.

Valuing water

Human beings use a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet shortages and droughts(干旱) are causing starvation and poverty in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world’s population is expected to double in the next 51 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.

But that doesn’t have to be the result. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to value petrol more after the 1970s oil crisis, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic view. We can no longer afford to consider water a nearly free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.

Instead, for all uses except the demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its real value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.

Governments should also protect this source by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation(灌溉) water in the dry places is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions(凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.

No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their ways to use water. Rather than control hundreds or even thousands of local, regional agencies that watch water use, countries should set up central authorities to manage water policy.

65. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?

A. Only half of the world’s water can be used.

B. The world population is increasing faster and faster.

C. Half of the world’s resources have been seriously polluted.

D. Human beings have not placed sufficient value on water resources.

66.We can conclude from the passage that the water problem______.

A. is already serious in certain parts of the world

B. has been exaggerated by some experts in the field

C. poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs

D. is underestimated by government organizations at different levels

67.According to the author, the water price should______.

A. be reduced to the minimum

B. stimulate domestic demand

C. equal its real value

D. take into account the occurrences of droughts.

 

My father’s reaction to the bank building at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York city was immediate and definite: “You won’t catch me putting my money in there!” he declared, “Not in that glass box!”

　  Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a good deal of modern architecture is upsetting, but I am convinced that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his concept of the nature of money. In his generation money was thought of as a real commodity (实物) that could be carried, or stolen.

　　Consequently, to attract the custom of a sensible man, a bank had to have heavy walls, barred windows, and bronze doors, to affirm the fact, however untrue, that money would be safe inside. If a building’s design made it appear impenetrable（难以渗透的), the institution was necessarily reliable, and the meaning of the heavy wall as an architecture symbol reflected people’s prevailing attitude toward money.

　　But the attitude toward money has, of course, changed. Excepting pocket money, cash of any kind is now rarely used; money as a tangible commodity has largely been replaced by credit. A deficit (赤字) economy, accompanied by huge expansion, has led us to think of money as product of the creative imagination. The banker no longer offers us a safe: he offers us a service in which the most valuable element is the creativity for the invention of large numbers. It is in no way surprising, in view of this change in attitude, that we are witnessing the disappearance of the heavy-walled bank.

　　Just as the older bank emphasized its strength, this bank by its architecture boasts of imaginative powers. From this point of view it is hard to say where architecture ends and human assertion (人们的说法) begins.

36. The main idea of this passage is that________.

A. money is not as valuable as it was in the past

B. changes have taken place in both the appearance and the concept of banks

C. the architectural style of the older bank is superior to that of the modern bank

D. prejudice makes the older generation think that the modern bank is unreliable

37. How do the older generation and the younger one think about money respectively?

A. The former thinks more of money than the latter.

B. The younger generation values money more than the older generation.

C. Both generations rely on the imaginative power of bankers to make money.

D. To the former money is a real commodity but to the latter be a means to produce more money.

38. The words “tangible commodity” (Line 2, Para. 4) refer to something ______.

　 A. that can be replaceable              B. that is usable

　 C. that can be touched                 D. that can be reproduced

39. According to this passage, a modern banker should be _______.

A. ambitious and friendly                             B. reliable and powerful

C. sensible and impenetrable                         D. imaginative and creative

40. It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s attitude towards the new trend in banking is _______.

A. cautious        B. regretful       C. positive        D. hostile

第三部分阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)

请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Picking a Christmas tree takes most people a few minutes, a couple of hours if they head to the woods. Dave Murbach needs 11 months.

Almost every day of every year, Murbach’s thoughts turn to vision of a perfectly shaped evergreen tree that will take everyone’s breath away.

“The tree,” he says wearily. “Always the tree.”

Murbach is the man responsible for finding the towering tree that graces Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.

“I’m always looking for a tree,” the center’s chief gardener says. “I look for it even when I go to the beach in the summer. It’s like a homework assignment hanging over your head.”

And if he gets it wrong, there’s nothing hiding it.

“Every day it’s up, 400,000 people go by, and 2.5 million people watch the lighting celebration on television,” he says.

This year’s tree, a 74-foot Norway spruce (云杉) from Richfield, Ohio, flown to New York on the world’s largest cargo plane, was lighted on December 2.

The arrival of the tree leads in the Christmas season in New York - a tradition dating to 1931, when the workers building Rockefeller Centre put up a small tree with decorations.

The search for the next year’s tree starts soon after the old tree is chopped up for wood chips and horse-jumping logs.

That’s not as simple as it sounds. Though forests are full of evergreens, few get enough sunlight or space to fill out. And branches in snowy regions often break under the weight, making flees uneven.

Back at the office, he sorts through hundreds of letters from people offering their trees, many addressed simply to “Mr. Christmas Tree Man.”

Despite the occasional anxiety attack and sleepless night, Murbach knows the together people you love. That’s what I hope it sets off.”

But Murbach says he’s always too worn out to celebrate Christmas.

“No card, no lights, nothing,” he says.

“No tree?”

“No tree.”

1. Murbach takes his job seriously because he most likely wants _____________.

A. everyone to be happy with his work

B. to make everyone surprised at his choice

C. everyone to know his care for their happiness

D. to attract people’s attention to his special ability

2. Which is the correct order of the events in the passage?

a. Murbach’s thoughts turn to a perfectly shaped tree.

b. 2.5 million people watch the Christmas tree.

c. The tree is flown to New York.

d. it was lighted on December 2.

e. The tree is chopped up.

f. Murbach searches for the tree.

A. a, b, c, d, e, f    B. a, f, c, d, b, e            C. c, d, e, b, a, f    D. c, d, b, f, e, a

3. According to Murbach’s standard of trees, the best tree must _________.

A. be evergreen                             B. have no space between branches

C. be thick enough                          D. be equally balanced in shape

4. Which is tree about Murbach?

A. He is most devoted to his work.                     B. He is now quite tired of his work.

C. He has no loved family members.           D. He never wants to celebrate Christmas.

 

 

C 

In Germany, English expressions are used in conversations and increasingly in written form. Advertisements are often expressed completely in English. When I go to the gym, there are “aerobic-classes (增氧健身法课程)”. We “warm up”. We go “jogging.” In business, we attend a “meeting” and we have “good connections.”

Other nations, like France, have taken action to protect their language from the influence of “Americanization”. In Germany, however, there is concern that those rules could be connected with Hitler’s Third Reich (帝国), when the language had to be pure. If the government curbed（限制）the use of English words now, this could be considered by some as a return to that terrible past.

Some German citizens are now trying to stop the use of English vocabulary in German. However, I think generally it is not a big deal to use some common English expressions as they often describe things more directly. But we should know that it is important to use English correctly. All too often, bad English is spoken or even written instead of good German. The proper use of the German language would be the better choice. However, there are some fields that require the use of English words, for example, in the high-tech communication and the Internet fields, there is no alternative to English. Also, I think sometimes I have to speak English when I introduce some scenic places to tourists.

I think you have to find a balance and decide when it is better to use good German in place of bad English or when the use of correct English words is more suitable. Languages have always changed naturally, and I disagree with a restriction by law. Some nice expressions borrowed from other languages can make a conversation more vivid.

69. By giving many examples in the first paragraph, the writer shows that __________.

 A. most Germans have no difficulty in understanding English

B. English is more and more widely used in Germany

C. it is more convenient to use English in some situations

D. English has completely replaced German in Germany

70. From the passage, we can learn that when Hitler was in power, _________ in Germany.

A. all languages except English could be used

B. some foreign languages could be used

C. only the upper class could speak English

D. only the German language could be used

71. What job does the writer probably do?

A. A travel guide      B. A lawyer       C. A computer engineer      D. A teacher

72. What is the writer’s attitude towards the use of English in Germany?

A. There should be a law to protect the German language

B. It is foolish for Germans to worry about their native language

C. Germans should be encouraged to speak more English

D. Proper use of English can make conversations more colorful