The Friends of the Amazon is a nonprofit association helping to preserve the forest, its wildlife and its native cultures in the Peruvian Amazon.  We are located 3 degrees south of the equator in the Region of Loreto, which is roughly the size of Montana and is one of the richest areas in the world in terms of flora(植物群) and fauna（動物群）. Our team consists of lawyers, ecologists, sociologists, medical professionals and native Amazonians working together to protect the forest and its people from destruction. We use litigation（訴訟）, filing lawsuits against those who seek to destroy the forest and its native cultures. In addition to legal processes, we promote health, education, and the conservation of native plants and animals.
The Amazon Rainforest is commonly referred to as the "lungs of the planet" whose trees are essential for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2, a greenhouse gas that causes global warming) and converting it into oxygen, thereby mitigating the rise of global temperatures and climate change.  An estimated 120 billion tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed in the Amazon Rainforest and global emissions of carbon dioxide increase with every tree of the rainforest that is cut down. That is why the survival of the Amazon Rainforest is vital for the survival of our planet, without which rising global temperatures could melt the polar icecaps and cause flooding of our coastal cities. 
Currently, the Amazon is under siege（圍攻）, with an estimated 1000 hectares being destroyed everyday.  After harvesting old growth forests, corporations are often replacing the native forest with palm oil plantations instead of reforesting with native tree species.  Palm oil trees are native to Africa, not the Amazon, and due to high profits, their promotion by international aid agencies and recent legislation in Peru, palm oil plantations represent perhaps the single greatest threat to the native Amazon Rainforest. 
In addition to conventional logging and deforesting to make room for crops such as palm oil and soybeans, the Amazon forest faces a new threat in the form of REDD projects and “Carbon Cowboys”.  REDD refers to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation by using carbon offsets (“carbon credits”).  Under the guise of REDD projects, scammers are tricking native communities into signing unjust contracts in English without legal representation which essentially give these so called Carbon Cowboys the forest for free. These cheaters are making false promises of "billions of dollars in profits" from REDD and voluntary carbon offset （碳補(bǔ)償）projects by lying that they are representatives of the United Nations and World Bank in order to trick vulnerable indigenous Amazonians into ceding their land by signing unjust contracts with hidden clauses that give the Carbon Cowboys a power of attorney to do whatever they want with the forest for a period of 100 years.  Friends of the Amazon is actively filing lawsuits against these Carbon Cowboys and those who support them. 
For further information on our programs and to find out how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest, please contact:
Friends of the Amazon
153 Túpac Amaru Street
Iquitos, Peru
Phone: (+51) 985665374
For more specific information on supporting the goals of our nonprofit organization, please contact us using the email address listed below.
If you would like to learn how you can help preserve the Amazon Rainforest and its indigenous people, please contact us for more information at:
info(at)friendsoftheamazon.org
【小題1】The Friends of the Amazon is the name of _________.

Is there a nationwide shortage of nurses? It’s hard to say．However, some characteristic symptoms often indicate that there is indeed a shortage．

One symptom is the vacancy rate, or the percentage of budgeted positions that are unfilled．New England’s hospitals currently report that an average of 7 to 12 percent of their registered nurse positions are vacant, the highest level since the last shortage in the late 1980s．Vermont has a relatively low vacancy rate, at 7．8 percent．But its vacancies were at 1．2 percent just five years ago．

Another symptom is the increased use of stopgap measures to fill empty positions．For instance, many nurses report an upswing in how frequently they are asked to stay past their shifts．According to Murphy, working in the St．Elizabeth’s Hospital, “The shortage has definitely created a lot of opportunities of overtime for our nurses, whether they want them or not．” Similarly, a national survey of registered nurses shows that in an average week, nurses in the U．S．work 2．4 more hours than they are scheduled to．Much of this extra time is voluntary, as nurses earn overtime pay when they stay to fill in blanks in the schedule．

When they can’t fill open positions by more traditional means, health care providers hire temporary staff to tide them over．Travelling workers are the largest part of the temporary health care workforce, hired for thirteen-week reduction at health care facilities facing short-term lack of workers．Temporary workers, mainly nurses, cost hospitals $ 7．2 billion in 2000．

“Any successful solution to the shortage depends on convincing more people to become nurses, and that is not an easy goal to reach．To achieve it,” says Buerhaus, “society needs to place more value on nursing．Legislation （法規(guī)） can’t do that – it should come from people．” And if this continues, we might have to learn to care for ourselves in the hospital．

The temporary staff hired by a hospital _______．

      A．cost a large part of the hospital’s budget

       B．meet the need for nurses in the hospital for a short time

      C．should work on a weekly basis and on a scheduled timetable 

       D．ought to work passively for thirty continuous weeks

According to Buerhaus, what is a successful solution to the nurse shortage?

      A．To convince people of the benefits of being a nurse．

      B．To ask the government for help to work out specific legislation．

      C．To publicize the past achievements of nurses．

      D．To make people aware of the importance of being a nurse．

What’s the probable meaning of the underlined word “upswing” in Paragraph 3?

      A．Symptom    B．Decrease   C．Increase             D．Figure

What’s the author’s attitude towards nurse shortage?

       A．Worried        B．Indifferent     C．Doubtful      D．Optimistic

Glacier National Park in Montana shares boundaries with Canada, an American Indian reservation, and a national forest. Along the North Fork of the Flathead River, the park also borders about 17,000 acres of private lands that are currently used for ranching, timber, and agriculture. This land is an important part of the habitat and migratory routes for several endangered species that frequent the park. These private lands are essentially the only ones available for development in the region.?
With encouragement from the park, local landowners initiated a land?use planning effort to guide the future of the North Fork. The park is a partner in an interlocal agreement that calls for resource?managing agencies to work together and with the more than 400 private owners in the area. A draft plan has been prepared, with objective of maintaining traditional economic uses but limiting new development that would damage park resources. Voluntary action by landowners, in cooperation with the park and the county, is helping to restrict small?lot subdivisions, maintain wildlife corridors, and minimize any harmful impact on the environment.?
The willingness of local landowners to participate in this protection effort may have been stimulated by concerns that congress would impose a legislative solution. Nevertheless, many local residents want to retain the existing character of the area. Meetings between park officials and landowners have led to a dramatically improved understanding of all concerns.?
73. The passage mainly discusses ______.?
A. the endangered species in Glacier National Park?
B. the protection of lands surrounding Glacier National Park?
C. conservation laws imposed by the state of Montana?
D. conservation laws imposed by Congress ?
74. Why are the private lands surrounding Glacier National Park so important??
A. They function as a hunting preserve.?B. They are restricted to government use.?
C. They are heavily populated. 
D. They contain natural habitats of threatened species. ?
75. The relationship between park officials and neighboring landowners may best be    described as ______.?
A. indifferent                      B. intimate? C. cooperative               D. disappointing
76. It can be inferred from the passage that a major interest of the officials of Glacier     National Park is to ?______?.?
A. limit land development around the park?       B. establish a new park in Montana?
C. influence national legislation?           D. settle border disputes with Canada ?

Federal regulators Wednesday approved a plan to create a nationwide emergency alert（警報）system using text messages delivered to cell phones.
Text messages have exploded in popularity in recent years，particularly among young people.The wireless industry’s trade association, CTIA，estimates（估計）more than 48 billion text messages are sent each month.
The plan comes from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act，a 2006 federal law that requires improvement to the nation's emergency alert system.The act tasked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with coming up with new ways to alert the public about emergencies.
“The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings.and alerts through cell phones and other mobile services is an important next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public.has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families before, and during,disasters and other emergencies. ”FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said following approval of the plan.
Participation in the alert system by carriers—telecommunications companies is voluntary, but it has received solid support from the wireless industry.
The program would be optional for cell phone users. They also may not be charged for receiving alerts.
There would be three different types of messages，according to the rules.  
The first would be a national alert from the president，likely involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster.The second would involve “approaching threats，”which could include natural disasters like hurricanes or storms or even university shootings. The third would be reserved for child abduction（綁架）emergencies,or so-called Amber Alerts.
The service could be in place by 2010.
【小題1】 What is the purpose of the approved plan?

假如你是李華，是學(xué)校愛心俱樂部的成員，英語成績非常突出，有兩年英語家教的經(jīng)驗，認(rèn)為志愿工作能夠使人樹立信心，培養(yǎng)良好的交際能力。請根據(jù)這則招聘信息所給的中英文提示寫一封應(yīng)聘郵件。參考詞匯：家教——tutor