One reaction to all the concern about tropical deforestation is a blank stare that asks the question,
"Since I don"t live there, what does it have to do with me?"
The answer is that your way of life, wherever you live in the world, is tied to the tropics in many
ways. If you live in a house, wash your hair, eat fruits and vegetables, drink soda, or drive a car, you
can be certain that you are affected by the loss of tropical forests.
Biologically, we are losing the richest regions on earth when, each minute, a piece of tropical forest,
the size of ten city blocks, disappears. As many as five million species of plants, animals, and insects
(40 to 50 percent of all living things) live there, and are being lost faster than they can be found and
described. Their loss is immeasurable.
Take rubber for example. For many uses, only natural rubber from trees will do. Synthetics are not
good enough. Today over half the world"s commercial rubber is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia,
while the Amazon"s rubber industry produces much of the world"s four million tons. And rubber is an
important material in making gloves, balloons, footwear and many sporting goods. Thousands of other
tropical plants are valuable for their industrial use.
Many scientists strongly believe that deforestation contributes to the greenhouse effect -or heating
of the earth from increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As we destroy forests, we lose their
ability to change carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Carbon dioxide levels could double within the next half-century, warming the earth by as much as
4.5 degrees. The result? A partial melt-down of polar ice caps, raising sea levels as much as 24 feet;
even 15 feet could threaten anyone living within 35 miles of the coast. Unbelievable? Maybe. But
scientists warn that by the time we realise the severe effects of tropical deforestation, it will be 20
years too late.
Can tropical deforestation affect our everyday lives? Now, you should have got the answer.
B. tropical materials
C. man-made material
D. commercial rubber
B. persuade people to buy something synthetic
C. show us how important it is to protect the tropical forests
D. let people realise the effect of tropical deforestation
B. Many of our daily uses are related to the tropical forests.
C. Tropical plants can be used to make industrial products.
D. High carbon dioxide levels will make the earth warmer.
B. cold
C. supporting
D. opposed
B. the value of Tropical Forests
C. Tropical Forests and Our Life
D. The Greenhouse Effects W
Professor Wiseman expects thousands of people to take part in an experiment in controlling dreams.
Participants will download a specially designed iphone app that turns their phone into a dream factory.
Placed on the bed ,the phone can monitor when a sleeper is not moving, which suggests the onset of
dreaming. It then plays a carefully crafted (精心制作的)"soundscape"designed to produce pleasant
scenes such as walking in the woods, or lying on a beach. The idea is that this will influence dreaming,
causing dreamers to form fantasyland inspired by the sounds they are hearing. At the end of the dream
the app sounds a gentle alarm to wake the dreamer, who submits a brief description of the dream to a
"dream catcher"database(数据库).
Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, who is best known for his research on sleeps,
said,"Getting a good night"s sleep and having pleasant dreams promotes people"s productivity, and is
necessary for their mental and physical well being. Despite this we know very little about how to
influence dreams. This experiment aims to change that. "
As many as 10,000 people are expected to take part in the study, declared at the Edinburgh
International Science Festival. Prof Wiseman teamed up with app developers YUZA, which created
the" Dream:ON" software. Participants will be encouraged to share their dreams via Facebook and
Twitter.
A national survey conducted for the experiment found that 21% of people had trouble sleeping
and 15%suffered from unpleasant dreams. Prof Wiseman said people feeling low dreamed far more
than others, and often had negative dreams. "Perhaps improving their dreams might help them,"he
added.
The "Dream:ON" app can be downloaded for free from iTunes or via the project site, http:∥
dreamonapp.com.
B. Sweetening dreams.
C. Stopping unpleasant dreams.
D. Waking up dreamers.
B. To analyse mental effect on dreamers.
C. To set up a worldwide dream database.
D. To know about how to affect dreams.
B. lie on a beach with your smartphone on
C. present your dreams via Facebook and Twitter
D. design a pleasant situation according to the sound
B. background
C. starting
D. ending
feelings and emotions is therapeutic for children aged 13-17. Psychology professors Meyran
Boniel-Nissim and Azy Barak have found that a teenager writing a publicly-viewed blog on the Internet
is more effective for relieving stress rather than keeping a private diary. The study, published in the
journal Psychological Services, supports that expressing oneself through writing can be therapeutic.
To conduct the research, Boniel-Nissim and Barak randomly selected Israeli high school students
who displayed a certain degree of stress. The teenagers were then divided into six groups. Two groups
were asked to post blogs twice a week about their social difficulties, but only one of them was asked
to open the blogs for comments. The next set of groups were also asked to blog twice a week to post
about whatever was going on in their mind, again with one group allowing comments. The two control
groups were asked to keep an old-fashioned private diary.
The researchers then collected the blog posts and diaries to discuss the adolescents" emotional and
social position. From the research, they saw that the greatest improvement in mood was with the
bloggers who wrote about their personal troubles and allowed people to interact with their posts. The
research also noted that the comments were mostly positive and constructive. Boniel-Nissim and Barak
said that the commentators" interactions helped the bloggers while they were distressed. The conclusive
research noted that expressing yourself on the Internet not only let others know what was personally
going on with you, but also helped you figure out some things about yourself too.
B. addictive for children
C. making people feel calm and relaxed
D. able to be easily hurt
B. Those who suffered from stress.
C. Those who had never blogged before.
D. Those who had poor social skills.
B. they discuss their study on the blog
C. they keep a traditional diary
D. they comment on someone else"s blog
B. is most useful in improving one"s mood
C. is not an effective way to express one"s feelings
D. can help students see their problems better
smart student Jason Haffizulla. Jason got straight A"s and was determined to study medicine at Harvard,
yet this was his downfall. His physics teacher gave Jason a B, a mark Jason believed would undermine (损害) his entrance to Harvard. After receiving his B, Jason took a butcher knife to school and stabbed
his physics teacher.
How can someone as smart as Jason do something so dumb? Studies show there is little or no
correlation between IQ and emotional intelligence.
During my early university years, I regarded myself as an intelligent guy. I got good marks in
mathematics, physics, and other subjects. I thought such skills would surely give me a bright future.
After one year of study with decent marks, I began to see two major classes of students. The first
category of students turned up to few lectures, partied every weekend, enjoyed a great social life,
and did minimal work to pass courses. The second category of students were intelligent and hard
workers who got good grades and were very focused on their studies. Surely would these intelligent
and hard-working students find the great jobs before the other lazier class of students?
Not so. Students are often shocked upon graduation that their qualifications are not as important as
they once thought. Graduates enter the workforce only to realize that co-workers hate them and less
intelligent people are the ones receiving promotions.
Educational skills are useless in some industries when interpersonal skills are absent. You can have
great ideas, theories, and solve complex problems, but if you cannot effectively communicate in a
persuasive and exciting manner by relating to your fellow humans, you will face an uphill battle in
whatever challenges you encounter. It"s not that people dislike you because of your intelligence; it"s
that people dislike you because you"re rude and not understanding. The intelligent person with poor
communication skills is insensitive or unaware of others" emotions.
B. he was disappointed with his downfall
C. he was not smart enough at studies
D. he got a worse mark than usual
B. didn"t work hard
C. belonged to the first category of students
D. could keep a balance between social life and studies
B. they can"t settle the challenges they meet
C. they are envied for their intelligence
D. they are not understanding enough
B. what kind of students can succeed in college
C. smart people may have poorer communication skills
D. intelligent students will meet more challenges at work
"You could win prizes," our teacher told us as she wrote the poster information on the blackboard.
She passed out sheets of construction paper while continuing, "The first prize is ten dollars. You just
have to make sure that the words on the blackboard appear somewhere on your poster."
We studied the board critically. Some of us looked with one eye and held up certain colors against
the blackboard, rocking the sheets to the right or left while we conjured up our designs. Others twisted
their hair around their fingers or chewed their erasers while deep in thought. We had plans for that
ten-dollar grand prize, each and every one of us. I"m going to spend mine on candies, one hopeful would
announce, while another practiced looking serious, wise and rich.
Everyone in the class made a poster. Some of us used parts of those fancy paper napkins, while
others used nothing but colored construction paper. Some of us used big designs, and some of us
preferred to gather our art tidily down in one corner of our poster and let the space draw the viewer"s
attention to it. Some of us would wander past the good students" desks and then return to our own
projects with a growing sense of hopelessness. It was yet another grown-up trick of the sort they
seemed especially fond of, making all of us believe we had a fair chance, and then
always-always-rewarding the same old winners.
I believe I drew a sailboat, but I can"t say that with any certainty. I made it. I admired it. I determined
it to be the very best of all of the posters I had seen,and then I turned it in.
Minutes passed.
No one came along to give me the grand prize, and then someone distracted me, and I probably
never would have thought about that poster again.
I was still sitting at my desk, thinking, What poster? when the teacher gave me an envelope with
a ten-dollar bill in it and everyone in the class applauded for me.
B. It must be done in class.
C. It must be done on a construction sheet.
D. It must include the words on the blackboard.
B. made an outline for
C. made some space for
D. chose some colors for
B. thought they would be rich
C. began to think about their designs
D. began to play games
B. thought they had a fair chance
C. put their own designs in a corner
D. thought they would not win the prize
B. loved poster competitions very much
C. felt surprised to win the competition
D. became wise and rich after the competition
middle schools and high schools.
78% of the schools have at least one fastfood place within less than a half mile or about a 10minute
walk.
Half the area"s schools have a fastfood restaurant a third of a mile or closer, about a fiveminute walk.
In some cases, the restaurant is right next door or across the street.
There are three to four times as many fastfood restaurants within less than a mile of schools than they
would be expected.
Most public and private schools in Chicago are only a fiveto10minute walk from at least one fastfood
restaurant. The city is facing the same problem like other areas. Children and teens are surrounded by
unhealthy options.
Students can pick up fast foods, including hamburgers, French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts, on
the way to and from school. Some high school students can go off campus at lunchtime to eat it. "Five
days a week we send children to an environment where there"s an abundance of highcalorie,
lownutritionalquality, inexpensive food," says Bryn Austin.
The research comes from growing concerns that American schoolchildren are gaining weight. About
31% of kids aged 6 to 19 are overweight or at risk of becoming so. On days when kids eat fast food,
they have more calories, more fat, more sugar and fewer fruits and vegetables than on other days.
Kelly Brownell from Yale University said, "Just like there are drugfree zones around schools, there
should be zones around schools that are free of junk food, including fastfood restaurants, minimarkets
and gas stations that sell food inside."
B. fastfood restaurants are doing harm to students
C. there are many fastfood restaurants around schools
D. fastfood restaurants around schools have been a problem
B. high in calories and low in nutrition
C. inexpensive for students to buy
D. high in nutrition and low in calories
B. set up zones free of junk food around schools
C. charge fastfood restaurants around school
D. close all the gas stations around schools
B. Zones Free of Junk Food in Need Around Schools
C. FastFood Restaurants Crowd Chicago Schools
D. FastFood Restaurants Should Not Be Allowed
- 1数列{an} 中,a1=2,an+1=an+cn(c是不为零的常数,n=1,2,3,…),且a1,a2,a3成等比数列.
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- 3将一个半球体置于水平地面上,半球的中央有一光滑小孔,上端有一光滑的小滑轮,柔软光滑的轻绳绕过滑轮,两端分别系有质量为m1
- 4下图中的两个圆分别表示正数集合和分数集合,请你在每个圆中及它们重叠的部分各填入3个数.
- 5—You should ______ the shower when you are washing your hair
- 6(1)分别写出相对分子质量为128、72的烃的分子式:____________、_____________、______
- 7排泄有三个途径:绝大部分的______、______、多余的水和无机盐以______形式通过泌尿系统排出;一部分水和少量
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- 9战国时期的下列四国中,地理位置在最东面的是 [ ]A、楚B、齐 C、秦 D、燕
- 10– Can those ____ at the back of the classroom hear me?A.seat
- 1把下图折成正方体后,如果相对面所对应的值相等,那么x的平方根与y的算术平方根之积为( )。
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- 4四肢静脉的内表面具有防止血液倒流的结构是( )A.房室瓣B.动脉瓣C.静脉瓣D.以上三项都是
- 5如图甲所示,矩形金属线框绕与磁感线垂直的转轴在匀强磁场中匀速转动,输出交流电的电动势图象如图乙所示,经原副线圈的匝数比为
- 6城市,社会文明进步的窗口。北宋都城的万千气象,从不同侧面折射了北宋繁荣的经济、灿烂的文化。阅读下列材料,回答问题。11分
- 7法国生物学家巴斯德在做有关生命起源的实验时,用酒精灯对烧瓶加热有什么意义?使用s形瓶颈的又有什么意义? ________
- 8解下列各题:(1) 解方程组:(2)化简:
- 9读“某地等高线图”及瀑布景观图,回答下列问题:(1)图中阴影区域是一村庄,该村庄所处的地形类型是___________。
- 10洋务派创办的近代军事企业:______________________________________