London is the capital of Britain. It is located in the southeast plain of England. The Thames River goes through this city.

       The British have lived there for about 3,000 years. The Roman Empire intruded into (侵入)Britannia Island in 54 BC. The Romans built the first wooden bridge over the Thames River.

       London is a world-famous cultural city. There are many famous cultural sites. It is one of the world's great tourist destinations. About eight million people visit London every year.

      The largest museum is the British Museum, which was built in the 18th century. There are many ancient cultural relics of Britain and of other countries in the museum. The London Tower stands on the southeast of Tower Mountain. It was once a palace, and it is now an exhibition center. Westminster Hall is located on the west bank of the Thames River and was built in 750 AD. It is the largest Gothic building of the world and was a palace in the past, too.

      The Clock Tower, which is about 97 meters high, is located northeast of the parliament. The famous “Big Ben” weighs about 21 tons and its big pendulum（钟摆）is about 305 kilograms. Hyde Park is one of the great parks in the world and it is in the west district of London. There is a free forum(论坛) there and some people give speeches there every week. They can say almost anything, but they can't attack the Queen or support violent revolution.

1.Which of the following statements is WRONG?

A. London lies in the southeast plain of England.

B. The British first lived in London thousands of years ago.

C. People can enjoy a walk along the Thames River in London.

D. The Roman Empire intruded into Britannia Island over 2,100 years ago.

2.We learn from the passage that _________.

A. London receives millions of visitors every month

B. only in the British Museum can you see ancient cultural relics of Britain

C. the famous "Big Ben" in the Clock Tower is about 97 meters high

D. not everything can be talked about in the forum at Hyde Park

3.This passage is most probably taken from a website about ___________ .

A. traveling       B. kids       C. museums      D. Holidays

30.   It was once called the Sea of Bamboo, but now only one fifth of the area ______ covered with bamboo, and sixty percent of other plants ______ taken the place of the bamboo.

If there is one thing I’m quite sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we still be reading newspapers. Not those newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of the news from the television or have the radio switched on in the background or in the car. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.
The basic British character won’t change, and one of the characteristics of the British is that we don’t much like talking to each other when we get up. So what better way is there to keep yourself thinking in the morning than to wrap yourself in a newspaper?
Over the past couple of centuries, human beings have developed a close relationship with the newspaper. It has become as natural as breathing or enjoying the sun. And it is not just the British who love newspapers. On suburban trains in Calcutta, for instance, just one person in the whole car will buy a newspaper and read aloud the best bits to his fellow passengers, much to everybody’s enjoyment.
The nature of what is news may change. What essentially makes news is what affects our lives and the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering. In the future I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do, whether it’s love or depression. We develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.
It’s quite possible that in the next century newspaper will be transmitted(传送) electronically from the national equivalents of Fleet Street (伦敦的舰队街，以报馆集中而著称) and printed out in our own homes. In fact, I’m pretty sure that that is how it will happen in future. You’ll be probably selecting from a menu, making up your own bespoke newspaper by picking out the things you want to read and say. You might even have an intelligent screening device (装置) to do the job for you.
I think people have got it wrong when they talk about the competition between the different media. They actually have a relationship, feeding off each other. It was once predicted that television would kill off newspapers, which hasn’t happened. What is read on the printed page is more enduring (持久的) than pictures on a flickering screen or sound lost in the sky. And as for the Internet, it’s never really satisfying to read something just on a screen.
【小题1】The author of the passage is most probably from _______________.

The painting was         what it used to be because it was once watered by rain.

It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil) creating a greenhouse effect-holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature-a result that would be equally disastrous（灾难的）. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do riot know for sure that either of these conditions will happen(though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.

1.As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.

      A．caused widespread damage in the countryside

      B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States

      C．almost brought worldwide effect

      D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas

2.As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author _____________.

      A．shares the same view with the scientists

      B．is uncertain of its occurrence

      C．rejects it as being ungrounded（无根据的）

      D．thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world soon

3.It can be inferred from the passage that                    .

      A．raising the world’s temperature a little would not do much harm to life on the earth

      B．lowering the world’s temperature a little would lead to agricultural disasters

      C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

      D．the world’s temperature will remain stable forever

4.This passage is primarily concerned with              .

      A．the greenhouse effect in the world

      B．the measures to adjust the climate

      C．the potential effect of air pollution

      D．the measures to protect the environment