1 . Oil is essential for modern life. About 64 percent of the world’s oil is located in the Middle East, but the heaviest consumers of oil are Europe, America, and Japan. The problem lies in getting the oil from the countries that produce it to the countries that consume it. This is mainly done using oil tankers. Usually the oil is shipped safely and with no problems, but occasionally there is a disaster.
Every year millions of tons of oil are spilled into the ocean. Although this is only a small percentage of the total amount shipped around the world each year, this spilled oil can have terrible effects on ocean life, including the coastlines where the oil washes up onto shore.
One of the worst oil spills in history occurred along the Alaskan coastline in 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker got stuck off the coast of Alaska, spilling 42 million liters of oil. Although it wasn’t the largest oil spill, the disaster was terrible because it occurred in such a sensitive natural area. In this spill, the tanker’s captain, who was tired from overwork and drinking alcohol, had gone to take a rest. He gave control of the ship to another sailor, who was unfamiliar with the route. The ship ran onto Bligh Reef. Damaged by the reef, the ship leaked oil out into the ocean. More than 1,600 kilometers of coastline were affected by the oil spill. Many birds and otters died as a result of the oil covering their skin, and many other sea creatures and the animals that fed on them were also severely affected.
1. Which country is NOT among the largest consumers of oil?| A．Japan | B．Iraq |
| C．America | D．Germany |
| A．The birds. | B．The otters. |
| C．The sea creatures. | D．The birds and the otters. |
| A．The oil leak of Alaska is because the captain was unfamiliar with the route. |
| B．Many birds and otters died from eating the spilled oil. |
| C．Alaska spill was the most serious spill of all time. |
| D．Although some oil leak is not serious, it will affect ocean life. |
2 . Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
1. What is the best title for this newspaper article?| A．The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
| B．Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route |
| C．Driver Escapes Through Car Boot |
| D．The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. | C．The screw. | D．The horn. |
| A．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down. |
| B．Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam. |
| C．Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road. |
| D．Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat. |
| A．Luckily the door was torn away in the end | B．At last the wrench went broken |
| C．The lock came open after all his efforts | D．The chance was lost at the last minute |
| A．the ditch was along a quiet country road | B．the accident happened on a clear warm day |
| C．the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch | D．Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended |
3 . It was an amazing feeling to be acknowledged for the Pride Of Britain award at No 10 Downing Street.
The last thing you expect when doing something as ordinary as picking your son up from a sleepover is to end up saving three people’s lives in a plane crash—but that’s exactly what happened to me in May this year.
I think I was acting unconsciously. I jumped out, leaving Giacomo in the car.
The plane was upside down and flames were coming out of the driver’s seat and I could hear screaming. I think there must have been roughly half a minute between getting the first and last person out. Then another guy—who turned out to be Joel Snarr—arrived on the scene to help at just the right time. I don’t think I’d have been able to get the pilot out—he was a big guy. There is no way he would have survived if Joel hadn’t been there. I could tell straight away Joel had a military background by how he conducted himself. We’d just got all three of them to a safe distance when the aircraft was completely swallowed by the flames.
Giacomo and I stared at each other, almost laughing in relief.
The emergency services arrived pretty quickly, and we were at the scene for a couple of hours while they dealt with the fire and cleared the roads. Afterwards I spoke to the family,and that was the first time the emotion of the whole thing hit me.I kept randomly bursting into tears.
Thankfully, Stuart Moore, the pilot, and his nephew and niece Jack Moore, 19, and Billie Manley, 16, have all since made a full recovery. Jack and Billie were suffering a lot more than I was. Although they were safe, the memory of being inside that burning plane would have been more of an emotional scar.
1. What do we know about the author?| A．He prided himself on being helpful. |
| B．He regretted having saved the family. |
| C．He was overcome by fear and despair then. |
| D．He was well equipped with first-aid knowledge. |
| A．Joel Snarr’s character. | B．The importance of teamwork. |
| C．The rescue process. | D．An investigation of the air crash. |
| A．It was a narrow escape. |
| B．They both appreciated Joel’s help. |
| C．They both survived the crashing plane. |
| D．The emergency services arrived in time. |
| A．An Unforgettable Award. | B．A Crashing Plane. |
| C．A Thrilling Rescue. | D．An Exciting Experience. |
4 . A Russian spacecraft traveling to the International Space Station Thursday had to make an emergency landing when a rocket engine failed to fire. It was the latest in a recent series of failures for the Russian space program, which is also used by the U.S. to carry its astronauts to the station.
United States astronaut Nick Hague and Russian astronaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely about 20 kilometers from Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The city is about 450 kilometers from the Russia’s Baikonur space center, which Russia operates through an agreement with the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Both the U.S. space agency NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos reported that the two were quickly recovered from the landing area by rescue crews. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “Thank God the crew is alive” after they had landed safely.
About two minutes after launching, the three-stage Soyuz booster rocket suffered an unspecified failure of its second stage. Russia’s TASS news agency said the capsule carrying the two men separated from the troubled rocket safely. This caused the capsule to drop very sharply into the Earth’s atmosphere. Parachutes（降落伞）helped slow the returning capsule. Search and rescue teams were sent to recover the crew.
Russia’s RIA news agency reported that Russia has immediately put off all manned space launches after the failure. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said he had ordered a state commission to carry out an investigation into what went wrong. He said Russia will share all relevant information with the U.S.
The TASS news agency said that the ISS crew has enough supplies and that the failed launch will not affect operations.
The U.S. and other nations have depended on Russia to carry astronauts to the ISS since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. In coming years, American aerospace companies SpaceX, with its Dragon 2, and Boeing, with its Starliner, are expected to return to space.
1. What can be the best title of the text?| A．The Rescue of Two Astronauts |
| B．The Launch of Russian Spacecraft |
| C．Cooperation between Russia and America |
| D．Emergency Landing in Failed Space Launch |
| A．The problem of the engine. | B．The terrible weather. |
| C．The drop of the capsule. | D．The wrong operation. |
| A．SpaceX is sure to go back to space soon. |
| B．America carried astronauts to the ISS by itself before 2011. |
| C．Now only Russia can carry astronauts to space. |
| D．the ISS crew lives a very good life in the space station. |
| A．The capsule landed safely in Dzhezkazgan, Russia. |
| B．Russia had never failed in the space launch before this failure. |
| C．The failed launch will have a serious effect on the operations. |
| D．At first the capsule dropped very rapidly into the Earth’s atmosphere. |
