Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.
But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many， many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.
Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.
Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it’s hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” say Bruce Anderson.
【小题1】According to Anderson, before 1970, Americans had little idea about ___.

A．the social movement	B．recycling techniques
C．environmental problems	D．the importance of Earth Day

【小题2】Where does the support for environmental protection mainly come from?

A．The grass –roots level.	B．The business circle.
C．Government officials.	D．University professors.

【小题3】What have Americans achieved in environmental protection?

A．They have cut car emissions to the lowest.

B．They have settled their environmental problems.

C．They have lowered their CO levels in forty cities.

D．They have reduced pollution through effective measures.

【小题4】What is especially important for environmental protection according to the last paragraph?

A．Education.	B．Planning
C．Green living	D．CO reduction

   Heads turned, tears dropped, and gossip-filled whispers went on and on from the hospital passages to the house windows. There was a problem: a daughter had been born. She wasn’t the first disappointment born to her family. Although my aunt didn’t care about giving birth to a girl, her mother-in-law constantly reminded her of the criticism she would have to face if she gave birth to a daughter. In India, most people held these views.

When I visited my relatives during the summer, one sentence managed to fill me with anger and start arguments with my so-called relatives. “You are a girl, stay within your limits.” They simply don’t know how different it is living in the US. Anyway, comparisons to my cousins led me to end the arguments for the moment and accept the way they lived their lives.

My words didn’t make sense to them so my mind was set on proving them wrong.

Although their words didn’t tear me apart, their actions managed to. The amount of sexism(性别歧视) in this culture, especially my hometown, made me feel bad. It was the 21st century, yet women had to eat after the men at family gatherings. They had to cook all the family meals and were asked to take jobs that required little skill or education. It was time to change these views.

As I was growing older, the same relatives repeatedly questioned me about my future: “What do you want to be?” And the answer was always the same：electrical engineer. I have a passion for electronics; as clichéd(陈词滥调的) as it sounds, I was born to do it. When I connect wires together to repair something, I can’t contain my excitement. But when I tried to explain this to my relatives, all of them, except for my parents and grandparents, would be shocked and laugh at me — laugh because they didn’t think I could live up to my goals, being a “girl and all”. It was time to change these views.

In my world, being a girl is not a problem. Rather, it is an opportunity to allow passion, not stereotypes(成见), to shape my future. I decided to channel my relatives’ views into positive energy. Rather than letting them bring me down, I let them be motivation to achieve my goal of becoming an engineer. I, a female, will become a successful engineer.

【小题1】The first paragraph was mainly written to    .

A．describe how bad the author’s aunt felt for having a baby girl

B．describe the pressure the author’s aunt had to face when she was going to have a baby

C．show that most Indian people are strongly prejudiced against women

D．show that the author’s aunt’s generation is fighting against prejudice against women

【小题2】From the second and third paragraphs, it can be concluded that    .

A．the author realized that just using words couldn’t change the relatives’ sexism

B．the author’s friends and relatives were jealous about her life in the US

C．the author got used to being reminded to stay within her limits after she was born

D．the author often argued with her relatives because she believed US lifestyles were right

【小题3】According to the text, the author decided to change her relatives’ views by    .

A．achieving her ambition of changing her hometown

B．using her relatives’ comments as motivation

C．letting stereotypes influence her future decisions

D．achieving her dream of becoming an engineer

【小题4】In the article, in what way does the author show how serious the amount of sexism was in her hometown?

A．By describing feeling defeated after arguments.

B．By describing people’s words, behavior and common practices.

C．By stressing the conflicts she had with her relatives.

D．By giving examples of how her goals were laughed at repeatedly.

   Common Sense Media，a group that helps children，parents and teachers better understand media and technology，did a study. It paid attention to all kinds of media-related activities，from old methods like reading and listening to the radio，to new favorites like using social media and video chatting. More than 2，600 kids were surveyed. Here are some truths and myths（错误观念）the study found：

Truth 1：Some teens spend too much time looking at screens.

One in five teens spends more than six hours on screens each day，and 18%of teens are looking at their screens for more than 10 hours a day. Often they watch television on one while chatting with friends on another.

Myth 1：This is the end of reading.

The average（平均的）time young people spend reading，either in print or on a screen，is only 30 minutes a day. However，kids who received the survey say reading is one of their favorite activities.

Truth 2：Boys prefer video games while girls prefer social media.

Among teen boys，71% enjoy playing video games，twice as many as teen girls. And while more than 25%of teen boys list playing video games as their favorite media activity，only 2%of teen girls do.

What's more，teen girls spend about 40 minutes more each day on social media than boys do.

Myth 2：TV and music have been muscled out（强行逐出）.

For teens，TV is still the top media activity. They enjoy it most and watch it every day. In fact，47%of teens have TV sets in their bedrooms. For teens，while 57%have TV sets in their rooms，music is the main form of amusement. However，only about a third listen to music on the radio. Most teens listen to it on their smartphones.

Note: You are a teen if you are between 13 and 19 years old，while a tween is a child between the ages of 10 and 12.

【小题1】What can we learn from Truth 1？

A．Teens prefer to watch TV rather than chat with

B．Teen boys spend a lot of time in reading.

C．20% of teens spend more than 6 hours on screens a day.

D．teens spend too much time chatting with friends online.

【小题2】What's the percent of teen girls enjoying playing video games?

A．About 2%.	B．About 25%.
C．About 35%.	D．About 70%.

【小题3】From Myth 2, we can learn that_____.

A．teens watch TV less than teens every day

B．most teens wish to have their own smartphones

C．more teens have TV sets in their bedrooms than teens

D．it's popular for teens to listen to music on a smartphone

【小题4】What is the subject of the survey?

A．Kids' reading activities.

B．Kids' interests and hobbies.

C．Media and technology in kids' life.

D．The bad effect of social media on kids.

   Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals，the responses（反应）were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it，108 would clone their beloved animals，111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

Clearly，from readers’responses，this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual sadness of owning a pet. It also shows people’s widely different expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original；many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side，however，held little hope that cloning could truly recreate a pet；many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned“the dog/cat in the world”.They thought of their pets as their“best friend”，“a member of the family”，“the light of their life”.They told moving stories of pets’ heroism，intelligence and selfless devotion.

Few wonder the loss is so disturbing（令人不安的）and the cloning so attractive.“People become very close to their animals，and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies，”says Gary A. Kowalski，author of Goodbye Friend：Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me，cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away... It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with it. It’s hard to accept.”

But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.

【小题1】While talking about the readers’ responses，the expression“eventual sadness of owning a pet”refers to _______.

A．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet

B．the high cost of owning a pet

C．the death of one’s pet

D．the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet

【小题2】What can we know from what Gary A Kowalski says?

A．He has never thought about the problem of cloning.

B．He is in favor of the idea of cloning pets.

C．He has lost his beloved pets.

D．He has doubts about the cloning of pets.

【小题3】What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets？

A．Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies？

B．Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning？

C．Does cloning go against the law of nature？

D．How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one's pet？

短文改错

I left home at 18 and pay my own way through college. In the past 20 years, I have worked for everything I needed. So it shocks me what some people in their 20s, still get their life supported by our parents. Some of these parents have difficult supporting their families.

It’s true that the job market is much more harder these days. Therefore, there are certainly some ways to make living on our own. Even if our parents is nice enough to pay for our college, we shouldn’t burden them at our problems. We should be financially responsible adults, made our parents proud of us.