题目内容

The Palm Islands are the largest artificial islands in the world and are under construction in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. They are being developed as tourist, leisure, and residential resorts, and will increase the coastline of the country by 120 kilometres.

After four years of planning and careful consideration of the environmental issues, construction started in 2001. Dutch engineers with experience of reclaiming land from the sea were employed in the building of the first two islands. The site for all three islands is an area of the sea where the water is not very deep. Sand is taken from the seabed and sprayed into the construction site. Although the shallow water facilitates this process, the islands are still very exposed to the currents and tidal movements of the sea. Rocks are used to hold the sand in place resulting in a large crescent (月状的) structure. This acts as a breakwater and protects the islands from the sea.

The first two islands are in the shape of date palm trees and consist of a trunk and 17 frond, or leaves coming off the trunk. The first island, named Palm Jumeirah, has three five-star hotels in the trunk, and luxury homes in the leaves. It is astonishing that when these homes went on sale in 2004, they were all sold within three days.

The second palm, Jebel Ali, was started in 2002 and is designed to be an entertainment centre. Six marinas (小游艇船坞) are planned, with a water theme park, and homes built on stilts (桩柱) in the water.

The Palm Deira planned to be the largest of the three islands, with a length of 14 km and a width of 8.5 km, an area larger than the city of Paris. It will consist of residential properties, marinas, shopping malls, sports facilities, and clubs. These will be open to both residents and tourists.

More artificial islands, the World Islands, are now being constructed near the Palm Jumeirah. They consist of 300 private islands grouped into the shape of the continents of the world and will be used for estates, private homes, community islands, and resorts.

Unquestionably, these artificial islands are one of the wonders of the modern world. They will also maintain Dubai’s status as one of the leading tourist destinations in the region.

1.According to the passage, all the following are right EXCEPT___________.

A.Some Dutch engineers are experienced in reclaiming land from the sea.

B.The islands are being built in the shallow water of the sea.

C.All the luxury homes on Palm Jumeirah were sold.

D.The World Islands are bigger than the Palm Jumeriah.

2.The underlined word “facilitates” in the second paragraph probably means___________.

A.holds back B.makes easier

C.slows down D.leads to

3.What is the passage written for?

A.To introduce the wonderful artificial islands.

B.To show how to build artificial islands.

C.To offer a travel service for tourists.

D.To prove the Palm Islands are the largest artificial islands in the world.

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书面表达

阅读下面短文,然后按要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

“When should I begin to acquire good habits?”a young boy asked his teacher.

“How old are you?” asked the teacher.

“Eight years old, sir.”answered the boy.

“Then you have just lost eight years,”the teacher replied.

There is no doubt that habits are formed at a very early age. When one is young, it is easy to acquire good habits.

Good habits are practices that help us in our daily life. The habit of brushing one’s teeth in the morning, for instance, keeps one’s teeth clean and prevents a bad smell which is unpleasant to others. Bad habits such as sticking one’s tongue out, biting one’s fingernails and picking one’s nose, are undesirable ways of behaving in front of others. If we want people to enjoy being with us, we should try to develop habits that are pleasant.

It is said, “We sow an act; we reap a habit. We sow a habit and we reap a character.” The habits we formed at an early age shape our character. Habits are like tributaries(支流) which flow into a river. The river is made up of all its tributaries; a person’s character is made up of all the habits that he or she has acquired over the years.

【写作内容】

1.以约30个词概括本文内容;

2.以约120个词谈谈你对好习惯养成的看法,并包括以下要点:

(1)你认为好习惯重要吗,为什么?

(2)你身上有哪些好习惯,它们对你的学习或生活有什么影响?

(3)怎样才能养成良好的习惯?

【写作要求】

1.作文中可以使用亲身经历或虚构的故事,也可以参照阅读材料的内容,但不得直接引用原文的句子。

2.作文中不得出现真实姓名和学校名称。

Exercise seems to be good for the human brain, with many recent studies suggesting that regular exercise improves memory and thinking skills. But an interesting new study asks whether the apparent cognitive benefits from exercise are real or just a placebo effect — that is, if we think we will be “smarter” after exercise, do our brains respond accordingly? The answer has significant implications for any of us hoping to use exercise to keep our minds sharp throughout our lives.

While many studies suggest that exercise may have cognitive benefits, recently some scientists have begun to question whether the apparently beneficial effects of exercise on thinking might be a placebo effect. So researchers at Florida State University in Tallahassee and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign decided to focus on expectations, on what people anticipate that exercise will do for thinking. If people’s expectations jibe (吻合) closely with the actual benefits, then at least some of those improvements are probably a result of the placebo effect and not of exercise.

For the new study, which was published last month in PLOS One, the researchers recruited 171 people through an online survey system, they asked half of these volunteers to estimate by how much a stretching and toning regimens (拉伸运动) performed three times a week might improve various measures of thinking. The other volunteers were asked the same questions, but about a regular walking program.

In actual experiments, stretching and toning program generally have little if any impact on people’s cognitive skills. Walking, on the other hand, seems to substantially improve thinking ability.

But the survey respondents believed the opposite, estimating that the stretching and toning program would be more beneficial for the mind than walking. The estimates of benefits from walking were lower.

These data, while they do not involve any actual exercise, are good news for people who do exercise. “The results from our study suggest that the benefits of aerobic exercise are not a placebo effect,” said Cary Stothart, a graduate student in cognitive psychology at Florida State University, who led the study.

If expectations had been driving the improvements in cognition seen in studies after exercise, Mr. Stothart said, then people should have expected walking to be more beneficial for thinking than stretching. They didn’t, implying that the changes in the brain and thinking after exercise are physiologically genuine.

The findings are strong enough to suggest that exercise really does change the brain and may, in the process, improve thinking, Mr. Stothart said. That conclusion should encourage scientists to look even more closely into how, at a molecular level, exercise remodels the human brain, he said. It also should encourage the rest of us to move, since the benefits are, it seems, not imaginary, even if they are in our head.

1.Which of the following about the placebo effect is TRUE according to the passage?

A. It occurs during exercise.

B. It has cognitive benefits.

C. It is just a mental reaction.

D. It is a physiological response.

2.Why did the researchers at the two universities conduct the research?

A. To discover the placebo effect in the exercise.

B. To prove the previous studies have a big drawback.

C. To test whether exercise can really improve cognition.

D. To encourage more scientists to get involved in the research.

3.What can we know about the research Cary Stothart and his team carried out?

A. They employed 171 people to take part in the actual exercise.

B. The result of the research removed the recent doubt of some scientists.

C. The participants thought walking had a greater impact on thinking ability.

D. Their conclusion drives scientists to do research on the placebo effect.

4.What might be the best title for the passage?

A. Is it necessary for us to take exercise?

B. How should people exercise properly?

C. What makes us smarter during exercise?

D. Does exercise really make us smarter?

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