Some plants get so hungry they eat flies, and even small frogs. What's more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they're found on every continent except Antarctica.
You've probably seen a Venus' flytrap -- a small plant, which grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (茎) are leaves that act like traps (陷阱). Inside each trap is a lining of tiny hairs. When an insect lands on them, the traps suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus' flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society's Newsletter. He states although you might have read some science-fiction stories, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Barry says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following: "attract, kill, digest, and absorb" some form of insects. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants -- well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar to produce food. What makes meat-eating plants different is their special leaves, which need insects for one reason: nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can't obtain any other way. Why?
Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. Meat-eating plants can't. They live in places where nutrients are hard to get from the soil because of its acidity. So they've come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soft is poisonous to meat-eating plants. Never fertilize (施肥) them! But don't worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they'll grow very slowly.According to the passage, a Venus' flytrap ______.
| A．is a small plant which grows in a container |
| B．is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily |
| C．can trap and feed on some form of insects |
| D．can only grow 6-8 inches tall |
From the passage, we can infer that ______.
| A．meat-eating plants are found nowhere else except Antarctica |
| B．all green plants get nitrogen from the soil |
| C．meat-eating plants endanger humans in science-fiction stories |
| D．the nutrient-poor soil is beneficial to meat-eating plants |
Meat-eating plants grow very slowly, ______.
| A．so you'd better fertilize them |
| B．probably because the supply of nitrogen is cut off |
| C．simply because they can't absorb nitrogen from the soil |
| D．and then they will die slowly |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants. |
| B．It's hard to get nutrients in the soil when acidity is high. |
| C．The Venus' flytrap eats flies to get nutrient from them. |
| D．Green plants make sugar at night. |
The Exterminating Angel
Director: Luis Bunuel
Country/Date : Mexico/1962 (black and white)
Introduction : A party is organized in a high class society house. Many people are drinking and eating. It’s getting late, but nobody is leaving. Even though the door is open, people seem to be locked in the house. They can’t leave either the day or on the following days. So a rescue began.
The Net
Director: Irwin Winkler
Country/Date: U.S.A./1995
Introduction: Angela Bennettt is a computer programmer who has devoted her life to computers and the Internet. She spends hours and hours in front of the screen. She does everything over the Internet, and she has some close friends in a chat room, though she has never talked to her neighbors.
Kung Fu Panda
Director : Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Country/Date : U.S.A./2008
Introduction: The leading character is a panda whose name is Po. He is lazy first but he has a great dream——to be a kung fu master. To make his dream come true, he goes to a faraway temple to learn kung fu from a master. However, one of his brothers, Tai Long wants to become the kung fu master, killing many of his brothers even the master. So Po fights against Tai Long and defeats him, The film is good especially for kids.
Life is Beautiful
Director: Roberto Benigni
Country/Date : Italy/1998
Introduction: In 1939, during World WarⅡ in Italy, Guido, a hopeful man, the main character fell in love with Dora, and they got married. Five years later, their lives changed. Guido and Joshua were taken by the Nazis（纳粹）to a concentration camp and Dora also went there with her husband and son. At that place, Guido tried his best to save his son’s life in a special way.Who is the director of The Net?
| A．Luis Bunuel | B．Irwin Winkler |
| C．Mark Osborne | D．Roberto Benigni |
Which film is black and white?
| A．The Exterminating Angel. | B．The Net. |
| C．Kung Fu Panda. | D．Life is Beautiful. |
Which film is especially fit for kids?
| A．The Exterminating Angel. | B．The Net. |
| C．Kung Fu Panda. | D．Life is Beautiful. |
What can we learn about Life is Beautiful?
| A．It’s about a rescue of people who can’t leave a house. |
| B．The story is set in World WarⅡ. |
| C．It was made in America in 1995. |
| D．The main character is absorbed in computer. |
My 18-month-old son, Adam, called from the front door. “Look, Mama! Doggie!” I dropped what I was doing and stuck my head out the door. Brandy, our next-door neighbor’s 11-year-old dog, was over again. “Go away!” I shouted.
Brandy’s owner had died about a month earlier. The woman’s family had emptied the house and stuck a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, but the family had left old Brandy behind. For weeks, she’d been wandering around the neighborhood.
It wasn’t that I disliked dogs or anything like that. I just didn’t think about them very much. I never had a dog growing up and had never thought to get one.
Brandy went away and I stayed outside with Adam. Then the phone rang. I went inside to take the call. When I came back, Adam was gone. I searched the yard, front and back, then the basketball court and public pool. No trace of him. I was so nervous that I ran home and called the police, then my husband.
Police searched the neighborhood. Suddenly I heard another sound: a dog barking. “It’s coming from the woods,” one of my neighbors said. We followed the barking to a wooded cliff（悬崖）. There we found my son, and he was just inches away from the edges of the cliff, fast asleep. Brandy was beside him, leaning（倚靠）against him to keep him away from the edge. When I picked Adam up, Brandy sank down on her side, breathing quickly. She must have been holding Adam there for hours!
I thanked the police and brought Adam and Brandy back to our house. She hesitated a moment on our doorstep, no doubt remembering the time I’d driven her away.
“Come on, girl,” I said. “This is your home now.” Brandy stepped in, and once she saw she was really welcome, she relaxed and lay down on the floor just inside the door. She’d done a great thing, and I wondered if she knew it . She’d certainly touched me in a way that no animal ever had. What a pity a dog like Brandy had been left behind!What is the correct order for the events in the story about Brandy?
a. She was left behind by her owner’s family.
b. She stepped into the woman’s house.
c. She appeared at the woman’s front door.
d. She stayed beside the woman’s son for hours.
| A．d, a, b, c | B．a, c, b, d |
| C．c, d, b, a | D．a, c, d, b |
What did the woman do when she first saw Brandy?
| A．She gave her some food. |
| B．She drove her away. |
| C．She took her home. |
| D．She said thank you to her. |
Why did the woman call the police?
| A．Her son was lost |
| B．Brandy was gone. |
| C．Brandy appeared in her yard. |
| D．She got a scary call. |
How were they able to know that the woman’s son was near the cliff?
| A．By searching the neighborhood. |
| B．By hearing a dog barking. |
| C．By following a dog’s footsteps. |
| D．By hearing her son’s crying. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
Medical drugs sometimes cause more damage than they cure. One solution to this problem is to put the drugs inside a capsule，protecting them from the body-and the body from them－until they can be released at just the right spot. There are lots of ways to trigger(引发)this release，including changing temperature，acidity，and so on. But triggers can come with their own risks－burns，for example. Now，researchers in California have designed what could be a harmless trigger to date：shining near-infrared light(NIR，近红外线)on the drug in the capsule.
The idea of using light to liberate the drug in the capsule isn't new. Researchers around the globe have developed polymers(聚合物)and other materials that begin to break down when they absorb either ultraviolet(UV，紫外线)or visible light. But tissues also readily absorb UV and visible light，which means the drug release can be triggered only near the skin，where the light can reach the capsule. NIR light largely passes through tissues，so researchers have tried to use it as a trigger. But few compounds(化合物)absorb NIR well and go through chemical changes.
That changed last year when Adah Almutairi，a chemist at the University of Califomia，San Diego，reported that she and her colleagues had designed a polymer that breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. Their polymer used a commercially available NIRabsorbing group called onitrobenzyl(ONB)．When they catch the light，ONB groups fall off the polymer，leading to its breakdown. But ONB is only a so-so NIR absorber，and it could be poisonous to cells when it separates from the polymer.
So Almutairi and her colleagues reported creating a new material for capsules that's even better. This one consists of a long chain of compounds called cresol groups linked in a polymer. Cresol contains reactive(易反应的)components that make it highly unstable in its polymeric form，a feature Almutairi and her colleagues use to their advantage. After polymerizing the cresols，they cap each reactive component with a light-absorbing compound called Bhc. When the Bhcs absorb NIR light，the reactive groups are exposed and break the long polymer into two short chains. Shining additional light continues this breakdown，potentially releasing any drugs in the capsule. What's more，Almutairi says，Bhc is 10 times better at absorbing NIR than is ONB and is not poisonous to cells.According to the passage，which of the following could be the best trigger?
| A．Temperature change. |
| B．NIR light. |
| C．Acidity change. |
| D．UV light. |
Why is ONB unsatisfactory?
| A．It breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. |
| B．It falls off the polymer and triggers drug release. |
| C．It has not come onto the market up till now. |
| D．It is not effective enough and could be poisonous. |
Which word can be used to complete the following process of changes?
⇨⇨⇨
| A．protected |
| B．formed |
| C．exposed |
| D．combined |
Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.
Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（婴儿）are able to quantify substances（物质）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.
With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.
“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”
This information further refutes（驳斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.
“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.
In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.The quantifying ability refers to the ability to ________.
| A．choose between different substances |
| B．get much knowledge of the world |
| C．identify the quantity of something |
| D．obtain math-related skills |
Babies choose the larger amount of food ________.
| A．by saying numbers |
| B．with the help of parents |
| C．on personal preference |
| D．through their natural abilities |
We can learn from the text that ________.
| A．some parents don't care about their kids |
| B．people used to think the world is known to babies |
| C．little research has been done on infants |
| D．scholars have different opinions on baby-training programs |
Forget counting sleep. Next time you are having trouble going to sleep，try putting on a jazz CD.
Researchers have shown just 45 minutes of relaxing music before bedtime can make for a restful night.
The Taiwanese researchers studied the sleeping patterns of 60 elderly people with sleep problems. They told the Journal of Advanced Nursing how the technique was easy to learn and lacked the side effects of other treatments. The study participants were either given a choice of music to listen to before going to sleep or nothing at all. The music group were able to choose from six tapes that featured soft, slow music—around 60-80 beats per minute—such as jazz, folk or orchestral pieces.
Listening to music caused physical changes that aided restful sleep, including a lower heart and respiratory(呼吸的) rate, the researchers found.
The people in the music group reported a 35% improvement in their sleep, including better and longer night-time sleep and less dysfunction(机能障碍) during the day.
Lead author Professor Hui-Ling Lai, of the Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital and the University of Taiwan, said, “The music group reported a 26% overall improvement in the first week and this figure continued to rise as they mastered the technique of relaxing into sedative(安神的) music.”
Professor Jim Horne, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, said, “If anyone is a bit agitated before they go to bed, then anything that can help calm them down and relax is a good thing.”
“Some say making sure older people sleep less in the afternoon and get plenty of exposure to daylight can help them get a better night’s sleep.”Listening to music before going to sleep ________.
| A．is better than other treatments to help you sleep |
| B．can cure some diseases as well as sleeplessness |
| C．is a necessary step for the elder |
| D．can improve one's taste for music |
Listening to music has some help on the elder EXCEPT ________.
| A．sleep well |
| B．lower heart rate |
| C．increase blood cycle |
| D．lower breath rate |
The underlined word “agitated” means “________”．
| A．relaxed |
| B．disappointed |
| C．nervous |
| D．surprised |
What's the best title for the passage?
| A．People will benefit from music |
| B．The relation between sleeplessness and music |
| C．A research shocks the world |
| D．Listen to music to help you sleep |