Even plants can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away--straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don't have pest problems. Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a colourcoded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spotspray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would. The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and longterm backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, " says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago. Plants will send out an increased amount of heat when they are _ . A) facing an infrared scanner B) sprayed with pesticides C) in poor physical condition D) exposed to excessive sun rays
C
(Question)
Melbourne, with a population of over 3.5 million, is the second largest city in Australia. It is clean, safe, dynamic and exciting, and well known internationally for its universities and other educational institutions. The city has well-planned tree-lined wide streets and many beautiful parks and gardens. It has a good transport system of roads, buses, trains, and trams. The La Trobe University campus is connected to the Central Business District by trams, express buses, and bus and train connections. Melbourne is a culturally rich city, and is home to large communities of people from all parts of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The city is famous for its restaurants, theatres, music, opera, ballet, art, culture, and shops, and a lively and dynamic nightlife. Melbourne people are fond of sports, and the city hosts many famous international sports events. Near Melbourne there are beautiful coastlines with excellent beaches, national parks, forests, wineries , winter snowfields and summer resorts. The climate is _ and comfortable, with warm summers and cool winters. In summer, maximum daytime temperatures range from 26degC to 36degC, and in winter from 12degC to 18degC. The weather in Melbourne can be variable from day to day. Melbourne was rated the world's best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Melbourne is well-known in the world for its _ . A) large population B) educational institutions C) transport system D) beautiful parks and gardens
(Answer)
B
Ques: The man traveling in the back of the ambulance which was running at a high speed along the streets of Baltimore that morning in2008 had no business to be alive. By everything that was reasonable, and there were plenty of such things before, he should have been very dead indeed. But he wasn't. As the people in the hospital pointed out after they had examined him, he was only slightly hurt. Yet he had just fallen 150 feet down a hotel lift shaft! Unknown to the man, two things had occurred which were to affect his life that day. On the thirteenth floor of the hotel, somebody had carelessly left the lift gate open. Down in the basement, a pipe had burst and it had flooded from the bottom of the lift shaft to a depth of two feet. Modern lifts have all sorts of fail-safe system to prevent accidents, but this was ancient equipment unreliable, slow, dangerous, and unsuitable material to recycle. The man had plenty of things to occupy his mind that morning. He had overslept. The hotel had forgotten to call him and now he was late for an important business appointment. He dressed quickly, shaved hurriedly, took hold of his briefcase and hurried off down the hotel corridor. Good! The lift gate was open. The lift must be there. He need not press the button and wait while the large, clumsy lift made its way upwards. Without looking or thinking, he stepped out into space, The lift cage was, in fact, one floor above him on the fourteenth. The lift shaft which he had walked was a narrow space of not very fresh air, ending150 feet below in two feet of dirty water. The man fell, making his journey to the ground at a speed he had never dreamed of. Confused patterns, a rush of air, time enough to be afraid, split-second thoughts of death, then crash! Perhaps this gave him the record for some sort of high-diving act. No doubt in future he always looked before he jumped. Certainly he learnt that this was no way to save time. The experts said that those two feet of water had saved his life. The lift did not have a fail-safe system because it was _ .ks5u A) narrow B) slow C) large D) old
Ans: D
The Homeless World Cup is an international football event, where teams made up entirely of people who are homeless compete. The event has been held annually since 2003. It was at the end of 2001 that Mel Young, a famous expert in the media inDustry, came up with the idea of the Homeless World Cup. 18 months later the first event took place in Austria. It was such a success that people decided to do more. There are some interesting and special rules of the event. For example, players(male or female at least 16 years old) must have been homeless at some time after the previous year's World Cup or make their main living income by selling newspapers in the street or be asylum seekers . Anyone can take part, regardless of his or her abilities. There are at most 4 players per team to compete in the field. Games are 14 minutes long. In 2007, 48 nations, 500 players took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their countries for true spirit and glory in Copenhagen, Denmark. The winner in 2007 was Scotland. The 2008 Homeless World Cup took place in Melbourne, Australia. And in 2009 it was held in Milan. The latest Homeless World Cup was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 2010. Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup takes place August followed by the Mexico City 2012 Homeless World Cup. The success of the competition has been in two aspects--to attract the world's attention to the problems of homelessness and also to help participants live a better life. According to a survey by the Homeless World Cup Organization after 2006 Homeless World Cup, 92% of the players had a new motivation for life, 93 players successfully got rid of their dependency on drugs and alcohol, 44% improved their housing situation and 72% continued to play football. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE? A) The first Homeless World Cup took place in 2003. B) The Homeless World Cup was held every other year. C) The host country of the 9th Homeless World Cup was Australia. D) Anyone who is homeless can take part in the Homeless World Cup.
A