Valuing water
     Human beings use a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet shortages and droughts (干旱)
are causing starvation and poverty in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water
supplies. Since the world's population is expected to double in the next 51 years, many experts think we are on
the edge of a widespread water crisis.
     But that doesn't have to be the result. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world-if we start valuing
water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to value petrol more after the 1970s oil crisis, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic view. We can no longer afford to consider water a nearly
free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.
     Instead, for all uses except the demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its real value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.
     Governments should also protect this source by providing water in more economically and environmentally
sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation (灌溉) water in the dry places is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions(凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.
     No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their ways to
use water. Rather than control hundreds or even thousands of local, regional agencies that watch water use,
countries should set up central authorities to manage water policy.

1. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis? 

A. Only half of the world's water can be used.
B. The world population is increasing faster and faster.
C. Half of the world's resources have been seriously polluted.
D. Human beings have not placed sufficient value on water resources.

2. We can conclude from the passage that the water problem ______.

A. is already serious in certain parts of the world
B. has been exaggerated by some experts in the field
C. poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs
D. is underestimated by government organizations at different levels

3. According to the author, the water price should ______.

A. be reduced to the minimum
B. stimulate domestic demand
C. equal its real value
D. take into account the occurrences of droughts.

     In today's throw-away society, dealing with the city's growing mountain of waste is an increasing challenge
for the city council (市議會).
     Recently, Edinburgh is faced with the problem of disposing of (處理) about 250,000 million tons of waste
a year. Despite different ways to dispose of much of it in a green manner-largely through encouraging recycling-
its aging facilities such as the Powderhall landfill do not have the ability to deal with it.
     The European Union (EU) has issued a new policy, regulating how such mountains of waste are to be
disposed of. The five councils (Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian and Borders) face fines
around ￡18 million a year from 2013 if they don't increase recycling levels and rely less on landfill. With this
in mind, the councils got together with the idea of building a large incinerator plant (垃圾焚燒廠) to burn half
of the waste produced in their districts. But this plan fell apart after the change of target levels by a new UK
government waste policy which required that no more than 25% of the city's waste should be disposed of in
this way by 2025.
     After the plan was abandoned, a private company which already transported millions of tons of the city's
waste by train to a landfill site near Dunbar, offered an alternative solution when it suggested opening a huge
waste site near Portobello.
     Since Powderhall is supposed to close in 2015, it seemed necessary for the members of the Edinburgh
Council to accept the suggestion. But soon they turned it down-after 700 local objections reached them-because
it would have meant hundreds of lorries a day making loud noise through heavily populated areas.
     That still leaves the council with a problem. By 2013, only 50% of 1995 levels of waste will be allowed to
be sent to landfill. Even if recycling targets are met, there will still be a large amount of rubbish to be burnt up.
Due to this, Edinburgh and Midlothian councils have now decided to work together to build an incinerator plant
as time to find a solution is fast running out.

1. The main way of handling waste in a green manner in Edinburgh is _____.

A. recycling
B. restoring
C. burying
D. burning

2. The five councils worked out a plan to build an incinerator plant to _____.

A. reduce the cost of burying waste
B. meet the EU requirements
C. speed up waste recycling
D. replace landfill sites

3. The city council of Edinburgh rejected the suggestion to open a huge landfill site near Portobello because
    _____.

A. it came from a private company
B. the council was not interested in it
C. it was not supported by EU
D. the local people were against it

4. What is the final decision of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils?

A. To open a new landfill nearby.
B. To close the Powderhall landfill in 2015.
C. To set up a plan for burning waste.
D. To persuade people to deduce their waste.

                                               Waste to Energy-JUST BURN IT!
     WHY BURN WASTE?
     Waste-to-energy plants generate (產(chǎn)生) enough electricity to supply 2.4 million households in the US. But,
provrding electricity is not the major advantage of waste-to-energy plants. In fact, it costs more to generate
electrlcity at a waste-to-energy plant than it does at a coal, nuclear, or hydropower plant.
     The maior advantage of burning waste is that it considerably reduces the amount of trash going to landfills.
The average American produces more than l,600 pounds of waste a year. If all this waste were landfilled, it
would take more than two cubic yards of landfill space. That's the volume of a box three feet long, three feet
wide, and six feet high. If that waste were burned, the ashes would fit into a box three feet long, three feet
wide, but only nine inches high!
     Some communities in the Northeast may be running out of land for new landfills. And, since most people
don't want landfills in their backyards, it has become more difficult to obtain permits to build new landfms.
Taking the country as a whole, the United States has plenty of open space, of course, but it is expensive to
transport garbage a long distance to put it mto a landfill.
TO BURN OR NOT TO BURN?
     Some people are concerned that burning garbage may harm the environment. Like coal plants, waste-to-
energy plants produce air pollution when the fuel is bumed to produce steam or electricity. Burning garbage
releases the chemicals and substances found in the waste. Some chemicals can be a threat to people, the
environment, or both, if they are not properly controlled.
     Some critics of waste-to-energy plants are afraid that burning waste will hamper (妨礙, 阻礙) recycling
programs. If everyone sends their trash to a waste-to-energy plant, they say, there will be little motive to
recycle. Several states have considered or are cons idering banning waste-to-energy plants unless recycling
programs are in place. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York City have delayed new waste-to-energy
plants, hoping to increase the level of recycling first.
     So, what's the real story? Can recycling and burning waste coexist? At first glance, recycling and waste-
to-energy seem to be at odds (不一致), but they can actually complement (彌補(bǔ)) each other. That's because
it makes good sense to recycle some materials, and better sense to burn others.
     Let's look at aluminum, for example. Aluminum mineral is so expensive to mine that recycling aluminum
more than pays for itself. Burning it produces no energy. So clearly, aluminum is valuable to recycle and not
useful to burn.
     Paper, on the other hand, can either be burned or recycled-it all depends on the price the used paper will
bring. Plastics are another matter. Because plastics are made from petroleum and natural gas, they are excellent
sources of energy for waste-to-energy plants. This is especially true since plastics are not as easy to recycle
as steel, aluminum, or paper.
     Plastics almost always have to be hand sorted and making a product from recycled plastics may cost more
than making it from new materials.
     To burn or not to burn is not really the question. We should use both recycling and waste-to-energy as
alternatives to landfilling.

                                               Waste to Energy-JUST BURN IT!

     We have met the enemy and he is ours. We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually
found in the African rain forest, suddenly turns up in children in the American Midwest, it's hard not to wonder of the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings." Most of the infections (感染)
we think of as human infections started in other animals" says Stephen Morse director of the Center for Public
Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
     It's not just that we're going to where the animals are ; we're also bringing them closer to us. Popular
foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country. A strange illness killed Isaksen's pets and she
now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea."I don't think it's fair to have them as pets when we have
such a limited knowledge of them" says Isaksen.
     " Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need
changing," says Peter Schantz. Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals
may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases. A new bug (病毒) may be kind at first. But it may de- velop into something harmful (有害的). Monkey-pox doesn't look a major infectious disease.
But it is not impossible to pass the disease from person to person.

1. We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may _____.

A. come from Columbia
B. prevent us from being infected
C. enjoy being with children
D. suffer from monkey-pox

2. Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?

A. They attack human beings.
B. We need to study native animals.
C. They can't live out of the rain forest.
D. We do not know much about them yet.

3. What does the phrase" the wake-up call" in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A. A new disease.
B. A clear warning.
C. A dangerous animal.
D. A morning call.

4. The text suggests that in the future we______.

A. may have to fight against more new diseases
B. may easily get infected by diseases from dogs
C. should not be allowed to have pets
D. should stop buying pets from Africa

     The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues (疫病) that flesh receives.
     The most widespread fallacy (謬誤) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are
caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or
indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the
Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers have
reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world
by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.?
     During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches (戰(zhàn)壕), cold and wet,
showed no increased tendency to catch colds.?
     In the Second World War prisoners at the Notorious Auschwitz Concentration Camp (奧斯維辛集中營)
were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.?
     At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave
themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they
put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty
(通風(fēng)良好的) room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion.
Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.?
     If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter?
Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by
scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes
it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.?
     No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors (止痛片) such as aspirin,
but all they do is to relieve the symptoms.?

1. The passage is mainly organized by ______.

A. reasoning
B. contrasting
C. giving examples
D. providing arguments

2. Which of the following DOES NOT agree with the chosen passage??

A. Colds are not caused by cold.?
B. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.
C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.?
D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already had one.

3. The passage mainly discusses _____.

A. the experiments on the common cold
B. the mistaken idea about the common cold?
C. the reason and the way people catch colds
D. the continued spread of common colds

      The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues (疫病) that flesh receives.
The most widespread fallacy (謬誤) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are
caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or
indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the
Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have
reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside
world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
     During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches (戰(zhàn)壕), cold and wet,
showed no increased tendency to catch colds.
   In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp (奧斯維辛集中營), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
     At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they
gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in
drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
     If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most painstaking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by
scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more on cold weather than at other times, and this
makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
     No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors (止痛片) such as
aspirin, but all they do is to relieve the symptoms.

1.The writer offered _____ examples to support his argument.

A. 4      
B. 5        
C. 6        
D. 3

2. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage? 

A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.
B. Colds are not caused by cold.
C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.
D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.

3. Arctic explorers may catch colds when _____.

A. they are working in the isolated arctic regions
B. they are writing reports in terribly cold weather 
C. they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions
D. they are coming into touch again with the outside world

4. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit _____'

A. suffered a lot          
B. never caught colds  
C. often caught colds      
D. became very strong

5.  The passage mainly discusses______.

A. the experiments on the common colds
B. the fallacy about the common cold 
C. the reason and the way people catch colds
D. the continued spread of common colds

     Good health is the most valuable thing a person can have. It
is important to remember that body needs proper care in order to
be healthy. There are three things that a person can do to help stay
in good shape: eat right food, get enough sleep, and exercise
regularly.
     Proper nutrition is important for good health. Your body
cannot work well unless it receives the proper kind of "fuel".
Don't eat too much food with lots of sugar and fat. Eat plenty of
foods high in protein,like meat, fish, eggs and nuts. Vegetables
and fruits are very important because they provide necessary
  vitamins and minerals. However, don't overeat. It is not helpful to
be overweight.
     Getting the proper amount of sleep is also important. If you
don't get enough sleep,you feel tired and easily get angry. You
have no energy. Over a long period of time a little amount of sleep
may even result in a change of personality (個(gè)性). Be sure to
  allow yourself from seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If you
  do,your body will feel strong and refreshed,and your mind will be
sharp.
     Fmally ,get plenty of exercise. Exercise makes the body strong
and prevents you from putting on weight. It also improves your
  heart and lungs. If you follow a regular exercise program,you will
  probably increase your life-span (壽命) . Any kind of exercise is
good. Most sports are very good for keeping the body in good
shape: basketball, swimming, bicycling, running and so on, are
  good examples. Sports are not only good for your body,but they are
enjoyable and interesting too.
      If everybody were to eat the right foods,get plenty of sleep
and exercise regularly,the world would be a happier and healthier
place. We would all live to be much older and wiser.

1. The passage mainly tells us that _____.  

A. how we can keep fit
B. why health is important for us
C. nutrition is important for health
D. sleep is more important than nutrition and exercise

2. In order to keep good health , _____ .    

A. we should eat a lot of sweets
B. one needs a large amount of fat
C. people should eat according to the foods' nutrition
D. we must try to sleep now and then 

3. Eating more and sleeping less______ .  

A. can keep healthy
B. are not good for you
C. get you more energy
D. will keep your personality 

4. The title of the article should be _______.   

A. Eating Exercising
B. How Vitamins Work in Man's Body
C. How to Stay Healthy
D. Sleeping Well

                     The Key to Your Health
    A car needs gas to run and your body also needs food to work
for you. Eating the right kind of food is very important. It can
keep your body grow strong to take care of what you eat.
    There are four main food groups altogether. The dairy group
has food like milk, cheese and sour milk. The other three groups
are the meat and fish group, the fruit and vegetable group, and
the bread and rice group. Each meal should have at least one food
from all four main groups.  With all these food together, you will
be given enough energy during the day.
    It is easy to get into bad eating habits. You may eat your
breakfast in a hurry to get to school on time.  Or you may not have
time for a good lunch. It may seem easy to.  But you will find
yourself tired in these days and you can not think quickly.
    Watching what you eat will help your body remain healthy
and strong. It is also good to take some exercise. It will help you
eat more if you take a walk or play games in the open air.  Having
a good eating habit with some exercise is the key to your health.

1. Which of the following diets do you think is the best one?   

A. Corn,fish,cream and pork.
B. Eggs,tomatoes and chicken.
C. Milk,bread,cabbages and beef.
D. Rice,beancurd,pork,fish and chicken.

2. Which of the following is a good eating habit?  

A. Going to school without any breakfast.
B. Finishing your lunch in a very short time.
C. Eating fish and chips for supper all the time.
D. Having at least one food from all four groups in each meal.

4. In this passage the writer mainly tells us that ____.  

A. right kind of food with exercise will keep you healthy
B. taking exercise can keep your body strong
C. every person needs food to grow well
D. enough energy helps people think more quickly

4. The underlined word " dairy" in the second paragraph means ____ .    

A. the shop that sells milk and butter
B. the food made out of cows such as milk and butter
C. a farm where cows are kept
D. a place where milk products are made

5. Which of the following is TRUE?    

A. It is easy to get into bad eating habits.
B. There are three main food groups altogether.
C. We needn't take some exercise.
D. It will help you eat less if you take a walk in the open air.