【推荐1】Back in 2001，Pen Hadow and I traveled to the North Pole.One morning we’d just taken down our tent and started skiing. Pen was in front，and I was following him.Suddenly I got a strange feeling that something was behind us. I stopped，looked back and saw a polar bear, walking towards us.

Pen and I planned to stay where we were, try and look big, and frighten it away. Pen had a shotgun that we’d bought in Russia.That was his job. My job was to look big and to take off my skis, hold the skis in the air, make lots of noise，and frighten away the bear. Pen raised the gun and fired into the air. However, it jammed and failed to work.

The bear was walking towards us. Pen tried again, but again it didn’t work.Then he walked towards the bear, and I thought，“Wow，Pen’s gone completely mad. He’s going to get eaten.What should I do?”

I thought maybe I could throw a ski at it or stab(刺) it with a ski pole or something.Suddenly, the bear stopped. Pen stopped. Bang! The gun went off in the air. There was a big cloud of smoke that I thought surprised Pen and me more than it surprised the bear.The animal looked up, looked down, turned around and walked off. Pen turned round and said, “Quick，get the camera and take a photograph,” and that was when suddenly I felt really nervous. I couldn’t even undo the zip on our bag.

That was the morning of the second day of this journey. We were out there for two months—fifty-nine days, but we never saw another bear that close.

1. What happened to the author and Pen?

A．They lost their way.

B．They felt terribly ill.

C．They broke their tent.

D．They were followed by a bear.

2. Which of the following can best describe the author and Pen?

A．Calm and brave.

B．Caring and proud.

C．Honest and friendly.

D．Careful and humorous.

3. .Who frightened the bear away in the end?

A．The author.

B．A hunter.

C．Pen.

D．Another animal.

4. In the text，the author mainly talks about .

A．his discovery in the North Pole	B．his experience in the North Pole
C．why he traveled to the North Pole	D．how he traveled across the North Pole

【推荐3】A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world’s people may not have enough water by the year 2025.

A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than 335 million people lack enough water now. The people live in 28 countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.

P-A-I researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about 3,000 million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on the earth stays the same.

Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.

The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking water is not safe. Mr Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which are carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.

The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.

The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.

1. The first four paragraphs mainly tell us         .

A．the study of the global water condition	B．the fact of the global lack of water
C．the seriousness of water shortage	D．the importance of water resources

2. Which of the following problems is NOT true about lack of water according to the passage?

A．It may influence the development of the economics.

B．It may bring about a lot of health problems.

C．It may result in more international conflict.

D．It may lead to the improvement of new industries.

3. Which of the following is the best way to solve water problem in the long run?

A．To use water in a variety of ways.	B．To become aware of the water problem.
C．To reduce the use of agricultural water.	D．To limit the rising birthrate of the earth.

4. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

A．	B．
C．	D．

【推荐2】One might expect that the ever-growing demands of the tourist trade would bring nothing but good for the countries that receive the holiday-makers. Indeed, a rosy picture is painted for the long-term future of the holiday industry. Every month sees the building of a new hotel somewhere. And every month another rock-bound Pacific island is advertised as the last paradise (天堂) on earth.

However, the scale and speed of this growth seem set to destroy the very things tourists want to enjoy. In those countries where there was a rush to make quick money out of sea-side holidays, over-crowded beaches and the concrete jungles of endless hotels have begun to lose their appeal.

Those countries with little experience of tourism can suffer most. In recent years, Nepal set out to attract foreign visitors to fund developments in health and education. Its forests, full of wildlife, and rare flowers, were offered to tourists as one more untouched paradise. In fact, the nature all too soon felt the effects of thousands of holiday-makers traveling through the forest land. Ancient tracks became major routes for the walkers, with the consequent exploitation (开采) of precious trees and plants.

Not only can the environment of a country suffer from the sudden growth of tourism. The people as well rapidly feel its effects. Farmland makes way for hotels, roads and airports; the old way of life goes. The one-time farmer is now the servant of some multi-national organization; he is no longer his own master. Once it was his back that bore the pain; now it is his smile that is exploited. No doubt he wonders whether he wasn't happier in his village working his own land.

Thankfully, the tourist industry is waking up to the responsibilities it has towards those countries that receive its customers. The protection of wildlife and the creation of national parks go hand in hand with tourist development and in fact obtain financial support from tourist companies. At the same time, tourists are being encouraged to respect not only the countryside they visit but also its people.

The way tourism is handled in the next ten years will decide its fate and that of the countries we all want to visit. Their needs and problems are more important than those of the tourist companies. Increased understanding in planning world-wide tourism can preserve the market for these companies. If not, in a few years' time the very things that attract tourists now may well have been destroyed.

1. The example of Nepal is used to suggest _______.

A．its natural resources are untouched	B．its forests are exploited for farmland
C．it develops well in health and education	D．it suffers from the heavy flow of tourists

2. What can we learn about the farmers from Paragraph 4?

A．They are happy to work their own lands.

B．They have to please the tourists for a living.

C．They have to struggle for their independence.

D．They are proud of working in multi-national organizations.

3. The author’s attitude towards the development of the tourist industry is _______.

A．optimistic

B．doubtful

C．objective

D．negative

【推荐3】Lisa Gautier receives nearly a dozen parcels of human hair every day. With her San-Francisco-based non-profit organization Matter of Trust, Gautier turns donated hair into mats used to soak up oil spills on land, and booms (long tubes) used for spills at sea.

A standard way to clean up oil from land is to use mats made from polypropylene (聚丙烯). But polypropylene is a non-biodegradable plastic, and producing it ultimately means more drilling for oil. Hair, by contrast, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up around five times its weight in oil, according to Matter of Trust, and it is abundant.

Oil spills can pollute drinking water, endanger public health, harm plants and wildlife, and damage the economy. According to Gautier, the spills that hit the headlines only make up 5% of global oil pollution.

Megan Murray, an environmental biologist at the University of Technology Sydney, develops sustainable technologies to tackle oil spills. Her research indicates that as well as being biodegradable, human hair is often just as effective as polypropylene, and in some circumstances even better. “The hair mats are very beneficial to land spills,” says Murray but adds that when raw oil is spilled on beach sand, it is very difficult to absorb it using any of the materials she has tested. Another advantage of hair is that it costs less than conventional materials and is “globally accessible as a recycled material,” she says.

However, Murray cautions that hair mats are not a perfect solution, because they are single-use, and can only be dealt with by burning or by burying into soil which then isn’t suitable for growing food. She is now researching methods to extract the oil from a used hair mat, meaning both can be reused.

As the hair mat designs aren’t under patent, other groups have begun producing their own mats and booms. Gautier is pleased to see the movement growing. “Anyone can make a hair mat,” she says. “It creates green jobs, it cleans water, it reduces waste in landfill, and it’s promoting renewable resources.”

1. What do we know about polypropylene according to the passage?

A．People need more oil to produce polypropylene.

B．Polypropylene can soak up five times its weight in oil.

C．It is biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

D．People seldom use mats made from it to clean up oil from land.

2. What does Megan Murray think of the hair mats?

A．Hair mats do no harm to soil after being burnt.

B．Hair mats are not a perfect solution because they can’t be recycled now.

C．People spend more to make hair mats than conventional materials.

D．The effect of hair mats on terrestrial (陆地上的) spills is not very good.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Most oil-spill events have received widespread media coverage.

B．Lisa Gautier donated her hair to soak up oil spills on land and at sea.

C．Megan Murray goes all out to make the hair mats and the oil extracted from them reused.

D．There are many other materials used to treat oil spills on beach sand besides hair.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．How to Tackle Oil Spills

B．A Perfect Recycled Material—Human Hair

C．Take Action to Make Hair Mats And Booms

D．Human Hair Is Being Used to Clean Up Oil Spills

【推荐2】Sleep，considered as a luxury by many, is essential for a person’s well-being. Researchers have found that insufficient sleep and tiredness increase a person’s risk of developing severe medical conditions, such as obesity, high blood sugar levels and heart disease. Now, a new study has found that getting sufficient sleep is also the key to improving academic performance.

Jeffery Gross, the university science professor who led the research, was not trying to find the relationship between sleep and grades when he handed out smartwatches to the 100 students in his chemistry class. Instead, the professor hoped the wrist-worn devices, which track a person’s physical activity, would show a connection between exercise and academic achievements.

While Gross’s data showed no relationship between these two factors, the study found something surprising. As the researchers were analyzing the data, they noticed a linear(线性的)relationship between the average amount of sleep the students got and their results in the course’s 11 quizzes, three midterm tests and the final exam.

Even more interesting, it was not sufficient for students to just head to bed early the night before the test. Instead, it’s the sleep you get during the days when learning is happening that matters most.

When students went to bed each night was similarly important. Those went to bed in the early hours of the morning performed poorly, even if the total sleep time was the same as higher-performing student. “When you go to bed matters,” Gross says. “If you go to bed at 10, or 12, or 1 at night, and sleep for 7 hours, your performance is the same. But if you go to bed after 2, your performance started to go down even if you get the same seven hours’ sleep. So, quantity isn’t everything.”

Perhaps the most interesting was the huge impact that small differences in sleep patterns had on the students’ grades. The overall course grades of students averaging six and a half hours of sleep each night were 25% lower than students who averaged just one hour more sleep. Similarly, students who varied their bedtime by even one hour each night had grades that dropped 45% below those with more regular bedtime.

Who knows getting straight A’s just required some extra sleep?

1. Based on his original objective, which best describes Professor Gross’s research findings?

A．Accidental	B．Complete
C．Convincing	D．Doubtful

2. Who were the people taking part in the study?

A．Middle school chemistry students

B．Professor Gross’s own students

C．Volunteers from different universities

D．University student athletes

3. How did Professor Gross’s team measure students’ academic performance?

A．Making the students wear special watches

B．Using students’ university entrance test results

C．Giving the students regular quizzes after class

D．Using the students’ normal test and quiz grades

4. Based on the study’s findings, who is likely to perform best academically?

A．A student who has a good night’s sleep the night before an important test.

B．A student whose normal bedtime varies between 9 p.m. and 12 p.m.

C．A student who sleeps from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day.

D．A student who sleeps for a total of 7 hours each night.