Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies like a fat chicken, eats green leaves, has the stomach of a cow and has claws (爪) on its wings
when young. They build their homes about 4.6m above the river, an important feature (特征) for the safety of the young. It is called the hoatzin.
In appearance, the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside. The head is small, with a large set of feathers on the top, bright red eyes, and blue skin. Its nearest relatives are the common birds, cuckoos. Its most striking feature, though, is only found in the young.
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip. Using these four claws, together with the beak (喙), they can climb about in the bushes, looking very much like primitive birds must have done. When the young hoatzins have learned to fly, they lose their claws.
During the drier months between December and March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds, but in April, when the rainy season begins, they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.
| 1． |
What is the text mainly about?
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| 2． |
Young hoatzins are different from their parents in that
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| 3． |
What can we infer about primitive birds from the text?
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| 4． |
Why do hoatzins collect together in smaller groups when the rainy season comes?
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The following is a true story. It happened in the northern end of Queensland, Australia, where all kinds of animals live in the forest.
Lisa, a 33-year-old woman, went to prepare lunch in the kitchen, leaving Barney, her three-year-old son, playing by himself in the back garden.
Suddenly, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard in a hurry and found a big snake entwining the little child with its terrible body and trying to eat the boy as its delicious dish! It was a boa(蟒)! Lisa was terrified and quite angry. She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth. It was fearless mother love that made Lisa forget what she faced. She took up an old hoe from the ground and beat the boa with all her might. One...two... With the hoe, Lisa beat the snake repeatedly, but useless. The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker. Lisa’s heart was broken and she got nearly mad.
Suddenly Lisa put away the hoe and threw herself to the boa, opening her mouth and bit into the boa’s back as if trying to eat a rare steak(牛排). Lisa was really mad!
Blood was spurting(喷射) out of the boa’s body and covered most of Lisa’s body. The boa was so badly wounded that it let go of(松开) Barney and moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never known how a man had such terrible sharp teeth! On halfway home, the boa died.
It was fearless mother love that saved the little boy.When she rushed into the back garden, Lisa found______
| A．a boa eating her son |
| B．her son was playing with a big snake |
| C．her son in danger of losing his life |
| D．her son was fighting with a boa |
Lisa failed in fighting against the boa at first just because ______.
| A．she was bitten by the boa |
| B．the boa was too strong |
| C．the hoe was too sharp |
| D．she was afraid that she would hurt her son |
Lisa bit the snake because ______.
| A．she was mad |
| B．she thought her teeth were much sharper than the boa |
| C．her son was entwined by the boa |
| D．she hadn’t got any other way to fight with the snake |
What does the underlined word “entwining” probably mean?
| A．Biting. |
| B．Twisting or winding sth. around. |
| C．Eating. |
| D．Being closely connected with |
In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections(注射) so that they won't carry disease. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every kind of stores. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people's houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone. The passage mainly talks about ________ .
| A．how to keep disease from pets | B．pets in Canada |
| C．how to take good care of pets | D．life of the old in Canada |
They give their pets injections before keeping them at their houses because ___ .
| A．the pets are sick |
| B．the pets are wild |
| C．they want to stop them from carrying disease |
| D．they want them to sleep on the way home |
This passage shows that Canadians ________ .
| A．hate animals | B．often kill animals |
| C．love animals | D．don't keep pets inside house |
In Canada, children leave their parents when they grow up because _____ .
| A．they don't love their parents any more |
| B．they can only find jobs far from their parents |
| C．their parents' houses are too small |
| D．they wouldn't depend on their parents any more |
One of the most well-known directors of our time is Stephen Spielberg. He was born in Cincinnati on 18 December 1946. His father was an electric engineer and his mother was a performing pianist. His sister, Anne Spielberg, became a screenwriter who wrote the stories for many famous films.
Stephen had always wanted to be a director ever since he was a young boy. When he was just 13 years old, he made a 40-minute film. It won a local competition. Three years later, he produced a film called Firelight, which made one hundred dollars’ profit at the cinema in his hometown. Many of the ideas from this film were later used for one of his most famous films called Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
When he was 18 years old, he wanted to go to film school so that he could improve his skills and become an even better director. Unluckily, he was unsuccessful in getting a place at this school so he went to a university in California to study English. Even though he had failed to get into the school he wanted to go to, he didn’t let this stop him following his dream to become a great director.
Stephen Spielberg has directed many films since his first major film in 1976. He now owns many different businesses, most of which are involved in the film industry.
| Year |
What happened |
| 1946 |
Stephen Spielberg |
| 1959 |
Stephen Spielberg made a |
| 1962 |
Stephen Spielberg produced a film called |
| Though he |
|
| 1976 |
Stephen Spielberg |
Many Chinese students who have learnt English for more than ten years are still unable to speak English very well when they meet a foreigner. They seem to have mastered the basic language structure(结构), but a conversation in English will make them feel uneasy. They are afraid that other people might find out their mistakes.
It's uncommon that many students who are bad speakers of English can write English perfectly. This proves that they are unable to organize their idea in English. The center of the problem is that they lack practice and confidence (自信).
Why should you be afraid? Do you fear those foreigners with whom you are speaking? Don't be shy, they will not laugh at you just for a little mistake you make. The best way to get rid of trouble is to learn to speak by speaking more. I am sure that constant practice will help you succeed.What's the best topic for the passage?
| A．How to Speak to Foreigners | B．How to Study English Well |
| C．How to Organize the Idea in English | D．Practice Speaking English All the Time |
Many Chinese students can write English very well, but they cannot speak English fluently because
__________.
| A．they seldom meet foreigners |
| B．they seldom practice speaking English |
| C．they had no chance to speak English |
| D．they think it's enough to master the basic language structure only |
So many Chinese students are afraid to speak to foreigners because ______________.
| A．they are afraid they can't understand foreigners |
| B．they don't think their English is poor |
| C．they worry about making mistakes in their speaking |
| D．they didn't like speaking to foreigners |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．We can speak English fluently by doing more speaking. |
| B．If you can write English perfectly, you are able to organize your idea in English. |
| C．If you can write good English composition, you can speak English very well. |
| D．Any Chinese students can't speak English fluently because they are afraid of making mistakes. |
In the last paragraph, the expression "get rid of" means_______.
| A．throw away | B．free oneself from | C．give up | D．do with |
What exactly is a lie ?Is it anything we say which we know is untrue ?Or is it something more than that ?For example, suppose a friend wants to borrow some money from you. You say “I wish I could help you, but I am short of money myself.” In fact , you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don’t want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie ?
Professor Jerald Jellison of the University of southern California has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better liars than men, particularly when telling a “white lie”, such as when a woman at a party tells another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it’s terrible. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, such as making a promise that they have no intention of carrying out. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at :the lie from which the liar hopes to profit or gain in some way.
Research has been done into the way people’s behavior changes in a number of small, unimportant ways when they lie. It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying “I wish I were somewhere else now”. They also tend to touch certain parts of the face, particularly the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure. The tip of the nose is very sensitive to changes and the increased pressure makes it itch.
Another gesture that gives liars away is what the writer Decmond Morris in his book Man Watching calls the “mouth cover”. He says that there are several typical forms of this ,such as covering part of the mouth with the fingers, touching the upper lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side off the mouth. Such a gesture can be understood as an unconscious(未察觉的) attempt on the part of the liar to stop himself from lying.
Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth , moving about in a chair can not be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to happen more often in this situation. It is one gesture alone that gives the liar away but a whole number of things , and in particular the context(上下文) which the lie is told.According to the passage, a white lie seems to be a lie ______.
| A．that other people believe |
| B．that other people don’t believe |
| C．told in order not to hurt someone’s feelings |
| D．told in order to take advantage of someone |
Research suggests that women _____.
| A．are better at telling less serious lies than men |
| B．generally lie for more than men do |
| C．often make promises they intend to break |
| D．lie at parties more often than men do |
Researchers find that when a person tells lies _____.
| A．his blood pressure increases measurably |
| B．he looks very serious |
| C．he is likely to make some small changes in his behavior |
| D．he uses his unconscious mind |
The writer of the passage______.
| A．hates lying | B．enjoys lying | C．often tells a lie | D．tries to study about lying |
Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage as a sign of lying ?
| A．Touching one’s ears | B．Rubbing the nose |
| C．Moving in a chair | D．Covering the mouth |