CHONGQING: A total

solar eclipse (日蚀） brought darkness to many places along the upper reaches of China’s

longest river, the Yangtze, at 9:15 am Wednesday. The moon’s shadow blocked out the sun, leaving only the solar corona (日冕) visible in west China’s Chongqing Municipality and Guang ’an City in neighboring Sichuan Province. The cities turned off many street lights to allow the public to better observe the total eclipse, which lasted about four minutes.

The July 22 eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st Century. It is expected to pass across China from Tibet to the coastal city of Shanghai, where 300 million people live. Millions of eclipse-watchers crowded to the banks of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers early Wednesday to observe the spectacle. However, the weather in many Chinese cities along the full solar eclipse path is not favorable for observing the phenomenon, according to the China Meteorological Administration’s (气象局) forecast at 8 am.

Zhu Jin, head of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory (天文观测台), said although overcast (阴天) conditions blocked the view along the lower stream of Yangtze, the shadow of the moon was visible moving behind the clouds. The full solar blackout could be seen at 9:30 am from an observatory site in Anji, east China’s Zhejiang Province, a site chosen by Jay Pasachoff, head of the Solar Eclipse Working Group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and more 200 astronomers from more than 20 countries. “The weather is clear enough to observe the complete duration of the solar eclipse here in Anji. The forecast of the time of the eclipse proved to be accurate, ” said Zhang Hongqi, chief researcher of the National Astronomical Observatories.

It was raining in Shanghai, when the eclipse occurred at 9:35 am. The city put extra police on streets, and more than 30 police ships patrolled (巡逻) the coast. Only street lamps were left on, as the city turned off all landscape lighting to allow people to watch the solar eclipse.

1. Which of the following is RIGHT?

A. More than 20 foreign astronomers observed the eclipse.

B. The eclipse is the longest one in the history.

C. The eclipse brought darkness to many places in China.

D. The weather was clear enough for people to observe the eclipse.

2. The best place to observe the full solar blackout at 9:30 am could be in___________.

A. Chongqing　　　 B. Sichuan

C. Zhejiang　　 D. Shanghai

3. The following has the same meaning as the underlined word EXCEPT____________.

A. went somewhere in large numbers

B. moved in a large crowd

C. gathered together

D. talked with each other excitedly

4. You can see the passage in a (n)__________.

A. newspaper 　　　　 B. guidebook

C. advertisement　　　 D. magazine

5. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Many cities turned off the lights on the streets to observe better.

B. The weather in some places isn’t favorable to observe the eclipse.

C. Shanghai sent out the police to observe the eclipse.

D. The eclipse attracted many astronomers from all over the world.

 

任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入1个最恰当的单词。(Reuters) - A U.N. climate deal due to be agreed in Copenhagen at talks from December 7-18 may fall short of a legally binding(有约束力的) agreement. If Copenhagen fails to live up to hopes of a strong agreement to slow global warming, what are the reasons and who risks blame? The following are some of the candidates:

● Decline in economy distracted(分散) focus from climate change after the world agreed in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007 to work out a new U.N. agreement by December 2009. Rich nations have put billions of dollars into green growth as part of recovery packages but, when unemployment at home is high, find it hard to promise extra money for developing countries. The slowdown in industrial output means a brief fix -- greenhouse gas emissions(排放) are likely to fall by as much as 3 percent this year.

● Many delegates at U.N. talks have given up hope that the United States, the number two emitter after China, will agree legislation(立法, 法律) to limit carbon emissions before Copenhagen. The US is the only industrialized nation outside the Kyoto Protocol(京都协议书) for cutting greenhouse emissions until 2012. Many countries welcomed President Barack Obama's promises of doing more to fight climate change when he took office in January but hoped for swifter action.

● Developing nations accuse the rich of repeatedly failing to keep promises of more aid. Few developed countries live up to a target agreed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1970 to give 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product in development aid. Other plans, such as the Agenda 21 environmental development plan agreed in 1992, have fallen short.

● Most rich nations are promising cuts in greenhouse gas emissions well short of the 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, which are needed to avoid the worst of climate change. Overall cuts promised by developed nations total between 11 and 15 percent. Best offers by countries including Japan, the European Union, Australia and Norway would reach the range.

● More than 90 percent of the growth in emissions between now and 2030 is set to come from developing nations -- with almost 50 percent from China alone, U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said this week. "No country holds the fate of the earth more in its hands than China. Not one," he said. China and India say they are slowing the growth of emissions but raising living standards is more important. So burning more energy is unavoidable -- as industrialized nations have done for 200 years.

● 2008 was the 10th warmest year since records began in the mid-19th century. The warmest was 1998, when a strong El Nino event in the eastern Pacific disrupted(使混乱) weather worldwide. That has led some to argue that global warming is slowing even though the U.N.'s WMO(世界气象组织) says a long-term warming trend is unchanged.

● People have been slow in changing lifestyles to use less carbon. Simple choices like taking more public transport, using less heating or air conditioning, even changing light bulbs can help if millions of people act.

Who's to blame if U.N. climate deal falls short?

Possible candidates	Supporting Details
__71___downturn	● Faced with the______72____ rising unemployment, rich countries fail to give more aid to developing ones. ●____73_____industrial output brings about a temporary relief from the pressure of greenhouse gas emissions.
United States	● It’s the only industrialized country outside the Kyoto Protocol. ● Immediate____74____ was expected to be taken by President Obama to fight climate change.
Rich-Poor divide	● Developed nations are____75____ by the poor for repeatedly breaking promises of aid.
Developed nations	● There is a huge ____76____between the overall cuts promised by developed nations and those required to avoid climate catastrophe.
Developing nations	● The increase in emissions from developing nations ____77____for 90% between now and 2030. ● Developing nations need to be given priority to raising living standards by burning more ___78____.
The weather	● The worldwide disorder caused by El Nino has __79__some people into believing that global warming is slowing.
The public	● People should be _80__to change lifestyles to use less carbon.

 

卷II （非选择题  满分30分）

五、单词拼写（共10小题；每小题0.5分，满分5分）

根据下列句子及所给单词的首字母或中文，写出各单词的正确形式（每空限填一词）。

69. Langlang, a famous pianist, has a great t__________ for music.

70. Jack always o           the school rules and never breaks them.

71. After g           from high school, he will go abroad for further study.

72. It was so n__________ in the hall that he couldn’t make himself heard clearly.

73. Although it was hot, he still wore a dark business s__________ to attend the wedding.

74. The mother was trying to           （安慰）the tearful little girl.

75. His extreme __________（渴望）for success led him to his final failure.

76. It took a while for his eyes to __________（调节） to the total darkness.

77. People in big cities have taken action to fight against different kinds of __________（污染）.

78. He doesn’t seem to be __________（有意识的）of the coldness of their attitude to his advice.

 

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.

 

Chinese people think a lot about food．In fact，I think that they are sometimes obsessed(痴迷) with it．My first experience of this   16   of Chinese culture came at a banquet during a trip to Beijing in 1998．I had eaten Chinese food often，but I could not have  17  how fabulous(丰盛的)a real Chinese banquet could be．The first six or seven dishes seemed to  18  the table, with plates dangerously   19  one on top of another．I thought this vast    20  of food was the total number of dishes to be served，and I started eating    21  ．Everyone else just   22  a bit of each dish and then put their chopsticks down，continuing to chat．“They can't have very big appetites,” I thought．

To my surprise，more dishes   23  ，plus soups，side dishes，and desserts．There was enough to feed a whole army．No   24  my fellow guests had had only a few  25  of each dish；they knew what was still to come．But I was already so   26  that I could only    27  as the banquet continued．

Another aspect of“food culture”is that the Chinese seem to eat almost every part of every animal——much to the    28   of many westerners．Stomach，ears，tongue，tail，hoof and lungs are all likely to   29   on the dinner table in front of you．The first time I saw a three-year-old kid  30   chewing a chicken's head I had bad dreams for weeks．

These days I enjoy that sort of food myself． 31  ，there are other kinds of foods that have taken longer for me to  32  ．The infamous(臭名昭著的) choudoufu is a(n)   33  ．(The name says it all：“stinky tofu”．) Just when I got used to it,  I found another  34  on a trip to Hunan：deep-fried choudoufu，a horrible black substance that looked and    35  about as appetizing as a burnt tennis shoe．Maybe I'll get used to that, too—some day．

16．A．problem        B．aspect           C．situation    D．appearance

17．A．introduced      B．distinguished     C．imagined    D．instructed

18．A．fill            B．destroy          C．furnish      D．evaluated

19．A．decorated      B．furnished         C．balanced     D．measured

20．A．preparation     B．wave            C．quality      D．pleasure

21．A．hurriedly       B．secretly          C．gladly      D．greedily

22．A．looked         B．tested           C．tasted       D．checked

23．A．disappeared    B．arrived           C．escaped     D．charged

24．A．wonder        B．doubt            C．use         D．problem

25．A．sights         B．examinations     C．appreciations    D．bits

26．A．hungry        B．angry           C．full             D．disappointed

27．A．complain      B．classified        C．wait             D．watch

28．A．taste         B．horror          C．belief            D．nature

29．A．put up        B．pick up         C．make up          D．end up

30．A．generally     B．regretfully        C．cheerfully        D．helplessly

31．A．Therefore     B．However        C．Somehow        D．Besides

32．A．refuse        B．adopt          C．accept           D．cook

33．A．example       B．excuse        C．reason           D．cause

34．A．experience    B．variety         C．beauty           D．interest

35．A．fried         B．advertised      C．sold             D．smelled