A new law has recently been announced which forbids people to disturb, annoy, harm, kill or interfere with any bats which choose to live in their houses. Anyone who disturbs a bat on its nest ,or handles one without a license will be fined £1,000.
There are some people who like bats. The late Mrs. Ian Fleming was one. She would crawl for miles to see them in caves or hanging from trees. Similarly, there are many people who do not like bats much but are not particularly troubled by them. The chance of a bat resting in their attics(阁楼) or spare bedroom curtains may seem far away from them. But there are others who do not fall into either of these categories and Mr. Auberon Waugh is one. Underneath his house are eight large cellars(地下室) which for some reason bats have chosen to claim for themselves. He finds it extremely disagreeable to have to fight his way through a colony of them every time he wants a bottle of wine. And as a wine-lover he gets a particular pleasure from the ownership of wine. He has certain bottles in his cellar which he thinks are too good to serve to anyone he knows, but he likes to go down and enjoy looking at them occasionally. The bats entirely destroy this pleasure.
Until the recent law, he could keep the bat problem within manageable proportions by sending his children down on a bat hunt every three months armed with tennis rackets. They usually managed to kill one or two and discouraged the rest from settling. But now, Mr. Waugh fears that the bats will take over the house. To solve the problem he inquired what course of action he could take and was told by Dr Robert Stebbings of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, “I am sure that no one will mind if you pick up a bat and take it outside and hang it on a tree or the outside of the house.” The trouble with this, as Mr. Waugh explains, is that he would be fined a £1,000 if he had not already applied to the Nature Conservancy Council for a license to handle bats. And there is no certainty that he would automatically be granted(agreed to give)one. Mr. Waugh thinks that bats .
A.should all be destroyed | B.interfere with his wine |
C.should be kept under control | D.prevent him owning wine |
Because he is a wine-lover, M. Waugh .
A.stores only good wines | B.k![]() |
C.refuses t![]() |
D.only wants to own the best wines |
Success in removing bats from your home depends on .
A.applying for a license from the Nature Conservancy Council |
B.seeking help from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology |
C.taking the course of action recommended by Dr Stebbings |
D.the granting of a Nature Conservancy Council license |
Some people who dislike bats .
A.think they are unlikely to be bothered by them |
B.run the risk of finding them in their attics |
C.think it strange they should roost(栖息) in the curtains |
D.do not mind them hanging in trees |
When two Bangs meet
Sheldon Cooper is a scientific genius on the popular American TV show, The Big Bang Theory (《生活大爆炸》). He finally met his match last year: Stephen Hawking.
This is not the first time that the scientist has appeared on TV. He has also been on Star Trek (in 1987) and The Simpsons (in 1989). Each time, he played himself.
Hawking, 71, is perhaps the world’s most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He has spent his whole life studying the beginning and the end of the universe, including the Big Bang (宇宙大爆炸) theory.
The Big Bang theory explains the early development of the universe. According to the theory, about 13.7 billion years ago everything was all squeezed (挤压)together in a tiny, tight little ball, and then the ball exploded. The results of that explosion are what we call the universe.
Hawking has always tried to make science more popular with people. His book: A Brief History of Time was published in 1988. In the book he shares his understanding of the universe in simple language. The book tries to explain many subjects about the universe to common readers, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones (光锥).
Hawking’s achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chooses his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer (合成器).
Hawking also believes that there might be aliens in space. However, he believes they are probably very dangerous, so we should not look for them. “I imagine they might exist in very big ships ... having used up all the resources from their home planet,” Hawking said in a British documentary(纪录片) named Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.What does the “two Bangs” in the title refer to?
A.The director of “The Big Bang Theory” and the founder of it. |
B.The director and the actor of “The Big Bang Theory”. |
C.The founder of the “Big Bang” theory and its spreader. |
D.The scientific genius on TV show and the one alive in real life. |
Acting in The Big Bang Theory is Hawking’s _____ time on TV.
A.first | B.second | C.third | D.fourth |
According to Paragraph 5, Hawking wrote the book A Brief History of Time especially for _____.
A.scientists who study the universe |
B.people who know a lot about the universe |
C.people who know little about the universe |
D.people who only know simple language |
The Big Bang theory mainly explains _____.
A.how the universe started | B.what the universe is like |
C.how old the universe is | D.how the universe exploded |
According to the passage, which of the following about Hawking is TRUE?
A.He was born with a disability. |
B.He uses a computer to communicate. |
C.He believes aliens are our friends. |
D.He encourages people to look for aliens. |
From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine for man. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat banknote. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Wildcats and their stories. |
B.Wildcats and their characters. |
C.Varieties of animal species. |
D.Relationship between animals and humans. |
The underlined words "a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat" in Paragraph 1 may refer to "__________".
A.gasoline companies | B.automobile manufacturers |
C.brands of automobile | D.names of wildcats |
Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?
A.Wildcat congressmen. | B.Wildcat oil wells. |
C.Wildcat banks. | D.Wildcat cars. |
It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money__________.
A.people couldn't buy anything with the money |
B.people complained and suffered a lot |
C.the rich invested too much on oil wells |
D.people didn't know how to save money |
Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.
One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension(停赛) of the team for at least three years.
The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义).According to the author, recent Olympic Games have ____.
A.created goodwill between the nations |
B.hardly showed any international friendship |
C.caused only false national pride |
D.led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred |
What did the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
A.There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
B.His team would no longer take part in international games. |
C.Hockey and the Federation are ruined by the unfair decisions. |
D.The Federation should be ended. |
The basketball example implied that .
A.too much patriotism was displayed in the incident |
B.the announcement to make the match last longer was wrong |
C.the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision |
D.The American team was right in receiving the silver medals |
Which statement best summarizes this passage?
A.The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved. |
B.Different teams often have disputes when fighting for the first place. |
C.Any team that has disrespectful behavior should be suspended. |
D.Athletes should compete as individuals. |
College libraries are designed primarily for research and study. To explain its use, let us choose a research topic and follow the step-by-step procedure of looking up the material for the paper.
Suppose your assignment is to write a paper on a novel called The Sun Also Rises by American writer Hemingway.The first step is to go to the main catalog.Many small drawers on the large wooden cabinets are lined up in alphabetical(字母的) order.Each of the drawers contains hundreds of alphabetical ordered cards.These cards are printed references to all material available in the library.Title cards are cataloged by the first word of the book title, leaving out the articles like “a”, “an” and “the”.And then you get the cards for the books you need.On the upper left corner of each card is the call number.This is the numerical code that shows where the book is located in the library.The library has open and closed stacks.If your book is on the open stacks, you can go to the open-stack room, and according to the call number find it out by yourself.There are only about 30,000 books on open stacks, while most of the 800,000 books in our library are kept in closed stacks, which are accessible only to teachers and graduate students.
For undergraduates like you, borrowing books from the closed stacks have to be done with the help of our librarian.In that case, you must fill out a call slip(纸条) for the book, showing the call number, author and title.You can get call slips on tables near the catalog cabinets.You show your call slip together with your library card to a librarian at the information desk.He or she will help you find the book out in the closed stacks.What is the main purpose of this text?
A.To present readers a brief introduction to a college library. |
B.To guide readers how to find books needed in a college library. |
C.To tell readers how to fill out a call slip in a college library. |
D.To show readers where to find books in a college library. |
What letter you should look for on the title card for the book The Old Man and the Sea by the Hemingway?
A.The letter “t”. | B.The letter “h”. | C.The letter “o”. | D.The letter “s”. |
How are books arranged and shelved in the library?
A.By call numbers. | B.By call slips of authors’ names. |
C.In alphabetical order. | D.By the first word of book title. |
. Suppose you are an undergraduate and you want to borrow a book from the closed stacks, which is the correct order to do it?
a. go to the main catalog b. show your call slip and library card
c. find out the call number d. fill out a call slip
e. get the cards for the books
A.a-b-e-d-c | B.b-a-c-d-e | C.a-e-c-d-b | D.b-c-a-e-d |
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows (誓约)mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends. And they are good to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination, I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face, Learn to be happy, And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.The best title of this passage probably is______ .
A.Love your friends | B.Live a real life |
C.Don’t waste time | D.Be a good mother and wife |
. How did the author form her view of life?
A.Through social experience. |
B.By learning from her friends. |
C.Through an unfortunate experience. |
D.From her children and husband. |
. What’s the author’s attitude toward work?
A.Do it well to serve others |
B.Earn enough money to make life better |
C.Try your best to get higher position and pay |
D.Don’t let it affect your real life. |