Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there’s no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity(好奇).
Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me “textbook questions” about teaching, salary(薪水) and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in silence. Finally I said, “Now that we’re finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?” After a long pause, a boy raised his hand, “Have you ever seen a grasshopper(蚱蜢) eat? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?” This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.
Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that, after asking a question, adults often wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical(符合逻辑的), complete and creative answers.
Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “Very good”. These words work well when you encourage their good behavior(行为). But in talking about science, quick praise can mean that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying “That’s interesting” or “I’d never thought of it that way before”, or coming up with more questions or ideas.
Lastly, show and don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass(放大镜), and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates(蒸发), set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.According to the passage, children are natural scientists, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is _______.
| A．to let them see the world around |
| B．to share the children’s curiosity |
| C．to explain difficult phrases about science |
| D．to supply the children with lab equipment |
In the second paragraph, “your lists” could best be replaced by ______.
| A．any questions |
| B．any problems |
| C．questions from textbooks |
| D．any number of questions |
According to the passage, children can answer questions in a more logical, complete and creative way if adults ________.
| A．ask them to answer quickly |
| B．wait for one or two seconds after a question |
| C．tell them to answer the next day |
| D．wait at least for three seconds after a question |
In which paragraph does the author tell us what to say to encourage children in a science discussion?
| A．The second | B．The third |
| C．The fourth | D．The fifth |
The author mentions all of the following techniques(技巧) for adults to share with their children’s curiosity except that adults should ________.
| A．tell their children stories instead of reciting (背诵) facts |
| B．offer their children chances to see things for themselves |
| C．be patient enough when their children answer questions |
| D．encourage their children to ask questions of their own |
We all need friends and we always have. Our ancestors found that gaining the basic necessities of life was easier in a group. It’s estimated that the maximum number of people who lived in early communities of hunter-gatherers was 150.
Friends aren’t bound（受……限制）by blood or family bonds, employment contracts or legal obligations. Our circle of associates includes work colleagues and people we meet at parties, in the pub or on the train to work. Some associates are much more important than our family. We are capable of exchanging an email with these associates, and may have mutual acquaintances with a good number of them, providing common ground. We do things for one another because we want to. Whether writing an answer to a photo put on Facebook, sending a birthday card by post, or making a hospital visit, the efforts we have made for our friends are out of kindness. It is this nature of friendship which requires nothing in return that makes it beneficial and valuable.
Friendships take work, and they need to be nurtured, nourished and maintained. We feel good about helping our friends because we are friends. However, we often lose touch with our friends because of a lack of time and energy. When we are carrying a heavy load at work, involved in a serious relationship or raising children, it’s hard to spare time for friends. In these situations, we need to remind ourselves of what friends are for and why they can be so important in our lives.
In a survey of more than 2,000 married couples aged 55 or older, for both men and women, having friends was the best predictor of being satisfied in marriage — possibly because they were more satisfied with their lives as a result of having friends.
Researchers suggest social relationships are the reason why women live longer than men, Social bonds reduce the risk of disease by reducing blood pressure, cholesterol（胆固醇）and heart rate. A lack of good friends is as harmful to your health as smoking or being overweight. Indeed, people without friends are more likely to die younger. Not only do friendships prolong（延长）our lives, they make us happier too. People who are socially active don’t feel so stressed or feel they can not enjoy anything easily — they also tend to feel better about their lives and who they are.What makes friendship beneficial and valuable?
| A．Its being not bound by blood or family bonds. |
| B．Its being easy to maintain. |
| C．The good we have done to our friends. |
| D．That we make efforts for friends out of kindness. |
What should we do when we have no time for friends?
| A．Quit our jobs. |
| B．Give our friends calls. |
| C．Remind ourselves of what friends are for. |
| D．Turn to our friends for help. |
What can we infer from the survey in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Having friends makes people satisfied in marriage. |
| B．The older people are, the more satisfied they are in marriage. |
| C．Married couples are more satisfied with their lives. |
| D．Married couples are easier to have friends. |
What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．Friendships prolong our lives and make us happy. |
| B．Men should learn to be socially active. |
| C．Women live longer than men. |
| D．Women tend to be less stressed. |
Dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds. Other than humans, they are the only animals known to do this, according to the study. The big difference with dolphins is that these communications consist of whistles（鸣叫）, not words.
Earlier research found that dolphins have a “signature whistle” that would be somewhat like human shouting, “Hey everybody! I’m an adult healthy male named George, and I mean you no harm. ”
The new finding is that dolphins also say the names of certain other dolphins. “Animals produced copies of the same sound when they were separated from a close partner. This supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that animal,” Stephanie King, who led the study, says.
King and her colleagues collected acoustic（声音的）data from wild dolphins around Sarasota Bay, Florida, from 1984 to 2009. The researchers also studied four adult male dolphins housed at the Seas Aquarium, also in Florida.
Those males are adults that keepers named Calvin, Khyber, Malabar and Ranier, all of whom, as well as all of the wild ones, developed their own signature whistles that served as names in communication with other dolphins.
“A dolphin uses its signature whistle to broadcast its identity and announce its presence. The signature whistles allow animals to identify one another over long distances and allow animals to recognize one another and to join up with each other,” King explains. “Dolphin whistles can be heard up to 20km away, depending on water depth and whistle frequency（频率）.”
The researchers said dolphins copy the signature whistles of loved ones, such as a mother, when the two are separated. These “names” are always used in positive situations, and are only directed toward loved ones.
While researchers are often unwilling to apply the word language to non-human communications, dolphins clearly have a very complex communication system.The underlined word “housed” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_________”.
| A．raised | B．saved |
| C．discovered | D．hunted |
Which of the following plays a part in whether dolphin whistles can be heard over a distance?
| A．The dolphin’s identity. |
| B．The water temperature |
| C．The whistle frequency. |
| D．The dolphin’s age. |
When do dolphins copy the signature whistles of loved ones?
| A．When there is a fight. | B．When their keeper comes. |
| C．When they are apart. | D．When they are hungry. |
Where is the passage probably taken from?
| A．A magazine about scientific advances. |
| B．A website about various animals. |
| C．A report on animal acoustics. |
| D．An essay about the relationship between humans and animals. |
The Exterminating Angel
Director: Luis Bunuel
Country/Date : Mexico/1962 (black and white)
Introduction : A party is organized in a high class society house. Many people are drinking and eating. It’s getting late, but nobody is leaving. Even though the door is open, people seem to be locked in the house. They can’t leave either the day or on the following days. So a rescue began.
The Net
Director: Irwin Winkler
Country/Date: U.S.A./1995
Introduction: Angela Bennettt is a computer programmer who has devoted her life to computers and the Internet. She spends hours and hours in front of the screen. She does everything over the Internet, and she has some close friends in a chat room, though she has never talked to her neighbors.
Kung Fu Panda
Director : Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Country/Date : U.S.A./2008
Introduction: The leading character is a panda whose name is Po. He is lazy first but he has a great dream——to be a kung fu master. To make his dream come true, he goes to a faraway temple to learn kung fu from a master. However, one of his brothers, Tai Long wants to become the kung fu master, killing many of his brothers even the master. So Po fights against Tai Long and defeats him, The film is good especially for kids.
Life is Beautiful
Director: Roberto Benigni
Country/Date : Italy/1998
Introduction: In 1939, during World WarⅡ in Italy, Guido, a hopeful man, the main character fell in love with Dora, and they got married. Five years later, their lives changed. Guido and Joshua were taken by the Nazis（纳粹）to a concentration camp and Dora also went there with her husband and son. At that place, Guido tried his best to save his son’s life in a special way.Who is the director of The Net?
| A．Luis Bunuel | B．Irwin Winkler |
| C．Mark Osborne | D．Roberto Benigni |
Which film is black and white?
| A．The Exterminating Angel. | B．The Net. |
| C．Kung Fu Panda. | D．Life is Beautiful. |
Which film is especially fit for kids?
| A．The Exterminating Angel. | B．The Net. |
| C．Kung Fu Panda. | D．Life is Beautiful. |
What can we learn about Life is Beautiful?
| A．It’s about a rescue of people who can’t leave a house. |
| B．The story is set in World WarⅡ. |
| C．It was made in America in 1995. |
| D．The main character is absorbed in computer. |
My 18-month-old son, Adam, called from the front door. “Look, Mama! Doggie!” I dropped what I was doing and stuck my head out the door. Brandy, our next-door neighbor’s 11-year-old dog, was over again. “Go away!” I shouted.
Brandy’s owner had died about a month earlier. The woman’s family had emptied the house and stuck a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, but the family had left old Brandy behind. For weeks, she’d been wandering around the neighborhood.
It wasn’t that I disliked dogs or anything like that. I just didn’t think about them very much. I never had a dog growing up and had never thought to get one.
Brandy went away and I stayed outside with Adam. Then the phone rang. I went inside to take the call. When I came back, Adam was gone. I searched the yard, front and back, then the basketball court and public pool. No trace of him. I was so nervous that I ran home and called the police, then my husband.
Police searched the neighborhood. Suddenly I heard another sound: a dog barking. “It’s coming from the woods,” one of my neighbors said. We followed the barking to a wooded cliff（悬崖）. There we found my son, and he was just inches away from the edges of the cliff, fast asleep. Brandy was beside him, leaning（倚靠）against him to keep him away from the edge. When I picked Adam up, Brandy sank down on her side, breathing quickly. She must have been holding Adam there for hours!
I thanked the police and brought Adam and Brandy back to our house. She hesitated a moment on our doorstep, no doubt remembering the time I’d driven her away.
“Come on, girl,” I said. “This is your home now.” Brandy stepped in, and once she saw she was really welcome, she relaxed and lay down on the floor just inside the door. She’d done a great thing, and I wondered if she knew it . She’d certainly touched me in a way that no animal ever had. What a pity a dog like Brandy had been left behind!What is the correct order for the events in the story about Brandy?
a. She was left behind by her owner’s family.
b. She stepped into the woman’s house.
c. She appeared at the woman’s front door.
d. She stayed beside the woman’s son for hours.
| A．d, a, b, c | B．a, c, b, d |
| C．c, d, b, a | D．a, c, d, b |
What did the woman do when she first saw Brandy?
| A．She gave her some food. |
| B．She drove her away. |
| C．She took her home. |
| D．She said thank you to her. |
Why did the woman call the police?
| A．Her son was lost |
| B．Brandy was gone. |
| C．Brandy appeared in her yard. |
| D．She got a scary call. |
How were they able to know that the woman’s son was near the cliff?
| A．By searching the neighborhood. |
| B．By hearing a dog barking. |
| C．By following a dog’s footsteps. |
| D．By hearing her son’s crying. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
Medical drugs sometimes cause more damage than they cure. One solution to this problem is to put the drugs inside a capsule，protecting them from the body-and the body from them－until they can be released at just the right spot. There are lots of ways to trigger(引发)this release，including changing temperature，acidity，and so on. But triggers can come with their own risks－burns，for example. Now，researchers in California have designed what could be a harmless trigger to date：shining near-infrared light(NIR，近红外线)on the drug in the capsule.
The idea of using light to liberate the drug in the capsule isn't new. Researchers around the globe have developed polymers(聚合物)and other materials that begin to break down when they absorb either ultraviolet(UV，紫外线)or visible light. But tissues also readily absorb UV and visible light，which means the drug release can be triggered only near the skin，where the light can reach the capsule. NIR light largely passes through tissues，so researchers have tried to use it as a trigger. But few compounds(化合物)absorb NIR well and go through chemical changes.
That changed last year when Adah Almutairi，a chemist at the University of Califomia，San Diego，reported that she and her colleagues had designed a polymer that breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. Their polymer used a commercially available NIRabsorbing group called onitrobenzyl(ONB)．When they catch the light，ONB groups fall off the polymer，leading to its breakdown. But ONB is only a so-so NIR absorber，and it could be poisonous to cells when it separates from the polymer.
So Almutairi and her colleagues reported creating a new material for capsules that's even better. This one consists of a long chain of compounds called cresol groups linked in a polymer. Cresol contains reactive(易反应的)components that make it highly unstable in its polymeric form，a feature Almutairi and her colleagues use to their advantage. After polymerizing the cresols，they cap each reactive component with a light-absorbing compound called Bhc. When the Bhcs absorb NIR light，the reactive groups are exposed and break the long polymer into two short chains. Shining additional light continues this breakdown，potentially releasing any drugs in the capsule. What's more，Almutairi says，Bhc is 10 times better at absorbing NIR than is ONB and is not poisonous to cells.According to the passage，which of the following could be the best trigger?
| A．Temperature change. |
| B．NIR light. |
| C．Acidity change. |
| D．UV light. |
Why is ONB unsatisfactory?
| A．It breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. |
| B．It falls off the polymer and triggers drug release. |
| C．It has not come onto the market up till now. |
| D．It is not effective enough and could be poisonous. |
Which word can be used to complete the following process of changes?
⇨⇨⇨
| A．protected |
| B．formed |
| C．exposed |
| D．combined |