JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company, to publish her first ever novel for adults, which is set to become one of the most anticipated (期望的) book in years.

   The deal means that Rowling’s long-standing relationship with Bloomsbury, the London-based publisher that launched (发行) the Harry Potter books, has come to an end, at least in terms of new works by the author.

    Rowling is keeping her fans guessing about the characters and plot of her new book. She only said that the new novel will be nothing like the Harry Potter series, which was sold over 30 million copies in the UK alone. She thought that with the move from children’s to adult fiction, a switch to a new publisher seemed like a natural and reasonable step.

    She said, "Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, this book will be very different from the Harry Potter series. The freedom to explore a new field is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me."

    Ian Rankin, the Edinburgh-based author whose highly-successful detective novels are also set in the city, suggested Rowling’s book will be a crime novel.

     "Wouldn’t it be funny if JK Rowling’s first novel for adults turned out to be a crime story set in Edinburgh?" he said.

    Industry insiders guessed that the deal is worth more than ￡5 million and the new book is expected to come out later this year.

    A spokesman said, "JK Rowling’s audience is vast and her position is unique. Harry Potter books were a global success and her fans are very loyal. Children that were eight, nine, or ten when the books first came out in the 1990s are now in their 20s. Plenty of adults, loved the books regardless of whether they had children, so the potential market for her is huge."

1.What does the text mainly tell us?

    A. JK Rowling has signed a deal with a new publisher.

    B. JK Rowling's new book will be more successful than her Harry Potter series.

    C. JK Rowling’s first book for adults will be published later this year.

    D. JK Rowling has to switch to a new publisher in order to publish her new book.

2.JK Rowling’s new book for adults        .

    A. has been sold 30 million copies in the UK alone

    B. is poorly thought of by the London-based publisher Bloomsbury

    C. has nothing in common with the Harry Potter series

    D. is expected to bring her more money than the Harry Potter series

3.The author used Ian Rankin’s words in order to          .

    A. tell us that some famous novelists offer to give Rowling some advice

    B. show that many readers are curious about Rowling’s new book

    C. tell us that many readers prefer to read detective or crime novels

    D. prove that a crime story set in Edinburgh is sure to be successful

4.We can learn from the text that          .

    A. Little, Brown and Company is specialized in publishing adult books

    B. the author has no doubt about the success of Rowling’s new book

    C. JK Rowling will be a crime novelist as good as Ian Rankin

D. it was in Edinburgh that Ian Rankin got to know JK Rowling

Charlotte Hollins faces a battle. The 23-year-old British farmer and her 21-year-old brother Ben are fighting to save farm that their father worked on since he was 14. Although confident they will succeed, she is aware of farming’s many challenges.

“You don’t often get a day off. Supermarkets put a lot of pressure on farmers to keep prices low. With fewer people working on farms it can be isolating,” she said. “There is a high rate of suicide and farming will never make you rich!”

Like others around the world, Charlotte’s generation tend to leave the farm for cities.

Oliver Robinson, 25, grew up in Yorkshire. But he never considered staying on his father and grandfather’s land. “I’m sure Dad hoped I’d stay,” he said. “I guess it’s a nice, straightforward life, but it doesn’t appeal to me. For young, ambitious people, farm life is hard.”

For Robinson, farming doesn’t offer much “in terms of money or lifestyle”. Hollins agrees that economic factors stop people from enjoying the rewards of farming. He describes it as a career that provides “for a vital human need”, allowing people to work “outdoors with nature.”

Farming is a big political issue in the UK. The “Buy British” campaigns urge consumers not to purchase cheaper imported foods. The 2001 foot and mouth crisis closed thousands of farms, stopped meat exports, and raised public consciousness about the troubles on UK farms.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s 2005 campaign to get children eating healthily also highlighted the issue.

This national concern gives hope to farmers competing with powerful supermarkets. While most people buy food from the big supermarkets, hundreds of independent Farmers’ Markets are becoming popular.

“I started going to Farmers’ Markets in direct defiance(违抗) of the big supermarkets. I seriously objected to the super-sizing of everything－what exactly do they put on our apples to make them so big and red? It’s terrible,” said Londoner Michaela Samson, 31.

1.What are the challenges that British farmers face according to Charlotte Hollins?

a. loneliness                       b. thin profits

c. a lack of good equipment        d. long working hours but slow results

A．abc              B．abd              C．acd              D．bcd

2.Why did Oliver Robinson refuse to stay on the farm?

A．He hoped for a simpler life

B．He was fed up with a hard farm life.

C．Farm life was too demanding though he liked it.

D．He hoped for something challenging and rewarding.

3.What happened in 2001 to the British beef farmers?

A．British people ate more British beef.

B．To be a beef farmer became profitable.

C．Diseaes dramatically reduced the amount of beef available.

D．Foreign farmers stopped selling beef to Britain.

4.Which of the following is an advantage of Farmers’ Markets?

A．Lower prices.                          B．Flexible sizes.

C．Convenient location.                     D．Healthier food.

5.What can we conclude from the last two paragraphs?

A．Things are improving for independent farms in the UK.

B．Farming in the UK can now match the powerful supermarkets.

C．Most British people are doubtful of food in supermarkets.

D．Most British people have realized the problems facing farms and begun to help save them.

What would you think if someone suggested knocking down St Paul’s Cathedral to widen the road? Or pulling down Big Ben to make way for a car park? It would be ridiculous, right? But when it comes to devastation (毁灭) of the natural world, we aren’t so easily shocked. But we should be…or we’ll be in a lot of trouble.
Nature is shrinking by the day. Ancient forests are destroyed. Wetlands are becoming dry. Woodland is disappearing, and all in the name of progress. This is bad in itself, but it’s devastating for biodiversity.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals and other living things that are all interconnected. The ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis (光合作用) by green plants. Insects, worms and bacteria break down waste and make soils rich. And tiny organisms clean the water in rivers and sea. In fact, all life on the earth exists thanks to the benefits of biodiversity. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. And 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals. Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve all living things.
The loss of biodiversity could be devastating. “It is wrong to think that biodiversity can be reduced indefinitely without threatening humans,” said Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, known as the “father of biodiversity”. He warned, “We are about to reach a critical point beyond which biodiversity loss will become irreversible (不可挽回的).”
But what can we do? The present problem is that the concept of biodiversity is so vague (含糊的). People might care about giant pandas, but it is much harder to excite them about the fate of tiny sea creatures which are being boiled to death in the cooling systems of power stations along coastlines. The Guardian newspaper is trying to help. It has launched the Biodiversity 100 campaign to try to convince governments around the world to take action to deal with the widespread concerns about biodiversity. This includes persuading the UK government to create a series of marine reserves to reserve the decrease in the sea-life caused by industrial fishing, stopping fishing sharks by the Japanese fishermen and banning the killing of dingoes (wild dogs) in Australia, among many other things.
There is a lot to do. And we’d better act quickly if we don’t want to end up with a planet that can’t sustain life!
【小题1】The writer thinks it ________ to pull down Big Ben to make way for a car park.

Eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression, research suggests. What's more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression, the University College London team found.

Data on diet among 3,500 middle-aged civil servants were compared with their emotional state five years later, a British journal reported. They split the participants into two types of diet--those who ate a diet largely based on whole food，which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish，and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat，refined grains and high fat dairy products After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic(慢性的) diseases, they found a significant difference in the future depression risk with the different diets.

Those who ate the most wholefood had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who ate the least wholefood. By contrast, people with a diet high in processed food had a 58％ higher risk of depression than those who ate a diet low in processed foods.

Study author Dr. Archana Singh Manoux pointed out there was a chance that the finding could be explained by lifestyle factor they had not accounted for. He also pointed in a paper that a Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of depression, but the problem with that is if you live in Britain, the likelihood of you eating a Mediterranean diet is not very high.

Dr．Andrew McCulloeh, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said, this study adds to an existing body of solid research that shows the strong links between what we eat and our mental health.

He added people's diets were becoming increasingly unhealthy. The UK population is consuming less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated fats and sugars.

1.The text is mainly about         .

2.What do we know about the participants?

3.What can we learn from what Dr. Archana Singh Manoux said?

4.Dr. Andrew McCulloch agrees that         .

5.Why might the author have written this text?

Eating a diet high in processed（经过加工的） food increases the risk of depression（抑郁）, research suggests. What's more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression, the University College London team found.

Data on diet among 3,500 middle-aged civil servants were compared with their emotional state five years later, a British journal reported. They split the participants（参与者） into two types of diet--those who ate a diet largely based on whole food，which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish，and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat，refined（精制的） grains and high fat dairy products After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic(慢性的) diseases, they found a significant difference in the future depression risk with the different diets.

Those who ate the most wholefood（全天然食物） had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who ate the least wholefood. By contrast, people with a diet high in processed food had a 58％ higher risk of depression than those who ate a diet low in processed foods.

Study author Dr. Archana Singh Manoux pointed out there was a chance that the finding could be explained by lifestyle factor they had not accounted for.（解释原因） He also pointed in a paper that a Mediterranean(地中海) diet was associated（有关） with a lower risk of depression, but the problem with that is if you live in Britain, the likelihood （可能）of you eating a Mediterranean diet is not very high.

Dr．Andrew McCulloeh, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said, this study adds to an existing body of solid research that shows the strong links between what we eat and our mental health.

He added people's diets were becoming increasingly unhealthy. The UK population is consuming （消费）less nutritious, fresh produce and more saturated（饱和） fats and sugars.

1.The text is mainly about______.

A．the increasingly unhealthy diet of the UK population

B．the link between processed food and depression

C．the relationship between physical and mental health

D．the emotional state of the British People

2.What can we learn from what Dr. Archana Singh Manoux said?

A．It is difficult for most British people to have a Mediterranean diet.

B．The Mediterranean diet is the most healthy in the world.

C．Many studies have been done on the Mediterranean diet before.

D．The Mediterranean diet is not good for depression.

3.Dr. Andrew McCulloch agrees that______.

A．our diets are closely related to our mental health

B．the present study needs more facts and other information

C．the UK population will become ill in the near future

D．more saturated fats and sugars should be taken in

4.Why might the author have written this text?

A．To tell people what a healthy diet actually is.

B．To prove people’s diets are increasingly unhealthy.

C．To encourage people to cut down on processed food.

D．To introduce some experts on the research team.