When Christmas time is upon us, there won't be many families without some type of Christmas tree. Most will choose between a cut pine tree and an artificial plastic tree.

Artificial Christmas trees are usually made from steel and the plastic known as PVC. To produce one kilogram of raw PVC you need over a kilo of fossil fuels plus half a kilo of minerals and 10 L of water. The process also releases about two kilograms of CO2 ― which contributes to climate change ― and eight grams of dangerous waste.

Most live Christmas trees come either from small plantations dedicated to growing trees just for Christmas or are the rejects from large pine plantations. In both cases, the growing trees provide some long-term soil protection and suck up climate-change-causing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, the use of fertilizers and pollution from machinery can have negative impacts on the local ecosystems.

Both types of trees require transportation to reach your home, which means fuels are burnt and air pollution generated. The greater the distance travelled, the larger the impact, and plastic trees certainly rack up the kilometres. The vast majority of Australia’s artificial trees are made in factories in Asia. If a family in Melbourne buys a plastic tree made in China, then it has travelled more than 8,000 km to arrive at its new home. Alternatively, someone living near Melbourne's CBD could get a real tree from a plantation less than 50 km away.

Despite the shorter life span, real trees are the way to go, because a natural tree can be reused in its afterlife. A plastic Christmas tree can’t be recycled and that means its final resting place will be the local dump. Here the PVC will stay in much the same form for thousands of years.

72. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

      A. Artificial Christmas trees are usually made from steel and plastic.

B. The process of producing PVC does great harm to the environment.

C. Real Christmas trees usually come from large or small plantations.

D. Real Christmas trees release much carbon dioxide while growing.

73. By saying “rack up the kilometres”, the author probably means that the transportation of plastic trees _______.

A. is more convenient                         B. produces more pollution

C. covers a shorter distance                D. can save more fuels

74. According to the passage, real Christmas trees _______ compared with fake ones.

A. use fewer resources                       B. are more difficult to recycle

C. last much longer                             D. are less expensive

75. Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A. Real Christmas Trees: A Wasteful luxury

B. Fake Christmas Trees: A Economical Choice

C. Real Christmas Trees: A Greener Decision

D. Fake Christmas Trees: A Popular Trend

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科目:高中英語 來源:高中課程新學(xué)案 高中三年級、英語 題型:022

請用本單元所學(xué)短語的適當(dāng)形式填空。

I was almost asleep when Chris finally ________ ________(露面)

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科目:高中英語 來源:2008-2009學(xué)年度山東省濟寧一中高三第二次反饋練習(xí)、英語試卷 題型:050

閱讀理解

  I am an advocate for my son.I made it my responsibility to inform all of his high school teachers and principals that our family goal was for him to attend college.When you, the parent, inform a teacher that the family had high expectations for your child, then that teacher takes on a whole different attitude to him or her.

  When Chris started high school, I started my habit of keeping track of his absences and tardiness(上學(xué)遲到)on my calendar at home.In a way, it pleased him that I cared so much.

  One semester in his junior year, he came home with a report card that showed three times as many days absent from school as I had on y calendar.When I asked him about it, he looked at the report card and his eyes got very wide.

  “That must be a mistake, Mom,”he said.“Maybe there was an error in the computer.”He assured me that he had not been skipping school.

  While I was prepared to believe him, I also needed to check with the school to make sure.The next morning, I went with Chris before school to the vice principal’s office and showed him the report card with the excessive(過度的)number of absences.He spoke up immediately.

  “Oh, Ms.Chandler, I’m so sorry.We are planning to inform all the parents that there was a glitch in the reporting of the days absent for all the kids.I don’t think any of them went out correct.”Chris was here when he says he was here.

  I was relieved that everything was all right, and as I left his office the vice principal said to me,“Hundreds of report cards went out with the wrong number of absences, but you’re the only parent who has called or stopped in to check up on it.”

(1)

When Chris saw the report card, he felt ________.

[  ]

A.

ashamed

B.

surprised

C.

frightened

D.

angry

(2)

Why did the author go to her son’s school with the report card?

[  ]

A.

To prove Chris innocent.

B.

To correct the mistake.

C.

To find out the truth

D.

To expose Chris as a liar.

(3)

The underlined word“glitch”in Paragraph 6 can be best replaced by“________”.

[  ]

A.

problem

B.

correction

C.

statement

D.

change

(4)

It can be inferred from the passage that the author ________.

[  ]

A.

changed all teachers’ attitudes to her son

B.

had high expectations for her son’s school

C.

was dissatisfied with her son’s school

D.

kept in touch with her son’s school

(5)

By saying“Chris was here when he says he was here”, what did the vice principal mean?

[  ]

A.

Chris was seldom absent from school.

B.

Chris was telling the truth.

C.

Chris never broke his promise.

D.

Chris was well-disciplined.

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科目:高中英語 來源:2013屆浙江省樂清市白象中學(xué)高三第四次月考英語試卷(帶解析) 題型:閱讀理解

If I raised the question, “What would be the last thing you would expect to happen while watching your son’s flag football game?” you probably still couldn’t come up with what happened to me and my family.
As we were sitting on the sidelines enjoying the game, a low-flying bird came swooping in attempting to land on my daughter’s head! It honestly came out of nowhere. We were seated by ourselves on the tree lined side of the field. I was able to calm my daughter’s shock and fear once I showed her that the bird was not some wild animal, it was in fact, somebody’s pet!
Now, we’re sitting at the outdoor fields of the Pontiac Silverdome, far from any populated area, wondering where this very social cockatiel, an Australian parrot (澳洲鸚鵡) could have come from. I walked up to the bird and put out my hand. Immediately, it hopped on and chirped in a friendly way. We looked around us and knew that we could not just leave and suppose that the bird would return to where it came from. This was a very domesticated bird that needed help or it would not survive.
The flag football game had ended so we walked the bird over to other groups of adults and asked if they knew of anyone who had lost a bird. All the kids were excited about the bird and fed it with some post game snacks. The bird’s nails were getting long and he was looking pretty dirty, so we knew it had been out here for a long time and was hungry. Since its wings were clipped, it could fly a little but probably not more than 100 yards or so at a try. We all just scratched our heads as a group wondering what to do with the lost bird.
We explained to the kids that this bird needed our help since it was someone’s pet and would not know how to get its own food, and it could not fly well since its wings were clipped. The kids understood, and all of them wanted to take the bird home! The parents however, knew this was not a good choice as one had a large dog, another two cats, etc. We explained to the kids that one of us could take the bird home for the night and then bring it to the Humane Society in the morning in hopes to connect it to its owners. We couldn’t keep the bird. It wasn’t ours. This was tough for the kids to understand at first. We couldn’t just leave the bird either. There was no way it could attend itself. The group of us sat around the Silverdome practice fields for quite a while trying to determine the best course of choice for the lost bird. It was getting dark out but no one was willing to leave that parking lot until we had a game plan for how to help the bird.
The owner of the football league, Chris Novak, offered to take the bird. It was extremely nice of him and he really stepped in to help while all the rest of us who had kids tugging on our shirts and begging to take it home. We took a box and put a bunch of holes in it and he brought it home for the night. Another mom went online and found a family that had lost a bird that looked just like the one we’d found. She emailed the info to Chris who got in touch with the family and the next day, reunited the bird with the family that lost it almost 3 weeks earlier! When Chris emailed us to let us know, we could not believe that this bird had traveled from The Rochester Tienken area all the way to the Silverdome!
We were so happy to be able to save this bird and get it back to its family. I showed my kids the email about how the other family got their pet back. The family has 3 kids who were so happy to see their bird. My kids realized what a nice ending this story had. Not only had we been able to save this bird’s life, but we were able to bring it back to the family that loves and misses him.
The life lesson in the missing bird story seemed to miss its mark with my kids at first. They were a little bummed out that they couldn’t keep the lost bird. I explained to them that when an animal or someone needs help, you just can’t turn a blind eye and hope everything works out OK. The “l(fā)ost bird incident” was also a reminder to them that teamwork and the kindness of strangers can make a world of difference and that a group of well-meaning strangers can work together to help someone. It wasn’t a heroic act, but one that I knew had sunk in with my kids when they realized that trying to help was the best and only real course of action.  
【小題1】What happened when the author watched his son’s football games?

A.A parrot tried to eat their food.
B.His daughter was hurt by a parrot.
C.A parrot flew towards his daughter.
D.A parrot landed on his daughter’s head.
【小題2】The underlined word “domesticated” in the second paragraph probably means_______.
A.having been abandonedB.having been used to home life
C.having been used to life in the wildD.having been week and hungry
【小題3】Who was the first one to find the bird’s owner?
A.The authorB.Chris Novak
C.The Humane SocietyD.A participant’s mother
【小題4】What can be learned from the “l(fā)ost bird incident”?
A.Strangers can also work well together.
B.Humane Society helps children in teamwork.
C.Children can keep lost injured pet birds home.
D.Helping others is always regarded as a heroic act.
【小題5】What did the author want to tell in the text?
A.How to help a lost parrot to find home.
B.The experience of watching a football games.
C.The importance of teamwork and helping others.
D.How a parrot can fly a long distance from home.
【小題6】The best title of the text should be________. 
A.What Animals Can Teach Us
B.Complete Care for a Lost Bird
C.Life Lessons When You Least Expect It
D.Love First, Teamwork and Kindness Second

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科目:高中英語 來源:2012-2013學(xué)年浙江省樂清市高三第四次月考英語試卷(解析版) 題型:閱讀理解

If I raised the question, “What would be the last thing you would expect to happen while watching your son’s flag football game?” you probably still couldn’t come up with what happened to me and my family.

As we were sitting on the sidelines enjoying the game, a low-flying bird came swooping in attempting to land on my daughter’s head! It honestly came out of nowhere. We were seated by ourselves on the tree lined side of the field. I was able to calm my daughter’s shock and fear once I showed her that the bird was not some wild animal, it was in fact, somebody’s pet!

Now, we’re sitting at the outdoor fields of the Pontiac Silverdome, far from any populated area, wondering where this very social cockatiel, an Australian parrot (澳洲鸚鵡) could have come from. I walked up to the bird and put out my hand. Immediately, it hopped on and chirped in a friendly way. We looked around us and knew that we could not just leave and suppose that the bird would return to where it came from. This was a very domesticated bird that needed help or it would not survive.

The flag football game had ended so we walked the bird over to other groups of adults and asked if they knew of anyone who had lost a bird. All the kids were excited about the bird and fed it with some post game snacks. The bird’s nails were getting long and he was looking pretty dirty, so we knew it had been out here for a long time and was hungry. Since its wings were clipped, it could fly a little but probably not more than 100 yards or so at a try. We all just scratched our heads as a group wondering what to do with the lost bird.

We explained to the kids that this bird needed our help since it was someone’s pet and would not know how to get its own food, and it could not fly well since its wings were clipped. The kids understood, and all of them wanted to take the bird home! The parents however, knew this was not a good choice as one had a large dog, another two cats, etc. We explained to the kids that one of us could take the bird home for the night and then bring it to the Humane Society in the morning in hopes to connect it to its owners. We couldn’t keep the bird. It wasn’t ours. This was tough for the kids to understand at first. We couldn’t just leave the bird either. There was no way it could attend itself. The group of us sat around the Silverdome practice fields for quite a while trying to determine the best course of choice for the lost bird. It was getting dark out but no one was willing to leave that parking lot until we had a game plan for how to help the bird.

The owner of the football league, Chris Novak, offered to take the bird. It was extremely nice of him and he really stepped in to help while all the rest of us who had kids tugging on our shirts and begging to take it home. We took a box and put a bunch of holes in it and he brought it home for the night. Another mom went online and found a family that had lost a bird that looked just like the one we’d found. She emailed the info to Chris who got in touch with the family and the next day, reunited the bird with the family that lost it almost 3 weeks earlier! When Chris emailed us to let us know, we could not believe that this bird had traveled from The Rochester Tienken area all the way to the Silverdome!

We were so happy to be able to save this bird and get it back to its family. I showed my kids the email about how the other family got their pet back. The family has 3 kids who were so happy to see their bird. My kids realized what a nice ending this story had. Not only had we been able to save this bird’s life, but we were able to bring it back to the family that loves and misses him.

The life lesson in the missing bird story seemed to miss its mark with my kids at first. They were a little bummed out that they couldn’t keep the lost bird. I explained to them that when an animal or someone needs help, you just can’t turn a blind eye and hope everything works out OK. The “l(fā)ost bird incident” was also a reminder to them that teamwork and the kindness of strangers can make a world of difference and that a group of well-meaning strangers can work together to help someone. It wasn’t a heroic act, but one that I knew had sunk in with my kids when they realized that trying to help was the best and only real course of action.  

1.What happened when the author watched his son’s football games?

A.A parrot tried to eat their food.

B.His daughter was hurt by a parrot.

C.A parrot flew towards his daughter.

D.A parrot landed on his daughter’s head.

2.The underlined word “domesticated” in the second paragraph probably means_______.

A.having been abandoned                  B.having been used to home life

C.having been used to life in the wild          D.having been week and hungry

3.Who was the first one to find the bird’s owner?

A.The author                            B.Chris Novak

C.The Humane Society                     D.A participant’s mother

4.What can be learned from the “l(fā)ost bird incident”?

A.Strangers can also work well together.

B.Humane Society helps children in teamwork.

C.Children can keep lost injured pet birds home.

D.Helping others is always regarded as a heroic act.

5.What did the author want to tell in the text?

A.How to help a lost parrot to find home.

B.The experience of watching a football games.

C.The importance of teamwork and helping others.

D.How a parrot can fly a long distance from home.

6.The best title of the text should be________. 

A.What Animals Can Teach Us

B.Complete Care for a Lost Bird

C.Life Lessons When You Least Expect It

D.Love First, Teamwork and Kindness Second

 

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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解

I am an advocate for my son. I made it my responsibility to inform all of his high school teachers and principals that our family goal was for him to attend college. When you, the parent, inform a teacher that the family had high expectations for your child, then that teacher takes on a whole different attitude to him or her.

       When Chris started high school, I started my habit of keeping track of his absences and tardiness(上學(xué)遲到) on my calendar at home. In a way, it pleased him that I cared so much.

       One semester in his junior year, he came home with a report card that showed three times as many days absent from school as I had on y calendar. When I asked him about it, he looked at the report card and his eyes got very wide.

       “That must be a mistake, Mom,”he said. “Maybe there was an error in the computer.”He assured me that he had not been skipping school.

       While I was prepared to believe him, I also needed to check with the school to make sure. The next morning, I went with Chris before school to the vice principal’s office and showed him the report card with the excessive(過度的) number of absences. He spoke up immediately.

       “Oh, Ms. Chandler, I’m so sorry. We are planning to inform all the parents that there was a glitch in the reporting of the days absent for all the kids. I don’t think any of them went out correct.”Chris was here when he says he was here.

       I was relieved that everything was all right, and as I left his office the vice principal said to me, “Hundreds of report cards went out with the wrong number of absences, but you’re the only parent who has called or stopped in to check up on it.”

1.When Chris saw the report card, he felt         .

       A.a(chǎn)shamed              B.surprised             C.frightened            D.a(chǎn)ngry

2.Why did the author go to her son’s school with the report card?

       A.To prove Chris innocent.                      B.To correct the mistake.

       C.To find out the truth                             D.To expose Chris as a liar.

3.The underlined word “glitch” in Paragraph 6 can be best replaced by “     ”.

       A.problem              B.correction            C.statement            D.change

4.It can be inferred from the passage that the author          .

       A.changed all teachers’ attitudes to her son

       B.had high expectations for her son’s school

       C.was dissatisfied with her son’s school

       D.kept in touch with her son’s school

5.By saying “Chris was here when he says he was here”, what did the vice principal mean?

       A.Chris was seldom absent from school.   B.Chris was telling the truth.

       C.Chris never broke his promise.              D.Chris was well-disciplined.

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