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Section B
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
(A)
It was a cold night in Washington, D.C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if I would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I'd read the signs: "Don't give money to beggars as most of them are swindlers." So I shook my head and kept walking.
I wasn't prepared for a reply, but with no hesitation, he followed me and said, "I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!" But I kept on walking.
The incident kept bothering me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn't have killed me to hand over a dollar or two even if he hadn’t been a real beggar. On a freezing cold night, no less, I assumed the worst of a fellow human being.
Flying back to Anchorage, I couldn't help thinking of him. I tried to reason my failure to help by supposing government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you're not supposed to give money to beggars.
Somewhere over Seattle, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News. Out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean's Cafe, a local charity service kitchen, feeds hundreds of hungry local people every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row of vegetables or flowers in their gardens for Bean's? Plant a row for Bean's. It’s clean and simple.
We didn't keep records back then, but the idea began to take off. Folks would fax me or call when they took something in. It’s food for the spirit and comfort for my conscience.
In April 1995, the Garden Writers Association of America(GWAA) held their annual meeting in Anchorage and after learning our program, Plant a Row for Bean's became Plant a Row For The Hungry. The idea then was to have every member write or talk about planting a row for the hungry, which brought the program to national attention.
As more and more people participated, new variations cropped up. Many companies gave free seeds to customers and displayed the logo for the program. Donations poured in. It was then that I could really stop feeling guilty.
66. The underlined word “swindlers” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.
A. policemen B. writers C. cheaters D. beggars
67. Why did the author think he assumed the worst of a fellow human being?
A. Because he didn’t show fair respect to a beggar treating him badly.
B. Because he could have helped a hungry man but he passed by.
C. Because he believed that no people begged because of real hunger.
D. Because he thought that charity work was the government’s duty.
68. How did the author make up for what he had done?
A. He set up a local kitchen to help the poor.
B. He planted a row of vegetables for charity.
C. He called on people to donate money to the Bean’s.
D. He initiated the idea of Plant a row for Bean’s.
69. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The beggar gave up the first time he was turned down by the author.
B. The author invented the program inspired by the Anchorage Daily News.
C. GWAA expanded the program concept and made it nationwide in 1995.
D. The program was later taken over by some seeding companies.
(B)
Our magazine is presenting to you the top five i-phone(the best seller of Apple Company) applications for more fun on hiking(徒步旅行) or camping trips recommended by our A-list field hikers and travellers.
1. GPS Kit by Garafa – Get un-lost (for $10)
What it does: Download before you leave or use your phone’s data connection to view maps from Google (satellite, landscape, cycling, and street), or Bing (shaded relief, street, or image). Record your movements, drop notes or photo makers on previously–downloaded Google Earth.
2. Photosynth by Microsoft – Perfect the view (for free!)
What it does: Make interactive 360?x360? panoramas(全景) to your own taste. It saves the panorama as a single image to your camera roll after combining images. Once you get to know how to hold the iPhone and move to take the photos, you can have pretty simple, fast panoramas!
3. Soundcloud by Soundcloud – Share the sounds (for free!)
What it does: Basic sound recorder with on-board editing (cutting) capabilities. Upload your recordings to the internet, share on social networks and listen to and follow others! It allows for super-simple recording and uploading to the internet. You can upload all the sounds as “non-shared’ files so you can download them to your computer for continued storage and editing. In addition, with this function, you will never fear your dirty laundries are to put you to shame. There is a growing community of users, including Paul Salopek who is walking around the world.
4. Postagram by Sincerely – Send moments (App is free!/$1 per card)
What it does: The app allows personalized production of e-postcards right from your iPhone. Even photos pop out from the card for sweet fridge posting! There aren’t many post offices out in the mountains, so this can be critical to send a gift home. And even if there are post offices where you are traveling, sometimes it’s easier, cheaper, and more fun to send your own DIY messages home.
5. Planets by Q Continuum – Love the night sky (for free!)
What it does: With automatic location detection, this basic App offers 2D maps and 3D maps of the sky for identifying planets and stars, gives you the rise/set visibility information for the sun and planets, and even has a few facts and visualizations of the moon and planets. Don’t forget to download it into your i-phone.
70. Through which application can you receive greetings from a faraway place instantly?
A. GPS Kit B. Photosynth C. Postagram D. Planets
71. Soundcloud protects your privacy by ______.
A. uploading your recordings to internet through password
B. allowing you for continuous editing and storage as you like
C. providing option to upload sounds accessible to only yourself
D. defending you through dirty laundries shared online
72. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. You don’t have to upload data online to make use of GPS Kit.
B. E-postcards are free of charge once you have downloaded Postagram.
C. Paul Salopek is the person who first put forward the idea of soundcloud.
D. All five applications are already available in the i-phone when you buy the phone.
73. Which of the websites does this passage most probably appear?
A. National Geographic. B. Homemade Groceries.
C. World Weatherlink. D. Space Exploration.
(C)
Is growth good for biodiversity(生物多样性)? To answer the question, it is critical to define what we mean by growth. Is growth gross domestic product (GDP), the "monetary value of all the finished goods within a country's borders"? Or does it mean improving the human standard of living? Today, when people say growth, they mean GDP, a measure that is over 70 years old. Actually GDP demonstrates negative implications for biodiversity, as this "growth" measures only money inflows while far more important is the balance sheet, which shows properties and debts. As biodiversity delivers no cash, it has no place in GDP system, but biodiversity provides the asset side of the balance sheet, such as forests, rivers, wetlands and animals—the list goes on.
It is argued that growth is good for biodiversity in the long run as there is an environmental Kuznets curve where environmental conditions get worse in the early stages of modern economic growth, but improve once a growth level has been reached. According to some people, once GDP has been high, more resources are to invest in conservation, and new technologies are used to protect the nature. They said people would have more interest in protecting the environment, and some of the forests started to return and many pollutants were almost eliminated. Standing in America today it might appear that the environmental Kuznets curve works.
At first sight there appears to be a logic. Today the US GDP is increasing while many precious species populations are also recovering? Such conditions, according to some people, can be explained by greater efficiency in cars or more efficient agricultural production. But in fact, the majority of the negative impacts have simply been exported. The high-polluting industries have been outsourced to developing nations. Therefore the bitterest punishments are largely felt beyond the borders while we Americans are enjoying high GDP and selfish biodiversity at the same time. This can be seen in the WWF annual Report, where species population trends are increasing by 7% in high-income countries and declining in middle- and low-income countries by 31% and 60% respectively.
It is self-evident that growth, as currently defined, has a major negative impact upon biodiversity. What needs to change is the definition of growth from a GDP-essential concept to a balance-sheet approach. Organisations and world community should work on creating new vision or reform that will help ensure a real balance between an improving standard of human life and a thriving biodiverse landscape.
74. According to the passage, the author’s opinion toward GDP is that GDP______.
A. has nothing to do with biodiversity as it serves as an economic ruler
B. shouldn't have ignored biodiversity as it does good to balance sheet
C. is out-dated as it leaves out productions outside a country’s borders
D. is a useful economic indicator as it honestly follows the Kuznets curve
75. The environmental Kuznets curve is seemingly working because ______.
A. when US economy is strong, people have more interest in environment protection
B. high GDP helps to introduce high technology for environment protection
C. great fuel efficiency in cars and agriculture helps to protect environment
D. the US makes other weak nations take the harmful consequences
76. The author’s main opinion about growth-biodiversity is that ______.
A. there’s no clear relationship between growth and biodiversity
B. growth harms biodiversity with today’s GDP-centred system
C. biodiversity condition agrees with a country’s economic growth
D. the author is not sure about the exact influence of growth on biodiversity
77. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. GDP focuses on balance sheet rather than monetary increase.
B. Within borders, America is enjoying a better biodiversity right now.
C. Many low-income nations are having a higher GDP growth than the U.S.
D. Creative ways have been found to balance life standard and biodiversity.
