PART THREE  READING COMPREHENSION
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
A
An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a new way of providing employment for millions of poor people in Bihar. His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.
Mr Raju’s success could clearly be seen on 30 August, 2009 when he organized 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.
Mr Raju has linked his “social forestry” program to the central government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is also designed to provide employment for poor people. Under NREGA — started in February 2006 as the government’s most ambitious employment generation scheme for poor people — the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year for members of families living below the poverty line. About 44% of Bihar’s population fall into this category.
Mr Raju says that Bihar — being the poorest and most lawless state of India — hasn’t been able to spend the allocated (分配的) NREGA funds. “This is because of a lack of awareness among officials about the scheme,” he said. “So the idea struck to my mind: why not involve families below the poverty line in social forestry and give them employment under this scheme for 100 days? Under the scheme, each family can earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210).”
The civil servant immediately made a plan of his idea. In June, Mr Raju published a booklet of “dos and don’ts” and distributed it to village heads. His plan meant that NREGA funds were fully used — in the past this hasn’t always been the case.
“I told the villagers they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them. The old and disabled would be given preference,” he explained.
Every village council has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings — a group of four families have to plant 200 trees and they must protect them for three years till the plants grow stronger.
“They would get the full payment if they can ensure the survival of 90% of the plants under their care. For a 75-80% survival rate, they’ll be paid only half the wage. For less than 75%, the families in the group will be replaced,” the guidelines say.
Significantly, his scheme has even stopped the migration of poor labourers from the area in search of employment elsewhere.
56. According to the passage, the main purpose of SM Raju’s “social forestry” program is to _____.
A. promote the practice of NREGA
B. make efforts to prevent global warming
C. increase the employment of poor people
D. prevent poor people from migrating elsewhere
57 According to the passage, the poor people in Bihar don’t make full use of NREGA funds because _____.
A. the local officials don’t realize the importance of NREGA
B. the local government doesn’t get enough support from the central government
C. the local poor people know little about NREGA
D. Bihar is the most lawless state in India
58. We can infer from the passage that _____.
A. most people in Bihar will benefit from NREGA
B. the old and disabled people are not involved in tree planting
C. families who can’t ensure 75% survival rate of the trees will not be paid
D. Raju’s new plan will reduce Bihar’s population below the poverty line
59. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. There’s a good way to deal with global warming
B. Tree planting provides employment for the poor
C. Tree planting solves the problem of unemployment
D. Raju’s “social forestry” program wins the support of NREGA
60. How can villagers get more NREGA funds?
A. Thinking better ways to stop global warming
B. Working hard for one hundred days
C. Planting more trees and ensuring the survival of plants
D. Stopping moving from the area to search employment elsewhere

PART THREE  READING COMPREHENSION

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

A

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a new way of providing employment for millions of poor people in Bihar. His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Mr Raju’s success could clearly be seen on 30 August, 2009 when he organized 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.

Mr Raju has linked his “social forestry” program to the central government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is also designed to provide employment for poor people. Under NREGA — started in February 2006 as the government’s most ambitious employment generation scheme for poor people — the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year for members of families living below the poverty line. About 44% of Bihar’s population fall into this category.

Mr Raju says that Bihar — being the poorest and most lawless state of India — hasn’t been able to spend the allocated (分配的) NREGA funds. “This is because of a lack of awareness among officials about the scheme,” he said. “So the idea struck to my mind: why not involve families below the poverty line in social forestry and give them employment under this scheme for 100 days? Under the scheme, each family can earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210).”

The civil servant immediately made a plan of his idea. In June, Mr Raju published a booklet of “dos and don’ts” and distributed it to village heads. His plan meant that NREGA funds were fully used — in the past this hasn’t always been the case.

“I told the villagers they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them. The old and disabled would be given preference,” he explained.

Every village council has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings — a group of four families have to plant 200 trees and they must protect them for three years till the plants grow stronger.

“They would get the full payment if they can ensure the survival of 90% of the plants under their care. For a 75-80% survival rate, they’ll be paid only half the wage. For less than 75%, the families in the group will be replaced,” the guidelines say.

Significantly, his scheme has even stopped the migration of poor labourers from the area in search of employment elsewhere.

56. According to the passage, the main purpose of SM Raju’s “social forestry” program is to _____.

A. promote the practice of NREGA

B. make efforts to prevent global warming

C. increase the employment of poor people

D. prevent poor people from migrating elsewhere

57 According to the passage, the poor people in Bihar don’t make full use of NREGA funds because _____.

A. the local officials don’t realize the importance of NREGA

B. the local government doesn’t get enough support from the central government

C. the local poor people know little about NREGA

D. Bihar is the most lawless state in India

58. We can infer from the passage that _____.

A. most people in Bihar will benefit from NREGA

B. the old and disabled people are not involved in tree planting

C. families who can’t ensure 75% survival rate of the trees will not be paid

D. Raju’s new plan will reduce Bihar’s population below the poverty line

59. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. There’s a good way to deal with global warming

B. Tree planting provides employment for the poor

C. Tree planting solves the problem of unemployment

D. Raju’s “social forestry” program wins the support of NREGA

60. How can villagers get more NREGA funds?

  A. Thinking better ways to stop global warming

  B. Working hard for one hundred days

  C. Planting more trees and ensuring the survival of plants

  D. Stopping moving from the area to search employment elsewhere

PART THREE  READING COMPREHENSION

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

A

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a new way of providing employment for millions of poor people in Bihar. His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Mr Raju’s success could clearly be seen on 30 August, 2009 when he organized 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.

Mr Raju has linked his “social forestry” program to the central government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is also designed to provide employment for poor people. Under NREGA — started in February 2006 as the government’s most ambitious employment generation scheme for poor people — the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year for members of families living below the poverty line. About 44% of Bihar’s population fall into this category.

Mr Raju says that Bihar — being the poorest and most lawless state of India — hasn’t been able to spend the allocated (分配的) NREGA funds. “This is because of a lack of awareness among officials about the scheme,” he said. “So the idea struck to my mind: why not involve families below the poverty line in social forestry and give them employment under this scheme for 100 days? Under the scheme, each family can earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210).”

The civil servant immediately made a plan of his idea. In June, Mr Raju published a booklet of “dos and don’ts” and distributed it to village heads. His plan meant that NREGA funds were fully used — in the past this hasn’t always been the case.

“I told the villagers they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them. The old and disabled would be given preference,” he explained.

Every village council has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings — a group of four families have to plant 200 trees and they must protect them for three years till the plants grow stronger.

“They would get the full payment if they can ensure the survival of 90% of the plants under their care. For a 75-80% survival rate, they’ll be paid only half the wage. For less than 75%, the families in the group will be replaced,” the guidelines say.

Significantly, his scheme has even stopped the migration of poor labourers from the area in search of employment elsewhere.

56. According to the passage, the main purpose of SM Raju’s “social forestry” program is to _____.

A. promote the practice of NREGA

B. make efforts to prevent global warming

C. increase the employment of poor people

D. prevent poor people from migrating elsewhere

57 According to the passage, the poor people in Bihar don’t make full use of NREGA funds because _____.

A. the local officials don’t realize the importance of NREGA

B. the local government doesn’t get enough support from the central government

C. the local poor people know little about NREGA

D. Bihar is the most lawless state in India

58. We can infer from the passage that _____.

A. most people in Bihar will benefit from NREGA

B. the old and disabled people are not involved in tree planting

C. families who can’t ensure 75% survival rate of the trees will not be paid

D. Raju’s new plan will reduce Bihar’s population below the poverty line

59. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. There’s a good way to deal with global warming

B. Tree planting provides employment for the poor

C. Tree planting solves the problem of unemployment

D. Raju’s “social forestry” program wins the support of NREGA

60. How can villagers get more NREGA funds?

  A. Thinking better ways to stop global warming

  B. Working hard for one hundred days

  C. Planting more trees and ensuring the survival of plants

  D. Stopping moving from the area to search employment elsewhere

The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.

An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0??C. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high-security door.

The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present al the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0??C. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.

Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The project is meant to ______.

A．increase the world’s food output in the future      

B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes   

C．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters

D．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?

A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.

B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.    

C．Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the threat unclear war forever.   

D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.

We can infer from the text that _______.

A．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.

B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture   

C．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before. 

D．There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.

What is probably the best title of the passage?

A．The Best Place to Store Seeds B．Noah’s Ark（諾亞方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan

C．Concerns of World Food Supply    D．A New Way to Feed the World

—Where did you spend last weekend?

—At______.

A.Mr Green’s                       B.Mr Green

C.the Green’s                       D.the Mr Green