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Kenya wants to organize a major international conference to discuss how to fight piracy(海盗) off the coast of Somalia. The conference may also deal with ways to rescue Somalia from seventeen years of civil war. More than forty percent of its people depend on food aid.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula says the world cannot end piracy and civil war without dealing with Somalia’s political problems.
Somali pirates operate in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal. The pirates have fast boats, modern weapons and equipment like satellite phones and global positioning systems.
Pirates hijacked the Sirius Star off the coast of Kenya and moved it to waters off Somalia.
The tanker Sirius Star, at three hundred thirty meters long, is the biggest ship ever known to have been captured by pirates. It also happened farther south than most attacks, and farther out at sea ---- more than eight hundred kilometers from land.
The ship was headed for the United States with two million karrels of oil, worth an estimated one hundred million dollars. A Saudi Arabian company owns the tanker. The pirates have reportedly demanded twenty-five million dollars in negotiations to release the ship and its crew of twenty-five.
Somali pirates generally do not steal goods or kill hostages. They are believed to be holding seventeen ships with about three hundred crew members. Among the ships is a Ukrainian vessel hijacked(劫持) in September with a load of military weapons including tanks.
The increase in piracy is raising the cost of insuring ships. Also, oil from the Middle East and exports from East Asia could take longer to arrive.
Some of the world’s heaviest shipping traffic passes the Somali coast. But major shipping companies have begun to consider new routes. One of the world’s biggest shippers, A.P, Moeller Maersk, says it will avoid the Gulf of Aden. A move away from the Suez Canal could hurt Egypt’s economy.
American and other foreign navy ships are now watching for pirates. This week the Indian Navy destroyed a heavily armed “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden. But the area to protect covers more than one hundred sixty million square kilometers.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is the key to solving the piracy in Somalia?
A. Providing lots of money. B. Ending Civil war.
C. Supplying enough food. D. Handling Somalia’s political problems.
2. Somali pirates do the following things except that _______.
A. they demand money B. they hold the ships with crew
C. they kill some of the hostages D. they hijack ships with military weapons
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A. The cost of ship transport is decreasing.
B. The routes of some ships might change.
C. Nothing has been done to fight against the piracy.
D. The Suez Canal is of no importance to Egypt’s economy.
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ACTeen-Acting for Teens
The nation’s first on-camera acting program developed for teens(ages 13—15, 16—20). Now celebrating our 30th year. June, July, August, or。Saturday summer academies offer full or part-time curriculum. 14 + electives, including film & television acting, theater, musical theater, auditioning, Shakespeare, speech ＆ voice, movement, script writing.
Working grades, small classes(12 maximum per workshop). Safe, convenient location. Application required. Out of town applicants may submit long distance application.
Cost/Week: $500一$649
Indianhead Ranch
Sharpen your H unting Skills over one or two weeks at Indianhead Ranch in Del Rio, Texas. You will experience the outdoors, expand your knowledge in gun safety and learn practical camping hunting and survival skills.
Cost/Week: $1000一$1999
Vermont Adventure Camps
Six-Day Adventure Camps
We offer 8 six-day adventure camps for teens l1 to 13. The kids go stay in rustic cabins at our camping site in Andover VT and on adventures each day. A discount of 10％ will be given to the team with over 3 persons.
Two-Week Adventure Camps
We also offer 4 two-week adventure camps for teens 14 to 17. The teens will go on an adventure each day and then come back to our quaint Adventure Lodge.
Cost/Week: $650
International ESL Camp
The site is in close proximity to New York, Philadelphia, and Princeton University. Campers will receive three hours per day of English language instruction, a full range of planned activities including sports, arts and crafts, and weekly excursions.
Cost/Week: $650一$999
1.According to the passages, which camp offers hunting skills?
A. Vermont Adventure Camps. B. Indianhead Ranch.
C. Acting for Teens. D. International ESL Camp.
2.Which of the following statements about ACTeeen is TRUE?
A. Applicants out of town cannot submit.
B. There i s no need for application to the camp.
C. The camp lasts until September.
D. Its curriculum includes script writing.
3. If Tom plans to send his 4 children to join Six-Day Adventure Camps, how much should he pay?
A. 2,340. B. 2,600. C. 260. D. 2,860.
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It happened one morning 20 years ago. A British scientist Alec Jeffrey came across DNA fingerprinting: He identified the patterns of genetic material that are unique to almost every individual. His discovery changed everything from the way we do criminal investigations to the way we decide family law. But the professor of genetics at the University of Leicester, UK, is still surprised, and a bit worried, by the power of the technology he released upon the world.
The patterns within DNA are unique to each individual, except identical twins, who share the same pattern. The ability to identify these patterns has been used to convict(证明…有罪) murderers and to clear people who are wrongly accused. It is also used to identify the victims of war and settle disputes over who is the father of a child.
Jeffrey said he and his colleagues made the discovery by accident while tracking genetic variations(变异). But, within six months of the discovery, genetic fingerprinting had been used in an immigration case, to prove that an African boy really was his parents’ son.·In 1986, it was used for the first time in a British criminal case: It cleared one suspect after being accused of two murders and helped convict another man.
DNA testing is now very common. In Britain, a national criminal database established in 1995 now contains 2.5 million DNA samples. The U.S. and Canada are developing similar systems. But there are fears about the stored DNA samples and how they could be used to harm a person’s privacy. That includes a person’s medical history, racial origin or psychological profile. “There is the long-term risk that people can get into these samples and start getting additional information about a person’s paternity(父子关系) or risk of disease,” Jeffrey said.
DNA testing is not an unfailing proof of identity. Still, it is considered a reasonably reliable system for determining the things it is used for. Jeffrey estimates the probability of two individuals’ DNA profiles matching in the most commonly used tests at one in a billion.
1.According to the text, DNA testing can NOT be used in _______ .
A. doing criminal investigations B. deciding faraily law
C. clearmg wrongly accused people D. telling twins apart
2.DNA samples are not popular with all the people because _______ .
A. the government in Britain establishes a criminal database
B. the US and Canada develop similar systems
C. DNA samples can be used to harm a person’s privacy
D. DNA testing is too expensive and dangerous now
3.Where will you most probably find this article?
A. In a guidebook. B. In a storybook.
C. In a science fiction. D. In a scientific magazine.
4.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Discovery of DNA testing by Jeffery B. Practice of DNA testing in court
C. DNA testing in the present situation D.Benefits and side effects of DNA testing
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In this voyage I visited my new colony on the island, saw the Spaniards(西班牙人), had the whole story of their lives and of the villains(罪犯) I left there; how at first they treated the poor Spaniards badly,·how they afterwards agreed, disagreed, unired, separated, and how at last the Spaniards were forced to use violence with them; how they gave in to the spaniards, how honestly the Spaniards used them ---- a history, if it were entered into, as full of variety and wonderful accidents as my own part ---- particularly, also, as to their battles with the Caribbeans, who landed several times upon the Island, and as to the improvement they made upon the Island itself, and how five of them made an attempt upon the main land, and brought away eleven men and five women prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty young children on the Island.
Here I stayed bout 20 days, left them supplies of all necessary things, and particularly of arms, powder, shot, cloths, tools, and two workmen, which I brought from England with me, namely a carpenter and a smith.
Besides this, I shared the Island into parts with them, reserved to myself the property of whole but gave them such parts resoeetively as they agreed on; and having settled all things with them and encouraged them not to leave the place, I left them there.
From then on I landed the Brazils, from where I sent a bark, which I bought there, with more people to the island; and in it, besides other supplies, I sent seven women, being such persons as I found proper for service, or for wives to such as would take them. As to the Englishmen, I promised them to send them some women from England, with a good cargo(船货) of necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting ---- which I afterwards could not perform. And the fellows proved very honest and diligent after they were mastered and had their properties set apart for them. I sent them also from the Brazils five cows, three of them being big with calf, some sheep, and some pigs, which when I came again were considerably increased.
But all these things, with an account how 300 Caribbeans came and invaded(入侵) them, and ruined their plantations, and how they fought with that whole number twice, and were at first defeated, and one of them killed; but at last a storm destroying most of their enemies’ boats, they destroyed almost all the rest, and renewed and recovered the possession of their plantation, and still lived upon the Island.
All these things, with some very surprising incidents in some new adventures of my own, for ten years more, I may perhaps give a further account of the story.
1.From Paragraph l, we know _______ .
A. the Spaniards were always getting along well with the villains
B. the Spaniards were always the rulers of the island
C. the Spaniards and the villains both ruled the island peacefully
D. the Spaniards and the villains once had battles witll each other
2.In Paragraph 2, the place where I stayed was probably ________.
A. a wild island B. a deserted downtown
C. a primitive supermarket D. a new city
3.The underlined word “respectively” in the third paragraph probably means ______ .
A. separately B. particularly C. specially D. surprisingly
4.The writer of the story once went to _______.
A. Japan and Brazil B. England and Brazil
C. France and Spain D. Korea and Caribbean
5.From the story, we can judge the Writer might be _______ .
A. an invader B. a carpenter C. an adventurer D. a prisoner
