At middle school level, there are many academic clubs in which the students can participate. Students can choose clubs that focus on an area of interest.

Mathcounts Club

Mathcounts tries to increase excitement about mathematic achievement. It hopes to provide students with the foundation for success in science, technology, engineering and mathematic careers. Schools select individuals and teams to participate in competitions. Mathcounts works to challenge student math skills, develop self-confidence and give rewards for their achievements.

Envirothon

The Envirothon program focuses on natural resources knowledge and exposes students to diverse environmental issues, ecosystems, and topography (地形学). The ecology field competition for five-member middle school teams offers competitions in wildlife, soils, forestry, current environmental issues and aquatics (水上运动). Students work and learn in middle school clubs ·and can compete at local and state level.

Future Problem Solvers

Future Problem Solvers is an academic club that uses a six-step process to solve problems that may happen in the future. Students who like to “think outside the box”  may like this club. Teams made up of four students read future scenes and write up solutions in a booklet using the six-step process. Teams that score high enough can go to the state competition and then to the international competition.

Builders Club

Builders Club is open to any middle school student who wishes to perform community service. The members learn by doing, and they learn organization, teamwork, and leadership. Builders Clubs can sponsor a “Teacher of the Year” program, provide a recycling collection point, organize canned food and clothing to support local shelters, adopt a resident at a local senior citizens home, adopt highway, tutor, etc.

The students who are not interested in competition would probably choose _____.

A. Mathcounts Club B. Builders Club

C. Future Problem Solvers   D. Envirothon

Why do some of the students choose Mathcounts club?

A. To be successful in science careers. B. To enjoy solving future problems.

C. To perform community service.    D. To study wildlife and soils.

What is the common feature of the four clubs?

A. Competition.     B. Sponsorship. C. Scientific research.   D. Teamwork.

The passage mainly talks about _____.

A. the state academic competitions  B. middle school clubs

C. extra-curricular activities  D. the gifted students

At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for paper copies of documents (文件) because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.

It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of use of Internet?connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime.

  “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more trees to be cut down," says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organisation.

Perhaps the best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high?tech industry itself, which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets. Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer. Earlier this week Hewlett?Packard Co. announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document, a medical record or just a one?line e?mail, even if they are nowhere near a computer. As the company sees it, the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers.

Does all this mean environmental concerns (环境问题) have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away.“ I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of, because of recycling(回收利用)," said Kelly Quirke, director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high?tech may also prove helpful. He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity. The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood, such as agricultural waste.

1.The growing demand for paper in recent years is largely due to _______.

A.the rapid development of small businesses

B.the opening up of new markets

C.the printing of high quality copies

D.the increased use of the Internet 

2.Environmentalists believe one possible way of dealing with the paper situation is ________.

A.to encourage printing more quality documents

B.to develop new printers using recycled paper

C.to find new materials for making paper

D.to plant more fast?growing trees 

3.Hewlett?Packard Co. has decided to develop new technologies because  ________ .

A.people are concerned about the environment

B.printers in many offices are working overtime

C.small companies need more hard copies

D.they see a growing market for printers 

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A.Computers and Printers

B.E-mail and the Business World

C.Internet Revolution and Environment

D.Modern Technology and New Markets 

Australians have been warned they face a life or death decision over their water-drink recycled sewage(污水) or die.

With the drought(干旱) continuing, the country is set to be forced to use purified(净化的) waste water for drinking, even though there is great opposition to the measure.

Queensland has become the first state to introduce the policy after a warning from its premier(总理).

“I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water,” said Peter Beattie.

“These are difficult decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold, it's a matter of life and death.”

Beattie said Australia's second largest state would become the first to use recycled water for drinking.

Water is recycled in Britain and parts of northern Europe along with the US and Israel.

But Australians have rebutted the idea.

To try to change the way of Australians think, Prime Minister John Howard and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull have backed Queensland's move.

“I am very strongly in favour of recycling and Mr Beattie is right and I agree with him completely,” Howard said.

Turnbull added that Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water.

“All of our big cities have to widen the range of water sources to include sources which are not dependent on rainfall,” he said.

1.What would the BEST title for the passage be?

A. It's Life or Death

B. Struggling With Drought

C. Australians' Efforts to Settle Water Issues

D. Drinking Recycled Purified Water or Not

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

A. Queensland is the first state to use recycled water for drinking voluntarily.

B. No other countries but Australia once used purified waste water for drinking.

C. Australians well understand the policy, showing support and acceptance.

D. The drought is the worst one of the droughts recorded in Australian history.

3.Which of the following is TRUE about Turnbull?

A. He is the Australian Environment Minister and Prime Minister.

B. He expresses his opposition to the idea of using recycled water for drinking.

C. He thinks that to use recycled water will be a long-term process.

D. He suggests more water sources should be found to live through the hard time.

4. The underlined word “rebutted” in Paragraph 8 probably means________.

A. been fond of  B. objected to

C. turned a deaf ear to  D. doubted

5.What attitude does Queensland Premier Peter Beattie show towards the measure?

A. He feels very glad.  B. He feels at ease.

C. He can't help it.  D. He has lost heart.

 

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.

The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1. What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?

A. Using too much packaging.

B. Recycling too many wastes.

C. Making more products than necessary.

D. Having more material than is needed.

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.

A. the tendency of cutting household waste

B. the increase of packaging recycling

C. the rapid growth of super markets

D. the fact of packaging overuse

3. According to the text, recycling ______.

   A. helps control the greenhouse effect

   B. means burning packaging for energy

   C. is the solution to gas shortage

   D. leads to a waste of land

4. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

   A. Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

   B. Supermarkets care more about packaging.

   C. It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

   D. Other products are better packaged than food.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

   B. Needless material is mostly recycled.

   C. People like collecting recyclable waste.

   D. The author is proud of their consumer culture.

 

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.

   The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

    Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of areas for burying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

    But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to connect packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

   There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material we are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1.What does the underlined phrase “that over-consumption” refer to?

  A. Using too much packaging.

  B. Recycling too many wastes.

  C. Making more products than necessary.

  D. Having more material than is needed.

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.

  A. the tendency of cutting household waste

B. the fact of packaging overuse

  C. the rapid growth of supermarkets

  D. the increase of packaging recycling

3.What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

   A. Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

   B. Supermarkets care more about packaging.

   C. It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

   D. Other products are better packaged than food.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. Needless material is mostly recycled.

  B. Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

    C. People like collecting recyclable waste.

   D. The author is proud of their consumer culture.

 

 

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