The UN Environment Programme says that rising temperatures could mean the end for some migrating animals.
Migrating or mobile animals move through several environments as they travel away from the cold of winter to warmer areas. Birds may fly from one part of the World to another, perhaps stopping at feeding grounds on the way. Whales and turtles(海龟) cover vast areas of ocean. The report says that changes in any one of the places which these animals use can cause serious harm. "Obviously these animals have developed their travelling patterns over thousands of years. But climate change is almost certain to be extreme over the next 25 to 50 years and it is extremely unlikely that these animals can change their habits fast enough, "said the report author Dr. Robert Hepworth.
Hardest hit by rising temperatures are turtles. Scientists have found that at higher temperatures, turtles produce far more female eggs than male ones. In parts of Malaysia, turtle birthing sites are producing only females, the report says. It also provides evidence that some turtles are more likely to develop cancer as the waters get warmer.
With birds, the main problem is climate-related damage to important areas at either end of the travels or at resting places along the way. About one-fifth of migrating birds are now in danger because of climate-related changes including rising sea levels, land loss and more violent storms, the report concludes.
Other animals picked out as particularly in danger include:
·the North Atlantic Right Whale, whose main food (tiny shrimp) is disturbed by the change in ocean flows.
·the White-Nose Dolphin, which is out-competed by other kinds of dolphins in warmer waters.
The report is not all bad news. Even with major climatic changes, protecting the environment can still help mobile animals to recover. "We need governments to start taking action at the national and international level. The clock is running," said Dr. Hepworth. And some animals are already adapting, with the report mentioning whales that are changing their feeding behaviour, finding new feeding grounds and new foods to eat.
1．What is the main topic of the text ?
A．The effect of climate change on migrating animals.
B．How animals are adapting to changes in temperature.
C．The actions required to save migrating animals.
D．The need for government policies to prevent global warming.
2．By saying "The clock is running" in the last paragraph, Dr. Hepworth means that" ______"
A．it may be too late to save some animals
B．it is time to start protecting the animals
C．there is not much time to solve the problem
D．it takes time to complete the actions
3．According to the report, how will global warming affect turtles in the future?
A．They will only produce female babies.
B．Their food supply will gradually disappear.
C．Some will suffer from higher rates of cancer.
D．They will be in greater danger because of more violent storms.
4．Which of the following is mentioned as a consequence of rising temperatures?
A．More storms will affect the ability of whales to find their feeding grounds.
B．20 percent of all birds are likely to die out because of land loss.
C．Migrating animals are likely to start adapting to the changes more quickly.
D．Warmer oceans will increase the competition between different kinds of dolphins.
5．What can be inferred about turtles from the text?
A．They are the only animals besides humans that suffer from cancer.
B．They have traditionally lived longer than other ocean-based animals.
C．Those born nearer a hotter area are more likely to be female.
D．Most kinds of turtles are likely to die out within 50 years.
People who averaged fewer than seven hours of sleep per night in the weeks before being exposed to the cold virus were nearly three times as likely to get sick as those who averaged eight hours or more, a new study found.
Researchers used frequent telephone interviews to track the sleep habits of more than 150 men and women aged 21 to 55 over the last few weeks. Then they exposed the subjects to the virus, quarantined (检疫隔离) them for five days and kept track of who got sick.
Besides sleeping more, sleeping better also seemed to help the body fight illness: Patients who fared better on a measure known as “sleep efficiency”—the percentage of time in bed that you’re actually sleeping—were also less likely to get sick.
The results held true even after researchers adjusted for elements such as body-mass index, age, sex, smoking and pre-existing antibodies (抗体) to the virus.
The researchers aren’t exactly sure why sleeping better makes you less likely to develop a cold. But they do try to give an answer: “Sleep disturbance influences the regulation of symptom mediators (调节因子) that are released in response to infection.” In plain English, maybe tossing and turning when you’re infected with the cold virus contributes to the symptoms that define a cold.
The researchers were based at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Virginia, and the study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. According to the passage, what does the underlined word “subjects” mean in paragraph 2?
| A．areas of knowledge in a school |
| B．people being studied in an experiment |
| C．research topics |
| D．animals being tested |
It is shown in the passage that _______.
| A．the researchers obtain information about the sleep habits by frequent interviews |
| B．the researchers do their research in the National Institutes of Health |
| C．people hope to avoid being infected with a cold by sleeping as much as possible |
| D．sleeping more and better helps regulate the symptom mediators |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The Relationship Between Virus and Cold |
| B．How to Sleep Well |
| C．Good Sleep Helps Fight a Cold |
| D．The More the Sleep, the Better Your Body |
Last Sunday I made a visit to some new neighbors down the block. No specific in mind, just an opportunity to sit at the kitchen table, have some tea and chat. As I did so, it occurred to me how rare the Sunday visit has become.
When I was a kid in New Jersey of the 1960s, Sunday visits were routine. Most stores were closed, almost nobody worked, and the highways, as a result, were not desperate steeplechases(障碍赛跑) they have become today. My family normally traveled eight city blocks to the home of my grandmother, where adults would sit on the front porch and chat while we children played hide-and-seek.
The Sunday visit was something to desire strongly. It was the repetition to church, our reward for an hour of devotion, an opportunity to take advantage of the fact that Dad was not at work, we were not in school, and there was no housework that couldn’t wait until Monday. Sunday was, indeed, different from the other days of the week, because everyone seemed to be on the same schedule, which means that there was one day when everyone seemed to have time for everybody else.
Sunday as a day of rest is, or was, so deeply rooted in the culture that it’s surprising to find that, in a short span of time, it has almost entirely lost this association. In my childhood, it was assumed that everyone would either be home or visiting someone else’s home on Sunday. But now the question is, “What do you plan to DO this Sunday?” The answer can range from going to the mall, to participating in a road race, to Montreal for lunch. If one were to respond, “I’m making a Sunday visit to family,” such an answer would feel strange, which sounds like an echo from another era.
I suppose I should be grateful to live in Maine, a state of small towns, abundant land and tight relationships. Even though folks work as hard here as they do anywhere else, the state’s powerfully rural feature still keeps at least remnants(残余部分) of the moral of yesterday’s America, where people had to depend on one another in the face of economic vagaries(反复无常的情况) and a challenging environment. The writer’s general impression of the Sunday in the past was a day when＿＿.
| A．everyone was paying a visit to some relatives far away |
| B．everyone seemed to be free for others |
| C．Dad was not at work while Mom was busy cleaning the house |
| D．nearly every adult would go to church and children weren’t at school |
In the fourth paragraph, the writer compares the response “I’m making a Sunday visit to family” to an echo from another era because_____.
| A．people nowadays prefer staying at home on Sunday |
| B．such answers are rarely heard in our modern society |
| C．people in the city dislike being disturbed on Sunday |
| D．visiting someone on Sunday was routine in the past |
From the last paragraph we may infer that_____.
| A．people in Maine suffer more from economic depression and the changed environment |
| B．people in Maine have abandoned their tradition and lived an absolutely new life |
| C．land in Maine is short, thus the relationship between people is tense |
| D．people in Maine tend to help each other out of necessity |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Doing many activities on Sunday is beneficial. |
| B．We should often travel a long distance to visit some friends and relatives. |
| C．Nowadays, Sunday has almost lost its association as a day of rest. |
| D．We should abandon some old tradition. |
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I ’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(里脊）in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it---there aren’t any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale--- actually as big as our boat-- was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and camp up suddenly, making big whirlpools(旋涡）and waves. “ she’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point , my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe---and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.The author says “ I’m so glad I did”(in Para.2) because_________
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he spent the weekend with his family |
| D．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
The harbour survived the storm owing to____________
| A．the shape of the harbour |
| B．the arms of the bay |
| C．the still water in the channel |
| D．the long coast line |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because___________
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long. |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were no big enough. |
| C．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction. |
| D．she had no other whales around to turn to for help |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Fishing provides excitement for children. |
| B．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals. |
| C．It’s vital to protect the environment. |
| D．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness. |
The flag, the most common symbol of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark building, ships and other vehicles related to a country.
The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive artifact. It is , rather, the product of thousands of years’ development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier served to show wind direction.
Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People’s food supplies were similarly vulnerable (易受损害的). Even after they had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from another.
Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with heavenly power was therefore reasonable. Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems (图腾)before carrying them into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and ancestors represented by the totems themselves.
These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was unmarked: The king of China around 1008 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other ancestor of the national flag.The best title for the passage would be_________________
| A．Uses of Flags | B．Power of the National Flag |
| C．Type of Flags | D．Development of the National Flag |
The earliest flags were connected with heavenly power because_____________
| A．they could tell wind direction |
| B．they could bring good luck to fighters |
| C．they were believed to stand for natural forces. |
| D．they were handed down by the ancestors |
What does the author know of the first national flag?
| A．He knows when it was sent to Europe. |
| B．He believes it was made in Egypt. |
| C．He doubts where it started |
| D．He thinks it came from China. |
What will the author most probably talk about next?
| A．The second ancestor of the national flag. |
| B．The role of China in the spread of the national flag. |
| C．The use of modern flags in Europe. |
| D．The importance of modern flags. |
Have you got any wonderful plans for your coming winter vacation? Here are some wonderful films for you to kill time.
Away We Go
Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) and Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) are in their early thirties and struggling to meet daily needs and build fulfilling lives as an artist and a salesman.
When they learn they will soon become parents, they are faced with the challenge of how and where to raise a child and build a happy family. With a baby on his way, the young couple, look at their lives and are puzzled about what they really want.
Another Happy Day
Lynn was married to Pual, but they broke up and Lynn took their daughter Alice while Paul got their son Dylan.
Years later, now Dylan is getting married, and Lynn is attending the wedding, with her younger son Elliot and Ben. Elliot is a drug addict and Ben keeps everything to himself. Dylan hasn’t spoken to Lynn in years, and Lynn is fearful of Pual and his wife Patty. At last, all this has put Lynn in a depressed situation, and she’s not sure just how she’s going to get through the day.
La Vita e bella
Also named as Life is Beautiful, the film is a black comedy and also a best medicine that heals the scar left by war. This movie has some kind of characteristics as natural and active. On the 7th Oscar Award Ceremony , the movie won three great awards.
It is not a sad movie from the very beginning , but when the father uses a great way to hide his murder from his son, all people are impressed by this moving deed. Under the protection of the father, the son has lived a happy life.
The Shawshank Redemption
The film is an American film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The film tells the story of Andy, a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife and his wife’s lover despite his claims of innocence. There he makes friends with Red. Andy manages to escape from the prison by digging a tunnel with the rock hammer over the years. When Red is later released , he remembers Andy’s advice. He then visits the place Andy mentions before he escapes. There, he finds money and a note left by Andy, telling him to get to Zihuatanejo.This passage aims to _______________
| A．make comments on films for a cinema |
| B．recommend several films for fun |
| C．introduce films for a film corporation |
| D．advertise several films for a website |
Which film might best help a newly married couple to figure out their new roles in future life?
| A．La Vita e bella | B．Another Happy Day |
| C．Away We Go | D．The Shawshank Redemption. |
What is the ending of The Shawshank Redemption?
| A．Andy killed his wife and his wife’s lover. |
| B．Andy became famous for helping Red. |
| C．Red felt cheated by Andy in a way. |
| D．Red and Andy got reunited happily. |