Not long ago, people thought babies were not able to learn things until they were five or six months old. Yet doctors in the United States say babies begin learning on their first day of life.
Scientists note that babies are strongly influenced by their environment. They say a baby will smile if her mother does something the baby likes. A baby learns to get the best care possible by smiling to please her mother or other caregivers. This is how babies learn to connect and communicate with other human beings.
One study shows that babies can learn before they are born. The researchers placed a tape recorder on the stomach of a pregnant woman. Then, they played a recording of a short story. On the day the baby was born, the researchers attempted to find if he knew the sounds of the story repeated while in his mother. They did this by placing a device in the mouth of the newborn baby.
The baby would hear the story if he moved his mouth one way. If the baby moved his mouth the other way, he would hear a different story. The researchers say the baby clearly liked the story he heard before he was born. They say the baby would move his mouth so he could hear the story again and again.
Another study shows how mothers can strongly influence social development and language skills in their children.
Researchers studied the children from the age of one month to three years. The researchers attempted to measure the sensitivity of the mothers. The women were considered sensitive if they supported their children’s activities and did not interfere (干涉) unnecessarily. They tested the children for thinking and language development when they were three years old. Also, the researchers observed the women for signs of depression (消沉).
The children of depressed women did not do as well in tests as the children of women who did not suffer from depression. The children of depressed women did poorly in tests of language skills and understanding what they hear.
These children also were less cooperative and had more problems dealing with other people. The researchers noted that the sensitivity of the mothers was important to the intelligence development of their children. Children did better when their mothers were caring, even when they suffered from depression.
| A．The environment. | B．Mother’s sensitivity. |
| C．Education before birth. | D．Their peers (同龄人) |
| A．To prove that babies can learn on the first day they are born. |
| B．To prove that babies can learn before they are born. |
| C．To show mothers can strongly influence intelligence development in their babies. |
| D．To indicate early education has a deep effect on the babies’ language skills. |
| A．The children of women who did not suffer from depression. |
| B．The children of depressed but caring mothers. |
| C．The children of depressed mothers who cared little for their children. |
| D．The children with high communication abilities. |
| A．Scientific findings about how intelligence develops in babies. |
| B．Scientific findings about how the environment has an effect on babies’ intelligence. |
| C．A study shows babies are not able to learn things until they are five or six months old. |
| D．Scientific findings about how babies develop before birth. |
Have you ever seen snow? Many people in the world have not. Some countries never have snow; some have only a little on the tops of very high mountains. In the north of England, there is quite a lot of snow every winter, but in the south of England, there is usually little.
When a student from a warm country comes to England in autumn for the first time, he feels cold at first. There are often dark clouds, grey sky and cold rain in England in autumn, and most students from warm countries do not like this.
But snow is different. Though it is cold, it is also beautiful. Perhaps, after several dark mornings, the student wakes up one day, and there is a lot of light in his room. He thinks “Is it so late?” and jumps out of bed. But no, it is not very late. He looks out of the window and there is the snow on the ground and on the houses and everywhere. The light of his room comes from clean, beautiful snow.In which part of England is there much snow in winter?
| A．In the east. | B．In the north. |
| C．In the west. | D．In the south. |
In the autumn of England, we can NOT often see __________.
| A．grey sky | B．dark clouds |
| C．strong winds | D．cold rain |
Why does the student ask himself “Is it so late?”
| A．Because he has some work to do. |
| B．Because it is bright in the room. |
| C．Because it is really late. |
| D．Because he usually gets up early. |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Every country in the world has snow in winter. |
| B．Foreign students like the weather in England. |
| C．It is often very warm in the autumn of England. |
| D．Many people in the world haven’t seen snow. |
I was born in the Tronto, Canada. Life looked bright and was filled with hope for my parents and me. My father and mother were married in 1980, and I was born next year.
As I grew into a man, I often looked to my father for advice and support. There were many things about his character that I admired, but like any young boy, I often thought that my father’s ideas were from the past and out of date.
I did well as a student and was the first person in my family to graduate from university. I went on to be a university professor and writer, and most people would say that I have had a very successful life. But I know much of my success is because of the lessons that he passed onto me.
On Father’s Day, I will look in the mirror and smile. My dad gave me many gifts, including my now bald head (秃顶), and the friendly smile that my friends say I have.
Thank you again, dad. I miss you. Happy Father’s Day.This passage should be a(an) _____________.
| A．note | B．letter | C．invitation | D．poster |
What does the underlined phrase “out of date” mean?
| A．时尚 | B．迂腐 | C．固执 | D．过时 |
From the passage we can know ____________.
| A．the writer is grateful to his father for what his father has done |
| B．the writer misses his father very much |
| C．the writer’s life is bright and full of hope |
| D．the writer’s father is loving |
The students were having their chemistry（化学）class. Miss Li was telling the children what water was like. After that, she asked her students, “What’s water?” No one spoke for a few minutes．Miss Li asked again，“Why don’t you answer my question？Didn’t I tell you what water is like？”
Just then a boy put up his hand and said，“Miss Li，you told us that water has no color and no smell．But where to find such kind of water？The water in the river behind my house is always black and it has a bad smell．”Most of the children agreed With him．
“I’m sorry，children．”said the teacher，“Our water is getting dirtier and dirtier．That’s a problem”． The students were having their _______ class．
| A．English | B．Chinese | C．chemistry | D．math |
Miss Li was telling the children what ______ was like．
| A．water | B．air | C．earth | D．weather |
A boy said，“The water in the river behind my house is always ___．”
| A．white | B．black | C．clean | D．clear |
Most of the children _______ the boy．
| A．agreed with | B．wrote to |
| C．heard from | D．sent for |
Many young people want to be pop stars. Pop stars are rich. Many people think they are leading a happy and easy life. In fact, they had very hard lives. They spend much of their time on travel. Sometimes the travel is interesting, but in most time it is boring to pop stars. The following chart is a day’s life of a pop star.
| Feb. 10,2007 |
|
| 5:00 |
Woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, packed bags. Took taxi to airport. |
| 7:30 |
Plane took off half an hour later than usual for the bad weather. |
| 8:30 |
Plane landed. Waited for luggage for half an hour. Signed for fans at the airport. |
| 9:45 |
Arrived at the hotel and had a short rest. |
| 10:00 |
Started out to attend the meeting with fans and give an interview to the local reporters. |
| 11:00 |
Went to radio station to attend the live show. |
| 12:00 |
Had lunch with local producer. |
| 13:00 |
Went to the theatre and reported for the night’s show. The lighting of the theatre was good, but the band did poorly. |
| 17:00 |
Back to hotel. Tried to have a rest. Still worried about the band. |
| 18:00 |
Had supper, but eat little. |
| 18:30 |
Went to theatre again and got read for show. |
| 19:00 |
Sang very well, and audience gave a warm welcome. The band improved a little. |
| 22:00 |
Show was over. Very tired from it. |
| 23:00 |
Bach to hotel. Took a bath. Too exited to sleep, so watched TV. |
| 0:00 |
Fell a sleep, with TV on. |
According to the chart, the pop star was a_____.
| A．singer | B．dancer | C．player | D．pianist |
According to his plan, his plane should have taken off at ______.
| A．6:30 | B．7:00 | C．7:30 | D．8:00 |
How long did he spend on his way to the place his performance?
| A．one hour | B．Two hours |
| C．four hours and three quarters | D．One hour and a quarter. |
At the radio station, the pop star ______ .
| A．Showed fans how to become famous |
| B．gave a performance on the air |
| C．met fans and singed for them |
| D．told people how he lived his life |
From this passage, we get to know that _____.
| A．not all people like pop stars |
| B．pop stars have their own bands |
| C．fans are troublesome for pop stars |
| D．to be a pop stars is not all fun |
Can plant eat people? Probably not. But there are many plants that eat meat. Some of them are big, and they can eat small animals. One famous meat- eating plant is the Venus flytrap(捕蝇草).
The Venus flytrap is a very strange plant. It grows in dry parts of the United States. Its leaves are like the pages of the book.. They can open and close very quickly. Inside the leaves, there are three small hairs. If a fly(苍蝇) touches one of the hairs, the leaf closes very quickly. Then the fly can’t go out. In about half an hour, the leaf presses the fly until it is dead. Then, the plant covers the fly. Slowly, the plant eats the fly. Why do plants do it? Most plants get what they need from the sun, the air, and the ground. In some places, the ground is very poor. It doesn’t have all the important things, especially nitrogen(氮). Animal meat has a lot of nitrogen. So some plants eat meat to get what they need. Let’s hope that some of the bigger plants don’t get the same idea.
根据短文内容判断。
1. The Venus flytrap grows in wet parts of the United States.
2. The Venus flytrap is a kind of plant.
3. The underlined word “presses” probably means（挤、压） in Chinese.
4. In the world, many animals eat plants but plants never eat animals.
5. From the passage, we know that not only animals eat plants, but also some plants eat animals.