Do you help others in Canada or out of the country? Here are some non-profit(非盈利的) organizations in Calgary, Canada, through which you can do somethingfor others.

Calgary Reads

Calgary Reads helps struggling readers in Grade One and Two twice a week. Trained adult volunteers carry out one-to-one reading teaching in the children’s school during school hours. Volunteers are trained to use a proven effective lesson framework(框架). Time is spent coaching readers while providing a strong role model in each child’s life.

Address: 105, 12^th Ave SE

Telephone: 1 403 777-8254

Ukrainian Mission Canada

This organization helps children in need in Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe. You can donate(捐赠) money or things to help one of the children in need.

Address: 3806 44 Ave NE

Telephone: 1 403 451-6991

Calgary Doula Association

This organization is formed to provide information about services related to birth and child care for the general public and worried professionals. Monthly meetings provide a networking opportunity and exchange of information for individuals interested in birth and child care, couples who are to be parents, and health care providers.

Address: 124 Cresthaven Place SW

Telephone: 1 403 750-2033

Rainbow Society of Alberta

   Rainbow Society of Alberta helps to fulfill wishes of Alberta children with long-term or life-threatening illnesses. Founded in Winnipeg in 1983, Rainbow Society was the first children’s organization of its kind in Canada. Its Alberta chapter(分部) was created in 1986 by a handful of caring volunteers who saw a need to bring such a strong support system to children in Alberta. 

Address: PO Box 1153, Station M

Telephone: 1 403 252-3891

1. What does Calgary Reads mainly aim to do?

  A. To help all children do better at school.

  B. To provide role models for young children.

  C. To help little struggling readers read better.

 D. To encourage children in Canada to read more.

2. To learn more about helping children in need in Ukraine, which number should you call?

A. 1 403 451-6991                 B. 1 403 777-8254

C. 1 403 750-2033                 D. 1 403 252-3891

3. What do you know about Rainbow Society of Alberta?

  A. It helps children with long-term illnesses worldwide.

  B. It was founded in Winnipeg in 1983.

C. It is the first children’s organization in Canada.

D. It was organized by some volunteers in 1986.

4. What do the organizations have in common?

A. They all help poor children.          B. None of them aims at making profit.

C. They all provide services within Canada.   D. None of them asks people to donate money.

    The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” –-- and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer --- which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet ---used the title in 2008. A lovely bear --- popular in the US and UK --- that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “i”.

   In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce(电子商务) first came into use.

   Most “i” products are targeted at （针对）young people and considering the major readers of Independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.

   But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition（定义）,” he says.

   “However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便) .”adds Thorne.

   Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.

   Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade(十年).

   But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.

5. We can infer that the Independent’s “i” is designed for _________.

A. old readers                        B. young readers   

C. fashionable women                  D. engineers

6. The underlined word “ambiguous” means “__________”.

A. popular          B. clear    C. uncertain        D. unique

7. Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are __________.

A. portable       B. environmentally friendly C. advanced        D. recyclable

8. The writer suggests that __________.

A. “i” products are often of high quality      

B. iTeddy is alive bear

C. the letter “b” replaces letter “i” to name the products

D. the popularity of “i” products may not last long

One of my first memories as a child in the 1950s was a discussion I had with my brother in our tiny bedroom in the family house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

We had heard in school about a planet called Pluto. It was the farthest, coldest, and darkest thing a child could imagine. We guessed how long it would take to die if we stood on the surface of such a frozen place wearing only the clothes we had on. We tried to figure out how much colder Pluto was than Antarctica, or than the coldest day we had ever experienced in Pennsylvania.

Pluto, which famously was downgraded from a“major planet”to a“dwarf planet”（矮星）in 2006, captured our imagination because it was a mystery that could complete our picture of what it was like at the most remote corners of our solar system

Pluto’s underdog discovery story is part of what makes it so attractive. Clyde Tombaugh was a Kansas farm boy who built telescopes out of spare auto parts, old farm equipment and self-ground lenses. As an assistant at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Tombaugh's task was to search millions of stars for a moving point of light, a planet that the observatory’s founder thought existed beyond the orbit of Neptune. On February 18，1930，Tombaugh found it. Pluto was the first planet discovered by an American, and represented a moment of light in the midst of the Great Depression’s dark encroachment (入侵).

Pluto is much more than something that is not a planet. It’s a reminder that there are many worlds out there beyond our own and that the sky isn’t the limit at all. We don’t know what kinds of fantastic variations on a theme nature is capable of making until we get there to look.

9. Why did Pluto become famous in 2006 according to the passage?

A. Because it lost its major planet status.

B. Because it disappeared in the sky.

C. Because it was discovered by an American.

D. Because it was proved to be the coldest planet in the universe.

10. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A. An American Scientist: Clyde Tombaugh

B. Pluto was First Discovered by a Boy

C. Pluto’s Strange Romance

D. The Days I Spent with My Brother in Pennsylvania

  11   People traveled in search of food and shelter or in order to flee from their enemies. Sometimes they were looking for gold or silver in order to become rich. On other occasions they were searching for rich farmland. 

    This is not to say that no one ever traveled just for fun. Even in ancient times, some pleasure travel occurred. During a typical season, 700,000 tourists would crowd into the ancient city of Rome, where animals performed and magicians entertained them.    12     

      13   International tourist arrivals alone reached as many as 546 million in 1994 and are forecast(预测；预报) to rise to 937 million in 2010, according to the World Trade Organization. 

      14   Probably the most common reason for traveling is related to our physical well-being. Actually, traveling to sports events is one of the fastest growing types of travel. In our fast developing, modern society where stress has become part of people’s life, people can rest and relax by having a change of environment and activities. 

      15   No one seems to doubt that travel broadens the mind. In 18th century Europe, young men would go on a Grand Tour to various countries in order to complete their education. Today the desire to travel to different countries is encouraged by modem mass media. People who travel to other countries can at the same time learn more about their own country and culture.

A. But why do people like traveling so much?

B. Throughout history, most travel was not for pleasure. 

C. So they travel to a lake for a swim or to a park for a hike. 

D. The improvement in transportation has also encouraged people to travel. 

E. Wealthy Romans made trips to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games. 

F. The growth of tourism has become a modern phenomenon experienced by all countries in the world. 

G. Another important reason for traveling is to satisfy our curiosity about different places and cultures.

    For several billion years after the “Big Bang”, the earth was still just a cloud of dust. What it was to ______(36) was uncertain until between 4.5 and 3.8 billion years ago when the dust settled into a solid globe. The earth became so  ______(37) that it was not clear whether the shape would last or not.

  ______(38) eastward, you’ll pass mountains and thousands of lakes and forests, as well as wide rivers and large cities. Some people have the idea ______(39) you can cross Canada in less than five days, but they forget the fact that Canada is 5500 kilometers from coast to coast. Here in Vancouver, you’re in Canada’s warmest part. People say it is Canada’s most beautiful city, _______(40) by mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Its population is increasing rapidly. The coast _______(41) of Vancouver has some of the oldest and most beautiful forests in the world.

  However, this was not easy. When they first arrived in Gombe in 1960, it was unusual for a woman to live in the forest. _______(42) after her mother came to help her for the first few months ______(43) she allowed to begin her project. Her work changed the way people think about chimps. For example, one important thing she discovered was that chimps hunt and eat meat. Until then everyone ______(44) thought chimps ate only fruit and nuts. She also discovered how chimps communicate with each other, and her study of their body language helped her ______________(45) their social system.