Butterflies are some of the most fascinating and beautiful insects in the world. Adult butterflies will live about 2 to 4 weeks. They use their senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste to survive in the world, find food and mates, lay eggs in an appropriate place, migrate, and avoid hungry enemies.
Butterflies have large compound eyes, which allow them to see in all directions without turning their heads. Like most insects, butterflies are very nearsighted, so they are more attracted to a sea of flowers than individual plants. Butterflies do not “see” colors such as red, green, and yellow, but they can sense sunlight, which indicates the direction the sun is shining, as well as ultraviolet light, which is present on many flowers and guides butterflies to honey sources.
Butterflies have a very well-developed sense of smell, but it is not in their nose, since they don't have one. Sense receptors are located in their antennae, feet, and many other parts of the body. They can help butterflies find their favorite flower honey food, and mates.
Butterflies' feet have sense organs that can taste the sugar in flower honey, letting the butterflies know if something is good to eat or not. Some females also carefully choose host plants by tasting to find appropriate places to lay their eggs. Adult butterflies feed their babies using a long tube. Butterflies force blood into the tube to straighten it out, allowing them to feed. Butterflies get all their food from this tube.
Butterflies don't have ears. Instead they “hear” sounds through their wings by sensing changes in sound vibrations.
Butterflies may possess senses we don't even know about yet, because their body structure is very different from ours, and therefore difficult to understand, when observed through our own human senses.The text mainly focuses on ________.
A.butterflies' living habits | B.butterflies' beauty |
C.butterflies' senses | D.butterflies' daily activities |
What can we learn from the 2nd paragraph?
A.Butterflies can see in all directions and don't need to turn heads. |
B.Butterflies have good eyesight. |
C.Butterflies are sensitive to bright colors including red and yellow. |
D.Butterflies cannot sense the ultraviolet light. |
Why do female adult butterflies carefully choose the host plants?
A.To find highqualified honey. |
B.To have a good place for living. |
C.To make it easier for them to hide from the enemies. |
D.To find a proper place for their eggs. |
Mo Yan, a Chinese writer has won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced the Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Thursday. The win makes Mo Yan the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel in its history. Informed of his win today, the author, who was having dinner at home, was “overjoyed and scared”.
Born in 1955 to parents who were farmers, Mo Yan--a pen name for Guan Moye, grew up in Gaomi in shandong province in eastern China. At the age of 12, he left school to work, first in agriculture, later in a factory, In 1976 he joined the army and during this time began to study literature and writing.
He published his first book in 1981, but found literary success in 1987 with Hong Gaoliang Jiazu, which was successfully filmed in the stone year, directed by famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. In his writing, Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings in the province of his birth and his works show the life of Chinese people as well as the country’s unique culture and folk customs. Mo Yan is known as a prolific (多产的)writer. In addition to his novels, he has published many short stories and essays on various topics. Despite his social criticism, be is seen in his homeland as one of the most famous contemporary authors. Dozens of his works have been translated into English, French, Japanese and many other languages.
The awarding ceremony was held on December 10. Mo Yan won a medal, a personal diploma and a cash award of about $1 million.How did Mo Yan feel when he was told about the news?
A.Excited and proud. | B.Worried and cautious. |
C.Uncertain and shocked | D.Happy and surprised.. |
Mo Yan developed his ability for writing when he was ________.
A.on a farm | B.in a factory |
C.in the army | D.in a school |
One of Mo Yan’s characteristics of writing is that he _________.
A.explains difficult matters in simple words |
B.focuses on social problems in the country |
C.writes about topics he is familiar with |
D.describes his characters in a unique way |
What’s the best title for this passage?
A.Mo Yan Wins Nobel Prize in Literature |
B.An Introduction to Nobel Prize |
C.How Mo Yan Gets Nobel Prize |
D.A World Famous Writer, Mo Yan |
After successfully serving their terms for 4 years, military service men and women are given the choice to stay in the military or return to civilian life.
For some, having to readjust to civilian life is one of the most challenging assignments our returning soldiers and marines(水兵)will ever to undertake. While people may think readjusting should be simple, they must take into consideration all physical and mental stress our servicemen went through.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(创伤后应急障碍),or PTSD, is a mental disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat(打仗).
Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. In the military, the marines are given a two-week course on how to return to civilian life.
Unfortunately, some will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individual may develop PTSD.
People who suffer from PTSD have difficulty sleeping because they are often reliving the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, and feel deserted or often stand off, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly damage the person’s daily life.
Fullerton College, like most colleges, has its own Veteran’s Office. Ray Bustos has been running the office for 3 years. Bustos acts as a liaison(联络) for the school and the veteran students. He makes sure the veterans returning to school get the right benefits. There are various types of financial aid for soldiers and marines. He strongly encourages the use of the Veteran Affairs website.
The website is very informative and extremely helpful for veterans as well as for friends and relatives of veterans who want to learn more.One purpose of the writer in writing the passage is ________________.
A.to introduce some methods to cure PTSD |
B.to instruct PTSD patients to return to civilian life |
C.to recommend a website to veterans and people concerned |
D.to give military service men and women advice on civilian life |
What problems will some returning soldiers and marines meet with?
A.How to readjust to civilian life. |
B.how to get rid of mental diseases. |
C.How to get along with PTSD patients. |
D.How to return to school for benefits. |
Which of the following is true about Ray Bustos?
A.He’s a veteran who has just come back from a military combat. |
B.He runs Fullerton College with a veteran office. |
C.He’s in charge of an office dealing with veteran affairs. |
D.He provides a lot of financial aid for soldiers and marines. |
The best title for the passage is __________.
A. PTSD: Killer of A Civilian Life
B. The Last Assignment For All Military Persons
C. How to Overcome PTSD.
D. Ready for a Civilian Life?
A few days ago I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven’t seen for a very long time. The topic, which was about all the good old times that we had changed to a touching story when he started talking about his father.
His father’s declining health made him stay at the hospital. Because of his illness, his father suffered from insomnia(失眠) and often talked to himself. My friend, who had not been able to sleep for a few days as he had to keep watching his father’s condition, became irritated and told his father to keep silent and try to get some sleep. His father said that he really wanted to sleep well because he was very tired and told my friend to leave him alone in the hospital if he did not want to keep him company.
After his father finished talking, he fell unconscious. My friend was very sorry for speaking the ill words towards his father. My friend, whom I knew as a tough person, cried as a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on, he prayed every day, asking God to let his father wake up from his coma. He promised himself that whatever words came out from his father’s mouth after he regained his consciousness, he would gladly take them. His only hope for God was to give him a chance to rectify his past mistake.
Often, we complain when we have to accompany or watch over our parents for years, months, days, hours or even minutes. But do we realize that our parents keep us company and watch over us for as long as we (or they)live? From the day we were born to our adulthood, and even when deaths come to us, they are always at our side.
Imagine how sad our parents will be when they hear a seemingly innocent word of “no” come out from our mouths. We can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no more complaints that come out from our mouths when we have to watch over or accompany our parents. No more complaints come out from our mouths when we feel that our parents have treated us like little children. There are so many unlucky ones who have neither fathers nor mothers. They long to have the things that we most complain about, but never have them.
Actually, it takes only a second to think and light the lamp that will bring us to a place where peace is dwelling.Which of the following word can be used to describe the writer’s friend?
A.Sad | B.Sorry | C.Regretful | D.Pitiful |
What does the underlined word “rectify” mean in Para. 3?
A.put…right | B.recite…by heart | C.realize | D.recognize |
What does the writer want to tell us in the passage?
A.Your parents will keep talking to themselves when they are old. |
B.Be good to your parents when you still have the chance. |
C.You will regret in your life if you don’t show your kindness to your parents. |
D.It is not easy to take good care of sick old parents. |
The Mandarin Chinese word for “cha” is pronounced “t'e” in certain Chinese dialects(方言).Also the Malay word for the leaf is“the”.This word “the” was used to describe both the drink and the leaf.The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as the Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference; so these may be the origins of our word tea in the western world.
Tea may have been discovered in 2737 BC by Shen Nong, a Chinese Emperor of the San Huang Period(3,000 - 2,700 BC). He was a scholar, the father of agriculture and the inventor of Chinese herbal medicine. One summer day, while visiting a distant place, he and the court stopped to rest and his servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and made it a brown liquid. The Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. The tree was a wild tea tree, and so, tea was created.
The first samples(样品) of tea reached England between 1652 and 1654. Tea was referred to as the China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, and tea and was at first regarded more as a medicine than a fashionable drink. The original English pronunciation of the word tea was “tay” and can be traced back to around 1655 when the Dutch introduced both word and beverage(饮料)to England. The pronunciation “tee” also originated in the 1600's but only gained predominance(主导地位)after the late 18th century.
By 1650 the Dutch were actively involved in trade throughout the Western world. During that year Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America to the colonists(殖民地定居者)in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later re-named New York).The following information is true EXCEPT ________.
A.The Japanese write the character for tea the same way as we Chinese. |
B.It was a Chinese Emperor who first found tea very refreshing. |
C.The word “the” was used to describe only the leaf. |
D.Tea was discovered quite by chance in history. |
Paragraph 2 mainly tells us ________.
A.that Shen Nong, was a famous inventor of Chinese herbal medicine |
B.why the Emperor was brave and dared to run risks |
C.whether Shen Nong liked drinking boiled water outside the court |
D.the way in which tea was created outdoors |
Which of the following information is FALSE according to the text?
① Tea was at first regarded just as a fashionable drink in England.
② Tea had different names during the early days it reached England.
③ The pronunciation “tee”originated in 1600.
④ Peter Stuyvesant introduced both word “tay” and beverage(饮料)to England.
⑤ The pronunciation“tee”became popular after the late 18th century.
A.①② | B.②③ | C.④⑤ | D.①④ |
From Paragraph 3 we know ________.
A.that the leaf tea should be put in hot water for drinking |
B.that tea was called the China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, t'e and tea in England |
C.what the early situation of tea was like in the Western world |
D.that tea was first brought to America in the late 16th century |
How long you live has a lot to do with your environment and lifestyle, but exceptional(特别的)long life may have even more to do with your genes. For the first time, researchers have discovered a genetic recipe(基因谱)that accurately predicts who may live to 100 and beyond.
Analysis shows that 90% of the participants who lived to 100 had at least one of the signature genetic clusters(标志基因组). Dr. Thomas Perls at the Boston University School of Medicine said, “We realize this is a complex genetic puzzle. There is a long way for us to go to understand how the integration(融合)of these genes—not just with themselves but with environmental factors—is playing a role in this long life puzzle.”
Perls has studied many factors that contribute to long life, and he is the first to acknowledge that living longer isn’t likely to be simply a matter of genes. His previous work has shown, for example, that among most elderly people who live into their 70s and 80s, about 70% can owe their long life to environmental factors such as not smoking; eating a healthy, low-fat, low-calorie diet; and remaining socially engaged and mentally active throughout life.
It seems clear that those who live extremely long are benefiting from a special DNA. In fact, Perls believes that the older a person gets, the more likely it is that his or her genes are contributing to those extended years.Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 2?
A.Most long-living people have special long-life-related genes. |
B.Ninety percent of the participants lived to 100 years of age. |
C.All the long-living people have only one signature genetic cluster. |
D.Scientists know how the integration of the genes helps people live long. |
Perls may most likely agree that .
A.most people living extremely long benefit from not smoking |
B.living longer just depends on certain genetic recipes |
C.environmental factors play an important role in long-living |
D.being mentally active has nothing to do with living an old age |
Which of the following is FALSE according to the text?
A.Remaining socially engaged helps a person to live long. |
B.A genetic recipe can accurately predict who may live to 100 and beyond. |
C.Perls is the first to think living longer is just a matter of genes. |
D.The older he gets, the more likely the genes contribute to his extended years. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.Genes May Predict Who Lives to 100 | B.Environment And Genes |
C.Genes, the Secret of Long Living | D.Lifestyle And Genes |