The sea horse is a magical animal, which has puzzled （使困惑） people for thousands of years. In ancient Rome sea horses were believed to be the babies of Neptune’s horses. And Neptune was the god of the ocean. Now we know they are not horses at all — they are a kind of fish. They still seem as magical as ever, especially to divers who have watched them horsing around(瞎闯) in the sea. But today, sea horse populations face an uncertain future. Fishermen are catching too many of them, and their undersea habitats （栖息地） are being destroyed.
At least 20 million sea horses are taken from the ocean each year. More than 95% are used for traditional medicines in Asian countries. The sea horses are usually dried and then made into powder which is used to treat such problems as asthma（哮喘）, throat infections, skin diseases and cuts. How well the medicines work is unclear.
Sea horses are also bought and sold in large numbers as pets. Sea horse expert Amanda Vincent warns against buying pet sea horses. “A lot of people treat them as if they’re goldfish,” she says. But sea horses require very special care and live food. Most captive (被猎取的) sea horses pick up diseases and die.
Sea horse experts are trying to teach fishermen to become sea horse farmers. Instead of pulling nets of sea horses from the ocean, fishermen could learn to raise them in specially designed saltwater “farms”. That way, fishermen would have sea horses to sell, but ocean populations would not be hurt.
Vincent and her team have only discovered the 35 different species of sea horses, and they still have plenty of sea horse secrets left to unlock. That is why, Vincent told TFK, protecting future sea horse populations is especially important: “I promise your readers that by the time they grow up to be marine biologists, we’ll still have a lot to learn.”In the past, Romans thought the sea horse to be ______.
| A．a kind of horse | B．a kind of fish |
| C．the god of the ocean | D．one of Neptune’s pets |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．People in Asian countries hunt sea horses for food. |
| B．Most sea horses caught are used as medicine. |
| C．The effects of the powder of sea horses are uncertain. |
| D．35 different kinds of sea horses have been discovered. |
The underlined phrase “pick up” in Paragraph 3 probably means “______”.
| A．follow | B．collect | C．get | D．create |
It can be inferred that the best way to protect sea horses is to ______.
| A．do more research on sea horses |
| B．teach fishermen how to farm sea horses |
| C．stop hunting sea horses |
| D．ban the sea horse trade |
To most people, noise pollution is a jet flying over their head. For one Spanish woman, it is a neighbor playing the piano. The woman has taken her neighbor to court. Now she wants to send her neighbor to prison for over seven years on the charges of psychological damage and noise pollution.
In a country known for its noisiness, the case has raised eyebrows. Neighbors often complain about street noise in Spain, but people seeking prison time for someone practicing the piano is unheard of. At the trial, Sonia Bosom says she has been suffering noise pollution up to now due to the practice sessions of Laia Martin, who lives below her. Martin, 27, didn’t admit that she played at home that often, saying she took regular classes in other towns and mostly practiced at home on the weekends.
On the first day of the trial, the newspaper reported that Bosom told the court she now hated pianos so much that she couldn’t even stand seeing them in a film.
Bosom says years of hearing constant playing has caused her “psychological injury”. Medical reports show she has suffered from a variety of problems, including insomnia (失眠), anxiety, and panic attacks.
She says tests by local authorities have found that the sound levels made by the piano are up to 10 decibels (分贝) higher than the limit. City authorities have asked the family several times to either stop the piano playing or soundproof (隔音) the room. The family told the court they carried out soundproofing work twice but the complaints continued.
The court hasn’t made a final decision. A spokeswoman says the trial will end before May.Bosom wants to send Martin to prison because _______.
| A．Martin’s playing the piano damaged her health |
| B．Bosom suffered from heart attack |
| C．Martin refused to take regular classes in other towns |
| D．Martin flew a jet over her head |
How did Laia Martin respond to the complaints?
| A．She stopped playing the piano. |
| B．She soundproofed the room. |
| C．She didn’t admit she played at home. |
| D．She took her neighbor to court. |
Which of the following may probably be the best title for the passage?
| A．A 7-year Sentence Caused by the Piano |
| B．Pianist Charged with Noise Pollution |
| C．Health Problems of a Spanish Woman |
| D．Actions Against Noise by Local Authority |
How do you know if your home is an easy aim for thefts ? Around the holidays, many families don't consider taking proper measures to prevent their homes from suffering holiday thefts. With just a few simple steps, you can better make sure of the safety of your home during all of the holiday celebrations. Here are a few tips for making it difficult to tell you are away from home.
● Either have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or tell your mailperson to hold your mail until you return. Nothing says "Hey, we are not home!" like when your postbox is filled with all kinds of mails and you have many different newspapers in your driveway.
● Set several different lights in your house on random timers (随机定时器). Don't leave your outdoor lights on all the time. Instead, put your outside lights on timers to be on during the nights. If an outdoor light remains on for days at a time, it means that nobody is home to turn it off.
● If you have pets that you are not taking with you on vacation, leave them with a friend, rather than having someone come into your house every day to take care of them. When thefts see a neighbor or friend entering your house every day, they will know you are not home.
● Close all your curtains when you leave town. This is effective to deter possible thefts, as no one can see what is in your house. If they don't know what there is to take, then the risk is even greater for them to break in.
● This article just has suggested a few tips to help you keep your house safe while you are on holiday. Nothing can truly protect your home unless you have it monitored by a professional home security system.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．to tell you to have your neighbor go to your house to take care of your pet. |
| B．to let the outdoor lights on all the time. |
| C．to tell us many families suffering from the thefts while they are on holiday. |
| D．to tell us how to prevent the thefts around the holidays. |
Most of the tips mentioned in the text seem to _____.
| A．be very popular with families |
| B．have no effect on preventing thefts |
| C．give a false impression on thefts |
| D．be a little hard to be brought into effect |
The underlined word "deter" probably means "_____".
| A．discover | B．discourage |
| C．surprise | D．attract |
Elizabeth Freeman was born about 1742 to African American parents who were slaves. At the age of six months she was acquired, along with her sister, by John Ashley, a wealthy Massachusetts slaveholders. She became known as Mumbet or Mum Bett.
For nearly 30 years Mumbet served the Ashley family. One day, Ashleys wife tried to strike Mumbets sister with a spade. Mumbet protected her sister and took the blow instead. Furious(狂怒的), she left the house and refused to come back. When the Ashleys tried to make her return, Mumbet consulted a lawyer, Theodore Sedgewick. With his help, Mumbet sued(起诉) for her freedom.
While serving the Ashleys, Mumbet had listened to many discussions of the new Massachusetts constitution. If the constitution said that all people were free and equal, then she thought it should apply to her. Eventually, Mumbet won her freedom---- the first slave in Massachusetts to do so under the new constitution.
Strangely enough, after the trial, the Ashleys asked Mumbet to come back and work for them as a paid employee. She declined and instead went to work for Segdewick. Mumbet died in 1829, but her legacy lived on in her many descendants(后裔). One of her great-grandchildren was W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the founder of the NAACP, and an important writer and spokesperson for African American civil rights.
Mumbets tombstone still stands in the Massachusetts cemetery where she was buried. It reads, in part: She was born a slave and remained a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years. She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal.What do we know about Mumbet according to Paragraph 1?
| A．She was born a slave |
| B．She was a slaveholder |
| C．She had a famous sister |
| D．She was born into a rich family |
What did Mumbet learn from discussions about the new consititution?
| A．She should always obey her owners’ orders |
| B．How to apply for a job |
| C．How to be a good servant |
| D．She should be as free and equal as whites |
What did Mumbet do after the trial?
| A．She chose to work for a lawyer |
| B．She found the NAACP |
| C．She continued to serve the Ashleys |
| D．She went to live with her grandchildren |
What is the test mainly about?
| A．A story of a famous writer and spokesperson |
| B．The friendship between a lawyer and a slave |
| C．A trial that shocked the whole world |
| D．The life of a brave African American woman |
When I was 13, my bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Monkees and Beatles. I wrote fan letters and daydreamed about meeting the objects of my affections. I begged my parents to attend every rock concert and watch every TV show featuring my favorite celebrities (名人) ; my friends and I discussed for hours all the things we would say and do when we met our favorite movie stars and pop singers. I drove my mother crazy! But after a few years, my obsession (迷恋) stars faded as I matured and gained the confidence to socialize with "real" boys.
In the 35 years since I was a teenager, celebrity worship (崇拜) has increased among teens due to the explosion of television celebrity gossip shows, and instant access to celebrity news on the Internet. It's no wonder that many teens are obsessed with stars when news programs often are filled with entertainment stories and the lives of celebrities.
Celebrity worship syndrome (综合征) is now considered a personality disorder. While it is normal for teenagers to follow the lives of their favorite stars, parents should try to monitor everything their child finds interesting. Parents should take action if they suspect a teen is too obsessed with celebrities and showing little interest in school or withdrawing from the family. When teens talk a lot about celebrities and view them as just means of entertainment, this is considered normal celebrity worship. However, when a teenager is obsessed with a star and often expresses a desire to have a close personal relationship with a celebrity or feels they have a special connection to a star, this may be the time for concern.
Recent studies have shown that teens who develop an unhealthy obsession with celebrities often suffer from low self confidence and depression. Teens who are overly obsessed with stars often have damaged relationships with their parents.We learn from the second paragraph that ____.
| A．teens today are not so obsessed with celebrities |
| B．the author is surprised at celebrity worship |
| C．the media greatly contributes to celebrity worship today |
| D．celebrities expose their lives too much |
Parents should become concerned when their children ____.
| A．talk a lot about celebrities with others |
| B．put up celebrity posters in their bedrooms |
| C．ask to go to their favorite star's concert |
| D．desire a close personal relationship with their favorite star |
The last paragraph implies that ____.
| A．parents should not care too much about a child's celebrity worship |
| B．children can normally get out of celebrity worship when they are older |
| C．children with celebrity worship usually have high opinion of themselves |
| D．celebrity worship syndrome can be a serious problem if left overlooked |
What is most likely to be talked about in the paragraph following the passage?
| A．The harm of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| B．What to do with children's celebrity worship syndrome. |
| C．More signs of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| D．Who will suffer most from celebrity worship syndrome. |
For the last couple of weeks, I had been stuck in front of my computer working on a project that was very important to me. My every waking hour was consumed by the project and although I imagined that I would feel happy after completing parts of the project, I was confused to find that instead, I was feeling rather depressed. I tried a range of methods to help cheer myself up. I had a relaxing bath, cooked a delicious meal to enjoy with my family and even watched a lighthearted movie, but to no avail. It was only when I turned to meditation(沉思)for a solution that the answer came to me: turn to nature!
The very next day, I grabbed my camera and a bottle of water and set off to spend a few hours walking in a nature reserve, even though it was pouring with rain. Within a couple of minutes I felt alive again. To be honest, I felt like a young school girl again and had to stop myself from hopping along the path singing, "I'm singing in the rain", a song I used to sing when I was a child. I think as adults we often try too hard to control our inner children and as a result we restrain(限制) our own spirits, which only leads to depression and stress.
Interestingly, it has been shown that people who spend 40 minutes walking in a nature reserve have a drop in their blood pressure levels, but this does not happen when they spend a similar amount of time walking in a busy city centre.
If you feel a little low in spirit and know that you have spent too much time indoors, relax completely, remove your shoes and let your inner child come out and play.The author walked in a nature reserve in the rain in order to__________.
| A．take photos |
| B．cheer herself up |
| C．hop along the path |
| D．find a solution to the project |
The underlined part "to no avail" in Paragraph 1 probably means " __________".
| A．uninteresting | B．unrelated |
| C．unsuccessful | D．unexpected |
In the author's opinion, __________.
| A．a bath can make people relaxed |
| B．adults should express their inner feelings freely |
| C．walking in a busy city centre harms people's health |
| D．depression is usually caused by hard work |
The last paragraph mainly serves as a(n) __________.
| A． suggestion | B．explanation |
| C．introduction | D．reminder |