The secret of carrier pigeons' unbelievable ability to find their way home has been discovered by scientists: the feathered navigators follow the roads just like we do.
Scientists at Oxford University spent 10 years studying homing pigeons using global positioning satellite (GPS) and got a surprising result. The birds often don't use the sun to decide their directions. Instead, they fly along motorways, turn at crossings and even go around roundabouts (绕道) , adding miles to their journeys.
“It really has knocked our research team sideways to find that after a decade-long international study, pigeons appear to ignore their inbuilt directional instincts (本能) and follow the road system,” said Prof Tim Guilford, reader in animal behavior at Oxford University's Department of Zoology.
Guilford said pigeons use their own navigational system (导航系统) when doing long distance trips or when a bird does a journey for the first time.
“But once homing pigeons have flown a journey more than once, they can fly home on a habitual route, much as we do when we are driving or walking home from work,” said Guilford.
“In short, it looks like it is mentally easier for a bird to fly down a road. They are just making their journeys as simple as possible.” What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Birds Follow Roads as We Do. |
| B．Why Pigeons Can Fly Long Distance? |
| C．How Pigeons Find Their Ways Home? |
| D．Why Crows Fly the Shortest Distance? |
What does the underlined words "the feathered navigators" refer to?
| A．The pigeons. |
| B．The crows. |
| C．Dogs. |
| D．Animals that can swim. |
Scientists used to think that homing pigeons often find their directions _______.
| A．by global positioning satellite |
| B．by the sun |
| C．by the road system |
| D．by following other birds |
Fort Scott High School English teacher Emily Rountree has been working this semester to raise money for Charity Water, a nonprofit organization , which uses 100 percent of public donations to help fund water projects in places without access to clean drinking water. Her goal was to motivate her students to use their writing in class to make a real world difference. Twelve students got top grades on the project and their articles will be published in the Tribune and online. The money from their writing is of great help.
"Did you know that there are many countries around the world that don't have access to safe drinking water? Just think, that could be your someone in your family. in my English three classes, we are trying to .raise money for Charity Water. Charity 'Water is 3n organization that helps people get water in countries where there is no safe drinking water" , said Tanner Johnson, a student attending Fort Scott High School. clean drinking water. In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hour every year just walking for water .Women and children are the ones that mainly do the walking. They could he attacked, or get hurt. Whenever they get home the water that they have brought home is unsafe water that. 'has been in swamps, ponds, or rivers .if they had safe drinking water they wouldn’t have that to worry about and they wouldn't be wasting hours of their day. Unsafe drinking water causes many different kinds ofdiseases that could lead to death.
You could help save someone's life by donating $ 20 so you could help get them some safe drinking water. You can easily donate online at, mycharitywater. org/fshsenglish, or you can send a check payable to Fort Scott High School to Emily Rountree .if you don't help these people then who will?Emily Rountree is working for Charity water ____
| A．to set up a nonprofit organization about water |
| B．to help discover where clean drinking water is |
| C．to find access to using the public donations |
| D．to encourage her students to help those in need |
How can the students bring differences to the world?
| A．By donating all their pocket money. |
| B．By collecting money in their spare time. |
| C．By giving away their money from writing. |
| D．By conducting themselves well in class. |
What does the third paragraph imply?
| A．Africa is lacking in water resources. |
| B．Women do nothing but getting water. |
| C．People in Africa live a hard life. |
| D．Rivers in Africa have been polluted. |
1t can he inferred from the last paragraph that _
| A．only a few people participate in the donation |
| B．it is easy to lend a hand to those in need |
| C．staff at the website will collect money |
| D．it is convenient to pay off your check |
You may have heard that a young man named Abner Doubleday invented the game known as baseball in Cooperstown, New York, during the summer of 1839. Doubleday then went on to become a Civil War hero, while baseball became America's beloved national pastime. Not only is that story untrue, it's not even in the ballpark( place for baseball).Doubleday was still at West Point in 1839, and he never claimed to have anything to do with baseball.
In 1907, a special commission(委员会) created by the sporting goods merchant and former major league player A. J. Spalding used weak evidence-namely the claims of one man, mining engineer Abner Graves-to come up with the Doubleday origin story. Cooperstown businessmen and major league officials would rely on the myth's lasting power in the 1930s, when they established the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in the village.
As it turns out, the real history of baseball is a little more complicated than the Doubleday legend. References to games resembling(相似) baseball in the United States date hack to the 18th century .its most direct ancestors appear to be two English games: rounder a( a children's game brought to New England by the earliest colonists) and cricket. By the time of the American Revolution, variations(演变) of such games were being played on schoolyards and college campuses across the country. They became even more popular in newly industrialized cities where men sought work in the mid-19th century-.In September 1845, a group of New York City men founded the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club .One of them would make a new set of rules that would form the basis for modern baseball.
Cartwright's changes made the game faster-paced and more challenging from older games like cricket. In 1846, the Knickerbockers : played the first official game of baseball against a team of cricket players, beginning a new, uniquely American tradition.What can we know according to the first paragraph?
A. Baseball was really invented by Abner Doubleday.
B, Abner Doubleday fought against slaves in the Civil War.
C. Doubleday stayed at West Point for some reason.
D. Doubleday said he had much to do with baseball.Why did the Doubleday origin story come up?
| A．Because a special commission was founded. |
| B．Because Doubleday provided false evidence. |
| C．Because Abner Craves told a Doubleday story. |
| D．Because Abner Craves worked with Doubleday. |
The real history of baseball is _____
| A．much simpler than the Doubleday legend |
| B．that baseball comes from two English games |
| C．that a children’s game came from New England |
| D．more interesting than rounder and cricket |
It can be inferred from the passage that____
| A．Doubleday is the most respected in the USA |
| B．Doubleday must have been an army officer |
| C．Doubleday in fact came from Britain |
| D．Doubleday invented rounder and cricket |
For years, I thought that my mother would become a Centenarian (百岁老人) , but after 98 years and eight months, she recently died of old age. As it was with my father, her funeral took place in the most peaceful setting of the countryside of rural Washington County. Even after my father died, we continued to think of our parents as one. They were a team in the traditional sense. Church and family were their life- lines. They worked hard, never complaining. They expected to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow.
Once during a conversation with Tom Brokaw, who wrote the best- selling hook The Greatest Generation, I told him, "You left out my parents." They didn’t go off to war, but they belonged to the Greatest Generation. They, too, were part of the foundation that made America truly great. They kept the home fires burning.
Our mother gloried in being a housewife and mother. Having been a teacher in her early adult years, when education was more important than anything else, she gave up her job to raise a family .She was an excellent cook, but she had to cook on a wood stove. There was no refrigerator, nothing electric. But nobody was ever better at making do. In addition to all the household chores and responsibilities, she went to the fields every day to help produce a crop to pay the rent and to provide for the family. She and my dad worked hard to save every penny possible.
They saved ever7 penny to buy a farm late in life. They also saved enough money to live out their respective live with home care without taking up residency in a nursing home. They were fiercely independent. If you had suggested they accept a government transfer payment, they would have spit in your eye.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Mother played a great pan in the family. |
| B．Mother died at the age of 98 years old. |
| C．Mother was buried by the side of father. |
| D．Mother survived father by many years. |
The underlined part "one" in the passage means____ .
| A．parent | B．Centenarian |
| C．hero | D．entirety |
What do we know about Tom Brokaw?
| A．He is one of the author's parents' friends. |
| B．He likes talking with the author's parents. |
| C．He takes up a position as a writer. |
| D．He is good at managing a home. |
How does the author find his parents?
| A．Brave and hardworking. |
| B．Modest and warmhearted. |
| C．Economical and independent. |
| D．Respective and satisfied. |
When you get a job interview, it is the chance that you impress them employer and prove you really are the right person for the job. The following key points may he the important steps you can take to ensure you make a good impression from the get-go
Be Prepared
Research the company thoroughly before the job interview. Read through the company website to gain a thorough understanding of what“ does its values, clients or audience and any technologies it uses. You should also Google the company and read any press releases. Note important issues or points you can discuss at the interview. Take copies of the job description with you to the interview. Don't he afraid of showing off, you can bet the other candidates won't be holding back!
Interview Questions
All this preparation work will go a long way to helping you for questions you might be asked during the interview. As well as preparing for the standard questions, you also need to come up with relevant questions to ask the interviewer about the company and your role. You may want to ask something along the lines of "what's it like to work here?",
“what are the career prospects l like?"
Timekeeping
Plan your route in advance and make a dry run to the interview location a few days beforehand to make sure you're clear on where you're going. Print out directions and maps from sites like Google Maps and make sure you should he there without any problems
After the Interview
If you're unsuccessful, use it as an opportunity to improve. Ask for feedback from the interviewer. This will improve your future interview success chances; the interviewer might consider you for future vacancies at the company based on this action aloneWhat should you do at a job interview?
| A．Recognize who is the right employer |
| B．Have a good impression of the employer |
| C．Find a chance to show your talent off |
| D．Impress the employer with good behavior. |
Which question can you ask the interview?
| A．What interests you when you work? |
| B．What is the information about your clients? |
| C．What is the promising future of the company? |
| D．What advice will you offer to the interviewees? |
It can be inferred form the passage that____.
| A．the interviewer can help you through the back door |
| B．a polite attitude can help you find a way out |
| C．it is impossible to get a job at the first interview |
| D．it is important to keep cautious about an interview |
Doctors have a new weapon in the battle against obesity (过度肥胖) — a talking plate that tells people not to eat too quickly. The Mandometer monitors the amount of food leaving the plate, and tells users, “Please eat more slowly.”
The ￡1,500 Swedish device is to be used in a National Health Service plan to help hundreds of obese families lose weight. It comes in two parts — a scale placed under the plate and a small computer screen showing a graphic（图表） of the food gradually disappearing as the user eats. A red line on the screen shows the user’s eating speed, while a blue line shows a healthy rate. If the user eats too fast, the red line angles away from the blue one, warning him or her to ease off. If the lines deviate (偏离) too much, the computer voice comes on, and the screen flashes the message “Are you feeling full yet?” to remind users to think about whether they have had enough.
Britain has an increasingly serious obesity problem, with one in four adults and one in seven children classed as obese. After a recent trial using the device, experts believe teaching obese people to eat more slowly will help them know when they are full. Around 600 families with at least one obese parent and child (aged five or older) were targeted in the project by Bristol University, along with GPs and nurses.
Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield, who is leading the plan, says obese children and adolescents using the Mandometer ate from 12 to 15 percent less per meal at the end of the 12-month trial. Six months after they stopped using the device they still ate less, and continued to lose weight. “It will be a powerful tool to help families retrain their eating habits,” he says. What does the red line on the screen show?
| A．A healthy rate of eating. | B．Too much food is left. |
| C．The user’s eating speed. | D．The user is full. |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．The device can help obese people form good eating habits. |
| B．Every family will have such a device soon. |
| C．This device is the best way to lose weight. |
| D．People will no longer worry about obesity. |
The underlined phrase ease off is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．to become less tense | B．to eat more slowly |
| C．to remove gently and slowly | D．to stop |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the text?
| A．25% of children are obese in Britain. |
| B．One in seven adults is obese in Britain. |
| C．Children using the Mandometer ate less after the trial. |
| D．Six months after the trial, obese people are still eating a lot. |