Despite rising education levels, Americans of every age are reading less and less for pleasure these days, according to an analysis by the National Endowment for the Arts. The decline(下降) could have bad effects as people tune out books, tune in popular culture and become less socially engaged.

"We've got a public culture which is almost entirely commercial(商業(yè)化)and novelty - driven (追新)," says NEA chairman Dana Gioia. "I think it's letting the nation down."

The study gathers years of data on Americans' reading habits and finds that, at every age group, we're reading less.

Most of the data have appeared in private, government and university surveys, but today's report is the first to combine them into a single portrait. It suggests that the demands of school, work and family and the decisive advantage of other forms of entertainment have caused the decline in reading for millions of Americans.

·Only 38% of adults in 2006 said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure.

·65% of college freshmen in 2005 said they read little or nothing for pleasure.

·30% of 13 - year - olds in 2004 said they read for fun "almost every day," down from 35% in 1984.

According to Gioia, a poet, they decline is probably the single most important social issue in the United States today. The findings should be a wake - up call to educators to change the way they teach literature at every level. It was once believed that if someone went to college, they would become a lifelong reader. What we're seeing right now is that we're no longer producing readers. We're producing B. A. s and M. A. s and Ph. D. s.

Cioia also wants main media to wake up to how they can promote good books in many ways. He notes that when a character in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral recited a few lines of W. H. Auden's poem Funeral Blues, the poet briefly became a best seller.

65.The underlined phrase "tune out" in the first paragraph probably means________.

A.close    B.publish C.prove   D.read

66.According to Dana Gioia, the change of Americans' reading habit________.

A.is positive and valuable      B.does harm to the nation

C.is caused only by popular culture      D.can make poets best sellers

67.Which of the following is NOT the cause for the change in reading habit?

A.Demands of getting a B. A., M. A. or Ph. D.

B.Demands of family, school and work.

C.The change in the way the literature is taught.

D.Advantages of the entertainment.

68.We can infer that the number of teenagers reading for pleasure reduced by________in 20 years.

A.30%    B.38%    C.65%    D.5%

 

 "The world's oceans are slowly getting more acidic,”say scientists. The researchers from California report that the change is taking place in response to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

    The lowering of the waters’pH value is not great at the moment but could cause a serious threat to current ocean life if it continues, they warn. Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, report their concerns in the journal Nature.

Increasing use of oil fuels means more carbon dioxide is going into the air, and most of it will eventually be absorbed by seawater. Once in the water, it reacts to form carbonic acid. Scientists believe that the oceans have already become slightly more acidic over the last century.

    These researchers have tried to predict what will happen in the future by combining what we know about the history of the oceans with computer models of climate change．"This level of acidity will get much more extreme in the future if we continue releasing CO2 into the atmosphere," said Dr Caldeira. "And we predict the amount of future acidity will exceed（超過）anything we have seen over the last several hundred million years, let alone perhaps after rare disastrous events such as asteroid（小行星) impacts．”

    However, it is not absolutely clear what that means for ocean life．Most organisms live near the surface, where the greatest pH change would be expected to occur, but deep-ocean life forms may be more sensitive to pH changes．Coral reefs and other organisms whose shells contain calcium carbonate（小行星) may be particularly affected if the water's acidity levels keep going up, the team predict. They could find it much more difficult to build these structures in water with a lower pH.

    In recent years some people have suggested storing carbon dioxide from power stations in the deep ocean as a way of dealing with global warming．But Dr Caldeira said that such a strategy should now be re-considered. "Previously, most experts had looked at ocean absorption of carbon dioxide as a good thing-because in releasing CO2 into the atmosphere we warm the planet, and when CO2, is absorbed by the ocean, it reduces the amount of greenhouse warming.”

According to Dr Caldeira,__________ .

   A. ocean absorption of carbon dioxide is a good thing

   B. more oil fuels will be used in the near future

   C. scientists may predict climate changes with computer models

   D. the future situation of the amount of acidity is extremely serious

f the water's acidity level keeps rising,_________ .

   A. ocean life whose structures contain calcium carbonate may be affected

   B. the waters’pH value will become higher and higher

   C. organisms living near the surface are more sensitive to pH changes

   D. some disastrous events will occur more often than before

Most experts once believed storing carbon dioxide in the ocean would reduce________ .

   A. the CO2 absorbed by the ocean             B. the amount of greenhouse warming

   C. the acidity of the ocean                   D. the gradual release of CO2

The purpose of this passage is to_________ .

   A. show people the findings of a research team   B. inform people of how acid the ocean is now

   C. introduce Dr Caldeira and his team's research  D. warn people of the higher level of CO2

During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻擊；爆破) by terrorists?

    Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task of formulating (構(gòu)思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.

    “Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage,” said Mr. Bruneau, Ph.D. “Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,” he added.

    Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. “This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building,” explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. “The column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor.”

    The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris (殘礫) to survive. “Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for blast resistance,” he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails. “We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse,” said A. Whittaker. “We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it.”

    A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that “earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present.”

1.The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ .

A. that was asked by structural engineers a month ago

B. that is too difficult for structural engineers a month ago

C. that was never thought of before the terrorist attack

D. that terrorists are eager to find a solution to

2.The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker _____ .

A. was part of the building close to the World Trade Center

B. was part of the World Trade Center

C. was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center

D. damaged many buildings near the World Trade Center

3.A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that _____.

A. floors in the faraway buildings remained undamaged

B. some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion

C. complex floor framing systems are more blast resistant

D. floors in one of the buildings were pierced by tons of debris

4. What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that _____.

A. blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design

B. blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design

C. solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design

D. blast engineering emerges as a totally new branch of science

 

“The world's oceans are slowly getting more acidic(酸的),” say scientists. The researchers from California report that the change is taking place in response to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The lowering of the waters' PH value is not great at the moment but could cause a serious threat to current ocean life if it continues, they warn. Ken Caldeira and Michael Wickett, from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, report their concerns in the journal Nature. Increasing use of oil fuels means more carbon dioxide is going into the air, and most of it will eventually be absorbed by seawater. Once in the water, it reacts to form carbonic acid. Scientists believe that the oceans have already become slightly more acidic over the last century.

These researchers have tried to predict what will happen in the future by combining what we know about the history of the oceans with computer models of climate change. “This level of acidity will get much more extreme in the future if we continue releasing CO2 into the atmosphere,” said Dr Caldeira. And we predict the amount of future acidity will be greater than anything we have seen over the last several hundred million years.

However, it is not absolutely clear what that means for ocean life. Most organisms live near the surface, where the greatest PH change would be expected to occur, but deep－ocean life forms may be more sensitive to PH changes. Coral reefs and other organisms whose shells contain calcium carbonate(碳酸鈣) may be particularly affected if the water's acidity levels keep going up, the team predict. They could find it much more difficult to build these structures in water with a lower PH.

In recent years some people have suggested storing carbon dioxide from power station in the deep ocean as a way of dealing with global warming. But Dr Caldeira said that such a strategy should now be re—considered. “Previously, most experts had looked at ocean absorption of carbon dioxide as a good thing——because in releasing CO2 into the atmosphere we warm the planet, and when CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, it reduces the amount of greenhouse warming.”

67. The ocean is becoming more acidic due to___________.

A. the lower water PH value                              B. the warming atmosphere

C. the higher level of CO2 in the air                   D. the increasing use of oil fuels

68. According to Dr Caldeira, ___________.

A. ocean absorption of carbon dioxide is a good thing

B. more oil fuels will be used in the near future

C. scientists may predict climate changes with computer models

D. the future situation of the amount of acidity is extremely serious

69. If the water's acidity level keeps rising, ___________.

A. ocean life whose structures contain calcium carbonate may be affected

B. the water's PH value will become higher and higher

C. organisms living near the surface are more sensitive to PH changes

D. some disastrous events will occur more often than before

70. Most experts once believed storing carbon dioxide in the ocean would reduce___________.

A. the CO2 absorbed by the ocean               B. the amount of greenhouse warming

C. the acidity of the ocean                          D. the gradual release of CO2

 

During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻擊；爆破) by terrorists?
Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task of formulating (構(gòu)思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.
“Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage,” said Mr. Bruneau, Ph.D. “Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,” he added.
Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. “This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building,” explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. “The column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor.”
The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris (殘礫) to survive. “Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for blast resistance,” he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails. “We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse,” said A. Whittaker. “We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it.”
A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that “earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present.”
【小題1】The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ .

A．that was asked by structural engineers a month ago

B．that is too difficult for structural engineers a month ago

C．that was never thought of before the terrorist attack

D．that terrorists are eager to find a solution to

【小題2】The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker _____ .

A．was part of the building close to the World Trade Center

B．was part of the World Trade Center

C．was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center

D．damaged many buildings near the World Trade Center

【小題3】A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that _____.

A．floors in the faraway buildings remained undamaged

B．some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion

C．complex floor framing systems are more blast resistant

D．floors in one of the buildings were pierced by tons of debris

【小題4】 What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that _____.

A．blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design

B．blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design

C．solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design

D．blast engineering emerges as a totally new branch of science