“Slow City” — a recently launched project focused on preserving the traditional quality of life enjoyed in some of Italy’s smaller cities and towns. The project was born from the idea of the “Slow Food” movement — started in Italy in the 1980s — which promotes leisurely eating and the growing of local, healthy products to fight against the American fast-food style.
“The American urban model has invaded our cities, making Italian towns look the same. We want to stop this kind of globalization,” says Paolo Saturnini, an Italian mayor.
The “Slow City” project plans to emphasize the rich, cultural, culinary(厨房的) and artistic local traditions of each community.
Walking areas will be enlarged and squares and parks will be made greener with more plants. Car alarms and other noise that disturbs the peace will be banned, and ugly TV aerials(天线), advertising posters, and signs will be taken down.
City councils will also insist on the use of recycling and renewable energy sources, and will also introduce ecological transport systems. Parking will be made stress-free by creating more public parking areas, and easily accessible walkways and bike lanes will cross the city. But in the “Slow City” way, all improvements will probably come about slowly.
Thirty-two Italian city councils, which joined the “Slow City” program, have decided to take further steps in this direction by increasing the numbers of traditional family-style eating establishments, reducing noise pollution, and concentrating on making their towns friendlier for people to live in.
Organic local produce will be promoted in all restaurants and genetically modified foods(转基因食品) will be banned. “We can’t stop large, fast-food chains from coming here, but we hope that people who come to our towns will not want to eat exactly the same hamburger they can eat in Melbourne, London or Paris, but want something genuine and different,” said Saturnini.
【小题1】According to the passage, the “Slow City” project aims at _____.

In a recently published book, I came across some exercises with interesting names such as fishbone diagrams, lotus flowers and clustering. As I used these exercises in my classes, I noticed that students were interested. They said more and wrote more. They enjoyed expressing their ideas and sharing them in groups. They were no longer passively waiting for the bell , but actively taking part in the lesson. I find that creativity can act as a way to increase participation and improve fluency.

    Creativity has become a popular word in recent years. Scholars in arts, psychology, business, education and science are all working to get a deeper understanding of it. Robert J. Stemberg is a creativity specialist and Yale professor of psychology. He defines creativity as “the ability to produce work that is both new (original） and appropriate(applicable to the situation ） ”. This definition is useful, as we want our students to use language in a new way and to use it correctly and properly. Mot scholars say there are two types of creativity: big “C” creativity and small “c” creativity. Big “C” creativity refers to genius level thinking that results in artistic masterpieces and scientific breakthroughs. Small “c” creativity refers to everyday level thinking that can be used in any situation our emphasis is on the latter. While it goes without saying that any of our students could go on to be the next Picasso or Edison, our aim is to help students produce more ideas and use language in a new way.

1. The underlined words “waiting for the bell ” in the first paragraph probably means______.

A. longing for a phone call      B. hoping to have a bell

C. expecting the end of the class   D. waiting to speak in the class

2.It can be inferred from the passage that the author thinks the exercises in the book were _____.

A. popular   B. useful   C. scientific    D. Creative

3.When you use a familiar word in a new way, you are ________.

A creative in the sense of big “C” creativity.

B. creative in the sense of small “c” creativity..

C. not creative in the sense of big “C” creativity..

D. not creative in the sense of small “c” creativity.

4.The main purpose of the passage is to _________.

A. show how useful the book is

B. explain what creativity is

C. discuss how one can be creative

D. tell what teaching aims at

D
Is a recently discovered hormone the reason why folks who lose weight can’t keep it off?
Like millions of other fat people, at 530 inches high, more than 300 pounds, Carnie Wilson was not just fat. After trying all sort of diets that didn’t work, she has to go to the stomach – bypass surgery (胃部迂回手术), ie, have most of her stomach sewed up, only leaving tiny room to hold several tablespoonfuls at most. Result: she simply couldn’t eat the way she used to. In three years, Wilson is one third of her former weight.
Wilson’s experience is not all that unusual, and while doctors still aren’t exactly sure what is going on, a report in last week’s Journal of Medicine offers an explanation. The loss of appetite in bypass patients may be linked to a recently discovered hormone called ghrelin. Not only that, ghrelin may turn out to be one reason we feel hungry and it’s hare for didters to keep weight off.
Nowadays, researchers are careful to stress only what they know for sure. For the three conclusions, the leading Dr. David of the University of Washington says, “I feel very solid about two of them.” The first is that ghrelin levels in the bloodstream rise significantly before meals and drop afterward. The second conclusion is that ghrelin levels are higher on average in people who have lost weight from dieting.
Dr. David is less sure of the third conclusion, that bypass patients have only a quarter as much ghrelin as most people of normal weight. After all, ghrelin is produced by cells in the stomach. Years ago, leptin, a hormone was found as an appetite suppressant (食物抑制剂). But after years of trying, it had to be given up.
What doctors suspect is that both leptin and ghrelin are part of a complex system of brain and body chemicals that govern weight and appetite. That does not mena pharmaceutical (药物的) weight control is forever out of the question. “In the next ten years, we will be able to develop new drugs to help people lose weight healthily and effectively.”
47．What can we learn about ghrelin according to the passage?
A．After meals ghrelin levels are higher in the bloodstream.
B．People who have lost weight have less ghreilin in their body.
C．Without ghrelin, people are really difficult to lose weight.
D．Ghrelin is something produced by cells in the stomach.
48．What is Dr. David not sure?
A．pharmaceutical weight control is impossible.
       B．There is less ghrelin in the bypass patients.
C．new drugs will be developed in 10 years.
D．ghrelin levels are higher in people on diet.
49．In fact, people’s weight and appetite are controlled by        
A．ghrelin and leptin                      B．hormone and medicine
C．brain and body chemicals                  D．stomach and food
50．What can we infer from the passage?
A．People with a lower ghrelin level go hungry easily.
B．Doctors managed to use leption to control the appetite.
C．Doctors are optimistic about how to lose weight healthily.
D．The loss of appetite in bypass aptient is linked to leptin

Some of Man's closest relatives in the animal kingdom are under serious threat because of human activity, according to a recently published report.
Almost one in three of all apes and monkeys are now considered to be in danger of dying out and disappearing from our planet, if action is not taken soon.
The report, which was produced for the World Conservation Union (WCU), shows that 114 of the world's 394 kinds could be lost forever, and the main reason they are threatened is the continuing loss of forests where most of these animals live. In addition, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and commercial（商业的）hunting for meat are also endangering them.
What's more, the problem is getting worse. The number of species on the organization’s Red List has increased by 3 to 25 since 2005.
Russell Mittermeier, the main researcher of the WCU report, said, "You could fit(安置) all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium. So the problem is obviously urgent."
The scientists, who drew up the Red List, believe that the situation is now so bad that if action is not taken immediately, it will result in primate(灵长目动物) species dying out - something which has not happened in over a century.
The loss of habitat caused by the clearing of forests for wood, farmland and fuel continues to be the main reason for the decreasing number of primates, according to the report, and the problem was most severe in Asia.
The loss of forest trees is also responsible for 20 percent of all greenhouse gases - more than all the cars, trucks, trains and airplanes in the world combined.
【小题1】What is the main subject of the report discussed in the text?

America’s greatest technological achievement, the Hoover Dam, now has a companion piece, a bridge held up by the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere（半球）. The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, crosses the vast chasm（峡谷）890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam.
The striking 1,900-foot-long structure will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from being destroyed. It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in the US state of Colorado.
“The Hoover Dam is the greatest civil engineering achievement in America’s history,” said the bridge project manager Dave Zanatell. “Our goal was not to outdo or outshine it. Our goal was to, in a respectful way, do something that would be great for our generation and that would stand besides Hoover Dam in a respectful and quality way that would become a part of Hoover’s legacy（遗产）.”
Just as the Hoover Dam was built in the heart of the Great Depression（大萧条）and was seen as an example of the nation’s can-do spirit, some hope this project can also provide some uplift.
The bridge is surprising: at 1,050 feet, its support arch holds up a roadway that lies on 300-foot-long concrete pillars（柱子）, some of the tallest in the world. It contains 16 million pounds of steel.
　　The idea of the bridge came into being in the 1960s because the top of the Hoover Dam has been a narrow two-lane road that is the fastest route from Arizona to Las Vegas and then the Pacific Northwest and Canada.
　Access to the dam from each direction is a dangerously winding route, but massive trucks and passenger vehicles shared it for decades. During the day, when thousands of tourists travel to the dam from Las Vegas three times as many accidents as on a normal road will happen.
　The bridge has a sidewalk on the side facing the dam. The wall on both sides is 54 inches high, so walkers can take photos there.
【小题1】Which of the following is true of the Hoover Dam?