Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons. They say that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because their normal diet would consist of seeds and insects, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre.
The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons is responsible for the streets being so crowded with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces.
Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds - known as “robops” - will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different locations. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years.What do Liverpool city council try to do?
| A．They want people to feed the pigeons with healthy food. |
| B．They want the pigeons to move out of the city centre. |
| C．They want people to keep the pigeons at home. |
| D．They want to keep robotic birds instead of pigeons. |
The robotic birds are used to _________.
| A．help feed the pigeons | B．make the city colorful |
| C．drive away the pigeons | D．show people directions |
This passage is most probably a(n) __________.
| A．news report | B．notice |
| C．short story | D．Advertisement |
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now
makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarke
ts encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. W
e have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But is also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.What does the underlined phrase “over-consumption” refer to?
| A．Using too much packaging. |
| B．Recycling too many wastes. |
| C．Making more products than necessary. |
| D．Having more material than is needed. |
The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.
| A．the tendency of cutting household waste |
| B．the increase of packaging recycling |
| C．the rapid growth of super markets |
| D．the fact of packaging overuse |
According to the text, recycling ______.
| A．helps control the greenhouse effect |
| B．means burning packaging for energy |
| C．is the solution to gas shortage |
| D．leads to a waste of land |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality. |
B．Supermarkets  care more about packaging. |
| C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging. |
| D．Other products are better packaged than food. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult. |
| B．Needless material is mostly recycled. |
| C．People like collecting recyclable waste. |
| D．The author is proud of their consumer culture. |
Rachael lives in Wisconsin and has lived there all her life. She is just an average girl; at first when you are around her, she seems to be very shy. If you get to know her, she’ll start to open up but always keep things to herself.
Sports are something that keeps her going, a way to release stress. Usually, you will see Rachael out with friends or just sitting down reading a good book. She takes pride in the fact that she can read a whole book in one day, and that she still doesn’t consider h
erself a bookworm.
Some people call Rachael strange because of things she does. She’s learned to disregard what other people think because she just doesn’t care any more. She likes to surround herself with people like her so it makes he feel like she is the less strange one in most situations.
Rachael wants to be two completely different people in her life. A communication journalist for one, she has always wanted to be that person. The second possible career would be lawyer. It’s a huge goal, and one day you’ll see her doing something she loves.
Influenced by her parents, Rachael enjoys listening to all kinds of music. Rarely, if ever, do you see her without some sort of music. Every morning you can see Rachael in her bathroom getting ready for school with her player at maximum volume(音量).Her parents always get mad at her about that, but she can’t hear them anyway over the music. They don’t know that she uses their surround sound stereo when they aren’t at home! Rachael likes to be with people like her because_______.
| A．she only wants to make friends with the people like her |
| B．many people think she is strange and don’t like to be with her |
| C．she knows there are many other people who are also strange |
| D．it makes her feel like she is not so strange as people think |
The underlined word “disregard” in the third paragraph probably means “_______”.
| A．ignore | B．realize | C．accept | D．mind |
Rachael’s parents don’t like their children to _______.
| A．be late for school |
| B．use their surround sound stereo |
| C．listen to the music in the bathroom |
| D．play music to loudly |
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
| A．Rachael likes to be different from others |
| B．Rachael never reads books carefully |
C．Rachael w ill be a lawyer in the future |
| D．Rachael’s parents also like music |
The passage mentions the following about Rachael EXCEPT her_______.
| A．hobby | B．personality | C．ideal jobs | D．appearance |
In this voyage I visited my new colony on the island, saw the Spaniards(西班牙人), had the whole story of their lives and of the villains(罪犯) I left there; how at first they treated the poor Spaniards badly,·how they afterwards agreed, disagreed, unired, separated, and how at last the Spaniards were forced to use violence with them; how they gave in to the spaniards, how honestly the Spaniards used them ---- a history, if it were entered into, as full of variety and wonderful accidents as my own part ---- particularly, also, as to their battles with the Caribbeans, who landed several times upon the Island, and as to the improvement they made upon the Island itself, and how five of them made an attempt upon the main land, and brought away eleven men and five women prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty young children on the Island.
Here I stayed bout 20 days, left them supplies of all necessary things, and particularly of arms, powder, shot, cloths, tools, and two workmen, which I brought from England with me, namely a carpenter and a smith.
Besides this, I shared the Island into parts with them, reserved to myself the property of whole but gave them such parts resoeetively as they agreed on; and having settled all things with them and encouraged them not to leave the place, I left them there.
From then on I landed the Brazils, from where I sent a bark, which I bought there, with more people to the island; and in it, besides other supplies, I sent seven women, being such persons as I found proper for service, or for wives to such as would take them. As to the Englishmen, I promised them to send them some women from England, with a good cargo(船货) of necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting ---- which I afterwards could not perform. And the fellows proved very honest an
d diligent after they were mastered and had their properties set apart for them. I sent them also from the Brazils five cows, three of them being big with calf, some sheep, and some pigs, which when I came again were considerably increased.
But all these things, with an account how 300 Caribbeans came and invaded(入侵) them, and ruined their plantations, and how they fought with that whole number twice, and were at first defeated, and one of them killed; but at last a storm destroying most of their enemies’ boats, they destroyed almost all the rest, and renewed and recovered the possession of their plantation, and still lived upon the Island.
All these things, with some very surprising incidents in some new adventures of my own, for ten years more, I may perhaps give a further account of the story.From Paragraph l, we know _______ .
| A．the Spaniards were always getting along well with the villains |
| B．the Spaniards were always the rulers of the island |
| C．the Spaniards and the villains both ruled the island peacefully |
| D．the Spaniards and the villains once had battles witll each other |
In Paragraph 2, the place where I stayed was probably ________.
| A．a wild island | B．a deserted downtown |
| C．a primitive supermarket | D．a new city |
The underlined word “respectively” in the third paragraph probably means ______ .
| A．separately | B．particularly | C．specially | D．surprisingly |
The writer of the story once went to _______.
| A．Japan and Brazil | B．England and Brazil |
| C．France and Spain | D．Korea and Caribbean |
From the story, we can judge the Writer might be _______ .
| A．an invader | B．a carpenter |
C．an adventurer | D．a prisoner |
It happened one morning 20 years ago. A British scientist Alec Jeffrey came across DNA fingerprinting: He identified the patte
rns of genetic material that are unique to almost every individual. His discovery changed everything from the way we do criminal investigations to the way we decide family law. But the professor of genetics at the University of Leicester, UK, is still surprised, and a bit worried, by the power of the technology he released upon the world.
The patterns within DNA are unique to each individual, except identical twins, who share the same pattern. The ability to identify these patterns has been used to convict(证明…有罪) murderers and to clear people who are wrongly accused. It is also used to identify the vi
ctims of war and settle disputes over who is the father of a child.
Jeffrey said he and his colleagues made the discovery by accident while tracking genetic variations(变异). But, within six months of the discovery, genetic fingerprinting had been used in an immigration case, to prove that an African boy really was his parents’ son.·In 1986, it was used for the first time in a British
criminal case: It cleared one suspect after being accused of two murders and helped convict another man.
DNA testing is now very common. In Britain, a national criminal database established in 1995 now contains 2.5 million DNA samples. The U.S. and Canada are developing similar systems. But there are fears about the stored DNA samples and how they could be used to harm a person’s privacy. That includes a person’s medical history, racial origin or psychological profile. “There is the long-term risk that people can get into these samples and start getting additional information about a person’s paternity(父子关系) or risk of disease,” Jeffrey said.
DNA testing is not an unfailing proof of identity. Still, it is considered a reasonably reliable system for determining the things it is used for. Jeffrey estimates the probability of two individuals’ DNA profiles matching in the most commonly used tests at one in a billion.According to the text, DNA testing can NOT be used in _______ .
| A．doing criminal investigations | B．deciding faraily law |
| C．clearmg wrongly accused people | D．telling twins apart |
DNA samples are not popular with all the people because _______ .
| A．the government in Britain establishes a criminal database |
| B．the US and Canada develop similar systems |
| C．DNA samples can be used to harm a person’s privacy |
| D．DNA testing is too expensive and dangerous now |
Where will you most probably find this article?
| A．In a guidebook. | B．In a storybook. |
| C．In a science fiction. | D．In a scientific magazine. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Discovery of DNA testing by Jeffery | B．Practice of DNA testing in court |
| C．DNA testing in the present situation | D．Benefits and side effects of DNA testing |
ACTeen-Acting for Teens
The nation’s first on-camera acting program developed for teens(ages 13—15, 16—20). Now celebrating our 30th year. June, July, August, or。Saturday summer academies offer full or part-time curriculum. 14 + electives, including film & television acting, theater, musical theater, auditioning, Shakespeare, speech ＆voice, movement, script writing.
Working grades, small classes(12 maximum per workshop). Safe, convenient location. Application required. Out of town applicants may submit long distance application.
Cost/Week: $500一$649
Indianhead Ranch
Sharpen your H unting Skills over one or two weeks at Indianhead Ranch in Del Rio, Texas. You will experience the outdoors, expand your knowledge in gun safety and learn practical camping hunting and survival skills.
Cost/Week: $1000一$1999
Vermont Adventure Camps
Six-Day Adventure Camps
We offer 8 six-day adventure camps for teens l1 to 13. The kids go stay in rustic cabins at our camping site in Andover VT and on adventures each day. A discount of 10％will be given to the team with over 3 persons.
Two-Week Adventure Camps
We also offer 4 two-week adventure camps for teens 14 to 17. The teens will go on an adventure each day and then come back to our quaint Adventure Lodge.
Cost/Week: $650
International ESL Camp
The site is in close proximity to New York, Philadelphia, and Princeton University. Campers will receive three hours per day of English language instruction, a full range of planned activities including sports, arts and crafts, and weekly excursions.
Cost/Week: $650一$999According to the passages, which camp offers hunting skills?
| A．Vermont Adventure Camps. | B．Indianhead Ranch. |
| C．Acting for Teens. | D．International ESL Camp. |
Which of the following statements about ACTeeen is TRUE?
A．Applicants out of town c annot submit. |
| B．There i s no need for application to the camp. |
| C．The camp lasts until September. |
| D．Its curriculum includes script writing. |
If Tom plans to send his 4 children to join Six-Day Adventure Camps, how much should he pay?
| A．2,340. | B．2,600. | C．260. | D．2,860. |