“The world’s oceans are slowly getting more acidic．” say scientists．The researchers from California report that the change is taking place in response to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere．

The lowering of the waters’ pH value is not great at the moment but could cause a serious threat to current ocean life if it continues, they warn．Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, report their concerns in the journal Nature．Increasing use of oil fuels means more carbon dioxide is going into the air, and most of it will eventually be absorbed by seawater．Once in the water, it reacts to form carbonic acid．Scientists believe that the oceans have already become slightly more acidic over the last century．

These researchers have tried to predict what will happen in the future by combining what we know about the history of the oceans with computer models of climate change．“This level of acidity will get much more extreme in the future if we continue releasing CO into the atmosphere,” said Dr Caldeira．“And we predict the amount of future acidity will exceed（超过） anything we have seen over the last several hundred million years, let alone perhaps after rare disastrous events such as asteroid（小行星） impacts．

However, it is not absolutely clear what that means for ocean life．Most organisms live near the surface, where the greatest pH change would be expected to occur, but deep-ocean life forms may be more sensitive to pH changes．Coral reefs（珊瑚礁） and other organisms whose shells contain calcium carbonate（碳酸钙） may be particularly affected if the water’s acidity levels keep going up, the team predict．They could find it much more difficult to build these structures in water with a lower pH．

In recent years some people have suggested storing carbon dioxide from power station in the deep ocean as a way of dealing with global warming．But Dr Caldeira said that such a strategy should now be re-considered．“Previously, most experts had looked at ocean absorption of carbon dioxide as a good thing --- because in releasing CO into the atmosphere we warm the planet, and when CO is absorbed by the ocean, it reduces the amount of greenhouse warming．”

1．The ocean is becoming more acidic due to __________．

       A．the lower water pH value                      B．the warming atmosphere

       C．the higher level of CO in the air          D．the increasing use of oil fuels

2．According to Dr Caldeira, __________．

       A．ocean absorption of carbon dioxide is a good thing

       B．more oil fuels will be used in the near future

       C．scientists may predict climate changes with computer models

       D．the future situation of the amount of acidity is extremely serious

3．If the water’s acidity level keeps rising, __________．

       A．ocean life whose structures contain calcium carbonate may be affected

       B．the waters’ pH value will become higher and higher

       C．organisms living near the surface are more sensitive to pH changes

       D．some disastrous events will occur more often than before

4．Most experts once believed storing carbon dioxide in the ocean would reduce __________．

       A．the COabsorbed by the ocean             B．the amount of greenhouse warming

       C．the acidity of the ocean                        D．the gradual release of CO

5．The purpose of this passage is to __________．

       A．show people the findings of a research team

       B．inform people of how acid the ocean is now

       C．introduce Dr Caldeira and his team’s research

       D．warn people of the higher level of CO

I once had my Chinese MBA students brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”. I separated them into six groups and gave them an example: a restaurant chain. The more original their idea, the better, I said. Finally, five of the six groups presented plans for restaurant chains. The sixth suggested a catering service. Though I admitted the time limit had been difficult, I expressed my disappointment.
My students were middle managers, financial analysts and financiers from state-owned and global companies. They were not without talent or opinions, but they had been shaped by an educational system that rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness. The scene I just described came in different forms during my two years’ teaching at the school. Papers were often copied from the Web and the Harvard Business Review. Case study debates were written up and just memorized. Students frequently said that copying is a better business strategy(策略), better than inventing and creating.
In China, every product you can imagine has been made and sold. But there are so few well developed marketing and management minds that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.
With this problem in mind, co-operation with institutions like Yale and MIT have been started . And then there’s the “thousand talent program”: this new government program is intended to improve technological modernization(现代化). It can attract top foreign trained scientists to the mainland with big money. But there are worries about China’s research environment.
At last, for China, becoming a major world creator is not just about co-operation with top Western universities. Nor is it about gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s about offering a rich learning environment for young minds. It’s not that simple.
【小题1】Why does the author feel disappointed at his students?

Contribution of Coeducation

       Imagining being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children – conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!

       Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of educations is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.

       A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is ( to give just a small example ) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girl or vice-versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a coeducational school, everything falls into its proper place.

       But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures – airy goddesses, more like book-illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobby knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.

What is the best title for this passage?

A only co-education can be in harmony with society.

B people are in great need of co-education.

C any form of education other than co-education is simply unthinkable.

D co-education has many features.

what does co-education offer to children?

A A society.           B A true small model of society.

C A real life.          D True version of social condition.

According to the passage, what is one of the chief aims of education?

A It is for students to acquire knowledge.

B It is to equip future citizens with scientific technology.

C It is to equip future citizens with what is required in getting a position in society.

D It is for students to get academic achievements.

Why do boys and girls in co-education have no illusion about each other?

A They live together and know each other too well.

B Years of living together at school dismiss such illusion.

C co-education encourage them to have an healthy attitude toward life.

D They are familiar with each other’s problems.

The accident ________ the death of 6 passengers was ________ the driver’s carelessness.

A．resulted from; led to                     B．resulting from; led to

C．resulted in; due to                      D．resulting in; due to

The marine environment is fascinating to study and work in due to its beauty, richness, and complexity. It covers three quarters of the surface of the Earth, yet we know more detail about the surface of Mars.

In the past, it was seen as both an inexhaustible resource and a bottomless sink for our wastes. Yet the increasing pressures of overpopulation, pollution and the threat to our natural environment mean that there is an increasing need for scientists who can understand how it all works, how it affects us, and how we are affecting it from global warming through to the smallest plankton.

From local issues to global concerns, we now know that the marine environment is inextricably linked to our lives, and to our future survival. It is an area where much remains to be discovered, and where only a multidisciplinary approach can cover the breadth of issues to be confronted. This is the approach taken on our Marine Environmental Science degree course.

This course takes a multi-disciplinary approach to explore and understand the marine environment. After an initial grounding in basic science, optional choices are available in specialist topics such as marine ecosystems and pollution, coastal navigation and oceanography, among others.

Our new harbor side marine laboratory is used for some of the specialist lectures, laboratory and project work, while a week's residential field course in the Isle of Man provides training to prepare for the research project conducted in your final year. There is an optional trip to Belize in the final year to study tropical marine environments.

1. From the passage, we can infer that ______.

2.The present environment of the Earth forces the experts and scholars to study ______.

3. According to the passage, a multi-disciplinary approach is effective because _______.

4.We can divide the lectures of the course into ______ parts.

5.If a student choose marine Environmental Science degree course, he must ______.

A. make lectures about the issues to be confronted

B. provide training to get ready to do research project

C. take several days residential field in the Isle

travel to Belize to study tropical marine environments

Answers: