The great Alaskan explorer John Muir once wrote that to have dinner with a glacier (冰川) on a sunny day is an excellent thing. It is better to sleep beside one, on an Antarctic island,  with just a sleepifig bag for warmth and the sky as your tent.
Our camp-out was in early January of this year on Danco Island, along the Antarctic Peninsula.  Midway through a 10-day Antarctic journey, conditions were near perfect.  We started our voyage from the Akademik Ioffe in Zodiacs,  landing on the wide beach with its fist-sized rocks.  At the height of the Antarctic summer, the shore was clear of snow, with plenty of room for the 40 adventurers to spend the night.
Danco Island was charted in 1898 by the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache, who was the first to prove that you could overwinter in Antarctica and survive.  De Gerlache paved the way for Lt.  Robert Scott's first expedition in 1901.  De Gerlache mapped the archipelago (群岛).  He later named the island after his team member mile Danco,  a geophysicist who died that winter.  For one year in the mid-1950s, Danco was known as Base O by the British, who kept a scientific research station there, although all that. remains of it is a foundation and a pile of coal.
Our expedition was organized by Australian tour operator Peregrine Adventures. The weather was extraordinary -- sunny with daytime temperatures of about 1't2.  The camping was easy and accessible to all ages.  Sleeping under the stars in Antarctica,  in just a sleeping bag is pretty amazing.
1. Whom did Adrien de Gerlache have a direct effect on?
A. John Muir.           B. Lt. Robert Scott.
C. The tourists.          D. The author. 
2. What was Danco Island named after?
A. A place.             B. A glacier.
C. A person.           D. An ocean.
3. It can be inferred from the passage that        .
A. old people can't go 'camping in Antarctica
B. the author went to the Antarctica in winter
C. John Muir might have visited an Antarctic island
D. Lt. Robert Scott built a station in the Antarctic
4. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Danco Island
B. An expedition to Antarctica
C. Explorers of Antarctica
D. Sleep under the stars in Antarctica

London: What could possibly he wrong with planting trees? The benefits are obvious: they firm the soil, absorb extra water and take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
However, it now turns out that planting trees could add to global warming. Tree roots do a great job of keeping soil firmly on the ground and out of the wind's power. The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in taking in carbon dioxide.
Huge dust storms blow out over the oceans from dry parts of North Africa and central Asia. Tons of dust are lifted and left as a thin film over the ocean surface.
Dust from China is carried east and left in the Pacific Ocean. If a tree-planting program there is successful and the dust supply reduced, the final result may be that less carbon dioxide gets locked away in the ocean.
Andy Ridgwell, an environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, has spent the past few years studying dust and says his work shows clearly the complexity of the system and the importance of not working uselessly with it without understanding the results. For this reason the need is to focus on cutting carbon dioxide giving off rather than dealing with the land surface aimlessly.
An American scientist, Robert Jackson, has shown that when native grassland areas are occupied by trees, carbon is lost from the soil. "We are studying why the soil carbon disappears, but one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground compared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees. " said Jackson.
In wet areas of the world, the gain from trees absorbing carbon dioxide above ground seems to be outweighed by the loss of carbon from the soil below ground.
Countries that plan to combat global warming by planting trees may have to think again. Solutions to environmental problems are often more complex than they first appear, and understanding the Earth's climate is a very great challenge.
64. People usually hold the opinion that _______.
A. huge dust storms can destroy carbon dioxide
B. huge dust storms can destroy the oceans on the earth
C. planting trees could reduce global warming
D. planting trees is the only way to control huge dust storms
65. Andy Ridgwell, the environmental scientist, believes that _______.
A. environmental problems are more complex than expected
B. trees shouldn't have been planted in dry places
C. dust plays a more important part than trees
D. carbon dioxide is harmful to everything
66. Robert Jackson's experiment proves that _______.
A. carbon can turn grass into dust
B. trees hold more carbon than grass
C. less carbon can make trees grow faster
D. grassland areas should be covered by forests
67. The underlined word "combat" in the last paragraph means _______.
A. learn about        B. give up              C. live with          D. fight against

US college students are burdened, with credit card (信用卡)debt, according to a study published Tuesday, and the problem can be serious－ranging from more drop-outs, to future employment problems and even self-murder. The study, by Georgetown University sociologist (社会学家) Robert Manning, blamed credit card issuers for actively targeting students and colleges for allowing them to do so. "The unrestricted selling of credit cards in universities or colleges is so aggressive that it now forms a greater threat than alcohol or sexual diseases," Manning told a news conference in Washington. "If we do not quickly deal with this serious problem, the matter will continue to get worse, with social consequences far more tragic (悲剧的) than mere dollars and cents. "

Based on hundreds of face-to-face interviews and surveys with students, Manning concluded both the number with credit card debt and their indebtedness had been "underreported" in previous studies－which failed to reflect the "survival strategies" many used to deal with their debts. These included the use of federal student loans to pay off credit cards, effectively shifting the debt, appealing to parents for loans, reducing course work hours to increase time at paid jobs, or even dropping out altogether to work full time.

"Official drop-out rates include growing numbers of students who are unable to cope with the stress of their debts and / or part time jobs for servicing their credit cards, " the study said. "Students credit card debts are examined during the employment process and may be an important factor in evaluating future employees," it noted. O’Donnell and Manning agreed students should bear some responsibility for reckless use of credit, but said credit card companies also had to be held responsible for making it so easy for them to get into debt. Manning said one of the most troublesome aspects of the student credit card issue was "the seduction (诱惑) of college and university officials by the credit card industry".

Sociologist Robert Manning's study shows that     .

   A. the number of American college students using credit cards on campus is increasing

   B. more and more American college students meet with credit card debt problems

   C. more and more American colleges encourage students to use credit cards to make profits

   D. credit card issuers will run into debt for encouraging college students to use credit cards

The author's feeling towards college students with credit card debts is __.

   A. discouraged and negative                 B. pitiful and critical

   C. indifferent and disapproving              D. negative and doubtful

The author implies all of following should be responsible for this problem EXCEPT      .

   A. credit card issuers                                  B. college authorities

   C. parents of the students                      D. students themselves

The word "reckless" in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by        .

A. inconsiderate       B. frequent               C. careful                     D. regular

On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.”

    Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.

    When he was 11, he read the book Ma-rco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.

    Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.

1.The best headline(标题) for this newspaper article would be      .

A. The Kingdom of Bicycles            B. A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an

C. Marco Polo and the Silk Road         D. An American Achieving His Aims

2.The hotel workers told the manager about Friedlander coming to the hotel because

A. he asked to see the manager

B. he entered the hall with a bike

C. the manager had to know about all foreign guests

D. the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him

3.Friedlander is visiting the three countries in the following order,        .

A. China, Pakistan, and India               B. Pakistan, China, and India

C. India, China, and Pakistan            D. China, India, and Pakistan

4.What made Friedlander want to come to China?

A. The stories about Marco Polo .     B. The famous sights in Xi’an .

C. His interest in Chinese silk.                D. His childhood dreams about bicycles .

5.Friedlander can be said to be       .

A. determined        B. friendly                C. hardworking     D. open-minded

LONDON: What could possibly be wrong with planting trees? The benefits are obvious; they  firm the soil, soak up (摄取) extra water and take carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) out of the atmosphere.

However, it now turns out that planting trees could add to global warming.

Tree roots do a great job of keeping soil firmly on the ground and out of the wind’s power. The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in taking in carbon dioxide.

Huge dust storms blow out over the oceans from dry parts of North Africa and central Asia. Tons of dust are lifted and left as a thin film over the ocean surface. The dust fuels oceanic life.

Dust from China is carried east and left in the Pacific Ocean. If a tree-planting programme there is successful and the dust supply reduced, the final result may be that less carbon dioxide gets locked away in the ocean.

Andy Ridgwell, an environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, has spent the past few years studying dust and says his work “shows clearly the complexity of the system and the importance of not tinkering(粗劣地修补) with it without understanding the results. For this reason the need is to focus(集中) on cutting carbon dioxide giving off rather than monkeying (瞎弄) about with the land surface.”

An American scientist, Robert Jackson, has shown that when native grassland areas are invaded(侵入) by trees, carbon is lost from the soil. “We are studying why the soil carbon disappears, but one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground compared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees, ” says Jackson.

In wet areas of the world, the gain from trees absorbing carbon dioxide above ground seems to be outweighed(超过) by the loss of carbon from the soil below ground. Countries that plan to combat global warming by planting trees may have to think again.

Solutions to environmental problems are often more complex than they first appear, and understanding the Earth’s climate is a very great challenge.

1.People usually hold the opinion that_____________.

    A. huge dust storms can destroy carbon dioxide

    B. huge dust storms can destroy the oceans on the earth

    C. huge dust storms can’t do anything beneficial for man

    D. planting trees is the only way to control huge dust storms

2. Andy Ridgwell, the environmental scientist, believes that_____________.

    A. dust plays a more important part than trees

    B. trees shouldn’t have been planted in dry places

    C. carbon dioxide is harmful to everything on the earth

    D. environmental problems are more complex than expected

3. Robert Jackson’s experiment proves that_____________.

    A. grassland areas should be covered by forests

    B. trees hold more carbon than grasses

    C. carbon can turn grass into dust

    D. less carbon can make trees grow faster