11、—Now the weight．Only 115．You’d better put on a few pounds．
—Well, actually, I ________ like a horse．
A．ate B．was eating C．have been eating D．will eat
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4、Saving the Planet with Earth-Friendly Bamboo Products
Jackie Heinricher’s love affair with bamboo started in her backyard．“As a child, I remember playing among the golden bamboo my dad had planted, and when there was a slight wind, the bamboos sounded really musical．”
A fisheries biologist, Heinricher, 47, planned to work in the salmon industry in Seattle, where she lived with her husband, Guy Thornburgh, but she found it too competitive．Then her garden gave her the idea for a business: She’d planted 20 bamboo forests on their seven-acre farm．
Heinricher started Boo-Shoot Gardens in 1998．She realized early on what is just now beginning to be known to the rest of the world．It can be used to make fishing poles, skateboards, buildings, furniture, floors, and even clothing．An added bonus: Bamboo absorbs four times as much carbon dioxide as a group of hardwood trees and releases 35 percent more oxygen．
First she had to find a way to mass-produce the plants—a tough task, since bamboo flowers create seed only once every 50 to 100 years．And dividing a bamboo plant frequently kills it．
Heinricher appealed to Randy Burr, a tissue culture expert, to help her．“People kept telling us we’d never figure it out,” says Heinricher．“Others had worked on it for 27 years! I believed in what we were doing, though, so I just kept going．”
She was right to feel a sense of urgency．Bamboo forests are being rapidly used up, and a United Nations report showed that even though bamboo is highly renewable, as many as half of the world’s species are threatened with dying out．Heinricher knew that bamboo could make a significant impact on carbon emissions （排放）and world economies, but only if huge numbers could be produced．And that’s just what she and Burr figured out after nine years of experiments—a way to grow millions of plants．By placing cuttings in test tubes with salts, vitamins, plant hormones, and seaweed gel, they got the plants to grow and then raised them in soil in greenhouses．
Not long after it, Burr’s lab hit financial difficulties．Heinricher had no experience running a tissue culture operation, but she wasn’t prepared to quit．So she bought the lab．
Today Heinricher heads up a profitable multimillion-dollar company, working on species from all over the world and selling them to wholesalers．“If you want to farm bamboo, it’s hard to do without the young plants, and that’s what we have,” she says proudly．
1．What was the main problem with planting bamboo widely?
A．They didn’t have enough young bamboo．
B．They were short of money and experience．
C．They didn’t have a big enough farm to do it．
D．They were not understood by other people．
2．What does Heinricher think of bamboo?
A．Renewable and acceptable B．Productive and flexible．
C．Useful and earth-friendly． D．Strong and profitable．
3．The underlined word “renewable” in Paragraph 6 probably means “________”．
A．able to be replaced naturally B．able to be raised difficultly
C．able to be shaped easily D．able to be recycled conveniently
4．What do you learn from the passage?
A．Heinricher’s love for bamboo led to her experiments in the lab．
B．Heinricher’s determination helped her to succeed in her work．
C．Heinricher struggled to prevent bamboo from disappearing．
D．Heinricher finally succeeded in realizing her childhood dream．
3、If you enjoyed the spring-like sunshine over the weekend and thought the weather has finally turned a corner, you’re sadly mistaken．
Chilly （寒冷的）days and grey clouds are forecast for the week—making it far too early to pack away the winter woollies．
Temperatures will struggle to rise above zero at night and fail to make double figures during the day．
People enjoy the spring sunshine in Sefton Park, Aigburth, Liverpool．Forecasters have predicted a return to chilly weather this week．
Met Office forecaster Charlie said, “It was a nice, dry, bright weekend in many parts and Monday is going to be a similar affair for many．”
“Temperatures will be between 5℃and 8℃, which is below average for the start of spring．”
The sun will disappear from the south of the country after today, with dry but cloudy conditions forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday．
Wednesday will be warmest of the three, with temperatures peaking at 9℃．But this is still two degrees below the March average for the district．
Overnight, temperatures will drop sharply, with lows of minus 3℃for the next three nights．
“It will generally stay on the cold side of average,” said Mr. Powell．
The March misery comes at the end of the coldest winter for more than 30 years．
Temperatures in December, January and February struggled to stay above zero, with the UK’s average 1．5℃, making it the deepest freeze since 1978—79．
It claimed there was just a one-in-seven chance of a cold December to February．
The agency also sadly predicted a “barbecue summer”, saying it was “quite optimistic” that it would be warmer and drier than average．
Following the two mistakes, the Met Office has dropped its long-range seasonal forecasts and will instead publish a monthly prediction for Britain, updated once a week．
In its defense, it says that while short-term forecasts are extremely accurate, Britain’s size and geographical position makes long-term predictions much more challenging．
It also points out that it gave warning of any heavy falls of snow this winter．
1．According to the passage, the weather on Tuesday in the south might be _______．
A．dry but cloudy B．sunny but chilly
C．sunny and warm D．cloudy and chilly
2．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A．British people can put away their winter clothes now．
B．The Met Office has shortened its forecast range．
C．The weather forecast becomes more and more accurate．
D．The agency was quite confident of long-term predictions．
3．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．The big chill isn’t over yet B．A warm spring finally arrives
C．A heavy snow is on the way D．The Met Office drops forecasts
4．From the passage, we can conclude ________．
A．the weather report is more and more important
B．British people become worried about bad weather
C．Britain has just experienced a very freezing winter
D．The Met Office can always predict any heavy snow falls accurately