WASHINGTON—Two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population could be gone by 2050 if predictions of melting sea ice hold true, the US Geological Survey reported on Friday.

The fate of polar bears could be even worse than that estimate, because sea ice in the Arctic might be disappearing faster than the available computer models predict, the geological survey said in a report aimed at determining whether the big white bear should be listed as a threatened species.

“There is a definite link between changes in the sea ice and the welfare of polar bears,” said Steve Amstrup, who led the research team. He says Arctic sea ice is already at the lowest this year and is expected to retreat(退却) farther this month.

That means that polar bears—some 16,000 of them -- will disappear by 2050 from parts of the Arctic where sea ice is melting most rapidly, along the north coasts of Alaska and Russia, researchers said in a telephone briefing(简报).

Other polar bears could survive beyond that date but many of those could be gone by 2100, Amstrup said. By this century’s end, the only polar bears left might live in the Canadian Arctic islands and along the west coast of Greenland.

“It is likely to result in loss of approximately two-thirds of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st century,” the report’s executive summary said.

“Because the observed trajectory(轨迹)of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative(保守的).”

In January, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the polar bear as a threatened species, noting polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, their main food.

Without enough sea ice, polar bears would be forced onto land, but they are poor hunters once they get out of the water and ice, the researchers said. The bears’ disappearance would probably take place as young cubs(幼兽)failed to survive to adulthood and females were unable to reproduce successfully.

1.What was the US Geological Survey intended to do?

A．To determine whether the polar bear was in danger.

B．To measure how fast the sea ice melts in the Arctic.

C．To check the predictions of the computer models.

D．To find out the exact number of the polar bear.

2.What causes the polar bears to disappear by 2050?

A．The pollution of the Arctic region.           B．The sea ice melting at high speed

C．Fewer food sources being left.             D．The temperature getting colder.

3.The key to preventing polar bears dying out seems to _______________.

A．help young polar bears to survive the cold winter

B．have large number of seals living in the oceans

C．make sure there is enough sea ice in the Arctic

D．provide chances for adult polar bears to reproduce

A new system that scans customers’ fingerprints and subtracts（减去）the grocery bill from their bank accounts has taken supermarkets in Germany to use the new system. “Almost a quarter of our customers pay with their fingers,” said an employee at the headquarters. Edeka has tried the system at 70 of its supermarkets. It says it will introduce it at 200 others because customers like it.

“At first we thought that only the young who really keep up with the latest technology would be interested, but we were wrong,” said Stefan Sewoester from IT Werke. “Almost two-thirds of the people who use the system are 40 and older,” he said.

IT Werke, a computer company, is one of the pioneers of fingerprint payment software in Germany. It has helped about 150 shops, canteens and bars to put in the fingerprint scanning machines. Each costs about 2,000 euros.

To sign up for the service, customers must have their fingerprints taken and leave their addresses and banking details with the shop. The shop then takes the cost of goods directly out of the customer’s bank account.

“It is especially a good thing for elderly people. Now they do not have to remember their pin to pay with their bank cards, or to scratch around for their glasses or cash.” Sewoester said.

The stores benefit from the system too. It saves more than time in the check-out line. It also cuts out the hidden costs of accepting electronic card payments.

1.According to the passage, the fingerprint system______.

2.To apply to pay with fingers, customers are required to do all of the following EXCEPT______.

3.Why do elderly people benefit much from the fingerprint machine?

Have you ever thought of taking a train and having an adventure？Riding the train can be a real adventure. That is how I feel every time I take Amtrak. I often take a four-hour trip to visit my children. Every time I take this trip I never know what will happen.

Last week when I was on the train, there was a man sitting by himself in the back of the train carrying on a mobile phone conversation—in another language. It was loud and disturbed most of the people on the train. I think it was annoying.

Fortunately I sat next to a wonderful old lady who was taking a two-day trip by train. She said her two daughters were worried at the thought of driving for three days to reach her home, although she had no trouble driving. The train ride was the only choice for her. She loved to look out of the window and watch the world go by on the train.

She was fun to talk to and asked me when my children started being parents. That is a very good question. Both of us are old and have children. She asked that same question from time to time.

There are always many people on the train from all walks of life, different countries, and many languages. Riding the train is a great way to increase your knowledge and learn all kinds of cultures. If you get hungry, you can buy food in the food car at any time. If you need to use the restroom, there is always one for you.

It surely beats driving the car, which has to stop for food and restrooms. And it is better than taking the bus.

1.According to the passage, the purpose of the author’s train ride was ______.

A．to do business                          B．to see her children

C．to visit places of interest                  D．to see her old friends

2.In the author’s opinion, on the train Amtrak ______.

A．the services are quite good                B．the food is terribly expensive

C．all the passengers are polite               D．all the passengers are American

3.What is the best title for this passage?

A．A painful experience on the train           B．A wonderful lady

C．Train ride—a cultural experience           D．The history of Amtrak

 阅读下面短文并回答问题，然后将答案写到答案卡相应的位置上（请注意词数要求）。

For most Americans, a clean glass of water is just a faucet (水龙头) away. But for many of the world’s poorest people, it’s hard to get.

2 On Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) marked World Water Day by trying to cut the number of people without good drinking water — one billion human beings worldwide — in half. In the next ten years, the UN will work with governments around the world to reduce the shortage.

Without clean water nearby, many people use water that is not clean. In India, many people bathe and wash their clothes in rivers that are polluted by human waste.

According to the UN, not having enough clean water and sanitation (卫生设施) causes more than three million deaths a year.

“The links between water and human health are powerful,” said Dr Lee Jong Wook, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). “We cannot live without clean water.”

In fact, the International Federation of the Red Cross said that quick reaction after last year’s Asian tsunami (海啸) had stopped disease. The agency provided clean water to nearly 500,000 people in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

World Water Day was first celebrated in 1993. Since then, it is celebrated each year on March 22.

1.What is the best title of the passage? (No more than 8 words)

______________________________________________________________________________

2.Why can’t many people in the world get clean water? (No more than 10 words)

______________________________________________________________________________

3.Please translate the underlined sentence in the fourth paragraph into Chinese.

______________________________________________________________________________

4.What is the purpose of the writer to mention the tsunami in the sixth paragraph? (No more than 15 words)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

5. In your opinion, what can we do to save water? Please make two suggestions. (No more than 25 words)

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

London, April 28---The Man Group, a British hedge fund, is betting that investors will want to read more than the latest how-to- get –rich-quick business book.

In a five-year deal worth roughly $3.6 million announced last week, Man has agreed to sponsor(主办)the Booker Prize for Fiction, which will be renamed the Man Booker Prize. Since creating the award in 1969, Booker P.L.G., a British food group, in June 2000, executives began considering attracting outside sponsors. Man will be the first of these. Bill Grimsey, the chief of the Big Food Group, saw little business sense in a link between a food supplier and a literary prize, explained Dotti Irving, a spokeswoman for the Booker Prize foundation.

Such dissimilarities (差异) have not reduced Man’s enthusiasm for the prize which is expected to be open for the first time to American authors. David Browne, a spokesman for Man, said most of the firm’s investors are high-net-worth individuals who appreciate literature. “The people who buy hedge funds,” Mr. Browne said, “also read.”

Under the new agreement, authors will get more money. The winner of the annual prize, to be awarded in October, will receive $73,000 , up from $30,000 the Australian writer Peter Carey won last year for his novel “True History of the Kelley Gang.”

The six short-listed authors will each receive $3,600, up from $1,500. Having a hedge fund as a backer apparently has its perks.(福利).

1.The article is mainly about ____.

2. This article is most probably seen in a(n) ____.

3.What can be inferred from the article?

4.Who is the spokesman for Man?