One Sunday evening, Mr and Mrs Hunt were walking by the lake after a dinner party. They saw a bird under a tree. It couldn’t fly. They went over to have a look at it. It was a nice parrot. Its wings were broken and it was saying some numbers. They were surprised. They knew birds could say a few words, but they didn’t know birds could say some numbers. They took the parrot home. It said numbers again. They listened carefully. The bird was saying the same numbers! Mrs Hunt said, “Is this bird saying a telephone number?” Then she wrote the number down and dialed the number on the telephone. It was really a right telephone number. A woman was answering the telephone. She said that the bird was hers. She taught the bird to say the number. The woman came to Mrs Hunt’s house to take her bird back. She thanked Mr and Mrs Hunt very much.
1. When did the Hunts see the bird under the tree?They saw the bird when
2. Where did the Hunts find the bird?
They found it
3. Why couldn’t the bird fly?
Because
4. What made Mr and Mrs Hunt feel surprised?
It was that
5. What did Mrs Hunt do after she wrote the number down?
She
6. Who taught the parrot to say the telephone number?
2 . You may think that only children go to school but there are special schools for guide dogs! At school, of course, guide dogs do not learn mathematics and science like you. They learn how to help blind people. The dogs live at the school for six months and they learn about twenty words- words like “sit” and “no”. These dogs wear a special coat with a big handle on it for the blind person to hold.
Dogs can also go to school to learn how to help people who cannot hear. If a person cannot hear, we say he or she is deaf.
Dogs who help deaf people must learn many different sounds. Then they must be able to show the deaf person what is making the sound. When they hear a visitor at the door, the dog learns to walk to the deaf person and then walk to the door. And if a telephone rings, they walk to the deaf man or woman and then walk to the telephone.
These dogs can also help deaf mothers. If a baby is crying in another room, the dog walks to the mother and then to the baby. These dogs wear a yellow coat to show that they are special dogs that are helping a deaf person.
There have been many times when these dogs have saved a life. You may see in a newspaper that a dog heard a fire alarm and lay down near the deaf person’s feet. That is the sign for danger. The person knows that something is wrong and can go away from the fire.
Special dogs can also help people who are disabled in various ways. For example, dogs can pull off their gloves or socks! Think how difficult your life would be if you were blind, deaf or disabled! But if you had a special dog like this to help you, your life would be much easier.
1. Can dogs learn science in special schools?2. What do guide dogs wear when they help the blind, a special coat or special shoes?
3. What should dogs learn if we want them to help the deaf?
4. How do dogs help a deaf man if there is a fire?
5. What is the passage mainly about ?
A whooping crane is a large white North American crane famous for its loud call.
You may weigh more than a whooping crane, but maybe you aren’t taller than one! Whooping cranes can grow up to five feet tall. It makes them the tallest birds in North America. But even as tall as they are, whooping cranes weigh only about 15 pounds, because of their hollow （空心的） bones.
WHAT’S FOR DINNER?
Whooping cranes live in wetlands, wet prairies, and fields. They’re not picky （挑剔的） about their meals—they have a mixed diet and eat small fish, and insects, as well as grains and marsh plants.
CALL OF THE WILD
Whooping cranes really like to ‘whoop it up’ when they want to attract a mate （伙伴）. They call loudly and do what might look like a crazy dance to be eye—catching. They flap their wings, and move their heads from side to side quickly, jumping up and down.
A SPECIAL TRICK
These cranes are in danger, but scientists have used some very interesting tricks to help them stay alive. At first, they moved one group of cranes to Florida, but the cranes never learned to migrate （迁徙）. When they got to Florida, they didn’t know how to fly back home. Scientists did all they could do to make the number of the cranes larger, so they used a special trick with another Florida group of cranes. Scientists “taught” the younger cranes to migrate by having them follow a very light airplane from Florida to Wisconsin. After the cranes gave birth to their babies in Florida, they’d follow the plane back to Wisconsin!
Some whooping cranes stay in Florida all year round, some fly from Florida to Wisconsin, and others fly from Texas to Canada and back again each year.
Whooping Cranes | |
| A whooping crane is from North America. | |
Looks | Whooping cranes can be five feet in They weigh only about 15 pounds |
Food | They |
Qualities | To catch a mate’s eyes, whooping cranes use a |
Fun facts | Scientists moved one group of cranes to Florida, but they were not Scientists wanted to have Scientists used a plane to |
Once upon a time there was a blackbird that lived in a cherry (樱桃) tree outside my window.
Every day, the blackbird would sing and sing. When I ate my breakfast, the blackbird ate his breakfast. When I ate my lunch, the blackbird ate his lunch. When I ate my dinner, the blackbird ate his dinner. The blackbird always ate the cherries off the cherry tree outside my window.
One day, Mother was going to make a cherry pie. We picked all the cherries off the cherry tree. When it was baked, she put the pie by the window to cool off. While I was eating my breakfast, I saw the blackbird fly around the tree. But there were no cherries on the tree. He flew in through the window to sit by me then over to the window by the pie. I smiled. The blackbird looked at me and smiled, too. He said, “I’ll have my pie without ice cream!” And with that, the blackbird took the pie under his wing and flew out of the window. I rushed out of the house and saw the blackbird eating the pie! Soon, the whole pie was gone. We looked at each other and smiled.
1. Where did the blackbird live? (No more than 8 words)_____________________________________________________________
2. What did the blackbird have for his meals? (No more than 2 words)
_____________________________________________________________
3. What did the writer and his/her mother do before making a pie? (No more than 5 words)
_____________________________________________________________
4. Why did the writer’s mother put the pie by the window? (No more than 4 words)
_____________________________________________________________
5. Who ate the whole pie? (No more than 2 words)
_____________________________________________________________
Since May 1,2015, Beijing started to allow blind people to take guide dogs(导盲犬) onto the subway(地铁). How much do you know about guide dogs? What can they do to help blind people?
Not every dog can become a guide dog. The most common guide dog breeds(品种) are Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers. That’s because they are smart and have a good temper.
To help blind people, dogs need to learn many skills, such as finding and following a clear road, moving around obstacles(障碍物), and stopping when they reach a curb(路牙) beside a road. Of course they should pass tests. They also need to learn an important lesson called as “intelligent disobedience(智能抗命)’’. For example, blind people ask the dog to go forward when crossing a road. But if the dog knows that a car is coming, it will not move until it is safe.
At about 10 or 12 years old, guide dogs retire(退休). Some of them stay at their owner’s home and become their pets. Others may go back to training schools and live there.
What can a guide dog do to help blind people?
●Follow a direct road, paying no attention to other things such as smells, animals and people.
●Keep a steady(稳定的) pace and just in front of the owner.
●Stop at all curbs until the owner tells them to move forward.
●Stay quiet when the owner is sitting down.
●Help the owner to move around buses, subways and other public transportation.
1. What can blind people in Beijing do when they go out by subway?2. Why do people choose Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers as guide dogs?
3. What important lesson should guide dogs learn?
4. How many things can guide dogs do to help blind people according to the passage?
5. What can you do to help blind people? (自拟一句话作答)
Bonnie and Chester are two squirrels(松鼠). They are good friends. One day Bonnie goes to her friend’s home. She sees Chester is not very happy.
“I can’t find my nuts(坚果).”says Chester. “They are not under my bed or in my desk. They are for my family. I must find them.”
“I can help you,” says Bonnie.
Bonnie sees a white bag under the chair, but the nuts are not in it. Then she sees a photo on Chester’s desk. In the photo, Chester has a big red box. A lot of nuts are in the box.
“Box? Where is it?” Bonnie thinks. She looks here and there.
“Look, Chester!” says Bonnie. “What’s in the box?”
“Oh, nuts!” says Chester. “You are great!”
Then he goes up to the top(顶部) of the bookcase. Chester is happy now.
1. Are Bonnie and Chester sister and brother?2. 请将划线句译成中文.
3. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to
4. Where is the box?
In the deserts of North Africa and Saudi Arabia lives the fennec fox, which is smaller than any other kind of foxes.
Fennec foxes have ears that are 5 to 6 inches long. That’s big for an animal that weighs less than four pounds. Their ears help shed (去除) body heat. And, as you may have guessed, they also provide great hearing.
It’s also interesting to think about the hair of fennec foxes. Why would a fox that lives in the desert need a thick, fur coat? Actually, the desert isn’t always warm. During the nighttime, a desert can be terribly cold! A fennec fox’s fur keeps them warm during those desert nights. They also have long bushy (浓密的) tails that they use as a blanket. And the hair on their feet protects them from the hot sand in the daytime.
Fennec foxes live in small communities of dens (兽穴). They spend most of the day sleeping in their dens, out of the hot sun. Then, when night comes, they come out looking for food. Besides their great hearing, fennecs also use their great sense of smell and big eyes to find dinner.
Like other foxes, fennecs are omnivores. This means they eat both meat and plants. They like eating birds, eggs, insects, snails, fruit and leaves best.
An | |
| Where they live | They live in the deserts of North Africa and Saudi Arabia |
What they look like | 1. They are the 2. Their big ears 3. Their thick fur helps them to survive in the cold desert night. 4. The hair on their feet protects them from the heat of the sand during the daytime. |
| How they live | 1. They live in small communities. 2. They 3. Their |
Camels are amazing animals. They aren’t the most beautiful animals in the world. But they are certainly the most useful animals in the hot areas such as North Africa and the Middle East. They usually help people carry things. Now let’s learn more about camels.
There are two kinds of camels on the Earth. They are Arabian (阿拉伯的) camels and Asian camels. Arabian camels are dromedaries (单峰骆驼), but Asian camels are bactrianus (双峰骆驼). An adult camel is about 2 meters tall and weighs about 500 kilograms. Its legs are long. And its feet are big and soft. Most of the camels can live for about 40 years, but they usually stop working when they are about 25.
Camels live on their own in the desert (沙漠). They aren’t afraid of the hot and cold weather. They mainly eat grass, leaves and bushes. They can walk for more than 600 kilometers without drinking. They only need to drink water every six or eight days. But when there is water, they can drink up to 90 liters (升). Camels walk slowly. They don’t like running because it’s too hot. But if they need, they can run at 20 kilometers an hour.
Ships of the desert | |
| Age | Most camels can live for about They usually stop |
| Kinds | They are Arabian camels and |
| Features | An Its legs are long and its The |
| They live They They only need to drink water every six or eight days. They can drink up to 90 liters every time. They walk not very |
Draw a giraffe in your mind. How do you draw your giraffe? Does it have a long neck? Does it have long legs? Is it really tall? When people think of giraffes, they think of their long necks. A long neck and four long legs make the giraffe the tallest land animal on earth. A giraffe is 1.8 metres tall when it is born, and some giraffes get up to 6 metres tall when they are all grown up.
But did you know that giraffes also have long tongues (舌头)? Have you seen the tongue of a giraffe before?
The tongue is black in colour to protect it from sunburn (晒伤). It is about 50 centimetres long. Giraffes only eat plants, and a full grown giraffe can eat 33 kilograms of leaves a day. A giraffe has a very long tongue which can hold and wrap (包裹) around plants. Giraffes use their tongue to eat leaves from some tall trees much like elephants use their trunk. The giraffe’s tongue is a helpful tool for reaching leaves and breaking off branches (树枝).
The tongue is designed for feeding, but it can be used in many different ways. For example, a giraffe can use its long tongue to drive away parasites (寄生虫) from its face. Also, a giraffe’s tongue is long enough to clean its own ears as well!
1. What makes the giraffe the tallest land animal on earth?2. What is this article mainly about?
3. Give three examples of the uses of the giraffe’s tongue.
A few months ago, a strange thing happened in my life. I heard a strange sound outside the window every night. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. I thought there might be a thief standing outside the window that was closed. I asked my parents to see what it was. But they didn’t find anything. They thought it might be the wind. But I didn’t think so.
That lasted for a few days. I couldn’t sleep well. Sometimes I even couldn’t fall asleep. One day, I bought a flashlight(手电筒) in a market. At midnight, as soon as I heard the strange sound, I jumped out of my bed with the flashlight. I saw a black cat jumping up and down near the window. He might want to make friends with my pet cat, but he couldn’t get into my house.
Do you think it is strange? Have you ever had this kind of experience in your life?
1. What happened to the writer a few months ago?（不超过 12 个词）2. What did the writer find in fact made the sound at night?（不超过 15 个词）
3. What might the black cat want to do according to the writer?（不超过 13 个词）
