They’re WILD animals
By Ernst-Ulrich Franzen
March 11, 2010(3) Comments
The story about the woman who lost some fingers while feeding a bear at a zoo in Manitowoc, after she ignored warnings and barriers(栅栏), reminded me of the story I heard about a couple who put their baby on the back of a wild horse in South Dakota to get a really cute picture. We all do silly things at times — no one is immune — but treating wild animals as lovely pets has to fall into a special category. Teddy bears and Disney movies aren’t actually representative of real bears.
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1. TosaLeft - Mar 11, 2010 10:46AM
Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe some alcohol was involved?
2. tk421 - Mar 11, 2010 11:09 AM
It was already approved that alcohol was involved. Stories that begin with a drunk person saying “Hey, I got an idea, watch this!” rarely end well.
3. Tristan Kloss - Mar 11, 2010 11:41 AM
Alcohol certainly isn’t involved when people decide to keep “pets” like chimpanzees, baby tigers, etc. Stupidity, definitely. Dogs are pets because of thousands of years of domestication. Even farm animals, which have been kept by humans for thousands of years as well, aren’t let in the house. So why keep animals that treat human contact with, at best, indifference(冷淡、不在乎) and, at worst, violence?In Ernst-Ulrich Franzen’s opinion, the woman lost her fingers because ________.
| A．the zoo keepers didn’t warn her of the danger |
| B．she didn’t know the bear was a wild animal |
| C．she was somehow influenced by cartoon characters |
| D．she climbed over the barriers and angered the bea |
TosaLeft thinks the wounded woman ________.
| A．may have been drunk | B．may be a little stupid |
| C．was addicted to wine | D．fed wine to the bear |
tk421 means a drunk person ________.
| A．should be forbidden to enter the zoo |
| B．usually gets himself into trouble |
| C．is often fond of making up stories |
| D．usually likes to show himself off |
What does Tristan Kloss think of people treating wild animals as pets?
| A．Kind. | B．Illegal. |
| C．Loving. | D．Stupid. |
“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move,” said David Belle, the founder of parkour (跑酷).
Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what about making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.
Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop.
Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.
Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, "I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything."
Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence. Parkour has become popular throughout the world because of________.
| A．its founder, David Belle | B．the film, Casino Royale |
| C．its risks and tricks | D．the varieties of participants |
The underlined word "obstacles" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “_______”.
| A．streets | B．objects | C．barriers | D．roofs |
Which of the following statements is TRUE of parkour?
| A．It challenges human abilities. | B．It is a good but boring sport. |
| C．It needs special training. | D．It is a team sport.. |
As its participants move around a city, they tend to __________.
| A．reach the destination as soon as possible |
| B．choose the easiest way |
| C．challenge extremes |
| D．consider safety first |
Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem. It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Despite his exhaustion, Howe slept badly. He tossed（辗转） and turned. Then he had a nightmare
He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem.
Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make a small hole in the center of the needle and have the thread run through it.
This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein.
To appreciate the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious(无意识的), but still active part
digests your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day.
However, the unconscious part expresses itself through its own logic and its own language.. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.Which of the following was the main problem for Elias Howe to design a sewing machine?
| A．Deciding the kind of thread to use for the machine. |
| B．Making the thread run smoothly around the needle. |
| C．Designing a needle which would not easily break. |
| D．Finding the proper place to put the needle. |
Which of the following is Howe’s final solution to his problem?
| A．Making a small hole in the needle. |
| B．Tossing and turning the needle. |
| C．Finding out a better kind of thread. |
| D．Having the thread running around the needle. |
According to the passage, Elias Howe was________.
| A．much more hard-working than other inventors |
| B．the first person who solved problems while sleeping |
| C．the first person at the time who knew the value of dreams |
| D．the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked |
Thomas Edison is mentioned because________.
| A．he also tried to invent a sewing machine |
| B．he was one of Howe’s best friends |
| C．he also had difficulty in falling asleep |
| D．he got some of his ideas from dreams |
Richard Wagner was a German musician has been a very controversial(有争议的) person, but he has gained great fame by writing opera, a form of performance combining singing, music on instruments, and drama.
While he wrote excellent music, many people think his operas are too dark and serious, lacking the fun common in operas written before his time.
Wagner, on the other hand, thought the opera of his time was too simple．He wanted to make opera a serious form of art that combined drama and music to tell deep stories that would have a strong effect on the audience.
Some people thought Wagner’s new kind of music was too different from the operas they were used to hearing．Wagner agreed with them．In fact, he didn’t call his works “operas” at all, using instead a German word that means “Musical Festival” or “Musical play”.
While many people today still do not like Wagner’s operas, they cannot deny that Wagner has had a lot of influence on opera as a form of art．Wagner invented the tradition of turning off the lights before starting a play．He also was the first person to make the whole audience sit down for an entire play．Today, almost all operas are performed in this manner.
Wagner as a man was even more controversial than Wagner as a writer of music．He hated Jewish people, and made many people angry, which we would today think of as evil．Some would say he was a good musician, while others would say that he was a bad musician．But it would be difficult to say he was not an important person in music and in the world.Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
| A．Richard Wagner is not worth talking about |
| B．Richard Wagner has made many people angry |
| C．Richard Wagner has contributed much to opera. |
| D．Richard Wagner is a very controversial man. |
Why did Wagner write what is considered serious music?
| A．He wanted to influence people with deep stories. |
| B．He wanted to make his music simple to follow. |
| C．He wanted to make it suitable for his deep voice. |
| D．He was greatly influenced by previous musicians. |
Wagner’s works were different from normal opera of his time NOT because________.
| A．he called his works “Musical Festivals” |
| B．his drama, music and singing are combined |
| C．the lights are off before starting a play |
| D．the audience could sit down during his play |
Which of the following statements about Wagner’s works is TRUE?
| A．His works are seldom accepted |
| B．His works are known to be funny. |
| C．His works started a new tradition. |
| D．Most people are angry about his works. |
It was late in the afternoon. Several hundred villagers left their houses and gathered in the open air outside the village. They were staring __ __ at the mountain top in the distance. It was covered with __ __ —beautiful and dangerous.
The huge mountain is called Matterhorn. Mountain climbers had __ __ the top, using the southern route. But no one had __ __ dared to try a winter climbing up the northern side. But now one man was daring to try the __ __ route— the northern route, which was more difficult. He was Walter Bonatti, a great mountain climber from Italy.
For two days he had climbed. The village people had watched him __ __. Now they were waiting to see his ____. If he planned to __ __ the next day, he would light a green signal. A red light would mean that he was __ __.
A tiny green light __ __ high on the mountain side. Bonatti was not giving up! The people __ __.
The next day he continued his way upward. He was so lonely and so __ __！But he would not give up. Again that night he lit the __ __ light.
In the morning, Bonatti __ __. He could not see the top, but he knew he was __ __ there. Though the climb was painful, he moved up.
Bonatti had spent months __ __ for the climb. Was the training enough? Did he have the strength and ____ to climb to the top?
He was finally at the top! News about his __ __ was radioed to the world.
The trip __ __ the southern route was easy. He was warmly welcomed in the village. He had done the “ __ __ ”，and would be well remembered as a climber of all time.
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Not too long ago, our teacher, being a “tree-hugger” (as the kids call her), had us write an essay on an environmental issue . I was eager to start, but something made me stop.
“What is an environmental issue ?” one kid asked . “What if we don’t care about the environment ?” another complained. “ It’s not like it affects me .”
These comments astounded me .I have always cared about the environment and assumed that others did too. From the surprised look on my teacher’s face, I could tell she felt the same way.
In no time, I finished my essay . In my essay I wrote about logging(伐木), which is an important industry, but if we continue to cut down trees without replacing them, it will damage the environment.
There are so many things that we can do to save our world. Recycling, of course, is always a good thing, but not everyone has a recycling plant nearby ( I don’t ) . There are other ways to help the environment . Plant a tree. Don’t waste water.
I can’t stand it when a person’s excuse for not caring is “Nothing’s going to happen in my lifetime, so why should I care ?” Sure, the chances of something terrible happening are slim, but I want people to realize that if we don’t deal with it, someone will have to eventually. Do you want that to be your children ?
When my teacher told me to read my essay to my class, I was a little embarrassment because I didn’t want everyone to call me “tree- hugger”. I realize now that if being a tree-hugger means you cares about the environment, I’m a tree-hugger 100 percent. I just wish more people were too.Why do the students call her teacher “tree-hugger” ?
| A．She likes hugging trees. |
| B．She knows a lot about trees. |
| C．She grew up in the country. |
| D．She cares a lot about the environment. |
The underlined word in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by ____.
| A．helped | B．changed | C．shocked | D．interested |
Paragraph 5 is mainly about ____.
| A．what we can recycle |
| B．how we can save the earth |
| C．why we should protect the earth |
| D．what damage we are doing to the earth |
We can infer from the text that _____
| A．the students don’t like the teacher |
| B．the teacher liked the author’s essay |
| C．the author is ashamed of being a tree-hugger |
| D．the author should have written a better essay |