The world's largest solar thermal plant(太陽熱能發(fā)電站)is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company — BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially de­signed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine (渦輪) to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Mid­dle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death.
【小題1】Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert?

A．Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert.

B．Because there is no life in the desert.

C．Because there is much salt in the desert.

D．Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert.

【小題2】Why can the plant make electricity at night?

A．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of steam.

B．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the form of molten salt.

C．Because the sun'ss thermal energy can be stored through mirrors

D．Because the sun's thermal energy can be stored in the boilers.

【小題3】According to Lisa Belenky, in order to reduce the effect,_____.
A. we should move all the plants and animals away from the solar plant
B. we should guide the bird not to hit the solar plant
C we should build the solar plant in disturbed areas
D. we should build the solar plant in the desert
【小題4】The author’s attitude towards the solar projects is _____.

A．supportive

B．critical

C．indifferent

D．cautious

Many people believe that teaching children music makes them smarter, better able to learn new things. But the organizers of a new study say there's no scientific evidence that early musical training affects the intelligence of young people.
An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music lessons improve children's abilily to learn or their performance in school. They say that the satisfaction for learning to play a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University, however, have found that there's one thing musi­cal training does not do. They say it does not make children more intelligent. Samuel Mehr is a graduate student at Harvard's School of Education. He said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child's intellectual development. He says the evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of 4-year-olds and their parents. One group attended music class, the other went to a class that places importance on the visual arts—arts that can be seen.
"The evidence there is 'no'. We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music clases," said Mehr.Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter. He says the results have been mixed. He says only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ, intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons. He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of child's intelligence. He says researchers in his study compared how well children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks or projects, then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons. There was no evidence that the musical training group did much better on the mental tasks than the other group.
The researchers comfirmed the results with a larger group of children and their par­ents.Mr Mehr says music lessons may not offer children a fast easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life. But he says the training is still important for cultural reasons. In his words, "We teach music because music is important for us."
【小題1】According to the new study, musical training______.

A．makes children smarter

B．helps a child express creativity

C．does not make children more intelligent

D．improve children's ability to learn in school

【小題2】Samuel Mehr may agree that______.

A．the children who attended music class are smarter than those who attended arts class

B．IQ is a good measure of a child's intelligence

C．we needn't to teach children music

D．music training is still important for cultural reasons

【小題3】In order to confirm his view, Samuel Mehr______.

A．conducted more than one research

B．interviewed many American adults

C．taught two groups of 4-yetr-olds music and arts

D．offered children a fast way to be admitted to the best schools

【小題4】The artical may be taken from a report about _____.

A．health

B．education

C．culture

D．economy

Researchers conducting a study of hospital stays for over two hundred and eighty six thousand older folks found something interesting in their data.
The number of hospitalizations for heart disease and stroke went down significantly among a certain group of people at a certain time of year. What folks, and what time of year, you ask? Flu season and the lucky people were the ones who got flu shots(流感疫苗).
It’s generally recommended that people over fifty get their flu shots every year. Influenza(流行性感冒) is no small thing. it’s responsible for around thirty six thousand deaths a year in the U. S. alone. Getting the shots also cuts down on the chances of get­ting pneumonia(肺炎), which is especially dangerous in seniors.
But what wasn’t known was that there seems to be an added benefit to getting a flu shots in terms of warding off heart problems. The data,in fact, are quite strong in suggesting this is the case.
In this study, flu shots cut clown the number of hospitalizations for heart disease by nineteen percent. Stroke went down sixteen percent one season and a whopping twenty-three percent a second season.These are big results.
So what's the connection between getting a flu shot and having a stronger heart? It isn’t yet known.
Researchers speculate that the flu virus itself may do damage to blood vessels(血管), possibly making clots(血塊)more likely. Blood clots in the heart can cause heart attacks, and blood clots in the brain can cause strokes.
Whatever the specific details are, there's one more good reason to follow your doctor’ s advice and get that annual flu shot.
【小題1】According to the study, the number of hospitalizations for heart disease and stroke went down significanntly among the ones who _____.

A．got flu shots after they were ill

B．got flu shots before they were ill

C．got flu shots at the flu season

D．got flu shots whenever convenient

【小題2】The benefits of getting flu shots can be listed except that_____.

A．it can cut down on the chances of getting pneumonia

B．it can cut down the number of hospitalizations for heart disease

C．it can kill the flu virus

D．if can make blood clots

【小題3】The underlined phrase "warding off" probably means_______.

A．keeping away

B．dealing with

C．setting off

D． picking up

【小題4】According to the passage, we'd better ______.

A．work out to fight against influenza	B．get flu shot every year
C．follow our doctor's all advice	D．protect our blood vessels

Cloud seeding is a method of artificially causing clouds to produce precipitation （降水） in the form of rain or snow．Cloud seeding has also been used in attempts to modify the severity of hail storms and hurricanes．The effectiveness of cloud seeding remains controversial （有爭議的）．but it continues to be used in some regions to try to increase rainfall for agriculture and to build snow packs for water supplies and power production．
Cloud seeding was developed by American scientists Irving Langmuir and Vincent Joseph Schaefer during and after World War II．Their work began as an effort to learn more about the buildup of ice on airplane wings, and eventually led them to attempt to create rainfall by releasing several pounds of crushed frozen carbon dioxide into a cloud from an airplane．In this form, the carbon dioxide is called dry ice．On November 13, 1946, the technique appeared to produce snow directly under the cloud; the snow then turned to rain as it fell to the ground．
For their experiment, Langmuir and Schaefer selected a supercooled cloud, one in which the water droplets remain liquid in subfreezing temperatures．Their theory was that small grains of dry ice falling through the cloud would cause tiny droplets of water vapor in the cloud to freeze into crystals that attracted more water vapor．Their theory proved to be correct and eventually the crystals became heavy enough to fall from the cloud as snow．As the snow reached the warmer temperatures closer to the ground, it melted and became rain．
Another scientist, Bernard Vonnegut, produced a method of cloud seeding using silver iodide （碘化銀）．He used particles of silver iodide because its crystal structure resembled that of ice in clouds．Silver
iodide also had practical advantages over frozen carbon dioxide It could be stored at room temperature
and did not require an airplane as a delivery mechanism．Instead, silver iodide crystals could be fired by
cannons （大炮） high into the air, where wind carried them into the clouds．
【小題1】According to the text, Langmuir and Schaefer had intended to deal with__
A．how to freeze carbon dioxide                      
B．how to remove ice on plane wings
C．how to make weather forecast for the war             
D how to hide planes in clouds at war
【小題2】What is the CORRECT order of the course for cloud seeding with dry ice?
a．snow becoming rain in wanner temperatures             b．crystals attracting more water vapor
c．crystals falling in the form of snow                     d．crystals becoming very heavy
e．freezing tiny droplets of water vapor into crystals
f．putting small grains of dry ice in the cloud

A．a(chǎn)-c-f-d-b-e	B．b-f-e-a-c-d
C．f-e-b-d-c-a	D．e-a-d-c-b-f

【小題3】Bernard chose silver iodide as a method of cloud seeding because___．

A．it is much cheaper than dry ice	B．it can be stored at any rooms
C．it can be sent into clouds by wind	D．it is similar

【小題4】The best title for the passage may be "____"．

A．Cloud Seeding

B．Artificial Raining

C．Weather Changing

D．Cloud Gathering

【小題5】How many methods of cloud seeding are mentioned in the passage?

A．three

B．two

C．one

D．four

Attempts to understand the relationship between social behavior and health have their origin in history. Dubos (1969) suggested that primitive（原始的）humans were closer to the animals because they, too, relied upon their instincts to stay healthy. Yet some primitive humans recognized a cause and effect relationship between doing certain things and alleviating（減輕）symptoms of a disease or improving the condition of a wound. Since there was so much that primitive humans did not understand about the functioning of the body, magic became an integral component of the beliefs about the causes and cures of health disorders. So it is not surprising that early humans thought that illness was caused by evil spirits. Primitive medicines made from vegetables or animals were invariably used in combination with some form of ritual (禮儀) to drive harmful spirits away from a diseased body.
One of the earliest attempts in the Western world to formulate principles of health care based upon rational thought and rejection of supernatural phenomena is found in the work of the Greek physician Hippocrates. Little is known of Hippocrates who lived around 400 B.C., not even whether he actually authored the collection of books that bears his name. Nevertheless, the writings attributed to him have provided a number of principles underlying modern medical practice. One of his most famous contributions, the Hippocratic Oath, is the foundation of contemporary medical ethics (道德). Among other things, it requires a physician to swear that he or she will help the sick, keep oneself from intentional wrong-doing or harm, and keep secret all matters to keep the doctor-patient relationship.
Hippocrates also argued that medical knowledge should be derived（源自于）from an understanding of the natural sciences and the logic of cause and effect relationships. In this classic thesis, On Airs, Waters, and Places, Hippocrates pointed out that human-being is influenced by the totality of environmental factors: living habits or lifestyle, climate, geography of the land, and the quality of air and food. Interesting enough, concerns about our health and the quality of air, water, and places are still very much written in the twentieth century.
【小題1】The topic of the first paragraph is summarized in ________.

A．the first sentence of the paragraph

B．the second sentence of the paragraph

C．the third sentence of the paragraph

D．the last sentence of the paragraph

【小題2】Why did primitive humans rely on magic in their beliefs about the causes and cures of diseases?

A．Because magic was an inseparable part of their life.

B．Because they had little knowledge about the functioning of the body.

C．Because the diseases were caused by the evil spirits.

D．Because magic must be used in going through the rituals to drive out the evil spirits.

【小題3】Considering Hippocrates’ background, we can see from the second paragraph that ________.

A．he was the forefather of modern medicine

B．experts are sure that the books bearing his name were not written by him

C．he had a rational mind aided by supernatural instincts

D．experts do not know much about him except when and where he lived

【小題4】All of the following are included in the Hippocratic Oath EXCEPT ________.

A．helping patients

B．keeping oneself from harming patients

C．keeping secret all matters to maintain a good relationship with the patients

D．obeying rules for modern medicine practice

【小題5】Which of the following best expressed the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Doctor’s concerns remain unchanged.

B．Medicine comes from nature.

C．Environment affects health.

D．Climate determines lifestyle.

Fish species are expected to shrink in size by up to 24% because of global warming, say scientists.
The scientists argue that failure to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a greater effect on marine ecosystems than previously thought. Previous research has suggested that changing ocean temperatures would affect both the distribution and the reproductive abilities of many species of fish. This new work suggests that fish size would also be heavily affected.
The researchers built a model to see how fish would react to lower levels of oxygen in the water. As ocean temperatures increase, so do the body temperatures of fish. But, according to lead author, Dr William Cheung, from the University of British Columbia, the lower level of oxygen in the water is key. Warmer waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels and greatly reduce fish body weight. On the other hand, rising temperatures directly increase the metabolic rate of the fish's body function. This leads to an increase in oxygen demand for normal body activities. So the fish will run out of oxygen for growth at a smaller body size.
The research team also used its model to predict fish movements as a result of warming waters. The group believes that most fish populations will move towards the Earth's poles at a rate of up to 35km per decade. "So in, say, the North Sea," says Dr Cheung," one would expect to see more smaller-body fish from tropical waters in the future."
Taking these factors into consideration, the research team concludes that fish body size will shrink between 14% and 24%, with the largest decreases in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
When compared with actual observations of fish sizes, the model seems to underestimate what's actually happening in the seas. The researchers looked at two case studies involving North Atlantic cod and haddock. They found that recorded data on these fish showed greater decreases in body size than the models had predicted.
Dr Alan Baudron, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, believes smaller-sized fish could seriously affect the ability of fish to reproduce. "Smaller fish produce fewer and smaller eggs which could affect the reproductive potential of fish stocks," he said.
【小題1】What's the main idea of the passage?

A．Global warming makes fish smaller.

B．Global warming makes fish decrease in numbers.

C．Global warming affects the fish distribution.

D．Global warming affects the ability of fish to reproduce.

【小題2】What is the key factor making the fish smaller now?

A．The rising body temperatures.

B．The lower level of oxygen in the water.

C．The increasing metabolic rate.

D．The normal body activities.

【小題3】We can infer that as ocean temperatures increase          .

A．more big fish will be born in the sea

B．fish tend to swim towards the shore

C．fish tend to move towards the warm areas

D．fish tend to move towards the colder areas

【小題4】What does the underlined word "underestimate" mean?

A．make an exact prediction of	B．make too low an estimate of
C．make too high an estimate of	D．make a careful study of

Have you ever dreamed of visiting a planet in the Milk Way? While the trip sounds exciting, it would take years and years to reach your destination. So in the future, bedtime for astronauts may be more than a few hours of regular shut-eye. They would have to sleep for years.
European researchers are now conducting hibernation experiments. The study may help them understand whether humans could ever sleep through the years it would take for a space flight to distant planets. "If there was an effective technology, it could make deep-space travel a reality," said Mark Ayre of the European Space Agency last month.
What seems like science fiction is not completely unlikely. Researchers have been able to use chemicals to put living cells into a sleep-like state where they don't age. They have now moved on to small, non-hibernating mammals like rats. The results will be out by the end of 2004.
A major challenge is the fact that cells can be very simple systems, whereas body organs are far more complex.
"It's like moving from a simple Apple computer to a supercomputer," said Marco Biggiogera, a hibernation researcher at Italy's University of Pavia.
Just like bears and frogs, the hibernation of human beings would cause a person's metabolism (新陳代謝) to lower so they would need less energy.
Medical research, however, is just half of a space flight hibernation system.
There is the challenge of designing a suitable protective shelter. Such a shelter would provide the proper environment for hibernation, such as the proper temperature. It would also have to monitor (監(jiān)控) life functions and serve the physiological needs of the hibernator.
According to Ayre, the six-person Human Outer Planets Exploration Mission to Jupiter's moon (木星的衛(wèi)星) Callisto, could be an opportunity to use human hibernation. The mission aims to send six humans on a five-year flight to Callisto, where they will spend 30 days, in 2045.
【小題1】European researchers are conducting hibernation experiments to ________.

A．ensure astronauts to get a complete sleep

B．find the secret of some creatures

C．make preparations for the journey to Jupiter’s moon Callisto

D．know if man can sleep for years

【小題2】The sentence “What seems like science fiction is not completely unlikely” means ______.

A．Science fiction is people’s imagination.

B．Science fiction is imaginative, but it can be realized.

C．Things seem impossible may come true.

D．Things described in science fiction are sure to become true.

【小題3】The passage implies that ________.

A．putting living cells into a sleep-like state is full of failure

B．Biggiogera is confident with the experiment

C．human’s hibernation needs no energy

D．medical research is the key to space flight hibernation system

【小題4】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Six humans to fly to Callisto

B．Human hibernation improves health

C．Space travel attracts people

D．Deep sleep for deep space travel

Growing strawberries in pots

·The best way to start growing strawberries is to buy pot-grown strawberry plants m spring：5plants are plenty for a hanging basket and 10 for the average 13 inch-sized pot．
·Plant them immediately in soil-based compost(混合肥料) and they will produce a modest crop in their first year．The second year should see a bumper(特大的)crop，followed by a slightly lower yield(產(chǎn)量)the third summer .Then start again with fresh stock
·Careful watering and feeding are essential Ifyou are to harvest a good crop，you must never
let the compost dry out,particularly when the fruit is forming and ripening；if you do．most of your
crop will drop off血e bush almost immediately．
·Water well then leave the pots for up to 3 weeks，until they reach the point of drying out Be
Careful not to overwater them during the winter months．
Pruning apple trees
·A one-year-old tree is known as a “maiden”. It has a single stem when purchased. Immediately after planting, cut it back by about half to leave 4 good buds at the base of the stem.. This will force growth from the base or the plant during the summer.

·In the second year ,prune in winter by cutting all side branches back by about one-third, Make sure each cut is made cleanly just above an outward-facing bud. In the third and fourth years, new side branches will have emerged from the previous year’s growth. Cut back all these new side branches by a third, pruning to an outward-facing bud.
·By the fifth year the tree should have a well-balanced shape. From then on ,cut back all new branches by one-third in winter .Remove any diseased wood and broken branches, and ensure the centre is open to air circulation
【小題1】The two pieces of advice probably appear in          

A．a(chǎn) scientific repot

B．a(chǎn) gardening guide

C．a(chǎn) book review

D．a(chǎn) fashion column

【小題2】A good crop of strawberries mainly depends on             

A．the size of a pot	B．the season of harvesting
C．the number of plants in a pot	D．careful watering and feeding

【小題3】Cutting back all  side branches by a third is to        

A．remove the diseased and broken branches

B．keep the whole tree open to air circulation

C．force the apple tree to grow from the base in winter

D．help the apple tree to form a well-balanced shape

【小題4】The two pieces of advice suggest that planting is closely related  to               

A．season

B．water

C．compost

D．cutting

Boredom and Creativity
Most of us think of being bored at work as a negative experience, but a new study suggests it can have positive results including an increase in creativity because it gives us time to daydream.
That is the finding of Dr. Sandi Mann from the University of Central Lancashire. Dr. Mann conducted two studies. In the first experiment, 40 people were asked to carry out a boring task. They were told to copy numbers out of a telephone directory for 15 minutes. After that they were asked to complete another task. A pair of cups were given to each of them. Everyone tried to come up with different uses of the cups, and was given a chance to display their creativity. Meanwhile, another group of 40 people were just asked to come up with uses for the cups without doing any boring tasks before. It turned out that the 40 people who had first copied out the telephone numbers were more creative than the control group(對照組).
To see if daydreaming was a factor in this effect, a second boring task was introduced that allowed even more daydreaming than the boring writing task. This second study saw 30 people copying out the numbers as before, but also included a second group of 30 reading rather than writing them.
Again the researchers found that the people in the control group were least creative, but the people who had just read the names were more creative than those who had to write them out. This suggests that more passive boring activities, like reading or perhaps attending meetings, can lead to more creativity. Compared with reading, writing reduced the scope（范圍） for daydreaming. As a result, it reduces the  effects of boredom on creativity.
Dr. Mann says: “Boredom at work has always been seen as something to be avoided, but perhaps we should accept it in order to promote our creativity. What we want to do next is to see what the practical implications of this finding are. Do people who are bored at work become more creative in other areas of their work -- or do they go home and write novels?”  
【小題1】Who proved to be the most creative in the two studies?

A．The people who attended meetings.

B．The people who did the reading task.

C．The people who invented uses for cups.

D．The people who copied telephone numbers.

【小題2】The studies conducted by Dr. Mann indicate that creativity results from _______.

A．creative tasks

B．controlled activities

C．the range of daydreaming

D．reading and writing ability

【小題3】What is Dr. Mann’s attitude towards boredom at work?

A．Positive.

B．Skeptical.

C．Subjective.

D．Disapproving.

【小題4】What will Dr. Mann probably continue to research in their study?

A．The real causes of creativity.

B．The actual use of boredom.

C．The practical reasons of boredom.

D．The writing ability improved by boredom.

Going Green
For career（職業(yè)） changers thinking about growth and advancement potential, forget the blue-collar and white-collar categories: Green is the way to go. According to Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Progress, careers that promote environmental responsibility will become main stream within a decade. “The growth in green careers will be like the Internet boom, which not only created new jobs, but also had an influence on the overall economy（經(jīng)濟）,” he says.
The increasing environmental problems and need for eco-friendly products and services are creating a new job section of green-collar jobs. Many countries of the world have realized the importance and need for energy-saving products and services. It is expected that by 2025 about 25% of the jobs in developed countries will be of green-collar jobs. Doesn’t the data look promising for the future?
Green-collar jobs have become a bright career chances for all. And jobs will pop up at every income level, from environmental manager to gardener. For example, many countries including the United States have understood that fossil fuels have negative effect on the environment which can later become a serious danger to mankind. As a result, possibilities are being explored to find alternatives to satisfy demands in a better way. The increasing demand of newer resources（資源） has creating the need for experts and researchers who can find better ways to deal with the ongoing needs. In addition, in order to meet the increasing demands of environment-friendly equipment, both green product designer and educated and trained workers are needed. Management of environmental organizations also demands a large number of environmental managers. 
Where can you find green-collar jobs? Internet is undoubtedly the best way to find information on almost any matter. Nowadays, different kinds of jobs are being posted online. Search through a couple of job websites to look for a bright future in energy conversion and recycling of waste management. Check regularly and find the right work for yourself. People who read newspapers can also find different kinds of green-collar jobs.
【小題1】Why does Bracken Hendricks mention the Internet Boom in Paragraph One?

A．To explain the importance of technology.

B．To provide evidence of his recent research.

C．To indicate the bright future of green careers.

D．To inform us of the way of finding green-collar jobs.

【小題2】Which of the following probably creates green-collar jobs?

A．Promoting services.

B．Training employees.

C．Consuming fossil fuels.

D．Developing new resources.

【小題3】What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3?

A．The requirements for green employees.

B．The development of the green industry.

C．The economic influence of green careers.

D．The job chances in the environmental industry.

【小題4】The passage is written to _______.

A．discuss eco-friendly services

B．introduce promising career chances

C．suggest ways of saving energy at work

D．explain the best method of finding jobs