If you travel to a new exhibit at the San Francisco greenhouse of Flowers, you will have a chance to see some meat---eating plants. Take bladderworts, a kind of such plant, for example. They appear so small and grow in a quiet pool. But these are the fastest---known killers of the plant kingdom , able to catch a small insect in 1／50 of a second using a trap(陷阱) door!
Once the trap door closes on the animal falling into it, the enzymes(酶)similar to those in the human stomach slowly digest the insect. When dinner is over, the plant opens the trap door and is ready to trap again.
Meat－eating plants grow mostly in wet areas with soil that doesn't offer much food value. In such conditions these amazing plants have developed insect traps to get their nutritional(营养的)needs over thousands of years. North America has more such plants than any other continent.
Generally speaking, the traps may have attractive appearance to fool the eye, like pitcher plants, which get their name because they look like beautiful pitchers ( a container like a bottle) full of honey.
The Asian pitcher plant, for example, has bright colors and an attractive half－closed cover. Curious insects are attracted to come close and take a drink, then fall down the slippery wall to their deaths.
Some of these pitchers are large enough to hold two gallons (7.5 liters). Meat－eating plants only eat people in science movies , but sometimes a bird or other small animals will discover that a pitcher plant isn't a good place to get a drink.
1. From Paragraph 1, we can know that meat-eating plants can ________.| A．catch 50 small insects in a second | B．catch an insect in a short time |
| C．be found floating on a quiet lake | D．notice an insect in 1/50 of a second |
| A．The plant is fooling insects into taking a drink. |
| B．The plant is producing honey. |
| C．The plant is attracting insects to come close. |
| D．The plant is enjoying a dinner. |
| A．can get nutrition from animals | B．don't need much food value |
| C．can make the most of such conditions | D．have developed digestive enzymes |
| A．are big and tall | B．like to grow in dry land |
| C．look bright and beautiful | D．are usually covered with hair |
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【推荐1】The older of two sisters, Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England, into a middle class British family. When Goodall was about two years old, her mother gave her a toy chimpanzee, which Goodall still possesses to this day. She was a good student, but she had more interest in being outdoors and learning about animals. Once she spent five hours in a hen-house so she could see how a hen lays an egg. She loved animals so much that by the time she was ten or eleven she dreamed of living with animals in Africa. Her mother encouraged Goodall's dream, which eventually became a reality.
When Goodall was eighteen she completed secondary school and began working. She worked as a secretary, as an assistant editor in a film studio, and as a waitress, trying to save enough money to make her first trip to Africa.
Jane Goodall finally went to Africa when she was twenty-three years old. In 1957 she sailed to Mombasa on the east African coast, where she met anthropologist (人类学家) Louis Leakey (1903-1972), who would become her mentor, or teacher. In Africa, Leakey and his wife, Mary, had discovered what were then the oldest known human remains. These discoveries supported Leakey’s claim that the origins of the human species were in Africa, not in Asia or Europe as many had believed.
Leakey hoped that studies of the primate (灵长目动物的) species most closely related to human beings chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans — would shed (散发) light on the behavior of the human animal’s ancestors. He chose Goodall for this work because he believed that as a woman she would be more patient and careful than a male observer and that as someone with little formal training she would be more likely to describe what she saw rather than what she thought she should be seeing.
Later Goodall turned her attention to the problem of captive (被囚禁的) chimpanzees. Because they closely resemble humans, chimpanzees have been widely used as laboratory animals to study human diseases. Goodall used her knowledge and fame to work to set limits on the number of animals used in such experiments and to convince researchers to improve the conditions under which the animals were kept. She also worked to improve conditions for zoo animals and for conservation of chimpanzee habitats. In 1986 she helped found the Committee for the Conservation and Care of Chimpanzees, an organization dedicated to these issues. She has even written children’s books, The Chimpanzee Family Book and With Love, on the subject of treating animals kindly.
For her efforts Goodall has received many awards and honors. In 2000 she accepted the third Gandhi-King award for Non Violence at the United Nations. She does not spend much time in Africa anymore; rather, she gives speeches throughout the world and spends as many as three hundred days a year traveling.
1. What is Jane Goodall’s major achievements?| A．Her books for children to learn about nature. |
| B．Her observation of how the hen lay an egg. |
| C．Her study of the chimpanzee behavior. |
| D．Her finding of the origins of the human species. |
| A．Science fiction. | B．A biography book. |
| C．A handbook about animal protection. | D．A travel brochure. |
| A．She would be more patient and careful than a male observer. |
| B．She helped found the Committee for the Conservation and Care of Chimpanzees. |
| C．She was more likely to record what really happens though lacking formal training. |
| D．She had more interest in being outdoors and learning about animals. |
| A．She went to Africa when she was twenty-three years old. |
| B．She accepted the third Gandhi-King Award for Non Violence. |
| C．Her discoveries supported Leakey’s claim of the origins of the human species. |
| D．She worked to improve conditions for zoo animals. |
【推荐2】No longer in the pink
The world is going to have to start thinking thoroughly to save its coral reefs. Corals are comeback creatures. As the world froze and melted and sea levels rose and fell over 30,000 years, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is roughly the size of Italy, died and revived five times. But now, thanks to human activity, corals face the most complex mixture of conditions they have yet had to deal with.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise in global temperatures of 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial times could cause coral reefs to decline by 70-90%. When waters become unusually warm, corals throw out the algae, leaving reefs a ghostly white. This ''bleaching'' is happening five times as often as it did in the 1970s.
Corals need protection from local sources of harm. Their ecosystems suffer from coastal currents, whether dirty water or waste from farms. Plastic and other rubbish block sunlight and spread aggressive bacteria. Governments need to carry out tighter rules on these industries, such as tougher local building codes, and to put more effort into strengthening rules against overfishing.
Many reefs that have been damaged could benefit from restoration. Coral's biodiversity offers hope, because the same coral will grow differently under different conditions. Corals of the western Pacific near Indonesia, for example, can survive higher temperatures than the same species in the eastern Pacific near Hawaii.
Stronger measures to fight against the larger threats corals face should also attract more research. Shading reefs using a polymer film as a sunscreen to cool them is under discussion for parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Other schemes to help corals involve genetic engineering, selective breeding and brightening the clouds in the sky above an area of the reef by spraying salt into the lowest ones, so that they turn away more of the sun's energy. These measures may sound extreme, but people need to get used to thinking big. Dealing with the problems caused by climate change will call for some far-reaching ideas.
1. Thorough thinking is needed to save the coral reefs because __________.| A．corals have come back in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia |
| B．corals are frozen and melted five times over 30,000 years |
| C．corals are strong enough to survive human activity |
| D．human activity are threatening the condition of coral reefs |
| A．warming | B．throwing out |
| C．whitening | D．dying |
| A．coastal water flows | B．more sunlight |
| C．waste from farms | D．bad bacteria |
| A．encourage people to come up with more ideas |
| B．introduce some advanced technological progress |
| C．raise people's awareness of protecting the environment |
| D．warn people of the threats and risks corals are facing |
Of course, the good of oxen is not limited to plowing. In fact, they are seen as “boats on land” for their ability to carry loads. Besides, the whole body of an ox is full of treasures. Their meat and milk are food full of nutrition, and their skin can be used to make clothes and shoes. With all these qualities, oxen are regarded as generous creatures.
In the past, oxen played an important role in the spiritual life of the Chinese. Even today, oxen still play a special part in some folk activities. For example, some people who live in southwest China will cook cattle bone soup and share it among family members when holding the ceremony for children who reach 13. They believe that the cattle bone soup represents the blood relationship among family members. In order to express their love for oxen, people in some other areas will run to shake off diseases on the 16th day of the first month by the lunar calendar (农历), and during their run they will take their oxen along, which indicates they regard the creature as human.
Because of the contribution of oxen in their lives, the Chinese people are very grateful to the animal. In addition, the use of oxen in ceremonies and the thanks people owe to oxen help to develop various traditional customs, which becomes an important part of the folk culture of the Chinese nation.
1. The words “boats on land” underlined in Paragraph 2 refer to ________.
| A．animals for taking goods | B．creatures for pulling plows |
| C．treasures of the folk culture | D．tools in the farming economy |
| A．oxen are no more important today than in the past |
| B．ceremonies are held when people cook cattle bone soup |
| C．oxen are treated as human in some areas of China |
| D．people run with oxen to shake off diseases every month |
| A．The special role of oxen in frowning. |
| B．People’s respect and love for oxen. |
| C．The practical value of an ox's body. |
| D．The contribution of oxen to the economy. |
| A．To stress the importance of oxen in farming. |
| B．To introduce the Chinese folk culture. |
| C．To describe how to celebrate the Year of Ox. |
| D．To explain how to develop agriculture with oxen. |
【推荐1】At the age of 50, Nina Schoen expects to have a long life ahead of her, but has thought a lot about death—and why people are so reluctant to talk about it: “It’s going to happen to all of us,” she says, “but it should be a more positive experience than the fear we put into it.”
When she first heard about a new end-of-life process that turns the body into compost (堆肥), “I was really moved by the idea,” says Schoen, who became one of the first to reserve a spot with a Seattle-based company called Recompose, the county’s first funeral home to offer human composting.
Last year Recompose began transforming bodies to soil, more formally known as natural organic reduction. Before that, end-of-life options in the U.S. were limited to burial or cremation (火化), both of which come with environmental costs—U.S. cremations alone dump 1.7 billion pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.
Katrina Spade pioneering the composting movement has spent a decade developing the process in hopes of offering people a greener option for death care. “I wondered, ‘What if we had a choice that helps the planet rather than harms it?’” Spade tells PEOPLE. “To know that the last gesture you’ll make will be gentle and beneficial and it just feels like the right thing to do.”
After she had her own two sons, she began to wonder what she might do with her body after death. A friend who knew her interest in the topic reminded her that farmers sometimes compost the body of cows, and that sparked an idea for her theory: “If you can compost a cow, you can probably compost a human,” she thought, and she set about designing a facility to do just that.
“This is about giving people another choice,” Spade says. “At first, people react with shock—‘You really can do that?’ But so many people today are looking at their impact on the Earth. This is a popular thing because when you die, you can give back to the planet.”
1. How do people react when it comes to death according to paragraph 1?| A．They are unwilling to comment. |
| B．They can face it without fear. |
| C．They feel it a positive experience. |
| D．They would like to compost their bodies. |
| A．Its CEO is Katrina Spade. |
| B．It is located in Seattle. |
| C．It was founded to resist cremation. |
| D．It has spent 10 years composting bodies. |
| A．Changed. | B．Compromised. |
| C．Quitted. | D．Inspired. |
| A．A little things in our life can bring in big outcomes. |
| B．We human beings should do all we can to help the earth. |
| C．Composting is so popular that we should reserve a spot soon. |
| D．We should reject burial because of its harm to environment. |
【推荐2】When you walk on a sandy beach, it takes more energy than striding down a sidewalk — because the weight of your body pushes into the sand. As it turns out, the same thing is true for vehicles driving on road. The weight of the vehicles creates a very shallow indentation (凹陷) in the pavement (路面) and this makes it like continuously driving up a very shallow hill.
Jeremy Gregory, a sustainability scientist at M.I.T. and his team modeled how much energy could be saved — and how much greenhouse gases could be avoided — by simply stiffening (使变硬) the nation’s roads and highways. And they found that stiffening 10 percent of the nation’s roads every year could prevent 440 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over the next five decades — enough to offset half a percent of projected transportation sector emissions over that time period. To put those emission savings into context — that amount is equivalent to how much CO2 you’d spare the planet by keeping a billion barrels of oil in the ground — or by growing seven billion trees — for a decade.
The results are in the Transportation Research Record.
As for how to stiffen roads? Gregory says you could mix a small number of synthetic fibers or carbon nanotubes into paving materials. Or you could pave with cement-based concrete, which is stiffer than asphalt (沥青).
This system could also be a way to shave carbon emissions without some of the usual hurdles. Usually, when it comes to reducing emissions in the transportation sector, you’re talking about changing policies related to vehicles and also driver behavior, which involves millions and millions of people — as opposed to changing the way we design and maintain our pavements. That’s just on the order of thousands of people who are working in transportation agencies. And when it comes to retrofitting (翻新) our streets and highways — those agencies are where the rubber meets the road.
1. Why does the author mention “walk on a sandy beach” in Paragraph 1?| A．To present a fact. |
| B．To make a contrast. |
| C．To explain a rule. |
| D．To share an experience. |
| A．Hardening the road. |
| B．Keeping oil in the ground. |
| C．Growing trees for decades. |
| D．Improving the transportation. |
| A．Gaining more support. |
| B．Consuming less money. |
| C．Involving more people. |
| D．Facing fewer usual obstacles. |
【推荐3】If your dog looks pleased to see you—it is probably because it loves the particular way you smell.
The scent (气味)of a familiar human apparently lingers like perfumein the animal’s brain—where it causes an instinctive emotional response, research reveals.
Our scent acts on a part of the canine (犬科的) brain associated with reward and the strongest reactions are produced by humans that pets know best, say scientists in America.
Gregory Bern, of Emory University in Atlanta, said, “While we might expect that dogs should be highly tuned to the smell of other dogs, it seems that the ‘reward response’ is reserved for their humans. When humans smell the perfume of someone they love, they may have an immediate, emotional reaction that’s not necessarily cognitive (认识的). So is it in dogs. But since dogs have a more sensitive smell than humans. their responses would likely be even more powerful than the ones we might have. In our experiment, however. the owners of the dog were not physically present. The canine brain responses were being caused by something distant in space and time. It shows that dogs brains have these mental representations of us that persist when we’re not there.”
The experiment involved 12 dogs of various kinds by brain scans while five different scents were placed in front of them. The scent samples (样本)came from the subject (接受试险者) itself, a dog the subject had never met, a dog living in the subject’s household. The familiar human scent samples were taken from someone else from the house other than the handlers during the experiment, so that none of the scent donors were physically present.
The results showed all five scents gained a similar response in parts of the dogs brains involved in detecting smells. Responses were significantly stronger for the scent of familiar humans, followed by that of familiar dogs. The findings showed dogs reacted strongest to the scent of familiar humans even when they were not there. Pets trained as
help or therapy dogs show ed greater brain activity than the other dogs in the test.
Researchers say the findings could improve the way to select animals helping wounded old soldiers or disabled people.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．The scent of the dogs. |
| B．The emotions of animals influenced by the scent. |
| C．The differences between animals and humans in scent. |
| D．The sensitive scent. |
| A．familiar dogs |
| B．a human the dog had never met |
| C．a dog the dog had never met |
| D．familiar humans |
| A．Animals can cure wounded old soldiers. |
| B．Animals can help disabled people. |
| C．The experiment is complex. |
| D．The experiment is very valuable. |
| A．Science. |
| B．Education. |
| C．Culture. |
| D．Entertainment. |
【推荐1】The rapid and uncontrolled expansion of today’s cities is causing anxiety not only among urban planners and architects, but also experts in the field of public health. They are alarmed that the disorder of the urban expansion is robbing the population of its basic health and well-being through environmental pollution, inadequate housing and the increasing numbers of neighbors who do not know neighbors.
Beijing, a city of over 21 million residents, is an example of this social isolation. Until the early 1980s, the Chinese capital, was constructed as quantities of Siheyuan. This open structure greatly strengthened contact between neighbors, encouraged the sharing of resources, and formed close relations between families. Because of these characteristics, these structures were described as “collections of small rural villages”. Until the mid-1980s, only a few skyscrapers disrupted the harmony of the landscape. Today Beijing has the look and feel of a modern city, where these “small rural villages” have been replaced by towering skyscrapers. This striking change is not limited to outer structures; it has also dramatically changed the closeness of human relations.
Physical isolation has destroyed the local sense of solidarity (团结), and contributed to the destruction of what were once united family groups. As the distance between home and the workplace has also increased considerably, workers now find themselves devoting what was once valuable family time to exhausting commutes in overcrowded buses or subways.
The disordered growth of today’s cities can no longer be ignored. The great challenge is how to improve the quality of urban life by ensuring harmonious growth. Skyscrapers should not be the only view people can see in a city. Old-fashioned but unique architecture reflects history, character — even the culture of a city. Cities should learn from the experiences of other cities with similar characteristics. This effort requires not only the participation of urban planners but public health and environmental experts, politicians, and fundamentally, the communities themselves.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．People in the city don’t know their neighbors. |
| B．Experts are concerned about housing problems. |
| C．Cities’ disordered development has caused problems. |
| D．Environmental pollution is harmful to people’s basic health. |
| A．People in Beijing become isolated. |
| B．Siheyuan in Beijing becomes precious. |
| C．The outer structure of Beijing becomes messy. |
| D．Skyscrapers make Beijing become international. |
| A．Loss the citizens’ sense of responsibility. |
| B．People’s freedom to enjoy the leisure time. |
| C．Reconstruction of the united family groups. |
| D．Workers being worn out on the way to work. |
| A．Cities should completely follow the pattern of other cities. |
| B．The development of a city is at the expense of its elegance. |
| C．Old-fashioned architectures and skyscrapers can coexist in a city. |
| D．Communities play the most important role in harmonious growth of cities. |
【推荐2】Over the centuries the French have lost a number of famous battles with the British. However, they’ve always felt superior in the kitchen. France has had a reputation for cooking excellence for centuries, and Britain for some of the worst cooking in the world. But according to a recent survey, that reputation may no longer reflect reality.
In the survey, 71% of the Britons said they cook at home every day, while only 59% of the French said they cook daily. British home cooks spend more time cooking each week and also produce a greater variety of dishes than French home cooks.
The reaction in London was predictably enthusiastic. British food has greatly improved since the 1990s.Once upon a time, the menu for many family meals would have been roast beef, potatoes and over- cooked vegetables, but not now. Home cooks are experimenting with the huge range of ingredients now available in British supermarkets and are preparing all kinds of new dishes, using the cookbooks that sell millions of copies every year. As a result, there’s much more diversity in British food now, compared to French food, which tends to be very traditional.
Some French people say that the survey did not show the whole picture. They agree that during the week French women don’t cook as much as they used to because most of them work and don’t have much time. They tend to buy ready-made or frozen dishes, but many of them make up for it on the weekend. There’s also a difference between Paris and the countryside. It’s true that people in Paris don’t cook much, but elsewhere, cooking is still at the heart of daily life.
For many French people, opinions about British food have not changed. When Bernard Berthe food editor at a magazine, was asked about British food, he replied: “I don’t go out of my way to try it. It is not very refined. You can say that I’m not a fan at all.”
1. According to the passage, nowadays British people ________.| A．cook less at home than the French every day |
| B．no longer eat roast beef and over-cooked vegetables |
| C．are more willing to try cooking all kinds of new foods |
| D．buy more cookbooks than French people do |
| A．French women cook less often now. | B．The French prefer ready-made dishes. |
| C．French women seldom cook on the weekend. | D．Cooking is at the heart of people’s life in Paris. |
| A．He would love to try it. | B．He shows no interest in it. |
| C．He considers it worse than before. | D．He considers it better than before. |
【推荐3】As we grow old, we realize that we have so little time to read and there are so many great books that we’ve yet to get around to, Yet re-readers are everywhere around us. For certain fans, re-reading The Lord of the Rings is a conventional practice annually. One friend told me that Jane Austen’s Emma can still surprise him, despite his having read it over 50 times.
New sudden clear understandings can be gained from the process of re-reading. Journalist Rebecca Mead, a long-time Englishwoman in New York, first came across George Eliot’s Middlemarch at 17. Since then, she has read it again every five years. With each re-reading, it has opened up further; in each chapter of her life, it has resonated(引起共鸣) differently. Mead evidenced the large number of ways in which really good books not only stand the test of repeat reads, but also offer fresh gifts each time we crack their spines. These kinds of books grow with us.
Scientists have also recognized the mental health benefits of re-reading. Research conducted with readers in the US found that on our first reading, we are concerned with the “what” and the “why”. Second time round, we’re able to better appreciate the emotions that the plot continues to express. As researcher Cristel Russell of the American University explained, returning to a book “brings new or renewed appreciation of both the great book and its readers.”
It’s true that we often find former selves on the pages of old books (if we’re fond of making notes on the pages). These texts can carry us back to a time and place, and remind us of the kind of person that we were then. We’re changed not only by lived experience but also by read experience-by the books that we’ve discovered since last reading the one in our hand.
More so than the movie director or the musician, the writer calls upon our imaginations, using words to lead us to picture this declaration of love or that unfaithfulness in life. A book is a joint project between writers and readers, and we must pour so much of ourselves into reading that our own life story can become connected with the story in the book.
Perhaps what’s really strange is that we don’t re-read more often. After all, we watch our favourite films again and we wouldn’t think of listening to an album only once. We treasure messy old paintings as objects, yet of all art forms, literature alone is a largely one-time delight. A book, of course, takes up more time, but as Mead confirms, the rewards make it adequately worthwhile.
1. The two books are mentioned in Paragraph 1 mainly to ________.| A．attract the attention of readers |
| B．introduce the topic of the passage |
| C．provide some background information |
| D．show the similarity between re-readers |
| A．recite them | B．re-read them |
| C．recall them | D．retell them |
| A．reading benefits people both mentally and physically |
| B．readers mainly focus on feelings on their first reading |
| C．we know ourselves better through re-reading experience |
| D．we will change writers by reading the books |
| A．reading is an interaction between writers and readers |
| B．writers inspire less imaginations than film directors do |
| C．writers describe the story by using pictures |
| D．reading calls for readers’ little attention |
| A．call on different understandings of re-reading old books |
| B．argue against the mental health benefits of re-reading |
| C．bring awareness to the significance of re-reading |
| D．introduce the effective ways of re-reading old books |
