The plane’s route begins in the United Arab Emirates. The pilots also plan stops in Oman, India, and China. They will cross the Pacific Ocean, stop in the United States, and continue over southern Europe or North Africa. They plan to arrive back in the United Arab Emirates in late July or early August.
Internet viewers can go to the Solar Impulse website to see the plane’s location and listen to broadcasts from the pilots.
1.Why does the plane have wider wings?
A. It can fly faster and land safely.
B. It can get the sun’s energy easily.
C. It may look like a Boeing 747.
D. It will make the plane appear larger.
2.What does the underlined word “alter” in Para 2 probably mean?
A. Improve. B. Change. C. Rebuild. D. Destroy.
3.What do we know about the trip made in the plane?
A. It will take five to six days and nights.
B. It is a non-stop flight around the world.
C. It is broadcast live on the Internet.
D. It doesn’t include North America.
4.What does the text mainly talk about?
A. A solar-powered plane will travel the globe.
B. A good way to save energy has been found.
C. A newly-built plane consumes no energy.
D. Solar energy waits to be fully explored.
Women in northern European nations are closest to equality with men on wages, education, health and education. That is the finding of a report by the World Economic Forum. The United States ranked 28th. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced the government will require large businesses to report how much they pay men and women. The data will be used to target companies that pay women less to do the same jobs.
According to the World Economic Forum report, women worldwide continue to lag behind men on wages. Based on current trends, they will need 126 years to catch up, according to the report. Women are making progress. But they still only earn what men did 10 years ago, say the report’s authors. The report measures the gender gap for women in 145 nations for health, education, economic opportunity, and political power. Women have not achieved equality in any of the 145 nations included in the survey, says the report.
Women came closest to equality in four Northern European nations – Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden. Ireland ranks No. 5. At the bottom of the women’s gender ratings are Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Chad, Iran and Jordan.
More women than men are attending colleges in 97 nations. But women make up a majority of skilled workers in only 68 nations. Women control the majority of government and political positions in only four.
At last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook, spoke about gender equality. “The reason to work towards equality – whether woman or man – is that it is better for you,” Sandberg said. “We should be doing this not because it’s the right thing, but because it’s the smart thing. Do it because it will help you.” The World Economic Forum completed its worldwide 20xx gender gap survey in November.
1.Why were large businesses required to report on salaries?
A. To help more women in America get paid.
B. To compete against northern European nations.
C. To target companies not paying women equally.
D. To suggest that America is where equality matters.
2.What can be learned from Para 2?
A. Women worldwide are making less money.
B. Men now earn ten times more than women.
C. Little attention is paid to equality of women.
D. The survey was conducted in many fields.
3.In which country can women probably get paid equally?
A. Yemen. B. Iceland. C. Syria. D. America.
4.What’s Sheryl Sandberg’s attitude towards gender equality?
A. Casual. B. Cautious. C. Sympathetic. D. Favorable.
Plastic waste has polluted the Arctic. Two new studies have spied bags, fishing rope and tinier bits of rubbish in the Barents Sea. This sea sits north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It mixes with the Arctic Ocean, which is even farther north.
Plastic waste in the Arctic could harm wildlife and may hint that large volumes of human rubbish are collecting there, says Melanie Bergmann. She is one of the scientists who spotted the waste. She studies Earth’s oceans at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. She first started counting bits of plastics in the Barents Sea because she kept spotting signs of the stuff there in images taken with deep-sea cameras.
Bergmann and her colleagues counted pieces of plastic from an icebreaker, a boat designed to break through large blocks of ice in very cold waters. They also tracked plastic pieces they saw during helicopter rides over Arctic waters. The team found 31 pieces of plastic. “That doesn’t seem like much, but it shows us that we’ve really got a problem, one that extends even to this remote area, far from civilization,” Bergmann says. She and her colleagues described their findings October 21 in Polar Biology.
Another team has also been counting plastics in the area. Those scientists took water from the Barents Sea and counted the number of smaller bits of plastics, called microplastics.
Plastic in the ocean is dangerous to animals. Some may get caught in rope or bags. And wildlife may swallow bags and other plastic bits. That makes them feel full. But some may eventually starve because they are not getting the nutrients they need to live. Sometimes plastics also may break down in an animal’s body and release poisonous chemicals. If another animal later eats the one that swallowed plastic, it too can end up with poisonous chemicals in its body. This, in turn, can travel up the food web, endangering predators (肉食动物) — even people.
1.What can be learned from Para 1?
A. Europe is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean.
B. The Barents Sea is to the north of the Arctic.
C. The Arctic Ocean is polluted by plastic rubbish.
D. European countries are to blame for the pollution.
2.What has brought Bergmann’s attention to plastic waste in Barents Sea?
A. Human rubbish dumped in the sea.
B. Pictures taken by deep-sea cameras.
C. Sea water taken to the laboratory.
D. Wildlife spotted by helicopter.
3.What concerned Bergmann according to Para 3?
A. Plastic is found in the remote sea.
B. The sea is covered with plastic.
C. Advanced tools are in great need.
D. People suffered from bad weather.