In the age of online shopping and e-readers, devoted staff and customers keep the doors of Auntie's Bookstore open for 40 years. “When you're in Portland, you go to Powell's Books. When you're in Seattle, you go to Elliott Bay. When you're in Spokane, you go to Auntie's,” said John Waite, the owner of the bookstore. “I can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's,” he said. “A lot of people can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's, either,” Waite said.
Turning visitors into regular customers is important to the store's success. Auntie's markets itself as a destination. A half-dozen book clubs meet there. Most weeks, the store hosts two to four author readings or literary events. “We want people to come down, hang out and experience the feel of having a book in their hands,” Waite said.
Eager readers not only want to read books, but want to discuss them, said Kerry Halls, the store manager. Auntie's offers them that chance, she said.
“You can't go to Amazon and talk to someone about your favorite novel, or discuss what you think of the latest Stephen King's book compared with Pet Sematary,” she said.
To compete with the convenience of shopping online, Auntie's tries to predict what books will become a trend. They store these books in advance. But Waite doesn't sugarcoat the realities of selling books in the era of Amazon and other online retailers (零售店). “Even the big guys can’t make it,” he said, noting physical retailers are striving nationally. As the United States' oldest national bookstore chain, Barnes&Noble has to constantly reorganize to stop the declining sales.
At Auntie's, regular customers are very important to its survival and development. Sales of children's and young adults' books are increasing in recent years. Waite said. “For a long time, older customers have kept bookstores alive, "he said. "Now, it's starting to attract younger people.” Another reason of Auntie's longevity (长寿) is Northwest culture, which Waite said encourages new ways of thinking and the diversity of ideas. "I think it's a great book town, “Waite said. "People are enthusiastic about reading.”
1. What can we learn about Auntie's from Paragraph 1?| A．It is very popular in the local area. |
| B．It is a highly profitable physical bookstore. |
| C．It takes full advantage of the e-business platform. |
| D．It has a longer history than Powell's Books and Elliott Bay. |
| A．To set up a literary environment. |
| B．To have more regular customers. |
| C．To awaken people's interest in reading. |
| D．To encourage readers to learn about more authors. |
| A．Celebrating. | B．Progressing. | C．Struggling. | D．Compromising. |
| A．The future of Auntie's. |
| B．The major customers of Auntie's. |
| C．The influence of Auntie's. |
| D．The reasons for Auntie's longevity. |
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【推荐1】The United Nations'World Food Program, WFP, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is recognizing the group for its efforts to fight hunger and improve conditions for peace in areas affected by conflict. The award comes with a gold medal and $1.1 million --a small amount compared to the money the WFP needs for its work. So far in 2020, the UN agency has received almost $6.4 billion in goods and other donations.
The World Food Program has long specialized in getting assistance to some of the world's most dangerous places. For example, the WFP has air-dropped food in South Sudan and Syria. It also created an emergency service that kept working as COVID-19 delayed many flights.
In 2019, the UN agency provided aid to almost 100 million people in 88 countries. Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said on Friday, “With this year's award, the committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger.” In announcing the award, the Nobel committee noted that “Until the day when we have a medical vaccine (疫苗），food is the best vaccine against chaos.” And it added, “there will be 265 million starving people within a year, so of course this is also a call to the international community not to underfund the World Food Program.”
In Geneva, a WFP spokesman told reporters: “When everything went into shutdown mode, the World Food Programme was there. When everyone was leaving, the World Food Programme had to provide the support that the world deserved.”
Dan Smith is director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. He said the Nobel committee had wanted to send a message of both hope and support for international cooperation. “Hunger, like climate change, the pandemic (疫情） and other issues, is a world problem that can only be properly addressed through cooperation,” he told Reuters news agency.
1. The WFP won the Nobel Peace Prize because it| A．offered assistance to Sudan |
| B．fought hunger to promote peace |
| C．created services against COVID-19 |
| D．collected goods and donations |
| A．could always offer necessary aid in time |
| B．kept working as food is the best vaccine |
| C．struggled to keep offering nonstop support |
| D．defeated hunger with support from cooperation |
| A．International community is supposed to underfund WFP. |
| B．The money awarded is adequate for WFP to provide services. |
| C．Problems like hunger call for joint efforts by all the countries. |
| D．Enough attention should be paid to the importance of vaccine. |
This month Angelina Horsefield writes about an animal rescue （援救） society in Australia: WIRES |
WIRES （Wildlife Information and Rescue Service） began in 1985 when someone found an injured bird in a park in Sydney, Australia. At the time, no one knew how to help this “native” animal. WIRES help animals like snakes, kangaroos and, of course, birds. However, they can only help Australian wildlife, so they can’t help other animals like cats or rabbits. Like other animal rescue groups, WIRES need more people. I believe they are helping the local animals, but they can only continue if others join in. They hold excellent courses, where people can learn what to do when they find an injured animal. They also explain what happens to the animals in their care. Many of the people who help also lake care of the animals themselves in their own gardens or on their farms. I spoke to 15-year-old Guy McKenzie, whose dad helps WIRES in his free time. Guy told me about the work they do. “Dad usually gets a phone call at home and drives immediately to where the animal is, to rescue it. He has special equipment and always wears gloves. The animals are wild, after all.” Guy also talked about a woman who found a bat in her garden. She thought it might be dead but then she noticed that there was a baby bat too. Guy’s dad brought it back to the centre, where it grew into a healthy adult. Then, WIRES returned it to nature. Guy showed me a baby kangaroo that his dad was looking after and told me that one day he’ll be doing the same thing. Yes, he will, for sure. |
1. WIRES aim at helping ________.
| A．pet animals | B．wildlife animals |
| C．small animals | D．farm animals |
| A．who started WIRES | B．how one helps WIRES |
| C．why people join WIRES | D．how WIRES study animals |
| A．Live in nature. | B．Take care of his dad. |
| C．Study bats. | D．Work for WIRES. |
| A．describe a course on animals | B．introduce an animal scientist |
| C．call on people to join the rescue group | D．give advice on keeping pets |
【推荐3】Tired of his staff always keeping checking emails and the sound of their smart phones, Paul Devoy decided to ban all phones, tablets and laptops from meetings. He says meetings have become much more productive.
It is true that the sound of the phones has a harmful effect on our ability to concentrate. One Standford University study shows that people who regularly deal with electronic alerts and messages do not pay attention or control their memory as well as those who concentrate on doing one thing at a time.
Mr Devoy introduced his ban on technology in meetings, but he says exceptions are made if important personal calls are expected.
''These things need to be reasonable, '' he says, adding he was surprised to find that his staff all accepted the ban and some were even enthusiastic about the ban.
Mr Devoy has gone a step further in his purge(清除)of technology. He has banned PowerPoint presentations from meetings, and finds that discussion now flows more freely.
Nena Chaletzos, leader and founder of online travel start-up Luxtripper, is also a supporter of tech-free meetings. She runs her company’s weekly meeting without phones or laptops. Instead, for the one-hour meeting, her team of eight are asked to bring along the A3 whiteboard they have each been given, on which they write meeting notes and action points. At the end of the meeting, everyone's actions for the week are agreed. The whiteboards are kept on show and tasks are erased as they are completed.
''I tell them to bring their ideas and brains to the meeting, not their technology, '' Ms Chaletzos says. Once the meeting went on for three hours, discussion is now so much more focused and productive that it can be kept to a strict 60 minutes, she says. At first, the staff worried about customers being unable to reach them, but Ms Chaletzos told them that all they needed was a warning. An unexpected result, she says, is that meetings are much more friendly and open.
Technology is still very much used at the start-up but only at the right time. For example, Ms Chaletzos' team use Slack, which has helped end the need for other meetings.
1. Why did Paul Devoy ban phones from meetings?| A．Because his staff wasted too much time on emails. |
| B．Because phones weakened his staff's ability to focus. |
| C．Because he doesn't like the sound of smart phones. |
| D．Because his staff are buried in their personal affairs. |
| A．introduce Nena Chaletzo's decision |
| B．prove the harm the sound of smart phones causes |
| C．show Paul Devoy's decision is right |
| D．give a similar story to the one mentioned above |
| A．the person must be Paul Devoy himself | B．other staff will ask for the same right |
| C．something important must happen | D．Paul Devoy will punish the person |
| A．disagreed and stopped working | B．were happy to observe the ban |
| C．thought that he would fail | D．disappointed him a lot |
【推荐1】When the island of Singapore became an independent country in 1965, it had few friends and even fewer natural resources. How did it become one of the world's great trading and financial centers? The strategy, explained Lee Kuan Yew, its first prime minister, was "to develop Singapore's only available natural resource: its people".
Today Singapore's education system is considered the best in the world. The graduates of its best schools can be found scattered around the world's finest universities.
The island-state has much to teach the world. But other countries are reluctant (不情愿的) pupils. One reason is that Singapore favors traditional method, with teachers leading the class. That seems not useful for children to learn for themselves.
Yet Singapore shows that academic brilliance need not come at the expense of personal skills. In 2015 Singaporean students also came first in a new PISA ranking designed to look at cooperative problem-solving, scoring even better than they did in reading and science. They are also reported to be happy. Not content with its achievements, Singapore is now introducing reforms to improve creativity and reduce stress. This is a gradual education reform - the first of three lessons that Singapore offers the rest of the world.
The second lesson is to accept Singapore's distinctive approach to teaching maths. It emphasizes a narrower but deeper curriculum, and seeks to ensure that a whole class progresses through the syllabus (教学大纲). Struggling students get compulsory extra lessons to help them keep up.
The third and most important lesson is to focus on developing excellent teachers. In Singapore, they get 100 hours of training a year to keep up to date with the latest techniques. The government pays them well, too.
The system is hardly faultless. Other countries might wish to avoid Singapore's dividing of high — and low-achievers into separate schools from the age of 12, which contributes to stress about exams. That is a pity. Education would be much better if more countries copied Singapore's homework.
1. What did Lee Kuan Yew think contributed to Singapore's great development?| A．Trading with other countries. | B．Making full use of its people. |
| C．Exploiting its natural resources. | D．Introducing all kinds of talents. |
| A．Its system is too advanced. | B．Its method, seems not to be up to date. |
| C．Their students are too independent. | D．They are lack of challenging teachers. |
| A．Sticking to quick reforms. | B．Adopting different syllabuses. |
| C．Aiming at teachers' further training. | D．Helping struggling students catch up. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Worried. | C．Subjective. | D．Uncertain. |
【推荐2】If you had boarded a passenger plane in 1950, you would have seen five people in the cockpit (驾驶舱): two pilots, a radio operator, a navigator and a flight engineer. Over the years, technical advances have gradually removed the need for the last three, leaving just two pilots. That has been the norm (标准) in commercial aviation for decades.
However, things could be simplified further — one of the two remaining pilots could soon go. Many military aircraft are already manned by a single pilot, and for commercial aviation this would mean stepping into a brave new world.
But how will airlines make this brave innovation come true? One way is to greatly increase automation in the cockpit, devoting more tasks to computers. Another is to shift the same tasks from the cockpit to the ground. “The latter approach seems to be more workable, at least in the short term, because much of what is required already exists,” says Patrick Smith, an airline pilot flying Boeing 767 aircraft. “A trained ground operator could observe a number of flights at once and even fully control the plane remotely if needed.”
It’s true that single-pilot operations could help airlines save money, but there is another reason which makes them quicken their pace for this crucial breakthrough. Boeing predicts a need for 600,000 new pilots in the next two decades, but by some estimates, there will be a deficit (赤字) of at least 34,000 pilots globally by 2025. Reducing the number of pilots on some crews or aircraft could lessen the impact of this.
Perhaps the biggest barrier to a single pilot will be selling the idea to passengers. In 2019, Don Hairis, a professor at Coventry University, conducted a survey on the prospect of flying on an airliner with just one pilot. Just a minority of participants said they’d be willing to take that flight, and the general idea was that removing a pilot increased the possibility of accidents. In the study, Harris concluded that the single-crew airliner would be still probably 20 years away.
1. What is the potential trend in commercial aviation according to the text?| A．It will make air travel eco-friendly. |
| B．It will switch to single-pilot operations. |
| C．It will tighten its flight control for safety concerns. |
| D．It will bring in many military aircraft to the industry. |
| A．Raising the standards in admitting new pilots. | B．Making pilots adaptable to different situations. |
| C．Using computers to automate the flight process. | D．Gaining piloting support from ground operators. |
| A．The shortage of pilots. | B．The need for new airlines. |
| C．The airlines’ brave innovation. | D．The financial problem airlines face. |
| A．The prospect of single-crew airliners is bright. |
| B．It's urgent that airlines reduce airplane accidents. |
| C．Passengers are willing to try new types of airplanes. |
| D．Airlines have a long way to go before the innovation occurs. |
【推荐3】Many of us wonder what lies in outer space. When we look up at the night sky, we see stars, the twinkle of a moving satellite and occasionally a distant planet. But one thing we don't see is the millions of pieces of junk filling up space. It's this debris（废弃物）that's causing problems for the existing technology that's up there and which we rely on.
The amount of space junk is increasing. Over the last few decades, satellites and rockets have been launched into space, littering the cosmos as they go. It's estimated there are now millions of thrown-away pieces of metal and other materials in orbit—everything from old rocket pieces to accidentally dropped astronaut tools, and even flecks of paint. The fear is that if we don't start taking this debris out of the sky soon, it will become a great danger to active satellites. Nobu Okada, Chief Executive of Astroscale—a company working on ways to clean up space junk—says hitting "even a small paint fleck…has enough power to blow up other satellites."
Several ideas are being looked at to collect the debris floating around in space. In 2018, the Remove Debris spacecraft carried out various experiments, including testing a net that could catch a satellite or firing a harpoon at a target in orbit to try to catch it.
This year the UK Space Agency is helping to fund new approaches to tracking satellites and debris in space. Jacob Geer from UKSA told the BBC: "Space surveillance（监视）and tracking is one of the key things we can do to keep safe those satellites we rely on now, and to make sure certain orbits don't become inaccessible（无法接近的）for future generations because there's too much debris in them.
It's clear that something must be done to achieve a deep clean in the space. But looking to the future, like any litter problem, we need to look at ways of creating less—and that shouldn't be the stuff of science fiction.
1. Which of the following items is space junk?| A．Metal stuff. | B．Old rocket pieces in the orbit. |
| C．Tools in the spaceship. | D．Paint on a spaceship. |
| A．Small paint of fleck will blow away satellites. |
| B．Active satellites will be in danger. |
| C．It will be impossible to clean up. |
| D．It will lead to disasters on the earth. |
| A．Too much man-made satellites. |
| B．Too much population. |
| C．Too much space activities. |
| D．Too much debris in space orbits. |
| A．Stopping reading science fictions. |
| B．Carrying out a thorough space cleaning |
| C．Creating less space junk from now on. |
| D．Using space surveillance and tracking system. |
【推荐1】Researchers discovered a hidden continent on Earth, but it's not Atlantis. They found it while reconstructing the evolution of Mediterranean region's complex geology, which rises with mountain ranges and dips with seas from Spain to Iran.
The continent is called Greater Adria. It's the size of Greenland and it broke off from North Africa, only to be buried under Southern Europe about 140 million years ago. And chances are you've been there without even knowing it. “Forget Atlantis,” said Douwe, study author and professor at Utrecht University. “Without realizing it, vast numbers of tourists spend their holiday each year on the lost continent of Greater Adria.” This area is called Adria by geologists, so the researchers for this study refer to the previously undiscovered continent as Greater Adria.
Most of Greater Adria was underwater, covered by shallow seas, coral reefs and sediments (沉淀物). The sediments formed rocks and those rocks became mountain ranges in these areas： the Alps, the Apennines, the Balkans, Greece and Turkey. The researchers found that Greater Adria started to become its own continent about 240 million years ago.
This isn't the first time a lost continent has been found. In January 2017, researchers announced the discovery of a lost continent left over from the supercontinent Gondwana, which began breaking apart 200 million years ago. The leftover piece, which was covered in lava (岩 浆), is now under Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. And in September 2017, a different research team found the lost continent of Zealandia through ocean drilling in the South Pacific. It’s two-thirds of a mile beneath the sea.
Greater Adria isn’t the first lost continent to be found. But if research in past years shows anything, it likely won’t be the last discovery.
1. How did the researchers find Greater Adria?| A．They found it accidentally. |
| B．They got inspired by the tales of Atlantis. |
| C．They discovered it after years of seaching. |
| D．They followed the steps of exploring mountain ranges. |
| A．It is hidden under the sea level. |
| B．It is much smaller than Greenland. |
| C．It has existed for about 240 million years. |
| D．It has been known to many tourists before. |
| A．To describe how the researchers explored continents. |
| B．To show some other lost continents have been found. |
| C．To prove they are closely related to Greater Adria. |
| D．To explain the reason why Greater Adria got buried. |
| A．Atlantis Discovered Finally |
| B．Undersea World Explored |
| C．A Hidden Mountain Undiscovered |
| D．A Lost Continent Found Under Europe |
【推荐2】When I was small and my grandmother died, I couldn’t understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laughs turned into crying,
So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing are controlled by the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that so does crying.
Whatever helps us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional health, and crying seems to work well. One study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.
Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and friendlier and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better, sometimes we don’t even know we’re very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through crying, and then we can deal with them.
Just as crying can be healthy, not crying-holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering-can be bad for physical health. Studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illness. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don’t fight it. It’s a natural, healthy and emotional response.
1. Why didn’t the author cry when her grandmother died?| A．Because her father did not want her to feel too sad. | B．Because she did not love her grandmother. |
| C．Because she was too shy to cry at that time. | D．The author doesn’t give the explanation. |
| A．there are two ways to keep healthy |
| B．emotional health has a close relationship to physical health |
| C．crying and laughing play the same roles |
| D．crying does more good to health than laughing |
| A．Crying is the best way to get help from others. |
| B．Fighting back tears may cause some health problems. |
| C．We will never know our deep feelings unless we cry. |
| D．We must cry if we want to reduce pressure. |
| A．Why We Cry. | B．How to Keep Healthy. |
| C．Power of Tears. | D．New Scientific Discovery. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Touched. | D．Upset. |
【推荐3】Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, toil (苦干) won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.
1. Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.| A．the reasons for success | B．the meaning of success |
| C．the standards of success | D．the importance of success |
| A．work makes one feel pain | B．one tends to enjoy his work |
| C．one gives up his work easily | D．it takes a lot of time to succeed |
| A．Successful people like to show their great skills. |
| B．People need to achieve success at the cost of life. |
| C．People sometimes succeed without luck or talent. |
| D．It helps to think that luck or talent leads to success. |
| A．Success ― the child of talent and luck |
| B．Success ― altitude rather than attitude |
| C．Time and tide wait for no man |
| D．Time and toil make for success |
【推荐1】Laughter is part of the human language around the world. Unlike English or French, we don't have to learn to speak it, and we're born with the ability to laugh. Studies show that the first laughter appears at about 3.5 to 4 months of age, long before we're able to speak.
As the saying goes, "Laughter is the best medicine." Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free and easy to use. Nothing works faster to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. It helps relax your whole body leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes. Laughter also helps you fight against diseases. It can improve the function of blood vessels (血管) and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack.
And the good feeling you get when you laugh remains with you even a few minutes later.
It helps you keep a positive, optimistic attitude toward difficult situations, disappointments and losses. Laughter gives you the strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult days, a laugh or even simply a smile can go a long way toward making you feel better.
Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. And it helps build strong and lasting relationships, and it unites people during difficult times. So it's necessary to create opportunities to laugh with others. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again. When you hear laughter, find it out and ask. "What's funny?" And you can make time for fun activities such as bowling, golfing or karaoke.
In short, the ability to laugh and have fun not only makes life more enjoyable but also helps you solve problems, connect with others, and be more creative. The more laughter there is, the more benefits you'll receive.
1. The author develops the second paragraph mainly by ______ .| A．telling stories | B．providing examples |
| C．discussing questions | D．showing research findings |
| A．the difficult times in one's life |
| B．the benefits of laughter to our mind |
| C．the physical health benefits of laughter |
| D．different ways to feel better about oneself |
| A．Man—the Only Creature That Laughs |
| B．Laughing Makes Us Younger |
| C．Different Types of Laughter |
| D．Why Should We Laugh? |
【推荐2】Only a few people in Toronto have the luck to live within walking distance from their workplace. For the rest of us, commuting (长途上下班) is a rather unpleasant daily necessity.
So how do you avoid a traffic jam in Toronto? You can do it in the old way and listen to one of the radio stations that give regular updates about the traffic situation in Toronto's streets. Seeing the big picture of Toronto's traffic and knowing when and where heavy traffic occurs is a must. From my own experience, there are situations where a quick decision can help you make it in time for an event or a meeting. That's why we prepared three short videos showing the overall traffic situation in Toronto from dawn to night. You can click them and watch.
With the help of "Google Maps", where you can watch the live traffic density all over the world and average traffic data based on past conditions, we are able to provide you with traffic maps for a typical (平常的) Friday.
Friday traffic in Toronto is quite fast in the early morning, with only a few hot spots showing up at the major junctions (交叉点) at 7:00 am. The morning traffic jam starts light at 7:30 and the traffic gradually slows down to reach a breaking point at 8:30. The roads are quite free afterwards, only Allen Road is likely to be jammed around lunchtime from 11:30 am to 12:00. It comes as no surprise that Friday afternoon brings heavy traffic as early as 1:30 pm, mainly on the Don Valley Parkway. You won't have a good time getting away from the city from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm, as there is a good chance to get caught in a traffic jam. The traffic in Toronto is quite heavy on a Friday night. I hope you will have a nice Friday night in the city and a safe journey home this Friday!
1. By saying "commuting is a rather unpleasant daily necessity", the writer refers to the fact that ______ .| A．buses are usually very crowded. |
| B．people have to travel a long way to work |
| C．people are often stuck in traffic jams. |
| D．people usually cannot do anything on the way to work. |
| A．Do nothing but to wait patiently. |
| B．Report your situation to a radio station. |
| C．Make a quick decision and find another way to go. |
| D．Relax and enjoy some good radio programmes. |
| A．What the traffic in Toronto is like for a typical Friday. |
| B．How to avoid heavy traffic on Friday. |
| C．Why the traffic is terrible on Friday. |
| D．What "Google Maps" can do for us. |
| A．A TV programme. | B．A radio programme. |
| C．A travel booklet. | D．A website. |
【推荐3】Prairie dogs（草原犬鼠）are native to the prairies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They are actually a type of squirrel named for the place where they live and the warning call they give when they are threatened（威胁）, which sounds similar to a dog’s bark. One of the amazing things about prairie dogs is the way that they live in “towns.” These towns can contain many hundreds of prairie dog families.
Prairie dogs like to live with other prairie dogs, so they join together to make prairie dog towns. These are collections of prairie dog families that can cover one or two square kilometers. Prairie dog towns are big because each family lives in their own tunnel（地道）system, which is usually 10-30 meters wide. Families are usually made up of 1 male, 2 to 4 females, and their children. When the young prairie dogs reach three years of age, they leave home to found their own families on the edges（边缘）of the town.
Prairie dog tunnels usually have several chambers. These chambers are like rooms in a house. Female prairie dogs use them when they give birth and when they raise their babies. The other chambers are used by the family for sleeping. To make them comfortable, prairie dogs separate the chambers by lining the walls with grass. The tunnels are also used for protection when prairie dogs are threatened by other animals. For this reason they are designed with two or more holes serving as doors.
Prairie dogs like living in towns and they even make social visits to each other. When two friendly prairie dogs meet, they greet each other with a kind of kiss. However, the male prairie dogs defend the borders of the family’s tunnel system against enemies. Prairie dog towns have conflicts, social gatherings, and cooperation just like a human town, which makes them very interesting.
1. What do we know about prairie dogs?| A．They are group animals. | B．They bark like squirrels. |
| C．They are an endangered species. | D．They are wild dogs living on grasslands. |
| A．By giving the meaning of chambers. | B．By describing how chambers are built. |
| C．By classifying the contents of chambers. | D．By comparing chambers to human homes. |
| A．To let in fresh air. | B．To make it comfortable for sleep. |
| C．To run away from dangerous enemies. | D．To avoid being crowded in and out. |
| A．social life | B．social structure | C．hunting habits | D．living environment |
