There Pictures from outer space now show us how much land has changed on earth. These images are taken by Landsat 7, a government satellite. The satellites have been used for 27 years. They reveal the clear-cutting of forests in the northwestern part of the United States. Pictures show the loss of rain forests in South America. NASA’s Darrel Williams speaks about the Landsat 7 Project. He said that an eruption caused trees to burn up in a large forest. Fifteen years later, pinkish images from space show that the trees and plant life are growing again. Williams says that clear-cut areas easily show up in the pictures. He wants Americans to look at how much land is being cleared of forests in our country. Satellites have provided other information about changes on earth. In the past ten years, more than four miles have shrunk from glaciers in Alaska. Landsat 7 received these computer images of Glacier Bay in Alaska. Hurricanes Floyd and Irene have damaged the coastline in North Carolina. Runoff from farms and silt have gone into the ocean according to satellite images. Loss of trees and forests have caused hotter summers in southern cities such as Atlanta, Georgia. The Landsat 7 images are like pictures in a photo album. Instead of pictures of the family, the album shows changes around the globe in the past 25 years. A new satellite, Terra, is going to be launched by NASA soon. It will be more advanced than Landsat 7 and will take important global pictures. Ocean temperatures and energy loss will be provided by Terra daily. Silt and heavy run-off from farms in North Carolina were caused by()
A. Hurricanes Irene and Floyd
B. Hurricanes Floyd and Carla
C. an eruption from a volcano
D. deforestation of trees
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Part ADirections: Read the following texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET.Text 1 As the costs of health care continue to rise, employers will ask their employees to pay more for their benefits by the year 2 000. This forecast comes from a recent survey of 400 executives conducted by the group Insurance Division of Northwestern National Life Insurance Company ( NWNL). A similar NWNL survey in 1986 found that two-thirds of the employers were planning to add benefits. Now, two-thirds are planning to offer fewer choices. Factors cited as driving up the cost of health care include hospital and doctor fees, new medical technology, and malpractice suits. Employers also face the expensive prospect of providing health care for the growing number of retirees. Says the employee benefit director of a Boston communication company, "With people living longer, and being sicker when older, we could be paying a big sum of money for 30 to 40 years after they retire." Compulsory benefits are also likely to increase health-care costs to employers. A majority of the respondents predict that the federal government will demand benefits for all employees. More than one fourth of the employers surveyed think it is very likely that the government will establish a national plan by the year 2000, and a similar number foresee regulation of doctor and hospital fees. However, a large majority doubt such measures are very likely to be effective in controlling health-care costs. Besides holding employees, responsible for a larger share of their benefit costs, more employers will offer flexible benefit plans with limited employer contributions. Health-education programs will grow in the workplace, as employers try to lessen the need for expensive medical care. Other employers intent on cutting costs will design their benefit plans to allow their employees fewer choices in when and how they get medical care. Although the survey results reflect uncertainty about the future, they also offer reason for optimism, says U. S. Senator David Durenberger of Minnesota, "People are starting to come to grips with the question of how we can more effectively provide quality health care that is affordable and accessible," he asserts, "We no longer can write blank checks." What will the employers do to reduce the health-care cost
A. They will not provide health care for the retirees.
B. They will employ fewer employees.
C. They will ask their employees to pay most of the cost.
D. They will depend on the regulation of doctor and hospital fees.
George Mason must rank with John Adams and James Madison as one of the three Founding Fathers who left their personal imprint (印记) on the fundamental law of the United States. He was the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which, because of its early formation, greatly influenced other state constitutions framed during the Revolution and, through them, the Federal Bill of Rights of 1791.Yet Mason was essentially a private person with very little inclination for public office or the ordinary operation of politics beyond the country level. His appearances in the Virginia colonial and state legislatures were relatively brief, and not until 1787 did he consent to represent his state at a continental or national congress or convention. Politics was never more than a means for Masson. He was at all times a man of public spirit, hut politics was never a way of life, never for long his central concern. It took a revolution to pry him away from home and family at Gunston Hall, mobilize his skill and energy for constitutional constrnction, and transform him, in one brief moment of brilliant leadership, into a statesman whose work would endure to influence the lives and fortunes of those "millions yet unborn" of whom he and his generation of Americans spoke so frequently and thought so constantly. Mason’s relation to the Federal Bill of Rights was one of ()
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on your ANSWER SHEET. The first English dictionary, called an Alphabetical Table of Hard Words, was published in 1604. The dictionary was actually (26) a list of about 3 000 difficult words, each followed by a one word (27) . The author, Robert Cawdrey, (28) to include everyday words in his dictionary. (29) , he reasoned, would ever have to look up a word in a dictionary if he already knew the meaning of the word. During the 1600’ s more dictionaries were published. Each followed Cawdrey’ s (30) and presented a few thousand (31) words. Around 1700 one dictionary maker, John Kersey, (32) define easy words as well as hard ones. But until the 1750’ s all dictionaries were rather (33) and not very valuable. A man named Dr. Samuel Johnson (34) all this. In 1755 Dr. Johnson produced the first modern dictionary. He (35) in his dictionary all important words, both easy and hard, and he gave good meanings. He also gave good sentences to show how each word was (36) used in speech and (37) . By the end of the 1700’ s most dictionary makers (38) Johnson’ s lead. Dictionaries were getting better and better. The 1800’ s (39) the greatest improvement (40) the quality of dictionaries. In England scholars planned and prepared the Oxford English dictionary, a (41) work. One of the most interesting (42) of the Oxford Dictionary is its word histories. It (43) the history of each word from its earliest (44) use (45) the time of the printing of the dictionary.
A. no less than
B. much less than
C. nothing more than
D. much more than
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on your ANSWER SHEET. The first English dictionary, called an Alphabetical Table of Hard Words, was published in 1604. The dictionary was actually (26) a list of about 3 000 difficult words, each followed by a one word (27) . The author, Robert Cawdrey, (28) to include everyday words in his dictionary. (29) , he reasoned, would ever have to look up a word in a dictionary if he already knew the meaning of the word. During the 1600’ s more dictionaries were published. Each followed Cawdrey’ s (30) and presented a few thousand (31) words. Around 1700 one dictionary maker, John Kersey, (32) define easy words as well as hard ones. But until the 1750’ s all dictionaries were rather (33) and not very valuable. A man named Dr. Samuel Johnson (34) all this. In 1755 Dr. Johnson produced the first modern dictionary. He (35) in his dictionary all important words, both easy and hard, and he gave good meanings. He also gave good sentences to show how each word was (36) used in speech and (37) . By the end of the 1700’ s most dictionary makers (38) Johnson’ s lead. Dictionaries were getting better and better. The 1800’ s (39) the greatest improvement (40) the quality of dictionaries. In England scholars planned and prepared the Oxford English dictionary, a (41) work. One of the most interesting (42) of the Oxford Dictionary is its word histories. It (43) the history of each word from its earliest (44) use (45) the time of the printing of the dictionary.
A. since
B. for
C. from
D. up to