Street Ping Pong— Ping!

Do you like table tennis? If you had travelled to cities in the UK like London or Birmingham last summer, you might have seen one of the dozens of free tables that were there as part of a project (项目) called Ping!.

What is Ping!?

Ping!is a three-year table tennis project. It has been running since 2010 and this year, 2012, is the final year. The idea is to put free table tennis tables in eight different towns in the UK for four weeks during the summer. Each table comes with its own bats and balls and is free to play. You can find the tables outdoors.

What does Ping! hope to achieve?

It would be great if Ping!helped find a new Olympic table tennis star but what Ping! really hopes. to achieve is just to get people playing and having fun together."Putting a ping pong table on the street gives people a chance to connect with other people," said Meera Sodha, Ping! Project Manager.

One of the towns that took part in the project was Hull, a city in England. Forty-five tables were put into the city. Jakob Adamski, an ESOL student learning. English, said, "I really enjoyed playing table tennis in the park. It was also a good way for me to practise my English and meet people."

1.When did the Ping! project start?

A. Last summer.                             B. Last winter.

C. In 2010.                                              D. In 2012.

2.What's the Ping!project?

A. Choosing table tennis stars.

B. Holding table tennis matches.

C. Teaching people how to .play table tennis.

D. Putting free table tennis tables in some towns.

3.The purpose of the Ping!project is

A. to help people practise English

B. to invite people to visit the UK cities

C. to get people to play and have fun together.

D. to encourage people to take part in the 2012 0lympics

 

What would happen if you tried to blow a soap bubble in freezing weather? Would it freeze solid(固体) and fall to the ground? Would you have to hit it to break it? These questions happened to me on a cold winter day. It was too cold to play in the snow, but it was a perfect time to experiment with blowing frozen bubbles.

To blow frozen bubbles, I used dishwashing soap and a drop of glycerin(甘油) to make it even better. I chose a place out of the wind, and blew bubbles the same way I always do. I watched to see what would happen. Here’s what I learned.

If the temperature is low enough, the skin of the bubbles frosts over (结霜), becoming cloudy instead of clear. And what about those rainbow swirls(旋转) you see in soap bubbles? The rainbow colors stay even when the bubbles frost, but they don’t swirl anymore. The bubbles still stay in the air. They don’t fall to the ground any faster than they would on a warm summer day.

When these frozen bubbles break, they don’t turn into small water drops as summer bubbles do. They turn into flashing rainbow confetti(碎屑) and move slowly to the ground. Sometimes a frozen bubble will roll across the snow without breaking. If nothing disturbs the bubble, it may stay there for a long time. Sometimes I could catch a bubble and hold it until the heat of my hand made it pop.

I learned another thing about blowing frozen bubbles. It’s so interesting that I want to try it again next year.

1.It is the perfect time to blow frozen bubbles on a ___________day.

A.cold winter        B.warm spring        C.hot summer        D.sunny autumn

2.When the frozen bubbles break, _________.

A.they make a big sound                   B.they turn into small drops

C.they fall to the ground like rain             D.they become rainbow confetti

3.The purpose of the passage is _______.

A.to learn how to do a science experiment

B.to show the experiment of blowing frozen bubbles

C.to discover games that are fun to play in the snow

D.to invent a new kind of soap that makes stronger bubbles

 

Hotels can make a person’s stay away from home as restful as possible. Hotels provide warm beds to allow guests a peaceful night’s rest. Besides, some hotels offer guests special services such as newspapers to read in the morning, fresh coffee, and even breakfast. Hotel workers want their guests to feel warm and welcome when they stay in their hotel.

One hotel near the Arctic Circle, however, is different. This hotel gives its guests a cold welcome. The Ice Hotel, in Sweden, is all made of ice. The Ice Hotel might sound strange, but in some ways it is a special hotel. It has a front lobby where guests check into the hotel, plenty of rooms to sleep in, and even room service, which guests can use to have food delivered to their rooms. The Ice Hotel is different, though, because most of the items are made from ice.

It takes more than 30 tons of ice and snow to build the Ice Hotel. It melts(融化) in the summer and is rebuilt each winter. Different builders and artists create the Ice Hotel, so each winter this famous hotel has a new shape and design.

The effort of building the Ice Hotel is worth it, however. Walking into the Ice Hotel is like walking into a diamond. The walls reflect even the smallest bits of light. Ice pillars(柱子)support the roof. The floor below shines like glass. Almost every inch of this hotel sparkles inside. Visiting the Ice Hotel is truly an unusual experience.

Temperatures inside the Ice Hotel are usually below freezing. Guests wear warm jackets, hats, gloves, and thick boots. Even the owners of the Ice Hotel know that staying in a building with walls of ice four feet thick can be a bit cold. They have a solution though. The Ice Hotel has a sauna for its guests. A sauna is a room filled with steam, where guests can warm themselves. In a way, then, one could say that the Ice Hotel does give their guests a warm welcome after all.

1.Why must the Ice Hotel be rebuilt each year ?

A.Because the hotel melts during the summer.

B.Because guests suggest changes to the hotel.

C.Because the hotel is damaged by the sauna.

D.Because more rooms are needed at the hotel.

2. From paragraph2 we can infer that ______.

A.the Ice Hotel has temperatures below freezing but is warm inside

B.guests of the Ice Hotel check in at the front lobby

C.the Ice Hotel is like other hotels except that it is made of ice

D.guests of the Ice Hotel may order food that is delivered to their rooms

3.What is the purpose of the writer writing the article?

A.To describe the temperature inside a hotel.

B.To give information about an uncommon hotel.

C.To compare different kinds of hotels.

D.To encourage people to visit hotels.

 

Zhalong is a nature reserve in Heilongjiang in north-east China. It is one of the world’s most important wetlands. The reserve covers an area of 210,000 hectares. The area provides food and shelter for wildlife. It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants, fish and birds.

Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round, while some only stay there for a short time. There are many fish in the wetlands, and the birds can easily catch them for food. Zhalong has long been called “the home of the crane”. There are 15 crane species (物种) in the world. 8 of them are in China and there are 6 species in Zhalong area. It is an important living area for the rare red-crowned cranes. There are not many red-crowned cranes in the world. Every spring and summer, red-crowned cranes lay and hatch (孵化) their eggs in Zhalong.

Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife. More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space. Many of them died. The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered birds, and they can be safe in Zhalong.

Every year, a lot of tourists go to Zhalong to watch birds. This year, members of our Bird-watching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalong and the changes in their numbers. The study begins next month.

We _______ once a year. We are now inviting secondary school students to help. We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds.

Many people do not understand the importance of the wetlands. We hope this information will help them understand and make them actively take action to protect wildlife.

1. What does the underlined word “ideal” mean?

   A. Perfect.          B. Dangerous.       C. Crowded.     D. Expensive.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

   A. All birds stay in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round.

   B. There are eight species of red-crowned cranes in Zhalong.

   C. The number of the world’s red-crowned cranes is small.

   D. Every winter red-crowned cranes hatch eggs in Zhalong.

3.Which of the following can we choose for the blank (空白) in the fifth paragraph?

   A. go birdwatching   B. do a bird count  C. go bird-hunting  D. hold a bird show

4.The purpose of the article is to _______.

   A. attract more visitors to pay a visit to Zhalong Nature Reserve

   B. ask people to take action to protect wetlands and wildlife

   C. prevent people from watching birds in Zhalong Nature Reserve

   D. make people around the world know the Birdwatchting Club

 

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