1. Summer came early to Middlesbrough yesterday, as temperatures shot up to 22°C (71°F), a record for March. But local NFU agent Jim Wilkes says it could be bad news for farmers. “The crops will think it's summer,” he told our reporter, “and start sprouting (发芽) four weeks before time.”

2. The death toll (死亡人数) of the Burnside train crash rose to four yesterday when John Phillips, 32, of Petersville died in Wallsend Hospital. Another six people are still on the danger list. Mr. Phillips, an electrical engineer leaves a wife and two children.

3. China and the United States reached an agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights (知识产权) yesterday, after difficult marathon talks.

The agreement is good news for all parties concerned. The Chinese Foreign Trade Minister described the agreement as a "turning point" in Sino-US trade relations that "promises further progress" in the future. The agreement will not only favorably influence trade relations between China and the United States. It may favorably influence the overall relations between the two countries.

What do you get to know from article 1?

A. It is as cold as usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased.

B. It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased.

C. It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are worried.

D. It is colder than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are worried.

How many people have died in the train crash in article 2 ?

A. Only John Phillips has died.

B. Ten people have died in the crash, including John Phillips.

C. Four people have died in the crash, including John Phillips.

D. John Phillips, his wife and children all died in the crash.

Who are on the danger list?

A. Petersville and Wallsend.          B. An electrical engineer and John Phillips.

C. John Phillips' wife and two children.D. Another six people who were on the train.

What agreement did China and the United States reach in article 3?

A. It is an agreement on a marathon race.       

B. It is an agreement on trade relations.

C. It is an agreement on overall relations.

D. It is an agreement on intellectual property rights protection.

What are relations going to be like between China and the United States?

A. Relations between China and the United States are going to be sometimes worse and sometimes better.

B. Relations between China and the United States are going to be better.

C. Relations between China and the United States are going to be worse.

D. Relations between China and the United States are going to remain the same.

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.

The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1. What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?

A. Using too much packaging.

B. Recycling too many wastes.

C. Making more products than necessary.

D. Having more material than is needed.

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.

A. the tendency of cutting household waste

B. the increase of packaging recycling

C. the rapid growth of super markets

D. the fact of packaging overuse

3. According to the text, recycling ______.

   A. helps control the greenhouse effect

   B. means burning packaging for energy

   C. is the solution to gas shortage

   D. leads to a waste of land

4. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

   A. Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

   B. Supermarkets care more about packaging.

   C. It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

   D. Other products are better packaged than food.

5. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

   A. Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

   B. Needless material is mostly recycled.

   C. People like collecting recyclable waste.

   D. The author is proud of their consumer culture.

If you walk slowly through downtown Helsinki during the day, taking in the splendid 19 th century buildings, white boats and noise of passing trams (有轨电车), you will start to understand why it is called a city of two colors: white and blue.

The sea is always present in Helsinki. When you take a walk over the great open space of the central square, you will hear seabirds screaming. When you take the tram, suddenly and unexpectedly, you are faced with a calm, shining blue sea. You may notice that people in Helsinki do not rush about as in other cities. Instead, they walk along the roads, politely letting other people by.

A usual way to see Helsinki for the first time is to start out by the boats. You will walk by the elderly women selling fish and vegetables in the market square and find yourself in front of a beautiful park. You may enjoy a pleasant walk in the park for a few hours and then take the tram. Trams are the perfect way to get around in Helsinki. Watching the old houses, parks, theatres, churches, shops, restaurants and people in the streets, you may have a slightly sad film feeling to it.

The pale summer nights are another wonder in the city. Following the waterfront（滨水区）of the city after sunset, you couldn’t help stopping and listening to the sweet silence, interrupted only by the screaming seabirds and leaving fishing boats.

However, in some way. Helsinki is also the most modern city in northern Europe. You will surely want to visit the white Glass Palace, the modern art museum, and all those extremely popular cafes and design stores.

Helsinki is called a city of two colors mainly because of the colors of its ________.

      A．19th century white buildings and boats

       B．19th century buildings and passing trams

      C．white roads and blue trams

      D．old buildings, boats and the sea

The best way to see most of Helsinki is to go ________.

      A．by boat    B．by bus     C．by tram    D．on foot

The 19th century buildings, the white Glass Palace and all those popular cafes and design shops show that Helsinki is _________.

      A．both western and eastern        B．both quiet and noisy

      C．both historical and modern     D．both old and new

This passage is most likely to be found in _________.

      A．a story-book          B．a geography textbook

      C．a research report    D．a travel magazine

I like riding my bike. Though it is not very new, but it is    1.___________

my best friend. I find very convenient to go anywhere with a     2.___________

bike. Ride gives me not only exercise but also pleasure. I   3.___________

use my bike mostly on summer when the weather is warm  4.___________

and dry. It can very unpleasant in winter when it is cold and      5.___________

rain is pouring down. It can also be very danger. Of course 6.___________

I will be very careful on my bike. In facts, accidents are not      7.___________

the only problem. One day I went to school and come back       8.___________

to find his front wheel was missing. It was a long walk to   9.___________

the repairer’s shop. Now I have two strong locks.       10.___________

The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that float.

An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimeters would make the Maldives－a nation of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean－virtually uninhabitable by 2100,  the UN’s climate change panel(专门小组) has warned.

President Mohamed Nasheed has vowed a fight for survival, and he signed a deal with a Dutch company to study proposals for a floating structure that could support a convention center, homes and an 18-hole golf course.

The company , Dutch Docklands, is currently building floating developments in the Netherlands and Dubai.

The Maldives began work on an artificial island known as the Hulhumale near the crowded capital island of Male in 1997 and more than 30,000 people have been settled there to ease congestion.

The city, which has a population of 100,000, is already protected from rising sea levels by a 30-million-dollar sea wall, and the government is considering increasingly imaginative ways to combat(对抗) climate change.

Nasheed has even spoken of buying land elsewhere in the world to enable Maldivians to relocate if their homes are submerged.   He has also pledged to turn his nation into a model for the rest of the world by becoming "carbon neutral (碳中和)" by 2020.

His plan involves ending fossil fuel use and powering all vehicles and buildings from "green" sources such as burning coconut husks.

What do you know about Maldives?

A. It has a population of 100,000.               B. It has a floating golf course.

C. It is a nation of tiny coral islands.           D. It is located in the Pacific Ocean.

The underlined word "uninhabitable" might mean _________ .

A. 不能居住的    B. 不习惯的        C. 不能改变的     D. 不能忍受的

The floating structure will be used as all the following except ________ .

A. a convention center         B. a sports center

C. homes                         D. a golf course

What are the government's ways to combat climate change?

A. Buy land elsewhere in the world.           

B. Make the nation "carbon neutral" by 2020.

C. Use "green" sources instead of fossil fuel.             

D. All of the above.