A town in Oxfordshire has become the first in the UK to have biomethane（生物甲烷）gas from human waste piped to their homes for gas central heating and cooking.
Up to 200 families in Didcot now receive the gas via the national gas power system. Head of energy and technology at British Gas, Martin Orrill, said customers wouldn’t notice any difference as the gas is purified（提炼）to the highest standard and has no smell. The gas is produced at a sewage（污物）treatment works plant in Didcot.
The entire process takes only less than three weeks, with the sewage being collected and sent first to settlement tanks. The solid waste material is then fed into digesters, where anaerobic bacteria（厌氧菌）digest the sewage, with the aid of enzymes（酶）to speed up the process. The digestion process produces methane, which can be burned to drive machines to produce electricity, or can be purified and fed into the gas network and piped to homes and businesses. British Gas says supplying the gas rather than electricity is far more efficient since around two-thirds of the energy is lost in producing electricity.
Partners in the Didcot project, British Gas, Scotia Gas Networks, and Thames Water, all hope to expand the process to other towns, and other companies such as Ecotricity and United Utilities have also announced biomethane projects being planned. One of these projects, in Manchester, could be supplying 500 homes with biomethane by mid next year. Another British Gas project in Suffolk will provide gas from digestion of brewery wastes to around 235 families.
The Didcot project cost ￡2.5m and was influenced by promises of government aids aimed at encouraging companies to develop renewable technologies. An EU directive means the UK must ensure at least 15 percent of its energy is from renewable sources by 2020.
The UK produces about 1.73 million tons of sewage annually. If all sewage treatment works in the UK were fitted with the technology, they could supply gas for up to 350,000 families.
【小题1】Which of the following is true of the biomethane gas?

A．It’s mainly made from rotting plants.

B．It’s an environmentally friendly gas.

C．Its production process is too long.

D．It’s easily recognized by the customers.

【小题2】What is the function of the enzymes?

A．To digest the solid waste material.

B．To help get rid of anaerobic bacteria.

C．To help purify the biomethane.

D．To speed up the digestion process.

【小题3】According to British Gas, the biomethane gas had better be used _____.

A．as the power for the vehicles

B．for the heating and cooking

C．to produce the electricity

D．to drive a variety of machines

【小题4】The last three paragraphs mainly show that _____.

A．UK government supports the biome thane projects

B．the biome thane projects are very costly

C．the biome thane projects still face many barriers

D．the biome thane projects are promising

【小题5】What should the text belong to?

A．Computer science.

B．Engineering.

C．Energy.

D．Business.

More than 1.5 billion people around the world live without electricity. Finding better ways to bring light to the poor is the goal of researchers like Professor Irvine. In the late 1990s, he was working in Nepal when his return flight was canceled. A delay gave him time to take a fourteen-day hiking trip in the Himalayas.

One day he looked in the window of a school and noticed how dark it was. This is a common problem for millions of children around the world. Many families use kerosene oil (煤油) lamps. There are many problems with these lamps. They produce only a small amount of light. They are dangerous to breathe. And they are a big fire danger, causing many injuries and deaths each year. Kerosene costs less than other forms of lighting, but it is still costly in poor countries. Professor Irvine says many people spend over 100 dollars a year on the fuel.

When he returned to Canada, he began researching ways to provide safe and clean lighting. He began experimenting with light-emitting diodes (发光二极管), LEDs, at his lab. As a professor of renewable energy, he already knew about the technology. Light-emitting diodes are small glass lamps that use much less electricity than traditional bulbs (灯泡) and last much longer. He used a one-watt bright white LED made in Japan. He found it on the Internet and connected it to a bicycle-powered generator (发电机). He remembers thinking it was so bright that a child could read by the light of a single diode.

In 2000, after much research and many experiments, he returned to Nepal to put the systems into homes. Now the homes of 25,000 people in 51 countries have been equipped with it. “The one-time cost of our system which basically lives forever, as well as the solar panel — is less than one hundred dollars. So, one year of kerosene would pay for a solid-state lighting system,” he said. Now his aim is to develop a lower-cost lighting system. In January, Irvine is leaving the University of Calgary. He has also decided to start his own company in India.

1.We can learn from the second paragraph that kerosene oil lamps ______.

A. cost more than other forms of lighting

B. have damaged children’s eyesight

C. have wasted only a little fuel

D. have a lot of disadvantages

2.Irvine connected a white LED to a bicycle-powered generator to prove ______.

A. whether it can work without electricity

B. whether it can work well with less electricity

C. whether it can last longer than a generator

D. whether it is brighter than a traditional bulb

3.We can learn from the text that Irvine ______.

A. likes India rather than Nepal

B. is good at making new kinds of bulbs

C. is giving up his job in the university

D. is to earn much money from his company

 

A controversial new study has claimed that men really are more intelligent than women．The study concluded that men’s IQs are almost four points higher than women’s.

British-born researcher John Philippe Ruston says the finding could explain why so few women make it to the top in the workplace.

He claims the “glass ceiling” phenomenon is probably due to inferior intelligence，rather than lack of opportunity.

The University of Western Ontario psychologist reached his conclusion after scrutinizing the results of university ability tests taken by 1 00,000 students aged 17 and 18 of both sexes.

A focus on the factors such as the ability to quickly grasp a complex concept，verbal reasoning skills and creativity― some of the key factors of intelligence ―showed the male teenagers had IQs that were an average of 3.63 points higher. The average person has an IQ around 100.The findings，which held true for all classes and levels of education, overturn 100 year opinion that men and women average the same in general mental ability. They also conflict with evidence that girls do better in school exams than boys.

But Professor Ruston argues that the faster maturing of girls leads to them outshining boy in the classroom.

1. The report is mainly about ______.

A．a study that shows men are cleverer than women

B．the “glass ceiling” phenomenon

C．Professor Ruston’s theory on IQ

D．the difference between male and female

2. The underlined word “scrutinizing” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.

A．making up

B．carrying out

C．examining carefully

D．looking at

3. We can infer that the average woman has an IQ of ______.

A．a little less than 100	B．100
C．more than 100	D．96.37

 

B

Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy. But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services. Today’s advertisements, or ads, try to get consumers to buy certain brands. Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can. sometimes persuade a consumer to wear a certain kind of clothing, eat a special kind of cereal (麦片) , or see a movie. Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisements for it.

　　For example, you probab1y do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket. There are probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves. You may not have space on a shelf for another. But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra-tasty and has a free prize in the box, you may want it.

　　Advertising must get attention. To be effective, it must be exciting, entertaining, or provide some pleasure. The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product. The idea is what the ad is really selling. One example is an ad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports. That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy.

69. What is discussed in this passage?

　    A. The content of modern advertising.　                B. The skills of modern advertising.

      C. The results of modern advertising.　　                 D. The writing of modern advertising.

70. According to the passage, a good advertisement should________.

       A. be both persuasive and effective　　    B. give people useful information

      C. show people a product　　                 D. show people a new idea of a product 

71. From the passage, we know that _______ .

A. modern advertising has less effect on customers 　　

B. once customers see ads about a new cerea1, they are sure to buy it

C. cereal can make people strong

D. cereal is a kind of food which is popular among people 

72. What can we infer from the passage?

A. It’s impossible for customers to buy a product without advertisements.

B. Customers should be persuaded by advertisements.

C. Customers can easily be persuaded by advertisements.

D. Customers buy products according to their demands rather than the advertisements.

D

Time out, extra chores and taking away privileges are more useful forms of disciplining (惩戒)naughty children than spanking or hitting, according to a study on Wednesday.

About 94 percent of parents use some form of physical punishment to teach their two-year-olds right from wrong, according to research studies. But psychologists say it could lead to later emotional and behavioral problems.

Even children who were only spanked some of the time are more likely to show signs of sadness or have less confidence.

      “The key is to be fair and do the same thing each time. Doing something like hitting a child that seems cruel at best doesn’t help and can put a child at risk for problems,” said Dr Paul Frick, of the University of New Orleans in Louisians.

      “It is better to use other punishments,” he added.

      The use of physical punishment to teach children has long been debated. In countries such as Austria, Finland, Germany and Sweden, it is illegal to use physical punishment at home or in schools.

Frick and his team, who studied the effects of physical punishment on 98 children, said they couldn’t find any positive effects. Some children learned more from the hitting than what the parent was trying to teach them.

      “The key is to have a lot of different forms of punishment depending on the age of the child,” said Frick, who reported his findings in the Journal of Applied Child Psychology.

      He recommended time out for younger children and taking away television and electronic toys for older children. Giving extra chores can also get the message across.

      Other measures are at least as effective as physical punishment and have less harmful potential consequences.

      The researchers kept children whom they thought were at risk of later conduct problems out of the test and an equal number of other children who acted as a control group, to study what measures would be most helpful.

      They questioned the parents and the children about positive and negative parenting behavior including the use of physical punishment.

      “We got it from both viewpoints,” said Frick.

      He added that children on the receiving end of a hit can learn that when they are upset and angry they hit, rather than understanding their behavior was wrong and that they need to do better.

67. What’s the purpose of the writer to write this article?

    A.To debate if physical punishment is illegal.

    B.To introduce how to deal with young kids.

    C.To talk about how to discipline young kids.

    D.To order parents not to spank young kids.

68. Which of the following punishments is NOT recommended by Frick and his team?

      A. Taking away toys                                 B. Not allowing watching TV

      C. Doing more housework.                     D. Switching TV channels 

69. What should be kept in mind when disciplining a kid?

    A. How he or she usually behaves.

    B. Tell them why they are punished.

    C. Use different forms of punishment each time.

    D. Be fair and stick to the same principle.

70. According to the passage, why did Dr Frick advise against physical punishment?

    A. Because the children may hit people as a solution to problems.

    B. Because the children will learn their behavior is wrong in time.

    C. Because it is illegal to use physical punishment in certain countries.

    D. Because parents think it’s the easiest way to teach kids right from wrong.