Useful Information in Australia
Useful Numbers
All the telephone numbers are useful and free.
。Fire/ Police/ Ambulance(救护车)—000     Telephone information—12455
。Medical(医学的) Care—1300369359       Taxi—1800421113
Surfing the Internet
With so many Internet tearooms and public libraries, it’s easy to surf the Internet in Australia.
Also it’s very cheap for you to surf the Internet.
。Public libraries offer free Internet every day even during public holidays.
。Many travel managers provide connection which is cheap or free.
Post Service
All post offices around the country offer post services(服务) so you can receive mails as you travel around the whole country.
。Post offices are usually open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.
。It costs 50 cents to send a standard（标准的） letter in Australia.
Public Holidays
On public holidays all shops are closed across Australia, so are banks and post offices.
。New Year’s Day—1st January
。Australia Day—26th January
。Christmas Day—25th December
【小题1】If there is a fire, you can call________ in Australia.

In the past month，we’ve been holding our breath for news about a Boeing 777 plane,MH 370．
It took off from Kuala Lumpur(吉隆坡)，Malaysia．On March 8．It was heading to Beijing．But about two hours into the flight, the plane went missing．
There were 239 people on the flight，including 154 Chinese．
A total of 12 countries including China and the US have joined the search for the plane．
Did it crash? We know that the weather was clear that day．The pilots didn’t make any distress calls(求救信号)．And as of March l3，experts have not found any broken parts of the plane。
Was it hijacked(劫机)? Two Iranians(伊朗人)used stolen passports to get into the flight．But now they do not appear to be linked to any possible hijacking of the plane，international police agency Interpol(国际刑警组织)official said on March 11．
The search is still going on．It could take months or even years to find out what happened
to the flight．
【小题1】When did MH370 go missing?

The world's oldest person, Ms. Baines, died. She celebrated her 115th birthday with congratulations from Barack Obama, President of the United States. Over her life she lived through the terms of 21 US presidents.
Gertrude Baines passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Western Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had lived for her last ten years. Emma Camanag, the hospital's leader said she was a respectable lady. "It is really an honor for the hospital to take care of her over the last 10 years and we will greatly miss her, It is just like we have lost a relative, " said Emma.
Ms. Baines, who was born in Shellman, Georgia, in 1894, had no living relatives. She grew up in the southern US during difficult times. During that time, African American people were required to use separate, often poor, public services. She married young and later divorced(离婚)．Her only child, a daughter, was born in 1909 and died of a terrible disease at the age of 18. Ms. Baines worked as a maid（女佣） in Ohio before moving to Los Angeles where she lived on her own until she was well over 100.
She once told an interviewer, "As to the secrets of long life, I do not have any disappointments in my own life."
She gained some fame when she voted for Mr. Obama in the US presidential election, saying she supported him "because he's for the colored people". It was only the second time in her life she had voted, the first time being for John F. Kennedy.
Ms. Baines became the world's oldest person in January. Japanese woman, Kama Chien, 114, has now taken over the title.
【小题1】Ms, Baines voted for Mr. Obama because he______.

On March 31, 2013, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health of Hong Kong and the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission notified(通知) the World Health Organization of three confirmed human cases of influenza A (H7N9) in Shanghai and Anhui. On April 2, the CHP confirmed four more cases in Jiangsu province.

The first reported death associated(与……有联系) with H7N9 was an 87-year-old man who died on March 4. A second man, Wu Liangliang, aged 27, died on March 10. On April 3, Chinese government reported another death, bringing the number to three. On April 4, the number of reported cases was 14, with 5 deaths. On April 6, 2013, the Chinese Ministry of Health reported 18 positive cases, death toll still at 6. Two days later, positive cases rose to 24 and one death case from Shanghai brought the death toll to 7.
The World Health Organization reiterated(重申) there was still no evidence of human-to-human transmission(传播) of the new strain of H7N9 bird flu.
【小题1】The first person died of H7N9 on ______________.

Last year, some groups of students in their community (社区) made a survey about “How do people spend their free time? ” The following diagrams(图表) show some results of it:?
Diagram (1): Hours for people of different ages who surf the Internet in a week.

Diagram (2): Different days people go to the library. (library attendance)

A recently study found people’s lives are made shorter in North China. It is showed the life expectancy(平均寿命) had been cut down by 5.5 years there. Researchers think that the heavy air pollution in China should be to blame(承担责任). It’s really the truth. Our government has already done something. However, it doesn’t seem to work so well.
“Air pollution in China is doing harm to people’s health. The harm is much more serious than we can imagine,” said Chen Yuyu of Beijing University, one of researchers of this study.
Dirty air brings serious problems in North China. In January this year, the air pollution was worse than that in other places. That was caused by rising temperature and waste gas(废气) from coal heating.
Chinese government should strongly fight against air pollution. They should think of more proper ways to deal with the problem. People should be encouraged to take buses, ride bicycles or walk, instead of driving cars. The factories that pollute heavily should be closed.
“We need to improve our environment, although it might be expensive. Protecting our environment means protecting ourselves,” Li Hongbin, another researcher of the study said.
【小题1】The passage above may come from a(n)        ?

When we talked about NBA, many people will think of Yao Ming. There is no doubt that Yao Ming is a Chinese hero. On October 16, 2013, Yao Ming announced(宣布) he would open the NBA Yao School. This was really exciting news!
Looking at the name of the school, many people would think that the school is going to train NBA talents. But that is not the truth. The NBA Yao School provides after-school basketball training and health programs. Its students include boys and girls over 16 years old who are very good at playing basketball. The school aims to teach the importance of teamwork, leadership(领导素养) and communication in a fun basketball environment.
Yao is quite glad to be a part of the school, because it has always been his dream to positively(积极地) influence young people’s life through sports.
Now, basketball fans in China are looking forward to getting basketball training, and the NBA Yao School is a great choice. In the school, students have chances to meet NBA stars. The stars can offer suggestions on how to play basketball well.
The school’s first program opened at the Wukesong Basketball Park in February, 2014. If you want to know more information about the school, you can visit www.nbayao.com.
【小题1】The children under 16 years old can’t be students in the NBA Yao School.
【小题2】The school provides only after-school basketball training programs..
【小题3】Yao Ming opened the NBA Yao School on October 16, 2013.
【小题4】The school aims to teach the students how to play basketball.
【小题5】The students there have chances to meet NBA stars and learn something from them.

These days picture news is very popular with young people. Here are some chosen from the Internet by Jack. Read on to find out which one you like best.
★ SPRING is coming, together with butterflies(蝴蝶)! On March 31,the Natural History Museum in London, UK, had a butterfly show. Children came over and played with these beautiful creatures. They also got to know how butterflies grow up. Colorful butterflies flew freely at the show. They sometimes landed on visitors. Look! A large blue butterfly sits on the nose of the girl.
★Earlier in April 2014, Sanlian Taofen Bookstore became the first 24-hour bookstore in Beijing. It hopes to encourage more people to read books.
“We welcome everyone who loves to read books at any time.” The general manager of the store told China Youth Daily.
Although many people can now buy books online, many readers still like the feeling in bookstores. They can touch the books and smell the print.
★ This year, many children in the UK will have a new language to study: Chinese.
Starting in 2014, students aged 7-11 in the UK need to study one of seven foreign languages. They can choose from French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek(希腊语) and Chinese.
The British government is offering to train a group of Chinese-language teachers. They will teach Chinese to more than 3,000 primary school students.
China and the UK work together in many fields. So it’s important that the future generation(一代人) can speak Chinese.
【小题1】What could children get from visiting the butterfly show?