A new study shows one of the largest glaciers① in Greenland is becoming smaller and speeding to the sea faster than scientists expected. If it continues, Greenland itself could become much smaller during this century and global seas could rise as much as 3 feet.

The rates② of change that we’re noticing are much higher than expected. If these rates continue, it is not unlikely that Greenland could shrink③ by several tens of percent this century. However, it’s not known how quickly this coastal response of the Greenland ice sheet melting will have an effect on the vast inland ice.

Greenland is the world’s largest island, covering an area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it is covered by ice, and there are many glaciers. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers of ice. Where a glacier meets the sea, its weight keeps it firmly resting on the bottom. A glacier’s front is the point where the water is deep enough that the glacier floats.

Since the 1970s, the front of Helheim stayed in the same place. Then it began melting rapidly, moving back 4.5 miles from 2001 through this past summer. It has also grown thinner, from top to bottom, by more than 130 feet since 2001. And over these past four years, its trip to the sea has sped up from about 70 feet per day to nearly 110.

The melting is driven by a warmer climate. Temperatures in Greenland have risen more than five degrees Fahrenheit in the last decade. Since most of Greenland’s ice is on land, seas will rise as the ice melts. If all Greenland’s ice sheet melted, oceans would be 15-20 feet higher. Nobody expects that to happen anytime soon.

Notes:

① glacier  n.  冰川

② rate  n.  比率

③ shrink  v.  縮小

1. Which of the following about the glaciers is TRUE?

  A. Glaciers only lie in Greenland.        B. Water in glaciers is more than sea water.

  C. Glaciers sometimes float on the water.  D. Glaciers can increase the water level of lakes.

2. According to the text, we know that Greenland ______.

  A. belongs to Canada                  B. is the largest island in North America

  C. is all covered with glaciers            D. is sinking under the sea level

3. Which of the following may be the result of the disappearing of Greenland glaciers?

  A. the climate of the world will be warmer.

  B. the glaciers in other area will be bigger.

  C. It will be easy for explorers to visit the island.

  D. Some coastal cities may be under the sea.

Foreign drivers will have a pay on-the-spot fines of up to ￡900 for breaking the traffic law to be carried our next month. 

If they do not have enough cash or a working credit card, their vehicles will clamped（扣留）until they pay law takes effect ,because the money would be returned if the driver went to court and was found not guilty , In practice, very few foreign drives are likely to return to Britain to deal with their eases. 

Foreign drivers are rarely charged because police cannot take action against them if they fail to appear in court, Instead, officers often merely give warnings. 

Three million foreign-registered vehicles enter Britain each year. Polish vehicles s make up 36 percent, French vehicles 10 percent and German vehicles 9 percent. 

Foreign vehicles are 30 percent more vehicles entre Britain each year. Polish vehicles make up 36 percent. French crashes caused by foreign vehicle rose by 47 percent between 2003 and 2008. There were almost 400 deaths and serious injuries and 3,000 slight injuries form accidents caused by foreign vehicles in 2008. 

The new Law is party intended to settle the problem of foreign lorry divers ignoring limits to weight and hours at the wheel. Foreign Lorries are throe times more likely to be in a crash than British Lorries. Recent spot checks found that three quarters of Lorries that failed safety teats were registered overseas. 

The standard deposit for a careless driving offence —such as driving too close to the vehicle in front or reading a map at the wheel—will be ￡300. Deposits for speeding offences and using mobile phones will be ￡60. Foreign drivers will not get points as punishment added to their licenses, while British drivers will. 

The first paragraph serves as a（n）

A. explanation      B. introduction     C. comment      D. background. 

The foreign drivers who break the traffic law and do not pay on the spot are likely to be forted up to        . 

A. ￡60        B. ￡300        C. ￡900           D. ￡980

We can learn from the passage that         . 

A. many foreign drivers have been fined by Britain police

B. 300,000German vehicles enter Britain every year

C. 25percent of foreign vehicles entering Britain have failed safety tests

D. British drivers will be punished with points and fines for breaking the traffic law

The new traffic law is mainly intended to          . 

A. limit the number of foreign vehicles entering Britain

B. increase the British movement’s additional income

C. lower the rate of traffic accidents and injuries

D. get foreign drives to appear in count

In recent years, the world has made progress in reducing deaths among children under the age of five. A new report says an estimated 6.9 million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday. That compares to about twelve million in1990.

The report says child mortality rates have fallen in all areas. It says the number of deaths is down by at least 50 percent in eastern, western and southeastern Asia. The number also fell in North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ties Boerma is head of the WHO’s Department of Health Statistics and Informatics. He says most child deaths happen in just a few areas.

TIES BOERMA: “Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia face the greatest challenges in child survival. More than eighty percent of child deaths in the world occur in these two regions. About half of child deaths occur in just five countries—India, which actually takes twenty-four percent of the global total; Nigeria, eleven percent; the Democratic Republic of Congo, seven percent; Pakistan, five percent and China, four percent of under-five deaths in the world.”

Ties Boerma notes that, in developed countries, one child in one hundred fifty-two dies before his or her fifth birthday. But south of the Sahara Desert, one out of nine children dies before the age of five. In Asia, the mortality rate is one in sixteen.  

The report lists the top five causes of death among children under five worldwide. They are pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and problems both before and during birth.

Tessa Wardlaw is with the U-N Children’s Fund. She is pleased with the progress being made in Sub-Saharan Africa. The area has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world. But she says the rate of decline in child deaths has more than doubled in Africa.

TESSA WARDLAW: “We welcome the widespread progress in child survival, but we importantly want to stress that there’s a lot of work that remains to be done. There’s unfinished business and the fact is that today on average, around nineteen thousand children are still dying every day from largely preventable causes.”

The World Health Organization says one way to solve these problems is to make sure health care services are available to women. In this way, medical problems can be avoided or treated when identified.

1.Since 1990, the number of the children who died before 5 in the world has dropped by about__________.

A．6,900,000         B．12,000,000        C．1,200,000         D．5,100,000

2. What does the underlined word “mortality” ( in Paragraph 2)mean?

A．illness            B．reduction         C．death            D．problem

3.According to the passage, the readers are likely to believe that __________.

A．child mortality rates have fallen just in five areas

B．Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest under-five mortality rate in the world

C．in developed countries, no children die before the age of five

D．the world has made little progress in reducing the rates of child mortality

4.______ is the top-one cause of death among children under five worldwide.

A．Global warming     B．Malaria           C．Pneumonia        D．Diarrhea

5.What will be probably referred to in the following paragraph?

A．Women do not want to have babies.

B．How more health care services are available to women.

C．Medical problems are completely solved.

D．The World Health Organization.

 

A: Advance Reservations．Can I help you?

B: 1. 

A: Yes, we do have a single room available for those dates．

B: What is the rate, please?

A: The current rate is $50 per night．

B:  2.  ．

A: For $50 you will have a radio, a color television, a telephone and a major international newspaper delivered to your room every day．

B: That sounds not bad at all．I’ll take it．

A:  3.  ．

B: Yes, it is Charlson．

A: How do you spell it, please?

B: It’s C-H-A-R-L-S-O-N．

A: C-H-A-R-L-S-O-N．  4.  ．

B: （010）888-1000．By the way, I’d like a quiet room away from the street if that is possible．

A:  5.  ．OK．We look forward to your visit．

B: Thank you and good-bye．

A: Good-bye．

A.What services come with that?

B.A quiet room away from the street is preferred．

C.Do you have a single room with a bath for October 5?

D.What about your telephone number?

E.Yes, I’d like to book a single room with a bath from the afternoon of October 4 to the morning of October 10．

F.Sorry, I forgot your telephone number．

G.Very good．Could you tell me your name, sir, please?

 

Hee-haw! Scores of farms across the country are opening up to overnight guests. The best have all the appeal of a first-rate inn ----- plus here a moo, there a moo.
Sure, you and your kids plan to conquer the theme parks. In the meanwhile, why not make a little hay? Farm stays are fast becoming the great American alternative to the pre-packaged vacation.
LIBERTY HILL FARM
Rochester, Vt.; 802/767-3926; www.libertyhillfarm.com. Adults$75, teens $50,kids 12 and under $35, including breakfast and dinner; shared baths.
Beth and Bob Kennett run a farm straight out of a storybook. You’ll find Beth in the kitchen, rolling out dough（生面團(tuán)） for a pie. Bob’s busy with other work. Guests sleep in seven sunny bedrooms right in the farmhouse and can participate in any of the farm jobs. Maybe you and your kids won’t be up at 6 a.m. to meet the milk truck, but you can help with the milking twice a day, collect eggs, and pick sweet corn and wild blackberries in season.
HULL-O FARM
Durham, N.Y.; 518/239-6950; www.hull-o.com; Adults $110, kids 10—14 $60, 5—9 $50, 2—4 $35, under 2 free, including breakfast and dinner; private baths.
It started in 1993 as a way to bring in some extra money at a time of falling milk prices. But soon after Frank and Sherry Hull opened their Catskill Mountains dairy farm to overnight visitors, they discovered they loved it. As you drive up, Sherry greets you on the porch（入口處）of the 1825 farmhouse with a cow-shaped cookie jar. Before long your kids are playing around with the cows, sheep, ducks, goats and getting ready for a hayride（乘坐裝滿干草的牛車出游）.
MERAMEC FARM CABINS
Bourbon, Mo.; 573/732-4765; http://www.wine-mo.com Doubles with private bath $75, $10 per additional person. Trail and riding fees extra.
Climb onto the back of the Ford pickup and catch up with the herd. One gentle cow named Cricket will even let the kids sit on her back. At the barn（牲口棚）, Carol will introduce you to the horses ---15 Missouri Fox Trotters --- and lead you on a trail ride over the hills and down along the spring-fed Meramec River, where everyone swims. Grab a fishing pole and head back to the river. When you have your fill of the wild, try Carol and Dave’s favorite restaurants or wineries（釀酒廠）, within 20 miles of the farm.
【小題1】The underlined sentence in the first paragraph implies that ___________.

A．you can enjoy the best cuisine at the first rate restaurant

B．some farm provide country experiences as well as good accommodations

C．farm work is hard, but you can enjoy it a lot, playing with the animals

D．if you want to hear a cow’s cry, please stay on a best farm

【小題2】We can learn from the three ads that _____________.

A．Hull-O Farm was not built for overnight visitors

B．Frank and Sherry Hull run a farm out of a storybook

C．kids can sit on a gentle cow’s back on Hull-O Farm

D．you can’t milk a cow if you get up late on Liberty Hill Farm

【小題3】 The Browns have a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. If they stay on Liberty Hill Farm for one night, how much will they pay?

A．$175.

B．$220.

C．$235.

D．$250.

【小題4】Who will be most likely interested in the webpage?

A．Kids who want to find pleasure in the theme parks.

B．People who expect to be employed on the farm.

C．Researchers who are interested in raising cows on farms.

D．Those who plan to have family vacations on working farms.