Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and one of the largest free-standing mountains in the world, and some say, the most beautiful place on the earth!
The mountain towers 15,000 feet above the plains. Mount Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania and it covers an area of 60 miles long and 40 miles wide. Kilimanjaro is an extinct volcano(死火山), with 3 peaks. Kibo is the highest one in the center.
Because of Kilimanjaro’s great height, the mountain influences its own weather. Winds incoming from the Indian Ocean are stopped upward by the mountain and drop their moisture(濕氣) as rain and snow. People have planted coffee, corn, and other crops on the lower slopes(斜坡).
Mount Kilimanjaro now attracts many thousands of walkers each year. Because of a temperature rise in recent years, the beautiful snow cap of Kilimanjaro is retreating(消退)fast. A research said that the white snow on the mountain might be gone in 15 years. What a pity!
【小題1】The writer is worried about Mount Kilimanjaro’s ________.

Everyone would like to be remembered. A few people even try to do something that no one else in history has ever tried to do. These people sometimes have their names recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.
Often it takes a group of people to do something unusual. One such team paddled(用漿劃)a bathtub（浴缸）145 kilometers for 24 hours. This group had 13 members. They paddled their bathtub on a river near Ashford, Great Britain on May 28 and 29, 1983. A month later, a racing team of hospital bed pushers in Avon ,Great Britain, pushed a hospital bed 16 kilometers in just 50 minutes! However, the distance record for hospital bed pushing is still held by the men of Brunt field Bedding Center. This team from Edinburgh pushed a hospital bed 5,203 kilometers in 1979. It took the team 35 days to cover the distance.
Another group of record makers held the highest dinner party in the world. Nine people from Sydney, Australia, climbed Mountain Huascaran on June 28 1989.The climbers carried a dinner table, chairs, and a meal up the mountain .When they reached the top, they all put on warm suits for dinner.
People all over the world are trying hard to do something unusual to make a record. It should be understood; however, that now not all the records will be kept in the Guinness Book of Records.
【小題1】According to the passage, what record was made near Ashford in May, 1983?

My name is Xue Yan. My home is in Shanchong, Changtai. Do you know where it is? It’s in Zhangzhou. It’s very nice and clean. There are many beautiful flowers and delicious strawberries(草莓) there. The air is very fresh and the trees are green.

Our house is in the middle of Shanchong village(村莊). Behind our house there is a big old tree. My grandfather tells me that the tree is very, very old. There are many birds in the tree. We call it a “bird tree”. Our house is near a mountain(山). There are a lot of animals on the mountain. After school, I often go there and pick some fruit(水果). It is very interesting.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，判斷正（T）誤（F）

1.Xue Yan is from Fujian.

2.Her parents are not mentioned(提到) in the passage(短文)。

3.Xue Yan’s house is behind the “bird tree”.

4.Xue Yan doesn’t like picking fruit on the mountain.

5.In Chinese, the word “pick” means “采，摘”

As darkness fell, hundreds of people in the Swiss village left their houses. They were staring（注視）forward at the mountain top in the distance. It was covered with ice and snow－beautiful and dangerous.
The huge mountain is called Matterhorn. Mountain climbers had  40 the top through the southem route（路線）. But no one had ever dared to try a winter climbing up the northern side. But now one man was daring to try the  41 route. He was Walter Bonatti, a great mountain climber  42 Italy.
For two days he had climbed. The village people had watched him anxiously（焦慮）. Now they were waiting to see his signal. If he planned to  43 the next day, he would light（點燃）a green signal（信號）. A red light would mean that he was turning back.
A tiny green light  44 high on the mountain side. Bonatti was not giving up! The people  45 . The next day he continued his way upward. He was so lonely and so  46 ! But he would not give up. Again that night he lit the green light. In the morning, Bonatti  47 . He could not see the top；he knew he was  48 there. Though the climb was painful, he moved up.
Bonatti had spent months  49 for the climb. Was the training enough? Did he have the strength and skill to climb to the top?
He was finally at the top! News about his.   50 was radioed to the world.
The trip down the southern route was easy. He was warmly welcomed in the village. He had done the “  51 ” and would be well remembered as a climber of all time.