Venice(威尼斯) is the “Queen” of the Adriatic sea. Every year   1  from all over the world  2__ Italy to visit the city. Do you know  3  they like to go there for a visit?

Venice is a very beautiful city. It is quite different   4  other cities in the world. There   _5  roads or streets in the city. So there aren’t any cars and buses.There are   6  canals(运河) in the city. There is one big canal and 177 small canals. People move   7  and down the canals   8  to go to work,   9_ or visit their friends.

But Venice is sinking. It is going down and the water is going up. In 2040 Venice

will be   10_ water. The Adriatic Sea will cover the city.

1.A. thousand people        B. thousands people    C. thousands of people

2. A. travel to                      B. travel from               C. traveled to

3. A. where                                B. what                               C. why

4.A. from                                   B. with                                C. of

5. A. are some                            B. aren’t any                        C. aren’t some

6. A. many                                 B. any                                 C. much

7. A. on                              B. up                                  C. off

8.. A. in buses                      B. in cars                      C. in boats

9. A. go to shop                          B. go shopping                     C. go to shopping

10.. A. under                               B. with                                C. on

Today there are 6.4 billion people on the earth. By the year 2050 there may be 12.5 billion . There are a lot of people to feed. We need more  and more food.
One way to produce more food is growing stronger plants. For thousands of years, farmers have made plants better. Every season, they pick the best plants for the next season. It works very slowly. Since 1983, scientists have been able to change plants more quickly by changing their genetic（遗传的） material. Foods from plants grown in this way are called genetically modified(改变的) foods, or GM foods.
By changing the genetic material of a plant, it is possible to make new plants. They make plants which are strong against plant diseases. They can also help in our diseases; a kind of rice is being prepared , for example , which stops people becoming blind.
Rich countries produce GM foods because they are easy to grow and bring in more money. Poor countries are interested in them because they help produce more food.
GM plants are not natural. No one knows how good or bad they are,. Making GM foods is only one way of feeding people in 2050. There are strong feelings against them, because they are unnatural. They may feed people , then hurt them or their children later. But both rich and poor countries are interested in their use, and they are not going to go away. In 2050, we may think differently about them.
【小题1】GM foods are made by                 
A. farmers            B. workers      C. scientists          D plants
【小题2】What are the good things about GM foods  ?
A. They make plants strong against diseases.   B. They are unnatural.
C. They can help in human diseases.            D  Both A and  C.
【小题3】GM foods        .
A. are a quick way to produce food    B. grow in the wild 
C. are safe                           D are grown only in rich countries
【小题4】Why do some people not like GM foods?
A. They are not useful.       B. They are not helpful.
C. They are not natural.      D  They are not cheap.
【小题5】From the passage we know that      .

Zhalong is a nature reserve in Heilongjiang in north-east China. It is one of the world’s most important wetlands. The reserve covers an area of 210,000 hectares. The area provides food and shelter for wildlife. It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants, fish and birds.

Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round, while some only stay there for a short time. There are many fish in the wetlands, and the birds can easily catch them for food. Zhalong has long been called “the home of the crane”. There are 15 crane species (物种) in the world. 8 of them are in China and there are 6 species in Zhalong area. It is an important living area for the rare red-crowned cranes. There are not many red-crowned cranes in the world. Every spring and summer, red-crowned cranes lay and hatch (孵化) their eggs in Zhalong.

Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife. More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space. Many of them died. The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered birds, and they can be safe in Zhalong.

Every year, a lot of tourists go to Zhalong to watch birds. This year, members of our Bird-watching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalong and the changes in their numbers. The study begins next month.

We _______ once a year. We are now inviting secondary school students to help. We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds.

Many people do not understand the importance of the wetlands. We hope this information will help them understand and make them actively take action to protect wildlife.

1. What does the underlined word “ideal” mean?

   A. Perfect.          B. Dangerous.       C. Crowded.     D. Expensive.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

   A. All birds stay in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round.

   B. There are eight species of red-crowned cranes in Zhalong.

   C. The number of the world’s red-crowned cranes is small.

   D. Every winter red-crowned cranes hatch eggs in Zhalong.

3.Which of the following can we choose for the blank (空白) in the fifth paragraph?

   A. go birdwatching   B. do a bird count  C. go bird-hunting  D. hold a bird show

4.The purpose of the article is to _______.

   A. attract more visitors to pay a visit to Zhalong Nature Reserve

   B. ask people to take action to protect wetlands and wildlife

   C. prevent people from watching birds in Zhalong Nature Reserve

   D. make people around the world know the Birdwatchting Club

用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空，使短文通顺、正确、连贯（每个单词限用一次）

To: Christin foo@hotmail.com

Date: 23^rd March

Subject: The Riding for the Disabled Association

Hi Christine,

Sorry I haven’t emailed lately —I’ve been very busy since becoming a volunteer for the Riding for the Disabled Association.

Every Saturday, I help to get the horses 1.___________ for the disabled(残疾) riders. Many more disabled people want to ride 2.___________ than you’d imagine. It’s a disadvantage that I don’t know how to ride —I’d love to got on long rides with the riders— but I’ll learn soon 3.___________. Right now, I’m just happy to be able to lead the horses around for the disabled riders.

I’m4.___________ helping to organize a sale, which will be 5.___________ next month. It’s a lot more work than helping the disabled. I need to collect second-hand things to sell at the sale. There are 6.___________ things available(获得的) than I thought, but I’m sure we’ll have enough7.__________ next month.

I hope the sale raises more money than last month’s walk. It was rainy, so too few people took part in the event. Last week, we held an auction(拍卖). The auction took much less 8.__________ to organize than the walk. 9.__________, for some reason, people offered too little money for the things, so we didn’t raise enough money.

I’m 10.___________ you some pictures in the letter, as well as a speech I gave last week.