2010 was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards , landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 - the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined. "It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010. "The term "100-year event' really lost its meaning this year." And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say. Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes. Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die. Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes "are pretty much constant," said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. "All the change that's made is man-made." The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people - many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University. Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding. The excessive amount of extreme weather... What is the real concern of the writer of this article? A) The major causes of natural disasters. B) The human unawareness of environment protection. C) The harmonious relationship between humans and nature. D) The serious results of global warming and earthquakes.
C
(Question)
Britain has laws to make sure that women have the same chances as men in education, jobs and training. But it's still unusual to find women doing dirty or heavy jobs. Nikki Henriques is a car _ engineer in London. She used to be a secretary. Barty Philips, a journalist with "The Observer", a Sunday newspaper, asked her why she wanted to work with cars. "My first reason was independence ," she said. "I also wanted to use my hands, and I like learning about how things work. Many people prefer to have a woman repair their cars, too." Nikki didn't find it easy to become a car maintenance engineer. She went to a Government Skill Centre--a special sort of college where people can learn a new job for twenty weeks. "For ten weeks I was the only woman among four hundred men, and some of them were rude to me. It was also very tiring--from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, with only 30 minutes for lunch." Now Nikki works free-lance, that is, she's self-employed, working for herself and not for a garage or a company. Barty Phillips also spoke to Rose, who works as a general builder in Sheffield, an industrial town in the north of England. Like Nikki, Rose used to be a secretary. "I didn't enjoy it at all." she said. "I wanted to do more practical work, and I wanted to be self-employed." Rose joined a women's building co-operative, and she learnt her job from other people and from experience. However, many of the women in her group have been specially trained. Most of the jobs they do are improvements to buildings and general repairs. "People often say, 'Oh, women aren't strong enough,' but I don't think strength is important." said Rose, "The important thing is to get used to doing a different sort of work." Rose would like more women to come into the building industry. "Everything built at the moment is a product of man's world. If women become builders, they will be able to understand the production of their house and their towns." The best title for this passage might be _ . A) Nikki Henriques, a car maintenance engineer B) Rose, a General Builder in Shefield C) Women at Work D) British Women
(Answer)
C
Ques: Michael J. "Crocodile Dundee" (also called Mick), played by Paul Hogan, is the main character in the fictional Crocodile Dundee film series consisting of Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The character is a crocodile hunter, hence the nickname. In the first film, Crocodile Dundee, Mick is visited by a New York reporter, Sue Charlton, who travels to Australia to investigate a report she heard of a crocodile hunter, who had his leg bitten off by a crocodile in the outback. The hunter supposedly walked more than a hundred miles back to civilization and miraculously survived his injuries. However, by the time she meets him, the story turns out to be a somewhat exaggerated legend where the "bitten-off leg" turns out to be just being some bad scarring on his leg; a "love bite" as Mick calls it. Still _ by the idea of "Crocodile Dundee", Sue continues with the story. They travel together out to where the incident occurred, and follow his route through the bush to the nearest hospital. Despite his old-fashioned views, the pair eventually become close, especially after Mick saves Sue from a crocodile attack. Feeling there is still more to the story, Sue invites Mick back to New York with her, as his first trip to a city (or "first trip anywhere," as Dundee says). The rest of the film depicts Dundee as a "fish out of water," showing how, despite his expert knowledge of living outdoors, he knows little of city life. Mick meets Sue's boyfriend, Richard, but they do not get along. By the end of the film, Mick is on his way home, lovesick, when Sue realizes she loves Mick, too, and not Richard. She runs to the subway station to stop Mick from leaving and, by passing on messages through the packed-to-the-gills crowd, she tells him she won't marry Richard, and she loves him instead. With the help of the other people in the subway, Mick and Sue have a loving reunion as the film ends. The film Crocodile Dundee can be best described as _ . A) a romantic story B) an action movie C) a science fiction D) a frightening story
Ans:
A