1 . China and Western countries may have different cultural beliefs about certain animals, but when it comes to pigs, we have somehow reached an agreement-that pigs are ugly, lazy, stupid and shameless.
Just look at the expressions and phrases in our languages. In Chinese, we have the likes of “Boiling a dead pig”, and “A pig looking in the mirror is still a pig”. And in English, there are expressions such as “Eating like a pig” and “Sweating (流汗) like a pig”. None of them have to do with praise. But the truth is that pigs do have some finer qualities. Long ago, science proved (证明) that pigs aren't stupid at all. According to an article in 2017 in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology (国际比较心理学杂志), pigs are similar to dogs and chimpanzees. They like to play. They have good long-term memories. And they know the difference between those who treat them well and those who don’t.
There are lovable pig characters in cartoons. Peppa Pig, for example, has now become one of the most popular cartoons in 180 countries. The four members in the cartoon's pig family teach children from all around the world about love, friendship, and the value of family. And in China,the adventures of McDull has been in films since 2001. A little pig always fails but he never gives up. Perhaps these are the qualities (品质) of pigs to keep in mind when we spend the Year of the Pig-their intelligence (聪明), cuteness and patience.
1. How do people in China and western countries like pigs?___________________________________________________________________
2. Do the sayings in China and England about pigs have to do with praise?
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3. According to this passage, which animals are similar to pigs ?
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4. Why has the cartoon, Peppa Pig, become one of the most popular cartoons in 180 countries?
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5. What qualities do pigs have ?
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2 . Men are the cleverest and most dangerous animals on the earth. Rats come second. Men kill many beasts, and they've even killed millions of men since very long ago, but rats kill more men. Rats carry many diseases and these diseases have killed and are still killing thousands and thousands of men today in many countries. Rats are dangerous not only in one way. They not only carry diseases into men's homes, they also eat up men's food. They eat 33 million tons of grain every year. Men starve because rats eat their food. Rats are clever, too. They have good leaders to tell them the food is terrible when men put poison in it. There are a lot of rats in our cities and villages today. We can go to the moon, but we can not kill all these terrible animals. Is this dangerous enemy too clever and grows too fast, or are we not clever enough and not clean enough?
1. Why are people thought to be the most dangerous animals in the world?__________________________________________________________________
2. How do rats kill men?
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3. How much grain do rats eat in a year?
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4. How do rats know there is some poison in the food?
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5. What does the writer want to tell us in the passage?
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3 . Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can't talk with words, but they talk with sounds. Dolphins travel in a group. We call a group of fish a "school". They don't study but they travel together. Dolphins are mammals, not fish, but they swim together in a school.
Dolphins talk to other dolphins in the school. They give information. They tell when they are happy or sad or afraid. They say welcome when a dolphin comes back to the school. They talk when they play.
They make a few sounds above water. They make many more sounds under water. People can't hear these sounds because they are very high. Scientists make tapes of the sounds and study them. Sometimes people catch a dolphin for a large aquarium(水族馆). People watch the dolphins in a show. Dolphins don't like to be away from their school. In the aquarium they are sad and lonely. There are many stories about dolphins. They can help people. Sometimes they save somebody's life. Dolphin meat is good but people don't like to kill them. They say that dolphins bring good luck. Many people believe this.
1. What is a school of dolpins?2. When do dolphins talk to others?
3. When do they say “ Welcome” ?
4. Do they make more sounds above or under water?
5. Can people hear dolphin sounds? Why ?
6. How does a dolphin feel in a aquarium?
In my family, all of us like animals. I like pandas best. Pandas live in China. They are very cute and lovely. They like eating bamboo. My father likes the tiger very much. He thinks the tiger is strong and the king of the beasts(兽中之王). My mother keeps some chickens, ducks and pigs in the yard( 院子). The chickens and ducks lay eggs. They like to walk around in the yard. My grandfather keeps some sheep. After breakfast, my grandfather takes them out and goes back home in the afternoon.
Do you like animals? I think you should keep some animals,too.
1. 完成句子In the yard, we can see2. 简略回答问题What do pandas like eating?
3. 简略回答问题What does my grandfather do after breakfast?
4. 找出并写下本文的主题句
5. 将文中画线句子译成汉语。
Wood’s cycad is a striking plant, tall with a green crown and bright orange cones. Found in a Zululand forest in 1895, it is the only cycad of its kind, and a male. “The loneliest plant in the world, right here,” a guide tells visitors touring the Durban Botanic Gardens in South Africa. Without a female it will never reproduce, though measures have been taken to make clones of it.
Cycads date from the time of the dinosaurs. But some of the kinds might not be around much longer. They are the world’s most threatened plant group. South Africa’s cycads, most of which are found nowhere else in the world, are especially endangered. All cycads are dioecious（雌雄异株的）, so that seed production is no longer possible with the rarest of the species. And surprisingly, it is those who love the cycad most that pose the biggest danger—collectors who want exotic varieties for their private gardens. Slow-growing adult cycads, some hundreds of years old, sell for tens of thousands of dollars. “People see them as a status symbol,” says the senior gardener Phakamani Xaba. In fact, 25 of South Africa’s 38 cycad species are threatened with extinction. Two of the world’s cycad species have been wiped out in the wild since 2003. With wild stocks diminishing, thieves have turned to breaking into protected gardens and reserves.
To prevent theft, plants have been fitted with microchips, but thieves use X-ray scanners to find them and hack them out. Rare cycads are now sprayed with special invisible paint. Scientists are testing radio frequency identification tags on cycads that could send out alerts.
The major difficulty in stopping the illegal trade is the fact that leaves removed for transport, it is difficult to distinguish the trunk of an endangered species from one that is legal to sell. A DNA database, using gene sequences, is being tested to help with identification.
Xaba says it is probably too late to save some cycad species. He feels sad that collectors are almost never caught. For extreme collectors, rarity only makes a cycad more desirable.
Fortunately, some governments have been aware of the problem. Take South Africa as an example, strict regulations on the illegal trade of rare cycads are being implemented.
根据短文，在下面表格中填入恰当的内容完成摘记，每空不超过三个单词。
| Cycads: The | |
| A typical | Wood’s cycad has only one |
| Present situation | •The number of the wild cycads is •Two cycad species have died out and twenty-five are at risk of extinction. |
of the situation | •Cycads are dioecious, which makes it hard for the rare ones to fertilize. •Cycads face the serious problem of |
| Difficulty in conservation | |
of conservation | •Scientists use technologies to save cycads such as putting •Governments make special |
In some parts of the world，they're called muskegs or moors. In the United States，you probably know them as swamps or bogs. But no matter what they're called，wetlands（湿地；沼泽地）have one thing in common around the world—they're very important to plants，animals and the environment. Thousands of kinds of plants and animals，including many on the endangered animal list，depend on wetlands for a living. Some animals live in or near wetlands all year long. Others，like migrating birds（候鸟），stop by wetlands to feed and rest on their journey.
Wetlands are very important to people，too. They hold water that could cause floods（洪水）.During dry times，they slowly let water run back into rivers. Plants that grow in wetlands help cut down on pollution. That helps to keep our drinking water clean.
Many wetlands in the United States have been used to build shopping malls，roads and homes.
It's said that about 243 km2 of wetlands are lost in the United States every year. Without wetlands，rivers dry up and streets become flooded. That also creates big problems for animals that can't live anywhere else.
May is American Wetlands Month. It's the perfect time to remind people to save wetlands.
1. What are wetlands called in the USA？2. Why are wetlands important to migrating birds？
3. How do wetlands protect people from floods？
4. What will happen to animals without wetlands？
5. When do people in the USA celebrate the importance of wetlands？
At eighty-six, Grandpa was still a good gardener, so I always watched for his earliest blooms. I was especially interested in flowers that year because I was planning to look after my own yard and hoped to get Grandpa’s advice.
It was right after the first rush of purple violets that spring that Grandpa had a stroke. It left him without speech and with no movement on his left side. The whole family took turns to spend many hours by his side. Some days his eyes were eloquent—listening carefully and laughing at our reported troubles. As for his inability to care for himself, he didn’t show any painful feelings. There was always a gentle smile on his face. There were days, too, when he slept most of the time, fighting with his coming death.
As some months passed, I helped look after the garden with Grandpa’s eyes. Each time I was with him, I gave him a garden report. He listened, holding my hand with the sure strength and calmness he had always had.
Grandpa’s illness held him through the spring and on, week by week, through summer. As I waited and watched in the garden and by Grandpa’s side, I found some quiet truths. I realized Grandpa loved flowers that always bloomed. But I also noticed he left plenty of room for the sunlight to come in. Not every corner of his garden was constantly in bloom, but there was always a treasured surprise somewhere.
I came to see, too, that Grandpa’s garden mirrored his life. He was a hard-working worker who knew the law of the harvest. But along with his hard work, Grandpa knew how to enjoy each season, and each change. Few flowers last from April to November—some of the most beautiful bloom for only a month at most. To really enjoy garden, you have to plant rows of flowers, each in its own season. Even when it is time in winter—few flowers bloom, there is still sunshine to enjoy.
It was the end of August when Grandpa died. I cut some flowers in Grandpa’s garden for him. We all felt how much Grandpa would have liked that.
The October after Grandpa’s death, I planted different flowers in the garden. Each bloom was a love sent to Grandpa and a promise of spring.
1. The underlined word “stroke” in Paragraph 2 probably means an illness that can make people ________.| A．easy to forget things quickly | B．unable to see things clearly |
| C．unable to talk or move the body | D．have a high fever and cough |
| A．The writer was not interested in flowers at all. |
| B．Many flowers can last from April to November. |
| C．Grandpa felt sorry and painful about his illness. |
| D．We can enjoy the garden of each season even in winter. |
| A．Grandpa’s Home | B．Grandpa’s Life |
| C．Grandpa’s Illness | D．Grandpa’s Garden |
8 . I had two pets in my house, a dog named Sam and a cat named Katty. They loved each other so much that they were always together. When I played with one, the other joined in. If Sam barked at something, Katty ran to see what it was. When I took either one out of the house, the other was always waiting by the door when we returned. That was the way it was for years.
But one day, without any warning, Sam died of a heart attack （心脏病突发） at the animal hospital and I had to walk back to our house alone. This time, there was no Sam for Katty to greet and no way for me to explain why she would never see her friend again.
In the days that followed, Katty seemed heartbroken. She could not tell me in words how she felt, but I could see the pain and disappointment in her eyes whenever anyone opened the front door and the hope whenever she heard a dog bark.
As the weeks went by, the cat seemed to feel much better. One day as I walked into our living room, I happened to have a look at the floor next to our sofa where we had a statue （塑像） of Sam that we had bought a few years before. Lying next to it, one arm around the statue's neck, was Katty, happily sleeping with her best friend.
1. How were Sam and Katty getting along with each other？ （no more than 6 words）2. What happened to Sam one day？ （no more than 10 words）
3. Why was Katty heartbroken？ （no more than 8 words）
4. 请将文中画线的句子翻译成汉语.
5. 请给短文拟一个适当的英文标题.
9 . The world is a beautiful place in our eyes． But does it look the same through the eyes of animals？
Dogs can't see as many colors as we can．They can see blues， browns and yellows． They have fewer color detecting cells（色彩感知细胞）than humans do．
Spiders have eight pairs of eyes They can see more colors than humans． They can see ultraviolet light（紫外线）．So they see things clearer than we do，Rats can move one eye in different directions while the other eye stops moving． It is to see their enemies better． They can't see many colors． It' s not necessary because they mainly come out at night， They are good at seeing bright light．
Horses have eyes on either side of their head．So they see wider than humans． They have a blind spot（盲点）in front of their nose．They can't see as many colors as humans do． They can see greens and blues，but most of the time they see grays．
1. What colors can dogs see？（不超过9个词）2. How many eyes does a spider have？（不超过8个词）
3. When do rats mainly come out？（不超过8个词）
4. Why do horses see wider than humans？（不超过12 个词）
5. Which topic is better "World through animals' eyes" or "Different kinds of animals"？（不超过8个词）
White-furred animals are in danger of dying out. Climate (天气) change is causing a fall in snow cover, leaving them exposed (暴露的), a new study suggests.
Scientists in Poland have been following the worrying case of the white-coated weasel (白鼬), which sheds (褪去) its brown covering in the winter for a milky coat in order to blend easily into its icy environment.
But researchers have discovered that between 1997 and 2007 the number of days with snow cover was from 80 to 40 in Bialowieza Forest, Poland. It means that the little animals are caught out in a completely unsuitable environment, where they can be caught by foxes and crows. Scientists found that on days when there was little winter snow cover. The number of white-coated weasels they managed to catch fell to as low as 20 percent of the total. It meant that the rest had been killed.
The problem is likely to affect other white-furred animals such as the Arctic fox when the snow cover increasingly gives way to a landscape (风景) of greens and browns.
In the near future white weasels may disappear completely from many areas of Northern Europe and America. They will either be replaced by brown ones or they will evolve (进化).
Researchers also carried out tests using toys of brown and white-coated weasels to see if the colors were actually making a difference to predators (捕食者). They found lots of animals had come near to the white toys, but none had shown interest in the brown toys.
The researchers are hopeful the animals will learn to adapt (适应), but say they cannot rule out the animals disappearing completely.
1. 写出划线单词them指代的内容。2. 回答问题：Why does the weasel change its brown covering into white when winter comes?
3. 根据短文内容填空，第(1)题不超过3个词，第(2)题限填1词。
(1) White-furred animals are in danger of dying out because of
(2) In Bialowieza Forest, the number of days with snow cover reduced (减少) by
4. 选出划线短语rule out的意思。
| A．give up | B．imagine | C．control |
