阅读理解Passage 3 My heart sank when the man at the immigration counter gestured to the back room

阅读理解Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. For each of them there are four choices marked A., B., C. and D. You should decide on the best choice.Passage 2It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is a less conspicuous kind of social upheaval underway that is fast altering both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid acceleration of urbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world’s population was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, the process of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come—with an enormous impact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change.As Karen Seto, the led author of the paper, points out, the wave of urbanization isn’t just about the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environments themselves becoming bigger to accommodate all those people. The rapid expansion of urban areas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urban areas.Humans are the ultimate invasive species—when they move into new territory, they often displace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities—especially in the dense tropical forests—carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well. It’s true that as people in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shift may reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This is especially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and burn forests each growing season to clear space for farming. But the real difference is that in developing nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanying increase in income—and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food and energy, which in turn causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to eat and enjoying the safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing—but it does carry an environmental price.The urbanization wave can’t be stopped—and it shouldn’t be. But Seto’s paper does underscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we can reduce urbanization’s impact on the environment. “There’s an enormous opportunity here, and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize,” says Seto. “One thing that’s clear is that we can’t build cities the way we have over the last couple of hundred years. The scale of this transition won’t allow that.” We’re headed towards an urban planet no matter what, but whether it becomes heaven or hell is up to us.

阅读理解Text 3 Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providing clues to who people are, who they are not, and who they would like to be

阅读理解Of the thousands of different kinds of animals that exist in the world manhas learned to make friends with an enormous number

阅读理解It is strange and disturbing to watch the straight (i

阅读理解Text 4 Todays cars are smaller, safer, cleaner, and more economical than their predecessors, but the car of the future will be far more pollution-free than those on the road today

阅读理解Passage 1 When Macbeth was told he had nothing to fear until the local woods started ambling up to his castle, the tyrant sighed with relief, for who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix his earth-bound root? Macbeth obviously had never been to Barro Colorado Island in Panama

阅读理解Passage C Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion―a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate

阅读理解Passage 3 No matter how many times you have seen images of the golden mask of boy king Tutankhamen, come face to face with it in Egypts Cairo museum, and you will suck in your breath

阅读理解Passage 3 Recently, Congressional Democrats introduced legislation to make it easier for older workers to win age discrimination lawsuits

阅读理解(1) It can be risky these days to suggest that there are any innate differences between men and women, other than those of anatomy

阅读理解Passage C In 776 B

阅读理解Along the Mighty Thames The Thames The Thames is the longest river in England, running 352 kilometers from where it rises in the Costswold Hills in Gloucestershire to the North Sea

阅读理解Passage 3 During my 25 years as a marital therapist, I have seen hundreds of people disappointed over unfulfilling relationships

阅读理解Text 6 The two principal ways in which immigrant groups adjust to the dominant culture of the host country are assimilation and acculturation

阅读理解Passage F The standard of living of any country means the average persons share of the goods and services which the country produces

阅读理解Over the last 25 years, British society has changed a great deal-or at least many parts of it have

阅读理解Text 1 A lot of perfectly respectable small businesses are raking in money from Internet fraud

阅读理解Passage D Petroleum products, such as gasoline, kerosene, home heating oil, residual fuel oil, and lubricating oils, come from one sourcecrude oil found below the earths surface, as well as under large bodies of water, from a few hundred feet below the surface to as deep as 25,000 feet into the earths interior

阅读理解Passage 3 Perhaps there are far more wives than I imagine who take it for granted that housework is neither satisfying nor even important once the basic demands of hygiene and feeding have been met