Save the Animals
Animals are natural resources(资源) that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers(羽毛), for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the earth forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful or interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance (平衡) of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks(鹰), the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖) quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid(禁止) the killing of any animal or plant on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.Animals are important to us mainly because __________.
| A．they give us a source of food |
| B．they are beautiful and lovely |
| C．they keep the balance of nature |
| D．they give us a lot of pleasure |
What has happened to the animals on the earth?
| A．About 170 kinds of animals have disappeared forever. |
| B．Thousands of kinds of animals are gone forever. |
| C．A few kinds of animals have died out. |
| D．All kinds of animals are in danger. |
Why do people kill animals?
| A．They kill animals for something they need. |
| B．They kill animals to raise some money. |
| C．Animals destroy their natural resources. |
| D．Animals create many problems. |
What can we conclude from the fact that quite a few countries have passed laws protecting animals in danger?
| A．Animals in danger will be kept away from people. |
| B．Animals in danger will not be killed any more. |
| C．The number of some animals in danger will increase. |
| D．Every person will know the importance of protecting wild animals. |
You may know your mother, but how well do you really know Mothers’ Day? Cards, flowers, sales, TV specials, and a day off for someone who really deserves it — those are what probably come to mind for many people when they think of Mothers’ Day. But there’s more to the story.
The earliest Mothers’ Day celebrations were held during spring in ancient Greece. The celebrations honored Rhea, the mother of the gods. During the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called Mothering Sunday. On this day even servants(仆人) were given the day off to spend with their families. A mothering cake was even served with the family meal.
In the US, Mothers’ Day began in 1872 when Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the famous song The Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested it as a day devoted to peace. But it didn’t really become popular until 1907 when Anna Jarvis started a campaign to honor mothers. She believed that mothers could help people get over the pain they experienced during the Civil War. The US isn’t alone in devoting a day to mothers. Many other countries including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Belgium also honor their mothers in May. Other countries honor their mothers at different times of the year.
Learning more about Mothers’ Day and celebrating Mothers’ Day are important, but probably not as important as understanding what your own mother, or grandmother, or aunt has really done for you. And that will certainly be appreciated more than one day in year. Where was the earliest Mothers’ Day celebrated?
| A．In ancient Greece. | B．In the US. |
| C．In England. | D．In Italy. |
According to Paragraph 3, we know that ____________.
| A．Julia Ward Howe composed a song about Mothers’ Day |
| B．American people started to celebrate Mothers’ Day in 1907 |
| C．Anna Jarvis attached great importance to mothers |
| D．Mothers’ Day celebrations are held at different times in the US |
We can learn from the passage that ______________.
| A．Rhea is the mother of a king in ancient Greece |
| B．not all the countries celebrate Mothers’ Day in May |
| C．only mothers were given a day off on Mothering Sunday |
| D．it was in 1872 that Mothers’ Day really came into being |
The last paragraph tells us that ____________.
| A．all the people should celebrate Mothers’ Day |
| B．only mothers are honored on Mothers’ Day |
| C．understanding mothers’ work is more important than just celebrating Mothers’ Day |
| D．people should celebrate Mothers’ Day every day |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The reason why people celebrate Mothers’ Day. |
| B．The ways people honor mothers. |
| C．The history of Mothers’ Day. |
| D．The great contribution of mothers. |
The events of Saturday night in Kunming are deeply engraved in the mind of Xie Qiming, who narrowly escaped death in the terrorist attack at the city's railway station.
The 48-year-old policeman intervened（介入） to stop the butchering of unarmed civilians, saving many from death and injury, but he was injured in the process. Lying in a hospital bed, his head and nose marked by serious hacking （砍）wounds - one more than 20 centimeters long - Xie recounted（详细叙述） his actions on the day he describes as a nightmare. "I shot at them but fell to the ground during the fighting. After the shots, the terrorists turned their attention to the police and several of them surrounded me and stabbed（刺，戳） me like crazy," he said. "There is no humanity in them."
Xie is from the Beijinglu Police Station, the closest to the attack, and four police officers from the station were the first to respond. He survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, which was damaged by the attackers. When the officers arrived, the attackers were running out of the ticket hall, attacking people with long knives.Xie and his colleagues tried to stop the attack, which is when Xie was injured. In addition to the deep cuts, his skull（颅骨） was fractured(裂缝), and at the time of writing he was awaiting further surgery.
Zhou Hongmei, director of the Medical Reform Office at the Yunnan Health Department, said a team of medical experts including 29 doctors had arrived in Kunming by Monday night. They have been working at the five hospitals treating victims of the attack. Chen Min, a Neurology Department nurse at Kunming First People's Hospital, said the department usually had seven nurses in the daytime and three at night. "But all the other nurses who were not on duty returned to the hospital voluntarily on Saturday night," she said. In the past three days, none of them had more than 10 hours of rest.
"The important factor in saving lives in such incidents is treatment without delay," said Chai Wenzhao, associate director of the Intensive Care Unit （重症监护室）in the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Chai has participated in many emergency rescue efforts. He said that the victims will need psychological advice once their physical injuries have been dealt with, because the emotional impact of such an incident can be severe. Four psychologists from Anding Hospital in Beijing have begun treating some of the victims.What does the underlined word “engraved” mean in the passage?
| A．feared | B．disappointed |
| C．attacked | D．impressed |
What can we learn from Zhou Hongmei,?
| A．Victims of the attack have been treated by a team of medical experts. |
| B．the victims will need psychological treatment, because the emotional impact of such an incident can be severe. |
| C．Treatment without delay should be given to save lives in such incidents . |
| D．The attackers had obviously prepared and practiced for a long time, |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Survivors recount nightmare |
| B．Many people was injured in the attack |
| C．A terrorist attack happened in Kunming. |
| D．Police stopped the terrorist attack. |
A recent experiment held in Japan shows that it is almost impossible for people to walk exactly straight for 60 metres. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology found 20 healthy men and asked them to walk as straight as possible to a target 60 metres away at normal speed. Each man had to walk on white paper fixed flat to the floor wearing wet colored socks. The footprints revealed（展现） that all walked in a winding rather than a straight line. Researchers found that people readjust（调整） the direction of walking every few seconds. The amount of the winding differed from subject to subject. This suggests that none of us can walk in a strictly straight line. We walk in a winding way mainly because of a slight structural or functional imbalance of our limbs (四肢). Although we may start walking in a straight line, several steps afterwards we have changed direction.
Eyesight helps us to correct the direction of walking and leads us to the target. Your ears also help you walk. After turning around a lot with your eyes closed, you can hardly stand still, let alone walk straight.
It’s all because your ears help you balance. Inside your inner ear there is a structure which contains liquids. On the sides of the organ are many tiny hair-like structures that move around as the liquid flows. When you spin (旋转) the liquid inside also spins. The difference is that when you stop, the liquid continues to spin for a while. Dizziness is the result of these nerves in your ear. When you open your eyes, although your eyesight tells you to walk in a straight line, your brain will trust your ears more, thus you walk in a curved line.The experiment held in Japan proved that _______.
| A．none of the participants finished the 60 metres |
| B．all the participants had a good sense of direction |
| C．the experiment was done in different ways |
| D．the participants kept readjusting（调整） their direction of walking |
The underlined word “subject” in Para. 1 refers to ________.
| A．a person with a functional imbalance |
| B．the subject one studies at school |
| C．a person chosen to be studied in an experiment |
| D．the direction of walking |
The purpose of writing the article is to ________.
| A．prove that ears and eyes help us to walk straight |
| B．point out the importance of noticing everyday science |
| C．explain why we can hardly walk in a strictly straight line |
| D．give background information about a latest study |
Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes -- like tuxedos (小礼服) and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats , the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas (豇豆) for good luck -- but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?
| A．The passage doesn’t say. | B．Spain. |
| C．France. | D．The United States. |
What is a resolution?
| A．Something you say. | B．Something you eat. |
| C．Something you burn. | D．Something you wear. |
What is the topic of the fourth paragraph?
| A．Bringing good luck. |
| B．Remembering the past. |
| C．Planning for the next year. |
| D．Keeping away from bad luck. |
Which is probably true about eating black-eyed peas on New Year?
| A．Black-eyed peas taste bad. |
| B．The peas are very difficult to cook. |
| C．One pea brings one day of luck. |
| D．It is bad luck to eat a lot of black-eyed peas. |
You may have noticed that the world′s population is not evenly distributed(分布) around our planet. There are some countries where people seem to be living nearly on top of each other because conditions are overcrowded. Then there are others where it seems that hardly anybody lives. What influences this unequal distribution of people? There are specific advantages and disadvantages of *diving in a certain area.
The two main factors that influence people`s choice of location are climate and resources. Climate is the usual weather conditions in a region. Areas that have bad weather are generally less deal as places to live in. The north and south poles at the top and bottom of the world may be beautiful in their rugged, natural way, but the disadvantage of the bitterly cold and windy conditions usually keeps people away. When it comes to climate, warm conditions and a normal amount of rainfall are advantages that attract people.
Natural resources are things that we get from nature that help us survive. Each region offers different resources, and therefore attracts different groups of people. People who enjoy the beach can make their living by catching and selling the ocean′s many fish and other sea creatures. Those who prefer farming can take advantage of rich soil(土壤) in valleys near rivers. Some people are willing to accept the disadvantages of the terrible conditions of deserts or mountains in order to take advantage of the resources like oil or woods.The underlined part “on top of ”in the first paragraph most likely means_______.
| A．very close to | B．on the highest part of |
| C．in control of | D．on the surface of |
What are the main factors that influence the distribution of people?
| A．Resources and oceans. | B．Climate and rivers. |
| C．Climate and resources. | D．Warm conditions and rainfall. |
The writer thinks many people don′t live near the north or south pole because ________.
| A．they can′t get enough food there |
| B．they natural sights there don′t attract people |
| C．the unpleasant weather keeps them away |
| D．the length of nighttime is too short or too long |
Why do people go and live in valleys near rivers?
| A．The temperature isn′t too low in winter. |
| B．the resources like oil can bring them much money. |
| C．People can make their living by catching and selling fish. |
| D．It′s easier for people to grow plants or keep animals. |
The purpose of the example in the last paragraph is to tell us _______.
| A．people cannot survive in cold conditions |
| B．different resources attract different groups of people |
| C．People usually prefer living at the seaside to living in mountains |
| D．a normal amount of rainfall is necessary for people to live in the desert |