The global energy crisis is approaching. What can we do? Here are some steps you can take.
Cooling puts the greatest stress on your summer energy bill and the power grid(电网). Just as t tune-up for your car can improve your gas mileage, a yearly tune-up of your heating and cooling system can improve efficiency and comfort. Clean or replaces filters monthly or as needed.
For central air conditioning systems and room air conditioners, look for the ENERGY STAR, the federal government’s symbol for energy efficiency. For central air, purchase the system with the highest possible Seasonal Energy Efficiency Raton. (SEER)
Use energy-efficient ceiling fans either alone or with air conditioning. Ceiling fans do a great job of circulating air. When used with air conditioning, fans allow you to raise the thermostat(恒温器) and cut costs. Ceiling fans cool people, not rooms, so before you leave; turn off the ceiling fan.
Let a programmable thermostat! “remember for you” to automatically adjust the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns to reduce cooling bills by up to 10 percent. You can come home to a comfortable house without wasting energy and cresting pollution all day while you are at work.
Try to make your home airtight enough to increase your comfort, make your home quieter and cleaner and reduce your cooling costs up to 20 percent.
Gut your air conditioning load, and reduce pollution by planting planting leafy trees around your home and fixing reflective bricks on your roof.
Close blinds or shades on south-and west-facing windows during the day, or fix shading equipment to avoid heat build-up.
Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers. And use fluorescent bulbs(荧光灯), which provide bright, warm light while using at least two-thirds less energy, producing 70 percent less heat and lasting up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs(白炽灯).
Drive the car that gets better gas mileage whenever possible if you own more than one vehicle. If you drive 12,500 miles a year, switching 10 percent of your trips from a car that gets 20 mils per gallon to one that gets 30 mpg will save you more than ￡65 per year.
Carpool. The average U.S. commuter(乘车上班族) could save about ￡260 a year by sharing cars twice a week with two people in a car that gets 20.1 mpg---assuming the three passengers share the cost of gas.
【小题1】According to the passage, the thermostat is used to ______.

I prefer the stories about the swimmers at the Beijing Olympics，one of which is about Zakia Nassar. She's a 21-year-old Palestinian __21__ Bethlehem studying dentistry in Jenin. Having had neither a __22__ nor a chance to an Olympic-sized pool in the past year, she had no choice but to __23__ on her own at a 12m public pool.

There is a 50-meter __24__ in nearby Nazareth, but the Israeli government did not __25__ her to use it.

Nassar was __26__ to training only when she returned to her parents' home in Bethlehem, __27__ she did so only about every two months for two days or so. __28__ the pool is only 12 meters long.

“My parents and friends always __29__ me, reminding me that I had to keep training if I __30  wanted to go to the Olympics,” she said.

It was only when Nassar __31__ China a month ago that she finally got the opportunity to swim in a 50m pool and enjoyed the __32__ of having a coach.

When she at last took part in the Games, she swam the 50m in 31.97 seconds, a(n) __33__ of seven seconds on her personal __34__. Nassar said it was the most beautiful moment of her life.

She will not __35__ on the cover of Time magazine or __36__ millions of dollars in endorsements（捐款）, but she can always say she won a race at the Olympics. For her, it wasn’t about __37__ the other swimmers or winning a prize, but about __38__ her own goal, __39__ difficult. When I think things are too difficult or I get those “I-just-can’t-do-it,” I think of her. Then I realize how __40__ the task before me really is.

Having learned much about the War of Resistance against Japan, Mao Jingxin didn’t like the Japanese when she was a child. “I thought they were cruel and rude,” said the 18-year-old girl from Hebei Province. But she began to change her mind after she met some Japanese teenagers in a history museum six years ago. These fashionable high school students looked seriously at the history displays and talked to Mao in a friendly way. “I found that they are not bad as I thought,” she said.

Like Mao, many Chinese teenagers’ are caught up in this confusion. A survey by 21st Century Teens shows about 51 per cent of Chinese teenagers say they dislike Japan. But most of them still want to have a Japanese friend. Also, Japan lies third on their list of Asian countries that they want to visit, following Singapore and South Korea. Teens did a survey just before the 60th anniversary of the victory day of the War of Resistance against Japan, which fell on September 3. The survey aimed to encourage understanding and communication between young Chinese and Japanese.

Teens also wanted to understand Chinese teenagers’ attitudes towards Japan, and how much they actually know about the country. As Teens found, more than 60 per cent of Chinese teenagers learn about Japan through the media or books. Only 16 per cent have ever met a Japanese person.

“Most of my friends hate Japan for what it did to China during World War II. But people should not live in hatred. I think the best way to figure it out is to have contact with the Japanese people myself,” Zhang Yuyuan, a Senior 2 girl, told us in the survey.

Jin Xide, professor of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, says that China and Japan actually had a peaceful relationship during the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 1990s, the growth of Japan’ s right-wing forces has caused great difficulties. “We have to be strong against them. But we mustn’t ignore the fact that there are far more friendly Japanese,” added Jin.

“Japan has done wrong to Asian countries including China and it has caused pain to everyone,” said Hikaru, a 17-year-old girl in Kawasaki. Having visited China four times and learned much, she understands the importance of communication between the two peoples. She plans to join in an exchange programme with Chinese youth. “Welcome to Japan, my Chinese friends!” She says it with a smile.

64. Most teenagers hate Japanese because _______.

A. the Japanese they meet are cruel

B. the Japanese were cruel during the war

C. they look too fashionable

D. the Japanese don’t want to communicate with Chinese people

65. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the survey?

A. Only a small percentage of teenagers have met a Japanese.

B. More than half of the teenagers in the survey don’t like the Japanese.

C. Singapore is one of the most popular Asian tourist places for Chinese teenagers.

D. Most Chinese teenagers learn about Japan through exchange activities.

66. According to Professor Jin, _____ is the main reason for the worse relationship between Japan and China.

A. the War of Resistance against Japan

B. lack of communication

C. Japan’s increasing right-wing force

D. Japan’s rapidly-growing economy

67. The passage is written to ______.

A. encourage Chinese teenagers to meet the Japanese

B. report what Chinese teenagers think about Japan

C. provide information about Japanese teenagers

D. give a brief introduction to the history of the War of Resistance against Japan

   The global energy crisis is approaching. What can we do? Here are some steps you can take.

   Cooling puts the greatest stress on your summer energy bill and the power grid(电网). Just as t tune-up for your car can improve your gas mileage, a yearly tune-up of your heating and cooling system can improve efficiency and comfort. Clean or replaces filters monthly or as needed.

   For central air conditioning systems and room air conditioners, look for the ENERGY STAR, the federal government’s symbol for energy efficiency. For central air, purchase the system with the highest possible Seasonal Energy Efficiency Raton. (SEER)

   Use energy-efficient ceiling fans either alone or with air conditioning. Ceiling fans do a great job of circulating air. When used with air conditioning, fans allow you to raise the thermostat(恒温器) and cut costs. Ceiling fans cool people, not rooms, so before you leave; turn off the ceiling fan.

Let a programmable thermostat! “remember for you” to automatically adjust the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns to reduce cooling bills by up to 10 percent. You can come home to a comfortable house without wasting energy and cresting pollution all day while you are at work.

 Try to make your home airtight enough to increase your comfort, make your home quieter and cleaner and reduce your cooling costs up to 20 percent.

 Gut your air conditioning load, and reduce pollution by planting planting leafy trees around your home and fixing reflective bricks on your roof.

 Close blinds or shades on south-and west-facing windows during the day, or fix shading equipment to avoid heat build-up.

  Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers. And use fluorescent bulbs(荧光灯), which provide bright, warm light while using at least two-thirds less energy, producing 70 percent less heat and lasting up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs(白炽灯).

 Drive the car that gets better gas mileage whenever possible if you own more than one vehicle. If you drive 12,500 miles a year, switching 10 percent of your trips from a car that gets 20 mils per gallon to one that gets 30 mpg will save you more than ￡65 per year.

 Carpool. The average U.S. commuter(乘车上班族) could save about ￡260 a year by sharing cars twice a week with two people in a car that gets 20.1 mpg---assuming the three passengers share the cost of gas.

According to the passage, the thermostat is used to ______.

A. make rooms quieter              B. control room temperature

C. turn off the air conditioner         D. reduce room air pollution

We can conclude from the passage that the author probably discourages ______.

A. planting leafy trees around your home

B. turning off the ceiling fan before you leave your house

C. keeping your south-facing windows open during the day

D. using fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs

According to the passage, you can save fuel by ______.

A. using energy-efficient ceiling fans      B. sharing cars with others on workdays         

C. turning off everything not in use       D. reducing 10% of your car trips every year

This passage is mainly about ______.

A. energy-saving tips          B. fuel-saving tips         

C. do-it-yourself tips           D. environment-protecting tips

  Desert plants fall into two sorts according to the way they deal with the problem of surviving drought. There are the drought―avoiders―those which persist（存留） only as seeds, ready to spring up when it rains, to flower quickly and produce another crop of seeds, and to die again. There are also the drought―resisters―those which have evolved various methods for strong water, locating underground water, or reducing their need for water by such devices as shedding their leaves. The drought―resisters are perennials(多年生植物),they manage to live from one rainy season to another, slowly growing bigger and bigger. Of these, the succulents(肉质的) is a small but interesting fraction(小部分). They may store water in their leaves, in their stems, or in underground containers.

  In the American deserts the best―known succulents are the cacti(仙人掌). They come in a wide range of sizes, from 50―foot tall giant saguaros(树形仙人掌) to tiny round cacti about the size of a thumb―nail. They take thick, cylindrical(圆柱体的) or even spherical forms, thereby exposing a minimum of evaporating surface to the air and light. They are leafless, except in youth, and then the leaves are small. Typically their surfaces are spiny, discouraging thirsty animals, and channeled like an accordion(手风琴), so the fleshy stem may expand quickly when the plant drinks and contract slowly as it uses up the water. The root system is widespread and shallow, with good reason; only about 3 per cent of the rain that falls on the desert penetrates to any significant depth into soil.

65. The passage classifies（将……分类） the desert plants according to___ .

A. the ways they take to deal with the typical climatic condition in desert

B. their shape

C. how they use water

D. when they produce their seeds

66. According to the passage, some desert plants drop their leaves ___ .

A. because the temperature is too high

B. so that the plants can evaporate less water

C. because they are drought resisters

D. so that the plants can store more water

67. What interests the author most when he or she mentions succulents is that ___ .

A. they take thick cylindrical or even spherical shape

B. they are best―known in America

C. they have many ways of containing water

D. some of them can be very tiny

68. The passage gives us an impression that ___ .

A. the desert plants are shaped in a way as if them were designed by somebody on purpose

B. more water is needed in desert so that more desert plants can grow there

C. more lands will be turned into desert if we do not try harder to save water in our daily life

D. the cacti are the most famous desert plants in America