If you are looking for an animal to take the title of “most violent fish in the sea”, then the tiger puffer (河豚) fish would have to be a strong contestant. Not only is it deadly poisonous --- though that doesn’t stop people trying to eat it --- but it is also able to scare off enemies by inflating itself to become much larger than normal, when it is young it even chews on its own brothers and sisters.
Tiger puffer fish attach their eggs to rocks near the bottom of the sea, often at the mouths of bays. Then the larvae (幼鱼) move to the entries of rivers and lakes once they have grown a little. Then, having put on a lot of weight, they head out to sea. There’s no innocent childhood for the puffer fish, as Shin Oikawa of Kyushu University in Japan and his colleagues found out when they put the larvae of tiger puffer fish in the lab and monitored them for two months. They found that the larvae went through three steps in which their metabolic(新陈代谢) rates increased dramatically when they reached body weights of 0.002g, 0.01g, and 0.1g. When a larva went through one of these steps, its behavior also changed. For instance, once a larva had passed the first level it would have grown its first tooth and could start attacking larvae that had not yet reached that stage. Similarly, any larva that had reached the 0.01g or 0.1g levels would start attacking lighter larvae.
The researchers noted that the baby fish had a “relatively small mouth”, so rather than swallowing their brothers and sisters whole, they would bite pieces out of them. Despite this limitation, the fish caused plenty of deaths --- up to 12 per cent of the deaths that happened in the lab each day.
Those fish that grew fast enough to be able to chew on their fellows had an advantage. The extra food accelerated their growth and development. Tiger puffer fish are likely to be faster and swifter, so they can deal better with enemies.
As the name suggests, puffer fish can inflate to make themselves seem much larger than they really are, thus scaring off enemies. They do this by filling their stomachs, which are extremely elastic(弹性的), with water. If that’s not enough of a threat, the tiger puffer fish --- like most of the other puffer fish in the family --- carries a deadly toxin(毒素). Eat one puffer fish and the poison will paralyze (瘫痪) your muscles, including the muscles responsible for breathing, so death is usually caused by a lack of oxygen. Famously, the fish is a delicacy in Japan, where highly qualified chefs produce dishes that contain the safe level of the poison. Interestingly, the puffer fish does not go to the trouble of producing the poison itself. Instead, it hosts bacteria (细菌) that produce the stuff. It obtains these bacteria from its diet, so the youngest adult fish are not poisonous.All of the following statements account for the violence of puffer fish except that_____.
| A．they are very difficult to catch |
| B．they can become larger to threaten enemies away |
| C．they kill their younger companions as they grow up |
| D．they are deadly poisonous |
We can learn from the second paragraph that puffer fish _____.
| A．can only grow to a weight of 0.1g |
| B．do not change their behavior as they grow up |
| C．like to find a safe place to hatch the next generation |
| D．begin to grow teeth when they reach the third level |
Where does the poison in the puffer fish’s body come from?
| A．Its inner organs. | B．The air it breathes in. |
| C．The diet it eats. | D．The bacteria around it. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Puffer fish can only produce poison when they face danger. |
| B．People like eating puffer fish even though they are poisonous. |
| C．The larvae are more aggressive than adult puffer fish. |
| D．Young puffer fish taste better than adult puffer fish. |
Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
| A．More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored. |
| B．Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print. |
| C．The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers. |
| D．Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures. |
| A．Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean. |
| B．Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters. |
| C．Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills. |
| D．Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures. |
| A．Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children. |
| B．Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading. |
| C．Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom. |
| D．Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching. |
| A．Fashion. | B．Economy . | C．Entertainment. | D．Education. |
Ann was on her first package trip in Rosas, Spain.
At the hotel, she checked in, and then went to her room to change before dinner. She was just ready to go downstairs when she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. She carefully looked in all her luggage, but she couldn’t find it. All she had was a small purse with ten English pound notes in it!
Ann found a place to change her English money. She had very few pesetas(西班牙货币单位), and she would be here for two weeks. On her way back to the hotel, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back, she told the manager that her doctor had told her not to eat Spanish food; she’d just have breakfast each day, as she knew the price of hotels included breakfast.
For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel swimming pool, or lay on the beach and got a sunbath. When the other tourists went to interesting places, she always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry. After all, a piece of fruit for lunch, and bread and cheese for supper isn’t very much.
Late in the afternoon of their last day, a girl, Jane, asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. Ann told her about her money problems. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this holiday includes everything!”
| A．a free trip |
| B．a long journey |
| C．a pleasant trip |
| D．a trip that includes the cost of all the tickets and services |
| A．she was afraid that she couldn’t pay for them with her little money |
| B．her doctor told her not to eat them |
| C．she wasn’t well |
| D．she wasn’t hungry |
| A．Because they were good for her health. |
| B．Because she planned to eat them instead of lunch and supper. |
| C．Because she liked them more than dinners in the hotel restaurant. |
| D．Because she is afraid that she couldn’t eat enough in the hotel restaurant. |
| A．Angry. | B．Happy. | C．Surprised. | D．Excited |
At one time or another most farmers have problems with mice. This is especially true for grain farmers. Mice eat a lot of grain. They also carry diseases(疾病), which people can get from eating or touching grain the mice have made dirty. Farmers can use special grain storage buildings or they can kill the mice. However, both methods can be costly. Farmers must buy materials to build the special grain storage buildings or chemical poisons to kill the mice．
Here is a way to kill mice without spending a lot of money. It is a simple but effective kind of mouse trap. The method is first used by some farmers in the west African country of Mali. An agricultural expert in Mali reported about the Mali mouse trap in a magazine. The expert reported that his gardener caught 150 mice in just one night. The gardener used four traps. The trap is easy to make. First, remove the top from a 20 liter metal or plastic container(容器). Put it in a hole in the ground. The top edge of the container should be the level with the surface of the ground. Fill the container with water to within eight centimeters of the top. Add tiny pieces of grain wastes. They should float on the water. Also put some wastes on the ground near the trap. During the night, mice will come out to eat the grain wastes. They will fall into the container and drown. Replace the food in the trap every night．
| A．an agricultural expert in the west Africa |
| B．farmers in the United States |
| C．all American gardener |
| D．farmers in Mali |
| A．A simple and effective method used by farmers to kill mice |
| B．How to kill mice |
| C．Methods used by farmers to kill mice |
| D．Farmers have problems with mice |
| A．A special grain storage building |
| B．Chemical poisons |
| C．A mouse trap |
| D．A hole in the ground |
They say that cats have nine lives but our lazy old cat,PJ,had concurrent(并存的)lives and identities. He became well-known for sleeping around the neighbourhood and used to nap in the spare bedroom of elderly couple who lived three doors up from us.While I wasn’t always aware of all his liaisons, it didn’t matter as long as he always came home at mealtimes.
One day we noticed he had gained weight. We guessed he was enjoying snacks at the local takeaway shop bins and so we began to reduce the amount of his food. He didn’t seem to notice.
Some months later. we invited some new neighbours in for drinks. Not long into the evening, our new neighbor saw PJ sitting proudly on the window ledge. “You’ve got my cat!” She exclaimed, laughing.
We let her down gently, and learnt that at their house, PJ was known as Tiger. Thanks to them, he’d been receiving the royal treatment, including removing small insects from his body by spraying medicine. PJ continued living with us until a new cat and a new dog finally tested his patience. He walked out and was missing for ten days before my husband spotted him near his work. He brought our wandering cat home, but it was clear that PJ wasn’t happy. After shouting at him angrily, I let him out and he never returned.
A few months later, our new neighbour told us she’d seen PJ. It seems that an elderly neighbour had welcomed him into her home, and since taking up residence he’d doubled in size and been given his own sitting – room chair to lie. The two had become very fond of each other, ever since he’d followed her home. What a smart cat.By exclaiming “You’ve got my cat,” the neighbour implied that.
| A．she admitted the eat belonged to that author |
| B．the author had stolen the lovely eat PJ |
| C．she was surprised at seeing the cat there |
| D．she was very angry with the author |
What does the underlined word “He” in Paragraph 4 probably refer to?
| A．The cat PJ | B．the author’s husband |
| C．a new neighbour | D．a neighbour’s husband |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．the cat had visited all the neighbours before leaving |
| B．the author found the cat had gained some weight |
| C．The author couldn’t provide the cat with medical care |
| D．the neighbours loved the cat PJ very much |
Cooler temperatures, attractive colors, smaller crowds autumn is the perfect time for travel and tourism. Here, three places are listed as the best fall trip destinations. Don’t worry if you can’t go to these places. By reading this page, we hope to take you on grand tour and let you experience fun and culture around the world.
| Cannstatter Volkfest, Stuttgart, Germany Stuttgart’s Cannstatter Volkfest is listed as the world’s second largest beer-drinking event–following Munich’s Oktoberfest. But it is considered Germany’s more authentic celebration of local heritage and, of course, beer. Started as an agricultural fair in 1818–a symbolic 24-meter-high “fruit column” pays homage to the past–the three-week festival (from September 23 to October 9 this year) features live music, a re-created Alpine village, and carnival（狂欢节） rides. In addition, Stuttgart is recognized as a global car capital. Both the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums are worth a visit. |
| Churchill, Manitoba, Canada Here in the northern Canadian town at Hudson Bay, visitors can see the area’s most famous fall residents–polar bears. More than a thousand of the world’s largest land carnivores migrate through the “polar bear capital of the world” during October and November, when the first ice forms on the edge of Hudson Bay. The frozen conditions make it easier for hungry bears to hunt for seals (by walking instead of swimming). Under the snowy, winter weather, visitors can hardly have too many clothes to put on. Insulated boots, jackets, and gloves; layered clothing; thermal underwear; and woolen socks and hats are required. |
| Dublin, Ireland The Ireland’s capital and largest city is a center for arts, entertainment, culture and commerce. With few tourists and lower temperatures, fall is the ideal season for walking the historic Georgian streets and cruising the River Liffey. Visitors can explore the city’s 20 square kilometers of public gardens, nature reserves, and parks, including St. Stephen’s Green, which borders Grafton Street, one of the world’s most expensive retail locations. Along the way, enjoy traditional, paper-wrapped fish and chips at Leo Burdock. Healthier eats will be on the menu on October 31, when more than 12,000 runners are expected for the National Lottery Dublin Marathon, named “the Friendly Marathon” for the affable crowds cheering there. |
The passage is presented for those who.
| A．care for fun and culture around the world |
| B．have planned to go for traveling this autumn |
| C．hate to have their holidays in other seasons |
| D．have not ever been to Europe and America |
If you spend your holidays on October 31, you may.
| A．enjoy live music at the beer – drinking festival |
| B．watch polar bears hunt seals |
| C．taste traditional, paper – wrapped fish and clips |
| D．win a prize in “the Friendly Marathon” |
According to the passage, we can know that.
| A．Car exhibitions will be held for two months. |
| B．It’s not necessary to take more clothes with you to Churehill, Martitoba |
| C．The beer – drinking event in German dates from the eighteenth century |
| D．Your favourite goods might be available in the expensive shop in Dublin |
The passage is probably taken from the column ofin a newspaper.
| A．economics | B．science | C．tourism | D．fashion |