四级模拟题4.doc

Part ⅠWriting (30 minutes) Requirement: You should make your introduction attracting and everyone clearly know your arrangement. 1. 欢迎词。 2. 一天的行程安排。 3. 对旅客即将访问的地点进行描述。  A Brief Introduction to a Tourist Attraction Part ⅡReading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)(15 minutes) Will We Run Out of Water? Picture a “ghost ship” sinking into the sand, left to rot on dry land by a receding sea. Then imagine dust storms sweeping up toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers from the dry seabed and spewing them across towns and villages. Seem like a scene from a movie about the end of the world? For people living near the Aral sea (咸海) in Central Asia, it’s all too real. Thirty years ago, government planners diverted the rivers that flow into the sea in order to irrigate (provide water for ) farmland. As a result, the sea has shrunk to half its original size, stranding (使搁浅) ships on dry land. The seawater has tripled in salt content and become polluted, killing all 24 native species of fish. Similar large--scale efforts to redirect water in other parts of the world have also ended in ecological crisis, according to numerous environmental groups. But many countries continue to build massive dams and irrigation systems, even though such projects can create more problems than they fix. Why? People in many parts of the world are desperate for water, and more people will need more water in the next century. “Growing populations will worsen problems with water,” says Peter H.Gleick, an environmental scientist at the Pacific Institute for studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a research organization in California. He fears that by the year 2025, as many as one--third of the world’s projected (预测的) 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages. WHERE WATER GOES Only 2.5 percent of all water on Earth is freshwater, water suitable for drinking and growing food, says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project