If your cellphone suddenly stops working, don’t blame the service provider.The malfunction(故障) might well have been caused by something bigger -- a solar storm.Experts expect that Earth will see more solar activity in the near future.The malfunction of electronic devices will just one of the effects.

Sunspots(太阳黑子) serve as an indicator of the sun’s activity.For the past two years, sunspots have mostly been missing.Their absence, the most prolonged in nearly 100 years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise.

When the number of sunspots drops at the end of each 11-year cycle, solar storms die down and all become much calmer. This “solar minimum” doesn’t last long. Within a year, sunspots and solar storms begin to build toward a new crescendo, the next solar maximum.

What’s special about this latest cycle is that the sun is having trouble starting the next solar cycle. The sun began to calm down in late 2007, so no one expected many sunspots in 2008. They should return in 2010. Scientists have predicted that the next solar cycle could be the most active on record: more sunspots and more solar storms. However, sunspots are mostly missing now.

Since the earth is in close contact with the sun, strong solar activities can bring trouble to our life. People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Air travel and radio communications can be affected by strong solar activities. A big solar storm could cause 20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

What the sun will do next is beyond our ability to predict. Most astronomers think that the solar cycle will go on but at low level. However, there is also evidence that the sun is losing its ability to produce sunspots. By 2015, they could be gone altogether.

1.The sun watcher feel surprised at            .

    A.the longest sunspots’ absence   B.the largest sunspot number

    C.the malfunction of electronic devices              D.the serious damage by sunspots

2.What does the underlined word “crescendo” in paragraph 3 most probably mean?    A.small number         B.high level

    C.usual cycle                      D.fresh start

3.We can infer that in the past two years         .

    A.solar activities have brought much trouble to our life

    B.the number of sunspots has increased to a large extent

    C.the solar minimum took the place of the solar maximum

    D.our cellphones have seldom been interrupted by the solar storm

4.Which statement does the text lead you to believe?

    A.Solar activities do no harm to our daily life.

    B.Hurricane Katrina is also a type of solar storms.

    C.It’s difficult to predict sunspots.

    D.From  now on there’ re no sunspots.

5.What is the passage mainly about?

    A.The earth is in close contact with the sun.

    B.Sunspots can cause trouble to our life.

    C.Introduction of sunspots.

    D.Introduction of the solar storm.

 

UNICEF reports that 40 million children below the age of 15 suffer from abuse(虐待) and neglect. The USA National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse finds 3 million new reports of child abuse or neglect every year.

       According to such information on human rights abuses of children, the United Nations declared 2010 as the International Year of Youth. In answer to the common human rights abuses of young people, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth of Youth for Human Rights International(YHRI) recently completed her seventh annual World Tour to five continents in eighty days. The purpose of the tour is to promote the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights to tens of thousands of children and officials.

       According to UNICEF, 1.2 million children are illegally traded all over the world every year.

Sold as goods, these children are forced into inhuman labor, denied basic education and robbed of their childhoods. Youth who do not know their rights are easily cheated by ill-intentioned men. That is why YHRI thinks highly of education.

       “When the United Nations declared 2010 as the International Year of Youth, I knew that their human rights had to be greater than ever,” Dr. Shuttleworth said. The tour reached Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, Greece, Taiwan, Japan, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

       The YHRI World Tour 2010 has reached tens of thousands of students as well as officials, educators, and religious leaders and thus promotes human rights education to millions more.

1.2010 was declared as the International Year of Youth because ______.

       A. 3 million children reported their information to the UN

       B. many children are suffering from ill-treatment and neglect

       C. children are illegally traded throughout the whole world

       D. human rights abuses of young people have been avoided

2.According to para. 2, Dr. Shuttleworth first started her annual World Tour in _____.

       A. 2000                 B. 2004                 C. 2008                 D. 2010

3.Youth for Human Rights International is paying attention to education because _______.

       A. education should serve most children

       B. too many children are forced to leave school

       C. children who know their rights will make more money

       D. children who know little about their rights are easily cheated

4.According to the passage, the YHRI World Tour 2010 _______.

       A. has almost stopped the child abuse            B. has reached different areas and people

       C. has found more forced child labor             D. was neglected by some political leaders

 

Heavy downpours last month in Rhode Island led to widespread flooding, causing millions of dollars in property damage and leaving thousands homeless. The floodwaters also poured vast amounts of raw sewage (污水) into the rivers and streams that flow into Narragansett Bay.

It sounds like the makings of an environmental nightmare, but in fact it’s just the opposite. To scientists’ delight, the sewage-loaded floodwaters have caused a well-timed growth of phytoplankton, the microscopic creatures that form the foundation of marine food chains. With more food available for fish, clams and other sea creatures, the bay’s fisheries industry is expected to benefit.

In decades past, Narragansett Bay typically experienced a late winter/early spring algal (海藻) bloom that fed creatures up and down the water column. But in recent years, the waters of Narragansett Bay have warmed greatly, interrupting this seasonal event.

Mark Berman, an oceanographer with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said the flood seemed to have sent the bay back to its normal state.

However, local, state and federal officials in Rhode Island have been battling other algal blooms that, by contrast, are causing widespread harm to the Narragansett Bay ecosystem. During summer months, sewage and agricultural runoff flows into the bay, causing large blooms. But instead of becoming food for sea creatures, much of the phytoplankton is consumed by bacteria, which grow fast in the warmer waters. The rapid bacteria growth leads to hypoxia – a decrease of oxygen in the water that can cause large fish kills. One such die-off occurred in 2003, when millions of oxygen-starved fish washed up on the beaches of Narragansett Bay.

The flood’s positive impact will probably be a one-time event, Mr. Berman said. Meanwhile, efforts to curb the harmful summer blooms continue; in 2008, for instance, Providence completed a $359 million sewage tunnel under the city designed to reduce the polluted storm overflow into Narragansett Bay.

1. Scientists believe that the raw sewage flowing into the bay will _______.

A.pollute the island’s environment

B.cause lots of property damage

C.increase the fisheries production

D.destroy the food chains in the bay

2.The potential benefit of fisheries industry relies on the _______.

A.warm temperatures of the bay

B.growth of phytoplankton

C.large summer alga blooms

D.consumption of oxygen by bacteria

3. People struggle against the summer blooms because they will ________.

A.pollute the local natural environment

B.increase the production of fishery industry

C.cause large fish kills of the bay indirectly

D.provide too much food for sea creatures

4.It can be inferred that _______.

A.money spent on the summer blooms has been wasted

B.the government is investing to promote the local fisheries

C.research of oceanology should be encouraged

D.opinions on the raw sewage impact are currently contradictory

5. The underlined word “curb” in the last paragraph can be defined as “______”.

A.control

B.consume

C.cause

D.cure

 

In 1995, Susan Boyle went to Glasgow to audition (试演) for My Kind of people, a televised talent show popular in the UK. She was immediately rejected. She was nervous during the audition, and felt she didn't perform well, but her brother said that she was rejected because of her plain looks. Boyle was not discouraged and continued to sing at church and at the karaoke nights in a local pub.

Boyle suffered a personal loss in 1997, when her father passed away. After his death. Boyle put her big dreams on hold to care for her sick mother Bridget Boyle. The mother and daughter often talked of Susan's possible fame. Bridget Boyle encouraged her daughter to take part in singing competitions. “She was the one who said I should enter Britain's Got Talent. We used to watch it together.” Susan later told reporters. “She thought I would win.”

In 1999, Boyle used all of her savings to pay for a professional demo (样本唱片) tape. which she sent to record companies. In 2002, Boyle began taking singing lessons from voice coach Fred O'Neil.

In 2007, Boyle's mother passed away at the age of 91. A neighbor reported that when Bridget Boyle died, her daughter “wouldn't come out for three or four days or answer the door or phone.” She lived alone with her cat, Pebbles. For over a year, she refused to sing. But in August of 2008, O'Neil urged her to try out for Britain's Got Talent. Convinced that the performance would be an honor to her mother, Boyle auditioned in Glasgow, Scotland. She sang I Dreamed A Dream in the first round of the show, which was aired on 11 April 2009.

The 47-year-old Scottish woman's plain looks provided a sharp contrast (对比) to her powerfully beautiful voice. The performance astonished the audience and the judges. Online videos of her performance totaled over 40 million views within a week. Although she failed to win the final of Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle became globally popular. Her first album I Dreamed A Dream has sold over five million copies.

1.Bridget Boyle's attitude towards her daughter's musical talent can be described as      .

A.critical

B.doubtful

C.indifferent

D.optimistic

2.From Para. 4 we learn that Boyle      .

A.was slightly discouraged by her voice coach

B.entered Britain's Got Talent to prove her ability

C.decided to give up her singing career

D.was deeply affected by her mother's death

3.Which of the following is TRUE about Susan Boyle?

A.Her international fame grew rapidly in 2008.

B.Her audition for My Kind of People failed.

C.She has never stopped singing since 1995.

D.She was the winner of Britain's Got Talent.

4.In writing this passage, the author mainly intends to      .

A.tell us how Boyle's dream came true

B.let us know more about Boyle's personal life

C.show how Boyle was influenced by her family

D.explain how to enter and win a talent show

 

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