US for a second month.
Monsoon Storms
A south-west monsoon has caused havoc in parts of Sri Lanka. Government meteorologists said that unexpected monsoonal winds blew directly across the country from the Southern Hemisphere at about 100km/h, producing several rounds of stormy weather. Nearly 250 houses in the capital Colombo were damaged.
Mt. Etna Erupts
Sicily’s Mount Etna volcano erupted shortly after midnight on July 1, shooting “bombs” of lava nearly 1.5 meters in diameter on the eastern side of the mountain. The 30-minute eruption could be seen for several miles, but did not threaten any nearby villages.
Hurricane
Hurricane Blas lost strength as it moved over cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean to the west of Mexico. Blas formed off southwest Mexico during the previous week, but squalls on the outer fringes of the storm lashed western Michoacan State, killing four people when their wood and cardboard home collapsed.
Monkey Repellent
After years of unsuccessful attempts to keep crop-eating monkeys out of Japanese fields, a Tokyo research team believes that it may have finally found a way to prevent the damage caused by the monkeys. Animal raids on crops were successfully prevented by shooting chilli powder into the air, irritating the eyes and noses of monkeys that passed in front of carefully-placed warning sensors. “We’ve tried al kinds of preventive measures, but the monkeys are smart enough to outwit the tricks, “said Toshiaki Wada, Director of the Tokyo Forestry Experiment Station in western Tokyo.
1..
. According to the information, which of the following statements is TURE?
A. The eruption of Mt. Etna lasted thirty days.
B. Hurricane Blas was formed off the coast of Italy.
C. The American Midwest had fine weather throughout July 1998.
The eruption of Mt. Etna did not destroy local villages.
2..
. According to the information, the monkeys in the Japanese fields ________.
A. destroy crops B. kill unsuspecting humans
C. spread eye diseases to humans D. stop farmers from working
3..
. The information in the “Earth Week” diary _______.
A. predicts future weather patterns
B. gives advice on dealing with monsoons
C. shows that weather can be unpredictable
D. shows the effects that storms have on animals
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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Welcome to the Grand Hotel. To make your stay as enjoyable as possible, we hope you will use our facilities（设备）to the full.
Dining-room
Breakfast is served in the dining-room from 8 to 9 a.m. The room staff will bring breakfast to your room at any time after 7 a.m. In this case, please fill out a card and hang it outside your door when you go to bed.
Lunch: 12 to 2:30 p.m..
Dinner: 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Room service
This operates 24 hours. Phone the Reception Desk, and your message will be passed to the room staff.
Telephones
To make a phone call, dial（拨号）0 for the Reception Desk to be connected.
Shop
The hotel shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Laundry(洗衣房)
We have a laundry in the building, and will wash, iron and return your clothes within 24 hours. Ask the room staff to collect them.
Bar(酒吧)
The hotel bar is open from 12 to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Banking
The Reception staff will cash checks and change money in many foreign currencies (货币).
1..
The above service notice can be seen ______.
A.in a hotel dining-room
B. in a restaurant
C.in a bedroom of a large international hotel
D.at the entrance of a small family hotel
2..
.You have arrived and stayed at the hotel. It is 11 p.m. and you want a snack (快餐). What should you do?
A. Go to the hotel shop.
B.Go to the hotel bar.
C.Hang a message outside your door.
D.Phone the hotel shop assistants.
3..
Which of the following is TRUE?
A. You can’t have your breakfast in your room.
B. You can make a phone call in your bedroom.
C. Lunch is served from 12 to 2 p. m.
D. You can have dinner at midnight.
4..
Which is NOT mentioned in this service notice?
A. Washing clothes. B. Booking tickets.
C. Drinking. D. Changing money.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and said , "I have failed again." On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That speech was a flat failure, and the people are disappointed."
Some newspapers at first criticized（批评）the speech. But little by little as people read the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
1..
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was_________.
A. very critical
B. unpopular
C. very popular
D. very courteous （礼貌）
2..
. Lincoln was invited to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery because he was_________.
A. a famous speaker
B. a very handsome man
C. President of the country
D. a popular statesman
3..
It can be inferred from the text that_________.
A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg
B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn't have much time to prepare his speech
C. Lincoln's speech was full of rich words
D. Lincoln's speech was very long
4..
It was a fact that Lincoln's speech was _________.
A. an immediate success
B. warmly applauded
C. a total failure
D. not well-received at first
5..
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.
B. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is simple in style.
C. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American school child.
D. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United States.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you: Get a life－a real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure but it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.
1.. The best title of this passage probably is ____________.
A．Live a real life B．Love your friends
C．Don’t waste time D．Be a good mother and wife
2. How did the author form her view of life?
A．Through social experience. B．By learning from her friends
C．Through an unfortunate experience. D．From her children and husband.
3.. By the underlined sentence “It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to ____________.
A．make a living rather than live a real life
B．work rather than enjoy life
C．waste a lot in life
D．forget the most important lessons in life
4.. It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.
A．the author is a success
B．the author didn’t try her best to work well
C．the author spent all her time caring for her children
D．the author likes traveling very much
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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For many years, I was convinced that my suffering was due to my size. I believed that when the weight disappeared, it would take old wounds, hurts, and rejections with it.
Many weight – conscious people also mistakenly believe that changing our bodies will fix everything. Perhaps our worst mistake is believing that being thin equals being loved, being special, and being cherished. We fantasize（梦想）about what it will be like when we reach the long – awaited goal. We work very hard to realize this dream. Then, at last, we find ourselves there.
But we often gain back what we have lost. Even so, we continue to believe that next time it will be different. Next time, we will keep it off. Next time, being thin will finally fulfill its promise of everlasting happiness, self–worth, and, of course, love.
It took me a long while to realize that there was something more for me to learn about beauty. Beauty standards vary with culture. In Samoa a woman is not considered attractive unless she weighs more than 200 pounds. More importantly, if it’s happiness that we want, why not put our energy there rather than on the size of our body? Why not look inside? Many of us work hard to change our body, but in vain. We have to find a way to live comfortable inside our body and make friends with and cherish ourselves. When we change our attitudes toward ourselves, the whole world changes.
1. The passage tries to tell us the importance of________.
A．body size B.attitudes
C．culture difference D.different beauty standards
2. What does the word “everything” in paragraph 2 mean?
A．All the problems. B．All the properties
C．The whole world D．The absolute truth
3. What can be inferred about the author?
A．The author is a Samoan
B．The author succeeded in losing weight
C．The author has been troubled by her/his weight.
D．The author probably got wounded in wars or accidents.
4.. According to the author, what is the common view of those who have lost some weight first and gained it back later?
A．They feel angry about the regained weight
B．They are indifferent to the regained weight
C．They feel optimistic about future plans on weight control.
D．They think they should give up their future plans on weight control.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析