Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy.After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy.However, they sing most of the time for a very different reason.Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.
Do you know what a "territory" is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims as its own .Only he and his family are welcome there .No other families of the same species are welcome.Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome.If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout.Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him.A bird does the same thing.But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting (筑巢) season.So he's screaming (高声尖叫) all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not.This screaming is what we call a bird's song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.You can see that birds have a language of their own.Most of it has something to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.Some scientists believe that most of the time birds' singing is actually
A.an expression of happiness |
B.a way of warning |
C.an expression of anger |
D.a language of their own |
What is a bird's "territory"?
A.A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice. |
B.A place where other bird families are not accepted. |
C.An area for which birds fight against each other. |
D.An area which a bird considers to be its own |
Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?
A.Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away. |
B.Because their singing helps get rid of their fears. |
C.Because they want to find outsiders around. |
D.Because they want to invite more bird friends. |
How does the writer explain birds' singing?
A.By comparing birds with human beings. | B.By reporting experimental results. |
C.By describing birds'daily life. | D.By telling a bird's story. |
Mylonoa Island in autumn and winter is peaceful and beautiful. It is perfect for a relaxing stay or a brief visit. One can see and enjoy the blue skies, the wide beaches, and also have wonderful walks in the hills, perhaps not every day, but usually until the beginning of January. Visitors and winter tourists often come to Mykonos to discover the traditional Greek island. They can escape busy Athens after business, or calm down after a long European tour before traveling on further to Egypt, Israel, or Asia.
Apart from the more usual tourists, you will find various hikers, walkers, readers, writers, bikers, and so on in this island. You can also visit the beautiful Delos, hike through mountains walk on beaches, explore another side of the island life with some monasteries(修道院), horse ride, or take part in local gatherings and meet some friendly Mykonians,
Mykonos’ climate is Mediterranean and mild. Autumn is always blue skied and sunny, where the temperature only drops very gradually. The nice days for beach going and swimming last until early January. The real winter months are also mild. Even in January, the temperature never drops very to be on. The island has a great percentage of humidity because of the south-easterly winds and rainfall between mid-January and each- March; there is also a possibility of storms and colder northerly winds at this period. Snow is rare, perhaps one every ten years. The clear blue sky still exists for most of the winter.Mykonos island lies in _______.
A.Egypt | B.Israel | C.Greek | D.India |
What’s the main purpose of this passage?
A.To sum up some situations of many islands. |
B.To introduce a beautiful island to people. |
C.To compare their climate. |
D.To describe the people visiting the island. |
Which of the following is NOT wrong?
A.Every year, a great number of people go to Mykonos island to tour, hike, walk, read, write and bike. |
B.It often snows in Mykonos island. |
C.Mykonos’ climate is very awful. |
D.From time to time, you can see the blue sky in Mykonos island. |
What’s the Chinese meaning of the underlined word “humidity”?
A.温度 | B.湿度 | C.紫外线 | D.大气压 |
We can infer from the passage ______.
A.Mykonos island is a well-known tour resort |
B.Mykonos island is a very big island in Europe |
C.there are many rare animals in Mykonos island |
D.winter is the best season to travel to Mykonos island. |
Your genetic makeup plays a big part in determining your size and weight. If both your parents are tall, there is a good chance you’ll be tall. But if your parents are smaller than average, you may want to rethink that professional basketball career!
The same goes for your body type. Have you ever heard someone say a person is “big boned?” It’s a way of saying the person has a large frame, or skeleton(骨骼). Big bones usually weigh more than small bones. That’s why it’s possible for two kids with the same height, but different weight, to both the right weight.
Being overweight can run in someone’s family, but it may not be because of their genes. Poor eating and exercise habits also run in families and these may be the reasons the members of a family are overweight. And even though some kids gain weight more easily than others, when they eat right and exercise, most kids can have a healthy weight that’s right for them. It’s true- the way you live can change the way you look.
How much your weight is a balance between the calories you eat and the calories you use. If you eat more calories than your body needs to use, you will gain too much weight. If you spend you free time watching TV, your body won’t use as many calories as it would if you played basketball, skated, or went for a walk. But if you eat more and exercise less, you may become overweight. On the other hand, if you eat less and exercise more, you may lose weight. Which one can be used as the best title of this passage?
A.What Makes Me the Weight I Have? |
B.How Can I Lose More Weight? |
C.What Makes Me the Height I Have? |
D.Is the Way You Live Important? |
_______ might be the most important in determining your size and weight.
A.Your father and mother |
B.Your genetic structure |
C.Your diet and habit |
D.Doing exercise in the morning |
If two kids are of the same height _______.
A.they must have large frames. |
B.they must be of the same size |
C.they must be of the same weight |
D.their weight might be different |
Which one of the following is TRUE according to the third paragraph?
A.Eating right and exercise normally can keep you healthy. |
B.The members of a rich family must be overweight. |
C.The way you live has nothing to do with the way you look. |
D.the members of a poor family can’t be overweight. |
______ can help you to get your weight right.
A.Watching TV in your spare time. |
B.Eating more and doing less exercise |
C.Eating less and doing more exercises |
D.Sleeping more in your spare time |
Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.
“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like it?’”says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”
Music was not gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversation on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and common. And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue into adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents.
“There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,”says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. “In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourage everyone to have a say.
“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,”explains Mr. Ballmer. “It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _______.
A. interest B. distance C. difference D . separation Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?
A.Parents help their children develop interests in more activities. |
B.Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities. |
C.Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs. |
D.Parents share more interests with their children. |
The change in today’s parent-child relationship is _______.
A.more confusion among parents |
B.new equality between parents and children |
C.less respective for parents from children |
D.more strictness and authority on the part of parents |
By saying“today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,” the author means that today’s parents _______.
A.follow the trend of the change |
B.can set a limit to the change |
C.fail to take the change seriously |
D.have little difficulty adjusting to the change. |
The purpose of the passage is to _______.
A.describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with |
B.discuss the development of the parent-child relationship |
C.suggest the ways to handle the parent-child relation ship |
D.compare today’s parent-child relationship with that in the past |
“A good book for children should simply be a good book in its own right,”says Mollie Hunter. Born and brought up near Edinburgh, Mollie has devoted her talents to writing primarily for young people. She firmly believes that there is and should always be a wider audience for any good book whatever its main market is. In Mollie’s opinion it is necessary to make full use of language and she enjoys telling a story, which is what every writer should be doing, “If you aren’t telling a story, you’re a very dead writer indeed.”she says. With the chief function of a writer being to entertain, Mollie is indeed an entertainer. “I have this great love of not only the meaning of language but of the music of language,”she says. “This love goes back to early childhood. I’ve told stories all my life. I had a school teacher who used to ask us what we would like to be when we grew up and, because my family always had dogs, and I was very good at handling them. I said I wanted to work with dogs, and the teacher always said‘Nonsense, Mollie; dear, you’ll be a writer.’So finally I thought that this woman must have something, since she was a good teacher and I decided when I was nine that I would be a writer.”
This childhood intention is described in her novel, A Sound of Chariots, which although written in the third person is clearly autobiographical (自传体的)and gives a picture both of Mollie’s ambition and her struggle towards its achievement. Thoughts of her childhood inevitably(不可避免的)brought thoughts of the time when her home was still a village with buttercup meadows and strawberry fields-sadly now covered with modern houses. “I was once taken back to see it and I felt that somebody had lain dirty hands all over my childhood. I’ll never go back,”she said.“Never.”“When I set one of my books in Scotland,”she said,“I can recall my romantic feelings as a child playing in those fields, or watching the village blacksmith at work. And that’s important, because children now know so much so early that romance can’t exist for them, as it did for us.” What does Mollie Hunter feel about the nature of a good book?
A.It should not aim at a narrow audience. |
B.It should be attractive to young readers. |
C.It should be based on original ideas. |
D.It should not include too much conversation. |
In Mollie Hunter’s opinion, which of the following is one sign of poor writer?
A.Being poor in life experience |
B.Being short of writing skill. |
C.The weakness of description |
D.The absence of a story. |
What do we learn about Mollie Hunter as a young child?
A.She didn’t expect to become a writer. |
B.She didn’t enjoy writing stories. |
C.She didn’t have any particular ambition. |
D.She didn’t respect her teacher’s view. |
In comparison with children of earlier years, Mollie feels that children now are _____.
A.more intelligent |
B.better informed |
C.less eager to learn |
D.less interested in reality |
What’s the writer’s purpose in this text?
A.To share her enjoyment of Mollie Hunter’s book. |
B.To introduce Mollie Hunter’s work to a wider audience. |
C.To provide information for Mollie Hunter’s existing readers. |
D.To describe Mollie Hunter’s most successful books. |
There were smiling children all the way. Charily they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave hack.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.The author expected the train trip to be
A.adventurous |
B.pleasant |
C.exciting |
D.dull |
What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
A.The friendly country people. |
B.The mountains along the way. |
C.The crowds of people in the streets. |
D.The simple lunch served on the train. |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word“relish”in the second paragraph?
A.choose |
B.enjoy |
C.prepare for |
D.carry on |
Where was the writer going?
A.Johore Baru. |
B.The Causeway. |
C.Butterworth. |
D.Singapore. |
What can we learn from the story?
A.Comfort in traveling by train. |
B.Pleasure of living in the country. |
C.Reading gives people delight. |
D.Smiles brighten people up. |