A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage. Foods can go bad if they get too warm. But for many of the world’s poor, finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult. Refrigerators are costly and they need electricity.

   Yet spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses. Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly.

    But in nineteen ninety-five a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohammed Bah Abba found a solution. He developed the “Pot-in-Pot Preservation/Cooling System.” It uses two round containers made of clay. A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one. The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables or drinks. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system.

    Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation(蒸发) process. Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates through the surface of the larger pot, where drier outside air is moving.

    The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees. This cools the inner pot and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria. Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks.

    People throughout Nigeria began using the invention. And it became popular with farmers in other African countries. Mohammed Bah Abba personally financed the first five thousand pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby.

    In two thousand, the Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise. This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being. A committee considers projects in science and medicine, technology, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural history. Winners receive financial assistance to help develop and extend their projects.

1.Which is the best title of the passage?

A.  A Few Degrees can Make a Big Difference for Storage

B.  A Cool Way to Keep Food from Spoiling

C.  Spoiled Food Creates Health Risks and Economic Losses

D.  The Evaporation Process Creates a Drop in Temperature

2.What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?

A. the structure of the invention

B. the usage of the invention

C. the cost of the invention

D. the inspiration of the invention

3.What is it that essentially keeps the food in the container from spoiling?

A. the wet cloth covering the cooling system.

B. the moving drier air outside the container

C. the wet sand between the containers

D. a drop in temperature by evaporation

4.According to the passage, where can we possibly see the invention?

A. rich and advanced families

B. scientific experiment laboratory

C. poor and underdeveloped area

D. supermarket needing to store goods

5.We can know from the passage that Mohammed Bah Abba ____________.

A. invented the controversial cooling system

B. financed the systems in all communities

C. received financial assistance for his invention

D. invented more complicated cooling system later

Students and Technology in the Classroom
I love my blackberry — it’s my little connection to the larger world that can go anywhere with me. I also love my laptop computer，as it holds all of my writing and thoughts. Despite this love of technology, I know that there are times when I need to move away from these devices（设备）and truly communicate with others.
On occasion, I teach a course called History Matters for a group of higher education managers. My goals for the class include a full discussion of historical themes and ideas. Because I want students to thoroughly study the material and exchange their ideas with each other in the classroom, I have a rule — no laptop, iPads, phones ,etc .When students were told my rule in advance of the class, some of them were not happy.
Most students assume that my reasons for this rule include unpleasant experiences in the past with students misusing technology. There’s a bit of truth to that. Some students assume that I am anti-technology. There’s no truth in that at all. I love technology and try to keep up with it so I can relate to my students.
The real reason why I ask students to leave technology at the door is that I think there are very few places in which we can have deep conversions and truly engage complex ideas. Interruptions by technology often break concentration and allow for too much dependence on outside information for ideas. I want students to dig deep within themselves for inspiration and ideas. I want them to push each other to think differently and make connections between the course the material and the class discussion.
I’ve been teaching my history class in this way for many years and the evaluations reflect student satisfaction with the environment that I create. Students realize that with deep conversation and challenge, they learn at a level that helps them keep the course material beyond the classroom.
I’m not saying that I won’t ever change my mind about technology use in my history class, but until I hear a really good reason for the change, I’m sticking to my plan. A few hours of technology-free dialogue is just too sweet to give up.
【小题1】Some of the students in the history class were unhappy with _______.

People say time is relative．But relative to what．I do know that sometimes time“seems”to be moving slower．Remember Christmas Eve when you were a child? It was the longest night of the year．It lasted forever! And now it seems like I just paid my bill yesterday．．．and it’s due again!  

People tell me all too frequently…I need more time! Oh ，really?…Mother Teresa，Michelangelo，and Helen Keller all had 24 hours a day．Look what they did with their time!

Is it that we need to manage our time better…or our priorities(重点)?You’ve heard the expression“first things first．”The first step in understanding the power of time is to understand that it is limited．Why is it then that some people get a lot more done? We know the answer．They use their time smartly．   

One day an expert on time management was speaking to a group of students and announced a quiz．He pulled out a wide-mouthed jar．Next，he placed about a dozen fist-sized rocks，one at a time , into the jat, until no more would fit．“Is it full?” he asked．”Yes，”responds the class．”Oh really?” he asked．So he took out a bucket of gravel(砂砾), which he managed to work down into the spaces between the larger rocks．“Is it full now?” he asked．

Wising up，one answered，‘'Probably not．”Sure enough, he took out a bucket of sand，which he poured into the empty spaces．”Is it full now?” he asked．”No,” reply the students confidently．So he took a glass of water and filled it in．Then he asked，“What is my point?’’

One said，‘'No matter how full your schedule is，if you try really hard，you can always fit some more things into it！”

“No，”the speaker replied，“It tells us if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all．’’

What are the big rocks? The things you should put in to your jar first．

The rich don’t get 25 hours and the poor don’t get 23…we all get the same．Let’s use them wisely! Invest your time wisely!

49．What does the point of the quiz lie in_______.

A．How to put more things into ajar． B．How well the students learn the lesson．

C．How to get more done in limited time      D．The skill and order is very important．

50． “The big rocks”in this passage refers to_______?

A．difficult points．        B．advantages     C．minor things           D．focuses

51. How is the passage mainly developed?

A．By inferring．             B．By comparing．

C．By listing examples．        D．By giving facts．

52. The text is written mainly            

A．to explain the origin of the expression “first things first”

B．to call on us to use our time in a smart manner   

C．to introduce a meaningful class given by an expert

D．to tell us about the relativity and the power of time

There are two buildings, _______ stands nearly a hundred feet high.

A．the larger one                          B．the larger of them

C．the larger one that                      D．the larger of which

Researchers have found more evidence that suggests a relationship between races (种族) and rates (率) of lung cancer among smokers. A new study shows that black people and Native Hawaiians are more likely to develop lung cancer from smoking. It compared their risk to whites, Japanese-Americans and Latinos.
Researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii did the new study. The New England Journal of Medicine published the findings. The eight-year research studied more than 180,000 people. They included present and former smokers and people who never smoked. Almost 2.000 people in the study developed lung cancer.
Researchers say genetics (遗传学) might help explain the racial and ethnic（种族的） differences. There could be differences in how people's bodies react to smoke. But environmental influences, including the way people smoke, could also make a difference.
African-Americans and Latinos in the study are reported smoking the fewest cigarettes per day. Whites are the heaviest smokers. But the scientists point out that blacks have been reported to breathe cigarette smoke more deeply than white smokers. This could fill their lungs with more of the chemicals in tobacco that cause cancer.
Scientists know that some diseases effect different groups differently. And some drug companies have begun to develop racially targeted (针对) medicines. Last June, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a drug designed to treat heart failure in black patients. The name is BiDil. The agency called it "a step toward the promise of personalized medicine."
【小题1】Researchers agree that it is     that may probably determine black people’s risk of lung cancer.