There are many places to go on safari（观赏野生动物）in Africa, but riding a horse through the flooded waters of Botswana's Okavango Delta must rank as one of the world's most exciting wildlife journeys.
Several safari camps operate as the base for this adventure, providing unique rides twice a day to explore deep into the delta. The camps have excellent horses, professional guides and lots of support workers. They have a reputation for providing a great riding experience.
The morning ride, when the guides take you to beautiful, shallow lakes full of water lilies, tends to be more active. It is unlike any other riding experience. With rainbows forming in the splashing water around you and the sound of huge drops of water bouncing off your body and face. It is truly exciting. You are very likely to come across large wild animals, too. On horseback it is possible to get quite close to elephants, giraffes and many other animals. The sense of excitement and tension levels rise suddenly though, as does your heart rate, as you move closer to them.
In the evening, rides are usually at a more relaxed and unhurried pace. With golden light streaming across the grassy delta and the animals coming out to eat and drink. Sedate though they are, rides at this time of day are still very impressive. As the sun's rays pass through the dust kicked up by the horses, the romance of Africa comes to life.
Back at the camp you can kick off your boots and enjoy excellent food and wine. Looking back on your day, you will find it hard to deny that a horseback Safari is as close as you will ever come to answering the call of the wild.What does the underlined word "They" refer to?
| A．Flooded waters | B．Wildlife journey |
| C．Safari camps | D．Unique rides |
What does the author find most exciting about a horse safari?
| A．Seeing and feeling the real African life. |
| B．Enjoying good food and wine at the camp. |
| C．Hunting large animals just as our ancestors did. |
| D．Being part of the scene and getting close to animals. |
What does the underlined word "sedate" probably mean?
| A．Wild and romantic | B．Slow and peaceful |
| C．Hurry and thirsty | D．Active and excited |
The author introduced the riding experience in the OKavango Delta mainly by________.
| A．Following space order | B．Following time order |
| C．Making classifications | D．Giving examples |
The movies just wouldn’t be the same without the warm buttery taste of popcorn. Amazingly, this delicious treat started its life as a corn kernel (玉米粒) , not just from any corn. Popcorn is a type of sweet corn that was originally grown in Mexico and spread to China, India and elsewhere. It is the only kind of corn that will pop. Today, most of the world’s popcorn is grown in the United States.
Every popcorn kernel contains a tiny drop of water，surrounded by soft starch (淀粉). When the popcorn is heated, the water turns into steam. This puts pressure on the surrounding hard kernel, forcing it to explode. The soft starch increases about 40 times in size as the corn kernel turns itself inside out.
In the 1500s popcorn was an important food source for the Aztec Indians of central and southern Mexico. But it wasn’t only food. It was also used in ceremonies or on red dresses and in necklaces. By the time the Europeans arrived in America，popcorn had spread through most of the American Indians.
Some early American settlers ate popcorn with cream and sugar for breakfast. But it wasn’t until the late 1800s that popcorn became popular. The demand for popcorn increased and farmers began farming popcorn. The first mobile popping machine was invented in 1885, and popcorn was sold by street sellers much like hot dogs that are sold today.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the popcorn business still thrived as people could still afford it. Then in the 1950s television arrived and popcorn consumption decreased. People stayed home and stopped going to the theatre. But the link between movies and popcorn had already existed. Soon people began making popcorn at home on the stove and, later，microwave popcorn was introduced. Today the movies have regained popularity and popcorn has once again become the favorite.Popcorn was first planted in________.
| A．China | B．America | C．India | D．Mexico |
Why does the corn kernel pop when heated?
| A．Because it is covered with soft starch. |
| B．Because the pressure inside is too big. |
| C．Because the starch becomes bigger in size. |
| D．Because there is water inside the kernel. |
We can know from the passage that________.
| A．popcorn began to be farmed in the late 1800s |
| B．popcorn was only a kind of food in the 1500s |
| C．hot dogs used to be sold by street sellers |
| D．people stop eating popcorn while watching movies now |
The underlined word “thrived” in the fifth paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．started to disappear | B．was seriously affected |
| C．suffered a lot | D．developed very well |
It's not quite a rat. Nor is it a squirrel, or a mouse. It's definitely a rodent (啮齿目动物), and it's also a brand-new family of mammals.
The locals of the Southeast Asian country of Laos call the creature a kha-nyou (ga-nyou). The kha-nyou have long body hair, short legs, and a hairy tail less thick than a squirrel's. They're vegetarians living in the rocky hills of Laos, and they come out at night, but for more information, you'll have to ask the Lao people.
"It was for sale on a table next to some vegetables. I knew immediately it was something I had never seen before," said Robert Timmins, a researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Timmins was working in Laos to stop people from selling endangered animals when he spotted the species. Criminals who trade illegal wildlife can make a lot of money, but they also push the animals closer to disappearing from the planet.
The kha-nyou live in karsts, or rough rock. Mark Robinson, a scientist with the World Wildlife Foundation, set out with Lao villagers to find a few more of the rodents for study. They climbed onto a karst, trapped with rice, and caught several.
“To find something so unusual in this day and age is just extraordinary,” said Timmins. “For all we know, this could be the last remaining animal family left to be discovered.”
It’s a big deal to discover an entirely new family of animals. Humans, for instance, belong to the same family as great apes, chimpanzees, and gorillas. So even though kha-nyous look like rats, they’re really very different. The last time scientists discovered a new family of mammals may have been in the 1970s, when they found new bats in Thailand.
Timmins seems to have the gift for finding new animals in Laos—he discovered a new species of rabbit there in 1999.
Scientists call the kha-nyou Laonastes aenigmamus, which means “mysterious mouse that lives among the stones.”But if that's too hard, Timmins and Robinson suggest you call them “rock rats”.Which of the following is not the name for this new creature?
| A．Karsts. | B．Kha-nyou. |
| C．rock rats. | D．Laonastes aenigmamus. |
Which of the following cannot describe the new species of rodent?
| A．They live among the rocky hills of Laos. |
| B．They live on meat of other animals. |
| C．They look like rats but are of different kind. |
| D．They are of the latest discovery of a new species. |
Which of the following is the last discovery of new species of animal except the rodent?
| A．A new kind of bats. | B．Great apes. |
| C．A new kind of squirrel. | D．A new kind of rabbit. |
It implies in the passage that ______.
| A．finding a new animal family in Southeast Asia is easy |
| B．finding a new animal family in modern time is extremely rare |
| C．in Southeast Asia new species of animals are often discovered |
| D．animals that look like the same are of the same family |
SPORTS EVENTS
BASKETBALL:
Central Sports Centre. City Road.
All Stars vs Rockets, Saturday 8: 30 p.m. $12
Northerners vs Tigers, Sunday noon $14
BUSHWALKING (越野走)：
Meet at Wanda Station, Saturday 9:00 a.m. sharp for 3-hour walk to Canary Mountains. $7, ph 341-5432 Meet at Westley Station, Sunday 9:00 a.m. sharp for a full day walk to Wombak Valley. $5, ph 341-8643. Bring your own lunch.
FOOTBALL:
St Martins Sports Centre
St Martins vs Doonsberg, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $8
Eastside Central vs Light Hill, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $8
Neill Park Recreation Centre
Neill Park vs Robinson, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $11
Essen vs Springwood, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $11
LAWN BOWLS(草坪滚木球）：
Tans Town B.C
Tans Town vs White Vale, Saturday 9:00 p.m. $10
Wake Hill B.C.
Wake Hill vs Colls, Saturday 2: 00 p.m. $9According to the passage, the most popular time for the sporting events may be ____.
| A．Sat 8:30 pm | B．Sun noon |
| C．Sun 2:00 pm | D．Sat 2:00 pm |
The purpose of the passage is to let people ____.
| A．compare the prices of the matches |
| B．find the nearest place to watch a match |
| C．know the sport matches and come to watch them |
| D．spend their money on these matches wisely |
You may find the passage most probably in a ____.
| A．handbook | B．newspaper about match reviews |
| C．magazine about ball matches | D．notice |
If you have $18, you can go to watch both ____.
| A．Walk Hill vs Colls and Essen vs Springwood |
| B．All Stars vs Rockets and the bushwalking at Westley Station |
| C．Neill Park vs Robinson and Eastside Central vs Light Hill |
| D．St Matins vs Doonsberg and Northerners vs Tigers |
I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.
I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a navel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.
Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.
The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for. It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding.The author decided to write a novel ______.
| A．to finish the writing course | B．to realize her own dream |
| C．to satisfy readers’ wish | D．to earn more money |
How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?
| A．Disturbed. | B．Ashamed. |
| C．Confident | D．Uncertain. |
What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?
| A．It pays to stick to one’s goal. |
| B．Hard work can lead to success. |
| C．She feels like being unexpectedly lucky. |
| D．There is no end in sight when starting to do something. |
People are being tricked into Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up loads of personal information.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules early on you keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook. You could create your own little private network. Last year. The company changed its privacy rules so that many things; your city, your photo, your friends’ names were set, by default (默认)to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information，they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. In original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them. At the side of the pages totally, who wants to took at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April. Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it’s only the beginning, which is why I’m considering cancelling my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
| A．It is a website that sends messages to users who want to get married. |
| B．It earns money by putting on advertisements. |
| C．It makes money by selling its users’ personal data. |
| D．It provides loads of information to its users. |
What does the author say about most Facebook users?
| A．They are unwilling to give up their personal information. |
| B．They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook. |
| C．They don’t identify themselves when using the website. |
| D．They care very little about their personal information. |
Why does Facebook make changes to its rules according to Elliot Schrage?
| A．To provide better service to its users. |
| B．To obey the Federal guidelines. |
| C．To improve its users’ connection |
| D．To expand its business. |
Why does the author plan to cancel his Facebook account?
| A．He is dissatisfied with its present service. |
| B．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| C．He doesn’t want his personal data badly used. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |