Easter(复活节 ) is still a great day for worship, randy in baskets and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies.
And no, not because the kids like to pull their ears. The culprit is climate change, and some researchers found that rising temperatures are having harmful effects on at least five species of rabbit in the US.
Take the Lower Keys March rabbit, for instance. An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this species of cottontail is a great swimmer — it lives on the islands! — but it is already severely affected by development and now by rising levels. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an ocean level rise of only 0. 6 meters will send these guys jumping to higher ground and a 0.9-meter rise would wipe out their habitat (栖息地) completely.
The snowshoe hare, on the other hand, has a color issue. Most of these rabbits change their fur color from white in the wintertime to brown in the summer, each designed to give them better cover from predators（捕食者）.As the number of days with snow decreases all across the country, however, more and more bunnies arc being left in white fur during brown dirt days of both fall and spring, making them an easier mark for predators. Researchers know that the color change is controlled by the number of hours of sunlight, but whether the rabbit will be able to adapt quick enough to survive is a big question. The National Wildlife Federation has reported that hunters have noticed their numbers are already markedly down.
American pikas or rock rabbits, a relative of rabbits and hares, might be the firs' of these species to go extinct due to climate change. About 7-8 inches long, pikas live high in the cool, damp mountains west of the Rocky Mountains. As global temperatures rise, they would naturally migrate (迁徙) to higher ground — but they already occupy the mountaintops. They can't go any higher. The National Wildlife Federation reports that they might not be able to stand the new temperatures as their habitat beats up.
The volcano rabbit has the same problem. These rabbits live on the slopes of volcanoes in Mexico, and recent studies have shown that the lower range of their habitat has already shifted upward about 700 meters, but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher, so they are stuck in the middle. Scientists are concerned about their populations.
Native to the US, pygmy rabbits weigh less than 1 pound and live in the American West. They are believed to be the smallest rabbits in the world. Their habitats have been destroyed by development. Several populations, such as the Columbia Basin pygmy, almost went extinct and were saved by zoo breeding programs. Pygmy rabbits also rely on winter cover by digging tunnels through the snow to escape predators, but lesser snowfall is leaving them exposed.
All of this gives new meaning to dressing up in a giant bunny costume this Easter. The writer mentions Easter at the beginning of the passage in order to_______.
| A．show the importance of Easter Day | B．introduce the issue about bunnies |
| C．remind people of Easter traditions | |
| D．discuss the relationship between Easter and bunnies |
The word “culprit” ( Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to______.
| A．criminal | B．judge | C．victim | D．producer |
According to the passage, some rabbits can now be easily discovered by predators because they_______
| A．are exposed lo more skillful hunters |
| B．have moved to habitats with fewer plants |
| C．haven't adapted themselves to climate change |
| D．can't change their fur color into white in the fall and the spring |
The problem faced by volcano rabbets and rock rabbits is that________.
A. both are affected by 1ess snow
B. both are affected by rising sea levels
C neither can find enough food
D. neither can migrate to higher places
In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.
Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product-the television set.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners-meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.
The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by
| A．big | B．important | C．combined | D．separate |
In the past, Americans tended to .
| A．spend more time eating their food at dinner table | B．eat more food than they have today |
| C．spend more time talking about their day’s experiences at dinner table | |
| D．talk so much that they forgot to eat |
The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to .
| A．The TV programs | B．the pace of modern life |
| C．the wide use of electrical equipment | D．the popularity of fast food |
. The best title for this passage might be
| A．Talk at Dinner Table | B．TV Dinner | C．Pace of Modern Life | D．Problems Caused by TV |
John Blanchard was studying the crowd making their way through the station. He was looking for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.
When reading a book in a Florida library a year before, John became interested not in the contents of the book, but in the notes penciled in the margin(（空白处）. The handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and beautiful mind. He discovered the former owner’s name in the front of the book: Miss Hollis Maynell.
He located her address and wrote a letter introducing himself. The next day he was shipped overseas to serve in the army. During the next year,they grew to know each other through the mail and their friendship developed. John requested a photograph, but she refused, saying if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what
she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return home, their first meeting was suggested-7:00 p.m. at the Grand Central Station in New York.
She wrote, “You’ll recognize me by the red rose I wear on my coat.” So now John was in the station to meet the girl with a rose.
As a pretty and slim girl in green came over, John noticed her blue eyes like flowers in spring. He walked directly towards her, entirely forgetting she was not wearing a rose. As John came closer to her, he saw another woman with a red rose stood nearby. Well past 40, this woman had graying hair done under a worn hat. Seeing the girl in green walk quickly away, John felt as if he were split(劈开) in two. He desired to follow that girl, but longed for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and supported him.
The woman looked gentle and sensible. John went to her, saying, “I’m Captain John Blanchard. You must be Miss Maynell. I am glad to meet you here. May I take you to dinner?”
She replied with a smile, “I don’t know what this is about. But the lady in green who just went by, begged me to wear this rose on my coat. She said if you asked me out to dinner, I’d tell you she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”
John was eager to know the former owner of the book because .
| A．he was very interested in the contents of the book |
| B．he was impressed by the notes written by the owner |
| C．the book offered him practical and valuable advice |
| D．there was address of the former owner in the book |
What happened to John after getting in touch with Miss Hollis Maynell?
| A．He began to serve the army abroad. | B．He was seriously wounded in the war |
| C．He went on a business tour in Europe | D．He asked Miss Maynell for a photo |
What do we know about the woman with a rose?
| A．She was Miss Maynell’s close companion |
| B．She was a conductor working in the station |
| C．She knew nothing about John’s appointment |
| D．She was paid to carry out a love test on John |
Which would be the best title of the text?
| A．The Meeting in the Station | B．The Girl with a Rose |
| C．A Soldier and a Girl | D．A Meeting of the Heart |
FU Yuan has been left at home with his grandparents since he was one month old. His mom and dad left to work in Fujian Province. For the past eight years, Fu has only seen his parents three times although they send home 500 yuan every two or three months.
Fu Xiaoyu, 16, has had to live alone since her grandmother passed away three years ago. Her parents do not want to renounce their jobs at a clothing factory in Guangdong Province. Nor can they afford the cost of sending her to a school in the city where they work.
These are just two of the 29 kids that 16-year-olds Huang Ruoqing and Zhang Linna at Beijing No 4 High School talked with this summer in Guixiang Village in Sichuan Province.
What Huang and Zhang learned from their three-day visit shocked them. They wrote down all the kids’ stories in a moving 40-page essay filled with statistical charts.(统计表)
In the poor village with a population of 2,118 people, 582 adults have left to find work, leaving 156 children without parents. Among these so-called left-behind kids, 88 percent of them live with their grandparents, five percent live with uncles or aunts and seven percent have to live on their own.
To Huang and Zhang’s surprise, 80 percent of the children said they love going to school. Even
though, some children have to walk along the hilly roads for two hours to get there.
However, for this village’s students studying is not their first task. Housework, such as helping feed pigs or buffalos(水牛) and taking care of old grandparents, younger sisters or brothers, takes up a considerable amount of their time.
Despite having to work hard at home, over 65 percent of the young interviewees would prefer their parents’ stay away working rather than returning to live with them.
“These kids are understanding and considerate and know how important money is for their families. Their little wishes like having dinner with their parents inspire us never to take what we have had for granted,” Zhang said.
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Fu Xiaoyu’s parents can’t earn enough money to send her to school. |
| B．Huang Ruoqing and Zhang Linna talked with 29 children this summer during their research. |
| C．Some left-behind kids live with uncles, aunts, or grandparents and others live by themselves. |
| D．More than half of the left-behind kids prefer their parents’ staying away working. |
It is implied but not directly stated that
| A．Fu Yuan’s parents send him 500 yuan every 2 or 3 months |
| B．Huang Ruoqing and Zhang Linna wrote an essay according to the left-behind kids’ stories |
| C．Many left-behind kids love studying and going to school in spite of many hardships |
| D．The time that the left-behind kids spend on housework is more than that on study |
What’s the exact meaning of the underlined word “renounce”in the second paragraph?
| A．Keep | B．continue | C．give up | D．get |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Kids Are Left Alone | B．The True Story of Home Alone |
| C．Kids Miss Parents | D．Parents and Kids |
It is natural that children are curious (好奇的) about the world around them. For example, they want to know how their hearts beat. They want to know why the ocean water tastes salty.
As children grow up, they become curious about different kinds of things. When they are babies, they are interested in the parts of their bodies and in the smiles of their mothers. They become interested in the physical world around them: the plants, the animals, the sky. Later, they become interested in the things that people have made: wheels, bicycles, cars. And when they are adults, their curiosity continues. Sometimes this curiosity leads to a career (生涯、职业) in science.
Scientists spend their lives trying to find out about the world．Those who work with the earth sciences study the earth, the oceans, and the skies. Other scientists who study living things work with the biological sciences. A third group of scientists study the physical sciences, e. g. physics, chemistry .
These scientists have already discovered a lot about our world．For example, they tell us why your heart beats fast when you run. They say that when you are quiet, your heart normally beats sixty-five or seventy-five times a minute. Your heart is a pump (泵) that pumps blood to all parts of the body. The blood carries oxygen and
nutrition. When you run, your muscles work very hard and use the nutrition that the blood carries to them. The muscles need oxygen, too . So your brain sends a signal to the heart. The signal means that the muscles need more nutrition and oxygen. Then the heart beats fast and sends blood quickly to the muscles. It may beat 90 to 140 times a minute.
Of course, scientists cannot answer all of our questions. If we ask, “Why does the ocean water taste salty” scientists will say that the salt comes from rocks. When a rock gets very hot or very cold, it cracks. Rain falls into cracks. The rain then carries the salt into the earth and into the rivers. The rivers carry the salt into the ocean. But then we ask , “What happens to the salt in the ocean? The ocean does not get saltier every year.” Scientists are not sure about the answer to this question.
We know a lot about our world, but there are still many answers that we do not have, and we are curious.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．People are curious in the same way. |
| B．People in different countries are interested in different things. |
| C．Men and women are curious about different things. |
| D．People of different ages are interested in different things |
Scientists who work with the biological sciences study____.
| A．the earth , the oceans and the sky | B．man-made things |
| C．plants and animals | D．ocean water |
A rock cracks _____.
| A．in wet regions | B．in dry regions |
| C．at very high or very low temperatures | D．when salty water falls in |
People are always curious because ____.
| A．they cannot explain many things | B．they know nothing about the world |
| C．they know little about the world | D．they want to be scientists |
In 1933 an unknown American called Clarence Nash went to see the film-maker Walter Disney. He had an unusual voice and he wanted to work in Disney’s cartoon film for children. When Walter Disney heard Nash’s voice, he said, “Stop! That’s our duck!”
The duck was the now-famous Donald Duck, who first appeared in 1934 in the film, The Wise Little Hen. Donald lived in an old houseboat and worn his sailor jacket and hat. Later that year he became a star after an eight minute Mickey Mouse film. The cinema audiences liked him because he was lazy and greedy, and because he lost his temper very easily. And they loved his voice when he became angry with Mickey’s eight nephews. Soon Donald was more popular than Mickey Mouse himself, probably because he wasn’t a goody-goody, like Mickey.
In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Donald and his friends Mickey, Goofy and Pluto made hundreds of Disney cartoons. He also made educational film about the place of the USA in the world, and safety in the home. Then in 1966 Donald Duck and his voice disappeared—there were no more new cartoons.
Clarence Nash died in February, 1985. But today’s children can still see the old cartoons on the television and hear that famous voice.
Who made Donald Duck cartoons?
| A．Mickey Mouse. | B．Clarence Nash. |
| C．Walter Disney. | D．Pluto. |
When did the first Donald Duck film appear?
| A．In 1933 | B．In 1934 | C．In 1966 | D．In 1965 |
Who was Clarence Nash?
| A．A cartoonist. | B．A writer. |
| C．A film maker. | D．The man who made the voice for Donald Duck. |
Why did people like Donald better than Mickey Mouse?
| A．Probably because he was lazy and greedy. | B．Probably because he wasn’t a goody—goody like Mickey. |
| C．Probably because he lost his temper very easily. | |
| D．Probably because he became angry with Mickey’s eight nephews. |