Can trees talk? Yes, but not in words. Scientists have reason to believe that trees do communicate (交际) with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree attacked in the woods by caterpillars (毛虫) changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. Then even more astonishing, the tree sent out a special smell---a signal (信号) causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty.
Communication, of course, doesn’t need to be in words. We can talk to each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds and animals use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds, and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar (花蜜) for honey. So why shouldn’t trees have ways of sending message? It can be concluded from the passage that caterpillars do not feed on leaves that ______.
A.are lying on the ground | B.have an unpleasant taste |
C.bees don’t like | D.have an unfamiliar shape |
According to the passage, the willow tree was able to communicate with other trees by ______.
A.waving its branches | B.giving off a special smell |
C.dropping its leaves | D.changing the colour of its trunk |
According to this passage, bees communicate by ______.
A.making special movement | B.touching one another |
C.smelling one another | D.making unusual sound |
Learning Chinese has been like climbing a steep(陡峭的)mountain.
My mother was born in Tokyo,while my father moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong when he was seven years old. At home we speak English. I know some basic Chinese customs :to use chosticks gracefully (得体地)and what to say on Spring Festival to get a red envelope. But I never truly learned to speak Chinese.
Why should I need to learn the language ,anyway? I live in America where everyone speaks English.
I realized I was wrong in ninth grade when I arrived at Philips Academy,a famous boarding school in Massachusetts.The school encourages a global outlook(视野). There I decided to welcome the opportunity to learn Chinese. I met other American-born Chinese and together we spoke Ching-lish outside of the classroom.
I searched for ways to access Chinese culture through dramas such as Meteor Garden (《流星花园》)and music by singers such as S.H.E,Wilbur Pan and Jasmine Leung(梁静茹). Listening to Chinese music is where I found my favorite singer in the whole world:Jay Chou. Even if I cannot understand what he is crooning(哼唱), I do feel more Chinese whenever I listen to his music.
Last summer I spent five weeks in China,four of which were taking a language course at a Beijing high school. I was proud when I could understand the dialogue in Intitial D(《头文字D》) and when I could easily translate Fairy Tale sung by Kong Leung(光良).
Learning Chinese has been a rocky trek(艰苦跋涉), and I know it will continue to be that way before I arrive at a relative plateau(高地) of fluency(流利).I hope that one day I will be able to work and maybe even live in China as a true Chinese.
1、The author wrote the text mainly to___.
A.share her experience of learning Chinese
B.tell us why she is interested in learning Chinese
C.show off(炫耀) the progress she made in learning Chinese
D.give advice on how to learn Chinese
2、The author's attitude to learning Chinese changed because___.
A.she found Chinese was interesting to learn
B.she wanted to take a course to pass easily
C.she realized she should have an open mind to the outside world
D.she made friends with some American___born Chinese at the school she studied
3、The author tried all of the following to learn Chinese EXCEPT___.
A.listening to Chinese music
B.practicing speaking Chinese with her parents
C.enjoying Chinese dramas
D.taking a Chinese course in China
4、We can learn from the text that___.
A.S.H.E.is the author's favorite singer
B.dialogues in Meteor Garden are easy to guess
C.the author enjoys learning Chinese though it is difficult
D.the author can speak fluent Chinese now
There are some special traditions in Hawaii .People are very friendly and always welcome visitors. They give visitors a lei,a long necklace made of beautiful fresh flowers. Men wear bright flowered shirts and women often wear long flowered dresses. There are traditional Chinese ,Japanese and Fillipino holidays and all the holidays from the United States. They call Hawaii the Aloha State. Aloha means both hello and good-bye. It also means “I love you”.
Usually when people from different countries,races and traditions live together,there are serious problems. There are a few problems in Hawaii ,but,in general,people have learned to live together in peace.
Hawaiians get most of their money from travelers,and most of the travelers come from the mainland and from Japan. There are so many peole living in Hawaii now that there are residential(居住的) areas where there used to be farms. Some of the big sugar and apple companies have moved to the Philippines,where they don't have to pay workers as much money. The families of the first people who came from the US mainland own the important banks and companies. Japanese are also buying or starting business.
1、What might be the best title for this text?
A.Hawaii ,the Aloha State B.Living Hard Together
C.The Flower of Hawaii D.The Problems of Hawaii
2、The underlined words “a lei”in the first paragraph here refer to____.
A.a friendly and welcome way
B.a long necklace made of beautiful fresh flowers
C.a bright flowered shirt
D.a long flowered dress
3、The author wants to show that____.
A.we should all go to Hawaii to work
B.it is possible to learn to live together in peace
C.it is not likely to live together in peace
D.Hawaii is the only place where there is peace
Madame Curie ,the youngest of five children ,was born in Warsaw ,Poland in 1867. Marie Curie's maiden name was Manya. Her parents were teachers,and she learned the importance of education at an early age. No higher education was offered to women in Poland at that time,so Manya took a job as a governess(女家庭教师). She sent part of her income to Paris to help pay for her older sister's medical studies. Her sister qualified as a doctor and married a fellow doctor in 1891. Manya went to join them in Paris ,changing her name to Marie. She entered the Sorbonne(now the Universities of Paris)and studied physics and mathematics, graduating at the top of her class. For the research she wanted to do , she was introduced to another young scientist, Pierre Curie. Later they fell in love with each other . After their marriage, they worked together on radioactivity.
Fame troubled Marie Curie and also her husband, because science was their world and in this world of science fame and honor to persons had no value. One day when a writer for a newspaper tried to ask Marie about herself and her thoughts and her beliefs, she answered him, “In science we must be interested in things,not in persons.” Much of the real character and spirit of this unusual woman was found in these few words,which she was later often to repeat. One evening, at a big party,a friend asked if she would like to meet the King of Greece,who was also a guest.She answered in her simple manner, “I don't see the value of it.” Then,seeing that she had hurt the feelings of her friend, she quickly added, “But …but…of course,I shall do whatever you please. Just as you please.”
1、What did Marie Curie once do to help pay for her older sister's medical studies?
A.She was a teacher. B.She was a doctor.
C.She was a governess. D.She was a waitress.
2、What was valuable to Marie Curie?
A.science and research. B.fame and honor.
C.character and spirit. D.persons and things.
3、The writer for a newspaper was interested in____.
A.things B.Marie Curie C.Marie's husband D.persons
4、What do you think might have happened between Marie Curie and the King of Greece?
A.The King was angry with Marie Curie.
B.For the sake of her friend Marie Curie met the King of Greece.
C.The King of Greece wrote a letter to invite Marie Curie to meet him.
D.Marie Curie held another party for the King.
Ⅳ、阅读(每小题2分,满分30分)
Here is a humorous story. Frank Smithson woke up and leaned over to turn off the alarm clock.“Oh,no!”he thought to himself.“Another day at that office;a boss who shouts at me all the time.”
As Frank went downstairs his eyes fell on a large brown envelope by the door.He was overjoyed when he opened it and read the letter inside. “Bigwoods Football Pools(足球赌博公司)would like to congratulate you.You have won half a million pounds.”
Frank suddenly came to life.The cigarette(香烟) fell from his lips as he let out a shout that could be heard halfway down the street.
At 11:30 Frank arrived at work.“Please explain why you're so late,”his boss said.“Go and jump in the lake,” replied Frank. “I've just come into a little money so this is goodbye.Find yourself someone else to shout at.”
That evening Frank was smoking a very expensive Havana cigar(雪茄)when a knock was heard on the door.He rushed to the door.Outside were two men,neatly dressed in grey suits.“Mr Smithson,” one of them said,“We're from Bigwoods Football Pools.I'm afraid there’s been a terrible mistake……”
1.What do we know about Frank?
A.He was a lazy man. B.He was a lucky person.
C.He made a lot of money. D.He didn't get on well with his boss.
2.Why did Frank dare to shout to his boss?
A. Because he found a better job.
B. Because his boss did not like him.
C. Because he thought he did not need the job.
D. Because he was not late in fact.
3. When he heard the knock at the door,Frank probably thought __.
A.someone had come to make an apology.
B.someone had come to give him the money.
C.his friends had come to ask about the football pools.
D.his friends had come to congratulate him on his luck.
4.On hearing“…there's been a terrible mistake…”Frank was most likely to be________.
A.disappointed. B.worried. C.nervous. D.curious.
Equipped only with a pair of binoculars (双筒望远镜) and ready to spend long hours waiting in all weathers for a precious glance of a rare bullfinch(红腹灰雀). Britain’s birdwatchers had long been supposed to be lovers of a minority sport. But new figures show birdwatching is fast becoming a popular pastime, with almost three million of us absorbed in our fluttering feathered friends.
Devoted birdwatchers, those prepared to travel thousands of miles for a sighting of a rare Siberian bird, are fast being joined by a new breed of follower whose interest is satiated by watching a few finches (雀科鸣鸟) on a Sunday walk or putting up a bird-box in the back garden.
“Almost three million UK birdwatchers is certainly possible if you include everyone with only a casual interest,” Stephen Moss said in his newly published book—A Bird in the Bush: a Social History of Birdwatching—which records the pursuit from the rich Victorian Englishman’s love of shooting rare birds to the less offensive observational tendencies of birdwatchers today.
Television wildlife programs have helped to fuel the new trend. Last summer, BBC 2’s Britain Goes Wild was a surprise success. It pulled in three million viewers and led to bird-houses selling out across the UK as 45,000 people promised to put up a box.
Birdwatchers’ networking system first came to the attention of the nation in 1989, when a birdwatcher caught sight of the first Vermivora chrysoptera — a golden-winged songbird from North America—to be seen in Britain. He put a message out on the network service Birdline, and next day 3,000 birdwatchers proved the full pull of a truly rare bird as they visited the Tesco car park in Kent, where it had settled. Today, birdwatchers can log on to www.birdline.co.uk or have news of the latest sightings texted to their phones.
“Multimillion-pound spending on binoculars, bird food and boxes point to the increasing numbers of birdwatchers,” said David Cromack, the editor of Bird Watching magazine, “The number of people involved is so big that they have great potential to influence government decisions affecting the environment.”
1. The word “satiated” in Paragraph 2 can be best replaced by “_______”.
A. affected B. shared C. satisfied D. narrowed
2. What happened after the message of seeing a Vermivora chrysoptera was put on the network?
A. Birdwatchers helped the rare bird settle in Kent.
B. Large numbers of birdwatchers went to view the bird.
C. Many birdwatchers logged on to the website for details.
D. Birdwatchers showed their determination to protect the rare bird.
3. Which of the following CANNOT be true according to the passage?
A. Television wildlife programs started the popular pastime of birdwatching.
B. The network service has contributed to the rapid development of birdwatching.
C. Birdwatching in Britain was long considered a sport with a small group of followers.
D. The current situation of birdwatching may promote the protection of the environment.
4. The passage mainly tells us about ______ in UK.
A. the history of birdwatchingB. a growing passion for birdwatching
C. the impact of media on birdwatching D. birdwatching as a popular expensive sport