The USA, New York—Whales and dolphins are facing increasing threats from climate change, according to a new report published by WWF and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society （WDCS）．
The report "Whales in hot water?" draws attention to the growing impacts of climate change on whales．They range from changes in sea temperature and the freshening of the seawater because of the melting of ice and increased rainfalls, to a sea level rise, loss of icy polar habitats and the decline of krill populations in key areas．Krill, a tiny shrimp that is dependent on sea ice, is the main source of food for many of the great whales．
The speeding up of climate change adds greatly to trouble from other human activities, such as chemical and noise pollution, which kills some 1000 whales every day．
"Whales and dolphins have an ability to adapt to their changing environment," said Mark Simmonds, International Director of Science at WDCS．"But the climate is now changing at such a fast pace that it is unclear to what extent whales and dolphins will be able to adjust．"
Climate change impacts are currently greatest in the Arctic and the Antarctic．According to the report, cetaceans that rely on polar, icy waters for their home and food resources are likely to be greatly affected by the reduction of sea ice cover．
WDCS and WWF are urging governments to cut global production of C02 by at least 50 percent by the middle of this century．The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed it was possible to stop global warming if the world's emissions start to decline before 2015．
【小題1】Which of the following is the most important for whales and dolphins?

A．Rainfall

B．Krill

C．Sea ice cover

D．High sea level

【小題2】From the passage, we can learn that whales mainly feed on _____．

A．dolphins

B．krill

C．sea horses

D．sharks

【小題3】The underlined word "decline" in Paragraph 2 means _____．

A．increase

B．control

C．protection

D．fall

【小題4】In what place is climate change greatest?  

A．The Pacific Ocean	B．Asia．
C．Two polar areas．	D．Equator．

【小題5】Which of the following is not right according to the passage?

A．Climate change will lead to the changes in sea temperature．

B．Climate change will result in the freshening of the sea water．

C．Climate change will have a bad effect on human activities and whales．

D．Human beings will forever have no ability to stop global warming．

Scientists in Canada say big fish have almost disappeared from the world since the start of industrial（產(chǎn)業(yè)的） fishing in the 1950s. The scientists found the numbers of some kinds of large fish have dropped by ninety percent in the past fifty years.
The study took ten years. The researchers gathered records from fishing businesses and governments around the world. The magazine Nature published the findings.
The scientists say the common method called long line fishing ravages the populations of large fish. This method involves many fishing lines connected to one boat. These wires can be nearly one hundred kilometers long. They hold thousands of sharp metal hooks to catch fish.
Long line fishing is especially common in the Japanese fishing industry. Records showed that Japanese boats used to catch about ten fish for every one hundred hooks. But long line fishing boats now might only catch one fish per hundred hooks.
The scientists say industrial fishing can destroy groups of fish much faster than in the past. The study suggests that whole populations can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas within ten to fifteen years.
Ransom Myers and Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led the study with the University of Kiel in Germany. Worm says the destruction could lead to a complete reorganization of ocean life systems. Meyers says the decreased numbers of large fish are not the only worry. He says even populations that are able to reproduce do not get the chance to live long enough to grow as big as their ancestors. He says not only are there fewer big fish, but also they are smaller than those of the past.
It’s the end of this program ,Thank you for your listening.
【小題1】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Big fish are disappearing	B．Long—line fishing in Japan
C．The harm of industrial fishing	D．Stop killing big fish

【小題2】Which of the following DOESN’T show that the populations of big fish are smaller than before?

A．Fish can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas.

B．Now long—line fishing boats might catch one fish per hundred hooks.

C．Fish now don’t have the chance to grow big enough.

D．Scientists spent ten years studying the populations of large fish.

【小題3】What can we learn from the passage?

A．The number of big fish started to drop greatly about fifty years ago.

B．The study was started by Boris Worm of Dalhousie alone.

C．There will be no big fish left in fifty years .

D．Japaneses people have stopped catching big fish.

      In Canada you can find dogs，cats，horses，etc．in almost every family．These are their pets．People love these pets and have them as their good friends．Before they keep them in their houses，they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections so that they won’t carry disease．They have special animal food stores，though they can get animal food in almost every kind of store．Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food．When you visit people’s houses，they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them．You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden．All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal．They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada．They have a law against killing wild animals．If you killed an animal，you would be punished．If an animal happened to get run over by a car，people would be very sad about it．
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals．One of them might be：Their family ties are not as close as ours．When children grow up， they leave their parents and start their own life．Then the old will feel lonely．But pets can solve this problem．They can be good friends and never leave them alone．（詞數(shù)242）
【小題1】The passage mainly talks about      ．    

A．how to keep disease from pets	B．pets in Canada
C．how to take good care of pets	D．life of the old in Canada

【小題2】In Canada，children leave their parents when they grow up because       ．

A．they don’t love their parents any more

B．they can only find jobs far from their parents

C．their parents’ houses are too small

D．they wouldn’t depend on their parents any more

【小題3】Which of the following is TRUE？

A．People buy animal food only at the animal food stores.

B．Pets eat better than people．

C．Almost every family has a birdcage in his house．

D．Any bird can come to the bird feeders to eat．

A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWesl that has started a five-year research project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts than any before.
University tuition fees (學(xué)費(fèi))are currently capped at £3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the research, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £ 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £ 17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are £ 12，363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweather aged 15 from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
【小題1】 Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project?

A．Students understand personal finances differently.

B．University tuition fees in England have been rising.

C．Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.

D．The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

【小題2】The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A．to raise the student loans	B．to improve the school facilities
C．to increase the upper limit of the tuition	D．to lift the school building roofs

【小題3】 According to Stephen Moir, students_______.

A．a(chǎn)re too young to be exposed to financial issues

B．should learn to manage their finances well

C．should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans

D．benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

【小題4】What can we learn from the passage?

A．Many British teenagers do not know money matters well

B．Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.

C．Financial planning is a required course at college.

D．Young people should become responsible adults.

Many people will remember the flight of the space shuttle （航天飛機(jī)）Challenger , in June, 1993．The achievement of Sally Ride, America’s first woman astronaut to fly into space, made this flight especially memorable．Students from two high schools in Camden, New Jersey, however, are likely to remember Norma rather than Sally whenever they think about the flight．
Norma didn’t travel alone．She brought about 100 companions along with her．Norma was an ant, a queen ant who, with her subjects, made up the first ant colony （群體） to travel into space．The ants were part of a science experiment designed by the students to test the effects of weightlessness on insects．
The equipment designed by the students for their colony functioned perfectly throughout the long space trip．The young scientists and their teachers were very sad to find that their insect astronauts had all died at some point before the container was returned to the school and opened．The problem did not occur in space, but on the ground after Challenger had landed．The container remained in the desert for nearly a week before the ant colony was removed．The hot, dry desert air dried out the colony’s container and the ants died from lack of moisture （水分）．
The project was termed a success because it did provide useful information．Students will continue their efforts to find out exactly what went wrong．They will try to prevent the same difficulties from recurring （再發(fā)生） on future missions ．They don’t want to be discouraged either by the death of the ants or by the $10,000 shuttle fare they will have to pay to send the next colony of ants into space．
【小題1】The story is mainly about       ．

A．Sally Ride’s first ride

B．space equipment for insects

C．a(chǎn) space experiment with ants

D．going to school in New Jersey

【小題2】The project wasn’t a failure because       ．

A．some important things were learned

B．dead ants are better

C．everything went as expected

D．students wrote about it

【小題3】The ants died because       ．

A．weightlessness harmed them

B．space caused too much pain

C．no one fed them in space

D．they dried out in the desert

【小題4】On the next space trip , ants       ．

A．will be sent without people

B．should not be left in the desert too long

C．will have to pay double fare

D．will escape the trip completely

Many teenagers(青少年) feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends．They believe that their family members don’t know them as well as their friends do．In large families, it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for some ideas．
It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends．Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking among themselves on the phone．This communication is very important in children’s growing up, because friends can discuss something．These things are difficult to tell their family members．
However, parents often try to choose their children’s friends for them．Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends．Have you ever thought of the following questions?
Who chooses your friends?
Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you?
Have you got a good friend your parents don’t like?
Your answers are welcome．
【小題1】 Many teenagers think that ____ can under­stand them better．

A．friends

B．brothers

C．sisters

D．parents

【小題2】When teenagers have something difficult to tell their parents, they usually____．

A．stay alone at home	B．fight with their parents
C．discuss it with their friends	D．go to their brothers and sisters for help

【小題3】The sentence (句子) “Your answers are wel­come．” means _______．

A．You are welcome to discuss the questions with us

B．We’ve got no idea, so your answers are welcome

C．Your answers are always right

D．You can give us all the right answers

【小題4】Which of the following is the writer’s attitude(態(tài)度)?

A．Parents should choose friends for their children．

B．Children should choose everything they like．

C．Parents should understand their children better．

D．Teenagers should only go to their friends for help．

【小題5】Part of the purpose of this passage is to ___.

A．give information for the parents to make their own judgment (判斷)

B．give advice to children who want to choose their friends

C．help parents to find better friends for their children

D．get some information from many readers

Because of the financial crisis in the US and UK, college students are beginning to struggle to find ways to pay their tuition fees and accommodations.

Recently, two major US student loan lenders — Citibank and JPMorgan Chase — announced they were leaving the student loan industry altogether. Because banks currently have a lack of credit, they are reluctant to offer students low-interest loans that need a several-year wait for any return of interest.
In the US, many undergraduates top up their financial needs with a private loan, although the majority can get government-funded loans. In the 2005­-2006 academic year, $17 billion in private student loans was used to finance higher education. The shortfall in private funding has yet to be covered and will hit many US students hard.
Across the Atlantic, UK students have been less troubled by the crisis. Most undergraduates in the UK cover their university expenses with government-funded loans and grants (助學(xué)金). Their biggest concern is a sudden steep increase in student rent.
Most young professionals now rent houses, since 80 percent of UK mortgage schemes (住房抵押貸款計(jì)劃) have disappeared — a direct result of the credit crisis. This has boosted the house rent market.
In large cities, UK students are paying almost 6.5 percent more in rent than the previous year. Figures from the UK organization Accommodation for Student show students in big cities such as London paying an average weekly rent of ￡103. Yet, despite students’ suffering, the number of this year’s university applications is expected to grow. During economic slumps (經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條時(shí)期), people regard further education as a way to survive tough job markets.
【小題1】According to the passage, banks are unwilling to offer students loans because ________.

A．the students are poor and sometimes they can’t pay off the debt

B．banks prefer lending the money to the young professionals

C．banks don’t have enough money left at the present time

D．they think college students are not studying hard

【小題2】The underlined phrase “top up” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.

A．put up

B．make up

C．fill up

D．pick up

【小題3】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．UK college students have to pay more if they want to rent houses.

B．More UK students want to further their study in college.

C．It is not so easy for US students to loan money now.

D．College students’ tuition fees have risen greatly.

【小題4】It can be inferred that ________.

A．there are no private student loan lenders in the UK

B．loans for US college students will be increased next year

C．private funding falls a little because of higher-interest loans in the US

D．private loans play a very important role in financing US students’ education

Is it time to kick Russia out of the BRICs （金磚四國(guó)）? If so, it may end up sounding like a famous ball-point pen maker-BIC. An argument is being made that Goldman Sach’s famous marketing device（策略）,the BRICs, should really be the BICs.
“Is Russia really worth the name BRICs?” asks Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an article for Foreigh Policy. Aslund, who is also co-author with Andrew Kuchins of “The Russian Balance Sheet”, thinks the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is just not worthy of inclusion alongside Brazil, India and China in the list of future economic powerhouses. He writes:
“The country’s economic performance has fallen to such a weak level that one must ask whether it has any say at all on the global economy, compared with the other members of its group. I have just returned from Moscow, which is always dull around this season. For the last seven years, Russia has taken very few measures to improve its economy. Instead, the state has been living on oil and gas. ”
Economically, Aslund has the numbers on his side. The International Monetary Fund figures that the Russian economy will fall by 6.7 percent in 2009, while China will grow 8.5 percent and India 5.4 percent. There is less of a case for Brazil, with a fall of 0.7 percent, but it is still doing
far better than Russia.
But the BRICs are not just about economy. As is mentioned above, it is a marketing device to encourage investors to focus on the big promising players. From an investment standpoint, it could be argued that Russia is leading the BRICs. Its stock（股票）market is up 128 percent this year while around 80 percent is for the other three.
At very least, however, Russia’s economic underperformance and stock market outperfoumance does suggest it is indeed one of the group.
【小題1】According to the passage, which country will enjoy the biggest increase in 2009?

A．China.

B．Russia.

C．Brazil.

D．India.

【小題2】According to Aslund, Russia shouldn’t be a BRIC partly because_______.

A．Russia’s economic performance is far worse than the other three

B．Russia’s leaders are not good at managing economy

C．Russia has taken effective measures to improve its economy

D．Russia will no longer attract investors from other countries

【小題3】From the passage we know that ________.

A．Anders Aslund is working for the Russian government

B．Russia outperfoumed the other three countries in stock market

C．most people disagree Russia is included in BRICs

D．the BRICs would end up being the BICs sooner or later

【小題4】The author seems to ________.

A．suggest it’s time to kick Russia out of the BRICs?

B．feel worried about the economy of the BRICs

C．think Russia is worth being one of the group

D．show disappointment to Russia’s economy

We thought we had it all---a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars, a couple of four-wheelers for entertainment---and we loved it. Then, the market turned and my husband’s job at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for good.We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren’t any to be found. With each passing day we were getting increasingly worried and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. The more we pulled together, the closer we got. I felt feelings of admiration for my husband that I hadn’t felt in years.
That’s why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.
Finally, one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, “We have four healthy children and each other. That’s what’s important. That makes you a rich man.”
“ But what if we lose the house? They’ll hate me—you’ll hate me,” he replied.
I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye. “No matter where we live I will be happy –as long as I have you.” I smiled again. In all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said “I do”.
I could see his shoulders and neck relaxed. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn’t for quite some time. It was a turning point for us as a couple and a family.
We are still struggling for out better life, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can’t buy and no one can take away from us.
【小題1】The underlined sentence in the second paragraph means that________.

A．they became closer as they struggled together

B．they hoped to find jobs in the same company

C．neither of them had the courage to ace difficulty

D．they were trying to make their relationship closer

【小題2】We can learn from the passage that________.

A．they both found good jobs at last.

B．both of them were worried about joblessness.

C．her husband was to blame for the unemployment

D．they didn’t love each other when they got married

【小題3】Which of the following can best describe their present life?

A．Bitter but easy.	B．Comfortable and happy.
C．Hard but warm.	D．Well-off and relaxing.

【小題4】The best title of the passage might be________         .

A．We Have It All	B．We Find It Again
C．A Perfect Couple	D．A Hard Time

Good afternoon, and welcome to England. We hope that your visit here will be a pleasant one. Today, I would like to draw your attention to a few of our laws.
The first one is about drinking. Now, you may not buy alcohol (酒) in this country if you are under 18 years of age, nor may your friends buy it for you.
Secondly, noise. Enjoy yourselves by all means, but please don’t make unnecessary noise, particularly at night. We ask you to respect other people who may wish to be quiet.
Thirdly crossing the road. Be careful. The traffic moves on the left side of the road in this country. Use pedestrian crossings (人行橫道) and do not take any chances when crossing the road.
My next point is about litter (throwing away waste material in a public place). It is an offence (違法行為) to drop litter in the street. When you have something to throw away, please put it in your pocket and take it home, or put it in a litter bin.
Finally, as regards smoking, it is against the law to buy cigarettes or tobacco (煙草) if you are under 16 years of age.
I’d like to finish by saying that if you require any sort of help or assistance, you should contact your local police station, who will be pleased to help you.
Now, are there any questions?
【小題1】The main purpose of this speech would be to ____ .

A．prepare people for international travel

B．declare the laws of different kinds

C．give advice to travellers to the country

D．inform people of the punishment for breaking laws

【小題2】From the speech we learn that ____

A．In this country, if you are under 18 years of age, you may not buy alcohol, but your friend can buy it for you.

B．You may not buy cigarettes or tobacco unless you are above 16 years of age.

C．Because the traffic moves on the left side of he road ,you must use pedestrian crossings when crossing the road.

D．You can’t make noise except at night.

【小題3】 The underlined word contact in the seventh paragraph means ____ .

A．keep in touch with

B．get in touch with

C．join

D．report