The German shepherd runs off and noses around in the grass of Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau. “OK, Oakley,” the dog’s handler orders, “Find it!”
Oakley sniffs (嗅) until he comes to a bush, then stops, sits, and looks up at his handler. She bends to see what he has found: the waste of an endangered African wild dog. “Good dog!” she praises. The handler pulls a tennis ball from her pocket. Oakley jumps for his reward.
“He doesn’t actually want the waste,” says Aimee Hurt, a founding member of the U.S.-based group Working Dogs for Conservation. Hurt is in Kenya to train both Oakley and his handler. “He finds it so he can play with his ball. We’re the ones who want the waste.”
Detection dogs are sometimes taught to locate actual animals. Black-footed ferrets (雪貂) have been studied with their help. But more often the dogs learn to locate the waste of creatures such as bears, wolves and mountain lions.
What the dogs find provides scientists with data about a species. Scientists can use the DNA collected from animal waste to identify individuals, sex, and population sizes — all without ever seeing the animal itself. “It can take years to gather this kind of information if you have to trap animals,” Hurt explains.
Waste analysis might make a huge difference when wild species are accused of attacking domestic livestock (家畜). Hurt says, “A good detection dog will find the waste so we can see what the animal is actually eating.” This may help reduce problems between people and wildlife. The underlined word “She” in Paragraph 2 refers to “_____”.
| A．the German shepherd |
| B．an African wild dog |
| C．Aimee Hurt |
| D．the handler |
Oakley is interested in finding the waste because _____.
| A．he wants to study endangered animals |
| B．he can get a tennis ball to play with |
| C．he wants to eat it |
| D．he wants to play with it |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Trapping animals is not difficult. |
| B．People are making efforts to protect the environment. |
| C．Detection dogs attack domestic livestock frequently. |
| D．Collecting animal waste is a good way to gather information. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Detection dogs can help scientists study wildlife. |
| B．Detection dogs can defend wildlife. |
| C．Detection dogs can help the police catch the criminals. |
| D．Detection dogs can help local people defend domestic livestock. |
Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But many years ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, people never tried skating on wheels. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making instruments. In his free time he liked to play the violin. Merlin was a man with many ideas and many dreams. People called him a dreamer.
One day Merlin received an invitation to go to an important party. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think. He wanted to find a way to make a wonderful entrance at the party. Merlin had an idea. He thought that he would attract a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skate shoes. Merlin was very proud of them. He dreamed of arriving at the party and skating into the room while playing the violin. He was sure that everyone would be very surprised.
On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room, playing his violin. Everyone was really surprised to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skating. He rolled on, playing the violin. Then, with all eyes on him, Merlin hit into a huge mirror on the wall. The mirror broke into many pieces with a very loud noise. But nobody forgot Merlin’s wonderful entrance after that.The story tells us that people began to enjoy roller-skating _______.
| A．before the year 1750 | B．before the invitation |
| C．because of Joseph Merlin | D．because it was dangerous |
People called Merlin a dreamer because ___________.
| A．he slept and dreamed a lot |
| B．he was full of different ideas |
| C．he was a talented violinist |
| D．he always made people’s dreams come true |
___________ made Merlin think of skating on wheels.
| A．Merlin’s work | B．Merlin’s violin | C．A huge mirror | D．An important party |
What was Merlin’s problem after he rolled into the room?
| A．He couldn’t stop his roller-skating. |
| B．He couldn’t attract a lot of attention. |
| C．Everyone was surprised at him. |
| D．He couldn’t play the violin while rolling. |
The text is mainly about_________.
| A．a strange man |
| B．an unusual party |
| C．how roller skating began |
| D．how people enjoyed themselves in the 18th century |
When Ben Franklin was only a boy, he always wanted to know about things. He was always asking his father and brothers ‘What?’ and ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’
They couldn’t always tell him what he wanted to know．
When they couldn’t tell him, Ben tried to find out for himself．
Many times Ben did find out things that no one knew before. The other boys would say, ‘That is Ben Franklin! He’s always finding out something new!’
Ben lived close to the water. He liked to go there to see the boats. He saw how the wind blew them across the water．
One day Ben said to himself: ‘Why can’t the wind help me float across the water? And I’m going to try.’ Ben got his big kite．He took hold of the kite string and ran with it. The wind took the kite up into the air．Then Ben jumped into the water．
The wind blew the kite high into the air．Ben began to float across the water．Soon he was on the other side, and he had not worked at all．
One boy shouted, ‘Look at Ben floating across the water! His kite takes him to the other side without any work!’
‘Yes,’ said another. ‘He’s always finding new ways to do things.’ When he was only a child, Ben____________.
| A．liked to fly a kite by himself |
| B．always asked easy questions |
| C．always liked to play with water |
| D．always liked to find out how things worked |
His father and brothers_____________.
| A．couldn’t answer all his questions |
| B．could answer all his questions |
| C．tried hard to find out something new for him |
| D．were too busy to answer his questions |
How did Ben Franklin float across the water? _______________.
| A．The other boy took him across it. | B．The water carried him across it. |
| C．The flying kite took him across it. | D．A boat took him across it. |
He found out many things that______________.
| A．children didn’t know | B．his father knew |
| C．people didn’t know | D．most people knew |
From the story we can see that young Ben Franklin liked____________.
| A．using his mind | B．using his hands | C．making kites | D．flying kites |
I will never forget the lesson about my window. Four years ago, I moved to a house in a large town. One of my new neighbors’ house was only a few feet away from mine. There lived a woman. Through one of my windows, I could see her reading by her window every afternoon.
Several months later, I found I couldn’t see the woman clearly. I thought her window was too dirty. I said to myself, “Why doesn’t she clean her window? It looks terrible!”
One afternoon, I decided to clean my house including the window. I felt tired after three hours of hard work. So I sat down by the window for a rest. What a surprise! I could see the woman reading there clearly again! By that time, I realized that my own window was too dirty, not hers! I really felt ashamed for myself. I had been watching her through my dirty window in the past days!
The experience is very important for me. So I try to clean the window of my heart before judging others. How long has the writer lived in the house according to the passage?
| A．One years | B．Two years. | C．Three years. | D．Four years. |
What did the woman do every afternoon?
| A．Read by her window. | B．played tennis on the grass. |
| C．Danced in her house. | D．sang in front of the house. |
The writer couldn’t see the woman clearly because ______________.
| A．the writer’s window was dirty |
| B．the woman’s house was too far |
| C．the woman didn’t open her window |
| D．there was something wrong with his eyes. |
The underlined word “ashamed” means _________________.
| A．高兴的 | B．放松的 | C．羞愧的 | D．自豪的 |
According to the passage, the writer has learnt how to __________________.
| A．clean the house | B．judge others | C．help neighbors | D．learn English |
Dreaming is a natural part of who we are. We explore our dreams and develop personal dreams. We even like to dream BIG!
For the most part our dreams and wishes focus on the end result. We see ourselves in love, married, driving a great car, on vacation, with tons of money, in a great career, etc. Dreaming about the end result is just fantasizing and wishing. Wishing relies on some magical force to make our dreams turn into reality, and we become unhappy as we’re not living(实现) our dreams.
So how can we make our dreams come true? That is a question we all often struggle with. Even though we struggle with the answer, the answer is not that clear. We make our dreams come true with the action we take.
In my opinion, if you dream about being in good health, then change your dream to see yourself working out and eating right day by day. See the beginning of the dream and let the dream build day by day with all the action that gets you to the end dream of you being in good health.
If you want riches, then change the dream. Dream of yourself going to school, developing a career, working hard and taking the steps to arrive at the destination. If you want love, love the process. Love the dating process(过程). Love yourself and the journey to find love.
Make all your dreams include the beginning, middle and end. Then when you are doing the action instead of thinking to yourself, “This is a drag. I don’t like working out,” or if you are having any negative thoughts about doing the work it takes to create your visions(梦幻), realize then that every step of the way you are living your dream. You are living your dream because you made the action and journey part of your dream.According to the writer, most of the people____.
| A．pay more attention to developing their dreams |
| B．enjoy the process of their dreams |
| C．are always ignoring the process of living their dreams |
| D．probably dream of making much more money easily |
In order to live our dreams, we must____.
| A．struggle with dreams day and night. |
| B．have great wishes and thoughts. |
| C．have magical forces every night. |
| D．take action or steps. |
If you want to keep fit,______
| A．you’d better dream a sweet dream first. |
| B．you must love the process of the journey. |
| C．you would rather begin with your diet and exercise. |
| D．you should have a good beginning first. |
what can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A．It’s important to focus on your final result. |
| B．Good mind and action can help you live your dream. |
| C．Think to yourself while living your dream. |
| D．Creating your visions comes first. |
How long do you want to live? How many years might be added to a life? Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.（寿命）
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生) , " said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate(保守的估计)."
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. "There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years," he said. "Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.
However, many scientists who research into ageing are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say the failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. "It remains to be seen if you pass 120,you know, could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?" said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. "At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all."By saying "we are knocking at the door of immortality", Michael Zey means ______.
| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| C．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| D．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
Donald Louria's attitude towards long living is that ______.
| A．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| D．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
The underlined word "it"( in Paragraph 4)refers to______.
| A．using genes as well as nanotechnology |
| B．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| C．a great push |
| D．the conservative estimate |
What would be the best title for this text?
| A．No Limit for Human Life | B．Science, Technology and Long Living |
| C．Living Longer or Not | D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |