(09·福建E篇)

We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change: Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets.

Not long age. My wife, PJ, and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is bending up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don’t keep reducing emissions（排放）of carbon dioxide（CO₂）and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.

We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO₂^. . We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household（家庭）produces about 150 pounds of CO₂ a day by doing common-place things like turning on air-conditioning or driving cars. That’s more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce?

For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In his book, he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting（融化）of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. “To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO₂ emissions by 80 percent,” he said.

Good advice, I thought. I’d opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We’d gotten so used to keeping our air-conditioning going around the clock. I’d almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It’s time for us to change our habits if necessary.

72. Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?

A. To take special kinds of food                 B. To respond to climate change.

C. To lose weight                            D. To improve their health

73. The underlined words “tipping points” most probably refer to

A. freezing points       B. burning points       C. melting points     D. boiling points

74. It can be inferred from the passage that

A. it is necessary to keep the air-conditioning on all the time

B. it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO₂

C. the average US household produces about 3,000 pounds of CO₂ a month

D. the average European household produces about 1,000 pounds of CO₂ a month

 (09·福建A篇)

Only three local students won Chinese Blog（博客） Competition. And 15 of the 18 awards want to students from China.

170 students’ task: to get a fully-designed blog up and running, complete with many posting based on a theme of choice—all written in Chinese.

Themes ranged from local opinions－such as the usage of Singlish, education and whether Singapore can be a cultural centre－to food blogs.

The entries were judged on Language proficiency（ 熟练程度）and the quality of writing, as well as the design and level of exchanging ideas with readers.

Academics from the National University of Singapore and the SIM University IT experts, and a journalist from Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore made up the judges.

In the end, only three Singaporean students made it to the award list—the rest of the awards were swept up by students from China.

 “No surprise.” said Mr. Chow Yaw Long, 37 , teachers in charge from Ianova Junior Collage, which organized the event. “Although the topics were local subjects, the foreign students were generally better in terms of the content of the posts and their grasp of the Chinese language.”

One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao 19, from the Saint Andrew’s Junior Collage, who spared no effort in researching for and writing her blog. Each entry took her between five and seven days to produce, complete with pictures and even podcasts （播客）

Her advice for bloggers is: Be responsible

 “Some bloggers out there only seek to blame the authorities and other bloggers.” Said Miss Gao. “I think they lack responsibilities and there is no value to their posts.”

56. The competition was organized by

A. the National University of Singapore             B. Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao

C. Innova Junior College                               D. the Saint Andrew’s Junior College

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

A. Chinese students won most of the awards.

B. Not all the themes were about local subjects

C. The blogs could be written in Chinese or Singlish.

D. The judges were from university in Singapore and China.

58. What Miss Gao said suggests that

A. she likes to blame the authorities                  B. she has a sense of responsibility

C. she thinks highly of the others’ blogs            D. she loves to read valuable posts

59. The passage in mainly about

A. how Chinese students won the awards in the competition

B. why bloggers should take responsibility for their blogs

C. how Miss Gao won the first prize in the competition

D. what the result of the competition was

 (09·福建D篇)

Find Which Direction Is South

Do you have a good sense of direction? If not, please take with you a compass. But if you forget to take a compass, you can still find your way.

It’s never a good idea to imagine that the family member who was entrusted（委托）with the job of map-reading actually knows where the family is. You can tell by the slightly confused load on their faces that nothing on the ground seems to match the map. Never mind. The shu is shining and it’s still morning. If you don’t know the exact time, you can still find out where south is, but you’ll need to be patient.

①Find a straight sick and put it in the ground in a place where you can mark its shadow.

②Try to position the stick as vertically（垂直）as you can. You can check this by making a simple plumb line （铅锤线）with a piece of string and weight. You haven’t got any string? OK, use a thread from your clothes with a button tied at the end to act as a weight.

③Mark the end of the shadow cast by the stick.

④Wait approximately half an hour and mark the end of the shadow again.

⑤Keep doing this until you have made several marks.

⑥The mark nearest the stick will represent the shortest shadow, which is cast at midday, when the sun is highest in the sky and pointing to the exact south.

⑦Pick a point in the distance along the line between the shortest shadow and the stick.

⑧That point is south of where you are.

⑨Now you can turn the map, like you did before, and find which way you should be travelling.

68. To find the direction, we ought to be patient probably because

A. it is not easy to find a proper stick      B. it is not easy to position the stick

C. it takes hours to make the marks        D. it takes about half an hour to make the marks

69. The passage would probably be most helpful to       .

A. those who draw maps           B. those who get lost

C. those who make compasses       D. those who do experiments

70. Which of the following pictures best shows the way of finding the direction of south?

71. The author presents this passage by       .

A. telling an interesting story                B. describing an activity in a lively way

C. testing an idea by reasoning               D. introducing a practical method