题目内容
What is red but green, open but closed and old but new?
The answer is: London’s new double-decker（双层）buses.
Red double-deckers are a symbol of the city. Their status was sealed (确定) in 2008 when one bus made the longer-than-usual trip to Beijing to collect a special passenger: the Olympic Flame.
On November 11, a life-size model of the new bus was shown to the media. The Guardian reported that the new design shares some of the features of the much-missed double-decker Routemaster bus. The original Routemaster was introduced in 1956 but December 2005 saw the end of the old bus’s general service. It was because the bus was difficult for some passengers to use and not environmentally friendly. But it can still be seen on two heritage routes in the city.
Its replacements —boxy, modern double—deckers—have failed to win Londoners’ affection.
London mayor Boris Johnson told the BBC that the new buses were “a combination of nostalgia（怀旧）and the latest technology”. “Standing on the back platform of this bus brings a sense of nostalgia but also shows the best part of the latest technology and design, making this bus fit for the 21st Century,” he said.
The new bus also returns to the driver—and—conductor model—a key feature of the original version. It will be quieter than the old type and have a platform offering passengers the traditional hop—on hop—off service.
The first five new buses will be seen on the roads by early 2012.
Which of the following shows that red double—deckers are a symbol of London?
A．They have a long history and are seen everywhere in London.
B．They have nothing in common with the traditional Routemaster bus.
C．One such bus went from London to Beijing to collect the Olympic Flame.
D．They carried British athletes from London to attend the Beijing Olympics.
Which of the following is true of the original Routemaster?
A．The bus came into use in the 1960s.
B．The bus was banned because it was harmful to the environment.
C．Passengers didn’t like the bus because it was slow.
D．Visitors to London cannot see such buses on the roads any more.
According to London mayor Boris Johnson, the new Routemaster .
A．has not been as well received as was expected
B．will be widely used in London in 2012
C．is the most environmentally friendly bus in the UK
D．combines the latest technology with key traditional features
What is the characteristic of the new red double – deckers?
A．The buses will make no noises.
B．The buses will have no conductors.
C．They will be equipped with air – conditioning.
D．The bus platform will offer passengers a traditional service.
【小题1】C【小题1】B【小题1】D【小题1】D
解析:
略
I know what you’re thinking : pizza （比萨饼）? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night’s leftovers in the a. m. if you want to
I know lots of women who skip breakfast （不吃早餐）, and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it . Some say they don’t have time,others think they’re “saving” calories （卡路里）, and still others just don’t like breakfast food .
But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you’re trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking , R , D , who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year’s “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it’s loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.
Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southem California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.
So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night’s leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always eat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it,and then you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.
【小题1】The underlined word “leftovers” in Paragraph 1 probably means__________.
| A．food remaining after a meal | B．things left undone |
| C．meals made of vegetables | D．pizza topped with fruit |
| A．Working women usually have breakfast in a hurry. |
| B．Many people have wrong ideas about breakfast. |
| C．There are some easy ways of cooking a meal. |
| D．Eating vegetables helps save energy. |
| A．eat something for breakfast | B．be careful about what you eat |
| C．heat up food before eating it | D．eat calorie-controlled food |
| A．who go to work early | B．who want to lose weight |
| C．who stay up late | D．who eat before sleep |
With only a click of the mouse, rumours（谣言）can be forwarded between microblogs（微博）very quickly. As an example, recently, sensitive netizens discovered that some photos displayed on microblogs describing Beijing’s June rainstorm had actually been fabricated.
Sina.com is one of the major Internet portals in China with hundreds and thousands of users, and a majority of celebrities and famous citizens have their microblog accounts on this portal. As recently as six months ago, the website decided to establish a specialized team to prove rumours and provide accurate information for its users. Tan Chao is in charge of the team.
“ Before I took the job, I usually couldn’t identify what information was real and what was fake. But during the process of identification, we discovered that a lot of information was false, including fake photos, fake news stories and rumours that had been spread through microblogs.”
It’s not just website portals which are taking on fact-checking responsibilities, but also a number of civic-minded netizens, who recently set up a Rumour Identification Federation on Sina.com’s microblog system to help netizens identify fake information online.
Dian Zizheng is the team leader of the federation. He says they’ve publicized more than 150 pieces which contradict rumours, which attracted more than 10 thousand visitors within two months.
“We live in an age of new media, so we can’t use the old methods to prove rumours. We can’t wait for the media to prove the facts with related administrative（行政） departments and then release a formal announcement. We can’t allow rumours to run wild and then deal with it, we need to fight rumours while they’re spreading. I think that this is the best way to deal with rumours nowadays.”
Some experts say this displays the advantages of the internet compared to other traditional media. The open platform allows information to be examined and clarified by netizens. But experts like Ding Wengguo,President of the Journalism and Communication College at the China University of Political Science and Law says this self-correction function of the Internet is still quite limited.
“It’s still quite different to tell which information is true in such an open environment by just reading a number of different opinions on the same issue. This is something which we need to pay attention to. If society is flooded with too much false information, and it’s allowed to spread in such a fast manner, then people will be suspicious（怀疑的） of all kinds of information including important information from authorities. It also worsens problems relating to social communications and mutual-understanding, which in turn harms society as a whole.”
Experts suggest that the government should react more quickly in the Internet age. Once a rumour begins to spread, administrative departments should make announcements as early as possible to drive away rumours before they lead to bad outcomes.
【小题1】Sina.com decided to found a specialized team to __________.
| A．prevent the spread of rumours on the Internet |
| B．advance the development of microblog |
| C．limit the number of microblog |
| D．urge the government to react quickly to the rumours |
| A．All the rumours have been spread through microblog. |
| B．Sina.com is the most popular internet portal in China. |
| C．Traditional media don’t prove rumours to spread. |
| D．The photos displayed on microblogs might have side effects. |
| A．made up | B．dug out | C．got round | D．given away |
| A．Shutting down the website immediately. |
| B．Substituting the Internet for traditional media. |
| C．Examining and checking while they are spreading . |
| D．Making announcements after they are spread. |
| A．draw a conclusion | B．introduce a topic |
| C．support an argument | D．describe a scene |
| A．Negative. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Supportive. | D．Changeable. |
"It's this time of year when the weather starts warming up and frogs start breeding - but they haven't been breeding," says John Wilkinson, research and monitoring officer at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC).
Amphibians (两栖动物) are just one of the groups of animals that nature observers fear may have problems reproducing this year, as groundwater levels are even lower now than in the infamously dry summer of 1976, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). According to the UK's Centre for Hydrology and Ecology the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972.
"If ponds dry up totally," says Mr. Wilkinson, "you could have lots of dead tadpoles." Drier and windier conditions could also make it more difficult for juvenile amphibians to survive their journeys between wet habitats.
But Peter Brotherton, the biodiversity manager for Natural England, says that "drought is part of nature's cycle", and, at present, a lot of animals, plants and insects are still in hibernation. This means that the population picture is unclear. "However, when we get extreme events, we get animals dying," he says. "And what is worrying is that normally at this time of year we expect soil to be near saturation（湿润）after winter."
Charlie Kitchin, the RSPB's site manager of the Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire, says the 2,000-acre wetland and grassland area is now struggling following two winters with relatively little winter rain and no flooding. One species that could suffer, he says, is the black-tailed godwit（黑尾豫）. "There are only 50 breeding pairs in the country, and we have 40 of them, and everything is bone-dry," Mr Kitchin says.
But one bad nesting season, he says, is "not the end of the world". "One of the features of flood plains is that they're volatile anyway," he adds. "But if they fail to breed another year, the population is likely to dip again."
【小题1】According to the passage animals may have problems reproducing this year mainly due to _____.
| A．drought | B．hibernation | C．windier conditions | D．extreme events |
| A．drought is part of nature’s cycle | B．animals are still in hibernation |
| C．soil at this time is far from saturation | D．the population of animals is still unclear |
| A．Drought has so far continued for two winters. |
| B．Animals could survive one bad nesting season. |
| C．The black-tailed godwit is in danger of extinction. |
| D．40 black-tailed godwits live in the Nene Washes. |
| A．losing water | B．undergoing changes |
| C．breeding animals | D．suffering flood |
| A．groundwater levels this summer are lower than those of 1976 |
| B．the average rainfall this year has been the lowest since 1972 |
| C．windier conditions could also cause some amphibians’ death |
| D．flooding plays no useful role in wetlands and grasslands |