Americans are a strange people. They work like mad, then give away much of what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vacation. They live to think of themselves as hard-hearted business men, yet they are push-overs for any hard luck story. They have the biggest of nearly everything including government, motor cars and debts. Yet they like to think of themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down to their own size. They show off their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers, big state, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. Yet they also have the most traffic deaths, the most waste, and the most liars.
When they meet, they are always telling each other, "Take it easy," then they rush off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war, and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, and go broke more often. They love children, animals, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television shows, comedy, high pace, sports, the underdog, the hero, the flag, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, classical recordings, crowds, comics, cigarettes, warm houses in winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress, plenty of running water, do-it-yourself, and a working week limited to forty hours or less.
They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, troop to movies and television while blaming the quality and the advertisements, go to church but don't care much for sermons (布道), and drink too much in the hope of relaxing—only to find themselves drunk into even bigger dreams.
There is of course, no typical (典型的) American. But if you added them all together and then divided by 226, 000, 000 they would look something like what this chapter has tried to describe.What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Americans. | B．Life in America. |
| C．Strange people. | D．Great America |
What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Para.1?
| A．They like listening to bad luck stories. |
| B．They push the interesting stories away. |
| C．They can easily be moved by sad stories. |
| D．They are informed of good luck stories often. |
Which one of the following is probably NOT what the Americans love?
| A．noise | B．advertisement |
| C．smoking | D．fresh water |
In what way did the author write this passage?
| A．By comparison. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By experimenting. | D．By telling stories. |
There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师)tried to trim(修剪)its claws. 
Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “I would like to buy her a new dog. ”
A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a groomer tied Gooch up with a collar, and then she and a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.
Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that. ”Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.
“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待), ”Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills said.
People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog. ”
“When Gooch was with me I was happy, ”Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again. ”People called and emailed to .
| A．give their angry voice to the groomer |
| B．offer help and care to Laurie Crouch |
| C．tell Crouch how to punish the groomer |
| D．offer a cure for Crouch’s disease |
Gooch died mainly because .
| A．the groomer was careless |
| B．the groomer didn’t know how to trim the dog’s nails |
| C．the groomer sat on the dog with another man |
| D．the dog was wearing a collar |
What do we know about Crouch’s dog?
| A．It was a specially trained service dog. |
| B．It was trained to do many things for people. |
| C．It was Crouch’s only friend. |
| D．It could offer some help to Crouch. |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．A disabled woman’s service dog. |
| B．A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog. |
| C．People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog. |
| D．A disabled woman loves to have the dog as company. |
Ten years ago, with only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China was desperately trying to clone(克隆)the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That was a move similar to what Texas A & M University researchers had been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”(诺亚方舟).
Noah’s Ark was aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future. 
It was estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles would become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, was in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They were then trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nucleus transfer(核子移植)of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used)panda eggs could be a major problem,”Kraemer believed. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy(having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, ”added Kraemer, who was one of the leaders of the project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed. ”
At present, the project has worked. The number of the pandas has increased to more than 1, 500. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project was to .
| A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
| B．save endangered animals from dying out |
| C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
| D．transfer the nucleus of one animal to another |
According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of .
| A．available panda eggs | B．host animals |
| C．qualified researchers | D．enough money |
The best title for the passage may be .
| A．China’s Success in Pandas Cloning |
| B．The First Cloned Panda in the World |
| C．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
| D．China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever |
From the passage we know that .
| A．Kraemer and his team had succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B．scientists tried to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit |
| C．Kraemer would work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D．about two thousand species would probably die out in a century |
A school master of Thurso in Caithness, William Munro, wrote in a report in THE TIMES on September 8, 1809 that twelve years earlier he had been walking along Sandside Bay shore when he saw what he first thought was a naked woman, sitting on a rock and combing her light brown hair. The face was fatty round, with reddish cheeks and blue eyes. If the rock where the woman sat had not been so dangerous for swimmers, Munro would have thought it was human. After a few minutes it dropped into the sea and swam away. Others had seen it too. 
The island of Benbecula in the outer Hebrides, about 1830, women cutting seaweed reported they had met a creature of female form playing happily off the shore. A few days later her dead body was found two miles from where she had first been seen. The description of the creature was recorded thus, “the upper part of the creature was about the size of a well-fed child of three or four years of age, with an extraordinarily developed breast. The hair was long, dark and glossy(有光泽), while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon(鲑鱼). ”From the description given by the witnesses, we know that .
| A．mermaids did exist |
| B．mermaids shaped like females |
| C．mermaids looked terrible |
| D．mermaids shaped like fish |
This passage most probably comes from .
| A．scientific books | B．tales collection |
| C．travel guide | D．fishing webpages |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The school master and the women saw a mermaid in the same year. |
| B．The school master saw a mermaid swimming in the sea. |
| C．The women saw a mermaid swimming in the sea. |
| D．It was said that mermaids developed from salmons. |
Which of the following is WRONG?
| A．Not all the people believe they were mermaids. |
| B．People have taken photos of the creature. |
| C．The creature in the second case looked like a woman with a fish’s tail. |
| D．Both of these two tales may not be true. |
Bananas are one of the world’s most important food crops. They are also one of the most valuable exports. Bananas do not grow from seeds. Instead, they grow from existing plants. Bananas are threatened by disease because all the plants on a farm are copies of each other. They all share the same genetic weaknesses. For example, the Cavendish banana is most popular in North American and European markets. However, some kinds of fungus organisms easily infect the Cavendish. Black Sigatoka disease affects the leaves of Cavendish banana plants. The disease is controlled on large farms by putting chemicals on the plants’ leaves. Farmers put anti-fungal chemicals on their crops up to once a week. 
Another fungal disease is more serious. Panama disease attacks the roots of the banana plants. There is no chemical treatment for this disease. Infected plants must be destroyed. Panama disease has affected crops in Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. There is concern that it may spread to bananas grown in the Americas. This could threaten an important export product for Central and South America.
The International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain supports research on bananas. The group has headquarters in France and other offices in the major banana-growing areas of the world. The group says that more research must be done to develop improved kinds of bananas. The group says that fungal diseases mainly affect only one kind of banana. In fact, there are five hundred different kinds of bananas. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has said that the Cavendish banana represents only 10% of world production.
The U. N. agency says farmers should grow different kinds of bananas. This protects against diseases that affect only one kind. Experts warn that disease may cause the Cavendish banana to disappear. This happened earlier to another popular banana because of its genetic weakness against disease. What does this passage mainly tell us?
| A．Bananas are the world’s most important food crops. |
| B．The risk to a popular banana shows need to grow other kinds. |
| C．There are five hundred different kinds of bananas. |
| D．How to grow bananas in different countries. |
Bananas are threatened by disease because .
| A．they grow from seeds |
| B．they are one of the most valuable exports |
| C．the only way to prevent it is to put chemicals on their leaves |
| D．they have genetic weaknesses against disease |
Panama disease .
| A．doesn’t belong to fungal disease |
| B．affects the leaves of banana plants |
| C．destroys bananas more seriously than Black Sigatoka disease |
| D．has spread to bananas all over the world |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that .
| A．the center of the group is in the US |
| B．the Cavendish banana covers only a small part of the yield of bananas |
| C．the key to solving the disease is to research all kinds of bananas |
| D．each fungal disease affects five hundred different kinds of bananas |
They are the sort of friends who are so close that they trust each other with their lives. If one falls, the other is there to catch him.
They are Wellman, whose legs were permanently injured nine years ago in a rock-climbing accident, and Corbett, an experienced rock climber. Together, they climbed up Half Dome, the famous 2, 000-foot rock in the Yosemite National Park, through one of the most difficult routes(路线).
During the climb, Corbett took the lead, hit in the metal spikes(尖状物)that guided the ropes, and climbed up. Then, after Wellman pulled himself up the rope, Corbett went down to remove the spikes and climbed up again. This process was repeated time and again, inch by inch, for 13 days. Wellman’s job was not easy either. He got himself up the rope through upper body strength alone. In all, Wellman figured that he had done 5, 000 pull-ups up the rope on the climb.
However, when the two men first met, they never talked about climbing. “He knew that was how I got injured. ”Wellman said. Until one day Wellman decided that he wanted to climb again and they started training.
Their climb of Half Dome was not all smooth. At one point, pieces of rock gave way, and Corbett dropped down quickly. Wellman locked their rope in place, stopping the fall at 20 feet. His quick action probably saved his friend’s life.
“Your partner can save your life—you can save your partner’s life. ”Wellman said as the pair received congratulations from friends. “There are real close ties. ” Which of the following was a challenge for Corbett in climbing Half Dome?
| A．To climb up to remove the spikes. |
| B．To climb it twice. |
| C．To do 5, 000 pull-ups up the rope. |
| D．To lock the rope in place. |
Why did the two men never talk about climbing when they first met?
| A．Corbett was poorly trained. |
| B．Wellman had lost interest in climbing. |
| C．Corbett didn’t want to hurt Wellman. |
| D．Wellman hadn’t decided whether to climb again or not. |
What do we know about Wellman?
| A．He climbed Half Dome by himself. |
| B．He was disabled in a traffic accident. |
| C．He stopped rock-climbing for some time. |
| D．He was saved by Corbett during the climb. |
The main idea of the text is that .
| A．two heads are better than one |
| B．friendship is precious in life |
| C．the disabled should never give up |
| D．a man can be destroyed but cannot be defeated |