58. What are the advantages of damming the Red Sea?

a. Producing a great deal of electricity.

b. Getting rid of ecological harm.

c. Reducing greenhouse effect.

d. Offering an alternative to fossil fuels.

e. Saving water, resources.

A. a, b, c B. a, c, d　　 C. b, c, d　　 D. c,d,e

57. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Protect the ecology

B. The growing energy demands in the Middle East

C. Dam the Red Sea and generate electricity

D. How to dam the Red Sea

56. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. How to learn a second language well

B. Benefits of learning a second language

C. Reasons for passing the SAT, GMAT and LSAT

D. Why companies look for employees with language skills

E

Damming the Red Sea could solve the growing energy demands of millions of people in the Middle East and reduce some of the region's tensions related to oil supplies through hydroelectric(水力发电的)power. Equally, such a large engineering project may cause untold ecological harm and make countless people leave their homes.

Present technology allows us to shape the earth on a relatively large scale and to control lakes for hydroelectric power generation. In the near future, however, it might be possible to build dams large enough to separate a body of water as large as the Red Sea, from the world oceans. A　　 similar large-scale engineering project is already planned for the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. This seawater barrier will use the evaporative(蒸发的)cycle and inflow of seawater to produce vast quantities of electricity.

Geochemical engineer Reolof Dirk Schuiling suggests that a dam across the Bab-al-Mandab( 巴布厄耳曼德海峡)could be used to stop the inflow of seawater into the highly evaporative Red Sea with the potential of producing 50 gigawatts(千兆瓦.)of power. By comparison, the Palo

Verde nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear station in the US, has an output of just 3.2 gigawatts.

"Such a project will greatly affect the region's economy, political situation and ecology, and their effects may be felt well beyond the physical and political limits of the project," says Schuiling.

Schuiling points out that the cost and time involved in creating such a hydroelectric project are way beyond normal economical considerations.　 It's certain that such a large engineering project will cause great destruction of existing ecologies. However, it will also provide enormous reductions in greenhouse gas emissions(释放)as well as offering a workable, sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for future generations:

Researchers point out that the precautionary(预防的)principle cannot be applied in making a decision regarding the damming of the Red Sea. If the countries around the Red Sea decide in favor of the macro-project, it’s their responsibility to limit the negative consequences as much as possible.

55. If you travel to exotic places in foreign countries, which of the following can make your trips much safer and easier?

A. Getting along well with the local people　 B. Being able to speak the native language

C. Speaking English clearly and fluently　　 D. Trying to learn about their history and culture

54. The underlined part “the latter”(in paragraph 1)refers to “______”.

A. Spanish　　 B. English　　　 C. Chinese　　　 D. French

53. The first paragraph is most likely to tell us that _______.

A. English is widely used in the world

B. not many people speak English in the world

C. a second language is necessary for us nowadays

D. it is difficult to learn a foreign language well

52. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Online information about coins is far from enough.

B. Collectors prefer to trade their coins online.

C. Coin collection is popular all over the world.

D. Coin collectors benefit greatly from the Internet.

D

While it is true that with globalization, English has become the most universally spoken language. In fact, only one out of five people speak English as　 first or second language. One of the most fulfilling and self-enriching acts you can achieve in your life is to learn a second language, to become a global citizen. One of the most popular answers you will certainly her is for business. The world is getting smaller and business not able to deal with foreign markets are going to fall behind the competition. Fortune 500 companies often look for employees with language skills, especially in the more seldom spoken languages. Many jobs working for the United Nations require the applicant to speak both English and French, with the latter being the second most widely spoken language in the world. In America, you can pick up any newspaper and find jobs asking for applicants who are fluent in Spanish, especially in the customer service and sales sectors.

Being able to speak the native language of the language you are travelling can make the trip easier and safer. While much of Europe may have a large English speaking population, it shows respect to be able to speak the language of the country you are travelling to. If you are going to one of the more exotic places in the world, having knowledge of the native language can make the trip much safer and easily handled.

A third reason for learning a new language to help with studying for the SAT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT or other tests you may have to take in order to gain acceptance into undergraduate or graduate schools. It has been repeatedly shown that those students capable of speaking a second language do better across the board on these exams.

51. What can be learned from the passage?

A. Many people enjoy collecting American coins.

B. People can gain some knowledge through coin collection.

C. Many famous people in America like collecting coins.

D. It is easy to pursue a. lifelong hobby of coin collection.

50. The 1937-D Buffalo Head Nickel is mentioned to tell us that

A. we can learn quite a lot from our coin collection

B. we can earn much money if we can find a rare coin

C. it can be very satisfying to collect coins

D. looking for a coin usually takes many years

49. According to the passage, coin collecting is＿.

A. interesting, educational and informative　　 　 B. easy, informative but expensive

C. difficult, dull but educational 　　　　　　　　　　　 D. useful, exciting but difficult