A sunflower is a sunflower. A mobile phone is a mobile phone. But can you combine the two to do something for your local environment? As early as next year it may well be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone you will be able to bury it in a garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower.

A biodegradable (生物所能分解的) mobile phone was, this month, introduced by scientists. It is hoped that the new type of phone will encourage consumers to recycle.

Scientists have come up with a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other plastic and can be hard or soft, and is able to change shape. Over time it can also break down into the soil without giving out any poisonous chemicals. British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed. When this new type of cover turns into waste, it forms fertilizers. These feed the seed and help the flower grow.

Engineers have designed a small transparent (透明的) window to hold the seed. They have made sure it only grows when the phone is thrown away. “We’ve only put sunflower seeds into the covers so far. But we are working with plant experts to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time,” said one scientist.

As phone technology is developing so quickly, people are constantly throwing their mobiles away. This means manufacturers are under pressure to find ways of recycling them. Some 650 million mobile phones have been sold this year. Most of them will be thrown away within two years, adding plastic, heavy metal and chemical waste to the environment. A biodegradable cover can offer some relief (缓解) for nature , according to the scientists.

“The seed comes out and the flower grows in the pot so you don’t have to concern yourself with the phone when you have finished using it,” said Kerry Kirwan. She leads the research team, which is based at the University of Warwick in Britain.

What is the purpose of this passage?

A. To tell the popularity of biodegradable cell phones.

B. To persuade the reader to buy the biodegradable cell phone.

C. To discuss the development of phone technology.

D. To introduce an environmentally-friendly cell phone to readers.

People throw away their cell phones most probably because _______.

A.there is something wrong with them

B.no sunflowers can grow out of them

C.they are out of fashion

D.they are becoming cheaper and cheaper

It could be learned from the passage that _________.

A.developing the new type of phone is mainly to protect the environment

B.phone-makers will benefit much more from the new type of phone

C.the new type of phone will certainly be popular with users all over the world

D.the phones that can be recycled are available only in Britain now

Rabbits are easy to raise. They are clean and quiet. They don’t need a lot of room. And it costs a small amount of money to feed them, but you can get a big return.
One male and two females will produce as many as fifty more rabbits in a year. That is enough to provide enough meat for a family. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat.
You don’t have to be a farmer to raise rabbits. You can raise them in the city.
Rabbit houses are easy to make with wood and wire. They don’t have to be very big. But each rabbit must have its own little room in the house. This is very important. Each room should be about 75 centimeters wide, 60 centimeters high and one meter deep.
Fencing is used for the sides and floor of the rabbit house. The holes in the wire fencing should be about one centimeter square. Waste from the animals will drop through the holes. This keeps the rabbit house clean and dry.
Rabbits need a lot of fresh air and sunlight. Cover the sides of the rabbit house only to protect it from rain.
Rabbits eat mostly grass and leaves. Hang feeding containers on the outside of the house to let the rabbits eat whenever they want. They simply pull the grass and leaves through the holes in the fence.
Each room should have fresh water. The water containers should be heavy so the rabbit cannot turn them over. Or you can tie the containers to the fence.
One month after mating(交配), female rabbits give birth to about eight babies. In two months, a baby rabbit should weigh about two kilograms. This is big enough to make a meal for a small family.
Rabbits are also valuable for their fur. It takes time, skill and money to prepare the fur and skin for use. If you have only a few rabbits, it probably would be best to let a tanner(制革工) prepare the fur for you. Skill is also needed to remove the fur from the rabbit.
But rabbits do not have to be dead to be valuable. Many people enjoy keeping rabbits as friendly pets. And rabbit waste makes an excellent fertilizer(肥料). It can be mixed directly into the soil to improve the growth of vegetables, trees, and flowering plants.
【小题1】The text is written mainly_______.

A.to explain why rabbits are clean and quietB.to let people know more about rabbits
C.to tell readers how to raise rabbitsD.to introduce a small friendly animal pet
【小题2】What is important if you raise rabbits?
A.Holes are needed for waste to drop through.
B.Each rabbit must be given a separate room.
C.Each room must have clean water every day.
D.Feeding containers are hung on the fence.
【小题3】Why should the holes in the wire fence be about one centimeter square?
A.Because the holes let in sunlight.
B.Because rabbits like these holes.
C.Because rabbits get food from them.
D.Because waste of rabbits drops through the holes.
【小题4】What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?
A.You don’t have to kill rabbits to make more money.
B.Rabbits cannot be sold to make money when they are alive.
C.Rabbits are more valuable when they are alive.
D.Rabbits have to be killed to be more valuable.

There are some places in the world where great cities once stood. There were trees, gardens and grass. But now these cities have gone and the places are like deserts. Scientists began to study this land to find out what happened. Many of them believed the land died when the trees were cut down.
Trees help other plants grow and help hold the soil in place. They keep the soil from blowing away. The leaves of trees on the ground keep rainwater from running off. Trees near farms protect growing plants from strong winds.
Once there were hundreds of farms in the southwestern United States. Then the farms turned into fields of dry dust. Trees might have saved these farms. But few trees grow in the dry southwest now.
Now we try to save trees. In many places, when a tree is cut down , a new tree is planted in its place . We do not want the land to die.
【小题1】Places where great cities once stood are now like ______ .

A.farmsB.gardensC.desertsD.fields
【小题2】What can trees do according to the passage ?
A.Trees can keep other plants green
B.Trees can help other plants grow .
C.Trees can help the land grow .
D.Trees can keep other plants in place .
【小题3】Which is true ?
A.Trees let the rainwater run off .
B.All the farms in the United States have turned into deserts .
C.There aren’t any trees in the dry southwest now .
D.Land will die if there are no trees .
【小题4】The main idea of this passage is _________ .
A.that farms are better than cities
B.how farms turned into deserts
C.that trees are important to the land
D.how people save trees
【小题5】From the passage we know that _______ .
A.trees can blow soil away
B.man should protect the land
C.trees grow only in deserts
D.trees die easily

Scientists are trying to make the deserts into good land again.They want to bring water to the deserts,so people can live and grow food.They are learning a lot about the deserts.But more and more of the earth is becoming desert all the time.Scientists may not be able to change the desert in time.
Why is more and more land becoming desert?Scientists think that people make deserts.People are doing bad things to the earth.
Some places on the earth don’t get much rain. But they still don’t become deserts. This is because some green plants are growing there. Small green plants and grass are very important to dry places. Plants don’t let the sun make the earth even drier. Plants do not let the wind blow the dirt away. When a bit of rain falls, the plants hold the water. Without plants, the land can become desert more easily.
【小题1】Deserts ________ .

A.never have any plants or animals in them
B.can all be turned into good land before long
C.are becoming smaller and smaller
D.get very little rain
【小题2】Small green plants are very important to dry places because _____ .
A.they don’t let the sun make the earth even drier
B.they don’t let the wind blow the soil away
C.they hold water
D.All of the above.
【小题3】Land is becoming desert little by little because ______.
A.plants can’t grow there
B.there is not enough rain
C.people haven’t done what scientists wish them to do
D.scientists know little about the deserts
【小题4】Why is more and more land becoming desert according to this passage?
A.Earthquakes make deserts.B.Wind makes deserts.
C. Lack of water makes deserts.D.People make deserts.

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand (木架) with a small notepad (记事本) and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely  the original one.

 “I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years.” I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly  well. I’ve  always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible (看不到的) exhibits at every meal.

1.Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A.To leave messages.

B.To list her everyday tasks.

C.To note down maths problems.

D.To write down a flash of inspiration.

2.What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A.It has great value for the family.

B.It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C.It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D.It should be passed on to the next generation.

3.The author feels embarrassed for             .

A.blaming her mother wrongly

B.giving her mother a lot of trouble

C.not making good use of time as her mother did

D.not making any breakthrough in her field

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A.The mother is successful in her career.

B.The family members like travelling.

C.The author had little time to play when young.

D.The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5.In the author’s mind, her mother is             .

A.strange in behaviour

B.keen on her research

C.fond of collecting old things

D.careless about her appearance

 

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