Every day in China, about 200 million children go to school. Many of them take school buses. What should we do to keep these students safe on the road?

On April 5, the State Council (国务院) published new rules about school bus safety. These new rules are much stricter than the old ones.

Under the new rules, local governments must make sure that students attend nearby schools or boarding (寄宿的) schools to reduce traffic risks. Also, local governments must help kids in the countryside reach their school buses.

From now on, school buses have a speed limit of 80km per hour on highways and 60km per hour on normal roads. While on the road, other cars must let school buses go first.

The new rules also say that school buses must never be overloaded (超载的). They have a speed limit of 80 km per hour on highways and 60 km per hour on normal roads.

There are many other rules as well. A school bus must have more than seven seats. On each bus, there must be at least one adult to keep an eye on the kids. Each school bus must have a fire extinguisher (灭火器), a first aid box and a GPS.

Last year, a series of school bus accidents happened in China. To stop such accidents, the Central Government decided to strengthen the rules for school buses.

The most serious accident happened in November in Gansu, when a nine-seat minibus crashed. There were 62 children inside, and 21 of them died.

1.Under the new rules, which of the following is NOT true?

A．School buses must not be overloaded.

B．School buses must drive 80 km/h or less on normal roads.

C．School buses can go first when there are other cars.

D．School buses must drive 80 km/h or less on highways.

2.The phrase “keep an eye on” in Paragraph 6 has a similar meaning to “__________”.

A．look after

B．play with

C．look for

D．chat with

3.According to the new rule, a school bus must have the following EXCEPT __________.

A．a GPS

B．more than seven seats

C．a parent of one of the students

D．a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit

4.The government made new rules for school buses because __________.

A．21 students died in school bus accidents last year

B．the government encourages all students to take school buses

C．200 million children in China go to school by bus every day

D．school buses in China were not safe enough before

 

You are probably familiar with the saying：An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A recent research carried out by the Chinese University of Hong Kong may change the saying:
An apple a day may keep aging away.
The research chose fruit flies(果蝇), as they share many genes(基因)with humans. The fruit flies were either fed normally or had an apple extract(浓缩物) added to their diet.
It turned out that those fruit flies that were given apple extract lived about 55 days—five days longer than the flies that were normally fed. The research group also found it easier for the flies to walk，climb and move about as they aged.
According to the result, the researchers believed that the antioxidants(抗氧化剂) in the apple extract helped clean up dangerous chemicals(化学物质) that cause illnesses，as well as aging.
In another study，researchers examined diets of thousands of women. They discovered that those who regularly ate apples were 20 percent less likely to suffer heart illnesses and stroke.
The apples’ genetic code(遗传密码) was discovered recently. It allows scientists to develop nicer and healthier fruits. Researchers are already using the information to grow a kind of apples full of antioxidants that can keep eyes and joints healthy and protect humans against heart illnesses and cancer.
Apples that kill the desire(欲望) to eat could also be produced, with the first“extra-healthy’’apples on supermarket shelves within just four or five years.
The team that keeps studying apple DNA includes 100 scientists from five countries. Their research also suggests that around 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs began to die off the plant，which would finally become today’s apple tree, experienced a great genetic change. The number of many of its genes doubled. The extra genes allowed the apple to get used to worse conditions and go through a different development from peaches，strawberries and other related fruits.
【小题1】Why were fruit flies used for the research?

A．Because they have a similar diet to humans.

B．Because they have a history as long as apples.

C．Because they share a lot of genes with humans.

D．Because they feed on nothing but apple extract.

【小题2】What result did the researchers find out?

A．Apples produce chemicals that can change human genes.

B．Apples have antioxidants that kill chemicals that cause aging.

C．Apples are rich in vitamins that are needed in humans’bodies.

D．Apples produce chemicals that make apples taste more delicious.

【小题3】What happened to apples around 65 million years ago according to the research?

A．Their genes stopped their development as the environment got worse.

B．Their genes became twice in number but they finally died off like dinosaurs.

C．They experienced a great genetic change making them used to worse conditions.

D．They went through a similar development to peaches, strawberries and other related fruits.

【小题4】What can we infer(推断)from the passage?

A．Eating apples may bring us more advantages than we might believe before.

B．People who have the habit of eating apples don’t need to see a doctor.

C．Apples that kill the desire to eat are already available in supermarkets now.

D．People will eat apples instead of peaches and strawberries from now on.

Chinese space trainer Wang Yuan has been chosen as one of the volunteers for the Mars-500 test project. He was very happy to be chosen and will accept the meaningful challenge(挑战) Another five volunteers are all space lovers., including three Russians, an Italy-Colombian and a Frenchman. They are about to feel what it’s like to travel to Mars, only without leaving the earth. They are locked up together for a year and a half under a similar condition to the red planet during the whole process. So the experiment is called Mars-500.
When reporters asked what they would miss most during the 520-day special life, French trainer Charles said:”For me, it will be mainly my family, the sun and fresh air.”
The Mars-500 test will be in a special building in Moscow, Russia. Although the people won’t leave the building, they will fell as if they are on a real trip to the Mars. The most difficult thing will be to be separated(分离) from the people that they used to live with. The trainer won’t see sunsets, sunrises, won’t feel rain for 18 months. That will be hard.
The main task is to study the “Man and environment”. It’ll care about the astronauts’ getting experience and physical effects. The 520-day-test is divided into three parts,the first 250days to Mars, the middle 30days of landing on Mars, the last 240 days to return to the earth. Everyone will stay there alone for a long time and will work lonely. They will have to make decisions themselves and only then report to the earth, and the earth will tell them whether they do the right thing or not.
Each astronaut is preparing for the great challenge. It is learned that they will be launched（发射）early in June. And the experiment will end in November 2011.
【小题1】 _______ members were chosen as volunteers.

A．Five

B．Six

C．Three

D．Four

【小题2】 The most difficult thing for the trainers is ______.

A．no vegetables to eat

B．they can’t watch TV

C．they can’t see many people

D．they must lie all day

【小题3】 Mars-500 test will be done in ______

A．Moscow	B．a red planet
C．November	D．Xichang

【小题4】 It will take trainers _______ days to land on Mars.

A．250

B．30

C．240

D．520

【小题5】 Which sentence is NOT true about the 520-day-test?

A．The trainers won’t see rain or snow

B．The experiment will begin in June.

C．Trainers are all astronauts.

D．Trainers will report to the earth.

Every day in China, about 200 million children go to school. Many of them take school buses. What should we do to keep these students safe on the road?
On April 5, the State Council (国务院) published new rules about school bus safety. These new rules are much stricter than the old ones.
Under the new rules, local governments must make sure that students attend nearby schools or boarding (寄宿的) schools to reduce traffic risks. Also, local governments must help kids in the countryside reach their school buses.
From now on, school buses have a speed limit of 80km per hour on highways and 60km per hour on normal roads. While on the road, other cars must let school buses go first.
The new rules also say that school buses must never be overloaded (超载的). They have a speed limit of 80 km per hour on highways and 60 km per hour on normal roads.
There are many other rules as well. A school bus must have more than seven seats. On each bus, there must be at least one adult to keep an eye on the kids. Each school bus must have a fire extinguisher (灭火器), a first aid box and a GPS.
Last year, a series of school bus accidents happened in China. To stop such accidents, the Central Government decided to strengthen the rules for school buses.
The most serious accident happened in November in Gansu, when a nine-seat minibus crashed. There were 62 children inside, and 21 of them died.
【小题1】Under the new rules, which of the following is NOT true?

A．School buses must not be overloaded.

B．School buses must drive 80 km/h or less on normal roads.

C．School buses can go first when there are other cars.

D．School buses must drive 80 km/h or less on highways.

【小题2】The phrase “keep an eye on” in Paragraph 6 has a similar meaning to “__________”.

A．look after

B．play with

C．look for

D．chat with

【小题3】According to the new rule, a school bus must have the following EXCEPT __________.

A．a GPS

B．more than seven seats

C．a parent of one of the students

D．a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit

【小题4】The government made new rules for school buses because __________.

A．21 students died in school bus accidents last year

B．the government encourages all students to take school buses

C．200 million children in China go to school by bus every day

D．school buses in China were not safe enough before

You may have known several kinds of police --- traffic police, fire police and street police. But have you ever heard of energy-saving(节能) policeman?

A group of 22 energy-saving policemen went to work last week in Beijing. They go around the city to see the use of energy in hotels, office buildings, shopping centers and other public places. One of their aims is to make sure that these places have set their air conditioning(空调) no cooler than 26℃.

They also set up a special phone line so that people can tell them which buildings fail to follow the rule.

“If everyone sets their air conditioning at 26℃, Beijing will save 400 million kilowatthour of electricity in one summer. That’s one-third of all the usages of the city in the season,” said a TV advertisement.

Other Chinese cities, like Wuhan in Hubei Province and Yangzhou in Jiansu Province, are going to follow Beijing’s steps in setting up a similar police team.

As one of the fastest developing countries, China is using a lot of energy. This has a great effect on the country’s environment and limited(有限的) energy.

From 1986 to 2005, the country experienced 20 warm winters continuously(连续). Numbers show that Chinese cities have to spend billions of yuan solving environmental problems every year.

At the beginning of this month, China made its first action plan to fight pollution. It aims to reduce energy usage by 20% and increase renewable(可更新的) energy up to 10% from 7% by 2010.

To introduce the public to a green life, last week Beijing held a show on energy-saving technology and productions. Environment-friendly machines, such as a vending machine that helps collect used bottles, have attracted lots of attention. “We want to tell people that there are certain ways to protect the environment. Each of us can find effective ways to do it on our daily lives,” said Liu Qianguang, an environmental engineer in Beijing.

1.The job of the energy-saving policemen is ______.

   A. to set up a special phone line              

B. to set the air conditioning cooler

   C. to check the use of energy in public places 

D. to make sure that more energy will be produced

2.Beijing uses ______ million kilowatt-hour electricity in summer.

   A. 1200.         B. 800.            C. 400.              D. 133.

3.Which of the following years’ winters were all warm in China?

   A. 1968—1988.   B. 1999—2003.     C. 2002—2006.        D. 2005—2009.

4.In the year 2010 China’s energy usages is going to be cut by ______.

   A. 7%.             B. 10%.              C. 17%.              D. 20%.

5.According to Liu Qianguang, ______.

   A. there are few ways to protect the environment

   B. it’s difficult to find good ways to save energy

   C. it’s easy for one to do something good for the environment

   D. it’s difficult for one to do something good for the environment