C
A fly with an extremely unusual ability to hear is the model for what may be the future of new and improved hearing aids. The insect behaves like a parasite—an organism that lives on or in another organism called a host. This exceptional fly places larvae—young flies onto a cricket (蟋蟀) host. The larvae dig into the cricket and eat the insect from the inside out.
The tiny yellow fly lives in Central America and the Southern United States. It finds its host by listening out for the cricket’s high chirping voice. The fly can easily find a cricket from as far away as 91 meters.
Neal Hall is a sound engineer who worked on the new hearing aid model. According to him, the fly’s behavior is very strange. Mr. Hall and his team at the University of Texas made a copy of the fly’s hearing structure. “They discovered that the fly has a clever mechanism and instead of using two independent ears like a human does, the fly’s ears are actually coupled,” said Hall.
The fly’s ears are two millimeters apart. That distance is so small that sound reaches one ear just four millionths of a second before arriving at the other. Experts held that it should be impossible for the fly to identify where a sound is coming from. In fact, however, inside this fly’s each ear is a 1.5-millimeter-long structure similar to a see-saw — a piece of children’s playing equipment. Like the see-saw, the fly’s ear structure goes up and down from a central point. Pressure waves against the structure increase the time it takes for sound to travel and permit the fly to find its host.
Mr. Hall and his team used the chemical element silicon to copy the fly’s ear structure. They also used the special electric materials that enabled them to measure its movements at the same time. Hall said that the hearing aid device could be used in two ways. One way would be to help the military on the battlefield, where sensors could find where shots are coming from. The other would be to remove unwanted noise from a person’s surroundings.
“It is a feature that is incredibly useful for hearing aids, for example, here and now, if you turn up the gain of a hearing aid or turn the volume up to hear someone across from you, it also amplifies (放大) everything else in the room,” said Hall.
Hall said that the next test in marketing the hearing aid device was to make it usable. He said the device must be handled carefully because it is so small. He noted that the fly does not have this concern.
Neal Hall is trying to .
| A．model his new hearing aid on a kind of fly |
| B．help crickets to prevent themselves from parasites |
| C．kill the insects in a host with a new machine |
| D．make powerful killers with the help of a kind of fly |
What is the key message of Paragraph 4?
| A．The distance between the fly’s two ears. |
| B．The special structure of the fly’s ears. |
| C．The comparison between the fly’s ears and see-saws. |
| D．Pressure waves against the structure of the fly’s ears. |
With the help of the new hearing aid, people would be able to .
| A．find out where the flies come from |
| B．fall asleep when they want to |
| C．protect the peaceful environment better |
| D．choose to hear what they want to |
What is the author’s attitude towards Neal Hall and his team mentioned in the passage?
| A．Objective. | B．Tolerant. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Pessimistic. |
Many animals recognize their food because they see it. So do humans. When you see an apple or a piece of chocolate you know that these are things you can eat. You can also use other senses when you choose your food. You may like it because it smells good or because it tastes good. You may dislike some types of food because they do not look, smell or taste very nice. Different animals use diffe
rent senses to find and choose their food. A few animals depend on only one of their senses, while most animals use more than one sense.
Although there are many different types of food, some animals spend their
lives eating only one type. The giant panda（大熊猫）eats only one particular type of bamboo（竹子）. Other animals eat only one type of food even when given the choice. A kind of white butterfly（蝴蝶）will stay on the leaves of a cabbage, even though there are plenty of other vegetables in the garden. However, most animals have a more varied diet（多样化饮食）. The bear eats fruits and fish. The fox eats small animals, birds and fruits. The diet of these animals will be different depending on the season.
Humans have a very varied diet. We often eat food because we like it and not because it is good for us. In countries such as France and Britain, people eat foods with too much sugar. This makes them overweight, which is bad for their health. Eating too much red meat and animal products, such as butter, can also be bad for the health. Choosing the right food, therefore, has become an area of study in modern life.
56. We can infer from the text that humans and animals _________.
A. depend on one sense in choosing food
B. are not satisfied with their food
C. choose food in similar ways
D. eat entirely different food
57. Which of the following eats only one type of food?
A. The white butterfly. B. The small bird
C. The bear. D. The fox.
58. Certain animals change their choice of food when ___________.
A. the season changes B. the food color changes
C. they move to different places D. they are attracted by different smells
59. We can learn from the last paragraph that __________.
A. food is chosen for a good reason
B. French and British food is good
C. some people have few choices of food
D. some people care little about healthy diet
It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Ch
ristmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On his arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货），saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity（人性）as a whole. And it has influenced（影响）us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting(持久的，永久的).
52. Why was the bike so important to the couple?
A. The man’s job was bike racing. B. It was their only possession(财产).
C. It was a nice Kona 18 speed. D. They used it for work and daily life.
53. We can infer from the text that ____________.
A. the couple worked 60 hours a week. B. people were busy before Christmas
C. a wonderful stranger bought a bike. D. life was hard for the young family.
54. How did people get to know the couple’s problem?
A. From radio broadcasts. B. From a newspaper.
C. From TV news. D. From a stranger.
55. What do the couple learn from their experience?
A. Strangers are usually of little help. B. One should take care o
f their bike.
C. News reports make people famous. D. An act of kindness can mean a lot.
In the sea, there are many islands. In its warm waters there are some little ones. We call them "Coral Islands".
A coral island is very nice to look at. It looks like a ring of land with trees, grass and flowers on it.
One part of the ring is open to the water. There is a little round lake inside the island. If you look into this lake, you'll see beautiful coral. You may think they are flowers. If you look at a piece of coral, you'll see thousands of little holes in it. In each of those holes, a very small sea animal has lived. These sea animals make the coral.
They began to build under the water. Year after year, the coral grew higher and higher. At last it grew out of the water. Then the sea brought to it small trees and other things. After some years, these things changed into earth. Sometimes the wind brought seeds to the earth. Sometimes birds flew over it and brought seeds to the island. The little seeds grew. In a few years, there were plants all over the islands. In a few more years there were trees growing there.
So you see, these islands were built little by little. The workers were very small. Don't they teach us a lesson? What do you know the lesson is?
48. What does a coral island look like? It 
looks like ________.
A. a desert B. a ring of land
C. trees, grass and flowers D. a colourful lake
49. There are sea animals living in the holes of the coral.
A. thousands of B. 1,000
C. quite a few D. only one
50. ________ in the sea.
A. We can see many flowers B. There are lots of big trees
C. There are some coral islands D. The water is always warm
51. How were seeds of trees, grass and flowers mainly brought to the coral islands?
A. Fishes brought them there. B. The water brought them there.
C. People brought them there. D. None of the above.
四、阅读理解（15小题，计30分）
There are probably no other two museums in the world that share such a similar name. In Chinese, they are both called Gugong. In English, the one in Taipei is named the "National Palace Museum". The other one is in Chinese mainland--the Palace Museum standing inside the Forbidden City (紫禁城) in Beijing.
The name suggests the two museums are connected, and soon they may be. The "National Palace Museum" has a collection of more than 650,000 pieces of ancient Chinese artwork, making it one of the largest in the world. Most of the collection is made up of high quality art collected by China's ancient emperors.
After years of waiting, people from the Chinese mainland could soon get a look at the relics (文物)that were once housed in Beijing' s Palace Museum.
In late February, the mainland agreed to lend 29 Qing Dynasty relics from the Palace Museum to Taiwan to display in October. They hope the favor will be returned. It is reported that the second half of the swap(交换)might happen within the next three to five years.
Chinese citizens are already drawing up lists of relics they'd most like to see in a mainland exhibition. These include the jade cabbage(翡翠玉白菜), the Dongpo look-alike stone(东坡肉形石)and the other half of the Song Dynasty painting Riverside Sceneat Qingming Festival. Half of it has hung in Taipei since 1949; the other half can be seen in Beijing.
45. Which is right about the "National Palace Museum"?
A. The "National Palace Museum" stands inside the Forbidden City in Beijing.
B. It is the largest museum in the world.
C. All the collection in it is made up of high quality art collected by China's ancient emperors.
D. There is the jade cabbage and the Dongpo look-alike stone in it.
46. The underlined sentence "They hope the favor will be returned. "means ________.
A. it's hoped that Taiwan will have some of its relics appear in a mainland exhibition
B. they hope Taiwan will return their favourite relics
C. the mainland hope some relics once housed in Beijing' s Palace Museum will be returned
D. it's hoped that the "National Palace Museum" and the Palace Museum will become one
47. According to the passage, which is right about the painting Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival ?
A. It was painted in Qing Dynasty.
B. In 1949 the whole painting once hung in Taipei.
C. The two halves of the painting were not drawn by the same person.
D. It's likely that half of the painting hangin
g in Taipei was once housed in Beijing's Palace Museum.
Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of all the colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, and Columbia were opened soon after Harvard. In the early years, these schools were much alike. Only young men could go to college. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin, and Greek. Little was known about science then. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers.
In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could receive their training (训练) in Harvard’s law school. In 1825, besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began teaching modern languages, such as French and German. Soon it began teaching American history.
As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. Students were allowed to choose the subjects that interested them.
Today, there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are made up of smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There’s so much to learn that one kind of school can’t offer it all.
1. The oldest university in the US is ______.
A. Yale B. Harvard C. Princeton D. Columbia
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Those colleges and universities were the same.
B. People, young or old, might study in the colleges.
C. Students studied only some languages and science.
D. When the students finished their school, they all became lawyers or teachers.
3. As knowledge increased, colleges began to teach ______.
A. everything that was known
B. law and something about medicine
C. many new subjects
D. the subjects that interested students
4. On the whole, the passage is about ______.
A. how to start a university
B. the world-famous colleges in America
C. how colleges have changed
D. what kinds of lessons each college teaches
5. From the passage, we can infer____
A. Harvard is the oldest university in the world.
B. Befoe 1825, besides Latin and Greek, other modern languages were taught in Harvard.
C. Today, most universities only deal with special fields of learning.
D. In the early years, young women couldn’t go to college in the US.