Humanshaveobservedandexploredt-优题课

Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami(海啸), adding weight to ideas they possess a “sixth sense” for disasters, experts said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.
“No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening,” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.
The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants. “There has been a lot of evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.
“There have been no specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting,” he said.
Other authorities agreed with this conclusion.
“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds. There are many reports of birds detecting coming disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.
Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators(食肉动物).
The idea of an animal “sixth sense” is a lasting one that the evidence on Sri Lanka’s damaged coast is likely to add to.
This passage is mainly about________.

A．the damage that was caused in the Indian Ocean tsunami

B．why animals can save them from natural disasters

C．how to protect the wildlife when disaster happens

D．the different opinions about animals’ natural power

Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．It has been proved that animals have a “sixth sense”.

B．Research has been made on the special movements of animals before disasters.

C．It’s generally considered that animals can sense the coming of disasters.

D．Animals have depended on the known senses to escape the Indian Ocean tsunami.

What does the term “sixth sense” in the text means?

A．It is the natural ability of animals that can save them from danger.

B．It is the animal’s imagination in the brain.

C．It is some hidden power to say in advance that something will happen.

D．It is a kind of sense that is the same as smell or hearing.

Which section does the text most probably appear in a newspaper?

A．News Report.

B．Discovery.

C．Science Fiction.

D．Culture.

A “lost tribe” that reached America from Australia may have been the first Native Americans, according to a new theory.
If proved by DNA evidence, the theory will break long established beliefs about the southerly migration of people who entered America across the Bering Strait, found it empty and occupied it.
On this theory rests the belief of Native Americans to have been the first true Americans. They would be classified to the ranks of escapee, beaten to the New World by Aboriginals (土著人) in boats.
To a European, this may seem like an academic argument, but to Americans it is a philosophical question about identity, Silvia Gonzales, of Liverpool University said .
Her claims are based on skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico that have skulls quite unlike the broad Mongolian features of Native Americans. These narrow-skulled people have more in common with southern Asians, Aboriginal Australians and people of the South Pacific Region.
The bones, stored at the National Museum of Anthropology (人类学) in Mexico City, have been carbon-dated and one is 12,700 years old, which places it several thousand years before the arrival of people from the North. “We think there were several migration waves into the Americas at different times by different human groups,” Dr. Gonzales said. “The timing, route and point of origin of the first colonization of the Americas remains a most contentious topic in human evolution.”
But comparisons based on skull shape are not considered conclusive by anthropologists, so a team of Mexican and British scientists, backed by the Natural Environment Research Council, has also attempted to take out DNA from the bones. Dr. Gonzales declined yesterday to say exactly what the results were, as they need to be checked, but indicated that they were consistent(一致) with an Australian origin.
It is generally considered that the first Native Americans came from ________.

A．North Asia	B．Australia
C．South Pacific	D．South Asia

The skeletons found in the California Peninsula of Mexico have ________.

A．the broad skull shape

B．the narrow skull shape

C．different features of Aboriginal Australians

D．the same features of Native Americans

The underlined “contentious” is similar in meaning to “________”.

A．likely to cause great interest	B．difficult to solve
C．well-known to all	D．likely to cause argument

Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

A．Research on skulls can draw an exact conclusion.

B．DNA tests have proved the fact that the first Native Americans came from Australian.

C．Scientists are still not sure about the origin of the Native Americans.

D．People began to enter America across the Bering Strait about 12,700 years ago.

Mules
Although the top men in smuggling（走私）business must work together, most of a syndicate’s（集团）small fry, especially the mules, know only their immediate contacts. If caught there is little they can give away. A mule probably will not even know the name of the person who gives him his instructions, nor how to get in touch with him. Usually he even does not know the person to whom he has to make delivery. He will be told just to sit tight in a certain hotel or bar until someone contacts him. In this way if he is blown, coming through airport customs he cannot unwittingly lead agents to the next link in the chain. All the persons at the receiving end do is to hang around the airport among the waiting crowd, and see that the mule comes through safely. If he does not, he is dimply written off（报废；注销）as a loss. To make identification of mules easier, several syndicates have devised their own “club ties” so that a mule wearing one can immediately be picked out.
Mules often receive careful training before embarking on their first journey. One Beirut organization, for example, uses a room with three airline seats in it. There the trainee mules sit for hours on end wearing weighted smuggling vests beneath their clothes, so that they become accustomed to standing up after a long flight in a natural way, and without revealing what they are carrying. An outfit in Brussels maintained a comfortable apartment where the mules could relax and get a firm grip on themselves on the night before their first journey; they were helped to dress before setting out for the airport in the morning. More often than not a courier will not know precisely where he is going or what flight number is until he is actually handed his tickets at the airport. This prevents the careless boast in some bar or to a girl friend the night before.
Mules occasionally run off with the goods to keep the profit themselves. As insurance against this, a syndicate often sends a high-up on the same plane to keep a wary eye on couriers, particularly new ones. Even then things can go badly wrong. One international currency smuggler who was having trouble getting money out of Britain was offered help by a group of men who said they were in a position to “fix thing” – for a fee of course. Foolishly, the smuggler agreed to accept their help. When he got to London’s Heathrow Airport, he handed over to one of the men a black suitcase containing nearly $90,000 in cash, destined for Frankfurt. Just to keep an eye on things, the smuggler went along on the same plane. When they landed at Frankfurt he was handed back his suitcase. He beat a straight path to the men’s toilet, opened the case, and found only old clothes. The courier had switched suitcase en route, but the smuggler could hardly run to the police and complain that “the man who was smuggling money out of England for me has stolen it.”
What is a “mule”?
A A person who sends smuggling goods for a syndicate is called mule.
B A person in charge of smuggling goods is called mule.
C A person who makes delivery for a syndicate is called mule.
D A person who receives instructions from a smuggler is called mule.
The sentence “if he is blown” in line (6) is closest in meaning to
A if he is arrested. B if he is recognized, but not necessarily arrested.
C if he is recognized and arrested. D if he runs away.
Why does the author give an example in the last paragraph?
A To show how a smuggler is caught.
B To show a smuggler is afraid of the police.
C To show to keep a wary eye on couriers is useless.
D To show mules may keep the profit for themselves.
how does a mule work?
A Jointly. B Independently.
C consciously. D Separately.

Contribution of Coeducation
Imagining being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children – conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!
Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of educations is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.
A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is ( to give just a small example ) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girl or vice-versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a coeducational school, everything falls into its proper place.
But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures – airy goddesses, more like book-illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobby knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.
What is the best title for this passage?
A only co-education can be in harmony with society.
B people are in great need of co-education.
C any form of education other than co-education is simply unthinkable.
D co-education has many features.
what does co-education offer to children?
A A society. B A true small model of society.
C A real life. D True version of social condition.
According to the passage, what is one of the chief aims of education?
A It is for students to acquire knowledge.
B It is to equip future citizens with scientific technology.
C It is to equip future citizens with what is required in getting a position in society.
D It is for students to get academic achievements.
Why do boys and girls in co-education have no illusion about each other?
A They live together and know each other too well.
B Years of living together at school dismiss such illusion.
C co-education encourage them to have an healthy attitude toward life.
D They are familiar with each other’s problems.

Antarctica and Environment
Antarctica has actually become a kind of space station – a unique observation post for detecting important changes in the world’s environment. Remote from major sources of pollution and the complex geological and ecological systems that prevail elsewhere, Antarctica makes possible scientific measurements that are often sharper and easier to interpret than those made in other parts of the world.
Growing numbers of scientists therefore see Antarctica as a distant-early-warning sensor, where potentially dangerous global trends may be spotted before they show up to the north. One promising field of investigation is glaciology. Scholars from the United States, Switzerland, and France are pursuing seven separate but related projects that reflect their concern for the health of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – a concern they believe the world at large should share.
The Transantarctic Mountain, some of them more than 14,000 feet high, divide the continent into two very different regions. The part of the continent to the “east” of the mountains is a high plateau covered by an ice sheet nearly two miles thick. “West” of the mountain, the half of the continent south of the Americas is also covered by an ice sheet, but there the ice rests on rock that is mostly well below sea level. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared, the western part of the continent would be reduced to a sparse cluster of island.
While ice and snow are obviously central to many environmental experiments, others focus on the mysterious “dry valley” of Antarctica, valleys that contain little ice or snow even in the depths of winter. Slashed through the mountains of southern Victoria Land, these valleys once held enormous glaciers that descended 9,000 feet from the polar plateau to the Ross Sea. Now the glaciers are gone, perhaps a casualty of the global warming trend during the 10,000 years since the ice age. Even the snow that falls in the dry valleys is blasted out by vicious winds that roars down from the polar plateau to the sea. Left bare are spectacular gorges, rippled fields of sand dunes, clusters of boulders sculptured into fantastic shapes by 100-mile-an-hour winds, and an aura of extraterrestrial desolation.
Despite the unearthly aspect of the dry valleys, some scientists believe they may carry a message of hope of the verdant parts of the earth. Some scientists believe that in some cases the dry valleys may soak up pollutants faster than pollutants enter them.
What is the best title for this passage?
A Antarctica and environmental Problems.
B Antarctica: Earth’s Early-Warning station.
C Antarctica: a Unique Observation Post.
D Antarctica: a Mysterious Place.
What would the result be if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared?
A The western part of the continent would be disappeared.
B The western part of the continent would be reduced.
C The western part of the continent would become scattered Islands.
D The western part of the continent would be reduced to a cluster of Islands.
Why are the Dry Valleys left bare?
A Vicious wind blasts the snow away. B It rarely snows.
C Because of the global warming trend and fierce wind. D Sand dunes.
Which of the following is true?
A The “Dry Valleys” have nothing left inside.
B The “Dry Valleys” never held glaciers.
C The “Dry Valleys” may carry a message of hope for the verdant.
D The “Dry Valleys” are useless to scientists.