C
Let These Plants Swat the Bugs for You
Some plants get so hungry they eat flies, spiders, and even small frogs. What’s more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they’re found on every continent except Antarctica.
You’ve probably seen a Venus’ flytrap. It’s often sold in museum gift stores, department stores, and even supermarkets. A small plant, it grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks（茎）are specially modified leaves that act like traps. Inside each trap is a lining of tiny trigger（触发）hairs. When an insect lands on them, the trap suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus’ flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society’s Newsletter. Note: Despite any science-fiction stories（科幻小说）you might have read, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Dr. Meyers-Rice says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following: “attract, kill, digest, and absorb” some form of insects , including flies, butterflies, and moths. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants—well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar through a process called photosynthesis（光合作用）. Plants use the sugar to make food. What makes “meat-eating” plants different is their bug-catching leaves. They need insects for one reason: nitrogen（氮）. Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can’t obtain any other way. Why?
Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. “Meat-eating” plants can’t. They live in places where nutrients are hard or almost impossible to get from the soil because of its acidity（酸度）. So they’ve come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soil is poisonous to “meat-eating” plants. Never fertilize（施肥）them! But don’t worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they’ll grow very slowly.
64. Venus flytrap
A. is a small plant which grows in a container.
B. is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily.
C. can attract, kill, digest and absorb some form of insects.
D. grows 6-8 inches tall
65. From the passage, we know .
A. “meat-eating” plants are found on every continent.
B. all green plants get nitrogen from the soil.
C. bug-catching leaves make “meat-eating” different from other plants.
D. some “meat-eating” plants in the rainforest do danger to humans.
66. “Meat-eating” plants grow very slowly, .
A. so you’d better fertilize them
B. probably because the source of nitrogen is cut off.
C. simply because they can’t absorb nitrogen from the soil
D. and then they will die slowly.
67. Which of the following is true?
A. “Meat-eating” plants look and act like other green plants.
B. No insects, no “meat-eating” plants.
C. The reason why Venus flytrap needs flies is that it needs to get nutrient from them.
D. Green plants make sugar at night.
68. What does the underlined word nutrient in paragraph 5 probably mean?
A. 化学物 B.营养物 C. 肥料 D. 氮氢化合物
A businessman had two sons. While he gave the younger son a lot of love and gifts, he neglected (忽视) the elder son. It was completely puzzling (令人费解) and no one knew why.
When the boys grew up, they were asked to manage the father’s business. The elder son was absorbed in the business. From morning till late in the evening, he was busy working. Within a few years, he ran the business very well and even expanded (扩大) it.
What about the younger son? He didn't have much to do except have a good time. But the father believed that his favorite son would be a success. If the elder son could be a successful businessman, surely the younger one, with a higher education, would do much better.
A few years later, the results of his decision became clear. Uninterested in business, the younger son continued spending his time enjoying himself. And he went out of business. But the elder son’s far smaller share (份) of business had expanded and he had proved himself to be a good decision maker.
Ashamed at the turn of events, the father met the elder son and was angry with the younger one. The elder son, who was listening to all this quietly, suddenly said he wanted to set up an independent business and live on his own.
“Why?” asked the father.
“I blame (责备) one person for the way my brother has turned out, and it’s not him. You can’t blame children for the faults (过失) of their parents, can you?” asked the elder son.. Before the younger son went into the father’s business, he______.
| A．was interested in business | B．had achieved great success |
| C．often looked down upon his brother | D．was well-educated at school |
.Why did the father treat the two sons differently?
| A．the elder son didn’t work hard | B．no one knew why he did it |
| C．the younger son was hardworking | D．he wanted to do an experiment |
. Which is NOT the reason for the younger son’s going out of business?
| A．he himself didn’t work hard |
| B．his father didn’t educate him properly |
C．he was not interest ed in business at all |
| D．he was busy working every day |
.. What does the text really want to teach us?
| A．Parents are responsible for children’s development. |
B．Once something is done, you should do it well. |
| C．Interest is the most important for success. |
| D．One has responsibility for what he himself has done. |
I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled.
I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”
At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.
I stood watching her, speechless .What on earth?
She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room-if you do an
ything to upset my husband, out you go!”
Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.
After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood（情绪）had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.. Why did the author shout at the telephone?
| A．He was mad at the telephone. |
| B．He was angry with his agent. |
| C．He was anxious about his wife. |
| D．He was impatient with the secretary. |
. What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?
| A．She said nothing. |
| B．She shouted at him. |
| C．She called the agent. |
| D．She threw the phone away. |
At a primary school in a small town in the east of South Carolina, second-grade teachers Garneau and Lynne are convinced that separating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement in both genders(性别).
David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education says, “Boys and girls learn, hear and respond to their surroundings differently. We can teach boys and girls based on what we now know.”
Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, he explains. The composition of the male eye makes it sensitive to motion and direction. “Boys interpret the world as objects moving through space,” he says.
The male eye is also drawn to cooler colors like silver and black. It’s no accident boys tend to create pictures of moving objects instead of drawing the happy colorful family, like girls do in their class.
The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to warmer colors like red, yellow and orange. To attract girls, Chadwell says, the teacher doesn’t need to move as much as in boy’s class. Using descriptive phrases and lots of colors in presentations or on the blackboard gets their attention.
Boys and girls also hear differently. “When someone speaks in a loud tone, girls interpret it as yelling,” Chadwell says. “They think you’re mad and can shut down.” Girls are more sensitive to sounds. He advises girls’ teachers to watch the tone of their voices. Boys’ teachers should sound more forceful, even excited.
A boy’s nervous system causes him to be more cautious when he is standing, moving, and the room temperature is around 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Stress in boys, he says, tends to increase blood flow to their brains, a process that helps them stay focused. Girls are mor
e focused when seated in a warmer room around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Girls also respond to stress differently. When exposed to threat and conflict, blood goes to their guts(肠道), leaving them feeling nervous or anxious.
These differences can be applied in the classroom, Chadwell adds. “Single gender programs are about maximizing the learning.” What is David Chadwell’s attitude toward separating elementary-age boys and girls
while learning?
| A．Supportive | B．Worried | C．Concerned | D．Uninterested |
To engage boy in a class, the teacher ______.
| A．must have a moving object in this hand | B．needs to wear clothes in warm color |
| C．has to speak politely | D．had better move constantly while teaching |
Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
(=" Paragraph" 1=" Paragraph" 2=" Paragraph" 3 ….. =" Paragraph" 8)
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Ways of teaching boys and ways of teaching girls |
| B．Boys and girls should be separated |
| C．How boys and girls learn differently |
| D．How to teach more effectively |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater, the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度)in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.______
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible(灵活的),”he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who
had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in order to_____________.
| A．say language is also a kind of physical labor |
| B．prove that one needs more practice when he (she) is learning a language |
| C．to show the importance of using the language when you learn the language |
| D．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means_____________.
| A．a researcher on language learning | B．a second language learner |
| C．a person who can speak two languages | D．an active language learner |
We may know from the scientific findings that_____________.
| A．the earlier you start to learn a second language the higher the grey matter density is |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn't know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people's brain |
| D．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that_____________.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in study other subjects |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
Two worlds come together
Imagine landing in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, understand the culture and don’t know anybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend who could help you out?
John Smith, an English explorer who landed in America in 1607, found the best friend ever. She was a Native American named Pocahontas (1595-1617). And she did more than teach Smith the language: she saved his life, twice.
Smith was captured(捕获) by members of Pocahontas’s tribe (部落) and was going to be killed. But for some reason, the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, felt sorry for Smith (who was probably the first white man she had ever seen) and threw her body over his to protect him. Smith returned safely to the small village he was living in.
During the winter the English settlers did not know how to get food from nature. Pocahontas often brought food for Smith and his friends.
A year later Pocahontas’s father tried to kill Smith again because the Native Americans were very scared the English would try to take over their land. Pocahontas warned him and he was able to escape.
Later she became a Christian and eventually married an Englishman named John Rolfe.
She spent the last year of her life in London.
Pocahontas has become an American legend. Her life story has been re-created in many books and films, including Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas.
One of the reasons she is so popular is that many Europeans look at Pocahontas as an excellent example of how a minority can adjust into the majority. Pocahontas is also respected because of her selfless love. She proved that people can be kind and loving even to people of a different race or culture. John Smith was very different from Pocahontas but she could see he was a good man and that was all that mattered. No race or country owns goodness, love and loyalty. What difficulties might early European settlers meet in America EXCEPT ________?
| A．the fierce conflict with Native Americans | B．bad-tempered natives who enjoyed killing |
| C．unfamiliarity with a foreign land | D．lack of food in winter |
Pocahontas saved John Smith twice because ______.
| A．he was the first white man she had ever seen in her life |
| B．she wanted to become a Christian and marry an Englishman |
| C．she believed in general kindness even to people of a different race |
| D．she was on the settlers’ side and against her cruel father |
According to the text, Europeans think Pocahontas _____.
| A．was brave to break away from her own tribe |
| B．set a good example for other natives to accept the white settlers |
| C．was a selfless Christian who can love her enemy |
| D．was open to a more advanced culture |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The battles between early settlers and Native Americans resulted from their fighting for land. |
| B．The Europeans think the early settlers should have learned to adjust to the local cultures. |
| C．The creation of America is based on the settlers’ victory over the Native Americans. |
| D．People from different cultures can never really get along well with each other. |