Do you know koala? It is an animal living in the forests of eastern Australia. The koala spends most of its life in the trees, eating at night and sleeping for up to 18 hours a day. Koalas spend most of the night feeding on eucalyptus leaves. A koala needs 100 trees!
In the wild, koalas can live up to 20 years. They can only grow up to 9 kg and between 60 to 85 cm. The first Englishman reached Australia, there were over ten million koalas. However, there are only 58 thousand today. How could this happen? The wild fires, the change of the weather and traffic.
The koala may look like a bear, but it is a marsupial which carries its young in a pouch. They have a lot of fur which protects them from hot and cold days.
Female koalas give birth to their young after 35 days. Baby koalas are called joeys and live in their mother’s pouch for 5 to 7 months, feeding on her milk. After seven months the joey leaves the pouch and stay on to its mother’s back or belly. It lives with its mother for up to a year until it can get itself food.
1. How tall may a koala be when it grows up?| A．35 cm. | B．58 cm. | C．71 cm. | D．100 cm. |
| A．There are more and more joeys now. |
| B．They stay for 35 days in their mother’s pouch. |
| C．They drink their mother’s milk for over a year. |
| D．They live alone when they can get food themselves. |
| A．Sports. | B．Nature. | C．Story. | D．Family. |
In our life, we might cry because of the loss of loved ones or the loneliness of staying at home alone, but we also cry over onions. So where does all that crying come from?
Lauren Bylsma, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, explains that crying in humans is an evolution of vocalizations used by young animals to keep parents nearby. In other words, babies would cry to get care from their parents. “But the special thing about humans is that this crying can also continue into adulthood,” she said.
“Of course, they haven’t explained all the tears. There are also tears that help to protect the eyes. Basal tears help keep the eyes wet, and are important for animals to protect their eyes. Reflex tears—like the tears someone might get from cutting an onion—are used to get something out of the eyes. Emotional tears are only for humans. That kind of emotional crying becomes less vocal as humans develop. That could be because less vocal crying is safer compared to vocalizations—the loud crying might catch unwanted attention. After a certain point in development, the tears change from vocal tears to less vocal tears because those are less likely to catch the attention of enemies,” said Bylsma.
We may cry when something good or something terrible happens. We haven’t studied much about crying over happy things because it’s not seen very often. Men are more likely to cry over something good. But in Western cultures, men cry between zero and one time a month, while women cry between two and five times per month. No matter how many times you cry a month, it’s quite natural to cry, as long as it’s not harmful to your health.” said Bylsma.
1. Where does crying in humans come from?| A．The sad things in life. | B．The onions in kitchens. |
| C．The evolution of vocalizations. | D．The loneliness of staying at home. |
| A．Tears that help to protect the eyes. | B．Three different kinds of tears. |
| C．The development from vocal tears to less vocal tears. | D．The reasons why less vocal tears are safer. |
| A．Vocal tears. | B．Less vocal tears. | C．Loud crying. | D．Emotional tears |
| A．dogs will cry when they are sad | B．men are more likely to cry |
| C．only emotional tears are real tears | D．we may cry if we are happy |
What are laws?
Our parents make rules for us at home, so does our government. The rules the government makes are called laws.
Why are laws important?
Laws are like rules. They keep people safe and make things fair for everyone, but they are even more important. Here are some examples of American laws on driving:
● Drive on the right side of the road.
● Drinking and driving is a very serious crime in the US.
● Both passengers and drivers in a moving car must wear seat belts.
● Teenagers who have got the driving licenses at 16 still can’t drive alone. An adult should accompany the young driver at least for another one year.
If we don’t follow these laws while driving, a lot of people could get hurt. So, laws keep us safe and make sure we have order in our towns and in our country.
How are laws made?
It takes a long time to make a law. First, government leaders listen to everyone’s ideas. The people tell the leaders what should become a law. Then leaders write something called a bill. A bill tells everyone why something should be a law. The other leaders in Congress have to read the bill. If the other leaders like the bill, they vote to pass it. This means they say yes to it. More than half the leaders must say yes to pass a bill. If the leaders pass the bill, it goes to the president. The president reads the bill and decides if he likes it. If he likes it, he signs the bill. Then it becomes a law. Some people have the job to make sure that everyone follows the law. Police officers work to keep our towns and cities safe.
1. The passage is mainly about ________ .| A．rules at home | B．laws in America | C．ways to keep safe | D．laws on driving |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five |
| A．stay with | B．agree with | C．compare with | D．deal with |
①Leader writes a bill. ②The president signs the bill.
③The bill goes to the president. ④The leaders vote for the bill.
⑤The bill goes to other leaders.
| A．①⑥③④② | B．①⑤④③② | C．①④⑤③② | D．①②④③⑤ |
It’s a popular belief that fish can’t remember anything for longer than seven seconds. It may seem sad to think that they don’t remember what they’ve eaten or where they’ve been, and they don’t know you or any of their friends—every moment in their life would be like seeing the world for the first time.
But don’t be so quick to feel sorry for them. A recent study has found that fish have much better memories than we used to think. In fact, certain kinds of fish can even remember events from as long as 12 days ago, reported BBC.
In the study, researchers from MacEwan University in Canada trained a kind of fish called African cichlids to go to a certain area of their tank to get food. They then waited for 12 days before putting them back in the tank again.
This suggested that they could remember their past experiences. Researchers used computer software to watch the fish’s movements. They found that after such a long break the fish still went to the same place where they first got food.
In fact, scientists had been thinking for a long time that African cichlids might have a good memory. An earlier study showed that they behaved offendedly in front of certain fish, perhaps because they remembered their past fights. But until the latest findings, there was no clear evidence.
“If fish are able to remember that a certain area has safe food, they will be able to go back to that area without putting their lives in danger.” lead researcher Trevor Hamilton told Live Science.
For a long time, fish were placed far below chimpanzes, dolphins and mice on the list of smart animals. But this study has given scientists a new understanding of their intelligences.
So next time you’re watching your pet fish from outside the tank, perhaps you should feel closer to them—they may remember who you are.
1. The study shows fish have better ________ than people thought.| A．experiences | B．skills | C．movements | D．memories |
| A．sadly | B．angrily | C．silently | D．politely |
| A．People have already known fish have better memories. |
| B．A special kind of fish can remember things for 12 days. |
| C．Researchers have trained fish how to survive in the wild. |
| D．Fish have been placed fourth on the list of smart animals. |
| A．it’s easy for fish to find a place with safe food |
| B．it’s dangerous for fish to fight for their friends |
| C．it’s necessary for fish to remember their home |
| D．it’s important for fish to have a good memory |
To some people, there is nothing better than the smell of meat cooking over an open air. Throughout the world, people love to eat barbecue, because it helps bring friends and families together. Having a barbecue makes people think about how things were with their ancestors. Cooking over coals or an open fire makes people feel more social.
Most countries have barbecue traditions and they usually take place on national holidays. In the United States, it is a tradition to have a barbecue of hamburgers and hot dogs on July 4, which is Independence Day.
In South America, especially in Argentina, barbecue is a way of life. All sorts of meats and sausages are put on a large grill together over hot coals. Barbecue is even considered the national dish in Agentina, and it is given the name asado in Spanish. This means not only the dish, but also the social event that surrounds an Argentinean barbecue.
When a person speaks about Turkish barbecue, the kebab immediately comes to mind. The tradition of taking different meats, and sometimes vegetables as well, and spearing them with a sharp stick has crossed cultural lines today. Especially anywhere in the English-speaking world, the thought of shish-kebab will make barbecue lovers’ mouths water.
Wherever you go in the world, you are almost certain to come across a local method of preparing barbecue. If you visit different places, be brave and try the special local food.
1. How many kinds of barbecue are mentioned in the passage?| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．To stop people from eating barbecue. |
| B．To encourage people to eat more barbecue. |
| C．To introduce barbecue traditions around the world. |
| D．To explain the reasons why people love barbecue. |
6 . Playing with apps on smart phones is very common among young people. Let’s try some special apps and enjoy them.
 | In this app, there are many filters (滤镜) that can make your photos more beautiful. The coolest thing is that it can help you add pretty and artistic words. The words can be anything you like, such as famous sayings or even a poem. You can also make a photo diary that shows your feelings and post it on the Internet. |
 | Once in a while, you may feel tired after a busy school day. Why not try this app? This music app has over 100 sounds of nature, such as bird calls, wind and rain. You can hear all these sounds to relax yourself. The best thing is that you can create your own music by copying other sounds you like, for example, the sound of your own laughter. |
 | Is chemistry your favorite subject? With this app, you can do chemistry experiments. You “pour” chemical materials by touching the top-tight-hand corner of your smart phone. You “light” a match by swiping the screen quickly. You can shake the phone to make chemical reactions go faster. There are more than 300 chemical reactions in all. |
| A．Butter Camera | B．TaoMix 2 | C．Beaker | D．WeChat |
| A．add sounds of nature to the Butter Camera |
| B．copy the voice of our friends into TaoMix 2 |
| C．“pour” chemical materials by swiping the screen |
| D．do more than 300 physics experiments on Beaker |
| A．Healthy Food | B．Close to Nature |
| C．Energy Saving | D．IT in Daily Life |
Nowadays, many people post their original pictures on the Internet to share their life but that may tell more than you think.
Pictures often have information left by digital cameras or smartphones. This kind of information, called Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF), can tell small facts you can’t get from pictures directly. It tells exactly when and where the picture was taken, what kind of camera or phone and which picture apps you used.
For example, if you take a picture from your window and post it online, it means that you are showing your location to some people you don’t know. They can successfully deduce where your home is from EXIF. Maybe they will post something strange to your home or even come to your door!
Here is some advice for you to keep personal information safe when sharing pictures. On computers, edit pictures with Photoshop before sharing them. What’s more, you can send the pictures to a computer first, open the data documents of pictures, and click on “No EXIF data”. While on smartphones, when you have to send pictures on the Internet, do not click “original pictures”. And you can also turn off location services for the camera before you take pictures. There’s one more thing you can do—take pictures with a traditional camera that can’t connect to the Internet.
Next time you post your pictures, please make 100% sure of your online safety. Just try to follow the ways to keep away from showing your personal information on the Internet.
1. According to the passage, EXIF can tell _________.| A．the camera you use | B．the picture you like |
| C．the computer you have | D．the document you send |
| A．guess | B．teach | C．correct | D．send |
| A．Use cameras with Internet connection. |
| B．Turn on location services on smartphones. |
| C．Click on “No EXIF data” on smartphones. |
| D．Edit photos with photo editing apps on computers. |
| A．The Danger of Smartphones | B．Stop Sharing Pictures |
| C．Be Careful with Your Pictures | D．The Information on Smartphones |
How cool would it be to have a flying robot? What’s the first thing you would do with it? Maybe send it into war, or use it to watch your neighbors secretly? Well, this is not just a fantasy anymore. Drones are remote-controlled flying robots, and they are getting more popular every day. But is this a good thing for society?
The popularity of drones has increased in recent years as technology has improved and got cheaper. A civil (民用的) drone with a high-quality camera and four helicopter propellers now sells online for just a few hundred US dollars. Drones are extremely useful for making videos because their cameras link directly to phones or computers. Nowadays, anyone can get professional-looking fly-by pictures from different angles (角度).
But could this cause problems? Because drones are so affordable, it means that anyone can send a robot flying around the neighborhood. People might be surprised to find a camera flying outside their window. This should be a terrible worry for people who care about their privacy.
Many governments also spend a lot of money on drones, but for very different reasons. The United States uses military drones for spying. Its most powerful drones, however, are Predator drones, which can fly higher than 15,000 meters at over 300 kilometers per hour. And no, they don’t just take pretty videos. A predator drone can hold 360 kilograms worth of bombs (炸弹), enough to completely break down an enemy camp. The man controlling the drone sits safely away from the action, so it’s impossible to know for sure who is getting killed. Common people might be in danger.
Drones are new-born inventions with a new technology. People are still discovering their possible uses, and maybe someday you’ll come up with a new cool way to use your own remote-controlled robot.
1. How does the writer introduce the topic in the first paragraph?| A．By telling a story. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By showing facts. | D．By giving an example. |
| A．They are usually sold online at a very high price. |
| B．They can be used to secretly take pictures of people. |
| C．They are difficultly controlled if used without good training. |
| D．They can be used for both photography and military purposes. |
| A．To compare military drones with civil drones. |
| B．To suggest what military drones will do in the future. |
| C．To give an example of what military drones cannot do. |
| D．To show the same fact between military drones and civil drones. |
| A．A Great Research Military Drones |
| B．A Popular Technology:Video Drones |
| C．A New Invention:Remote-controlled Drones |
| D．A Useful Product:Remote-controlled Flying Robots |
If you wanted to get as far away from other people as you possibly could, Easter Island would be a good place to go. It’s about 2,000 kilometers from its nearest neighbors, out in the southern Pacific Ocean.
Easter Island is a small triangle about 3,500 kilometers west of Republic of Chile. Easter Island is a special part of Chile. It was discovered by a Dutch pioneer in 1722, but it had been there for about 1,000 years before that. Scientists think that the first pioneers on Easter Island came from the Marguesas Islands, more than 3,000 kilometers away. Imagine making that journey in such a small boat!
________ The moai are statues of men with huge heads and stem faces, lining many of the island’s coasts. People believe the statues are symbols of ancestors. Easter Islanders put the statues up to allow the ancestors to continue to watch over their lands. The moai were made between AD 1100 and AD 1680. Wonderfully, Easter Islanders used only hand tools to make them! Some of these statues weigh more than 80 tons! People aren’t sure how these statues were moved. It must have taken many people working together to move them.
In addition to the moai, Easter Island has other stone carvings, stone buildings, and wood carvings. This unusual culture developed its own written language, though most of it has been lost. Easter Island has had many tragedies, including war, hunger, disease, and environmental disasters. It can be difficult to be so far from the rest of the world. But Easter Islanders seem hardy and strong, like their statues. They are keeping their ancient culture while connecting more and more with the outside world.
1. What’s true about the location of Easter Island?| A．It’s in the north of the Pacific. |
| B．It lies in Republic of Chile. |
| C．It lies close to Marquesas Island. |
| D．It’s in the ocean near Dutch. |
| A．Easter Island has its own ancient DIY. |
| B．Easter Islanders created their stone statues by hand. |
| C．Easter Island is famous for its huge stone statues called moai. |
| D．The huge stone statues needed many Easter Islanders to work together. |
| A．Sad plays. | B．Terrible situations. |
| C．Awful accidents. | D．Dangerous experiences. |
| A．A story book. | B．A science website. |
| C．A travel magazine. | D．A sports newspaper. |
These days there is so much tempting technology to look at: smartphones, tablet computers, computer games and TV screens. Much of our entertainment and education comes from using them, so it’s no wonder we spend so much time staring at them. But even if the saying that looking at a screen for too long gives you square eyes isn’t true, there is still some concern that it can affect your eyesight. So, should we be worried?
Certainly for children who spend hours glued to a screen there is a concern that their health might be at risk. The lack of physical activity can lead to an increase in their weight. But there is a fear that their eyesight is becoming worse, too. Although there’s not much evidence to prove this yet, recent findings have opened our eyes to the problem.
Katherine Sellgren from BBC News interviewed Chris Hammond, professor of ophthalmology at King’s College London and consultant ophthalmic surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital. He said, “We know that myopia, or short-sightedness, is becoming more common... It has reached a very high level in East Asia and Singapore, where coming near to 90% of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.”
But can this be connected to children’s obsession with using electronic products? Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says lack of natural light seems to be the key reason. She also thinks children in East Asia study a lot, using computers, smartphones or tablet computers, and they go outside less, which could be a cause of short-sightedness. Wearing glasses is one solution, but it’s not perfect or most suitable.
This leads to a dilemma: achieving short-term success in study or protecting your long-term eyesight. It’s always going to be a challenge to pull children away from their screens and its likely that more and more studying will be done online, through a screen. Professor Hammond says, “in countries like urban China, where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six, there’s an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it.” It’s evidence we can’t turn a blind eye to. So, maybe it’s time to hit the “off” button and get our children outside!
1. What will happen to a kid if he keeps his eyes on the tablet computer for a long time?| A．He will become more active. | B．His eyesight will become weak. |
| C．He will learn a lot from the tablet. | D．His looking should be dressed up. |
| A．In East Asia. | B．In West Asia. |
| C．In South Asia. | D．In Middle East. |
| A．sleep less, often playing games | B．study a lot, hardly going outside |
| C．focus on smartphones all the time | D．stay in natural light for a long time |
| A．10% of children of each class in China cities are becoming short-sighted. |
| B．Most children succeed in their subjects in short terms but 10% short-sighted. |
| C．All children should be pulled from electric products like tablets and smart phones. |
| D．Some proper measures should be taken to deal with the myopia problem of the children. |
