BUNOL, Spain (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people from around the world threw tons of ripe tomatoes at each other in an annual food fight that painted the eastern Spanish town of Bunol red.

More than 40,000 people, including many visitors from Australia, Britain and the United States, took part in the food fight known as the “Tomatina”, now in its 64th year, a spokeswoman for Bunol’s town hall said.

They were provided with over 100 tons of tomatoes by the town council for the battle which lasted about one hour and left participants covered in red.

Many men were shirtless while others wore old clothes, hardhats, goggles or protective plastic sheets.

Shopkeepers put up huge plastic covers on their store fronts or boarded them up to protect their properties from the sea of red mush (糊状物).

After the battle, governmental workers and local residents used “giant hoses” to clear the walls and streets of the tomato pulp in just half an hour while the participants headed to a nearby river where temporary showers were set up.

The event cost the town of some l0, 000 residents 40,000 dollars, and Spanish media reported.

The “Tomatina” is held each year in Bunol, located in a fertile (富饶的) region about 40 kilometers north of the coastal city of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, on the last Wednesday in August.

The origins of the event are unclear although it is thought to have its roots in a food fight between childhood friends in the mid-1940s in the city.

It has grown in size as international press coverage brought more and more people to the festival.

1.To keep their stores safe, the shopkeepers _____.

A. kept their store fronts covered             B. hung plastic sheets on the walls

C. closed all the doors and windows           D. stopped people throwing at them

2.Which of the following words is closest in meaning to the underlined word “pulp” (in Paragraph 6)?

A. skin.                               B. color.                           C. mush.                             D. value.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. the “Tomatina” brings in huge profits

B. the festival attracted more tourists this year

C. no one knows the history of the festival               

D. tourism plays an important role in Bunol

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. It is fun to throw tomatoes         B. An exciting story about tomatoes

C. Fighting and sightseeing in Bunol   D. Spanish town painted red in tomato fight

 

 

To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.

Common sense is not all that common.

Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

These three popular misquotes(戏谑的引语)are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature .To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do .The original quote about human nature went like this:” To err is human, to forgive, divine(神圣的).”This saying mirrors an deal people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite –find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.

Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Commonsense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company,”the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”

And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people. get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary(直接推论)to that: if good excuse is “good”even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?

1. According to tile passage, which of following seems the most human?

A. To search for truth．                    B. To achieve one’s ideal

C. To make fun of others’mistakes．          D. To criticize others for one’s own error.

2．According to the author, what is a sign of a man’s maturity?

A．Doing things his own way.

B．Bearing responsibility for his mistakes.

C．Making as few mistakes as possible．

D．Thinking seriously about his wrongdoing.

3．Which of the following is N0T based on common sense?

A．A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company.

B．A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.

C．A company’s next move follows a good plan．

D．A lawyer acts on fine judgments．

4. What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?

A. Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy.

B. Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.

C. A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty.

D. Bitter truth is better than a good excuse.

5. What would be the best title for his passage?

A. A Mirror of Human Nature            B. To Blame or to Forgive

C. A Mark of Maturity                  D. Truth or Excuse

 

   For the people living in the Nile Basin, the river is their life:. This 6,825 km waterway, whose watershed（流域） covers three million square kilometers, flows through mountains ,woodlands, lakes and deserts. Its potential for fishing, tourism and shipping is great—but so are its challenges.

Water shortage , already serious in Egypt and Sudan , will soon influence several other countries in the watershed as well. Today, about 160 million people depend on the Nile River for their living. Within the next 25 yeas ,the district's population is expected to double, adding to the demand brought about by growth in industry and agriculture. The frequent drought（干旱）adds to the urgency.

Water quality is also a problem. Precious soil is washed out to sea. Wastes from industry and agriculture create pollution. Higher concentrations of salt influence irrigated soils. Water-borne diseases continue unchecked. In areas where it's hot and damp, water hyacinths choke off lakes, dams and other sections of the river, making it difficult for fishing and other businesses to move forward.

Native people along the narrow area of farmland have watched the sand move closer day by day. They’ve seen the river change course, and their only source（来源） of water thickened with mud. They’re very poor and have few choices.

But a new program, the Nile Basin Initiative （NBI），is offering very practical assistance. The program is more than just a water-management project. It’s a plan for the social and economic development of a vast district: it concentrates on the needs of the poorest of the poor and the environment that supports them.

These are whole ecosystem problems, calling for united solutions（解决办法）. Half the Nile Basin's countries are among the world's poorest nations；yet, somehow, they must find the  resources, skills and political will to overcome these challenges.

68. What are the great challenges the Nile Basin faces？

A. The development of .shipping industry.

B. Overfishing of native people.

C. Water shortage and water quality.

D. Increasing population and tourism.

69. The underlined word “hyacinths”（in Paragraph 3） refer to “          ”.

A. animals                           B. plants                     C. rocks                                D. salts

70. The program NBI is mainly aimed at           .

A. preventing water pollution                             B. changing the river course

C. improving living condition of the poor

D. preventing land from becoming desert

71. What would be the best title of this passage？

A. People's Life in Egypt and Sudan

B. Frequent Drought in Egypt and Sudan

C. The Poorest Countries in the Nile Basin

D. The Ecosystem Problems in the Nile Basin

 

To get an extra 14 years of life, don’t smoke, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and drink alcohol in a proper amount．That is according to a study published this Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal．

After tracking more than 20,000 people aged 45-79 years in the United Kingdom from about 1993-2007, Kay-Tee, Khaw of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues found that people who adopted these four healthy habits lived an average of 14 years longer than those who didn’t．

“We’ve known for a long time that these behaviors are good things to do, but we’ve not seen this benefit before, ” said Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health at Britain’s Medical Research Council．“The benefit was also seen regardless of whether or not people were fat and what social class they came from．”

Study participants(参与者) scored a point each for not smoking, regular physical activity, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and moderate alcohol intake．

Public health experts said they hoped the study would inspire governments to introduce policies helping people to adopt these changes．But because the study only observed people rather than testing specific changes, it would be impossible to conclude that people who suddenly adopted these healthy behaviours would surely gain 14 years．

“We can’t say that any person could gain 14 years by doing these things,” said Doctor Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization．”The 14 years is an average across the population of what’s theoretically(理论上) possible．”

“Most people know that things like a good diet matter and that smoking is not good for them”, Susan Jebb said, ”We need to work on providing people with much more practical support to help them change．”

1．Which of the following doesn’t belong to the four healthy habits?

A．Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day．

B．Doing proper exercise in the morning every day．

C．Having a cigarette before going to bed every day．

D．Drinking alcohol in the proper amount every day．

2．We can learn from the passage that_____．

A．the study observed people as well as tested specific changes

B．Susan Jebb did not take part in the study

C．there is no need for people under 45 adopt these good habits

D．only those from first class can benefit from these healthy behaviours

3．What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Governments should take measures to help people change their bad habits．

B．People aged 45-79 have bad habits in the United Kingdom．

C．All the people are well aware of the harm of their bad habits．

D．People have adopted the four healthy habits after knowing they’re good．

4．What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Smoking and Drinking Cuts You 14 Years

B．Healthy Habits Could Gain You Extra 14 years

C．A New Way of Keeping Healthy

D．Smoking and Drinking Harms Your Health

 

We find that bright children are seldom held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming(按能力分班) pupils. It does not consider the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have had effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright children. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be the bottom of the top grade.

Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual(智力) ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We care much about the development of all the pupils’ abilities to the full, not just their study ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching does good to these aspects of learning.

In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups; this gives them the chance to learn to work together, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to deal with personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyze(分析) an devaluate(评价) and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teachers.

Sometimes the pupils work in pairs; sometimes they work on individual(个人) tasks, and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is proper. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this well. An advanced pupil can do advanced work and it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every encouragement to achieve this goal.

1.By “held back” in the first paragraph, the writer means “________”.

A. made to remain in the same class            B. forced to study in the lower class

C. drawn away form their studies         D. prevented from advancing

2.The writer’s purpose of writing this passage is to ________.

A. argue for teaching bright and not-so-bright pupils in the same class

B. advise pair work and group work for classroom activity

C. offer advice on the proper use of the library

D. tell us the importance of proper formal classroom teaching

3.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Pair work.       B. Group work.    C. Mixed-ability teaching    D. Individual tasks.