Elephants have four distinct personalities that help their herd survive in the African bush, scientists have found.
With their grey skin, mournful eyes and slow heavy pace, you could be forgiven for thinking elephants are uniformly melancholy(忧郁的) creatures. But scientists have now discovered the largest living land animals have personalities to match their size.
In a new study of African elephants, researchers have identified four distinct characters that are common in a herd – the leaders, the gentle giants, the playful rogues(小淘气) and the reliable plodders (辛勤工作的人).
Each of the types has developed to help the giant mammals survive in their harsh environment and is almost unique in the animal kingdom, according to the scientists.
Professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague Cynthia Moss studied a herd of elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya known as the EB family — famous for their matriarch Echo before she died in 2009.
Using data collected over 38 years of watching this group, the researchers analyzed them for 26 types of behavior and found four personality features tended to emerge.
The strongest personality to emerge was that of the leader. Unlike other animals, where leadership tends to be won by the most dominant and aggressive individual, the elephants instead respected intelligence and problem solving in their leader. Echo, the matriarch and oldest in the group, her daughter Enid, and Ella, the second oldest female, all emerged as leaders.
The playful elephants tended to be younger but were more curious and active. Eudora, a 40-year-old female in the herd, seemed to be the most playful, consistently showing this feature throughout her life while playfulness in some of the other elephants declined with age.
Gentle elephants, which included two 27-year-old females Eleanor and Eliot, touched and rubbed against others more than the others.
Those that were reliable tended to be those that were most consistent at making good decisions, helped to care for infants in the herd and were calm when faced with threats. Echo and her youngest daughter Ebony seemed to be the most reliable.
Professor Lee said that elephants with these features tended to be the most socially integrated in the group while those who tended to be less reliable and pushy were more likely to split from the herd.From the passage we get to know that ________.
| A．the researchers reached their conclusion by analyzing the data |
| B．the research centered on the 26 types of behavior of the matriarch |
| C．the scientists conducted the research by comparing elephants with other animals |
| D．professor Phyllis Lee and her colleague spent nearly 38 years tracking the herd |
According to the new findings of the scientists, ________.
| A．playfulness of an elephant will always decline with age |
| B．those elephants which are caring and wise are most reliable |
| C．each elephant can be matched with only one of the four personalities |
| D．once becoming a member of a herd, an elephant will never split from it |
In the EB family Echo and Eudora are ________.
| A．mother and daughter | B．two oldest females |
| C．the gentlest ones | D．leader and member |
I suddenly heard an elephant crying as though frightened Looking down I immediately recognized that something was wrong and ran down to the edge of the near bank There I saw Ma Shwe with her three-month-old calf struggling in the fast-rising water and it was a life-and-death struggle Her calf was floating and screaming with fear Ma Shwe was as near to the far bank as she could get, holding her whole body against the rushing water and keeping the calf pressed against her huge body . Every now and then the rushing water would sweep the calf a way.
There was a sudden rise in the water and the calf was washed clean over the mother’s body and was gone Ma Shwe turned quickly to reach it and pressed the calf with her head and trunk（象鼻）against the rocky bank Then with a huge effort she picked it up in her trunk and tried until she was able to place it on a narrow shelf of rock
Just at this moment she fell back into the river If she were carried down it would be certain death I knew as well as she did ,that there was one spot（地点）where she could get up the bank but it was on the other side from where she had put her calf
While I was wondering what I could do next I heard the sound of a mother’s love Ma Shwe had crossed the river and got up the bank and was making her way back as fast as she could roaring（吼叫）all the time but to her calf it was music.The moment the author got down to the river bank he saw______.
| A．the calf was about to fall into the river |
| B．Ma Shwe was placing the calf on the rock |
| C．the calf was washed away by the rising water |
| D．Ma Shwe was holding the calf against the rushing water |
How did Ma Shwe manage to save her calf from the fast-flowing water?
| A．By putting it on a safe spot |
| B．By pressing it against her body |
| C．By taking it away with her |
| D．By carrying it on her back |
How did the calf feel about the mother elephant’s roaring?
| A．It was a great comfort | B．It was a sign of danger |
| C．It was a call for help | D．It was a musical note |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．A Mother’s Love | B．A Brave Act |
| C．A Deadly River | D．A Matter of Life and Death |
Abby Subark is a mother of two from Boston. “For my kids, I’m nervous. I don’t know if they’ll be able to achieve their American dream.” She may be right. More than hard work or education, the best way to get rich in America is to be born rich.
It is the case that somebody who is in the upper third of income, poor scores, in the bottom on tests when they are in eighth grade, is more likely to go to college and finish college than a poor kid with the top scores. That’s what the working persons’ children are up against.
The Economic Policy Institute finds it would take a poor couple with 2 children 9 or 10 generations to achieve middle class status. That’s about 200 years. The hallmark (特征) of American opportunity has always been the ability to do better than your parents. But compared with similar developed countries, the United States ranks fifth out of six for so-called intergenerational mobility (变动).
If you look at the mechanisms (机制) for upward mobility that were so readily available 50 years ago, they are becoming out of reach, like plentiful factory jobs with good wages and affordable education and health care.
White families are twice as likely as blacks to be upwardly mobile. For most people in America today, where you end up depends on where you start.
If you started in the middle-income class, about 40 to 45 percent of what you are making right now is due to the fact that your parents were in the middle-income class. The rest is up to you.
But for the millions of people who find themselves below the poverty line and the millions more who are the working poor, their starting point for the American dream leaves them painfully far away from the middle class. The main idea of the passage is _______.
| A．How the middle class comes about in the U.S. |
| B．It’s hard to realize the American dream for the poor. |
| C．Wealth and social status depend on family background. |
| D．Upward mobility in America is never easy. |
Which of the statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．People used to have job opportunities and welfare for upward mobility. |
| B．A great many poor people can hardly realize their American dream. |
| C．You can make all your dreams come true in America if born rich. |
| D．Rich kids are more likely to go to college than poor kids. |
The underlined sentence “where you end up depends on where you start” most probably means _______.
| A．Your starting point cannot determine your destination. |
| B．Only a high goal can ensure success. |
| C．One’s birth has nothing to do with his fate. |
| D．One’s family lays solid foundation for his future achievements. |
Why is Abby Subark nervous?
| A．Her kids don’t want to compare with other rich kids in achievements. |
| B．Her kids don’t want to achieve success at all. |
| C．Her kids can achieve success through hard work and education. |
| D．Her kids can’t reach their goal without a rich family. |
What can we infer after reading the passage?
| A．Poverty causes people much pain. |
| B．People below the poverty line can never be in the middle class. |
| C．Lower starting point makes it hard for people to realize their dream. |
| D．Poor people’s starting point is too low. |
Everyone’s at it, even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn’t done an eBay deal. So, I decided to try my hand at online auction（网上拍卖）.
Buying for Beginners
Sign up on www. eBay. co. uk. Most items (e.g. tables, computers and books) ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with “Buy It Now” and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids (出价) for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish, you get an email telling you whether you have won the item. 
How to Pay
Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a check or postal orders. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.
Selling Made Simple
If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friends’ advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starting on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big Things in Life
It’s easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collectively sent by deliverymen. Check the ways of delivery before you bid.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．How to make payment online. | B．Ways of making delivery online. |
| C．Advantages of an online auction system. | D．How to use an online-auction system. |
After bidding for an item, a buyer ________.
| A．has chances to make higher bids | B．will get what he wants in ten days |
| C．should make payment immediately | D．may check its picture and description |
The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is ________.
| A．through a local banking system | B．by sending the money to the seller |
| C．by paying the deliveryman directly | D．through an online payment system |
In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They found out that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like “serious illness of a family member” were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not show how you deal with stress—it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you deal with these events has a great effect on your chances of staying healthy.
By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women's magazines ran headlines like “Stress causes illnesses”.If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy, the articles said, avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. even if stressful events are dangerous, many—like the death of a loved one—are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription(处方) for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move.
The idea that all stress makes you sick also takes no notice of what we know about people. It is supposed that we're all weak and passive in the face of difficulty. But many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental strength than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental damage.The result of Holmes-Rahe’s medical research tells us _______.
| A．what should be done to avoid stress |
| B．the way of dealing with major events may cause stress |
| C．what kind of event would cause stress |
| D．how to deal with sudden changes in life |
The studies on stress in the early 1970's led to_______.
| A．great fear about the mental problems it could cause |
| B．widespread worry over its harmful effects |
| C．a deep research into illnesses connected with stress |
| D．popular avoidance of stressful jobs |
According to the passage people who have experienced ups and downs may become___.
| A．discouraged when faced with difficulty |
| B．physically and mentally weak |
| C．more experienced in the face of difficulty |
| D．uninterested in what happens to them |
What’s the purpose of writing the text?
| A．To tell people the discoveries about stress. |
| B．To tell people how to keep healthy. |
| C．To help people avoid stressful events. |
| D．To help people view stress properly. |
In Europe people hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right throughout the meal, a system that is generally agreed to be more efficient than the American zigzag（曲折的）method. Americans hold both the fork and the knife in their right hands throughout the meal, so they continually change their forks to the left hand when they have to cut their meat. It seems to be funny for the Europeans to see Americans busy changing their dinner sets, making a lot of noises. A few explanations for this American style are as follows:
(1)Americans are practical and efficient. Since most of us are right-handed, it is reasonable to keep our working tools at all times in the right hand that can use them most efficiently.
(2)Americans, the master of the New World are rebels（叛逆者）.They use the zigzag method to break the rules in the Old World and in this way they are thumbing their nose at Mother England. Americans are a restless kind. They do not like to sit in one spot for very long when dining.
(3)Forced to do so, they respond by “playing” with the silver.
Whatever the reason for the practice, it is now certainly as American as apple pie. Europeans recognize this and are quick to attack it as evidence of American innocence（无知）of form. Arguments against the zigzag method rest not only on grounds of efficiency but also on those of tradition. In Old World dining, the knife is held in the right hand continually because it can serve as an instant defense against the uninvited intruders（入侵者）.However, such alertness（警觉） is out of place in the New World, as every American believes that this is the home of the brave. Americans juggle their silverware, perhaps, to show that they are not afraid and that one of them holding a fork is worth any number of them holding blades（刀）.Americans use _______ to hold their fork to pick up the salad.
| A．the right hand | B．the left hand |
| C．both hands | D．either of the two hands |
As the masters of the New World, Americans use a different cutting method from that in the Old World to _______.
| A．show their independence of Mother England |
| B．show their disrespect to Mother England |
| C．add a new tradition to those in Mother England |
| D．show off their creativeness to Mother England |
In the sentence, the word “juggle” probably means _______.
| A．hold | B．play with | C．pick up | D．lay down |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．European people hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand. |
| B．The zigzag eating method is related to American characteristics. |
| C．The zigzag eating method has become an American feature. |
| D．European people will use the American method because of its efficiency. |