Icebergs are among nature’s most impressive creations, and yet most people have never seen one. They come into being somewhere in faraway, freezing waters, amid thunderous noise and splashing turbulence (漩涡), which in most cases no one hears or sees. They exist only a short time and then slowly melt away just as unnoticed.

They have been called objects of complete beauty. Appearing in an endless variety of shapes, they may be dazzlingly white, or they may be glassy blue, green or purple, in light colors or in dark colors. They are graceful, stately, inspiring-in calm, sunlit seas.

But they are also called frightening and dangerous, and that they are-in the night, in the fog, and in storms. Even in clear weather one is wise to stay a safe distance away from them. Most of their main part is hidden below the water, so their underwater parts may extend out far beyond the visible top. Also, they may roll over unexpectedly, stirring the waters around them.

Icebergs are parts of glaciers that break off, drift into the water, float about awhile, and finally melt. Icebergs floating today are made of snows that have fallen over long ages of time. They include snows that drifted down hundreds, or many thousands, or in some cases maybe a million years ago. The snows fell in Polar regions and on cold mountains, where they melted only a little or not at all, and so collected to great depths over the years and centuries.

As each year’s snow accumulation lay on the surface, evaporation and melting caused the snowflakes slowly to become tiny grains of ice. When new snow fell on top of the old, it too turned to icy grains. So blankets of snow and ice grains mounted layer upon layer and were of such great thickness that the weight of the upper layers pressed the lower ones. With time and pressure from above, the many small ice grains joined and changed to larger crystals, and eventually the deeper crystals merged into a solid mass of ice.

1.The underlined word “dazzlingly” in Paragraph 2 probably means “          ”.

       A.brilliantly            B.abundantly         C.beautifully          D.approximately

2.The author states that icebergs are rarely seen because they are           .

       A.broken by waves soon after they are found

       B.hidden under the mountains

      C.located in remote regions of the world

     D.surrounded by fog

3.The underlined phrase “from above” in the last paragraph refers to “        ”.

       A.sunlit seas                              B.polar regions

       C.weight of mountains                      D.layers of ice and snow

4.According to the passage, icebergs are dangerous because they           .

       A.usually melt quickly                     B.can turn over suddenly

       C.may create large snowdrifts             D.may float and hit the ships suddenly

Like most people, I’ve long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a standard people use to see how smart or talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.

Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people. I had customers say and do things to me I suspect they’d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances(泛泛之交). One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned (示意) me back with his finger minute later, complaining he was ready to order and asking where I’d been.

I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon (勤杂工) plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved (值得) inferior(较差的)treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.

Once I graduated, I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked .

I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately evident. Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.

My job title made people treat me politely. So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.

It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry, by definition, exists to satisfy to others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.

I’m now applying to graduated school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want, I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them.

1.The author was disappointed to find that         .

       A.one’s position is used as a standard to measure one’s intelligence

       B.talented people like her should fail to get a respectable job

       C.one’s occupation affects the way one is treated as a person

       D.professionals tend to look down upon manual waitresses

2.What does the author intend to say by the example in the second paragraph?

       A.Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them.

       B.People absorbed in a phone conversation tend to be absent-minded.

       C.Waitresses are often treated by customers as casual acquaintances.

       D.Some customers like to complain because of the waitress’ poor service.

3.How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19?

       A.She felt it unfair to be treated as a mere servant by professional.

       B.She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon.

       C.She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her.

       D.She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.

4.The underlined sentence “many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant” in Paragraph 7 means “          ”.

       A.those who satisfy others’ needs are sure to be looked down upon.

       B.those working in the service industry shouldn’t be treated as servants.

       C.those serving others have to put up with rough treatment to earn a living.

       D.the majority of customers tend to look on a servant as server nowadays.

WASHINGTON(Reuters)-Vast areas of US Pacific Ocean waters could be protected as marine protected areas or monuments, the White House said on Monday, drawing praise from environmental groups.

President George W. Bush started the process by directing the US secretaries of the Interior. Defense and Commerce departments to judge whether certain locations in the Pacific should be designated(指定)as marine protected areas, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. The areas being considered for protection in the new plan are a group of islands and atolls(环状珊瑚岛)in the remote central Pacific, including the Rose Atoll near American Samoa, and some of the waters around the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific.

The action comes a month after Bush in a symbolic action put an end to a White House ban on offshore drilling closer to home as gas prices rose. Environmental groups said expanded offshore drilling, which would still require congressional approval, would not cut gas costs and could hurt wildlife. Bush established a national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2006, creating the largest marine protected area in the world. Monday’s announcement starts a process that could result in more such protected ocean areas by the end of Bush’s presidency(总统任期)in January.

Joshua Reichert of the Pew Environment Group called the announcement “a hopeful sign for ocean conservation” but said designation as a marine protected area or monument could still permit commercial fishing and deep sea mining.

“However, if the president establishes these new sites as protected areas, where no destructive activity is allowed, it would be one of the most significant environmental achievements of any US president,” Reicehrt said in a statement.

1.What’s the right order of the events according to the passage?

       a. Bush ended a White House ban on offshore drilling.

       b. Bush set up a national monument in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

       c. Bush started a process to protect the vast areas of US Pacific Ocean.

       d. Bush started his presidency.

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

2.Environmental groups’ attitude toward expanded offshore drilling can be described as “     ”.

       A.negative            B.positive           C.agreeable            D.optimistic

3.It can be inferred from the passage that           .

     A.the areas for protection were considered one month ago

B.Bush will be the first US president to gain the most significant environmental achievements

     C.Monday’s announcement still requires congressional approval

     D.environmental groups are satisfied with Monday’s announcement

4.From the passage we can know that Joshua Reichert            .

       A.didn’t agree with the announcement     

       B.hoped to permit commercial fishing

       C.didn’t trust the announcement at all      

       D.still worried about some destructive activities

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