Some of Man's closest relatives in the animal kingdom are under serious threat because of human activity, according to a recently published report.

Almost one in three of all apes and monkeys are now considered to be in danger of dying out and disappearing from our planet, if action is not taken soon.

The report, which was produced for the World Conservation Union (WCU), shows that 114 of the world's 394 kinds could be lost forever, and the main reason they are threatened is the continuing loss of forests where most of these animals live. In addition, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and commercial(商业的)hunting for meat are also endangering them.

What's more, the problem is getting worse. The number of species on the organization’s Red List has increased by 3 to 25 since 2005.

Russell Mittermeier, the main researcher of the WCU report, said, "You could fit(安置) all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium. So the problem is obviously urgent."

The scientists, who drew up the Red List, believe that the situation is now so bad that if action is not taken immediately, it will result in primate(灵长目动物) species dying out - something which has not happened in over a century.

The loss of habitat caused by the clearing of forests for wood, farmland and fuel continues to be the main reason for the decreasing number of primates, according to the report, and the problem was most severe in Asia.

The loss of forest trees is also responsible for 20 percent of all greenhouse gases - more than all the cars, trucks, trains and airplanes in the world combined.

1.What is the main subject of the report discussed in the text?

A.Climate change.                        B.Loss of animal habitat.

C.Animal protection.                      D.Endangered animals

2.How many animals were on the Red List in 2005?

A.22               B.19               C.25.               D.28.

3.The spokesman refers to 'a football stadium' in paragraph 5 to stress that ______.

A.the animals enjoy playing sports

B.these animals should be placed there for protection

C.there are not many of these animals left

D.the report was announced there

4.What is the main cause of the greenhouse gas problem according to the text?

A.Airplanes.                             B.Loss of trees.

C.Factory pollution.                       D.Road vehicles.

 

Barcodes (条形码) aren’t given much thought by the majority of consumers, but these codes were fairly recently applied in a working fashion in 1970.

A small food store owner decided one day that keeping records of the inventory (存货) of his stock and the associated prices were an extremely laborious process, and so, in 1948, he contacted the The Drexel Institute of Technology in a bid to work towards a solution. Bernard Sliver rose to the challenge and set out to study the problem, and began working on a solution involving an automatic way of keeping track of items that had been sold. Silver and a group of students from the institute realized their answer in the form of ultraviolet light (紫外线), ink and a scanner.

The system worked initially, but possessed some negatives. It was incredibly costly to carry out on a large scale and the system was also unstable. If the invention was to become commonplace (寻常的事) in grocery stores, these two problems had to be solved.

The patent (专利)for the bar code system was filed by Sliver and one of his students, Woodland. The patent was not granted immediately; in fact it took three years for the patent agency to grand their invention patent for the barcode, occurring on 7th October, 1952.

Despite the patent being issued, the system was still not welcomed by the majority of store owners. It was not until 1966 that the system began moving its way into more and more grocery stores. This system was soon criticised, as there was no central mechanism for controlling uniformly coded items. In 1970, Logicorn developed the Universal Grocery Products Identification code (UGOIC), soon shortened to Universal Identification Number (UPC). It was Marsh’s superstore, in Troy, which was the very first store to install this complex barcode reading system, and its popularity has soared (升温) ever since, and is obviously now commonplace in all types of stores worldwide.

1.What is stressed in the second paragraph?

A.The heavy work of store owners.

B.The function of ultraviolet light, ink and a scanner.

C.The origination of barcodes

D.Bernard Silver’s education background.

2.Which of the following was NOT a drawback of Silver’s system?

A.It was expensive to be applied on a large scale.

B.It was a laborious process.

C.The system was not stable.

D.It lacked a central mechanism.

3.What is the purpose of the text?

A.To tell people that failure is the mother of success.

B.To praise scientists’ efforts in making people’s lives easier.

C.To describe shop owners’ opinions of barcodes.

D.To provide information about the development of barcodes.

 

“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish.

Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting. I was too thrilled to believe her. Her words could not convince me at all. So I did a research on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages containing “Long time no see.” This sentence has been widely used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible places. Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily. Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.

Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan likes to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius. “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrase in the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies.

Some scholars refer to America as a huge pot of stew. All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they change the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的成员) group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew! Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew.

You can have some other examples than adoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, susi from Japanese, and déjà vu from French etc. There is a long list! Americans do not just simply borrow something from others. They will modify it and make it their own, so you would not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in a restaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in a grocery store. Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and more nowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future. In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor.

1.The writer himself felt surprised at ______. 

A.the Chinglish expression “Long time no see”

B.“Long time no see” used as standard American English

C.so many literal translation of the expressions used in America

D.finding out Americans use the expression every day

2.The word “stew” in the 4th paragraph probably means ______.

A.mixture literature                       B.Confucius’ words

C.a kind of cooked dish                    D.American changing cultures

3.According to the passage, it can be inferred that ______.

A.detectives translate the phrase “Long time no see”

B.Hollywood made “Long time no see” popular

C.the huge pot of stew greatly affects all kinds of languages

D.cultures can be changed in the huge pot of stew

4.The main idea of the passage is that ______.

A.some Chinese expressions are introduced into English

B.you’ll not be surprised at a tofu in a restaurant in America

C.some American expressions can be used in China

D.American English keep being enriched from different cultures

5.According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?

A.Informal language sometimes doesn’t go with grammar and structure.

B.Languages are always ruled by grammar and structure.

C.Long time no see” has been used in at least four media mentioned in the passage.

D.There are four languages mentioned to be adopted in the American stew.

 

“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”

“Two full inches in the first three days!”

These are the kinds of statements used in magazine,newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.

Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.

To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.

One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.

Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律诉讼),and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.

1.It can be inferred that the ads mentioned in the text are            .        .

A.objective

B.costly

C.unreliable

D.illegal

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A. The court is in charge of removing dangerous products.

B. New products are more likely to be questionable.

C. The production of a device must be approved by FDA.

D. The promoters usually just care about profits.

3.FDA can ask for the proof of safety and effectiveness of a product             

A.if it is a drug

B.if it is a device

C.if its consumers make complaints

D.if its distributors challenge FDA’s authority

4.The Relaxacisor is mentioned as                   .

A.a product which was designed to produce electricity

B.a product whose distributor was involved in a legal case

C.a successful advertisement of a beauty product

D.an example of a quality beauty product

5.The author intends to            

A.make consumers aware of the promoters’ false promises

B.show the weakness of the law on product safety

C.give advice on how to keep young and beautiful

D.introduce the organization of FDA

 

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