Why do earthquakes happen? Scientists explain that the outside of the earth is made of a number of different plates . For example, at San Francisco the Pacific Plate which is moving towards the northwest meets the North American Plate. The Pacific Plate is moving very slowly-at 5. 3 centimetres a year. Sometimes these two plates stop and do not move for years. Then suddenly, they jump and an earthquake is felt. As the movement of these plates, West America near the sea has always been a bad place for earthquakes. When the 1906 earthquake happened, the Pacific Plate jumped 5-6 metres to the north. We cannot stop earthquakes, but we can do things to make sure they don't destroy the whole of cities. First ,it is not a good idea to build houses along the lines, where two of the earth's plates join together. Second, if you think there may be an earthquake, it is better to build houses on rock not on sand. Third, you must make the houses as strong as possible. Weak buildings will fall down in an earthquake, but strong ones may stay up. An earthquake shook San Francisco in the past because _ . A) San Francisco stands along between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate B) San Francisco stands near the Pacific C) San Francisco is near the sea D) the city of San Francisco wasn't built very well
A

Almost every child in big cities has the chance to go to school. Nine years' studying helps children to prepare for their future lives. In fact, many students can study for more than nine years. Not all children are so lucky. There is a girl called Xiao Fang. She is eight years old and lives in a small village in Guangxi. When she was younger, she wanted to go to school, but she could not because her family was too poor. The schools were too expensive, so her parents kept her at home. Instead of studying, Xiao Fang worked in the fields with her parents. Then Project Hope heard about Xiao Fang. It agreed to help Xiao Fang to go to school. Her wish came true, and now she is studying in a school. Unluckily, there are many thousands of children who can not go to school. You can help these children. Project Hope also helps to repair school buildings. All this good work costs money. Project Hope needs your help. If you give Project Hope Y=300, we can pay for one child to go to school for a whole year. With more money, Project Hope can build new schools. The money buys good desks, chairs, blackboards and books. To help us is to help Xiao Fang and many other children to have a good start in life. _ can go to school. A) Almost everyone in the world B) Almost everyone in China C) Almost everyone in big cities D) Almost everyone in small villages
C

John and Sam were friends. They opened a small shop in a small village. One day, they sold out of all their wine , so they drove to the city to buy some. On their way home, the wind was strong and it was getting colder and colder. Both John and Sam wanted to drink some wine to keep warm, but they had a rule. They couldn't drink any wine because they had to sell it. According to the rule, if some-body wanted to drink some wine, he had to pay the other twice the price. John was a clever man. He took out ten cents and gave it to Sam. He said, "Here is ten cents. Would you please sell me some of your wine?" Sam was a businessman , so he said, "You give me money, so of course I will sell some to you." Then he passed John a cup of wine. After drinking the wine, John felt warm soon, but Sam was still cold. Then he took out the ten cents that John just gave to him and said to John, "Here is ten cents. Please sell me some of your wine." John agreed. Sam drank some wine and also felt much warmer. But after some time, they both felt cold again, so they kept buying wine from each other with the same ten cents. Soon they drank up all of the wine. "How could so much wine only cost ten cents?" the two friends asked each other. What did Sam and John do? A) They were doctors. B) They were officers. C) They were shopkeepers. D) They were policemen.
C

Some scientists say that animals in the ocean are increasingly threatened by noise pollution caused by human beings. The noise that affects sea animals comes from a number of human activities. Such noises are added to natural sounds. These sounds include the breaking of ice fields, underwater earthquakes, and sounds made by animals themselves. Decibels measured in water are different from those measured on land. A noise of one hundred and twenty decibels on land caused pain to human ears. In water, a decibel level of one hundred and ninety-five would have the same effect. Some scientists have planned to set a noise limit of one hundred and twenty decibels in oceans. They have found that noises at that level can frighten and confuse whales. A team of American and Canadian scientists discovered that loud noises can seriously hurt some animals. The research team found that powerful underwater explosions were causing whales in the area to lose their hearing. This seriously affected the whales' ability to exchange information and find their way. Some of the whales even died. The explosions had caused their ears to bleed and become infected. Many researchers whose work depends on ocean sounds disagree to a limit of one hundred and twenty decibels. They say such a limit would mean an end to important industrial and scientific research. Scientists do not know how much and what kinds of noises are harmful to ocean animals. However, many scientists suspect that noise is a greater danger than they believed. They want to stop noises from harming creatures in the ocean. According to the passage, which of the following is increasingly dangerous to sea animals? A) The man-made noises. B) The noises made by themselves. C) The sound of earthquakes. D) The sound of the ice-breaking.
A