Fastest Time to Run 100 Miles on a Treadmill (跑步机)              BROKEN

           The fastest time to run 100 miles on a treadmill by a team (of 12) is claimed at 9hr 5 min 17 sec by a team consisting of staff and prisoners at the Young Offenders Institute in Wigan to raise money for Children in Need.   

     Largest Game of Chinese Whispers                             UNBROKEN

           Sadly, the record attempt for the largest game of Chinese Whispers was unsuccessful on 13 November 2008. The existing record of 1330 children still remains.                                         

     Fastest Mile with an Egg/Spoon in both hands                     BROKEN

           The fastest mile egg and spoon race with both hands is 8 min 25 sec and was achieved by Ashrita Furman (USA) in an attempt broadcast by ESPN 260, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, in Orlando, Florida, USA, on 13 November 2008.   

    Longest Mexican Wave                                      UNBROKEN

           The record for the Longest Mexican Wave was attempted by 250,000 people on the streets of Adelaide on 8 November 2008 – sadly, the wave was not completed by all participants and the attempt was unsuccessful. The current record of 157, 574 remains.            

      Largest Kebab (烤肉串)                                      BROKEN

           The longest kebab measures 2047.47 m (1.27 miles) and was achieved by the ArcelorMittal Newcastle Works on occasion of the company’s annual Community Day, in Newcastle, South Africa.                 

1.The above information is _________.

A．a series of sports events

B．a list of broken and unbroken records

C．a report of funny sports items

D．a description of challenging human limits

2.Which of the following can NOT be found in the information?

A．The countries where the attempts were made.

B．The persons who made the attempts.

C．The reasons why some attempts failed.

D．The present record for each item.

3.Which item was attempted individually?

A．Fastest Time to Run 100 Miles on a Treadmill

B．Largest Game of Chinese Whispers

C．Fastest Mile with an Egg/Spoon in both hands

D．Longest Mexican Wave

 

Mayor Boris Johnson Monday outlined plans to make London “the cleanest” by the 2012 Olympics and called for commitments from other world cities at a climate change conference. Leaders of the world's 40 largest cities are meeting in Seoul this week for a summit on combating global warming ---- the third to be held since 2005.

"What we should do in Seoul is agree that we will stop the endless addiction of mankind to the internal combustion engine (内燃机)," said Johnson. He told a press conference the world's cities consume 75 percent of its energy and produce 80 percent of the emissions which cause climate change. "The problem of our planet is an urban problem," Johnson said.

He said the British capital wants to use the Olympics "to drive the greening and the improvement of our city" and noted that London is committed to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025.

Johnson said the key measure was addressing the problems relating to domestic and commercial buildings, which accounted for 70 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in London. This involved retrofitting (翻新) ---- installing lagging (绝缘层材料) ---- in large numbers of public buildings.

Johnson proclaimed himself a "passionate cyclist" and said he would push ahead with cycle super-highways around London.

London's air quality problem, he said, was caused by vehicle emissions from 8,300 antiquated (陈旧的) diesel (柴油) buses, which could be replaced by low-carbon vehicles. There were also 32,000 taxis running on diesel fuel, which could be replaced by electric vehicles.

Johnson said there would be a substantial (实质上的) program in the next few years to produce a "cleaner, greener" bus for his city. "The age of the diesel-emitting bus has got to be over in London."

1.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to this passage?

A. The used buses running on diesel will be replaced by electric vehicles.

B. London’s air quality will be improved in the near future.

C. London promises to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2025.

D. Plans have been made to solve the problem of carbon dioxide emissions.

2.What does the underlined word mean in the first paragraph?

A. discussing            B. resisting              C. agreeing         D. supporting

3.The topic of the meeting in Seoul might be __________.

A. climate change              B. London Olympics in 2012    

C. global warming            D. green environment

4.If the passage was continually written, the following might be __________.

A. measures to replace the old and used vehicles

B. measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in London

C. measures to solve housing and commercial items 

D. measures to end the age of the diesel bus 

 

Environmental problems are becoming more and more serious all over the world. For example, cars have made the air unhealthy for people to breathe and poisonous gas is given off by factories. Trees on the hills have been cut down and waste water is being poured continuously into rivers. Furthermore, wherever we go today, we can find rubbish carelessly disposed.

   There are different kinds of pollutants, each of which comes from different sources. It is necessary to identify the source of pollution, in order to make a policy to eliminate them.

   Different products, processes and activities of our industrialized world together form the major source of pollution. The forms of pollution can be mainly divided into three kinds—solid, liquid and gas.

   These pollutions have greatly damaged our planet and continue to do so. In fact, pollution is threatening our existence. The whole ecological balance of the earth is changing. Massive destruction of environment has brought about negative effects and even posed a great threat to man’s existence.

   We must face the situation that exists and take action to solve our environmental problems. For instance, new laws must be passed to place strict control over industrial pollution, the public must receive the education about the danger of pollution and so on.

   The earth is our home and we have the duty to take care of it for ourselves and our later generation. Fortunately, more and more people have realized these problems. Measures have been taken to deal with these situations by the government. Laws have been passed to stop pollution, I hope the problems will be solved in the near future and our home will become better and better.

1. How many examples of environmental problems are given in the first paragraph?

A. 2                             B. 3                    C. 4                              D. 5

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. In all there are three kinds of pollution

B. If people continue to pollute our planet, there will be no trees.

C. Industrial pollution has been completely controlled.

D. Laws have been passed to stop pollution and protect our environment.

3. The sentence “We hope that all these measures will be effective and bring back a healthy environment” can best be put at the end of paragraph _____.

A. 2                             B. 3                    C. 5                              D. 6

4. The writer’s attitude towards the future of the earth is _____.

A. despair                  B. negative          C. optimistic                  D. hopeless

 

Do you want to live forever? By the year 2050, you might actually get your wish — if you are willing to leave your biological body and live in silicon circuits （半导体电路）．But long before then, perhaps as early as 2020, some measures will begin offering a semblance of immortality （虚拟的永生）.

Researchers are confident that technology will soon be able to track every waking moment of your life. Whatever you see and hear, all that you say and write, can be recorded, analyzed and added to your personal chronicles （履历）. By the year 2030, it may be possible to catch your nervous systems through electrical activities, which would also keep your thoughts and emotions.

Researchers at the laboratories of British Telecommunications have given the name of this idea as Soul Catcher. Small electronic equipment will make preparation for Soul Catcher. It would use a wearable supercomputer, perhaps in a wristwatch, with wireless links to micro sensors under your scalp（头皮） and in the nerves that carry all five sensory signals. So wearing a video camera would no longer be required.

At first, the Soul Catcher's companion system — the Soul Reader — might have trouble copying your thoughts in complete details. Even in 2030, we may still be struggling to understand how the brain is working inside, so reading your thoughts and understanding your emotions might not be possible. But these signals could be kept for the day when they can be transferred to silicon circuits to revitalize minds everlasting entities （永生实体）. Researchers can only wonder what it will be like to wake up one day and find yourself alive inside a machine．

For people who choose not to live in silicon, semblance of immortality would not be as useless as they thought. People would know their lives would not be forgotten, but would be kept a record of the human race forever. And future generations would have a much fuller understanding of the past. History would not be controlled by just the rich and powerful, Hollywood stars, and a few thinkers in the upper society.

1.The main idea of this passage is that _______．

A．human beings long for living forever

B．there are many difficulties in making the Soul Catcher

C．people might live forever as technology develops

D．the invention of Soul Catcher has great importance

2.According to this passage, a Soul Catcher will be ______．

A．a new machine on which research measures have already been made

B．a new invention in order to catch and keep human's thoughts and emotions

C．made by British scientists to offer something that looks like living forever

D．made of silicon circuits which can catch people's nervous activity

3.According to the writer, semblance of immortality is ______．

A．to be a reality sooner or later              B．far from certain

C．just an idea that couldn't t be realized at all    D．a fading hope

4.The meaning of the underlined word "revitalize" in the fourth paragraph is close to        .

A．make dead        B．make famous       C．make known       D．make active

 

单词拼写(共20小题；每小题0.5分，满分10分)

1.The farmers in this area had a good harvest last year thanks to the s___________ farming.

2.From the findings, we can draw a c____________ that English is a useful tool for all of us.

3.The teacher had us d______________into two groups during the discussion.

4.The c_______________of transportation in this area brings hope to this mountain      village.

5.My grandfather is too old to care for himself, so my aunt is looking for someone to a_____ him.

6.The speech by the mayor of Shanghai before the final voting for EXPO 2010 left a strong i_____________ on us.

7.The other day she c____________ me to a game of tennis.

8.She doesn’t want to marry a man who a_____________ nothing.

9.This is a cooperative team c____________ of 12 members.

10.The learning environment has a strong i_______________ on students’ academic performances.

11.We must try to _________________(分析)the causes of the strike.

12.Water and salt are _____________(吸收) into our blood stream every day.

13.We are t_____________(感到激动) to hear a wonderful piece of news that the people lived in the mainland can go to visit Taiwan in the near future.

14.We are______________(乐观的) that the mainland and Taiwan will unify in the near future.

15.He can hardly find a job in the canteen, because he has had no ________________(先前的) experience of this kind of job.

16.The government decided to explore the ____________(周围的 ) countryside to build a new industrial park.

17.The people in Iraq lived a hard life, because it was _______(不断) hit by war..

18.Measures should be taken to handle the water ______________(污染) by the chemical factory nearby.

19.Don’t throw away the bottles, which can be__________(回收利用).

20.The teenagers are _________________(热情的) about the Voice of China, which is a hit now.