You probably know that frogs hop ( 双足跳 ). But did you know that there’s a small frog in the Pacific Northwest that bellyflops（肚子先着水）? It’s called a tailed frog.
Dr.Rick Essner, who has been studying tailed frogs for the past few years, says, “ I’ve looked at thousands of jumps and have never seen them land on their feet like other frogs.” Most of the time, tailed frogs land on their stomachs and then bring their back legs in to prepare for another jump.
Essner forst noticed these frogs because of the way they swim. Other frogs kick both of their back legs at the same time. But when a tailed frog swims, it pushes first with one leg and then the other.
To try to find out why tailed frogs bellyflop, Essner and other scientists collected and filmed different kinds of frogs. They found that all of the frogs start their jumps the same way: they hold out their legs. The change comes in the landing. Tailed frogs can't move their back legs as quickly as other frogs do. Maybe they don’t need to. Tailed frogs live around water and quickly jump into the water to escape danger.
Early frogs developed around watery areas and could jump quickly into the water to escape danger. Scientists think those frogs blended in with (与…融合在一起) the green plants on the side of the rocky rivers, just like today’s tailed frogs. “Ｉwould guess that other animals would have problems detecting them, ” explains Essner. When other animals find those early frogs, the frogs could jump into the river. They didn’t need to continue hopping.
Tailed frogs and other kinds of frogs went their own ways about 200 million years ago. Tailed frogs stayed by rivers. Other kinds of frogs moved to places where new hopping skills allowed them to survive. What’s special about the detailed frog ?
| A．It has a long tail |
| B．It jumps on one foot |
| C．It stars its jump differently |
| D．It lands differently from other frogs. |
Why do tailed frogs bellyflop?
| A．They have never left the water to live . |
| B．They have trouble in holding out their legs |
| C．Their back legs can’t catch up while jumping.. |
| D．Their front legs develop better than the back ones. |
The underlined word “detecting” in Paragraph 5 means “______”.
| A．eating | B．killing |
| C．using | D．discovering |
When they are in danger, the detailed frogs would _________.
| A．jump into the water for protection |
| B．hop around quickly |
| C．hide in the green plants near the river |
| D．jump into the rock |
Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to forget the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |
They like using the Internet. They have lots of pocket money to spend. And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.
But paying online is a troublesome business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards. Most have to use a parent’s card. They want a facility that allows them to spend money.
That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.
In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK. Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK. According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.
In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children. Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing them to spend on the high street. They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.
One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercash is through prepaid cards such as InternetCash in the US and Smart cards in the UK. Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．Sellers. | B．Buyers. | C．Teenagers. | D．Parents. |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access. |
| B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards. |
| C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online. |
| D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop. |
New way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.
| A．a new machine | B．special coins and notes |
| C．prepaid cards | D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Online shopping traps. |
| B．Internet users in the US and the UK. |
| C．New credit cards for parents. |
| D．The arrival of cyber pocket money. |
Student Membership-----Cambridge Arts Cinema
Cambridge Arts Cinema is one of the art houses in Britain and home of the internationally celebrated Cambridge Film Festival. Since 1947 generations of students have discovered the wealth of world cinema. Now you too can make most of it and save money.
Which of the following is the most famous event held at Cambridge Arts Cinema?
| A．The Cambridge Film Festival. | B．Meetings with filmmakers. |
| C．The preview screening. | D．Monthly premieres. |
If you're a member of Cambridge Arts Cinema, you will enjoy free＿
| A．Darkroom Gallery shows | B．mailed programmes |
| C．special film events | D．film shows |
How long will the membership for Cambridge Arts Cinema last?
| A．Four months. | B．Eight months. |
| C．Nine months. | D．One year. |
For what purpose is the text written?
| A．Offering students cheaper tickets． |
| B．Announcing the opening of a premiere. |
| C．Telling the public of the cinema's address. |
| D．Increasing the cinema's membership. |
Twice in the past few days, I've witnessed families arguing to the point of having major 'falling outs' (when you get so angry with each other that there is threat of withdrawing love from a family member and/or abandoning the relationship). Last night, one of those situations occurred and a friend contacted me on QQ and asked my advice.
Their situation arose where a son-in-law had disagreements with his wife and then got into a quarrel with his mother-in-law and father-in-law. In the end, the son-in-law threatened to cut off all relationship with his in laws and also to deny his in laws a relationship with his own daughter, their granddaughter.
Not only did the son-in-law threaten his wife's parents, but he has followed through with his threat and hasn't allowed his wife or his child to have any contact with his wife's parents in almost a year.
The first question my friend asked me was, "Michael, what do you do when you get into a quarrel with your family?" I said, "I don't know." They said, "Well what about when you quarrel with your mother or one of your siblings (brother or sister)?" I said, "I don't know." He said, "Well, what would you do if you got into an argument with your in laws when you were married?" I said, "I don't know." He said, "What do you mean that you don't know?" I said, "Well, I never got into a quarrel with my in-laws, my mother or my siblings." He said, "Be serious, Michael. I need some help with this situation." I said, "I am serious. I never quarreled with mother, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law or brother-in-law. At least not in my adult life (since I turned 18 years old)." My friend found it hard to believe that I never did any of these things. I suppose (I really don't know; Ha!) that many people wouldn't believe that an entire family could maintain a such a level of peace, harmony, respect and love. The truth is, my family doesn't do those things.
You may wonder 'why' we don't do that. Well, I never really thought about 'why' we don't do that. But I do know, we don't. So, I did the most logical thing I could think of. I asked my mother 'why' we don't quarrel, argue, fight and have such situations. Some people believe that if you don't argue, quarrel and fight, then, you don't care enough. I would say that my family cares very deeply for each other and love each other and express our love to each other, very often. We don't believe that you have to quarrel, argue and fight in order to show that you care and that you love the other. Instead, we show that we love, care and respect each other by, well, loving, caring and respecting each other. What can we infer from the passage？
| A．The writer doesn’t care his family. |
| B．The writer has cultural differences with his friends. |
| C．The writer often quarrels with his family member. |
| D．The writer knows why their family don’t quarrel. |
How did the quarrel mentioned in the passage happen?
A.The son-in-law had disagreements with his wife.
BThe son-in-law had disagreements with his in laws.
C.The son-in-law had disagreements with his daughter.
D.The son-in-law threatened to cut off relationships with his in laws.How many questions did the friend ask the writer?
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
How do the members in the writer’s family live in harmonious？
| A．by quarrelling with each other. |
| B．by showing love, care and respect to each other. |
| C．by living together with each other. |
| D．by giving gifts to each other. |
Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease as people get older. Yet research seems to show that some training can improve such skills. A recently published study also appears to demonstrate that the good effects of training can last for many years after that training has ended.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills would last in older people who trained to keep them. The people were part of the ten-year research project. They were taught methods meant to improve their memory, thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks.
More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE - short for Advanced (Cognitive) Training for Independent and Vital Elderly. Most studied when they were more than 70 years old.
The volunteers took one of several short training classes meant to help them keep their mental abilities. One class trained participants in skills including how to remember word lists. Another group trained in reasoning. A third group received help with speed-of-processing - speed of receiving and understanding information. A fourth group - the control group did not get any training.
Earlier results had established that the training helped the participants for up to five years. Now, lead study writer George Rebok says, the research showed most of the training remained effective a full ten years later.
Professor Rebok and his team found that the people trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing did better on tests than the control group.
"We are wondering whether those effects which endured over time would still be there ten years following the training, and in fact, that's exactly what we found."
The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long. Still, the old people in any of the three classes generally reported less difficulty in performing daily activities than the control group. The total training time for the older people was between 10 and 15 hours. Which statement is true according to the text？
| A．This kind of training can only have effect on people for a few years。 |
| B．The people were trained during a period of ten years. |
| C．All the people who were studied were more than 70 years old. |
| D．The second group were trained how to remember word lists. |
What can be inferred from the passage？
| A．There were four groups being trained. |
| B．The old people trained can remember words better. |
| C．The second and third group improved their skills better than the first one. |
| D．The research showed that the effect of the training could absolutely last 10 years. |
What’s the main idea of the fourth paragragh?
| A．What was the meaning of the research? |
| B．How was the research conducted? |
| C．Why was the mental training effective? |
| D．How long did the research last? |
What is the best title of the passage？
| A．Mental Training Helped Elderly Stay Sharp for Years |
| B．How to improve our mental health |
| C．Four groups of old people were trained mentally. |
| D． The result of a ten-year research |