For the people living in the Nile Basin, the river is their life．This 6,825 km waterway, whose watershed（流域）covers three million square kilometers, flows through mountains ,woodlands, lakes and deserts．Its potential for fishing, tourism and shipping is great—but so are its challenges. 

Water shortage , already serious in Egypt and Sudan , will soon influence several other countries in the watershed as well．Today, about 160 million people depend on the Nile River for their living．Within the next 25 yeas ,the district's population is expected to double, adding to the demand brought about by growth in industry and agriculture．The frequent drought（干旱）adds to the urgency.

Water quality is also a problem．Precious soil is washed out to sea．Wastes from industry and agriculture create pollution．Higher concentrations of salt influence irrigated soils．Water-borne diseases continue unchecked．In areas where it's hot and damp, water hyacinths choke off（阻止） lakes, dams and other sections of the river, making it difficult for fishing and other businesses to move forward.

    Native people along the narrow area of farmland have watched the sand move closer day by day．They’ve seen the river change course, and their only source（来源） of water thickened with mud．They’re very poor and have few choices.

    But a new program, the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), is offering very practical assistance．The program is more than just a water-management project．It’s a plan for the social and economic development of a vast district: it concentrates on the needs of the poorest of the poor and the environment that supports them.

    These are whole ecosystem problems, calling for united solutions．Half the Nile Basin's countries are among the world's poorest nations；yet, somehow, they must find the resources, skills and political will to overcome these challenges.

1.What are the great challenges the Nile Basin faces？    

A. The development of shipping industry.

B. Over fishing of native people.

C. Water shortage and water quality.

D. Increasing population and tourism.

2.The underlined word “hyacinths” （in Paragraph 3） refer to “         ”.      

A. plants   B. animals   C. rocks   D. salts

3.The program NBI is mainly aimed at           .                 

A. preventing water pollution

B. improving living condition of the poor

C. changing the river course

D. preventing land from becoming desert

4.

A. People’s Life in Egypt and Sudan

B. Frequent Drought in Egypt and Sudan

C. The Poorest Countries in the Nile Basin

D. The Ecosystem Problems in the Nile Basin

完形填空（共12小题；每小题1分，满分12分）

(1)阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从第31至第40小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I know my brother better than anyone else in the world. Since the moment of his birth, I’ve been part of his life. I had spent seven  29    years in the world with the attention of those around me. But when Rohan was born, life   30     . Suddenly I had to share my toys and there were no more bedtime stories or my own choice of food.

Finally, I felt my     31      at my brother. The poor baby had no idea what    32      me so unhappy. Maybe he found me strange, the only person in this house    33      did not like him. Whatever the reason was, he loved following me around. However, I seldom talked to him and   34      asked him to leave me alone.

Then all that changed. I hardly remember everything of that day six years ago,   35    I do remember that I was feeling very angry. Somehow my feet led me to my brother’s bed. My hand, completely    36     from my mind, reached through the bars (护栏). At once, he reached out his small hand and softly touched   37      . And that was all I needed. Through all the unhappiness of the day, that one moment changed everything. How could I hate someone who made me     38     so important? For the   39      time, I saw my brother, not through the eyes of a child who was no longer favored (宠爱), but through the eyes of a   40    .

29. A. happy              B. hard          C. lonely              D. busy

30. A. began               B. continued C. changed            D. saved

31. A. fun                  B. anger               C. fear                  D. worry

32  A. makes        B. has made     C. is making          D. had made

33. A. which               B. where        C. who                 D. what

34. A. always             B. already       C. hardly              D. almost

35. A. but                  B. so             C. or                    D. for

36   A. far                   B. sick           C. different           D. free

37    A. one                  B. both          C. mine                D. them

38. A. feel                    B. feeling              C. feels                 D. felt    

39   A. first                 B. second       C. last                  D. next

40. A. student             B. parent       C. teacher             D. sister

B
South Korea has offered about 10,000 tons of corn to North Korea, in what would be the first official aid to its hungry neighbor for almost two years．The South also offered 20 tons of milk powder and medicine for children, pregnant women and other vulnerable people, its unification ministry said．The proposed shipmen would be through the Red Cross．It would be the first official one since a conservative government came to power in Seoul in February 2008．The South Korean administration of President Lee Myung-bak has linked major assistance to progress on denuclearisation．
However, after months of bitter hostility, the communist North began making peace overtures（提议，提案） to the South in recent months．Persistent media reports have also said the two sides have held preliminary talks about a possible summit．
The amount of food aid on offer is tiny relative to the needs in what the United Nations recently described as the famine-hit North．A third of North Korean women and young children are malnourished（营养不良的） and the country will run short of almost 1．8 million tons of food this year, the United Nations World Food Program said in a report last month．The unification ministry admitted it was far less than needed but said the North must mend relations before shipments could be increased．
"We cannot say 10,000 tons is sufficient in view of North Korea's food shortage and other conditions," said ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo．"We are providing purely humanitarian aid," she said．
"There is no change in our position that massive food aid depends on how relations between the two Koreas develop," she said．North Korea has yet to respond to the latest offer, made through the Red Cross．But Yonhap news agency said it was likely co-ordinated in advance before the announcement．
Last year the South offered 50,000 tons of corn, but the North rejected the shipment amid high tensions．
North Korea has relied on food aid from China, South Korea and aid agencies to feed millions of its people since a famine in the 1990s resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands．
50．How would North Korea be offered about 10,000 tons of corn from South Korea?
A．North Korea would buy corn from South Korea．
B．North Korea would exchange with South Korea．
C．The offer would be through the Red Sea．．
D．The offer would be through an international organization
51．About whether South Korea would go on offering assistance, we can infer from the passage that________________．
A．they would go on without any condition
B．they would go on if there was a famine in North Korea
C．it depended on how their relation would develop
D．it depended on whether North Korea needed it
52．How did North Korea survive since a famine in the 1990s?
A．They depended on the international aid from all other countries
B．They developed their agriculture to increase the production
C．They expanded the agricultural land
D．They relied on food aid from China, South Korea and aid agencies
53．What is the main idea of the passage?
A． It’s about the aid to South Korea from North Korea
B．It tells about the help between South Korea and North Korea
C．It’s about the help to the Poor
D．It tells about an action of the Red Cross

   For the people living in the Nile Basin, the river is their life:. This 6,825 km waterway, whose watershed（流域） covers three million square kilometers, flows through mountains ,woodlands, lakes and deserts. Its potential for fishing, tourism and shipping is great—but so are its challenges.
Water shortage , already serious in Egypt and Sudan , will soon influence several other countries in the watershed as well. Today, about 160 million people depend on the Nile River for their living. Within the next 25 yeas ,the district's population is expected to double, adding to the demand brought about by growth in industry and agriculture. The frequent drought（干旱）adds to the urgency.
Water quality is also a problem. Precious soil is washed out to sea. Wastes from industry and agriculture create pollution. Higher concentrations of salt influence irrigated soils. Water-borne diseases continue unchecked. In areas where it's hot and damp, water hyacinths choke off lakes, dams and other sections of the river, making it difficult for fishing and other businesses to move forward.
Native people along the narrow area of farmland have watched the sand move closer day by day. They’ve seen the river change course, and their only source（来源） of water thickened with mud. They’re very poor and have few choices.
But a new program, the Nile Basin Initiative （NBI），is offering very practical assistance. The program is more than just a water-management project. It’s a plan for the social and economic development of a vast district: it concentrates on the needs of the poorest of the poor and the environment that supports them.
These are whole ecosystem problems, calling for united solutions（解决办法）. Half the Nile Basin's countries are among the world's poorest nations；yet, somehow, they must find the  resources, skills and political will to overcome these challenges.
68. What are the great challenges the Nile Basin faces？
A. The development of .shipping industry.
B. Overfishing of native people.
C. Water shortage and water quality.
D. Increasing population and tourism.
69. The underlined word “hyacinths”（in Paragraph 3） refer to “          ”.
A. animals                           B. plants                     C. rocks                                D. salts
70. The program NBI is mainly aimed at           .
A. preventing water pollution                             B. changing the river course
C. improving living condition of the poor
D. preventing land from becoming desert
71. What would be the best title of this passage？
A. People's Life in Egypt and Sudan
B. Frequent Drought in Egypt and Sudan
C. The Poorest Countries in the Nile Basin
D. The Ecosystem Problems in the Nile Basin

E

Teenagers who drink alcohol are at higher risk of becoming victims of violence, a Cardiff University study has found.

A team from the School of Dentistry' s Violence Research Group studied drinking habits in

children aged | 1-16 in England. They found not only a link between drink and violence but also

that children who drank were more likely to be hit, even if they weren' t violent themselves.

The researchers are now calling for measures to prevent alcohol misuse to reduce injury

risk. Current policy focuses on reducing aggression but this research shows that there should be

equal effort to reduce victimization(受害).

More than 4,000 children were surveyed at 13 schools at four local authorities in the North, the Midlands, London, and the South. The study found that 25% of 1 l-year-olds were drinking

monthly and 3.6% daily, with 12.8% admitting to getting drunk 3 to 5 times a year. By the age

of 16, 40% were drinking weekly and 6.2% were drinking every day. The research also showed

22.6% of 16-year-olds were getting drunk more than 21 times a year.

The study, which has just been published in the Journal of Adolescence, found a strong

link between frequency of drinking and frequency of hitting other people.

However, children who reported drinking monthly were also three times more likely to be

hit. Adolescents(青少年) who drank but didn't get into fights were more likely to be hit than

those who did fight.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, who led the research, said a lot of previous alcohol-related

violence work had focused on the offenders rather than the victims. His team is calling for more pre-vention work from parents and teachers in the first two years of secondary school by taking advantage of the "teachable moment", that is, immediately after a student has missed school because of drunkenness.

Previous work by Professor Jonathan Shepherd has shown drinkers may be more at risk of vio-lence because of reduced physical co-ordinatlon ( 配合), poor decision-making in threatening situa-tions and isolation while out late at night.

He said,"This new study seems to be the first to show a direct link between alcohol misuses and victimization. There now needs to be much more effort put into reducing alcohol misuse in order to reduce injury. "

58. The underlined word "aggression" in the third paragraph probably means_____

A. violence         B. sad feelings     C. bad manners          D. drunkenness

59. Drinkers may be more at risk of violence because of all the following EXCEPT __

A. reduced the physical co-ordination

B. isolation while out late at night

C. a higher frequency of hitting other people

D. poor decision-making in threatening situations

60. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Professor Shepherd' s research?

A. The frequency of children getting drunk increases with age.

B. His previous alcohol-related violence work had focused on the offendersl

C. Some children missed school because of drunkenness.

D. This new study shows a direct link between alcohol misuse and victimization.