America is the world’s largest food exporter (出口商). But the worst drought (干旱) in half a century is hitting corn and wheat harvests.
By twenty-fifty, the world will have to produce at least sixty percent more food to feed more and more people. China, a major food importer (进口商), is looking to producers around the world to make sure it can get enough food in the future.
The serious drought in the United States is adding to care about world food and prices. China has invested (投资) in food production in Australia and New Zealand. A new source (来源) of food is Ukraine. Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Europe because of rich corn and wheat harvests a century ago.
Galyna Kovtok is chief manager of Ukraine’s largest agricultural business, ULF. She says that within a few months her company will export corn to China. That will make Ukraine the first country outside the Americas to do so. Across the Black Sea area — in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan — drought this year is pushing harvests down by fifteen to twenty percent.
Traditionally, the Black Sea area is the main source of wheat for North Africa and the Middle East. But this year, Russia may have to suspend exports. However, Africa and the Middle East are now having competition with China.
1.We can know from the passage that America ________.
A. has a good wheat harvest this summer
B. will import wheat from other countries
C. suffers a lot from the drought
D. won’t be the world’s largest food exporter any more
2.China is investing in Ukraine mainly to ________.
A. make sure of getting its future food
B. help the poor people there
C. build up a good relationship with Ukraine
D. have competition with Africa and the Middle East
3.The underlined word “suspend” in the last paragraph means “________”.
A. increase B. encourage
C. protect D. Stop
How long are you willing to wait for a webpage to open before you start to lose your patience? Half a minute? A few seconds?
Google engineers have discovered that even 400 milliseconds ― as short as the blink (眨眼) of an eye ― is too long for most Internet users.
A millisecond is one thousandth of a second. People hardly notice such a small time difference, but it does cause them to stop searching, reported The New York Times.
“Of course you don’t like to wait,” said Arvind Jain, a Google engineer. “Every millisecond matters.”
Now, millions of smart-phones and computers are always sending out information. With so many people downloading (下载) maps, sports videos, news and restaurant recommendations, you can get online “traffic jams (交通阻塞)”. Users are expecting faster and faster service.
Google found that if one website is 250 milliseconds slower than another website, then people will visit it less often. This is why technology companies try their best to be the fastest.
Achieving a higher speed has always been part of the history of the Internet.
In the 1990s, when the World Wide Web first started to become popular, it was very crowded and slow; people called it the “World Wide Wait”. But engineers managed to fight the problem with new inventions. They improved software so it would work more smoothly; they made computer servers all around the world nearer to users; all these increased speed.
Now we can enjoy much faster Internet. Major search engines (引擎) such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing usually find search results in less than a second. But they will need to keep fighting to keep up with the developing needs of Internet users.
1.What does the report of The New York Times indicate (暗示)?
A. A millisecond is one thousandth of a second.
B. A millisecond has nothing to do with the Internet speed.
C. A millisecond really makes a difference to the Internet users.
D. 400 milliseconds is not so long for most Internet users.
2.How does the writer feel about the future of the Internet speed?
A. Excited. B. Interested.
C. Confident. D. Discouraged.
3.What can be the best title of this passage?
A. Don’t make me “www.wait”.
B. Search engines work faster.
C. Traffic jams keep us waiting.
D. The World Wide Web becomes popular.
Have you felt nervous when a mobile phone rings during the class? Something must be done to stop this. Now in New York City, USA, a rule is carried out in schools. Students can’t even bring mobile phones to school. Is it a good thing or not?
Worried parents say that mobile phones are an important tool in holding New York city’s families together. “I worry about it,” said Elizabeth Lorris Ritter, a mother of a middle school kid, “It’s necessary in our everyday life. We have a washing machine. We have running water, and we have mobile phones.” Many American parents think mobile phones connect them to their children on buses, getting out from undergrounds, walking through strange places. “I have her call me when she gets out of school,” said Lindsay Walt, a schoolgirl’s mother. “No one in New York is going to let their child go to school without a mobile phone.”
What about the mobile phone owners, the students? Most of the students say mobile phones are necessary and the mobile phone is like an extra hand or foot for them. “I feel so empty,” said May Chom, 14. “There is also no way to listen to music on the way to school without my phone. It will be a really, really boring trip.”
1. Students often use a mobile phone ________ according to the passage.
A. to enjoy listening to music
B. to make phone calls to their teachers
C. to work as running water
D. to work as a washing machine
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE ?
A. Mobile phones can help students learn better.
B. Mobile phones only bring troubles to the school life.
C. Mobile phones connect children with their families when they are outside.
D. Many American parents don’t think mobile phones are necessary for the students.
3.The article is about the ________ in carrying out the rule ― not to use a mobile phone in school.
A. happiness B. interest
C. problem D. expense(费用)
完形填空 先通读下面的短文，掌握其大意, 然后从下面四个答案中选择可以填入相应空白处的最佳答案。
There was once a young man who liked puppets (木偶) so much that he was apprenticed (当学徒) to a master puppet-maker. Sadly, the young man was not very clever, and his _________ and other apprentices were always telling him that he had no ability when it came to making puppets, and that he would not _________ .
Even so, he enjoyed it so much that he worked day after day to improve. Though he put all his effort into it, they would always find something _________ with the puppets he had made, and they ended up driving him out of the workshop.
He wasn’t going to give up, so the young man decided that from then on he would spend all his time making just one kind of puppet. And whenever he found a fault (瑕疵) in his puppet he would throw it away and _________ again right from the starting-point. Years passed, and with each _________ attempt (尝试) his puppet became a little bit better. By now, his puppet was much better than anything his old apprentices could make, but he _________ making improvements. Living like that, the man wasn’t making any money, and many people laughed at how _________ he was.
By the time he was an old man, his puppet was truly wonderful. Finally one day, after so many years of effort, he finished his puppet, and said, “I can’t find anything wrong with it. This time it
is _________ .” And for the first time in all those years, instead of _________ his puppet, he put it on the shelf, feeling truly satisfied and happy. The puppet gave that old man more _________ than any other famous puppet-makers ever got from their creations.
1.A. father B. teacher C. classmate D. friend
2.A. miss B. forget C. succeed D. listen
3.A. wrong B. interesting C. special D. unusual
4.A. stop B. start C. change D. appear
5.A. usual B. old C. easy D. new
6.A. finished B. avoided C. kept D. stopped
7.A. serious B. strict C. honest D. silly
8.A. modern B. perfect C. priceless D. expensive
9.A. hiding B. fixing C. covering D. throwing
10.A. confidence B. joy C. courage D. warmth
— Ken, ________, but your TV is going too loud.
— Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll turn it down right now.
A. I’d like to talk with you
B. I’m really tired of this
C. I hate to say this
D. I need your help
— Bruce, I am still not sure ________.
— Why not? No one is better than you in our class.
A. where I can apply for the competition
B. how can I prepare for the competition
C. whether I should take part in the competition
D. who I can ask for information about the competition
