题目内容
Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed from the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure (基础设施)that must be maintained. Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It’s not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.
Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The Park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.
Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipes almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.
Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is a lack of money. The United States has 378 monuments, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.
Yosemite is one national park that does have money for repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park.
A sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowded park.
1. According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when they are
appreciated from ______.
A. the bottom of the valleys B. the top of the mountains
C. the side of the mountains D. the edge of the valleys
2.National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to meet the need of visitors
because ______.
A. their transport management needs improving
B. they spend too much on their service systems
C. their service systems frequently go out of order
D. they need help from environmental organizations
3.The main problem of Yosemite National Park is its ______.
A. rundown water pipes B. over crowdedness
C. lack of money D. narrow roads
4.According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be ______.
A. an environmental group B. an information center
C. a travel service D. a law firm
1.A 2.C 3.B 4.A
It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store.
【小题1】The first paragraph implies that ______.
A.nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts |
B.recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts |
C.Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts |
D.Christmas is a time to make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts |
A.if the weather is not very cold | B.if we don’t have to fight for the best deals |
C.if we don’t have to get up early | D.If we get what we want at a good price |
A.some experts in shopping | B.certain things for especially low price |
C.some kind of help for a certain customer | D.things that can only be found on Friday |
A.on Black Friday | B.in a particular store |
C.on the Internet | D.from retailers |
A.to tell us the best way to do shopping |
B.to attract more readers to do wise shopping |
C.to show us how hard it is to do Christmas shopping |
D.to give us advice on how to get a good deal at Christmas time |
Usually, when your teacher asks a question, there is only one correct answer. But there is one question that has millions of current answers. That question is “What’s your name?” Everyone gives a different answer, but everyone is correct.
Have you ever wondered about people’s names? Where do they come from? What do they mean?
People’s first names, or given names, are chosen by their parents. Sometimes the name of a grandparent or other member of the family is used. Some parents choose the name of a well-known person. A boy could be named George Washington Smith; a girl could be named Helen Keller Jones.
Some people give their children names that mean good things. Clara means “bright”; Beatrice means “one who gives happiness”; Donald means “world ruler”; Leonard means “as brave as a lion”.
The earliest last names, or surnames, were taken from place names. A family with the name Brook or Brooks probably lived near brook(小溪);someone who was called Longstreet probably lived on a long, paved road. The Greenwood family lived in or near a leafy forest.
Other early surnames came from people’s occupations. The most common occupational name is Smith, which means a person who makes things with iron or other metals. In the past, smiths were very important workers in every town and village. Some other occupational names are: Carter — a person who owned or drove a cart; Potter —a person who made pots and pans.
The ancestors of the Baker family probably baked bread for their neighbors in their native village. The Carpenter’s great-great-great-grandfather probably built houses and furniture.
Sometimes people were known for the color of their hair or skin, or their size, or their special abilities. When there were two men who were named John in the same village, the John with the gray hair probably became John Gray. Or the John was very tall could call himself John Tallman. John Fish was probably an excellent swimmer and John Lightfoot was probably a fast runner or a good dancer.
Some family names were made by adding something to the father’s name. English-speaking people added –s or –son. The Johnsons are descendants of John; the Roberts family’s ancestor was Robert. Irish and Scottish people added Mac or Mc or O. Perhaps all of the MacDonnells and the McDonnells and the O’Donnells are descendants of the same Donnell.
【小题1】Which of the following aspects do the surnames in the passage NOT cover?
A.Places where people lived. |
B.People’s characters. |
C.Talents that people possessed. |
D.People’s occupations. |
A.owned or drove a cart |
B.made things with metals |
C.made kitchen tools or contains |
D.built houses and furniture |
A.Beatrice Smith | B.Leonard Carter |
C.George Longstreet | D.Donald Greenwood |
A.later generations | B.friends and relatives |
C.colleagues and partners | D.later sponsors |