The salmon (**) is one of our most valuable fish. It gives us food and money. Every year, commercial (商业) fishing results in a harvest of over a billion pounds of salmon from the sea. Hundreds of thousands of salmon are caught each year by eager sports fishers.

In autumn, the rivers of the northwestern United States come alive with salmon. They have left the ocean on their yearly run upriver to produce eggs. Yet today, there are far fewer salmon in the Northwest and elsewhere than ever before. That is because the salmon population suffers from many dangers of the modern age.

Water pollution has killed many salmon by taking away the oxygen. Over-fishing has further reduced their numbers. Dams are another danger because they block the ways that the salmon move from one place to another. “Fish ladders”, almost like stairs, have been built so that salmon can swim safely over the dams. But young salmon swimming to the ocean have trouble finding the ladders. They often fall to their deaths over the dam or are killed in giant hydroelectric (水电) turbines (漩涡).

To fill the salmon supply, people have turned to fish farming, or aquaculture . Farm-raised salmon are Atlantic salmon. Most of them are raised in the United States, Canada, Scotland, and Norway. In a typical salmon farm, the fish remain in the places where they produce eggs until they are eight inches in length. Then they are moved to large net cages by the coast. There they are fed a diet of fish meal until they reach the size of eight pounds after about 18 months.

Aquaculture is one of the world’s fastest growing food industries. It is replacing commercial fishing in many places and is reducing the price of salmon to about a third of its earlier price. The other benefit of aquaculture is that it is allowing the wild salmon population to recover. About a quarter of a million more salmon returned to their home rivers to produce eggs each year in the mid-1990s.

1. Which following can reduce the number of the salmon except _______?

A. water pollution     B. over-fishing    C. building dams   D. fish farming

In 2004, the Olympic Games returned to the place where they were born, where they were revived (gain life again), and where they were renewed. The Athens 2004 Olympic Games were more than a chance to take part in the greatest celebration of people in general. They were a chance to be part of a story that was as old as history itself. And when it came to making history, there was really no place like home.

Torch relays

The torch (火炬) relay started out as a religious ritual (仪式), but later it became a race of little importance for young people. It was held at night. Later, it became one of the most popular team events. The torch, the flame, and all the other historic, festive, and symbolic things were introduced into Greece in 1896.It was part of the cultural program for the Olympic Games. The 1896 torch relay was held on the seventh day of the Games on Athinas Street at nine o’clock in the evening. It went with music. The people taking part in the event were of all ages and callings(**). They were riders, police, university students, school children, and business people. Sacred flame unites the world.  Athens 2004 organizers announced a global Olympic torch relay that, for the first time, reached all five continents.

The sacred(神圣) flame of the Olympic Games traveled farther than ever before. It followed a route through 27 countries and 34 cities. Traveling an average of 48 km per day, the flame was carried by over 3,600 torchbearers(***). Planes, ships, cars, bicycles, and even wheelchairs were part of the journey. For the first time, it passed through all former Summer Olympic host cities and all of the continents represented by the rings of the Olympic Games logo (徽标) - The Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. This year’s torch relay covered a distance of more than 77,000 km, crossing through 37 time zones including Istanbul and Cape Town. It was watched by 260 million people as it promoted the message, “the flame that unites the world.”  “The ancient and modern symbols of the flame - the values of peace, truce (休战), security, brotherhood, cooperation - are more relevant (相关) today than ever,” said the head of the Athens Organizing Committee.

1. The first paragraph mainly tells us about________.

A. the Athens 2004 Olympic Games provides us another chance to know more about the Olympic Games

B. the Athens 2004 Olympic Games provides us both chance to celebrate and to know more about its stories as well as its old history

C. 2004 Olympic Games was held in Athens where the Olympic Games were born

D. 2004 Olympic Games was held in Athens where the Olympic Games were revived and renewed

2. Which of the following statement is true according to the passage?

A. The torch relay started out as a religious ritual which all ages and callings took part in. 

B. The torch relay became an important race for young people later.

C. The torch relay became one of the most popular team events which was part of the cultural program for Olympic Games later.

D. In 1896, the athletes took part in the torch relay event on the seventh day of the Games on Athinas Street at nine o’clock in the evening.

3. What can we refer from the third paragraph?

A. More and more people will like to watch Olympic Games on TV.

B. The torch relay was only carried and passed through the host cities.

C. More and more people will give much more attention to Olympic Games and the torch relay will traveled farther in the future.

D. The torch relay covered a distance of more that 77,000km, which make people know each other.

4. What does “torchbearers” refer to?

A. It refers to the person who travels around the world.

B. It refers to the people who does business.

C. It refers to the person who works on the plane like a pilot.

D. It refers to the person who carried torch relay.

5. What is the best title of for this passage?

A. The Importance of Olympic Torch Relays       B. The Olympic Games Returned Home

C. The Sacred Flame United the world         D. The History of Olympic Games

To an untrained eye, a fossilized bone (骨化石) doesn’t­­__1__ much of a story. Scientists, on the other hand, can find the ___2___of a fossil. They can also find out a lot of things about ___3____the animal lived and died. Now, they can even __4___ about the place where the fossil formed.

Geologists have found __ 5___ to determine the kind of soil that fossils came from, even when the __6__are millions of years old and are far from their place. They do this by ____7___ atoms of certain known as “rare earths”(稀有金属物).

The bodies of living animals contain little amounts of ___8__ elements. When an animal dies and is covered by mud or dirt, its bones __9__ collect rare earths from the ___10___. This can take up to 30,000 years. Then the fossil holds a record of the soil of that time. The rare earths ___11___ as a sort of fingerprint.

Different soils may ___12___ different amounts of various rare earth elements. By ___13___ a fossil’s rare earth composition with that of different soils, it’s ___14___ to find the type of soil and possibly __15__ the fossil came from.

Scientists hope that the new method will help them learn more about the ecology of ancient times. ___16__, researchers were able to figure out __17__ certain animals, whose fossils were from different parts of the Badlands National Park in America, __18___in ancient flood plains or in lakes.

If the soil is different from one place to __19___, this method might also help law officials catch people who steal fossils from__20___areas.

Every bone has a story to tell. We’re now one step closer to understanding what they have to say.

1. A. speak        B. tell            C. say           D. talk

2. A. year          B. time          C. age           D. date

3. A. what        B. when         C. where         D. how

4. A. find         B. learn          C. worry         D. knock

5. A. a body    B. a way          C. a truth     D. a method

6. A. histories       B. earths         C. waters            D. fossils

7. A. looking into   B. looking for      C. looking after    D. looking up

8. A. usual-earth    B. rare-earth      C. mud-earth     D. dirty-earth

9. A. generally      B. slowly         C. gradually      D. quickly

10. A. soil        B. animal         C. land          D. globe

11. A. do         B. know         C. show         D. serve

12. A. make       B. contain        C. take          D. hold

13. A. combining    B. connecting     C. comparing     D. dealing

14. A. certain      B. possible       C. true          D. sure

15. A. where       B. when      C. why       D. what

16. A. That is to say B. For example    C. If so         D. To begin with

17. A. if          B. that           C. whether       D./

18. A. were hidden   B. were carried    C. were rushed       D. were buried

19. A. the others    B. others         C. another       D. one

20. A. protecting    B. unprotected        C. protected      D. unprotect

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