题目内容
CHICAGO --Bill Clinton's eagerly awaited memoir(自传), My Life, will be published this June, and is sure to ignite（点燃）a firestorm of interest in an already politically charged election year. Bill Clinton said that most presidential memoirs are thought to be "dull and self-serving, but I hope mine is interesting and self-serving.”
My Life, which is being published by Knopf and will sell for $ 35, is expected by many industry watchers to rise to the top of the best-seller lists.
Clinton said the book tells the story of his life from his birth and childhood in Arkansas to his years in the White House. From the book readers can have a look at his successes and setbacks.
He tells the story “as it happens to me, so you see what it's like to be president ... to see how everything happens at once.”
Without offering specifics or mentioning Monica Lewinsky, Clinton said, "I don't spare myself" in the book.
"I have no idea if this is a great book," he said, "but it's a pretty good story. "
Clinton was reportedly paid an advance of $10 million for the book, which was supposed to be done a year ago.
"The minute that book goes on sale, people will be lined up buying the book," said Bob Wietrak, a vice-president（副总统）and chief merchant for Barnes & Noble.
Some predict the 957-page book will be one of the few presidential memoirs to fly off shelves.
Booksellers have already taken pre-orders. The 1.5 million-copy first printing is bigger than the first run for Hillary Clinton's memoir Living History, which sold 1.8 million copies.
56. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the book My Life?
A. It will come out in June. B. It has 957 pages in all.
C. It is priced at $ 35. D. It will be published by Barnes & Noble
57. Readers will not find much information about in the book.
A. Clinton's childhood B. Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky
C. Clinton's political life D. Clinton’s presidential election
58. The underlined word "setback" means .
A. a change from worse to better B. a change from better to worse
C. a change from worse to worst D. a change better to best
59. What can we learn about the sale of book?
A. The whole printing will be bigger than that of Hillary Clinton's Living History
B. Some booksellers have placed orders beforehand.
C. The book will be taken off the shelves after it meets failure.
D. People have to place an order for the book before it comes out.
DBBB
Dickson Despommier, a public health professor at Columbia University in New York City developed an idea with his students nine years ago. They imagined people in cities growing crops inside a tall building. Tomatoes could grow on one floor of the skyscraper(摩天大楼), potatoes on the next, small animals and fish on the floor above.
This vertical(垂直的) farm, or "farmscraper", could have space for restaurants and other places that serve food, like schools or hospitals. They could serve foods that are truly locally grown.
But why would anyone want to build a farm indoors in a city? Dickson Despommier believes it will become necessary. The world needs to find places to produce enough food to feed the growing population. Space, he says, is an all-important issue.
The professor also points to the problems of traditional farms. They use a lot of freshwater. Their fertilizer and animal waste can pollute water resources. And their growing seasons can be limited.
But inside the vertical farm, crops could grow all year. And there would be no wind to blow away soil. Farmers would not have to worry about too much or too little rain, or about hot summers, freezing winters or insects. And without insects there would be no need for chemicals to kill them.
Farm machines that .use fossil fuels, like tractors, would not be needed either. And water could be recycled for drinking. "The vertical farm reuses everything, so there is no waste," says Professor Despommier.
Even buildings could be saved. Old buildings could become new farms and provide jobs.
The professor has been actively proposing the idea to cities as far away as Dubai and Canada. But so far it exists only in plans and drawings, and a model at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Critics say building a farmscraper would cost too much, especially considering the price of land in many cities. Dickson Despommier estimates the cost at about twenty to thirty million dollars.
But he says the building would not have to be very tall. And his graduate students have found many empty lots and unused buildings in New York City that could provide space.
【小题1】According to the passage the purpose of proposing the idea of a farm scraper is to .
| A．find places to produce enough food |
| B．serve food that are truly locally grown |
| C．prevent polluting the limited land |
| D．save fresh water |
| A．It costs less |
| B．It saves labor power. |
| C．It consumes too much energy |
| D．It is more environmentally friendly. |
| A．it uses too much land in cities |
| B．it costs too much to build one |
| C．it causes people to lose their jobs |
| D．it exists only in unrealistic plans |
| A．A vertical farm has been built in Chicago. |
| B．Old buildings could be changed into new farms. |
| C．Traditional farms use less water but pollute more water |
| D．There are some vertical farms being put into use in Canada. |