Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed from the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure（ 基础设施）that must be maintained.

Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It is not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.

Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.

Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipe almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.

Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is lack of money. The United States has 378 mountains, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.

Yosemite is one national park that does have money fro repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park. 

A Sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowed park.

1. According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when

they are appreciated from _______ .

2.National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to

meet the need of visitors because _______ .

3.The main problem of Yosemite Park is its ________ .

4. According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be _______ .  

Goodbye, plastic

Wanna go shopping? Before you leave you’d better prepare a paper bag to carry your stuff or get more money to buy the bags! As a war against plastic bags has started around the country, people better get into the habit of bringing their own bags for shopping.

Starting from June 1, all shops and supermarkets will be forbidden from offering free plastic bags. Those going against the rule will face a fine up to 10,000 yuan. In addition, the manufacture（生产）, sale and use of bags less than 0.025 mm thick will also be banned.

“We should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags and using baskets for their vegetables,” said a notice from the State Council（国务院）. “While plastic bags are convenient fro shoppers, this has caused a serious waste of energy and environmental pollution.”

It is estimated（预计）that the Chinese use up to 3 billion plastic bags a day. The country has to refine（炼）5 million tons of crude oil every year to make them. When these bags go to landfills or are burned, they pollute the air, waterways and soil, which forms a huge threat to the health of humans. If they are abandoned, it takes tem almost 1,000 years to break down into particle（微粒）that do not harm the environment. And the abandoned plastic bags are also dangerous to wildlife who eat tem by accident.

Although some citizens are worried about the inconvenience of not having free plastic bags, most people are willing to make sacrifices（牺牲）to protect the environment.

A large number of Chinese have begun making their own cloth bags. Li Hui, a high school student in Tianjin, cut out a shopping bag from his old trousers. Just like his classmates, he sent his first work to his neighbors to promote the use of environmentally-friendly bags. “I am so proud that they like my design and promised to use it,” said the boy.

Goodbye, plastic

Brenda was invited to go rock-climbing．Although she was very __1__，she went with her group to a huge cliff．__2__ her fear，she still took hold of the rope and started up the __3__ of that rock．She reached a ledge where she could take a break．As she was __4__ on there，the safety rope knocked out her contact lens（隐形眼镜）．

Over there she looked and looked，hoping it had _5__ on the ledge，but it just wasn't there．She was __6__，so she _7__ to the Lord to help her to find it．

When she got to the top，a friend _8__ her eye and her clothing for the lens，but there was no contact lens to be found．She sat down，disappointed，waiting for the rest of the __9__ to __10__ it up the face of the cliff．

She looked out across range after range of mountains，__11__ of that verse which says，“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro __12__ the whole earth．” She thought，“Lord，You know every stone and leaf，and You know __13__ where my contact lens is．Please help me．”

Finally，they walked down the trail to the __14__．At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just __15__ up the face of the cliff．One of them shouted out，“Hey，you guys! Anybody __16__ a contact lens?”

My God，do you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock，carrying it on its __17__．

When Brenda told her father，a cartoonist，the _18__ story，he drew a picture of an ant carrying that contact lens with the words，“Lord，I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing．I can't eat it，and it's __19_ heavy．But if this is __20__ You want me to do，I'll carry it for You．”

1．A．thrilled                B．upset                   C．scared                   D．confident

2．A．Despite                  B．Without               C．Alongside               D．Except

3．A．edge                      B．face                     C．foot                       D．ground

4．A．lying                     B．standing               C．flying                     D．hanging

5．A．crashed                 B．attached               C．relied                     D．landed

6．A．desperate               B．innocent               C．proud                    D．angry

7．A．swore                B．consulted             C．prayed                   D．saluted

8．A．tested                 B．examined             C．looked                   D．watched

9．A．chorus                      B．party                   C．audience                D．colleagues

10．A．catch                   B．give                     C．make                     D．get

11．A．thinking               B．speaking              C．telling                    D．talking

12．A．over                    B．through                C．beneath                  D．throughout

13．A．partly                  B．casually               C．exactly                   D．approximately

14．A．floor                    B．bottom                 C．range                     D．end

15．A．starting                B．ending                 C．pausing                  D．slowing

16．A．find                     B．possess                C．use                        D．lose

17．A．head                    B．back                    C．forehead                D．side

18．A．incredible             B．imaginary             C．ambiguous             D．changeable

19．A．basically              B．typically               C．awfully                  D．slightly

20．A．how                    B．why                    C．when                     D．what

 (衡阳市八中2008届高三模拟试题C篇)

Desert ants on their expeditions for food use clues to lead themselves in the homeward direction, but with few landmarks in the poor land, scientists have wondered how the insects always take the most direct route and know exactly how far to march.

The new study shows that counting their steps is an important part of the scheme.

Over the years, scientists have proposed several theories for how ants find their way home. One is that they do it like honeybees and remember visual clues, but experiments showed ants can travel in the dark. Another theory is that because ants run at a steady pace, they could time how long it took them to get to and fro. Other studies have shown that once ants find a good source of food, they teach other ants how to find it.

The ant “pedometer” technique was first proposed in 1904, but it remained untested until now. Scientists trained desert ants to walk along a straight path from their nest entrance to a feeder 30 feet away. If the nest or feeder was moved, the ants would break from their straight path after reaching the expected spot and search for their goal.

Try that on stilts. They glued stilt-like extentions to the legs of some ants to lengthen stride. The researchers shortened other ants’ stride length by cutting off the ants’ feet and lower legs, reducing their legs to stumps.

The ants on stilts took the right number of steps, but because of their increased stride length, marched past their goal. Stump-legged ants, meanwhile, fell short of the goal. After getting used to their new legs, the ants were able to adjust their pedometer.

64. What is the passage mainly about?  

A. Ants’ marching depends on counting their steps    

B. Desert ants know how to look for food                               

C. The secret for ants’ marching is known to all      

D. Ants know how far their food is

65. Apart from counting their steps, how can ants find their way?

A. By smelling                        B. By communicating     

C.By hearing                         D. By recognising wind

66.About the ant pedometer, we know that______.

  A. the technique is a recent discovery        

B. ants always walk along a straight path

  C. ants often change their nest to keep the pedometer

  D. the pedometer needs changing depending on new situations

67. According to the passage, the “stump-legged ants”_______.

  A. have longer legs than ones on stilts     B. have longer legs than the common ones

  C. need more steps to reach their goal     D. can arrive at their goal as usual

Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed from the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure（ 基础设施）that must be maintained.
Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It is not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.
Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.
Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipe almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.
Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is lack of money. The United States has 378 mountains, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.
Yosemite is one national park that does have money fro repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park. 
A Sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowed park.

1. 1.

   According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when
   they are appreciated from _______ .

   1. A.
      the bottom of the valleys
   2. B.
      the top of the mountains
   3. C.
      the side of the mountains
   4. D.
      the edge of the valleys
2. 2.

   National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to
   meet the need of visitors because _______ .

   1. A.
      their transport management needs improving
   2. B.
      they spend too much on their service systems
   3. C.
      their service systems frequently go out of order
   4. D.
      they need help from environmental organizations
3. 3.

   The main problem of Yosemite Park is its ________ .

   1. A.
      modern water pipes
   2. B.
      overcrowdedness
   3. C.
      lack of water
   4. D.
      narrow roads
4. 4.

   According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be _______ .  

   1. A.
      an environmental group
   2. B.
      an information center
   3. C.
      a travel service
   4. D.
      a law firm