Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country’s bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated (交配)it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbors -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them. The results of the South American experiment .
| A．are not yet certain | B．have proved to be wrong |
| C．have caused a serious trouble | D．are not important |
The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to .
| A．make African bees less active |
| B．make Brazilian bees more easy-going |
| C．increase the number of bees in Brazil |
| D．increase the amount of honey in Brazil |
Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
| A．Their production of honey. | B．Their living environment. |
| C．Their hard work. | D．Their bad temper. |
The last paragraph implies that .
| A．the bees have been driven to Central and North America |
| B．the bees must be stopped from moving north |
| C．the bees may bring about trouble in more countries |
| D．the bees prefer to live in Brazil |
I was working as a consultant in a beer company, helping the president and senior vice-presidents form and carry out their new planning projects. It was really a great challenge.
At the same time, my mother was in the final stages of cancer.
I worked during the day and drove 40 miles home to be with her every night. It was tiring and stressful, but it was what I wanted to do. My commitment was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day, even though my evenings were very hard. I didn’t want to bother the president with my situation, yet I felt someone at the company needed to know what was going on. So I told the vice-president of Human Resources, asking him not to share the information with anyone.
A few days later, the president called me into his office.
I figured he wanted to talk to me about one of the many issues we were working on. When I entered, he asked me to sit down. He faced me from across his large desk, looked at me in the eye and said, “I hear your mother is very ill”.
I was totally caught by surprise and burst into tears. He just looked at me, let my crying subside(平息), and then gently said a sentence I will never forget: whatever you need.
That was it. His understanding and his willingness to both let me be in my pain and to offer me everything were qualities of sympathy（同情）that I carry with me to this day.When the author was working in a beer company, his mother .
| A．was concerned about him | B．drew the president’s attention |
| C．was seriously ill | D．was proud of her son |
Although he felt tired and stressed, he felt it his duty .
| A．to help plan some new projects |
| B．to avoid bothering the president |
| C．to tell the vice-president his difficult situation |
| D．to do his job well and look after his mother |
Most probably, the president got the information from .
| A．a relative of the author’s | B．the vice-president |
| C．the author’s good friends | D．the author’s workmates |
Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
| A．Understanding Is Nowhere | B．Generous President |
| C．Sympathy Is Needed | D．An Unforgettable Memory |
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s.
In the same way, children are learning to do all the other things: they learn to do without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle, compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine(常规) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to judge their own understanding, and how to know what they know or do not know.The first paragraph is written mainly to _________.
| A．give advice on children’s language learning |
| B．tell us the fewer mistakes we correct, the better children will learn a language |
| C．suggest children are often too stubborn to accept advice |
| D．lead to the topic of the passage |
Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?
| A．Give children correct answers. |
| B．Allow children to make mistakes. |
| C．Point out children’s mistakes to them. |
| D．Let children mark their own work. |
According to the writer, teachers in school should ________.
| A．allow children to learn from each other |
| B．point out children’s mistakes whenever found |
| C．give children more book knowledge |
| D．correct children’s mistakes as soon as possible |
According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by _______.
| A．listening to skilled people’s advice |
| B．asking older people many questions |
| C．making mistakes and having them corrected |
| D．doing what other people do |
Laptop computers are popular all over the world. People use them on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels. These laptops connect people to their workplace. In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.
Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want. Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop. The laptops are part of a ＄10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college. The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet. In addition, they will be able to use e-mail to “speak” with their teachers, their classmates, and their families. However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs. They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees——anywhere at all!
Because of the many changes in computer technology , laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable. As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers. In addition, the portable computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources. State higher-education officials are studying how laptops can help students. State officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.
At Westlake College, more than 60 percent of the staff use computers. The laptops will allow all teachers to use computers in their lessons. As one Westlake teacher said, “ Here we are in the middle of Virginia and we’re giving students a window on the world. They can see everything and do everything.”The main purpose of the laptop program is to give each student a laptop to ________.
| A．use for their schoolwork | B．search the Internet |
| C．work at home | D．connect them to libraries |
Which of the following is true about Westlake College?
| A．All teachers use computers. |
| B．1500 students have laptops. |
| C．It is an old college in America. |
| D．Students there can do everything. |
“a window on the world” in the last paragraph means that students can ________.
| A．attend lectures on information technology |
| B．travel around the world |
| C．get information from around the world |
| D．have free laptops |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The program is terrible. |
| B．The program is not workable. |
| C．The program is too expensive. |
| D．We don’t know the result yet. |
For many young people, having to attend school with a parent would be their worst nightmare. However, Senior 1 student Li Qinmei is happy taking her father with her as long as she can go to classes. He is disabled and unable to take care of himself.
The 16-year-old country girl in Zhucheng, Shandong Province has experienced one disaster after another in her short life. Li lost her mother at three. Four years later, her father became paralyzed after a tractor accident. At 12, her misfortune returned with the death of her grandma. Since then she has been forced to shoulder all the responsibility for her broken family.
Li learnt to cook and managed to live a life with an allowance of only 24 yuan per month. The most difficult thing she had to deal with was helping her father bathe, dress and use the toilet as he could hardly move.
"I felt embarrassed, and so did my dad. It was really hard at the beginning," she recalled.
During most of her junior school years, Li went to classes only once a month as her father was seriously ill at the time.
"I taught myself at home and asked teachers for help on my school days," she explained.
Li's hard work paid off this fall. She was admitted by Zhucheng No 1 High School, a local key school, based on her good performance in the entrance exams.
The school offered Li and her father a room on campus to live in so she could look after him during breaks.
Once in a while, Li felt sad when she saw her classmates going shopping or hanging out with friends.
"I envy them sometimes because they have both mum and dad to look after them. However, I soon feel relieved as I still have my dad with me," she said.
Li admitted that the difficulties in life had taught her to be strong.
"I believe I will go on and continue my studies at a good university," she said, in a confident tone.
Her teacher Mr. Wang has the same belief. Li made great progress in the recent monthly exams. "She works hard and is always eager to excel . It's not easy for her never to be late for school, but she has managed to make it work," Wang said.Li Qinmei has to shoulder the family because ________.
| A．her father was badly injured in a car accident |
| B．her mother passed away when she was 3 |
| C．her grandma died when she was 12 |
| D．misfortune in her life forced her to do so |
From the passage we can infer that _________.
| A．Li Qinmei doesn’t like others talking about her father |
| B．many young students hate going to school with their parents |
| C．Li Qinmei has made little progress in her study |
| D．Li Qinmei has lost three relatives and has to take care of her father |
What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase “hanging out” in the passage?_________.
| A．playing outside | B．working hard | C．exchanging ideas | D．talking happily |
What’s the best title of the story?
| A．Difficulties make strong |
| B．A touching story |
| C．A strong-minded girl-Li Qinmei |
| D．Li Qinmei’s successful study life |
In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections(注射) so that they won't carry diseases. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every kind of stores. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food.
When you visit people's houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.The passage mainly talks about ______.
| A．how to keep diseases from pets |
| B．Canadians have pets as friends |
| C．how to take good care of pets |
| D．life of the old in Canada |
Pets are given injections in animal hospitals ______.
| A．in order to keep them safe |
| B．after being taken home |
| C．because they carry diseases |
| D．because they are sick |
The word "bird feeder" in the second paragraph probably means ______.
| A．a person who gives food to birds |
| B．a container that has food for birds |
| C．something that catches birds |
| D．an animal that eats birds |
In Canada, children leave their parents when they grow up because ______.
| A．they don't love their parents any more |
| B．they can only find jobs far from their parents |
| C．their parents' houses are too small |
| D．they wouldn't depend on their parents any more |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．People buy animal food only at the animal food stores. |
| B．Pets eat better than people. |
| C．Every family has a birdcage(鸟笼) in his house. |
| D．Any bird can come to the bird feeders to eat. |