A 7.0 magnitude（级）earthquake killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti. Then an 8.8 magnitude quake killed more than 900 people in Chile. And few weeks later, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck rural eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people.
The earthquakes kept coming hard and fast.   1 It’s not. The problem is what’s happening above ground, not underground, experts say.
  2 They’re rapidly putting up buildings that can’t stand up to earth quakes, scientists believe.
And news reports and better earthquake monitoring make it seem as if earth quakes are increasing all the time.
On average, there are 134 earthquakes a year that have a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9. So far this year there have been 40 earthquakes—more than in most years for that time period. But that’s because the 8.8 quake in Chile caused a large number of strong aftershocks.
Also, it’s not the number of quakes, but their destructive effects that gain attention. The death is largely due to building standards,   3  Paul Earle, a US seismologist, called for better building standards in the world’s big cities.
Of the 130 cities worldwide with populations of more than I million, more than half are likely to be hit by earthquakes.   4 “If you have a problem feeding yourself, you’re not really going to worry about earthquakes,” said Paul.
The earthquakes made everyone start to think   5  “People are paying attention to the violent planet we’re always lived on. Come back an another six moths if there has been no earthquakes, most people will have forgotten it again,” said US disaster researcher Dennis Mileti.

A. concentrated     B. possible      C. revised       D. applications     E. figures    F. connect         G. benefits       H. global        I. associate        J. tops

More than two million people in Europe now have fiber broadband（光纤宽带）direct to their home, suggests a survey. The latest    1.   on superfast broadband delivered by fiber to the home (FTTH) show 18% growth over the last survey compiled in late 2008.

The continued growth suggests that the    2.    economic decline has not hit plans to build fiber networks. Sweden    3.   the list of nations applying the technology, with 10.9% of its broadband customers using fiber. Karel Helsen, president of Europe’s Fiber-To-The-Home Council, said the growth matched predictions that were    4.    when the credit crisis started to make itself felt. “The numbers in 2009 are in line with the latest forecasts,” said Mr. Helsen.

By 2013, the FTTH Council expects that 13 million people across 35 European nations will have their broadband delivered by fiber. Such services would start at a speed of 100 megabits per second (mbps), said Mr. Helsen. Around Europe more than 233 projects were underway to lay the fibers that would    5.   homes or buildings to the net, said Mr. Helsen. Many of those, he said, were being operated by local governments or smaller net firms. Local governments were interested in FTTH because of the economic and social    6.    it brought in its wake, said Mr. Helsen.

The low delay in high-speed fiber networks made    7.    new uses of broadband, he said. “No delay is very important,” he said, “specifically if you talk about   8.   that are time-dependent such as personal communications, conference calls or video calls where delays cause a lot of trouble.” While early FTTH services were    9.    in cities, said Mr. Helsen, many more were reaching out to rural areas for e-health and e-learning projects.

A. hands     B. qualities      C. worked     D. curiosity    E. pretty

F. looks      G. ashamed     H. applied     I. taste        J. information

When I succeeded in becoming a part-time employee of Nokia China last summer, many friends asked me how I survived the interview.

I once asked myself the same questions. Many of my peers also __1._ for the job, including some very competitive and intelligent students from famous universities.

But why did the interviewer pick me instead of them?

Finally, _2.__ pushed me to ask the interviewers after we became colleagues. The answer was that I appeared confident but humble, responsible and communicative. They evaluated people not just on their academic certificates, but on the base of their __3.__ and abilities. I happened to be the right person.

To be frank, I once felt __4.__ of being a student from an unknown college, and I think this may apply to some of you. I thought my future was ruined. It was only at the time of my successful interview that I finally understood the famous saying --- “You decide where you go.”

A wide range of skills is important these days. I used to work for Master Kong. My job was to cook instant noodles for customers. I had regarded it as a piece of cake, but I failed constantly. I had to cook the noodles for the right amount of time to make them __5.__ good. Moreover, the noodles could only remain in a plastic cup of five minutes, or the taste would be ruined.

This experience taught me never to look down on anything, and always remain humble.

I also __6.__ as a volunteer for a beach volleyball event. My job was to help foreign visitors experience the beach. I thought it would be very easy because my oral English was __7.__ good. But when I went to talk with a group of foreign guests, I suddenly realized that I did not know a single beach volleyball term. I was embarrassed.

After this, I read brochures in both Chinese and English every day to learn the terms for facilities and related words. This allowed me to deliver accurate __8.__ to foreigners, and I was happy to work responsibly.

After these experience, I’m more confident and I strongly believe that my fate is in my  __9.__. It has certainly helped me make a giant step closer to my dream of graduating with prospects for the future. I hope my advice will benefit you as well.

A. turn  B. eagerly  C. concerned  D. anxiously  E. growing   F. changed G. produced H. international   I. popular   J. called

There have been a lot of changes in American eating habits in the last ten years. One is the __1.__ awareness of the nutritional value of food. Another is an increasing interest in a variety of __2.__ foods. Since about 1970, Americans have been more and more __3.__ about health. They have begun to notice the ingredients（配料） in what they eat.

When they select food in the supermarket, they __4.__ the package over to read the labels carefully. They prefer to eat food that is __5.__ without unnecessary chemicals and often choose fruits and vegetables grown without poisons used to kill insects. A small group of Americans, __6.__ vegetarians, has decided not to eat meat. They choose a complete diet from other kinds of food because they think that meat products are not good for health.

Also more and more Americans have become interested in food from other countries. They have been going out to international restaurants and __7.__ trying unfamiliar dishes. Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, and Greek cooking as well as many other recipes（食谱） are all __8.__ these days in the United States. People used to say that Americans ate uninteresting, unhealthy food, but this has __9.__ in the last ten years.

A. stable     B. solutions    C. considerable    D. role             E. included

F. task      G. compose     H. impact         I. challenges         J. certainly

With the world's population growing from six to nine billion by 2050, researchers, businesses and governments are already dealing with the ___1.___ this increase will have on everything from food and water to infrastructure (基础设施) and jobs. The demand for energy will keep growing, and is expected to double over the next 40 years.

Finding the resources to meet this demand in a ___2.___, sustainable way is the basis of our nation's energy security, and will be one of the major ___3.___of the 21st century. Alternative forms of energy- bio-fuels, wind and solar are ___4.____ being funded and developed, and will play a growing___5.___ in the world's energy supply. But experts say that even when combined, alternative energy sources will likely meet only about 30% of the world's energy needs by 2050.

For example, even with ___6.___ investments, such as the $93 million for wind energy development ___7.___ in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, important alternative energy sources such as wind and bio-fuels __8.___ only about 1% of the market today.

Energy and sustainability experts say the answer to our future energy needs will likely come from a lot of ___9.___ both traditional and alternative.