Imagine an eco-conscious city where rooftops have been transformed into fertile, green gardens. It's a place where every home is equipped with a system that recycles valuable water resources. In this town, protecting the planet is a way of life. That's how Abby Sharp, 14, Wyatt Peery, 13, and Tom Krajnak, 14, saw their city of tomorrow. The vision won the eighth-graders from Bexley, Ohio, first prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future City Competition.
The annual design competition challenges middle school students to use engineering to deal with issues that affect the earth. This year the competition focused on water conservation. Participants had to come up with ways to improve water use in the home. Kids from 38 middle schools across the country competed in the finals. The event took place from February 17-18 in Washington, D.C. More than 30,000 students entered the competition.
Abby, Wyatt and Tom call their winning city Novo Mondum. The name means "new world" in Latin. Novo Mondum sits on the coast of Iceland. The group chose the spot for its wealth of clean energy resources, such as geothermal（地热的） energy and hydropower. Both sources use the power of nature to generate electricity. Geothermal energy draws heat from deep inside the Earth. Hydropower gets energy from flowing water. "Our city is very globally aware," Abby told TFK.
Students team up with a teacher and a volunteer engineer mentor（顾问）to develop their cities. Each group creates a fictional city on SimCity 4 Deluxe, a computer game that allows players to build virtual towns. Then they construct tabletop models of the cities and write essays describing their project. The models must be made using recycled materials and cost no more than $100 to build.
小题1: What’s the main feature of the city designed by the three winners?
A．Making full use of water resources.
B．Turning rooftops into green gardens.
C．Protecting our home — the earth.
D．Costing no money to build小题2:It can be inferred that water conversation is __________.
A．one of the problems that influence the Earth.
B．the main theme of 2009 Future City Competition.
C．one of the issues for the participants to deal with abroad.
D．an easy topic for all the students to design.小题3:According to the passage, Abby, Wyatt and Tom are _____.
A. ninth-graders from Bexley, Ohio.
B. second prize winners at the 2009 Future City Competition.
C. lucky to get the first prize at the 2009 Future City Competition.
D. eighth-graders from Washington, D.C.
小题4:The underlined word “hydropower” means ______________.
A．electric power from burning oil.
B．electric power from burning coals.
C．electric power from deep inside the earth.
D．electric power from moving water.小题5: What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
A．The process of developing a Future City.
B．How teachers instruct the students in the competition.
C．The process of building virtual towns.
D．What materials should be used in the competition.
