Deep in the Amazon forest, thousands of people still live in isolation from the rest of the world.
In a recent press release, the Brazilian government confirmed the existence of another isolated tribe of about 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The 200 people living in the Vale do Javari reservation. The reservation, located near the Peruvian border, is about the size of Portugal. At least another 14 isolated tribes, with a total population of about 2000, call the area home.
The newly observed group lives on four large straw-roofed buildings and grows corn, peanut and other crops.
Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (BNTF) first noticed the reservation in the forest using satellite maps, but it wasn’t until April that an airplane expedition was able to confirm the tribe’s existence. “The work of finding and protecting isolated groups is part of Brazilian public policy,” said the BNIF officer for Vale do Javari, Fabricio Amorim. “To confirm something like this takes years of hard work.”
BNIF estimates there are 68 isolated tribes living in the Amazon. The organization uses airplanes to avoid disturbing the tribes through personal contact, but that doesn’t mean others are so respectful of their right to privacy.
Illegal fishing, woodcutting and hunting bring people into the protected area. Oil exploration on the Peruvian side of the border is another threat. All kinds of criminals also invade the lands of the local groups, said Amorim. The outsiders can damage the land and influence the cultures of indigenous(土著的)peoples. They can also bring diseases which can wipe out the whole population that still lack even basic antibiotics(抗生素).
Brazil’s indigenous peoples won the legal right to their traditional lands in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, which stated that all indigenous lands shall be divided and turned over to tribes within five years. Indigenous groups now control 11 percent of Brazil’s territory, including 22 percent of the Amazon.
Allowing indigenous groups the right homelands is not just a matter of human rights. The rest of the world can benefit from their knowledge. Mark Plotkin has spent years living with the people of the Amazon and learning from their traditional healers. In his lecture, he pointed out that many useful materials and knowledge, including numerous drugs, can be gained from listening to the indigenous groups of the Amazon. Besides this, they are also more effective at protecting the land, and less expensive, than hired rangers(护林人).
【小题1】The underlined word in the first paragraph probably means “a state of            ”.

A．separation	B．interaction
C．satisfaction	D．excitement

【小题2】From the passage we can learn that the tribes in the Amazon forest             .

A．only live on a reservation designated for them

B．prefer straw-roofed buildings to wooden ones

C．keep contact with the outside world through airplanes

D．have the legal right to the land they live on

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to Amorim?

A．Privacy violation is common among the Amazon tribes.

B．The laws dividing the lands of the tribes are far from enough.

C．Modern civilization endangers the tribes and their cultures.

D．It is hard to make public policy to protect primitive tribes.

【小题4】The last paragraph is mainly about              .

A．the lost human rights of the indigenous peoples

B．the benefits of protecting the primitive tribes

C．the value of traditional healing

D．the indigenous peoples as guardians of the Amazon forest

In Yemen, you always see one type of vehicle on the road: the water truck.They travel mountain roads and cross deserts to bring Yemenis the goods more valuable than oil.It is one that only the rich can afford, with the supply regularly being cut off.Others must rely on scarce rain or charity to  fight thirst.
Experts say Yemen is going to be the first country in the world to run out of water.The capital, Sanaa, will run out of drinking water as early as 2025，says a report by the World Bank.
Hannan, an 18­year­old from Lahej, said that only the rich could prepare for cuts in supply.“In a good week we’ll have a water supply all week but then the following week there will be water only for a day or two, ” she said.
She and her husband, a factory worker, pay 3,000 riyals (99 yuan) for a week’s supply of water from a touring water truck when the taps run dry.With an income of only 20,000 riyals (660 yuan) a month，this means the family often spend half their money on water.
“There are a lot of people who can’t afford it and they have to rely on their neighbors to help，” she said.
The average person in Yemen survives on one­fifth of what the World Health Organization considers to be enough water.
In Taiz, in the south，tap water is available only once every 45 days.In the mountainous Malhan district in the north，women and children climb a 1,500­m mountain to collect water from a spring, often in the small hours to avoid long queues.
Yemen is located in Southwest Asia，bordering the Arabian and Red Sea.Yemeni people have lived on scarce water supplies for thousands of years but that problem has been made serious by conflict in the area，the fast­growing population and the use of water to grow a drug called qat.With one of the world’s highest rates of population growth—3.46 percent, Yemen is the poorest Arab country.
The government is considering desalinating (淡化) seawater，but this would be expensive and it may now be too late.The only other solution is to cut down on farming, but that means importing even more food.
【小题1】The passage aims to________.

A．analyze the reasons why Yemen lacks water

B．suggest some solutions to the water issue in Yemen

C．present how serious the water problem is in Yemen

D．encourage the world to help Yemenis who are suffering from water shortages

【小题2】When Hannan said that only the rich could prepare for cuts in supply，she meant that________.

A．rich people drank more water than the poor

B．rich people could buy water from the water trucks if there was a water supply cut

C．she had a rich neighbor who often helped her during water supply cuts

D．the rich were not affected by water supply cuts

【小题3】Which of the following may be a reason why Yemen is short of water?

A．The country has had no rain for a long time.

B．The population of Yemen is growing fast.

C．The government has failed to reduce farming.

D．People can’t afford the water from government water trucks.

【小题4】The best title for the passage is “________”．

A．Never take water for granted

B．The water truck—the commonest sight in Yemen

C．The first country to run out of water in the world

D．No water for Yemen

 

There was one thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution. Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a “greenhouse effect”— conserving heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be in water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature — a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report drafted by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very possible). Perhaps, if we are lucky enough, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now. Driven by economic profits, people neglect the damage on our environment caused by the “advanced civilization”. Maybe the air pollution is the price the human beings have to pay for their development. But is it really worthwhile?

46. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution _______.

　A. cause widespread damage in the countryside

　B. affected the entire eastern half of the United States

　C. had damaged effect on health

　D. existed merely in urban and industries areas

47. As to the greenhouse effect, the author __________.

　A. share the same view with the scientist.

　B. is uncertain of its occurrence

　C. rejects it as being ungrounded

　D. thinks that it will destroy the world soon

48. The word “offset” in the second paragraph could be replaced by _________.

　A. slip into   B. make up for　　 C. set up    D. catch up with

49. It can be concluded that ____________.

　A. raising the world’s temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth

　B. lowering the world’s temperature merely a few degrees would lead major farming areas to disaster 

　C. almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

　D. the world’s temperature will remain constant in the years to come

50. This passage is primarily about __________.

　A. the greenhouse effect        　    B. the burning of fossil fuels

　C. the potential effect of air pollution  　D. the likelihood of a new ice age

 

Kenya wants to organize a major international conference to discuss how to fight piracy(海盗) off the coast of Somalia. The conference may also deal with ways to rescue Somalia from seventeen years of civil war. More than forty percent of its people depend on food aid.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula says the world cannot end piracy and civil war without dealing with Somalia’s political problems.
Somali pirates operate in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal. The pirates have fast boats, modern weapons and equipment like satellite phones and global positioning systems.
Pirates hijacked the Sirius Star off the coast of Kenya and moved it to waters off Somalia.
The tanker Sirius Star, at three hundred thirty meters long, is the biggest ship ever known to have been captured by pirates. It also happened farther south than most attacks, and farther out at sea ---- more than eight hundred kilometers from land.
The ship was headed for the United States with two million karrels of oil, worth an estimated one hundred million dollars. A Saudi Arabian company owns the tanker. The pirates have  reportedly demanded twenty-five million dollars in negotiations to release the ship and its crew of twenty-five.
Somali pirates generally do not steal goods or kill hostages. They are believed to be holding seventeen ships with about three hundred crew members. Among the ships is a Ukrainian vessel hijacked(劫持) in September with a load of military weapons including tanks.
The increase in piracy is raising the cost of insuring ships. Also, oil from the Middle East and exports from East Asia could take longer to arrive.
Some of the world’s heaviest shipping traffic passes the Somali coast. But major shipping companies have begun to consider new routes. One of the world’s biggest shippers, A.P, Moeller Maersk, says it will avoid the Gulf of Aden. A move away from the Suez Canal could hurt Egypt’s economy.
American and other foreign navy ships are now watching for pirates. This week the Indian Navy destroyed a heavily armed “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden. But the area to protect covers more than one hundred sixty million square kilometers.
【小题1】 According to the passage, which of the following is the key to solving the piracy in Somalia?

A．Providing lots of money.	B．Ending Civil war.
C．Supplying enough food.	D．Handling Somalia’s political problems.

【小题2】 Somali pirates do the following things except that _______.

A．they demand money	B．they hold the ships with crew
C．they kill some of the hostages	D．they hijack ships with military weapons

【小题3】What can we infer from the passage?

A．The cost of ship transport is decreasing.

B．The routes of some ships might change.

C．Nothing has been done to fight against the piracy.

D．The Suez Canal is of no importance to Egypt’s economy.

The Law to Keep the Oil Industry under Control

       The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid down (though these have already been raised); and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems, and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As on Norwegian politician said last week: “We will soon be changed beyond all recognition.”

       Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a programme of development in the area north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this programme has had a great deal of success: Tromso（特罗姆瑟[挪威北部港市]）has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern policy could be in ruins.

       The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.

       The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not make up most of the population, but they are an important part of it, because Norwegians see in them many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the countryside and to the sea.

The Norwegian Government would prefer the oil industry to

A provide more jobs for foreign workers.

B slow down the rate of its development.

C sell the oil it is producing abroad.

D develop more quickly than at present.

The Norwegian Government has tried to

A encourage the oil companies to discover new oil sources.

B prevent oil companies employing people from northern Norway.

C help the oil companies solve many of their problems.

D keep the oil industry to something near its present size.

According to the passage, the oil industry might lead northern Norway to

A the development of industry.

B a growth in population.

C the failure of the development programme.

D the development of new towns.

In the south, one effect to the development of the oil industry might be

A a large reduction on unemployment.

B a growth in the tourist industry.

C a reduction in the number of existing industries.

D the development of a number of service industries.

Norwegian farmers and fishermen have an important influence because

A they form such a large part of Norwegian ideal.

B their lives and values represent the Norwegian ideal.

C their work is so useful to the rest of Norwegian society.

D they regard oil as a threat to the Norwegian way of life.