A Tour City—Pompeii

Every year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii, Italy. They see the sights that Pompeii is famous for its stadium(運(yùn)動(dòng)場(chǎng)) and theatres, its shops and restaurants. The tourists do not, however, see Pompeii's people. They do not see them because Pompeii has no people. No one has lived in Pompeii for almost 2,000 years.

Once, Pompeii was a busy city of 22,000 people. It lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a grass－covered volcano(火山). Mount Vesuvius had not erupted(噴發(fā))for centuries, so the people of Pompeii felt safe. But they were not.

In August of AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire top of the mountain exploded,_and a huge black cloud rose into the air. Soon stones and hot ash began to fall on Pompeii. When the eruption ended two days later, Pompeii was buried under 20 feet of stones and ashes. Almost all of its people were dead.

For centuries, Pompeii lay buried under stone and ash. Then, in the year 1861, an Italian scientist named Ginseppe began to uncover Pompeii. Slowly, carefully, Ginseppe and his men dug. The city looked almost the same as it had looked in AD 79. There were streets and fountains, houses and shops. There was a stadium with 20,000 seats. Perhaps the most important of all, there were everyday objects, which tell us a great deal about the people who lived in Pompeii. Many glasses and jars had some dark blue colour in the bottom, so we know that the people of Pompeii liked wine. They liked bread too. Metal bread pans were in every bakery. In one bakery there were 81 round, flat loaves of bread—a type of bread that is still sold in Italy today. Tiny boxes filled with a dark, shiny power tell us that women liked to wear eye－makeup.

Ginseppe has died, but his work continues. One－fourth has not been uncovered yet. Scientists are still digging, still making discoveries that draw the tourists to Pompeii.

1. Why do large numbers of people come to Pompeii each year?

A. To visit the volcano.

B. To shop and eat there.

C. To watch sports and plays.

D. To see how Pompeiians lived.

2. Why had so many people remained by volcanic Mount Vesuvius?

A. The city nearly offered all kinds of fun.

B. The area produced the finest wine in Italy.

C. Few people expected the volcano to erupt again.

D. The mountain was beautiful and covered with grass.

3. Why did the city uncovered look almost the same as it had looked in AD 79?

A. Because Ginseppe and his men dug it slowly and carefully.

B. Because the city was buried alive and remained untouched.

C. Because scientists successfully rebuilt the city with everyday objects.

D. Because nobody had lived in the city ever since the volcano erupted.

4. What's the meaning of the underlined word “exploded” in the third paragraph?

A. 爆發(fā)       B. 震動(dòng)       C. 倒塌       D. 爆裂

5. What do we know about the Pompeiians who lived 2,000 years ago?

A. They lived more or less the same as Italians now do.

B. They liked women wearing all kinds of makeup.

C. They enjoyed a lazy life with drinking and eating.

D. They went back to Pompeii after the eruption in AD 79.

A few weeks after my first wife, Georgia, was called to heaven, I was cooking dinner for my son and myself. For a   16 , I had decided on frozen peas. As I was cutting open the bag, it   17  from my hand and crashed to the floor. The peas, like marbles,   18  everywhere. I tried to use a broom,   19  with each swipe they just rolled across the kitchen．
For the next week, every time I was in the   20 , I found a pea---in a corner, or behind a table leg. They kept   21 . Eight months later I pulled out the refrigerator to clean behind it, and   22  12 frozen peas hidden underneath．
At the time I found those few remaining   23 , I was in a new relationship with a wonderful   24  I’d met in a support group. After we married, I was reminded 25  those peas under the refrigerator, and realized that my   26  had been like that bag of frozen peas. It had shattered（破碎. My wife had died; I was in a new city with a busy job, and with a son having trouble   27  his new surroundings and the  28  of his mother. I was a bag of spilled frozen peas; my life had come apart and scattered．
When life gets you   29 , when everything you know comes apart, and when you think you’ll never  30 , remember that it’s just a bag of scattered frozen peas. The peas can be  31 , and life will move on. You’ll find all the peas   32 , including the ones that are hardest to find. And when you’ve got them   33  you’ll start to feel whole again．
The life you know can break apart at any time. But you’ll have to   34 , and how fast you collect your peas depends on you. Will you keep scattering them around with a broom,  35  will you pick them up one by one and put your life back together?

“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”
“Two full inches in the first three days!”
These are the kinds of statements used in magazine，newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.
Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.
To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.
One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.
Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律訴訟)，and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.
【小題1】It can be inferred that the ads mentioned in the text are            .        .

“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”
“Two full inches in the first three days!”
These are the kinds of statements used in magazine，newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.
Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.
To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.
One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.
Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律訴訟)，and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.
【小題1】It can be inferred that the ads mentioned in the text are            .        .

A new study shows one of the largest glaciers(冰川) in Greenland is becoming smaller and speeding to the sea faster than scientists expected. If it continues, Greenland itself could become much smaller during this century and global seas could rise as much as 3 feet.
The rates of change that we’re noticing are much higher than expected. If these rates continue, it is not likely that Greenland could shrink by several tens of percent this century. However, it’s not known how quickly this coastal response of the Greenland ice sheet melting will have an effect on the vast inland ice.
Greenland is the world’s largest island, covering area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it is covered by ice, and there are many glaciers. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers of ice. Where a glacier meets the sea, its weight keeps it firmly resting on the bottom. A glacier’s front is the point where the water is deep enough that the glacier floats.
Since the 1970s, the front of Helheim stayed in the same place. Then it began melting rapidly, moving back 4.5 miles from 2001 through this past summer. It has also grown thinner, from top to bottom, by more than 130 feet since 2001. And over these past years, its trip to the sea has sped up from about 70 feet per day to nearly 110.
The melting is driven by a warmer climate. Temperatures in Greenland have risen more than five degrees Fahrenheit(華氏溫度) in the last ten years. Since most of Greenland’s ice is on land, seas will rise as the ice melts. If all Greenland’s ice sheet melted, oceans would be 15-20 feet higher. Nobody expects that to happen any time soon.
【小題1】What can we know about the glaciers according to the passage?