D

The future of agriculture must achieve several goals at the same time.

First, it now appears that we will have to double world food production in the next 40 years due to population growth, increasing meat consumption and pressure from biofuels (生物燃料). We will also have to reduce the environmental impacts from our farming practices, which have caused widespread damage to soils, ecosystems, waters and even the atmosphere. In fact, agriculture’s impacts are as bad as climate change as an environmental concern. Besides, we will have to improve food security for the world’s poor. While the Green Revolution of the 1960s made it possible to feed hundreds of millions more people than in earlier eras, the number of the under-nourished in the world has started to rise again. Finally, we will have to increase the recovering ability of agriculture from shocks. Today, our high-efficiency, globalized world has many benefits, but it is vulnerable (易受伤的) to destruction, whether from droughts, diseases or sudden price rises. We must start building better food systems to better keep us away from future shocks.

Currently, there are two models of agriculture: local and organic agriculture vs. globalized and industrialized agriculture. Each has been strongly supported and severely criticized, but neither of these models, standing alone, can fully meet our needs.

Organic agriculture teaches us important lessons about soils, nutrition and pest management. Unfortunately, organic food provides less than 1% of the world’s calories, mostly to the wealthy. It is hard to imagine organic farming developing to feed 9 billion. Globalized and industrialized agriculture has benefits of high output and low labor demands. Without it, billions of people would have starved. However, it has come with enormous environmental and social costs, which cannot be sustained.

Rather than voting for just one solution, we need a third way to solve the crisis. Let’s take ideas from both sides, creating new, hybrid solutions that increase production, save resources and build a more sustainable agriculture.

There are many promising avenues to pursue. A new “third way” for agriculture is not only possible but also necessary. Our problems are huge, and they will require everyone at the table, working together toward solutions.

53. How many goals of agriculture are mentioned in the passage?

A. Three           B. Four            C. Five             D. Six

54. Which is true according to the passage?

A. Organic agriculture can feed most people in the world now.

B. Industrialized agriculture does no harm to our environment.

C. Modern farming is criticized while organic farming is not.

D. The future agriculture can’t only depend on organic agriculture.

55. We can learn from the passage that _______.

A. everyone can afford to enjoy organic food at will

B. we will vote to decide which farming system to take

C. the writer is quite optimistic about future agriculture

D. only experts can find a better agricultural solution

56. What’s the best title for the passage?

   A. Organic Agriculture Vs. Industrialized Agriculture.          

B. The Goals of Future Agriculture and Its Way Out.     

C. A Third Possible and Necessary Way for Agriculture.

D. Modern Globalized and Industrialized Agriculture.

The most common form of public transportation is the buses. They provide transportation service on innumerable routes from the city center to the suburbs and even to outlying rural areas that surround the city. Also, special buses can be chartered for trips to the mountains, to lakes, and to nearby places of historical interest. In some cities, the city bus system offers free “mini-bus” service as a convenience to shoppers in the downtown business district.

Subways are mostly found in larger cities, such as New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and so on. The subway is an underground system of high-speed trains. The world’s first system was built in London, and trains have been operating there since 1890. Subway trains move more quickly and efficiently than buses. They, too, are inexpensive and help solve city traffic problems. The one drawback of subway trains is that they are often crowded and noisy.

Taxicabs are more expensive than buses or subways, but they will deliver you to the exact location you want in the shortest time possibly. Taxis are convenient if you are in a hurry or if you are taking a number of suitcases or packages.

If you ever visit a major city in another country, you will probably have no trouble getting around. You will quickly find out about city bus routes and schedules, about crowds on subway trains, and about the scarcity of taxis when you are trying to find one during rush hours. Like many people, of course, you may come to the conclusion that the most inexpensive and reliable form of transportation will be your own two legs!

1. What is the common form of public transportation?

A.    Bicycles and horses.

B.    Taxicabs and horses.

C.    Subways, taxi and busses.

D.    High-speed trains underground and suburbs.

2. Why do people like to take busses?

A.    Because busses run faster than the others.

B.    Because busses cost much more than the others.

C.    Because the others are not safe.

D.    Because busses are the cheapest of all these.

3. What does “mini-bus” mean?

A.    It means that a kind of bus only runs in the mid-night.

B.    It is another name of the bus.

C.    It means that this kind of bus is very small.

D.    It means that this is a special kind of bus for shoppers to carry goods.

4. The subway is a kind of high-speed train underground ___________

A.    that runs only on the suburb routes.

B.    that was first used in London, New York and Tokyo.

C.    and is mostly being operated in some big cities.

D.    Both A and B.

5. Which of the following is true according to the above?

A.    The public transportation is only for the rich.

B.    Subway was used earlier than buses.

C.    Taxicab is free.

D.    In the big crowded cities, you’ll find your own two legs will be the cheapest and the most reliable form of transportation.

The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.

Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?

U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.

Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.

Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it.

60. What does the underlined sentence imply?

A. Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day.

B. Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages.

C. Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous.

D. Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing.

61. The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.

A. good memory       B. unique brain      C. hard work      D. learning methods

62. The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.

A. had an unusual brain

B. was born with great talent

C. had worked hard at languages

D. expected too much of himself

63. The author seems to agree that ___.

A. it is not hard to learn foreign languages

B. hard work plays a part in language learning

C. there is no such thing as a talent for languages

D. hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language

A. Arguments are pointless.
B. Your parents only want what's best for you.
C. Everyone's opinion matters only as much as you want them to.
D. You learn by doing.
E. Your emotions are under your control.
F. You aren't stuck in any situation
Life is the greatest teacher
There always comes a moment when I wonder where I will end up and this moment always serves as a strong motivation for me to learn life lesson. I've learned a great many things, but these are the lessons that I wish I'd learned earlier:
【小题1】_________
There was a time when everyone's opinion was mine as well. Whatever preferences I formerly held were dashed in the face of another's. This most likely came from a need to please others. Remember that your opinion matters just as much as the next guy's, whether they make more money than you or are less popular than you. Everyone's opinion holds the same weight.
【小题2】_________
Drama, chaos, and emotional unrest — these were what took up most of my time as a teenager. If I had heard someone said bad things behind my back, I'd be angry. Go crazy. Looking back on those tantrums now, I'm not too surprised. After all, when you have little self control, anything is possible. The lesson here is, remain aware of how you react.
【小题3】_________
Will one small argument among friends decide the fate of the entire universe? In my world it felt like it. I just wanted so much to be right and for them so much to be wrong. But in the end, it only resulted in me wasting my time and in the other person storming off in frustration. Is there really a point to arguing? Unless it's absolutely necessary, I've learned that it's better to hold your breath on things you can't control at all. Arguing to change someone's mind is one of them.
【小题4】_________
I'm not saying every parent wants what's best for you (there are outliers), but in general, parents do what they do for you in your best interest. My parents used to make me do the dishes, cook dinner, sweep the floors, mow the lawn, take out the garbage… the list goes on and on. And at every turn, I'd whine and complain. I'd eventually end up doing it. Now, I honestly see the value in having learned those skills. I can efficiently cook and clean up after myself.
【小题5】_________
Whenever I’d lose a friend, get an awful grade, or disappoint my parents, I stewed in my own muck. Waiting for the bad moments to go away seemed to be the only solution. Fortunately, I know now that you don’t have to be stuck in bad situations. You can go out and create better ones. It all depends on perspective; on how you see the situation. Viewing everything as a learning experience makes life more pleasurable, even during the hard times. You aren't stuck. You can move on.
I'm glad to have learned these lessons the way I did. Each experience helped shape me to become a better person. I don't know if any young people are reading this, but if they are, I'd like to say this: “Listen to life and its experiences. Everyone goes through mostly the same things.”

A sixth of undergraduates in Beijing this year have registered at driving school. The students, mostly from majors such as business management or international trade, will finish their driving courses within 20 days or so.

　　Training costs have dropped to 2, 600 yuan for students, according to the Haidian Driving School in Beijing. The price is not really low, but students will accept it, seeing it as an investment （投资）in their future. Familiarity with the operation of computers and fluent English are the basic skills graduating students need to find a job. But a driver’s permit has become another factor.

　　“In the job market, owning a driver’s permit sometimes strengthens a graduating student’s competitiveness for a good position, ”says Zhou Yang, an undergraduate at the China University of Political Science and Law.

　　Cars will become a necessary part of many people’s lives in the coming years, and it is difficult to get a permit out of campus because of the pressures on working people’s time. “Having a fulltime job after graduation offers limited time to learn to drive. We senior students have plenty of spare time, plenty of opportunity to learn. ”Zhou says.

　　Xu Jian, an official at the driving school, said undergraduates were very able and serious, and could grasp in an hour what ordinary people took four hours to learn. In this driving school, middle-aged people, young women and college students are the main customers.

　　To get a driver’s permit, a beginner is now required to have at least 86 hours’ practice before the final road test.

1.The undergraduates are learning to drive because ________.

A. they like to drive cars

B. they need this skill to find a good job

C. they will not have any time to learn to drive after they have found a full-time job

D. most of them will be able to buy cars in the future

2.Which of the following is likely to be Xu Jian’s opinion of students learning to drive?

A. It is better to learn it at college than at work.

B. Young people have an advantage in learning to drive.

C. It is a waste of money and time to learn to drive.

D. They will spend three times more time to learn to drive than usual.

3.Which of the following can be the best headline for the passage?

A. Students Learn to Drive.

B. Students Pay Less to Learn to Drive Now.

C. It is Better to Learn to Drive at Colleges.

D. Welcome to the Driving School.