As people slowly learn to cure diseases, control floods, prevent hunger, and stop wars, fewer people die every year. As a result, the population of the world is becoming larger. In 1925 there were about 2 billion people in the world; today there are over 6 billion.

When the number rises, extra mouths must be fed. New lands must be brought under development, or land already farmed must be made to produce more crops. In some areas the land is so over-developed that it will be difficult to make it provide more crops. In some areas the population is so large that the land is divided into too tiny units to make improvement possible with farming methods. If a large part of this farming population went into industrial work, the land might be farmed much more productively (多产地) with modern methods.

There is now a race for science, technology, and industry to keep the output of food rising faster than the number of people to be fed. New types of crops, which will grow well in bad weather, are being developed, so there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle in Siberia and North America. Irrigation (灌溉) and dry-farming methods bring poor lands under the plough. Dams hold back the waters of great rivers, which can provide water for the fields in all seasons and provide electric power for new industries. Industrial chemistry provides fertilizer to suit different soils. Every year, some new methods are made to increase or to protect the food of the world.

1.The author says that the world population is increasing because _____.

A．there are many rich valleys and large fields

B．farmers are producing more crops than before

C．people are living longer due to better living conditions

D．new lands are being made into farmlands

2.The author says that in areas with large populations, land might be more productively farmed if _____.

A．the land was divided into smaller pieces

B．people moved into the countryside

C．industrial methods were used in farming

D．the units of land were much larger

3.We are told that there are now farms beyond the Arctic Circle. This has been made possible by _____.

A．growing new types of crops               B．irrigation and dry-farming means

C．providing fertilizers                      D．destroying pests and diseases

4. Why do some people use dams to hold back waters from great rivers?

A．To develop a new kind of dry-farming methods.

B．To prevent crops from floods.

C．To provide water and electricity in all seasons.

D．To water poor lands in bad weather.

The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.

For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.

However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.

Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.

A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.

In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.

Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.

1.What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?________.

2.What was Nauru like before the Europeans came? ________.

3.The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from _______.

4.Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem? ________.

5.What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?________.

A towering South American plant that is believed to kill animals with its spikes(尖刺) and use their rotting bodies as fertilizer is about to bloom(开花) in England. A rare Puya chilensis was planted at a greenhouse in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England about 15 years ago. However, despite its frightening description, the tall, spiked plant is considered a threatened species.

The Royal Horticultural Society has been feeding the plant a diet of liquid fertilizer. “In its natural habitat in the Andes it uses its razor sharp spikes to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death and rot at the base of the plant, providing it with a bag of fertilizer,” reads a description on the RHS website, which adds that the plant gives off a “gruesome scent.”

But does the plant actually trap and eat sheep? Other sources have simply said it is “believed” that the plant traps small animals with its spikes. After the animals die of starvation, the plant is "believed" to then use their rotting bodies as fertilizer to feed itself.

"I'm really pleased that we've finally persuaded our Puya chilensis into producing flower," horticulturalist Cara Smith said in a press release on the RHS site. Regardless of whether it actually traps sheep, the plant does have sharp spikes that can grow up to 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. However, it’s not all death and danger for this plant. Its flowery blooms reportedly provide nectar(花蜜) for bees and birds.

The Puya chilensis blooms annually in its native land of Chile, but this is the first time it has done so after more than a decade of cultivation efforts from the RHS. "We keep it well fed with liquid fertilizer as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic,” Smith said. "It's growing in the dry section of our glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."

1.From the passage we learn that in England the Puya chilensis _____.

A. feeds on man-made liquid fertilizer

B. often kills sheep and other animals

C. has once bloomed 15 years before

D. uses animals' rotting bodies as fertilizer

2.The underlined word “snare” in the second paragraph probably means“_________”.

A. catch                      B. stop                        C. fight                        D. kill

3.We can infer from the passage that _____.

A. it's dangerous to feed the plant

B. it's certain that the plant kills sheep

C. it's difficult for the plant to bloom in England

D. it's rare for the plant to bloom in South American

4.What does the writer mainly tell us?

A. A new plant is discovered in Chile.

B. How a rare plant is fed in England.

C.  A rare plant is going to bloom in England.

D. How a plant traps animals in South America.

完成句子 （ 共7小题，每空0.5分，满分10分）

71. 如果你想知道如何翻译这个句子，你最好查字典。

If you want to know how to translate this sentence, you had better ______  ______ a dictionary.

72. 努力提高工人的工作条件是值得做的事情。

It is _______ to_______ working _______ for factory workers.

73. 很明显，他在尽力屏住呼吸。

It was _______ that he was trying to ______ his ______.

74. 他已经负债很久。对他来说，如何谋生成了个大问题。

He has been ______ ______ for a long time. How to earn ______ _______   is a big problem.

75. 既然我们已经完成了设计，就该轮到公司进行建设了。

_______ _______ we have finished the design, the company in its turn, will do the _______.

76. 她的衣着和行为证实了我的猜想——她确实很富有。

Her clothes and behavior _______ my guess ______ she was quite wealthy.

77. 使用过多的化肥导致了严重的问题。

_______ too much chemical fertilizer ______ ______ serious problems.

Howard Dill is a giant among giant pumpkin growers. He grew world champion pumpkins for four years running，from 1979 to 1982，and missed winning the fifth year by a mere 5 pounds. Today，his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds are sold worldwide to more than 50 seed companies. The pumpkins grown from his Dill Atlantic Giant seeds commonly weigh in at over 1,000 pounds.“I don’t have any training in genetics ；it was all trial and error，”Dill says. He inherited his love of pumpkins from his father and has enjoyed growing them for years.

Dill still grows giant pumpkins, but not for competition. In the fall, visitors come to enjoy the pumpkin patch on his 90-acre farm in Nova Scotia，Canada. He plants ten acres of pumpkins for Halloween and two acres of giant pumpkins. One of giant pumpkins was recently baked into 442 pumpkin pies and sold at $ 5 each for charity.

It you want to try growing a giant pumpkin, Dill recommends starting with a soil test and then adding fertilizer as needed. Plant the giant pumpkin seed. A giant pumpkin can gain 15 to 20 pounds a day， so careful watering—every day or two—is essential. You should wait about 130 days until the pumpkin matures and then you can harvest it.

Dill’s favorite pumpkin set the Guinness Book record in 1981. It weighted 493.5 pounds. “I’ve grown them larger since， but that one meant a lot,” he remembers. “I never would have predicted ten years ago that there would be a 1,000-pounder，but there are many of them now，”says Dill。The 2006 world record holder is Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania. He grew a 1,469 pounder. Dill says, “These world champions are grown from my seeds， so I feel like a winner right along with them.”

1.What can we learn about the world champion pumpkin of 1983?

A．It weighed over 1,000 pounds.

B．It was missing after the competition.

C．It was 5 pounds heavier than that of 1982.

D．It was 5 pounds heavier than Dill’s biggest one that year.

2.One of Dill’s giant pumpkins earned         .

A．$2210            B．$442             C．$1000            D．$1469

3.In the third paragraph Dill mainly tells about        .

A．how to do a soil test                     B．how to plant the giant pumpkin seed

C．when to water the pumpkin               D．how to grow a giant pumpkin

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Howard Dill is well trained in genetics.

B．Howard Dill grows pumpkins just for competiton.

C．Dill felt proud of Larry Checkon’s champion pumpkin.

D．Dill’s favorite pumpkin is the heaviest of all those he has ever grown.

5.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Gardening Giant: Howard Dill              B．World Champion Pumpkin

C．Dill Atlantic Giant Seeds                   D．How to Grow Giant Pumpkins