There are only about 1,000 Hawaiian monk seals(夏威夷僧海豹) left and its population is going down 4% a year. Hawaiian monk seals are found in the northwest part of the Hawaiian Islands. They spend a lot of time at sea. They are able to dive 600 feet deep, and can stay under water for up to 20 minutes. Adults grow up to seven feet long, and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. They can live as long as 30 years.
These seals are born on land. Every year, usually in May or June, females find sandy beaches and give birth to a single baby. The female seals avoid beaches where the water becomes deep very quickly because this lets sharks swim close to land and catch the seals.
Mothers stay with their babies for six weeks. During that entire time, they do not leave the beach even to eat. Instead, they live off fat that they have stored up over the previous year and feed their babies with fat-rich milk. After six weeks, mothers go back to the sea. The young have to live on their own.
Human disturbance(打扰) has been regarded as the important factor in the decrease of the monk seals. In fact, if human come too near a mother seal too often, she will go out to the sea. Unfortunately, this usually means death for the baby. It is now against the law for people to come within 100 yards of a seal on a beach.
Recent research has shown that the decrease in the Hawaiian monk seal population is due to lack of survival of these seals at one of the most important breeding(繁殖) beaches at French Frigate Shoals. Also, seals often get trapped in fishermen and by changes in weather patterns. If these threats(威胁) were not enough, during the breeding season, males will attack females until they are badly injured or finally killed.What can we learn about Hawaiian monk seals?
| A．They are in danger of dying out. |
| B．They spend most of the time on the beach. |
| C．They are the largest animals on the Hawaiian Islands. |
| D．They can stay under water as long as they like. |
According to the text, a seal baby______.
| A．is born at sea |
| B．is fed on fat by the mother |
| C．stays with its parents all life |
| D．is looked after by its mother for 6 weeks |
It can be inferred from the text that______.
| A．sharks are a threat to Hawaiian monk seals |
| B．male monk seals fight each other for females in the breeding season |
| C．when disturbed by people, the mother seal will protect the baby seal |
| D．Hawaiian monk seals give birth usually in July |
What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?
| A．Ways to protect Hawaiian monk seals。 |
| B．The struggle of Hawaiian monk seals to survive. |
| C．The reasons for the decline(减少) of Hawaiian monk seals. |
| D．The influence of climate change on Hawaiian monk seals. |
A farmer had some puppies to sell. He painted a sign advertising them on the edge of his yard.One day, a little boy came to buy one of the puppies. With a whistle(口哨), the farmer called, “Here, Dolly!” Out from the doghouse ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy stood against the fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, something wrong with its legs, doing its best to catch up.“I want that one,” the little boy said.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, “Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would.”
With that, the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so, he showed a steel brace(固定器) running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see, sir, I don’t run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”How did the farmer advertise his puppies?
| A．Advertise them in the newspaper. |
| B．Put up a sign in his yard. |
| C．Show them to his neighbors. |
| D．Send pictures to a magazine. |
The underlined words “four little balls of fur” refer to “______”.
| A．four toy balls | B．four balls made of fur |
| C．four lovely dogs | D．four puppies with no fur |
Why did the boy choose the last dog?
| A．Because they have something in common. |
| B．Because he didn't have enough money. |
| C．Because it was the most lovely one. |
| D．Because the farmer wouldn't sell other dogs. |
According to the story, we know that the boy .
| A．didn't like dogs at all | B．needed a dog to help him |
| C．could run as fast as others | D．had an artificial(假的) leg |
Amanda Clement grew up in Hudson，South Dakota．Baseball was always her favorite sport．Once in a while her brother Hank and his friends would let her play first base in their games．More often，however，they asked her to umpire(裁判) for them，because they knew her calls would be fair and there would be no arguing．
One day in 1904，Amanda and her mother traveled to Hawarden，Iowa，to watch Hank play for the home team against Hawarden．When they arrived at the ball field，two local teams were waiting to play a preliminary(预备) game．The umpire hadn’t arrived，so Hank argued that the teams should let his sister serve as umpire．The players finally agreed．
Amanda，then sixteen and standing five feet，ten inches tall，made perfect calls．She was so good that players for the main game asked her 10 umpire for them and even offered to pay her．Thus，at sixteen，Amanda Clement became the first paid female baseball umpire on record．She is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown，New York．Hank and his friends often asked Amanda to umpire for them because
| A．they wanted to make her happy |
| B．she called them brothers |
| C．no one else wanted to do it for them |
| D．she knew the rules well and was fair |
Amanda went to Hawarden in order to
| A．serve as umpire |
| B．make money |
| C．watch her brother play |
| D．help the local teams |
Amanda most probably learned how to umpire a baseball game
| A．in her P．E．classes at school | B．in an umpire training school |
| C．by watching and playing the games | D．from her mother，a baseball umpire |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Amanda Clement．First Female Umpire |
| B．A Family of Baseball Fans |
| C．Baseball Games in Hawarden，Iowa |
| D．The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown |
We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. Sometimes a single unimportant event may cause a number of things to happen. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this causes your troubles to begin. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table, destroying your half-prepared meal. You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this is not enough to bring you to tears, your husband arrives home, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can also go wrong on the road. During rush hour one evening two cars collided and the drivers began to argue. The woman driver behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She got into a panic and stopped her car. This forced the driver following her to stop suddenly. This driver’s wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake, and as she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the window and landed on the road. A truck driver seeing a cake flying through the air slammed on the brakes. The truck was carrying empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the truck onto the road, causing a terrible traffic jam. It took the police an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the truck driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two dogs were enjoying themselves, for they were happily having what was left of the cake.If you want to answer the phone without any trouble, you’d better ___________ .
| A．pull out the telephone line when you are with your baby |
| B．put your baby on the bed and keep an eye on him / her |
| C．not hurry to answer the phone |
| D．make sure your baby is not near the table |
Who is responsible for the accidents that happened on the road?
| A．The two drivers who were arguing. |
| B．It wasn’t mentioned in the passage. |
| C．The woman driver. |
| D．The truck driver. |
From this story we learn that ________.
| A．there are many road accidents every day |
| B．the accidents mentioned in the passage are very strange |
| C．no one knows why this kind of accident happens |
| D．the accidents mentioned in the passage are very common |
The writer’s purpose in writing this passage is to ___________.
| A．remind us not to answer the phone when we are busy |
| B．tell us driving is dangerous every day |
| C．remind us not to be nervous when we meet an accident |
| D．remind us not to carry a cake when we are sitting in a car |
The main idea of this passage is that ________.
| A．troubles always come in groups |
| B．accidents may happen anywhere at anytime |
| C．a telephone call may cause great trouble |
| D．anyone may have trouble on their way home |
Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small ones to the life-changing. The right to choose is central to everyone. Yet sometimes we make bad decisions that leave us unhappy or full of regret. Can science help?
Most of us know little about the mental processes that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists are finding may help us all make better choices. Here are some of their amazing discoveries to help you make up your mind.
Consider your emotions. You might think that emotions are the enemy of decision-making, but in fact they are a part of it. Whenever you make up your mind, your brain’s emotional centre is active. University of Southern California scientist, Antonio Damasia, has studied people with damage to only the emotional parts of their brains, and found that they were unable to make basic choices about what to wear or eat. Damasia thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choice, which we use to help the present decision-making.
However, making choices under the influence of an emotion can greatly affect the result. Take anger for example. A study by Nitika Garg of the University of Mississippi and other scientists found the angry shoppers were more likely to choose the first thing they were offered rather than considering other choices. It seems that anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking.
All emotions affect our thinking and motivation，so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence. Yet strangely there is one emotion that seems to help us make good choices. The American researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various choices on offer, and ended up making the best choices. In fact many studies show that people who feel unhappy have the most reasonable view of the world.What does the underlined word “central” mean?
| A．in the middle | B．easy to reach | C．important | D．having power |
Damasia’s study suggests that ________.
| A．emotions are the enemy of decision-making. |
| B．our brain has nothing to do with decision-making. |
| C．people with physical damage find it hard to make up their minds. |
| D．our emotional memories of past choices can affect present decisions. |
According to the text, what may help us make better decisions?
| A．To think about happy times. | B．To make many decisions at a time. |
| C．To stop feeling regretful about the past. | D．To learn about the process of decision-making. |
Why are angry shoppers more likely to choose the first thing they are offered?
| A．They often forget their past choices. | B．They make decisions without much thinking. |
| C．They tend to save time when shopping. | D．They are too angry to bargain. |
What do we learn from the text?
| A．Emotions are a part of decision-making. |
| B．Sad people always make worse choices. |
| C．No emotion seems to help us make good choices. |
| D．Only sad feelings affect our thinking and motivation. |
From their beginnings New England towns had a special democratic system of government. At a stated time all the citizens would assemble at a town meeting, where they would discuss local problems and express opinions freely. They also elected the town’s officials at these gatherings and made decisions about the taxes they would pay and about other community matters. These meetings were usually held at the town hall, which was located in the central square.
In the eighteenth-century town meetings, only men who owned property and who were church members actually voted, although everyone present was allowed to express their opinions. Later, all citizens were allowed to vote. Thus the town meeting became truly democratic. Town meetings are still common in New England communities.
In recent years the town meeting idea has been widely imitated. There are open sessions of this kind on radio and television. Occasionally a meeting of this type is called by a government agency in order to give an opportunity for free and open discussion on current problems and policies.At a town meeting, people do the following things EXCEPT __________.
| A．express their opinions about the government |
| B．elect officials of the towns |
| C．make a decision about whom they should marry |
| D．discuss some community matters |
In the 18th century, who had the right to vote?
| A．All the citizens. |
| B．All the men except those who were church members. |
| C．The rich. |
| D．The rich men and the church members. |
Why has the town meeting been widely imitated?
| A．Because many people are interested in it. |
| B．Because it is very democratic. |
| C．Because many people enjoy themselves at town meetings. |
| D．Because sometimes government agencies call them. |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Citizens can elect the officials in the town meeting. |
| B．In recent years, town meetings are often called by a government agency. |
| C．People can say what they want to say at the town meeting. |
| D．Nowadays this kind of meeting is also held on radio and television. |
This passage mainly talks about _______.
| A．the New England town meeting | B．modern town meetings |
| C．a democratic meeting | D．New England towns |