I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man,” she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
1. The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ________.
| A．show she was familiar with the city |
| B．see some places for the last time |
| C．let the driver earn more money |
| D．reach the destination on time |
| A．wanted to do her a favor |
| B．shut off the meter by mistake |
| C．had received her payment in advance |
| D．was in a hurry to take other passengers |
| A．Giving is always a pleasure. |
| B．People should respect each other. |
| C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy. |
| D．People should learn to appreciate others’ concern. |
| Take Action for a Better World: Volunteers Needed Six months’ preparation in Denmark: Africa studies, team work combined with social work with risk group teenagers. Six months’ community work in Malawi in People to People Projects: Child Aid, HIV / AIDS. Fights and Teacher Training. Qualifications: 18 years, hard working and social engagement. Please contact us by e-mail: takeaction@ betterworld.com. |
| Part-time work with Exchange Students YOUTH International is a non-profit high school foreign exchange students organization. We welcome teenagers from over 80 countries worldwide and provide host families. The community Representative is a part-time position designed for people with a strong desire to do something rewarding in the community and earn some extra money. Applicants best suited for this work should enjoy teenagers, have a strong interest in cross-cultural communication and feel comfortable networking. Full training and support will be provided through branch offices throughout the US. Positions available in most states. If interested, please email staff@ youth. org or call 888—123—9872. |
| International Summer Job Hi, I’m an ESL student in China. I’m 20, quiet and polite, and I speak reasonable English. I’m looking for a summer job in an English-speaking country. I can teach Chinese or do house and garden work and cook Chinese dishes. Can anybody offer me a job? I don’t need to earn much, just enough in two months ( July --- August) to pay for my return ticket to China. My goal is to improve my English and see a bit more of the world. My email is: ram3462@ hotmail.com. |
| Call for Native Speaker of English I am looking for native speakers of English to join in an experiment. This experiment is carried out over the Internet. You don’t need any specific knowledge other than understanding and speaking English at a native level. The first task will take you around 15 minutes. After this task, you can decide whether you want to continue the experiment. The tasks involve reading texts and designing questions and answers. If you are willing to help me, then please email us: club3864@ hotmail.com |
1. o is suitable to work as a Community Representative in YOUTH International?
| A．One who enjoys working with teenagers from different countries. |
| B．One who hopes to take action in fighting against diseases. |
| C．One who has a strong desire to improve his or her English. |
| D．One who wants to earn some pocket money in the program. |
| A．In some local offices in the US. |
| B．In an ESL organization in China. |
| C．In a preparation program in Demark. |
| D．In an exchange student center in Africa. |
| A．takeaction@betterworld.com | B．ram3462@hotmail.com |
| C．club3864@hotmail.com | D．staff@youth.org |
| A．To interview people online. | B．To do some house work. |
| C．To offer advice on Child Aid | D．To provide language exercises. |
第一节阅读理解(共20小题；
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Even plant can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared （红外线）scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide （杀虫剂）spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don’t have pest （害虫）problems.
Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3, 000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running“fevers”. Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley’s company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long - term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. “This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, ” says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson , who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only ff Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
1. Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are______________.
| A．sprayed with pesticides |
| B．facing an infrared scanner |
| C．in poor physical condition |
| D．exposed to excessive sun rays |
| A．estimate the damage to the crops |
| B．measure the size of the affected area |
| C．draw a color-coded map |
| D．locate the problem area |
| A．resorting to spot-spraying |
| B．consulting infrared scanning experts |
| C．transforming poisoned rain |
| D．detecting crop problems at an early stage |
_______________.
| A．the lack of official support |
| B．its high cost |
| C．the lack of financial support |
| D．its failure to help increase production |
| A．the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce |
| B．growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops |
| C．the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture |
| D．full support from agricultural experts |
4 . ARLANDA, Sweden (Reuters Life!) – Many people hate the idea of having to sleep on a plane. But Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Dios thinks they can be persuaded otherwise and he has created a new kind of hostel to prove it.
Dios says it is the world’s first jumbo (unusually large) jet hostel, an actual jet-plane at Sweden’s main airport outside Stockholm which has been changed into a 25- room guesthouse that sleeps as many as 72 people.
“I learned about this plane that was standing deserted at Arlanda airport and I’ve been trying the concept of hostels in many different houses and buildings,” he told Reuters. “I thought, ‘Why not a plane?’”
Jumbo Hostels opened for business on Thursday, giving customers the chance to check in and sleep in a room that can best be described as comfortable.”
“The most challenging part with this project is trying to build something inside a metal hull(壳) – it’s just really, really tight.”
The jet, which was originally produced for Singapore Airlines, was taken out of service in 2002. It is held on a concrete foundation with the landing gear secured in steel cradles.
One feature of the hostel is its price – a room starts at 350 Swedish crowns (about $ 41), which is a lot less than hotel rooms outside of major airports.
Another feature is that customers can get married on the wing of the plane and stay in the plane’s more luxurious honeymoon suite (套房).
Instead of walking down the aisle in the church, lovebirds can take what Jumbo Hostels calls the “wing walk,” where they can be joined in great happiness at the wing tip. The hostel has someone ready to perform the ceremony.
But in some respects this hostel remains a plane – most customers have to share the jet’s nine bathrooms and the staff only wear air host and hostess outfits. The only room that has its own bathroom is the honeymoon suite.
1. One of the features of the plane hostel is that______.| A．customers can sleep in comfortable rooms | B．air hostesses can offer good service |
| C．a wedding ceremony can be held on the wing | D．the staff can have a “wing walk” |
| A．the hostel lies at Arlanda airport in Stockholm | B．the jet plane was out of use in 2002 |
| C．the hostel provides nine bathrooms for customers | D．every hostel room is $ 41 per night |
| A．crowded | B．tense | C．small | D．full |
| A．introduce a new kind of hostel | B．describe a wonderful place for weddings |
| C．prove people can sleep on a plane | D．call on people to make use of the deserted things |
5 . Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code (基因编码) mapped at birth, the head of the worlds’ leading genome sequencing (基因图谱) company has predicted.
A complete DNA read – out for every newborn will be technically possible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal problems are likely to delay the age of “genome sequences,” or genetic profiles. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants’ genes when they are born, Dr Flatly told The Times.
This will open a new approach to medicine, by which conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease can be predicted and prevented and drugs used more safely and effectively.
A baby’s genome can be discovered at birth by a blood test. By examining a person’s genome, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing diseases such as cancers. Those at high risk can then he screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.
Personal genomes could also he used to ensure that patients get the medicine that is most likely to work for them and least likely to have side – effects.
The development, however, will raise legal concerns about privacy and access to individuals’ genetic records.
“Bad things can be done with the genome. It could predict something about someone – and you could possibly hand the information to their employer or their insurance company.” said Dr Flatley.
“People have to recognize that this horse is out of the barn, and that your genome probably can’t be protected, because everywhere you go you leave your genome behind. Complete genetic privacy, however, is unlikely to be possible”, he added.
As the benefits become clearer, however, he believes that most people will want their genomes read and interpreted. The risk is nothing compared with the gain.
1. In the first two paragraphs, the author mainly wants to tell us about______.| A．the significant progress in medicine |
| B．the promise of a leading company |
| C．the information of babies’ genes |
| D．the research of medical scientists |
| A．The delaying in discovering DNA. |
| B．The risk of developing diseases at birth. |
| C．The side – effects of medicine on patients. |
| D．The letting out of personal genetic information. |
| A．Genetic mapping technique has been widely used. |
| B．Genetic mapping technique is too horrible to control. |
| C．People are eager to improve genetic mapping technique. |
| D．people can’t stop genetic mapping technique advancing. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Conservative. | C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
6 . Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are a major cause of climate change, and now a new study has confirmed that atmospheric CO2 is also affecting the ocean chemistry and potentially harming sea life.
Montana State University scientist Robert Dore has been researching the water in the Pacific Ocean for almost two decades.
"We've been going to the same spot in the Pacific Ocean, and we try and characterize long-term change in the open ocean environment. And one of the key things that we measure is CO2 levels. And we've been able to record this increasing quantity of atmospheric CO2 into the ocean."
Scientists expected that as atmospheric CO2 increased, more and more of the carbon dioxide would be absorbed into the ocean, affecting the chemical balance of the sea water, with a potentially harmful impact on shellfish and coral in particular.
"As carbon dioxide dissolves（溶解） in the water, or seawater in this case, it forms a weak acid, carbonic acid," Dore explains. "And therefore, as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere goes up and that exchanges with the surface seawater, it drives the pH down, and makes it more acidic."
The seawater Dore and his colleagues have analyzed confirms what the theory predicts.
The effect was particular striking at about 250 meters down, and again at 500 meters. Dore and his colleagues came up with two possible explanations. It could be that surface water picked up CO2 and then moved to those depths. Or there could be a biological explanation.
"It's important to realize that the oceans are really becoming acidic. And it can have negative impacts on a whole variety of sea life from fish to coral. It's potentially catastrophic."
1. What can be the best title of the passage?| A．Sea Life Facing Danger | B．Scientist Researching Seawater |
| C．Oceans Becoming More Acidic | D．Climate Change Affecting Seawater |
a.Sea life is endangered.
b.CO2 goes into the surface water.
c.The ocean chemistry is affected.
d.CO2decreases the PH and makes the seawater more acidic.
e.CO2 levels in the atmosphere go up.
A． |
B． |
C． |
D． |
| A．his research and analysis |
| B．the expectation of other scientists |
| C．some former theory |
| D．a major cause of climate change |
| A．It takes time to make a scientific study. |
| B．Atmospheric CO2 is doing harm to sea life. |
| C．Robert Dore is a committed and serious scientist. |
| D．Measures should be taken to prevent the potential catastrophe. |
