C
A light emitting diode （发光二极管）, or L．E．D．, is a device that shines when electricity passes through it．But it works differently than traditional kinds of light bulbs．Light emitting diodes use less energy and last much longer than bulbs with a filament （灯丝） inside．L．E．                               D．’s are also cooler to the touch, and shine a lot brighter than they used to．  
Red L．E．D．’s have long been used as signal lights on electronic equipment．But now light emitting diodes also come in blue and other colors．Colored L．E．D．’s are used to show images on everything from wireless phones to huge video signs．And white L．E．D．’s are being used increasingly to replace traditional lighting systems．  
But all these require electricity．In poor countries, people often burn fuel to produce light．But the smoke can make people sick．So an electrical engineering professor from Canada started a project to produce L．E．       D．lighting systems for the developing world．These lights are powered by batteries that can be recharged with energy from the sun．The batteries can also be charged through other ways, such as wind power and water power．
Professor David Irvine-Halliday tells the story of how he got the idea．In 1997, while climbing in the Annapurna mountains in Nepal, he saw a small school．All the children were outside．He looked through a window and saw that inside the school was dark．The school had a sign that read: "We have no teachers．If you want to stay and teach for a few days, we would be very pleased．" Professor Irvine-Halliday says that experience had a big effect on him．Back at the University of Calgary, he was on the Internet one day．He saw a company in Japan selling bright white L．E．                           D．’s．So he built a light with some．This is how he began the Light Up the World Foundation．
48．Compared with traditional kinds of light bulbs, L．E．D．’S________．
A．waste a lot of energy                    B．need shorter time to make
C．shine much brighter                 D．are warmer to touch
49．According to the passage, we know that L．E．D．’s________．
A．will replace all the lights            B．will be more and more popular
C．will be only colored ones               D．will be only used in developing countries
50．According to the passage, we can infer that the purpose of the Light Up the World Foundation is to________．
A．develop L．E．D．lighting system for the developing world                   
B．sell bright white L．E．D．’s
C．collect money for developing countries                                        
D．earn money by selling L．E．D．’s

As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have. It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week.

Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long?hours work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of l

iving and downshifting is one of them.

Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs(郊区), leaving their two children with a nanny(保姆). Most evenings Daniel wouldn't get home until eight or nine o'clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.

Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales. “I always wanted to have a farm here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift. It's taken some getting used to, but it's been worth it. We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays. However, I think it's made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier.”

Liz, however, is not quite sure. “I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I'm not really a country girl, but I suppose I'm gradually getting used to looking after the animals. One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children. My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all.”

1.What do the first two paragraphs tell us?

A.People seldom work long hours to make money.

B.People hardly buy more things than necessary.

C.People are sure everything they own is in the right place.

D.People realise there is more to life than just making money. 

2.When Daniel was a reporter he  ________ .

A.lived in central London      B.disliked his job        

C.missed his children         D.was well paid 

3.Daniel and Liz both agree that the move to the farm  ________.

A.was easy to organize         B.has improved family life        

C.was extremely expensive      D.has been a total success 

4.What does the underlined “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A.Child?caring.    B.Liz's advice.       C.Downshifting.     D.Liz's job.

5.The underlined word “_________downshifting” in the second paragraph means  ________ .

A.repairing your car by yourself        

B.spending money carefully        

C.moving out to the countryside to live a simpler and better life        

D.living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week 

Why did humans evolve to walk upright? Perhaps because it’s just plain easier. Make that “energetically less costly”, scientifically speaking.

Bipedalism—walking on two feet, is one of the defining characteristics of being humans, and scientists have debated for years how it came about. In the latest attempt to find an explanation, researchers trained five chimps(黑猩猩)to walk on a treadmill(跑步机)while wearing masks that allowed measurement of their oxygen consumption. The chimps were measured both while walking upright and while moving on their legs and knuckles(膝关节).That measurement of the energy needed to move around was compared with similar tests on humans and the results are published in this week’s online edition of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

It turns out that humans walking on two legs use only one-quarter of the energy that chimps use while knucklewalking on four limbs(肢).And the chimps, on average, use as much energy using two legs as they did when they used all four limbs.

However, there were differences among chimps in how much energy they used, and this difference corresponded to their different manner of walking and anatomy(解剖构造).One of the chimps used less energy on two legs, one used about the same and the others used more, said David Raichlen, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.

“What we were surprised at was the variation(变异) ”, he said in a telephone interview. Interview. “That was pretty exciting, because when you talk about how evolution works, variation is the bottom line, without variation there is no evolution.”

Walking on two legs freed our arms, opening the door to drive the world, said Raichlen. “We think about the evolution of bipedalism as one of first events that led hominids(原始人)down the path to being humans.”

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the L.S.B.Leakey Foundation.

The underlined word “Bipedalism” in Paragraph 2 probably means____.

A．moving sideways              B．walking upright

C．walking on four legs            D．running fast

We can infer from the passage that____.

A．scientists have no idea on how humans’ walking on two legs came about

B．scientists have had different views on why chimps walk on four legs

C．scientists have had different views on how humans’ walking on two legs vame about

D．scientists have had similar views on how humans’ walking on two legs came about

What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．How chimps saved energy.

B．Why chimps didn't walk on two legs.

C．David Raichlen studied chimps.

D．Different chimps consumed different energy.

According to the passage, humans walk upright in order to____.

A．conserve energy                  B．differ from other animals

C．free their brains                  D．strengthen their legs

C

A light emitting diode （发光二极管）, or L．E．D．, is a device that shines when electricity passes through it．But it works differently than traditional kinds of light bulbs．Light emitting diodes use less energy and last much longer than bulbs with a filament （灯丝） inside．L．E．                               D．’s are also cooler to the touch, and shine a lot brighter than they used to．  

Red L．E．D．’s have long been used as signal lights on electronic equipment．But now light emitting diodes also come in blue and other colors．Colored L．E．D．’s are used to show images on everything from wireless phones to huge video signs．And white L．E．D．’s are being used increasingly to replace traditional lighting systems．  

But all these require electricity．In poor countries, people often burn fuel to produce light．But the smoke can make people sick．So an electrical engineering professor from Canada started a project to produce L．E．       D．lighting systems for the developing world．These lights are powered by batteries that can be recharged with energy from the sun．The batteries can also be charged through other ways, such as wind power and water power．

Professor David Irvine-Halliday tells the story of how he got the idea．In 1997, while climbing in the Annapurna mountains in Nepal, he saw a small school．All the children were outside．He looked through a window and saw that inside the school was dark．The school had a sign that read: "We have no teachers．If you want to stay and teach for a few days, we would be very pleased．" Professor Irvine-Halliday says that experience had a big effect on him．Back at the University of Calgary, he was on the Internet one day．He saw a company in Japan selling bright white L．E．                           D．’s．So he built a light with some．This is how he began the Light Up the World Foundation．

48．Compared with traditional kinds of light bulbs, L．E．D．’S________．

A．waste a lot of energy                    B．need shorter time to make

C．shine much brighter                 D．are warmer to touch

49．According to the passage, we know that L．E．D．’s________．

A．will replace all the lights            B．will be more and more popular

C．will be only colored ones               D．will be only used in developing countries

50．According to the passage, we can infer that the purpose of the Light Up the World Foundation is to________．

A．develop L．E．D．lighting system for the developing world                   

B．sell bright white L．E．D．’s

C．collect money for developing countries                                        

D．earn money by selling L．E．D．’s

根据上下文及给出首字母或汉语意思的词填写单词。 (共10题；每小题1分，满分10分) 注意：给出首字母的词，需将首字母一起填写到答题卷上
【小题1】She was very t________ as she waited for the interview.   
【小题2】—Dr. Smith Clinic. May I help you?
—Yes, my name is Alice Robinson and I’d like to make an __________for health checkup.
【小题3】They did everything they could to save him, but he was already too far gone when the ___ (救护车)arrived.
【小题4】At a time like this you need e_________ help, not just the help your friends can provide.  
【小题5】They used the stars as a g_______ to find their way back.     
【小题6】All that noise makes it hard to c_______ on the book I'm trying to read. 
【小题7】You can’t visit the website, which is now under ________(建设). 
【小题8】Just for ______(方便), I'm going to live at my mother's place until my new house is ready.  
【小题9】We won't be going on holiday this year – l_____ of money, I'm afraid.   
【小题10】I felt ______(内疚的) about not visiting my parents more often.