Scientists used to explore探测on the surface of the ocean. Now they are exploring below the surface, too. They want to know about ocean water and the plant and animal life deep in the ocean.

In 1934 the scientist William Beebe dived 3 000 feet below the surface in a hollow steel ball. In 1935 August Piccard dived 10330 feet. In 1960 his son Jean dived to a depth of 35 800 feet. All these early dives were deep. But the divers could not stay down for very long. They had to come back up to the surface after a few seconds. Scientists needed to stay down longer to study life below surface. Gradually they succeeded. Cousteau, a Frenchman, was able to keep men down to a depth of 90 feet for a week.

Now scientists are developing even better equipment. With this new equipment,men can stay below the surface for days or even weeks. In 1962 Cousteau set up a research station 35 feet below the surface. Then,in 1964,he set up another station on the ocean floor of the Red Sea. This was the first undersea station to operate without help from the surface.

Many countries are now studying undersea living. The former Soviet Union has an undersea laboratory in the Crimean Sea. The United States has a laboratory 50 feet down on the ocean floor off the Virgin Islands. In 1970 five men lived there for two weeks. Then a team of five women scientists stayed in the laboratory. Next came other teams of men. All were there to explore the ocean depths and to make plans for the use of its resources. Scientists hope to find enough mineral,vegetable,and animal wealth there to provide food for the entire world.

1.In order to______ ,scientists are exploring below the surface of the ocean.

A. know about the ocean water deep in the ocean

B. stay down longer to study life of the plant and animal below the surface

C. know about the plant and animal life deep in the ocean

D. both A and C

2.Who made the deepest dive______

A. William Beebe.

B. August Piccard.

C. Jean Piccard.

D. Cousteau.

3.Which of the following statements is true____

A. The early divers could not stay down for very long.

B. Up to now only five women scientists have stayed in the undersea laboratory.

C. The purpose of setting up the undersea laboratories is to make plans for the use of the resources in the ocean.

D. None of the above is true.

This column is part of a series on websites that are useful for English language learning.

Activities for ESL Students

Includes various types of tests, exercises and puzzles designed to help people studying English as a second language(ESL).The activities include grammar, vocabulary and idiom tests at easy, medium and difficult levels. The specially designed Chinese-English vocabulary tests can help Chinese memorize English words.

http://a4esl. org/

Interesting Things for ESL Students

Contains a comprehensive list of audio clips(听力剪辑)from the Special English programs of Voice of America(VOA).The list covers news of all kinds on VOA. The listening and vocabulary exercises and the word list designed with the clips will help English learners improve listening ability and increase vocabulary.

http://www.manythings.org/voa/

World-English

This site provides a list of radio or TV channels offering English news clips. It includes the BBC radio program clips from England, CNN and ABC news clips from the US, and other news clips from other English-speaking countries. Click on the links and you will be taken to channels where you can listen to clips. This is a good way to practice listening.

http://www.world-english.org/listening.html

Listen to English

Offers a large number of materials for English learners to practice listening. The materials include business English, English literature, history, movies, and politics. Students can improve their English while enjoying the beauty of the English of literature, songs, movies, and news in different countries.

http://eleaston.corn/listen, html

1.If you want to test how well you are learning English, which website can you enter?

A. http://a4esl.org/

B. http://www. many things.org/voa/

C. http://www. world-english.org/listening.html

D. http://eleaston. com/listen. html

2.According to this passage, you had better listen to clips of _____ programs to learn more English words.

A. VOA B. BBC C. CNN D. ABC

3.How many of the four websites can you use to improve your English as well as to learn about recent news?

A. One. B. Two. C. Three. D. Four.

Well, more and more companies are beginning to create products and services for teenagers. The Disney Company sells the Hannah Montans television show, music, film and merchandise(商品) to teenagers and their parents. You can get everything from branded lunchboxes and mobile phone covers, to monthly fan magazines and clothing. The High School Musical series of films is also intended for a teenage audience. So, it’s all about sales, which tells us teenagers must have more money, freedom and influence upon their parents than they’ve ever had before.

UK teenagers never used to be worried about spending money on clothes and fashion accessories(附加物). That’s changed. Now, they are much more fashion conscious and concerned about their image. In a world of television programmes that promise overnight success and fame at a young age (for example, the shows Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol), some people think it’s extremely important to look fashionable.

So what does teenage fashion look like? Well, it’s quite horrible really, but then I’m a bit too old to appreciate it, I suppose. It’s lots of brightly coloured materials, particularly pink, and usually plain, not patterned. There are plenty of bows, necklaces and bracelets(手镯), too. It’s all very cute(可爱的), if that’s your taste.

Surely none of the above is a good thing, is it? Can it really be healthy for us to encourage kids to be like adults at such a young age? Are we stealing childhoods in return for a bit of profit? Well, the UK government is certainly concerned, and for that reason has strict laws preventing companies from explicitly(明确地) marketing their products and services at children.

Even the rest of UK society is concerned. Now that people are aware of the problem, there is a popular backlash(强烈反应) against the exploitation(利用) of children by commercial marketing.

1.It can be inferred from the passage that the teenagers nowadays .

A. often ask their parents to buy things for them

B. always have more than enough money on their clothes

C. can’t enjoy their childhood though they are rich in material

D. are satisfied with their material life and worry about nothing

2.The author of the passage .

A. supports teenage fashion quite a lot

B. is fond of brightly colored materials that are to his taste

C. thinks it illegal to make profits by selling things to kids

D. is strongly against marketing products and services at children

3. The passage is mainly about .

A. British teenagers who are interested in fashions

B.UK companies targeting products at children

C. a social problem concerning teenagers in the UK

D. products that aim at young people in England

It’s not Christmas Day yet. But wherever I go on the streets, I see shops selling Christmas trees and all kinds of beautiful decorations, waiters wearing Christmas hats; I hear children singing Christmas songs on broadcast; I get messages of Christmas’s best wishes from friends.

I just got quite confused again, since when have Chinese begun celebrating Christmas Day? What do these people celebrate it for, the birth of Chris? But we all know that most of Chinese are not Christians, they don’t even know the origin of Christmas Day, and they celebrate it for no reason.

I don’t celebrate Christmas Day or any other western holidays since I’m not a Christian and nor am I a westerner. I don’t know what Christmas really means. Anyway I can’t get reasonable answers from my friends. Some of them think they would like to just take this chance to enjoy themselves regardless of the meaning of the festival. Some of them think I’m an old-fashioned girl, a bigot who doesn’t appreciate the spirit of Chinese cultural tolerance(宽容) and understanding of other cultures. Well, if it is about cultural tolerance, why don’t we ever celebrate the month of Muharram, or festivals of colours in India, or Fiestas Patrias in Mexico?

I really appreciate cultural exchanges and communications with all nations, but I don’t think this is what it’s about. People are celebrating more and more western festivals while ignoring our traditional ones.

Is it part of globalization(全球化)? Do people in other non-western countries also celebrate Christmas?

1. It can be inferred from the passage that the writer _________.

A. is an old-fashioned girl

B. doesn’t like festivals at all

C. prefers western festivals to Chinese festivals

D. prefers Chinese festivals to western festivals

2. According to the writer, many Chinese people celebrate Christmas _________.

A. for no reason

B. for the birth of Chris

C. because most of them are Christians

D. because they don’t like Chinese festivals

3. The underlined word “bigot” in Paragraph 3 means ________.

A. a very brave person B. a very stubborn person

C. a very careful person D. a very popular person

4. We can learn from the passage that _________.

A. more and more Chinese people celebrate western festivals now

B. Chinese people pay enough attention to our own festivals

C. no Christmas celebration means one lacks cultural tolerance

D. the writer doesn’t like cultural exchanges and communications with other countries

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