Climate change，pollution，overuse of water and development are killing some of the world’s most famous rivers including China’s Yangtze．India’s Ganges and Africa’s Nile．WWF said on Tuesday．At the global launch of its report “World’s Top 10 Rivers at Risk”，the group said many rivers could dry out, affecting hundreds of millions of people and killing unique aquatic（水生的）life．

    “If these rivers die，millions will lose their livelihoods，biodiversity（生物多样性）will be destroyed on a massive scale，there will be less fresh water and agriculture，resulting in less food security，”said．Rayi Singh，secretary—general of WWF—India．The report launched ahead of “World Water Day” today，also cited the Rio Grande in the United States，the Mekong and Indus in Asia，Europe’s Danube, La Plata in South America and Australia’s Murray—Darling as in need of greater protection．

    Rivers are the world’s main source of fresh water and WWF says about half of the available supply is already being used up．Dams have destroyed habitats and cut rivers off from their flood plains．while climate change could affect the seasonal water flows that feed them，the report said．Fish populations，the top source of protein and overall life support for hundreds of thousands of communities worldwide，are also being threatened, it found．．The Yangtze basin is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because of decades of heavy industrialization，damming and huge influxes（流入）of sediment（积淀）from land conversion．

  Climate change，including higher temperatures，also means serious consequences for fishery productivity，water supply and political security in Africa’s arid Nile basin．Tributaries（支流）flowing into the Ganges are drying up because of irrigation，WWF said．

1.hat is the text mainly about?

A．Saving fresh water in our life．   B．How to protect our rivers．

C．An important discovery．   D．World’s top 10 rivers are at risk．

2.We can infer from the text that _____．

A．rivers’ dying out could affect food security

B．there are four Asian rivers mentioned in the passage

C．the Yangtze is polluted thanks to the lack of enough tributaries

D．higher temperatures couldn’t affect fishery productivity

3.The top 10 rivers are fast dying as a result of the following EXCEPT _____．

A．climate change B．wasting water       C．pollution            D．dams

4.WWF is probably a name of _____．

A．an organization        B．a newspaper      C．a magazine         D．a report

Mark Twain，an American writer, published more than 30 books, hundreds of

short stories and essays and gave lectures around the world throughout his career. 

Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. Thou

gh he had little school education, he became the most famous writer of his time

. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Cl

emens, but he is better known all over the world as MarkTwain, his penname. 

Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not

expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother's tender care,

he managed to survive. As a boy, he causedmuch trouble for his parents. He use

d to play jokes on all of his friends and neighbors. He didn't like to go to sc

hool, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of

the nearby Mississippi. He was nearly drowned nine times. After his father's d

eath in 1847, Mark twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him wit

h food and clothing. Then, he worked as  a river-boat pilot (领航

员)and later joinedthe army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During t

his period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time

writer.

In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books

including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him fam

ous, and brought him a great fortune. Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts

in bad investments（投资） and he had to write

large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died and then on

e of their childrenpassed away.At the age of 70, his hair was completely white.

He bought many white suits and neckties. Hewore nothing but white from head to

foot until his death on April 21, 1910.

1. When Mark Twain was a little baby,          .

A．his mother thought he would die

B．he was as active as other boys

C．he was not strong enough

D．he was always in hospital

2. In his childhood,        .

A．Mark Twain learned a lot at school

B．Mark Twain often went swimming with other boys

C．Mark Twain often played games with other boys

D．Mark Twain’s mother often worried about his safety

3. In order to make a living, Mark Twain       .

A．often ran away from home.

B．first worked for a printer.

C．wrote stories in the beginning.

D．joined the army after he worked in a mine.

4. In the later years of his life, Mark Twain      .

A．continued writing until his death.

B．wrote many stories and earned a lot of money.

C．must have been very sad because he lost his wife and one of his children.

D．lent too much money to others.

认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文后图标中的空格里填入最恰当的一个单词。
White-collar workers going to great lengths for stress relief    
A soldier of the South Korean special attack corps paints his eyes during a friendly Taekwondo match at a South Korean Army Base in Pochon, north of Seoul.
Stressed out white-collar workers are scaling（攀登） skyscrapers, camping out on rooftops, smashing up restaurants, pretending to be children and even visiting cemeteries in a bid to relieve the pressure of modern life.
As the country’s economy continues to steam ahead, once popular forms of entertainment, such as karaoke, card games and even boxing bars, appear to be losing their appeal.
Consider the members of Shanghai’s Cat Rain club. By day, this group of young women works executive jobs, but by night they climb buildings so they can spend the night on the roof. "It’s a good way to release our pressure. You feel relaxed when you’re sitting on the roof, looking up to the sky and chatting with intimate（亲密的）friends," said Gong Ying, 25.
The stress of work is not just limited to people in Shanghai. A recently-opened restaurant in Beijing encourages customers to smash plates - as long as they are willing to pay to replace them.
Though there has been some debate about the extravagance（奢侈）of such services, some psychologists say the activity reflects the desire of some white-collar workers to vent their angst.
Some workers even appear eager to return to their childhoods. This May, hundreds of people took part in a festival in which adults pretended to be children. It was an adults-only event, and participants could read comics and eat sweets all day.
Scenic places such as parks and rivers can also help people relax and put things in perspective. But a cemetery? Cemetery companies in Shanghai organized visits to local graveyards for stressed-out workers in March. The participants were taken to quiet spots in the cemetery where they could contemplate （考虑 ）life and their futures.
Roof-camper Chen Bin, an IT marketing professional, said she had camped out on a rooftop about 30 times. When she’s not sleeping out under the stars, she also has several other adrenalin-fueled interests, such as downhill racing and paragliding.
"Pressure may bring us distress, but it doesn’t mean we can’t find ways out," Chen says. "Life should be imaginative."

Climate change，pollution，overuse of water and development are killing some of the world’s most famous rivers including China’s Yangtze．India’s Ganges and Africa’s Nile．WWF said on Tuesday．At the global launch of its report “World’s Top 10 Rivers at Risk”，the group said many rivers could dry out, affecting hundreds of millions of people and killing unique aquatic（水生的）life．

    “If these rivers die，millions will lose their livelihoods，biodiversity（生物多样性）will be destroyed on a massive scale，there will be less fresh water and agriculture，resulting in less food security，”said．Rayi Singh，secretary—general of WWF—India．The report launched ahead of “World Water Day” today，also cited the Rio Grande in the United States，the Mekong and Indus in Asia，Europe’s Danube, La Plata in South America and Australia’s Murray—Darling as in need of greater protection．

    Rivers are the world’s main source of fresh water and WWF says about half of the available supply is already being used up．Dams have destroyed habitats and cut rivers off from their flood plains．while climate change could affect the seasonal water flows that feed them，the report said．Fish populations，the top source of protein and overall life support for hundreds of thousands of communities worldwide，are also being threatened, it found．．The Yangtze basin is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because of decades of heavy industrialization，damming and huge influxes（流入）of sediment（积淀）from land conversion．

  Climate change，including higher temperatures，also means serious consequences for fishery productivity，water supply and political security in Africa’s arid Nile basin．Tributaries（支流）flowing into the Ganges are drying up because of irrigation，WWF said．

1.hat is the text mainly about?

A．Saving fresh water in our life．   B．How to protect our rivers．

C．An important discovery．   D．World’s top 10 rivers are at risk．

2.We can infer from the text that _____．

A．rivers’ dying out could affect food security

B．there are four Asian rivers mentioned in the passage

C．the Yangtze is polluted thanks to the lack of enough tributaries

D．higher temperatures couldn’t affect fishery productivity

3.The top 10 rivers are fast dying as a result of the following EXCEPT _____．

A．climate change B．wasting water       C．pollution            D．dams

4.WWF is probably a name of _____．

A．an organization        B．a newspaper      C．a magazine         D．a report

NEW YORK— Picking a Christmas tree takes most people a few minutes, or a couple of hours if they head for the woods. Dave Murbach needs 11 months.

Almost every day of every year, Murbach’s thoughts turn to vision of a perfectly shaped evergreen tree that will take everyone's breath away.

      Murbach is the man responsible for finding the towering tree that makes more attractive Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.

      “I'm always looking for a tree,” the center's chief gardener says. “I look for it even when I go to the beach in the summer. It' s like a homework assignment hanging over your head.”

      And if he gets it wrong, there's nothing hiding it.

      “Every day it's up, 400,000 people go by, and 2.5 million people watch the lighting celebration on television,”he says.

    This year’s tree, a 74-foot Nomy spruce (云杉) from Richfield, Ohio, flown to New York on the world's largest cargo plane, was lighted on December 2.

    The arrival of the tree leads in the Christmas season in New York — a tradition dating back to 1931, when the workers building Rockefeller Center put up a small tree with ornaments (装饰品). 

      The search for the next year's tree starts soon after the old tree is chopped up for wood chips and horse-jumping logs.

    Murbach has three standards: The tree must be at least 65 feet high, at least 35 feet across and leaves dense (密集的) enough not to see through.

    That's not as simple as it sounds. Though forests are full of evergreens, few get enough sunlight or space to fill out. And branches in snow regions often break under the weight, making trees unbalanced.

    Back at the office, he sorts through hundreds of letters from people offering their trees, many addressed simply to “Mr. Christmas Tree Man.”

Though there was occasional anxiety attack and sleepless night, Murbach knows the effect the tree has on people: “It's for bringing people together, attempting to bring together people you love. That's what I hope it sets off.”  But Murbach says he's always too worn out to celebrate Christmas.

1. Which is the correct order of the events in the passage?

a. Murbach’s thoughts turn to a perfectly shaped tree.

b. 2.5 million people watch the Christmas tree.

c. The tree is flown to New York.

d. It was lighted on December 2.

e. The tree is chopped up.

f. Murbach searches for the tree.

A. a, b, c, d, e, f                                               B. c, d, b, f, e, a

C. c, d, e, b, a, f                                               D. a, f, c, d, b, e

2. Murbach spends a lot of time         that are exhibited in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.

A. taking care of Christmas trees

B. deciding on the perfect evergreens

C. sorting the letters from people

D. deciding the TV programs

3. Why does Murbach take his job seriously?

A. Because he wants everyone to be happy with his choice.

B. Because he hopes to make everybody unable to breathe.

C. Because he enjoys showing off.

D. Because he wishes to attract people's attention to himself.

4. According to Murbach' s standard of trees, the best tree must_______ .

A. be evergreen

B. have lots of space between their branches

C. be tall enough not to see through

D. be equally balanced

5. What kind of person do you think Murbach is?

A. A person always ignoring his family.      

B. A person full of love.

C. A person devoted to his work.

D. A person with great anxiety.