四、阅读理解(每小题2分，共30分)
A
You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature. But, rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation(撤离) of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to have their homeland.
During the 20th century, sea level rose 8-12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.
Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.
Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions(导致温室效应的气体排放), which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.
Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.
Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable(易受影响的) to rising sea levels. Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.
56. The text is mainly abou_________ .
A. rapid changes in earth’s temperature
B. bad effects of global warming
C. moving of a country to a new place
D. reasons for lowland flooding
57. According to scientists, the DIRECT cause of more and fiercer storms is________.
A. greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations
B. higher surface water temperatures of the sea
C. continuous global warming
D. rising sea levels
58. Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not_______.
A. agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
B. sign an agreement with Tuvalu
C. allow Tuvaluans to move to the US
D. believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real

Beijing today, first published in May, 2001, is the capital’s only English weekly newspaper and is published with the help of the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government and run by Beijing Youth Daily. Its readers include English-speaking foreigners living in Beijing and local Chinese who have great interest in English or take English as a working language.

        The paper’s main content deals with metropolitan life, explaining the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western culture. Its culture and lifestyle part is regarded as a guide to metropolitan life in Beijing.

The paper has 24 pages in four main sections:

      NEWS: Select stories that discuss cultural differences.

      COMMUNITY: Reports on developments related to foreigners in the city and a platform(平台)by which they can communicate with a bigger audience.

       CULTURE and LIFESTYLE: Highlights from international lifestyle and fashion trends in Beijing

       STUDY: Cheerful and humorous pieces to help English-language students improve their skills

       Beijing Today circulates 50,000 copies published every Friday. It is one of Beijing’s most authoritative(权威的) English media sources, and is sold at post newsstands and distributed in hotels, apartment complexes, etc.

       Price: 2 yuan per issue

1.Which of the following sections would be the best choice to exchange thoughts with others？

A. NEWS                            B. COMMUNITY                          C. CULTURE and LIFESYLE          D. STUDY

2.If you want to subscribe to Beijing Today for half a year, you need to pay ________.

A. 52 yuan                           B. 24 yuan                                             C. 104 yuan                                           D. 48 yuan

3.What CANNOT you read in Beijing Today?

A. News abou foreign cultural festivals

B. fashion trends in Paris.

C. Discussions with foreigners

D. Skills in improving English

Three armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints from an art museum in downtown Sao

Paulo on Thursday, which was the city’s second high-profile art theft in less than a year. The bandits also took two oil paintings by well-know Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall, said Carla Regina, a spokeswoman for the Pinacoteca do Estado museum.

The Picasso prints stolen were "The Painter and the Model" from 1963 and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Secretary of State for Culture, which oversees the museum. The prints and paintings have a combined value of $612,000, the statement and a museum official said.

About noon, three armed men paid the $2.45 entrance fee and immediately went to the second-floor gallery where the works were being exhibited, bypassing more valuable pieces, authorities said. "This indicates to us that they probably received an order" to take those specific works, Youssef Abou Chain, head of Sao Paulo's organized crime unit, told reporters at a news conference. The assailants overpowered three unarmed museum guards and grabbed the works, officials said. The robbery took about 10 minutes and the museum was nearly empty at the time. The assailants took the pieces — frames and all — out of the museum in two bags. The institution has no metal detectors.

In December, Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" by Candido Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crowbar（铁撬棍）and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors. The framed paintings were found Jan. 8, covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city. One of the suspects in that robbery — a former TV chef — turned himself over to police in January, who already had two suspects in custody（监禁）.

What did the armed men steal on Thursday?

         A．Two prints by Pablo Picasso

        B．Two oil painting by Brazilian artists

        C．Two prints by Pablo Picasso and two oil paintings by two Brazilian artists.

        D．Two prints by two Brazilian artists and two oil paintings by Picasso Pablo.

Why didn't the thieves take other more valuable works?

        A．Because they didn't know that the other pieces were worth more.

        B．Probably because they had received an order for the prints that they took.

        C．Because they didn't have enough time.

        D．Because they were in such a hurry that they couldn’t get them all.

How many people were in the museum during the robbery?

        A．A lot. The museum was crowded.

        B．Not too many. It was almost empty.

        C．There were a lot of people outside the museum.

        D．Only three of them.

According to the passage, which of the followings is TRUE?

        A．In December, "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" painted by Candido

Portinari were stolen.

        B．There are steel doors and no detectors in Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

        C．Three robbers defeated three armed museum guards and took away the works on Thursday.

        D．Three suspects in the first high-profile art theft in less than a year were arrested.

Three armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints from an art museum in downtown Sao
Paulo on Thursday, which was the city’s second high-profile art theft in less than a year. The bandits also took two oil paintings by well-know Brazilian artists Emiliano Di Cavalcanti and Lasar Segall, said Carla Regina, a spokeswoman for the Pinacoteca do Estado museum.
The Picasso prints stolen were "The Painter and the Model" from 1963 and "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933, according to a statement from the Sao Paulo Secretary of State for Culture, which oversees the museum. The prints and paintings have a combined value of $612,000, the statement and a museum official said.
About noon, three armed men paid the $2.45 entrance fee and immediately went to the second-floor gallery where the works were being exhibited, bypassing more valuable pieces, authorities said. "This indicates to us that they probably received an order" to take those specific works, Youssef Abou Chain, head of Sao Paulo's organized crime unit, told reporters at a news conference. The assailants overpowered three unarmed museum guards and grabbed the works, officials said. The robbery took about 10 minutes and the museum was nearly empty at the time. The assailants took the pieces — frames and all — out of the museum in two bags. The institution has no metal detectors.
In December, Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and "O Lavrador de Cafe" by Candido Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, were stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art by three men who used a crowbar（铁撬棍）and car jack to force open one of the museum's steel doors. The framed paintings were found Jan. 8, covered in plastic and leaning against a wall in a house on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city. One of the suspects in that robbery — a former TV chef — turned himself over to police in January, who already had two suspects in custody（监禁）.
【小题1】What did the armed men steal on Thursday?

David helps his mother with the housework every Saturday for abou_________t.?

A.one and half hours                          B.a half and an hour?

C.an hour and half                              D.one and a half hours?