Brussels(布鲁塞尔)meanwhile has the Manneken Piss(撒尿小童). Think of the Belgian(比利时的)capital and if anything, you think of the small peeing(撒尿)boy—a 60-centimenter-high bronze figure standing on a block, supplying a constant stream of water to the basin under him.

Some might laugh. But for Jacques Stroobants, the statue is up there with the best of them. “I am proud of him. People come from all around the world to see him,” says 60-year-old Stroobants with a fatherly glance(慈父般的眼神)at the little boy.

As the most famous landmark of Brussels, Manneken Piss has a very special place in the heart of Belgians.

The original Manneken Piss dates back to 1388, but the statue tourists see today dates from 1619 when the city built a second one, after the original was destroyed.

There are many stories surrounding the legend of Manneken Piss. Nobody knows why he was created. One story is that he saved Brussels by putting out the flames of a deadly fire with his well-aimed wee-wee(小便). But the most believable story is that the boy—the son of a wealthy nobleman(贵族)—was missing and feared, kidnapped(绑架). The father had a statue built in honour of the way his son was found—peeing against a tree.

1．The Manneken Piss is the symbol of __________, which stands on a block of __________.

A. England; the capital　　　　　　　　 B. Italy; a provincial capital

C. Belgium; the capital　　　　　　　　 D. Swede; the capital

2．Why does the Manneken Piss have a very special place in the heart of Belgians?

A. Because it provides a good resting place for the Belgians.

B. Because it is a special statue with many beautiful and moving legends.

C. Because it's good-looking with water running continuously.

D. Because it helps the Belgians make a lot of money every year.

3．If Belgians regard the Manneken as a hero, they may be more willing to believe the statue was made __________.

A. for a country boy who was peeing against a big tree

B. in honour of the boy who saved Brussels by putting out the flames of a big fire with his wee-wee

C. in honour of a little Belgian soldier who gave his life for his country

D. for the son of a rich man who was lost

　　The New York Times is now better than ever－All the more reasons to order home delivery now.?

NEW－Separate sections（版面）for the Arts, Monday through Thursday, and Sports 7 days a week that you can pull out,　take with you or pass along.?

NEW－The Dinning In, Dinning Out section, Wednesday, a banquet（宴会）of great meals you can make yourself,　order up or eat out.?

NEW－The House & Home section, Thursday, filled with useful, interesting features（特别报道）and articles about making the most of all sorts of living spaces.?

NEW－An Enlarged, two part Weekend section, Friday with more ideas about movies, shows, art exhibitions, outdoor and indoor recreation.?

　　Latest news and sports results daily. And of course, daily world and national news, Sunday's special sections and all the other great features you'll continue to find in the Times.??

　　Find out just how much YOU can obtain from the Times every day. Call 1-800-311-1969 or use the postage-paid order card to order convenient home delivery at 50％OFF out regular price.?

1.If you want to find out the more information of films you should　　.?

A.call 1-800-311-1969?

B.go over the House and Home section ?

C.read the Art section ?

D.read Weekend section?

2.If you want to order home delivery,you may 　　 .?

A.use the order card ?

B.send E-mail to the sales office ?

C.telephone sales manager of the the Times ?

D.pay for the postage yourself ?

3.From the passage we know that 　　 .?

A.the Times sells at a lower price than before ?

B.the Times has improved a great deal and everyone likes to read it ?

C.many of the good features of the Times remain unchanged ?

D.you will learn everything by reading the Times every day ?

4.The owner of the passage advertises　　.?

A.to introduce the new sections ?

B.to announce the new sections of the Times ??

C.to make known his new plan of the Times ??

D.to persuade people to buy the Times??

The city would like to make the land a place just for butterflies. It cannot do this because it cannot afford to buy the land.?

　　Millions of butterflies have followed the same paths for thousands of years. They start their trip in Mexico and return to the same trees in California. They come to Pacific Grove to stay warm.?

　　The female butterflies need the plants there to lay their eggs. Lots of butterflies land by the thousands on the local trees.?

　　The Monarch Butterfly is the Pacific Grove city mascot(吉祥物).Many people come to the city each year to see the butterflies. The money these people bring is very important for the town. Some people say that the butterflies used to come in big numbers. Now the number of butterflies is smaller each year.?

　　Many people think that all of the buildings being built take the butterfly homes away .If the nests are destroyed, all of the Monarch Butterflies could be killed.

1.Why does Pacific Grove call itself Butterfly USA??

A.Because the citizens there love butterflies.?

B.Because butterflies stay there all the year round.?

C.Because it is home to a huge number of butterflies.?

D.Because butterfies are dying out in the town.?

2.The woman is mentioned in the passage because _______.?

A.she is famous for collecting butterflies?

B.she owns the most land in Pacific Grove?

C.she has done a lot of work to protect butterflies?

D.the butterflies prefer to live on some of her land?

3.Why does the city want to make the land just a place for butterflies??

A.Because that will bring more money to the city.?

B.Because that will help make the city more beautiful.?

C.Because it cannot afford to buy the land.?

D.Because otherwise the butterflies will not come any more.?

Have you ever seen a piece of recycled paper?About one third of all the paper products made each year are made from waste paper.For example,recycled paper is usually used to make paper sacks.Recycling paper,such as newspapers,reduces the number of trees that must be cut each year to make new paper.?

　　Each person wastes a lot of solid waste.In the United States,the average is eight kilograms of waste each person each day.Most of the waste is garbage and rubbish. Finding places to dispose of solid wastes is a major problem.?

　　 In many cities,solid wastes are collected and the rubbish is burned in incinerator plants.Air pollution control devices are used to prevent pollution.Heat produced in the burning may be used to generate electricity.Waste that is not burned is taken to a dump.One kind of dump for the disposal of solid wastes is a sanitary landfill.This method involves burying the wastes and bulldozing soil over them.Parks,baseball fields,airports, and other developments may be built on completely filled landfills.?

　　Recycling solid wastes decreases our need for methods of disposal.The metal in broken cars can be recycled and made into new steel.Worn-out rubber tires can be turned into new ones and used again.Plastics and other rubber products can be recycled.Metal cans and glass bottles can also be recycled.Increased recycling can help meet the increased demand for natural resources.?

　　By recycling resources,people imitate nature.Elements important to life are naturally recycled.Nothing lasts forever.Wood decays,iron rusts,and concrete is worn away by wind and rain.All natural resources used by people eventually go back into the air,water,and earth.

1.What is the main cause of the increased waste according to the passage?

A.Expansion of cities.

B.Development of the paper-making industry.

C.Increased population.

D.Lack of recycling methods.

2.According to the passage,recycling paper is important because _________.

A.better paper sacks can be made out of waste paper

B.the prices of new paper are very high

C.trees are no longer available in the developed countries

D.more trees on the earth can be saved

3.A big problem of solid waste disposal is that _________.

A.solid wastes are poisonous

B.it is difficult to find places to dispose of solid wastes

C.the disposal process is too backward

D.we don't have enough manpower to dispose of solid wastes

4.Which of the following can not be called recycling?

A.Making new paper from used paper.

B.Using worn-out rubber tires to make new ones.

C.Burying metal cans and glass bottles.

D.Producing new steel from metal in broken cars.

5.What is the writer's attitude towards recycling?

A.The writer thinks that recycling is necessary and important.

B.The writer thinks it no use recycling.

C.The writer doubts whether recycling is useful to people.

D.The writer thinks that it is a waste of time and money recycling.

What is Paracutin?It was the first volcano in the world which was seen from its birth right up to the present day.On February 20,1943,a peasant and his wife set out to work in their corn field from the Mexican village of Paracutin.They were surprised to find the earth warm under their feet.Suddenly they heard noises deep in the earth and a small hole appeared in their field.In the afternoon there was a sudden loud noise and stones were thrown high in the air.The peasants ran from the field and turned to watch.They saw the birth of a volcano.?

Large quantities of stone and lava broke out and a little hill began to form.By evening this hill was 100 feet and hot ashes were falling on the village.At night the strong light of the hot lava lit up the countryside.The trees near the village were killed and the villagers had to leave their houses.When the village was destroyed,its name was given to the volcano.The news quickly reached Mexico City,far to the east.Many people came to watch the scene.The volcano grew and grew for ten years and hundreds of square miles of forest were destroyed.Then Paracutin went to sleep.?

1.Paracutin was once the name of 　　　　.?

A.a peasant?

B.a village?

C.an old mountain?

D.a Mexican ?

2.Which of the following statements is NOT true??

A.Paracutin is not active any more.?

B.Paracutin is the first volcano in the world.?

C.Paracutin did not exist until the early 1940s.?

D.It took Paracutin 10 years to grow to its present size.?

3.What was destroyed in the growing up of the volcano??

A.The little hill of stone.?

B.The villagers living close by.?

C.The forests and fields round Paracutin.?

D.The Mexican peasant and his wife.?

4.In this passage the writer is trying to 　　　　 .?

A.tell us an interesting happening?

B.explain a scientific theory ?

C.make us believe something?

D.make up an interesting story?

5.What can we learn about volcanoes from this passage??

A.New volcanoes may appear in places where people do not expect them to be.?

B.Volcanoes are always growing.?

C.Volcanoes are active from time to time.?

D.New volcanoes are active for only ten years.?

　　Of course, neither of them could really do that for you—you would just “borrow” their voices.

AT & T labs will start selling speech software that, it says, is so good at reproducing the sounds of a human voice that it can recreate voices of long-dead famous people back to life.

The software, which turns printed text into speech, makes it possible for a company to use recordings of a person's voice to say things that the person never actually said.

Possible customers for the software, which is priced at the thousands of dollars, include telephone call centers, companies that make software that reads digital files aloud, makers of automated voices devices. The advances raise several problems. Who, for example, owns the rights to a famous person's voice?(Some experts even believe that new contracts will be drawn that include voice-licensing clauses.)

And although scientists say the technology is not yet good enough to commit fraud(假冒),would the synthesized(合成的) voices at last be able to trick people into thinking that they were getting phone calls or digital audio recordings from people they knew?

Even Mr. Fruchterman, one of AT & T lab's possible first customers, said he wondered what the new technology might bring. “Just like you can't trust a photograph any more,” he said, “You won't be able to trust a voice either.”

1. With the help of the speech software, it is most possible_________.

A. to improve a famous person's speech

B. to say what you want in another's voice

C. to make a speech much more easily

D. to help you to find a better job

2. If the speech software is widely used,_________.

A. people would no longer believe each other

B. it would not be necessary to go for a speech by a famous person

C. no radio or TV broadcasters would be needed

D. recording a voice alone would not be taken as a proof in the court

3. According to the passage, you can infer that_________.

A. the software will turn out to be an immediate success in the market

B. the government will forbid the sale of the software in the market

C. it's hard to decide whether software will enjoy popularity

D. the software will soon prove to be nothing but rubbish

4. The passage mainly wants to_________.

A. introduce a new software

B. explain the advantage of a new invention

C. advertise a new kind of product

D. describe the future market of a new product

　　These were the goals set out by the Shanghai Water Authority.With the city's population expected to increase only slightly and the economy to boom by 2020,Chen Yin,an official with the water authority,said Shanghai's water consumption will not increase from its present amount.?

Zhang Yue,director of the Urban construction Division under the Ministry of Construction, said, “Shanghai is the first city in the country to publicize these ambitions.They will not be easy to achieve.”?

　　He said water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China's economy.

Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city's infrastructure (基础设施) costs by 10 000 yuan.Last year,Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology.?

　　“The aim is to arouse public awareness of the seriousness of water shortages,”Chen said.“The abundant surface water and amount of rain of the city are so misleading that they result in improper use of water.”?

　　Shanghai lacks drinkable water.The Huangpu River,which supplies 80 percent of the city's drinkable water,is nearing exhaustion.?

　　 The city,therefore,has been exploring new sources from the Yangtze River and growing forests along it to conserve quality water.?

　　 Besides penning regulations,the authority is popularizing technology among the public to efficiently cut the amount of water used.?

　　 At present,the city has 600 000 family toilets,each using 13 liters of water per flush.These are to be renovated(整修) to use only 9 liters of water per flush.?

　　 The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households—at a cost of 40 yuan each.

　　In three years,all the toilets will be renovated,which saves the city nearly 15 million yuan every year in water conservation.?

　　 Another task the city is engaged in is the treatment of sewage (污水) to improve the water environment.?

　　 At present the city can only treat 44 percent of its daily 5.04 million tons of waste water.To meet the total demand,27 more sewage treatment factories are to be established with an estimated investment of 18 billion yuan.

1.The people in Shanghai get their daily water mainly from ______ now.?

A.underground

B.the Yellow River

C.the Yangtze River

D.the Huangpu River?

2.The underlined words “the aim” here refer to ______.?

A.the quality of drinking water in Shanghai will meet European Union standard by 2010?

B.citizens in Shanghai will drink the best water in the world by 2020?

C.water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China's economy?

D.saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city's infrastructure costs by 10 000 yuan

3.The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households to ______.

A.make people's living more convenient

B.save drinkable fresh water?

C.ease employment pressure

D.meet the total demand of water?

4.The writer wrote the passage to ______.?

A.call on residents to save water in their daily life?

B.seek(寻找)ways to solve water shortage existing in Shanghai?

C.introduce Shanghai's advanced experience in improving the water environment?

D.show that citizens in Shanghai will have the best drinking water in the world?

5.In the opinion of Zhang Yue,the real meaning of the action to publicize these ambitions is to make people know ______.?

A.it is not easy to achieve?

B.water shortage is very serious in China?

C.the importance of improving infrastructure?

D.economic development can't be separated with water supply?

　　Fair Test,a Cambridge,Massachusetts group that supports less trust on testing,said last week it counted 383 out of 1 788 four-year schools that don't want entrance exams at all.?

　　The last Fair Test count managed three years ago proved 280 schools that don't require entrance tests.The total rose for two reasons：More colleges dropped the exams,and the others clarified（澄清） their admission rules.?

　　The Fair Test survey follows last month's call from the University of California to end the SAT admission ?requirement?.President Richard Atkinson wants students judged by what they have learned,not how they have scored.?

　　 Last June,the elite（优秀人才）women's school,Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley ,Massachusetts, declared applicants no longer need submit（呈交） scores from the SAT test of reasoning.?

　　Some high schools also are questioning the role of admission tests.Still the exams aren't going away.Even as some colleges give up entrance tests,others are using or replacing them.Some are giving scores less weight,asking instead for essays（论文）, references and out-of-school activities.?

　　The non-profit（非赢利的） College Board,which owns the SAT,notes the majority of colleges and universities still demand a test score for applicants.The SAT and ACT were established decades ago by colleges and universities as a way of predicting（预告） a student's success.?

　　Critics（批评家） have long attacked the test as unfair,mainly because whites tend to do better than other groups.?

1.From the first paragraph we can know that in America 　　 .?

A.colleges and universities do not require any entrance exams?

B.colleges and universities are short of students?

C.colleges and universities don't all need entrance exams?

D.college and university entrance exams are too difficult?

2.It can be found in this passage that　　　　 .?

A.Fair Test is a test that is more difficult than SAT?

B.Fair Test is a test that is much easier than ACT?

C.Fair Test is an organization that does research on exams?

D.Fair Test is a group that organizes better exams over Americans?

3.The underlined sentence “the exams aren't going away” means　　 .?

A.the exams are unnecessary for students?

B.the exams will soon be stopped?

C.the exams will remain at the same level?

D.the exams are still demanded?

4.From this passage we can conclude that in America　　　　 .?

A.white students are cleverer than other students?

B.the entrance exams will be stopped by the government?

C.colleges and universities have different requirements?

D.none of the students are satisfied with the entrance exams

　　 It was a major surprise to find tools associated with the new human family member.　The tools are like those formerly seen only with European fossils(化石) from our own species.　Homo sapiens(人类),and the oldest of them were made 94 000 years ago.　Homo sapiens is thought to have arrived in the island about 40 000 years ago,　much too late to be responsible for the tools.　If this tiny human made the tools,　then the inside structure(结构) of its brain must have been more like our own than a chimp's,　despite being just a third the size of ours.?

　　 This “new human” was suspected to be a dwarfed branch of Homo erectus(直立人).When creatures are separated in regions with rare resources but few enemies,　being big is a disadvantage,　and evolution tends to shrink them,　a process known as island dwarfing.　Could natural selection make a　human smaller while keeping—even　improving—mental ability?　Quite possibly,　believes Christopher Wills of the University of California.?

　　 Has the “Flores Human” even shown the ability of language?　“I find it difficult to imagine that people could make tools,　use fire,　and kill large animals without fairly advanced communication.”　Wills says.　Did “Flores Human” possess the basic components of human culture—such as the burying of the dead with ceremony?　Emiliano Bruner of the Italian Institute points out that Indonesia's hot,　wet environment is bad for fossilization.　It is reasonable to assume,　he says,　that the 18 000－year－old bones of the most complete Flores woman were well－preserved because she was buried with special care.?

1.According to the passage,　“Flores Human” __________ .?

A.lived a partly human life?

B.was a branch of Homo sapiens?

C.used tools before Homo sapiens arrived?

D.had a brain as large as a common chimp's

2.The underlined part “this tiny human” in Paragraph 2 refers to__________.

A.a chimp?

B.Flores Human?

C.Homo sapiens?

D.Homo erectus

3.This passage mainly talks about__________.

A.the tools made by “Flores Human”?

B.the language used by “Flores Human”?

C.the evolution of “Flores Human”?

D.the major surprising findings about “Flores Human”

4.According to the passage,　it is believed that “Flores Human” __________ .?

A.was dwarfed by its enemies?

B.could use language?

C.left a lot of fossils in the hot and wet environment?

D.reached Flores 40 000 years ago

Not all risks lead themselves to being covered by insurance. Broadly speaking，the ordinary risks of business cannot be covered. The risk that buyer will not buy goods at the prices offered is not of a kind that can be estimated（估计）in numbers—and risks can only be insured against if they can be estimated.?

　　The legal basis of all insurance is the “policy”. It states that in return for regular payment by the insured of a named sum of money，called the “premium（保险费）”，which is usually paid every year，the insurer will pay a sum of money for loss，if the risk or event insured against actually happens.?

1.According to the writer，insurance is possible because　　 .?

A.almost everyone suffers loss ?

B.only insured people suffers loss?

C.everyone suffers loss sometimes?

D.only a small number of the insured suffer loss

2.“The basis of insurance” refers to　　.?

A.the chances of risks?

B.the exposing to risks?

C.the payment of contributions?

D.the management of contributions

3.By “the pool of contributions” the writer means　　 .?

A.a small sum of money?

B.money paid by the insured?

C.the cost of administration?

D.money paid by the insurers

4.The insurance of ordinary business risks is impossible because　　 .?

A.the risks are too high?

B.businessmen do not like risks?

C.the risks cannot be estimated?

D.businessmen will not buy insurance