DiscoverNewsmagazineofscience,-优题课

All the Lortons’ farm animals – the cows and the goats, the ducks and the chickens, got along well with Roger—a llama(美洲驼). But since llamas are used to thinking of animals like coyotes(土狼) and dogs as threats, it took Roger a few weeks to accept the family dog.
Roger protects the sheep and lambs in two ways. First, he keeps the sheep together. A hungry coyote will try to scatter(分散) the flock and then pick off a weak or small animal that has become separated from the rest. But when a coyote threatens the Lorton’s sheep, they all run to Roger, depending on him to defend them.
And he does, with his second defense: confronting(对抗) the coyote. Llamas are very curious and will run at top speed to investigate anything that looks interesting. When a coyote sees a three-hundred-pound llama rushing toward it, the coyote will not usually wait around to see what the llama wants.
And once a llama realizes that a coyote is threatening the flock, the llama will stand between the coyote and the sheep to defend them. Often, the llama will charge toward the coyote with its head down. As it runs, it will sometimes call out an alarm to the flock in a high-pitched voice. Since Roger’s arrival, coyotes haven’t gotten any sheep from the Lortons.
The purpose of the passage is to tell us that ________________.

a llama helps guard sheep
coyotes are sheep’s main enemy
llamas are much smarter than coyotes
some types of dogs can’t protect sheep

The following words can be used to describe Roger Except_____________.

A．protective

B．curious

C．brave

D．patient

It can be inferred that the Lortons are __________________.

scientists studying llamas’ behavior
farmers using a llama to guard sheep
citizens keeping a llama as a pet
businessmen selling llamas to farmers

In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school’s coaches were less than enthusiastic. “They said, ‘I don’t know how you’ll be able to do it,’ she recalls. “‘You won’t be able to do it. ’”
But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted(坚持). And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team.
Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old.
Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones(胫骨)--“just blood and muscle tissue”, as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted.
After the operation, she adapted quickly. “From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything,” she says. Prosthetic legs(假腿) allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany’s solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit.
She’s rarely daunted. Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she’s trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who’s thrown in the air and caught by her teammates.
Brittany doesn’t think her problems are more difficult than the next person’s. “My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that’s going to prepare me for the future,” she says. “It’s all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball(给你出难题), what are you going to do?”
What was the school’s coaches’ attitude towards Brittany’s idea of being a cheerleader?

A．Supportive

B．Doubtful

C．Opposed

D．Curious

What did Brittany do to keep up with her friends?

A．She used a pair of walking sticks.

B．She practiced hard every day.

C．She walked on her knees.

D．She asked her friends for help

The underlined word “daunted” in Paragraph 6 probably means _____________.

A．discouraged

B．angry

C．confident

D．fortunate

We can learn from the last paragraph that Brittany __________.

A．is not well prepared for the future

B．takes a positive attitude towards life

C．likes the challenge of learning new things

D．thinks that her problems are more difficult than other’s.

The island Fiji has always been around me in my life. My parents met in Fiji when my father was a teacher as a Peace Corps volunteer and my mother a student. They taught me about its people, culture, foods and religious beliefs.
At the age of two, I made my first trip across the Pacific Ocean to Fiji. My mother and I made that trip unexpectedly because my grandma was ill and longed to see her American granddaughter. Although I have few memories of that first trip, I do remember grandma braiding(编辫子) my hair every day. The brush gliding through my hair is a feeling I will treasure forever because she passed away soon. I returned to America when I was five years old. This time I had a brother, Martin, who was two.
I resisted my third trip to Fiji when I was 15, being a teenager who did not want to spend the summer away from friends. It was this trip, however, that made me realize that Fiji is not just a place to visit but a part of who I am. The smells and sounds and sights came back to me, but the best part was getting to know my relatives.
Vishal was one cousin I quickly bonded with(与…合拍). Born two days before me, I had only known him through pictures before. Though raised oceans apart in different cultures, we talked and laughed about everything from American sports to Fijian dancing. I was able to form close ties with all my cousins, and when I talk about them now, it’s as if I have known them my whole life. Spending time with them helped me understand the traditions and values my mother grew up with. Hospitality (热情) and care and respect for family members are central values in Fijian culture.
I truly enjoyed learning about my roots during this trip. Fuji is just like a second home, and I will never forget the time I have spent there.
From the passage, we can learn that ______________________.

the author’s parents had been classmates before
the author had lived in Fiji for about five years
the author had no memories of her grandma
people value family in Fijian culture

The author resisted her third trip to Fiji because______________________.

she didn’t want to separate from her brother
she didn’t know her cousins there very well
she didn’t want to separate from her American friends
her grandma had passed away

Which of the following is TRUE about Vishal?

He is younger than the author.
The author had met him on her first trip to Fiji.
He and the author had lots of common interests.
He and the author held different opinions about Fijian culture.

What’s the best title for the passage?

A． My Trips to Fiji

B．Discovering My Fijian Origins

C．My Understanding of Fijian Culture

D．My Memories of Fiji

After their 15-year-old dog Bailey died in 2007, Ron and his wife, Ann, looked for months to find the right new pet. “I love dogs,” says Ron, a worker at a health club in Waukesha, Wisconsin. “I can’t imagine not having one.”
Finally, the couple spotted a young dog at the Humane Society in Milwaukee. His name was Oscar. “He was very attractive,” says Ron, 65. Oscar quickly made himself at home, sleeping on his new owners’ bed at night.
A diabetic(糖尿病人) for 25 years, Ron faithfully took his medicine four times a day and generally had no problems. But on March 17, at about 3 a.m., he got out of bed to use the bathroom. Suddenly, he fell down to the floor. “I must have taken the wrong amount of medicine before I went to sleep, because my blood sugar was dangerously low,” he says.
“Normally, Oscar is very quiet and well-behaved,” says Ron. “But when I hit the floor, he let out sounds like a wild animal.”
“Honestly, it sounded like the dog from hell,” says Ann, who was awakened by the sound.” I didn’t know what the sound was. Then I saw my husband lying on the bathroom floor. He was cold.” She ran for the phone and called an ambulance.
Ron spent several hours in the hospital. By 6:30a.m., he was well enough to go home. “You would never suspect Oscar of any heroism.” says his grateful owner. “He’s a wonderful little guy. We are lucky enough to own him.”
Even before Oscar’s heroic action, the couple had given their pet a new nickname(昵称). “We felt the name Oscar wasn’t good enough,” says Ron, “so sometimes we call him Eduardo”—more suitable, they think, for their dog.
What was Ann doing when Ron went to the bathroom?

A．She was sleeping.

B．She was watching TV.

C．She was taking care of Oscar.

D．She was talking with someone on the phone.

Why did Ron fell onto the floor in the bathroom?

He forgot to take his medicine.
The floor in the bathroom was too wet.
He took the wrong amount of medicine.
He is a diabetic and accidentally ate some sugar.

Which of the following is TRUE?

Oscar was 15 years old when he was found.
The sound of Oscar was usually like a wild animal.
Ron got diabetes when he was 40 years old.
Ron had to take his medicine three times a day.

From the passage we can learn that Oscar_______________.

is a little noisy at home
sleeps with his owners at night
got his new nickname after the story
was found at a health club in Waukesha

Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socialising and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories(卡路里)to produce heat.
Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice's belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more. US researchers say that social excitement aids weight loss by turning white fat into brown. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown is extremely difficult，normally
requiring long- term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body's nervous system.
However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and then lost far more weight over the course of the study than their “couch potato" fellows.
Study author, Dr Matthew During, whose team's findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said, "I'm still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs." Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socialising, he added, "It's not just a sedentary(久坐的)lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities." Co-author Dr Lei Cao said，"Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it's equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are very vital.，，
What information can we get from the first two paragraphs?

A．Brown fat stores calories and makes us fatter.

B．It doesn't take long to turn white fat into brown.

C．Social excitement helps gain more weight.

D．Brown fat can burn energy to produce heat.

Which of the following statement does the text support?

A．Levels of brown fat can be increased by socialising.

B．The mice lacking social life lose more weight.

C．The research findings haven't been published so far.

D．Dr Matthew During wasn't convinced of the result.

We can conclude from the text that _______.

A．the fat in mice's belly was reduced because of the relaxing environment

B．a sedentary lifestyle and high calories foods influence people's social life

C．surfing the Internet may influence people's face-to-face communication

D．cancer and death are mainly caused for lack of social life

What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Brown fat is beneficial to people's health.

B．Socialising is unnecessarily important in people's daily life.

C．White fat can be changed into brown fat.

D．Socialising contributes to people's losing weight.

A．Wired and Instyle	B．Discover and Instyle
C．Self and Discove	D．Self and Wired