Looking back on my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made. Although we were all brought up in the same way,my br others and sisters soon abandoned their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them,I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an early reader and I could not do mental arithmetic.
Before World War I we spent our summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the dim memory of the house we lived in, of my room and my toys. Nor do I recall clearly the large family of grandparents,aunts, uncles and cousins who gathered next door. But I do have a clear memory of the dogs, the farm animals, the local birds, and above all, the insects.
I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world and my enthusiasm had led me into varied investigations. I love discussing my favorite topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil reading about other people's observations and discoveries. Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle, because it all seems to fit together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some might honor with the title of scientific research.
But curiosity,a keen eye,a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist: one of the outstanding and essential qualities required is selfdiscipline, a quality I lack. A scientist, up to a certain point,can be made. A naturalist is born. If you can combine the two,you get the best of both worlds.
1.The first paragraph tells us the author .
A.was interested in flowers and insects in his childhood
B.lost his hearing when he was a child
C.didn’t like his brothers and sisters
D.was born to a naturalist’s family
2.The author can’t remember his relatives clearly because .
A.he didn’t live very long with them
B.the family was extremely large
C.he was too young when he lived with them
D.he was fully occupied with observing nature
3.It can be inferred from the passage that the author was .
A.a scientist as well as a naturalist
B.a naturalist but not a scientist
C.no more than a born naturalist
D.first of all a scientist
4.The author says that he is a naturalist rather than a scientist probably because he thinks he .
A.has a great deal of trouble doing mental arithmetic
B.lacks some of the qualities required of a scientist
C.just reads about other people’s observations and discoveries
D.comes up with solutions in a most natural way
When you are curious（好奇的）about something， and want to know more about it， you can use the way of asking questions. Asking questions is the first step to make discoveries and find interesting answers. The steps below can guide you during the research（研究）.
Step 1
On a note card or piece of paper, write down the subject that you are interested in. Just get the main idea down. For example, you might write：
Discover more about dinosaurs.
Step 2
Next， stop and think for a moment about what you already know about your subject. List what you already know like the sentences below：
（1）Dinosaurs lived long before human beings appeared.
（2）Dinosaurs lived on the earth for more than 150 million years.
（3）Some dinosaurs fed on plants， some on meat.
Step 3
What can you do with what you want to learn？ By asking questions. On your paper，start writing down questions about the dinosaurs as you think of them：
（1）What‘s the best weather for dinosaurs to live in？
（2）How many kinds of dinosaurs are there？
（3）Have dinosaurs really disappeared？
Step 4
Armed with your list of questions， you can now go to the nearest library or computer to begin your research. As you learn more about your subject， you‘ll probably discover some new questions. For example， you might discover that dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago. Why？ What happened？ Asking new questions can help you research your subject more widely. The next time you find something interesting to research， take time to organize（组织）your thinking by asking good questions. And remember — learning more always bring more questions.When you do some research，you should take the following steps： _____.
①list what you want to know②choose a research subject
③list what you already know④discover new problems
| A．①④③② | B．②③①④ | C．③②④① | D．④③①② |
What does the underlined sentence “Armed with your list of questions” mean？
| A．Putting your list of questions under your arm. |
| B．Discussing your questions with your classmates. |
| C．Writing down your list of questions. |
| D．Taking your list of questions with you. |
According to the passage, which of the following is true？
| A．You can find all the answers online. |
| B．Learn more，and you’ll have no questions. |
| C．During the research，you may keep finding new questions. |
| D．Asking questions is the only way for research. |
The best title for this passage is _____.
| A．Discovering Dinosaurs |
| B．Asking Good Questions |
| C．Finding Subjects |
| D．Having Interesting Answers |
Once upon a time，two brothers who lived on neighboring farms fell into conflict(冲突)．It was the first serious one between them in 40 years of farming peacefully side by side. In the end，they fell apart.
One morning，a man with a carpenter's toolbox came for some work. The elder brother said，“I just have a job for you. Look at that farm across the creek(河沟)．My younger brother lives there. It was he who used his bulldozer(推土机)to dig the creek last week to spite(刁难)me. So I want you to build me a fence，an 8foothigh fence，in order not to see his place any more.”The carpenter smiled and said，“I see. I'll try to do a job that satisfies you.”Then the elder brother went downtown.
At sunset when the farmer returned，the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide! To his surprise，there was no fence there at all！Instead, there was a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work! He saw his younger brother coming to him with the hands outstretching. The brothers stood at each end of the bridge，and then they met in the middle，taking each other's hands. They turned to see the carpenter lift his toolbox on his shoulder. “No，wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other work for you，” said the elder brother.“I'd love to stay on，”the carpenter said，“but I have so many more bridges to build.”What was the life like for the two brothers before the conflict?
| A．They lived a poor life. |
| B．They lived in peace. |
| C．They never spoke to each other. |
| D．They lived on the same farm. |
It can be learned that the carpenter was __________.
| A．unwilling to obey the farmer. |
| B．fond of building bridges. |
| C．unable to build a fence |
| D．willing to help others. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The elder brother used his bulldozer to dig a creek. |
| B．The elder brother helped the carpenter build the bridge. |
| C．The brothers were both satisfied with the carpenter's work. |
| D．The carpenter planned to build an 8foothigh fence as asked to. |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．A Fine Piece of Work |
| B．A Carpenter |
| C．A Conflict Between Two Brothers |
| D．Two Brothers |
We don’t know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it. 
At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today-we will feel a little lonely.
Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.
Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.
We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.
Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen. Why will people probably feel a little lonely in 2050?
| A．Because the number of people will become much smaller. |
| B．Because there will be less face-to-face communication. |
| C．Because people won’t like making friends with each other. |
| D．Because people won’t communicate with each other much often. |
The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.
| A．computers will do all the things for human beings |
| B．how people will use computers to communicate with each other |
| C．machines like computers and robots will help people a lot |
| D．how people will use robots to do the housework |
According to the passage, which of the following will happen in 2050?
| A．The relationship between people will be more important than that of today. |
| B．The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today. |
| C．It won’t be difficult for people to travel to other planets. |
| D．Our environment will be much more polluted with a growing number of cars. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．How people will communicate in the year 2050. |
| B．What our life will be like in the year 2050. |
| C．How people will travel and spend their holidays in the year 2050. |
| D．What high technology will appear in the year 2050. |
I was in a strange city I didn’t know at all, and what’s more, I could not speak a word of the language. On my second day I got on the first bus that passed, rode on it for several stops, then got off and walked on. The first two hours passed pleasantly enough, then I decided to turn back to my hotel for lunch. After walking about for some time, I decided I had better ask the way. The trouble was that the only word I knew of the language was the name of the street in which I lived, and even that I pronounced badly. I stopped to ask a newspaper-seller. He handed me a paper. I shook my head and repeated the name of the street and he put the paper into my hands. I had to give him some money and went on my way. The next person I asked was a policeman. He listened to me carefully, nodded and gently took me by the arm. There was a strange look in his eyes as he pointed left and right and left again. I nodded politely and began walking in the direction he pointed.About an hour passed and I noticed that the houses were getting fewer and fewer and green fields were appearing on either side of me. I had come all the way into the countryside. The only thing left for me to do was find the nearest railway station.From the story we know that the policeman______.
| A．was kind but didn’t understand the writer |
| B．told the writer where to take a train |
| C．knew what the writer really meant |
| D．was cold-hearted and didn’t help the writer |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．The writer got close to the hotel where he stayed. |
| B．The writer got to the hotel with the policeman’s help. |
| C．The writer found he was much farther away from the hotel. |
| D．The writer found the hotel in the direction the policeman pointed. |
In your opinion, what was the writer’s real trouble?
| A．He didn’t know the city at all. |
| B．He couldn’t speak the language. |
| C．He went too far in the wrong bus. |
| D．He followed the policeman’s direction. |
Every hour spent in watching TV, DVDs and videos as an adult reduces life expectancy by almost 22 minutes, a study suggests. And viewing TV for an average of six hours a day can cut short your life by five years.
The research claims that a sedentary(久坐的) lifestyle is as bad for health as smoking and obesity, because of the dangers caused by inactivity and the greater opportunities it offers for unhealthy eating.
The academics conducting the study set out to calculate the overall risk to life expectancy from watching television. Their research involved more than 11,000 people over the age of 25.
Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, they concluded. "TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life, which is similar to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity."
The researchers, from the University of Queensland, used information from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, together with population and death rate data.
But they said: "Although we used Australian data, the effects in other industrialized and developing countries are likely to be similar, considering the large amounts of time spent watching TV and similarities in disease patterns." In the United Kingdom, the average amount of time spent watching TV is four hours a day, compared with five hours in the United States.
Earlier this year, a separate study suggested the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, or dying early, rises by as much as 20 percent after just two hours a day in front of the box.
England's Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, said: "Physical activity offers huge benefits and these studies back what we already know - that a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks. We hope these studies will help more people realize that there are many ways to get exercise."We can learn from the passage that_______
| A．whether you watch TV or not has nothing to do with how long you will live |
| B．if an adult watches TV for six hours every day, he will die five years earlier |
| C．physical inactivity and obesity won't shorten your life |
| D．a sedentary lifestyle offers huge benefits. |
The word "it" in the second paragraph refers to
| A．a sedentary lifestyle | B．eating | C．smoking | D．obesity |
What do we know from the last three paragraphs?
| A．People in the United Kingdom watch TV longer than those in the United States. |
| B．That a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks isn't supported by other studies. |
| C．Watching TV for two hours a day will increase the risk of illnesses or dying early by 20%. |
| D．It is through these studies that we know a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks. |
The passage is intended to _______.
| A．inform the readers of a research on watching TV |
| B．warn the readers of the harm of watching TV and hope they do sports |
| C．tell the readers watching TV is also a good way to relax |
| D．tell the readers large amounts of people often watch TV |