Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with her Lord. She did it her way.
I got the call at work, and I headed home quickly. Mom and Dad lived on a small farm that they had owned since I was seven. I hated going there every weekend. There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception.
My mom, on the other hand, loved the peace and quiet of the land and loved to work in the garden among her flowers and vegetables. The place was rustic, with no indoor plumbing or heat. We had a big wood stove in the kitchen that did its best to heat the little farmhouse, but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me.
In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen. I sang the melody and Mom harmonized. Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over. Mom told me stories about how when I was a little girl, I could sing before I could talk. She loved to tell how my playpen（婴儿圈栏）sat in the kitchen next to the radio and there was one song I particularly loved called "Ivory Tower".
As time passed, I had my own children and went to visit
every week or two. The kids loved the farm and the tractor rides with my dad. Me, well, I still hated the silence of the farm. While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, I missed the hustle and bustle（喧闹）of my life at home. But I sat there listening quietly as she reminisced.
Now, I sat back in the silence and the silence was deafening so I finally leaned over to turn on an old radio. Music always comforted me.
My heart skipped a beat. "Moon River" was playing on the radio. I sat there stunned, with a tear running down my cheek, as I listened to every familiar note.
Then the radio announcer of this oldie station came on. "Here's one we haven't heard in a while," and an unfamiliar song began. I began to cry harder as I heard the words sung over the airwaves. "Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower...." The writer didn’t like staying in the farm for the following reasons EXCEPT that ________.
| A．it was too cold and quiet |
| B．she could only sing one song in the small farm |
| C．there was nothing more that could make her excited |
| D．The place was rustic, with no indoor plumbing or heat |
From the first paragraph, we know that the writer’s mother ________.
| A．passed away four years ago |
| B．left the small farm with Lord |
| C．left for Lord to live her own way |
| D．preferred to be with Lord |
The underlined word reminisced in the fifth paragraph probably means ________.
| A．recalled | B．comforted | C．shouted | D．sighed |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage _______.
| A．The writer was able to sing before she could speak. |
| B．The writer preferred to live a busy life in the city. |
| C．The writer was still quite familiar with the song "Ivory Tower". |
| D．The writer treasured all her childhood memories in the small farmhouse. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage? _______
| A．Cherish life | B．My happy childhood |
| C．Our small farmhouse | D．Mom’s music |
Ten years ago, with only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China was desperately trying to clone(克隆)the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That was a move similar to what Texas A & M University researchers had been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”(诺亚方舟).
Noah’s Ark was aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future. 
It was estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles would become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, was in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They were then trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nucleus transfer(核子移植)of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used)panda eggs could be a major problem,”Kraemer believed. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy(having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, ”added Kraemer, who was one of the leaders of the project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed. ”
At present, the project has worked. The number of the pandas has increased to more than 1, 500. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project was to .
| A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
| B．save endangered animals from dying out |
| C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
| D．transfer the nucleus of one animal to another |
According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of .
| A．available panda eggs | B．host animals |
| C．qualified researchers | D．enough money |
The best title for the passage may be .
| A．China’s Success in Pandas Cloning |
| B．The First Cloned Panda in the World |
| C．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
| D．China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever |
From the passage we know that .
| A．Kraemer and his team had succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B．scientists tried to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit |
| C．Kraemer would work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D．about two thousand species would probably die out in a century |
A school master of Thurso in Caithness, William Munro, wrote in a report in THE TIMES on September 8, 1809 that twelve years earlier he had been walking along Sandside Bay shore when he saw what he first thought was a naked woman, sitting on a rock and combing her light brown hair. The face was fatty round, with reddish cheeks and blue eyes. If the rock where the woman sat had not been so dangerous for swimmers, Munro would have thought it was human. After a few minutes it dropped into the sea and swam away. Others had seen it too. 
The island of Benbecula in the outer Hebrides, about 1830, women cutting seaweed reported they had met a creature of female form playing happily off the shore. A few days later her dead body was found two miles from where she had first been seen. The description of the creature was recorded thus, “the upper part of the creature was about the size of a well-fed child of three or four years of age, with an extraordinarily developed breast. The hair was long, dark and glossy(有光泽), while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon(鲑鱼). ”From the description given by the witnesses, we know that .
| A．mermaids did exist |
| B．mermaids shaped like females |
| C．mermaids looked terrible |
| D．mermaids shaped like fish |
This passage most probably comes from .
| A．scientific books | B．tales collection |
| C．travel guide | D．fishing webpages |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The school master and the women saw a mermaid in the same year. |
| B．The school master saw a mermaid swimming in the sea. |
| C．The women saw a mermaid swimming in the sea. |
| D．It was said that mermaids developed from salmons. |
Which of the following is WRONG?
| A．Not all the people believe they were mermaids. |
| B．People have taken photos of the creature. |
| C．The creature in the second case looked like a woman with a fish’s tail. |
| D．Both of these two tales may not be true. |
Bananas are one of the world’s most important food crops. They are also one of the most valuable exports. Bananas do not grow from seeds. Instead, they grow from existing plants. Bananas are threatened by disease because all the plants on a farm are copies of each other. They all share the same genetic weaknesses. For example, the Cavendish banana is most popular in North American and European markets. However, some kinds of fungus organisms easily infect the Cavendish. Black Sigatoka disease affects the leaves of Cavendish banana plants. The disease is controlled on large farms by putting chemicals on the plants’ leaves. Farmers put anti-fungal chemicals on their crops up to once a week. 
Another fungal disease is more serious. Panama disease attacks the roots of the banana plants. There is no chemical treatment for this disease. Infected plants must be destroyed. Panama disease has affected crops in Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. There is concern that it may spread to bananas grown in the Americas. This could threaten an important export product for Central and South America.
The International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain supports research on bananas. The group has headquarters in France and other offices in the major banana-growing areas of the world. The group says that more research must be done to develop improved kinds of bananas. The group says that fungal diseases mainly affect only one kind of banana. In fact, there are five hundred different kinds of bananas. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said that the Cavendish banana represents only 10% of world production.
The U. N. agency says farmers should grow different kinds of bananas. This protects against diseases that affect only one kind. Experts warn that disease may cause the Cavendish banana to disappear. This happened earlier to another popular banana because of its genetic weakness against disease. What does this passage mainly tell us?
| A．Bananas are the world’s most important food crops. |
| B．The risk to a popular banana shows need to grow other kinds. |
| C．There are five hundred different kinds of bananas. |
| D．How to grow bananas in different countries. |
Bananas are threatened by disease because .
| A．they grow from seeds |
| B．they are one of the most valuable exports |
| C．the only way to prevent it is to put chemicals on their leaves |
| D．they have genetic weaknesses against disease |
Panama disease .
| A．doesn’t belong to fungal disease |
| B．affects the leaves of banana plants |
| C．destroys bananas more seriously than Black Sigatoka disease |
| D．has spread to bananas all over the world |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that .
| A．the center of the group is in the US |
| B．the Cavendish banana covers only a small part of the yield of bananas |
| C．the key to solving the disease is to research all kinds of bananas |
| D．each fungal disease affects five hundred different kinds of bananas |
They are the sort of friends who are so close that they trust each other with their lives. If one falls, the other is there to catch him.
They are Wellman, whose legs were permanently injured nine years ago in a rock-climbing accident, and Corbett, an experienced rock climber. Together, they climbed up Half Dome, the famous 2, 000-foot rock in the Yosemite National Park, through one of the most difficult routes(路线).
During the climb, Corbett took the lead, hit in the metal spikes(尖状物)that guided the ropes, and climbed up. Then, after Wellman pulled himself up the rope, Corbett went down to remove the spikes and climbed up again. This process was repeated time and again, inch by inch, for 13 days. Wellman’s job was not easy either. He got himself up the rope through upper body strength alone. In all, Wellman figured that he had done 5, 000 pull-ups up the rope on the climb.
However, when the two men first met, they never talked about climbing. “He knew that was how I got injured. ”Wellman said. Until one day Wellman decided that he wanted to climb again and they started training.
Their climb of Half Dome was not all smooth. At one point, pieces of rock gave way, and Corbett dropped down quickly. Wellman locked their rope in place, stopping the fall at 20 feet. His quick action probably saved his friend’s life.
“Your partner can save your life—you can save your partner’s life. ”Wellman said as the pair received congratulations from friends. “There are real close ties. ” Which of the following was a challenge for Corbett in climbing Half Dome?
| A．To climb up to remove the spikes. |
| B．To climb it twice. |
| C．To do 5, 000 pull-ups up the rope. |
| D．To lock the rope in place. |
Why did the two men never talk about climbing when they first met?
| A．Corbett was poorly trained. |
| B．Wellman had lost interest in climbing. |
| C．Corbett didn’t want to hurt Wellman. |
| D．Wellman hadn’t decided whether to climb again or not. |
What do we know about Wellman?
| A．He climbed Half Dome by himself. |
| B．He was disabled in a traffic accident. |
| C．He stopped rock-climbing for some time. |
| D．He was saved by Corbett during the climb. |
The main idea of the text is that .
| A．two heads are better than one |
| B．friendship is precious in life |
| C．the disabled should never give up |
| D．a man can be destroyed but cannot be defeated |
If you want to help children develop language and speech skills, UCLA researchers say, listening to what they have to say is just as important as talking to them. 
The effect of a conversation between a child and an adult is about six times as great as the effect of adult speech input(输入)alone, the researchers found. “Adults speaking to children helps language develop, but what matters much more is the interaction, ”said the study’s lead author, Frederick Zimmerman, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. The researchers also found that TV viewing didn’t have much of an effect—positively or negatively—as long as it wasn’t displacing conversations between an adult and a child.
The UCLA study included 275 families with children between 2 months and 48 months old. They represented a variety of incomes and education. The researchers found that, in an average day, children heard about 13, 000 spoken words from adults and participated in about 400 adult-child conversations a day.
Assessed separately, factors positively associated with language development included each additional 100 conversations a day and each 1, 000 words increase in the number of words spoken by adults and heard by children. When looked at alone, TV was negatively associated with language development. But, when these three factors were analyzed together, the only one that stood out was conversation between adults and children.
“The more a child speaks and interacts with an adult, the better idea a parent has about where the child is”, Zimmerman said. “Although it’s mostly done unconsciously, parents will provide feedback and correct mistakes. They’ll also tailor their speech to the child. Parents can give the children words by talking to them about what they’re doing, such as, ‘I’m putting on your pajamas now’. But give your child the opportunity to talk, hopefully without the rest of the noise in the environment, ”she added. “If parents can carve out some conversation time—maybe at bath time or at dinner time—that’s a wonderful thing. ” The researchers also found that TV viewing .
| A．could have a positive effect on a child’s language development |
| B．had a little effect on a child’s language development |
| C．affected a child’s language development more negatively than positively |
| D．affected a child’s language development both negatively and positively |
Frederick Zimmerman would probably agree that .
| A．parents should let their children talk most of the time |
| B．children should watch TV programs selectively |
| C．the conversation between parents and children should be two-way |
| D．it’s no good for parents to correct their children’s mistakes when they are speaking |
We can conclude from the last paragraph that .
| A．parents should let a child repeat what he or she says |
| B．bath time or dinner time is the best chance for parents to talk to a child |
| C．parent-child conversation can be carried out at any proper time |
| D．parents should leave a child talking alone |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Talk with kids, not at them |
| B．Let your children voice their own opinions |
| C．How to develop a child’s language ability |
| D．The importance of early child language development |
The underlined word “tailor” in the last paragraph can be best replaced by .
| A．control | B．improve |
| C．pass | D．adjust |