【推荐2】Trust me, you don’t want to get caught under a tsunami! Tsunamis are one of the world’s most powerful natural forces. They can cause huge amounts of damage.

But do you know exactly what a tsunami is? They are huge, powerful waves in the ocean that grow as they reach the shore. Most tsunamis are actually caused by earthquakes. An earthquake happens when a big piece of the Earth’s crust (地壳) suddenly moves. When the piece of ocean floor moves, it creates big holes. The water floods in to fill these holes. When the water moves that quickly, it creates a huge wave. This is how tsunamis are born!

Other natural disasters like landslides, volcanic eruptions, and glaciers breaking off can also cause tsunamis. Once the water starts moving because of the force of the disaster, large waves begin to spread. These waves can move very fast. They have been recorded at speeds from 400 up to 500 miles per hour! They can also move across very long distances.

At first, the waves of the tsunami may not seem that tall. That’s because when the waves travel through the deep parts of the ocean, the top of each wave is very short. But as that wave comes near to the coast, it grows in height. Remember, the tsunami travels quickly. If you are sitting on a beach, you may not see the wave coming at first. But when the wave arrives, it will be like a towering wall of water. Some waves are as tall as 100 feet high. The biggest tsunami ever recorded happened in 1958 in Lituya Bay, Alaska. The wave was over 1, 720 feet tall, and it wiped out trees, vegetation, and everything else in its way.

As frightening as tsunamis can be, you don’t need to worry too much about them. They don’t happen that often. Only about two tsunamis happen every year. And it is said that serious, really damaging tsunamis only happen about every fifteen years. So don’t worry.

1. According to the article, which natural disaster is not responsible for causing a tsunami?

A．Tornadoes.

B．Volcanic eruptions.

C．Earthquakes.

D．Landslides.

2. If a tsunami forms in the deep ocean, 2, 000 miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, how long at least will it take the tsunami to reach the coast of SriLanka ?

A．1 hours.

B．2 hours.

C．4 hours.

D．6 hours.

3. Which of the following about tsunami is TRUE?

A．The waves of the tsunami always move slowly over a long distance.

B．People on a ship in the deep ocean will notice a tsunami at once as soon as it forms.

C．If you are sitting on a beach, you must see the wave coming at first.

D．People will not notice a tsunami until it gets close to the coast.

4. Where would this passage most likely to be found?

A．In a music magazine.	B．In a science newspaper.
C．In a travel guide.	D．In a story book.

【推荐3】Can you survive an unannounced storm? Although there is expert broadcasting and we are equipped with cellphones, there are still some examples when the violent weather takes us by surprise.

While most Atlantic hurricanes form off the coast of Africa giving plenty of early warning, sudden Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico hurricanes form and move rapidly in less than a day’s time, endangering everyone and everything in their path.

There have been oil workers trapped off the coast when sudden storms appeared. Field archaeologists have been stuck in seaside areas without storm warnings. A few decades ago, a Texas National Guard group was trapped on the beach by rain-forced flooding and had to ride out a major hurricane during a training exercise. There’ve been a few cases where travelers were trapped on an island or in a seaside area and unable to escape in time.

Escaping from the storm-threatened areas is generally a choice for most of us - but not for all. Each year thousands of islanders across the Caribbean face the danger of hurricanes without a public shelter to hide in. Most ride out the storm in their homes.

But there are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for some unexpected emergencies. Being prepared for the unexpected may be your best and only defense. If you’re headed outdoors for a few days or weeks, you should always carry a flashlight (手电筒) with extra batteries, a GPS device (装置), and a basic medical box. If you’re traveling in your car, remember you may suffer from high winds. You’d better not stay inside to avoid being blown away along with your car. Keeping your head and your courage up is crucial to survival in any type of danger. Let common sense guide you and always be prepared for the worst.

1. According to the text, most Atlantic hurricanes ________.

A．form in the Caribbean Sea	B．come from Gulf of Mexico
C．develop off the coast of Africa	D．are from the Pacific Ocean

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The bad situations of oil workers.	B．People trapped by sudden storms.
C．The danger of traveling on an island.	D．The Texas National Guard group.

3. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To give some advice.	B．To encourage traveling.
C．To underline the danger of hurricanes.	D．To give some warnings.

4. In which part of a website would you most probably find the text?

A．Food.

B．Sports.

C．Life.

D．Culture.

【推荐2】Can dogs and cats live in perfect harmony(和谐) in the same home? People who are thinking about adopting a dog as a friend for their cats are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found a new recipe of success. According to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. Two-thirds of the homes interviewed reported a positive relationship between their cat and dog.

However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression and fighting were observed in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body signals were just opposite. For example, when a cat turns its head away it signals aggression, while a dog doing the same signals submission.

In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers observed a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other’s language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk ‘Dog’, and dogs can learn how to talk ‘Cat’.

What’s interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to develop their intelligence. They can learn to read each other’s body signals, suggesting that the two may have more in common than was previously suspected. Once familiar with each other’s presence and body language, cats and dogs can play together, greet each other nose to nose, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa. They can easily share the same water bowl and in some cases groom (梳理) each other.

The significance of this research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets -- to people who don’t get along, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even world superpowers. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.

1. The underlined word “swimmingly” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．early

B．sweetly

C．quickly

D．smoothly

2. Some cats and dogs may fight when ______.

A．they are cold to each other

B．they look away from each other

C．they misunderstand each other’s signals

D．they are introduced at an early age

3. It is suggested in Paragraph 4 that cats and dogs ______.

A．have common interests

B．are less different than was thought

C．have a common body language

D．are less intelligent than was expected

4. What can we human beings learn from cats and dogs?

A．We should learn to live in harmony.

B．We should know more about animals.

C．We should live in peace with animals.

D．We should learn more body languages.

【推荐2】What will our world be like in 2050?

There are two features in the growth of world population. First, the annual increase in population in 15 European countries, in the past few years, has been only 300,000. The United Nations estimates (估计)that by 2050, the population of European countries will decrease from the current 0.72 billion to 0.63 billion. Second, the population in developing countries is growing rapidly. By 2050，the population of Africa is expected to reach 1.8 billion, 0.9 billion more than its current population.

A recent research report published by the United Nations indicates that it is quite possible that the Earth's temperature is rising well above the previous estimate. The Antarctic ice sheet, which contains 90% of the world's ice, has lost significant mass in the past few years. The discovery comes as a surprise to scientists, who thought that the continent would gain ice this century because of increased snowfall in a warming climate. A research team from the University of Colorado used satellite data to estimate that the ice sheet will lose up to 48 cubic miles by 2050.

Africa's rivers face great change that will leave a quarter of the continent severely short of water by the middle of the century, according to a global warming study published today. Even modest decreases in rain in western Africa will see rivers lose as much as 80% of their water and a rise of what the scientists call "water refuges(难民)”. "In those areas where there is already a water shortage, it's going to have a destructive effect," the study says,.“If you're already walking 5 km to the nearest stream, by 2050,it's going to mean walking 30 km or moving your whole household closer to the water source."

1. Which of the following situations in 2050 is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Population change.

B．Economic decline.

C．Global warming.

D．Water shortage.

2. What surprises the scientists according to Paragraph 3?

A．The Antarctic ice sheet has decreased.

B．The Earth's temperature is going down.

C．Global warming is destroying the Earth.

D．Snowfall increases in the Antarctic area.

3. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph stress (强调) ?

A．The ill fate of Africa's rivers.

B．The importance of doing exercise.

C．The hard life of the African refugees.

D．The seriousness of the water problem.

4. What was the most possible feeling of the author when he wrote this text?

A．Happy.

B．Angry.

C．Worried.

D．Calm.

【推荐3】According to the US government, wind farms off the Pacific coast could produce 900 gig watts of electricity every year. Unfortunately, the water there is far too deep for even the tallest windmills(see picture)to touch bottom. An experiment under way off the coast of Norway, however, could help put them anywhere.
The project, called Hywind, is the world’s first large-scale deepwater wind turbine(涡轮发电机).Although it uses a fairly standard 152-ton,2.3-megawatt turbine, Hywind represents totally new technology. The turbine will be fixed 213 feet above the water on a floating spar(see picture),a technology Hywind’s creator, the Norwegian company StatoilHydro, has developed recently. The steel spar, which is filled with stones and goes 328 feet below the sea surface, will be tied to the ocean floor by three cable(缆索)；these will keep the spar stable and prevent the turbine from moving up and down in the waves. Hywind’s stability(稳定性)in the cold and rough sea would prove that even the deepest corners of the ocean are suitable for wind power. If all goes according to plan, the turbine will start producing electricity six miles off the coast of southwestern Norway as early as September.
To produce electricity on a large scale, a commercial wind farm will have to use bigger turbines than Hywind does, but it’s difficult enough to balance such a large turbine so high on a floating spar in the middle of the ocean. To make that turbine heavier, the whole spar’s to design a new kind of wind turbine, one whose gearbox(变速箱) sits at sea level rather than behind the blades (see picture )
Hywind is a test run, but the benefits for perfecting floating wind-farm technology could be extremely large. Out at sea, the wind is often stronger and steadier than close to shore, where all existing offshore windmills are planted. Deep-sea farms are invisible from land, which helps overcome the windmill-as-eyesore objection. If the technology catches on, it will open up vast areas of the planet’s surface to one of the best low-carbon power sources available.

1. The Hywind project uses totally new technology to ensure the stability of _______.

A．the cables which tie the spar to the ocean floor

B．the spar which is floating in deep-sea water

C．the blades driven by strong and steady sea wind

D．the stones filled in the spar below the sea surface

2. To balance a bigger turbine high on a flatting spar, a new type of turbine is to be designed with its gearbox sitting ____________.

A．on the sea floor	B．on the spar top
C．at sea level	D．behind the blades

3. Wide applications of deepwater wind power technology can ____________.

A．solve the technical problems of deepwater windmills

B．make financial profits by producing more turbines

C．settle the arguments about environmental problems

D．explore low-carbon power resources available at sea

【推荐1】On the school playground in Los Tomes, José, a lone child, plays a ball­and­cup game. The eight­year­old is the school's only pupil. His teacher, Nilda, herself a former pupil, says that enrolment(注册入学) has dropped from 65 when she started teaching 43 years ago. Drought has driven families away, she says, “Only the old remain.”

Los Tomes is an agricultural cooperative, one of 178 in Chile's Coquimbo region. Nineteen communities try to grow wheat and raise sheep and goats on 2,800 hectares. A decade­long drought has made that harder. Hilltop springs where the animals once drank have dried up. As the number of herds(畜群) decrease, farmers' children moved away to take jobs in cities or at copper mines.

① Hope for Los Tomes comes in the form of three 60­square­metre nets stretched between poles on a ridge(山脊) above the community. These nets capture(捕捉)droplets(水珠) from the fog that rolls in from the sea 4 kilometers away. They flow down to two troughs(槽), from which animals drink. The nets can harvest 650 litres of water a day.

② Chile has been investigating fog capture since the 1950s. The fog can be harvested with the help of a coastal mountain range and strong winds. Earlier attempts to turn the mist into usable water failed. In 1990 fog nets at a fishing village captured 8,000 litres a day. Villagers argued about how to share responsibility for maintaining the nets.

Climate change, which is expected to decrease rainfall in the region, has inspired a new search for sources of water. The project at Los Tomes is part of an attempt to capture fog. “The question is not whether the fog collectors work but who's going to provide and maintain them,” says Daniela.

At a community north of Los Tomes, three 150­square­metre fog catchers feed a plantation of young olive trees. When the trees mature, they will produce 750 litres of organic olive oil a year. The water source will be a big selling point. A privately owned brewery(啤酒厂)in Pena Blanca was quick to spot fog water's marketing appeal.

③ The development fund paid 5.6 million pesos each piece to put up the structures in Los Tomes；when the nets wear out, the villagers will have to replace them at a cost of 100,000 pesos each. Coquimbo has more than 40,000 hectares of land with the right conditions for putting up fog­catchers. If it were fully employed, the region could harvest 1,400 litres a second, enough to supply all its drinking water.

④ That might attract back educated young people from the cities. A chance to develop tourism near the Fray Jorge national park, a rainforest which has survived thanks to its own natural fog­collection mechanism, brought Salvador to his birthplace. “Roots, the land and the desire to start this brought me back, says Salvador.

1. The boy in the first paragraph is used as an example to show .

A．the seriousness of drought	B．the poverty of the area
C．the trend of the move	D．the lack of teachers

2. The ideal place for nets should be .

A．in the rough sea	B．on a coastal ridge
C．over the sea	D．at the foot of the ridge

3. The concern of the fishing village's people is .

A．whether the fog­catcher works

B．whether the fog­catcher can provide enough water

C．how to make the fog­catcher run well continuously

D．how to make use of the water

4. The sentence “It makes a profit, but most fog­harvesting projects require investment in their early stages.” should be put in .

A．①

B．②

C．③

D．④

5. According to the passage, which of the following statement is right？

A．Water collected from fog can be sold as beer on the market.

B．Daniela suggests that olive trees should be planted in the plantation.

C．The products made with fog water will probably appeal to the consumers.

D．Part of temperate rainforest's survival is due to the use of man­made fog nets.

6. Salvador returning to his birthplace mainly wants to .

A．protect the remaining forest	B．build more fog­catchers
C．sell handicrafts on the road stands	D．develop local tourism

【推荐2】Sleep Struggle

One in every five young people has a sleep problem, so you're not alone. Getting enough sleep has become as important as eating vegetables and exercising regularly. It's very important for your body.

Most young people only get seven hours of sleep each night, when they actually need nine hours. And making up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping on weekends doesn't really work. In fact, sleeping late on weekends may actually do you more harm than good, if you have sleep problems.

What happens if you don't get enough sleep? If your sleep problem continues for a few nights, you could suffer serious problems. Lack of sleep can affect learning and memory. Worse，if your sleep difficulties last a long time，that could lead to anxiety（焦虑）. Therefore，you've got to have some healthy sleep habits. Below are some suggestions:

* Go to bed at the same time—including weekends, if possible.

* Wake up around the same time every morning. When you sleep late just one morning during the week, it may disturb your body clock. This will make it hard for you to sleep that night.

* Do something relaxing before going to bed.

* Exercise during the day. Don't exercise right before going to bed.

* Avoid drinking. Alcohol（酒精）makes you excited. This prevents you from falling asleep or wakes you up during the night.

* Don't smoke. Smoking is always bad for the body. Smoking before bedtime keeps you awake.

If trying these tips over a couple of weeks does not help you, consult your doctor. Do not take any medicine without first asking your doctor. Many of them have strong side effects.

1. The passage suggests that people with sleep problems should      .

A．eat vegetables and exercise regularly

B．make up for lost sleep on weekends

C．follow a fixed timetable for sleep

D．sleep seven hours every day

2. According to the suggestions, which of the following makes it easier for you to fall asleep?

A．Getting up earlier than usual in the morning.

B．Listening to soft music before going to bed.

C．Drinking alcohol before going to bed.

D．Doing exercise in the evening.

3. What should you do if these tips don't work on you over a period of time?

A．Just keep trying.

B．Turn to a doctor for help.

C．Try some medicines.

D．Wait for your sleeping problems to get better.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A diary.	B．A novel.
C．A travel guide.	D．A magazine.

【推荐3】How I Turned to Be Optimistic

I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt＇s house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times. ”
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule: Almost all common troubles eventually go away! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.
1. How did the author get to know America?

A．From her relatives.	B．From her mother.
C．From Books and pictures.	D．From radio programs.

2. Upon leaving for America the author felt ________.

A．confused	B．excited
C．worried	D．amazed

3. For the first two years in New York, the author ________.

A．often lost her way

B．did not think about her future

C．studied in three different schools

D．got on well with her stepfather

4. What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 4?

A．She worked as a translator.

B．She attended a lot of job interviews.

C．She paid telephone bills for her family.

D．She helped her family with her English.

5. The author believes that ________.

A．her future will be free from troubles

B．it is difficult to learn to become patient

C．there are more good things than bad things

D．good things will happen if one keeps trying