Like all animal species, plant species must spread their offspring to suitable areas where they can grow and pass on their parents’ genes. Young animals generally spread by walking or flying. Because plants don’t have that ability, they must somehow hitchhike(搭车). Some plant seeds scatter by blowing in the wind or floating on water. Many other plant species, though, trick an animal into carrying their seeds. How do they do this? They enclose the seeds within a tasty fruit and advertise the fruit’s ripeness by its colour or smell. The hungry animal collects and swallows the fruit, walks or flies off, and later spits out the seeds somewhere far from its parent tree. Seeds can thereby be carried for thousands of miles. It may surprise you to learn that plant seeds can resist digestion. In fact, some seeds actually require passage through an animal’s body before they can grow.
Wild strawberries offer a good example of hitchhiking tactics. When strawberry seeds are still young and not yet ready to be planted, the surrounding fruit is green, sour and hard. When the seeds finally mature, the berries turn red, sweet, and tender. The change in the berries’ colour serves as a signal to birds which then eat the strawberries, fly off, and eventually spit out the seeds.
Naturally, strawberry plants didn’t set out with a conscious intention of attracting birds only when their seeds were ready to be dispersed. Nor did birds set out with the intent of planting strawberries. Rather, strawberry plants evolved through natural selection. The sweeter and redder the final strawberry, the more birds spread its ripe seeds; the greener and more sour the young strawberry, the fewer birds destroyed the seeds by eating berries before the seeds were ready.
1．What does the underlined word “dispersed” in the third paragraph mean?
A．spread B．eaten
C．born D．planted
2．For plants, which of the following is NOT a way of spreading their offspring to suitable areas?
A．Hitchhiking. B．Blowing in the wind.
C．Floating on water. D．Tracking an animal.
3．Which strategy does the example of wild strawberries describe?
A．The conscious intent of attracting birds. B．Spreading by walking.
C．Spreading by flying. D．The strategy of taking a lift.
4．Why does the author describe how strawberry seeds are spread?
A．To show plants are good at
adapting to the environment. .
B．To show strawberry’s special way.
C．To show the plant has different ways of spreading seeds.
D．To show the mystery of plant.
5．What’s the passage mainly about?
A．How animals disperse offspring. B．How plants disperse their offspring.
C．Plant evolution. D．Plants’ hitchhiking on animals.
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of areas for burying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to connect packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material we are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.What does the underlined phrase “that over-consumption” refer to?
| A．Using too much packaging. |
| B．Recycling too many wastes. |
| C．Making more products than necessary. |
| D．Having more material than is needed. |
The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.
| A．the tendency of cutting household waste |
| B．the fact of packaging overuse |
| C．the rapid growth of supermarkets |
| D．the increase of packaging recycling |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality. |
| B．Supermarkets care more about packaging. |
| C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging. |
| D．Other products are better packaged than food. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Needless material is mostly recycled. |
| B．Fighting wastefulness is difficult. |
| C．People like collecting recyclable waste. |
| D．The author is proud of their consumer culture. |
When you have a question about something, where do you go? For many people the answer is simple as they can go online to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. But what about people in rural or underdeveloped areas who may have no way to get on the Internet?
A business and international development professor in California, Rose Shuman, found an answer for them: Question Box. Question Box is a service that provid
es answers---free of charge--- for people who cannot search the Internet directly. The users of Questions Box might be those who might not be 
able to read, or simply have no access to the Internet.
Question Box began three years ago in India. People used a metal call box with a push-to-talk button to connect a live operator. Rose Schuman explained,” You just need to push a big green button on the box which will connect you directly to our operators who are sitting in front of computers, and speak your language. You can ask them any sort of question you want, and they’ll look it up in English or in Hindi, or whatever the main language is, and translate the answer back for you.”
The service is currently offered in two villages. The latest version of the box uses mobile phone technology, and solar panels in case the electrical power fails. Rose Shuman says the aim was to make the box as easy as possible for users, “It is very efficient (效率高的). Rather than try to bring a lot of difficulties to them and expect them to spend a lot of time to learn how to use the Internet, the idea was to make a technology that even Grandma could use.”
In April 2009, Question Box was introduced to Uganda. Forty community workers with mobile phones connected villagers to call center operators in Kampala. The community workers went around telling people about the service. They wore T-shirts that said “Ask me.” But Internet service in Uganda proved slow and undependable. So Question Box teamed up with a local technology company to store information on a local server. That way, the researchers in Kampala could quickly search the database for answers. The best title for the passage is __________.
| A．Question Box ----taking the place of the Internet |
| B．Needing an answer? ----asking Question Box |
| C．Question Box ----A great invention in the world |
D．Rose Shuman----- A professor helping the poor |
In Rose Schuman’s opinion, the greatest advantage of Question Box is that______.
| A．It is the most advanced in the world |
| B．It is more convenient to carry. |
| C．It is much easier to use |
| D．it saves much more energy |
The underlined word “them” in the fourth paragraph refers to______.
| A．the users | B．the operators |
| C．the researchers | D．Question Box workers |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．Question Box costs the users much less than the Internet. |
| B．Question Box operators can look for information in any language. |
| C．Question Box is more efficient in solving problems in underdeveloped areas. |
| D．Question Box can work without the help of the Internet in Uganda. |
In most people’s opinion, the tiger is not an animal that we would ordinarily think of as being chicken. However, one tiger, which lives in an English zoo, turned out to be more cowardly( 胆小的) than his keepers could ever have imagined.
Tanvir, a two-year-old Bengal tiger, got stuck at the top of a new 5m-high activity tower in the zoo, after climbing it for the first time.
The wooden tower had been designed to provide mental exercise for Tanvir by testing his ability of dealing with troublesome situations, but after climbing it in just a few seconds, he lost his courage when it came to coming back down. Tanvir went on to spend nearly two days at the top of the tower trying to collect the courage to attempt to get down.
A spokesperson for the zoo said that several days before Tanvir had taken half an hour to get down a lower tower only 1.5m high, and the taller tower had clearly been too much challenging for him.
“Every time he got to the edge, he looked out, put a paw over, and thought, ‘no, I cannot make it!’”laughed Samantha Cordrey, Tanvir’s keeper. In the end Tanvir’s hunger defeated his fear, and after almost 48 hours he made his way down. Burying himself in a big meal just like a hungry pig, Tanvir seemed to forget such a shameful experience for a while.
It appears that his experience would not be the worst in Tanvir’s life if he continued to act like a chicken. It is not known whether he will take courage to go back up his exercise tower again.
The whole episode(插曲) only serves to show the difficulties faced by zoo staff in creating environments that will improve animals’ living ability in enclosed space.When speaking of Tanvir’s shameful experience, Samantha Cordrey might feel it was_____.
| A．funny | B．surprising | C．exciting | D．unbelievable |
What made Tanvir get down the 5m-high activity tower at last?
| A．The coldness of the weather. | B．The direction from his keepers. |
| C．The sufferings of being hungry | D．The fear of being alone |
Why d
oes the author say “this experience would not be the worst in Tanvir’s life if…”(Paragraph 6)?
| A．Because Tanvir’s keepers will design more difficult exercise for him. |
| B．Because Tanvir is so cowardly that he has little courage to meet greater challenges. |
| C．Because Tanvir’s bad health will bring him much trouble in practice. |
| D．Because Tanvir is always careless and often causes trouble by accident. |
The zoo designed the 5m-high activity tower to______.
| A．make Tanvir become brave |
| B．improve Tanvir’s performance skills |
| C．let tourists watch Tanvir better |
| D．improve Tanvir’s living ability |
A rainfores（雨林）is an area covered by tall trees with the total high rainfall spreading quite equally through the year and the temperature rarely dipping below 16℃.Rainforests have a great effect on the world environment because they can take in（吸收） heat from the sun and adjust （调节）the climate. Without the forest cover, these areas would reflect more heat into the atmosphere，warming the rest of the world .Losing the rainforests may also influence wind and rainfall patterns, potentially causing certain natural disasters（灾害） all over the world.
In the past hundred years, humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources (资源): land for crops, wood for paper and other products, land for raising farm animals. This action affects the environment as a whole. For example，a lot of carbon dioxide(二氧化碳)in the air comes from burning the rainforests. People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit（受益）.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, when people cut down trees, generally they can only use the land for a year or two. Secondly, cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now, but in the long run （长远看）it actually reduces the world’ s wood supply.
Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store. More than 25% of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However, fewer than 1% of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value. It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in （在于）the world’s shrinking rainforests..．Rainforests can help to adjust the climate because they________.
| A．reflect（反射） more heat into the atmosphere |
| B．bring about high rainfall throughout the world |
| C．rarely cause the temperature to drop lower than 16℃ |
| D．reduce the effect of heat from the sun on the earth |
.．What does the word “this” underlined in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．We will lose much more than we can gain. |
| B．Humans have begun destroying rainforests. |
| C．People have a strong desire for resources. |
| D．Much carbon dioxide comes from burning rainforests. |
.What might be the best title for the text?
| A．How to Save Rainforests | B．How to Protect Nature |
| C．Rainforests and the Environment | D．Rainforests and Medical Development |
Remembering names is an important social skill. Here are some ways to master it.
Recite and repeat in conversation（谈话，交往）.
When you hear a person’s name, repeat it. Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips. You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial（矫揉造作的，不自然的）.
Ask the other person to recite and repeat.
You can let other people help you remember their names. After you’ve been introduced to someone，ask that person to spell the name and pronounce it correctly for you. Most people will be pleased by the effort（努力） you’re making to learn their names.
Admit you don’t know.
Admitting that you can’t remember someone’s name can actually make people relaxed. Most of them will feel sympathy if you say, “I’ m working to remember names better. Yours is right on the tip of my tongue. What is it again？”
Use associations（联络，联系）.
Link（联系） each person you meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual. For example, you could make a mental note：“Vicki Cheng — tall, black hair.” To reinforce (加强) your associations, write them on a small card as soon as possible.
Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.
When meeting a group of people, concentrate on（集中精力） remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering everyone. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.
Go early.
Consider going early to conferences（会议）, parties and classes. Sometimes just a few people show up（到场） on time. That’s fewer names for you to remember. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others — an automatic （无意识的）review for you..．How will most people feel when you try hard to remember their names?
| A．They will be moved. | B．They will be annoyed. |
| C．They will be delighted. | D．They will be discouraged. |
.If you can’t remember someone’s name, you may ________.
| A．tell him the truth | B．tell him a white lie |
| C．ask him for pity | D．ask others to help you |
.．When you meet a group of people, it is better to remember________.
| A．all their names | B．a couple of names first |
| C．just their last names | D．as many names as possible |
.．What does the text mainly tell us?
| A．Tips on an important social skill. | B．Importance of attending parties. |
| C．How to make use of associations. | D．How to recite and repeat names. |