Britain and Ireland

　　The British Isles is made up of two large islands: One is called Ireland and the other __16  . Britain, or Great Britain, is the larger of these two islands, and it is17  into three parts: Scotland, Wales and England.

　　The United Kingdom is that 18   of the British Isles ruled over by the Queen. It is made up of Scotland, Wales and England, that is, the  19   of Britain, and also about one sixth of Ireland, the Northern part. The  20  of Ireland is self-governing. The  21  name of the United Kingdom is  22   “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

　23  is larger and richer than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has the largest  24   of the United Kingdom, so people often use the 25  “England” and “English” when they  26   “Britain” and “British”. This sometimes makes the Scots and the Welsh a little 27  . The Scots in particular are very  28  of their separate nationality. The Welsh too do not regard   29  as English, and have a culture and even a   30 of their own.

　　Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1801, but for forty years the “Irish  31   ” was the greatest headache of the United Kingdom.  32  , Ireland is divided into two: Northern Ireland still  33 to the United Kingdom, and in 1922 the rest of Ireland   34   to found an Irish Free State, later called Eire and now the Republic of Ireland.

　　The Republic of Ireland does not regard itself as part of Britain, and is not now even a supporter of the Commonwealth of Nations (英联邦). Unlike the major Commonwealth countries it did not lift a finger to   35 British in the Second World War and now wants the whole of Ireland to be a republic.

1.A. Wales       B. Britain         C. England        D. Scotland

2.A. divided      B. cut            C. broken          D. separated

3.A. piece        B. island          C. country         D. part

4.A. south        B. north          C. part            D. whole

5.A. smaller      B. larger          C. rest             D. island

6.A. correct      B. true            C. full             D. complete

7.A. also         B. therefore       C. likely           D. perhaps

8.A. The UK      B. The British isles  C. Great Britain    D. England

9.A. colleges      B. officials         C. cities           D. population

10.A. words       B. names           C. spellings        D. pronunciations

11.A. call         B. forget           C. speak           D. write

12.A. angry       B. difficult          C. tired           D. lonely

13.A. proud       B. fond            C. full             D. kind

14. A. it           B. Wales           C. them            D. themselves

15.A. capital      B. language         C. history          D. programs

16.A. Country     B. Question         C. Disease          D. Republic

17.A. At last      B. So              C. Meanwhile       D. Also

18.A. returns      B. belongs          C. gets             D. speaks

19.A. hoped       B. refused          C. broke away       D. used

20.A. feel         B. touch            C. fight             D. help

 

It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial considerations.

　　Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.

　　The impact of a salary cut is probably less severe for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual（知识的） opportunities.

　　Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”

1.By “a one-way street” (Line 1, Para. 1), the author means ________.

　　A. university researchers know little about the commercial world

　　B. there is little exchange between industry and academia

　　C. few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university

　　D. few university professors are willing to do industrial research

2.The word “deterrent” (Line 2, Para. 1) most probably refers to something that ________.

　　A. keeps someone from taking action　　

B. helps to move the traffic

C. attracts people’s attention

D. brings someone a financial burden

3.What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?

A. Flexible work hours.        B. Her research interests.

C. Her preference for the lifestyle on campus.

D. Prospects of academic accomplishments.

4.Guy Grant chose to work as a researcher at Cambridge in order to ________.

A .do financially more rewarding work

B .raise his status in the academic world

C. enrich his experience in medical research

D. exploit better intellectual opportunities

5.What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?

A. Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market.

B. Develop its students’ potential in research.

C. Help it to obtain financial support from industry.

D. Gear its research towards practical applications.

 

The government-run command post in Tunis is staffed around the clock by military personnel, meteorologists and civilians. On the wall are maps, crisscrossed with brightly colors arrows that painstakingly track the fearsome path of the enemy.

　　What kind of invader gives rise to such high-level monitoring? Not man, not beast, but the lowly desert locust(蝗虫). In recent months, billions of the 3-inch-long winged warriors have descended on Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, blackening the sky and eating up crops and vegetation. The insect invasion, the worst in 30 years, is already creating great destruction in the Middle East and is now treating southern Europe. The current crisis began in late 1985 near the Red Sea. Unusually rainy weather moistened the sands of the Sudan, making them ideal seedbed for the locust, which lays its eggs in the earth. The insect onslaught threatens to create yet another African famine. Each locust can eat its weight (not quite a tenth of an ounce) in vegetation every 24 hours. A good-size swarm of 50 billion insects eats up 100,000 tons of grass, trees and crops in a single night.

　　All ﹩150 million may be needed this year. The U.S. has provided two spraying planes and about 50,000 gal. of pesticide. The European Community has donated ﹩3.8 million in aid and the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan and China have provided chemical-spraying aircraft to help wipe out the pests. But relief efforts are hampered by the relative mildness of approved pesticides, which quickly lose their deadly punch and require frequent replications. The most effective locust killer dieldrin has been linked to cancer and is banned by many Western countries and some of the affected African nations. More than 5 million acres have been dusted with locust-killing chemicals; another 5 million will be treated by the end of June.

　　On May 30, representatives of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania will meet in Algiers to discuss tactics to wipe out the ravenous swarms. The move is an important step, but whatever plan is devised, the locust plague promised to get worse before the insects can be brought under control.[来源:Zxxk.Com]

1.The main idea of the first sentence in the passage is that ______.

　 A. the command post is stationed with people all the time.

　 B. the command post is crowded with people all the time.

　 C. there are clocks around the command post.

　 D. the clock in the command post is taken care of by the staff.

2. The favorable breeding ground for the locust is ______.

　 A. rich soil.                               B. wet land

　 C. paces covered crops and vegetation        D. the Red Sea

3. People are alert at the threat of the locust because ______.

　 A. the insects are likely to create another African famine.

　 B. the insects may blacken the sky.

　 C. the number of the insects increases drastically.

　 D. the insects are gathering and moving in great speed.

4.Which of the following is true?

　 A. Once the pesticides are used, locust will die immediately.

　 B. Relief efforts are proved most fruitful due to the effectiveness of certain pesticides.

　 C. Dieldrin, the most effective locust killer, has been widely accepted in many countries.

　 D. Over 10 million acres of affected area will have been treated with locust-killing chemicals by the end of June.

5. The purpose for affected nations to meet in Algiers on May 30 is ______.

　 A. to devise anti-locust plans.

　 B. to wipe out the swarms in two years.

　 C. to call out for additional financial aid from other nations.

D. to bring the insects under control before the plague gets worse.

 

It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial considerations.

　　Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.

　　The impact of a salary cut is probably less severe for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual opportunities.

　　Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”

1.By “a one-way street” in Paragraph One, the author means ________.

　 A. university researchers know little about the commercial world

　 B. there is little exchange between industry and academia

　 C. few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university

　 D. few university professors are willing to do industrial research

2.The underlined word “deterrent” most probably refers to something that ________.

　 A. keeps someone from taking action      B. helps to move the traffic

C. attracts people’s attention              D. brings someone a financial burden

3.What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?

A. Flexible work hours.                        

B. Her research interests.

C. Her preference for the lifestyle on campus.

D. Prospects of academic accomplishments.

4. Guy Grant chose to work as a researcher at Cambridge in order to ________.

　 A. do financially more rewarding work

　 B. raise his status in the academic world

　 C. enrich his experience in medical research

　 D. exploit better intellectual opportunities

5.What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?

　 A. Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market.

　 B. Develop its students’ potential in research.

　 C. Help it to obtain financial support from industry.

D. Gear its research towards practical applications.

 

Many people now think that teachers give pupils too much homework. They say that it is 　36　   for children to work at home in their free time.  　37　  ， they argue that most teachers do not   　38　   plan the homework tasks they give to pupils. The result is that pupils have to   　39　  tasks which they have already done at school.

Recently in Greece， many parents   　40　   about the difficult homework which teachers gave to their children. The parents said that most of the homework was a waste of time， and they wanted to   　41　   it. Spain and Turkey are two countries which stopped homework recently. In Denmark， Germany and several other countries in Europe， teachers cannot   　42　   homework at weekends. In Holland， teachers allow pupils to stay at school to do their homework. The children are   　43　   to help one another. Similar   　44　   also exists in some British schools.

Most people agree that homework is not   　45　  . A pupil who can do his homework in a quiet and   　46　   room is in a much better position than a pupil who does his homework in a small， noisy room with the television on. Some parents help their children with their homework. Other parents take no   　47　   at all in their children’s homework.

1.A.unnecessary        B.uninteresting C.unfortunate      D.unimportant

2.A.Nevertheless       B.However    C.Therefore            D.Moreover

3.A.considerably        B.favorably    C.properly               D.pleasantly

4.A.finish            B.repeat     C.attend                  D.accomplish

5.A.quarreled       B.puzzled       C.explored              D.complained

6.A.delay                B.stop             C.block                     D.prove

7.A.design                   B.draft            C.do                          D.set   

8.A.forbidden        B.free              C.desperate                     D.afraid

9.A.schedule          B.mistake      C.arrangement      D.behavior

10.A.fair                 B.average      C.balanced              D.comparative

11.A.furnished                B.expensive   C.comfortable        D.suitable

12.A.interest              B.curiosity     C.notice                   D.attention