Getting close to active or erupting volcanoes can be dangerous. But for Michael Rampino, it’s all in a day’s work. Rampino is a volcanologist, a scientist who studies volcanoes and how they affect our planet. Rampino has been close to red-hot lava flows (熔岩流) in Hawaii and explosive volcanoes in Indonesia. He knows when to get close to an active volcano and when to back away.

Rampino wasn’t always a volcanologist. He worked for NASA for seven years. He studied rocks until he began to research climate change and the effects that volcanoes have on climate. He became interested in the subject. “Once I started working with volcanoes,” Rampino said, “I was hooked.”

Rampino is a professor at New York University. As part of his job, he travels to areas where volcanoes have been active. “Active” means they have erupted within the past few centuries and probably will erupt again. Rampino studies the deposits (沉积物) of ash and other materials from the eruptions. The ash may hold clues to what happened to the Earth in the distant past. It may also help scientists predict what could happen to Earth’s climate in the future.

Rampino doesn’t work alone. He works with a team of scientists who use computers to stimulate (模拟) the effects volcanoes have on Earth’s atmosphere.

Being a volcanologist may be hard work, but it’s also fun. “It’s cool traveling the world studying “to understand the events that have shaped Earth’s history.”

1.To Rampino, being close to active volcanoes is _____.

A．scary but necessary                     B．adventurous but meaningful

C．impossible and unnecessary               D．dangerous but urgent

2.The underlined word “hooked” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_____”.

A．trapped           B．touched           C．attracted          D．frightened

3.Rampino’s study on volcanoes might help _____.

A．warn people to protect the environment

B．support the study of Earth’s future climate

C．tell the future eruption time of the volcanoes

D．reduce the possibility of the volcanoes’ eruptions

4.In which part of a newspaper could we find this text?

A．People.           B．History.           C．Climate.           D．Business.

Hawaii has planned to be the first U.S. state to roll out（正式推出）electric car stations statewide --- a move towards weaning the islands off oil.

Hawaii, which is far away from the U.S. mainland, imports foreign oil for almost 90 percent of its energy needs. One–third of that oil is used to power cars and buses on island streets. This move will help Hawaii meet its goal of reducing fossil fuel use by 70 percent by 2030.

Better Place, a Palo Alto, California-based company, will build the car recharging stations and provide recharged batteries for electric cars. The company will purchase renewable energy --- such as wind power --- from Hawaiian Electric Co.

Better Place picked Hawaii for the first statewide rollout in part because the islands are a contained environment, with few vehicles (车辆) coming in and out. Better Place would need to build a bigger network across several states to serve some mainland markets. Hawaii also has rich renewable energy resources, including wind, solar and wave power. This is important because Better Place won’t use oil. Better Place plans to recharge its batteries at night with power from Hawaii’s wind farms. That power normally goes unused because of Hawaii’s low nighttime energy needs.

Hawaii is an ideal place to show off Better Place technology because the state welcomes over five million tourists each year from the U.S. mainland, Japan, Canada and the rest of the world. “If we can get them into electric cars when they rent, we do two great things,” Shai Agassi, Better Place’s founder and chief executive officer, said. “One, we avoid emissions （排放物）; two, we use the opportunity to educate them, to teach them in Hawaii how it needs to be done in the rest of the world.”

However, Hawaii doesn’t expect to spend any money to improve the network. Maybe it needs to offer tax breaks or other ways to encourage people to buy electric vehicles when they are first offered.

1.

The underlined part “weaning the islands off oil” (in Para 1) probably means _________.

A. exploring the islands for oil           

B. stopping Hawaii’s dependence on oil gradually

C. importing more oil from other islands       

D. increasing the amount of oil used there

2.

 Why is Hawaii chosen to be the first state where car recharging stations will be built statewide? _________

①There are few cars in Hawaii.

②Hawaii can provide environmentally friendly energy.

③Plenty of oil has been found in Hawaii.

④Hawaii is separated from the mainland with few vehicles coming in and out.

A. ①, ③           B. ②, ③           C. ②, ④           D. ①, ④

3.

 When visitors to Hawaii rent electric cars, they _________.

A. will be taught it is necessary to do as Hawaiians do to protect the earth

B. will be offered tax breaks

C. need to be told what should be done before travelling

D. should be given the chance to try two things before driving

4.

We can infer from the passage that _________.

A. Better Place is a company producing electric cars

B. people are not encouraged to buy electric cars

C. electric cars will be recharged with power from renewable resources

D. Hawaii now has reduced the use oil by 90 percent

My wife passed away a few years ago,and I went through the worst time in my life.I even wanted to kill myself.Just for kids,I had to continue to live and work as small-town doctor at my medical clinic in Hawaii.My kids had gone to live on the mainland,and I was alone.Then they asked me to have a family trip.On our trip, we turned on the TV at the motel and saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. Seeing it falling down, I said to my kids: “I’m going to Afghanistan”. And a few weeks later, international Medical Corps sent me to set up 20 clinics in provinces where people had no health care. In these field clinics surrounded by frightening shoots or deadly bombs, we were eventually serving 27,000 patients a month in a very busy schedule. Tired and nervous, I gradually had a sense of achievement, a sense of purpose, and my depression went away.
In the years to follow, I went to Indonesia after the tsunami, Pakistan after the earthquakes, Sudan after the civil war and Iraq after more and more bombs. Each time after disasters one after another, hundreds of people were killed, wounded and many more had to flee. We once set up movable clinics in an area with 19,000 refugees, and it was supposed to hold 13,000 originally. Flu broke out, one of the biggest killers of kids in refugee camps, and it spread like wildfire. Water and food were also serious problems. “Adventures or not?” I often asked myself.
When my wife passed away, I thought my life was done. But in reality, it was just getting started. At the end of her life, she went unconscious. I held her head in my hands and told her of all the places we would visit and the exciting adventures we would have.
I think about the moment many times during my “adventures”. I didn’t know how predictive those words would be. But I know that she is still with me

1. 1.

   Where has the doctor been in the past few years?

   1. A.
      Some countries where he could set up clinics
   2. B.
      Some African countries where flu broke out
   3. C.
      The places where the earthquakes happened
   4. D.
      The places that the horrible disasters struck
2. 2.

   How would the doctor describe his life after he had worked in Afghanistan?

   1. A.
      Tired and troublesome
   2. B.
      Busy and risky
   3. C.
      Meaningful and helpful
   4. D.
      Frightening and depressing
3. 3.

   The underlined word “refugees” means people______.

   1. A.
      who are robbed, killed, or wounded
   2. B.
      who suffer from flu in movable clinics
   3. C.
      who like to take adventures
   4. D.
      who have lost homes because of disasters
4. 4.

   Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

   1. A.
      the doctor’s wife encouraged him to work in foreign countries
   2. B.
      What the doctor said to his wife before her death became reality
   3. C.
      The doctor’s adventures made him understand the love of his wife
   4. D.
      With the true love of his wife, the doctor started to change his life

---I saw Mr. Smith at Xianyang Airport this morning.??

---You ____. He’s still on holiday in Hawaii.

A. can’t???????? B. couldn’t have??? C. mustn’t have? D. needn’t??

My wife passed away a few years ago, and I went through the worst time in my life. I even wanted to kill myself. Just for my kids, I had to continue to live and work as a small town doctor at my medical clinic in Hawaii. My kids had gone to live on the mainland, and I was alone. Then they asked me to have a family trip.
On our trip, we turned on the TV at the motel and saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. Seeing it falling down, I said to my kids：“ I'm going to Afghanistan.”And a few weeks later, International Medical Corps sent me to set up 20 clinics in provinces where people had no health care. In these field clinics surrounded by frightening shoots or deadly bombs ，we were eventually serving 27,000 patients a month in a very busy schedule.Tired and nervous, I gradually had a sense of achievement, a sense of purpose, and my depression went away.
In the years to follow, I went to Indonesia after the tsunami (海啸), Pakistan after the earthquakes, Sudan after the civil war, and Iraq after more and more bombs. Each time after disasters one after another, hundreds of people were killed, wounded and many more had to flee. We once set up movable clinics in an area with 19,000 refugees,_and it was supposed to hold 13,000 originally. Flu broke out, one of the biggest killers of kids in refugee camps, and it spread like wildfire. Water and food were also serious problems. “Adventure or not？”I often asked myself.
When my wife passed away, I thought my life was gone. But in reality, it was just getting started. At the end of her life, she went unconscious. I held her head in my hands and told her of all the places we would visit and the exciting adventures we would have.
I thought about the moment many times during my“adventures”. I didn't know how predictive those words would be，but I knew that she was still with me.
【小题1】Where has the doctor been in the past few years?