1 . Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service. The Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates.
The founders had limited the website’s membership to Harvard students at first; however, later they expanded it to various other universities, and eventually to high school students as well. Since 2006, anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old has been allowed to become a registered（注册了的）user of Facebook, though differences exist in the youngest age requirement, depending on local laws. Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users as of June 2017. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, based on the number of active user accounts.
Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile showing their names and so on. Users can add other users as “friends”, exchange messages, post photos and so on.
Facebook makes most of its income from advertisements which appear on screen, marketing access for its customers to its users.
1. What does the underlined word “launched” in Paragraph 1 mean？| A．Prevented. | B．Started | C．Permitted. | D．Supplied. |
| A．Harvard students. | B．High school students. |
| C．Students in all universities. | D．Old people. |
| A．How to become a Facebook member. | B．How Americans communicate today. |
| C．A brief story of Mark Zuckerberg. | D．A brief introduction to Facebook. |
2 . Science had always believed that trees competed with each other for carbon, sunlight, water and nutrients. But an ecologist, Suzanne Simard, says trees have a complex and interconnected social network existing underground. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to a surprising discovery: trees talk, communicating often and over vast distances. Trees are much more like us humans. They are extremely social and depend on each other for their survival.
Simard planted 240 trees in a Canadian forest and started her experiments. Once she discovered a loud sound of communication between the fir (冷杉）and birch (白梓树）trees who were sharing carbon with each other. She found birch sent carbon to fir, especially when it was shaded. Later the opposite happened. When the birch was leafless in winter, the fir sent over more carbon.
Simard’s groundbreaking work showed that trees are interdependent and cooperative. In fact, they are immersed in deep relationships with each other. The trees were having conversations via the mycelium (菌丝). These messages determined which trees needed certain nutrients. They communicated via carbon, nitrogen, and chemicals and then shared these elements, balancing the entire forest.
The mycelium connects different individuals in the same forest, from the same species and other species. This network works in a similar way to the Internet.
She discovered that mother trees care for and protect the younger trees and that a single mother tree can be connected to hundreds of other trees. Trees talk, and through these conversations they increase the adaptability of the whole community. It’s a magical community of trees all supporting each other.
Suzanne’s research has important environmental implications for the destruction of our forests. She says that when mother trees are injured or dying, they send their wisdom onto the next generation, but they can't do this if they are all wiped out at the same time. She hopes that her research will change the way we practice forestry.
1. The main purpose of the passage is to ___________.| A．report some new discoveries about trees |
| B．introduce different species of trees in a forest |
| C．explain the reasons for the destruction of forests |
| D．discover similarities between human beings and trees |
| A．enthusiastic | B．involved | C．lacking | D．sceptical |
| A．Mycelium plays a significant role in balancing the entire forest. |
| B．The fir and birch trees supplied carbon to each other when facing difficulties. |
| C．The wisdom of mother trees cannot always pass down to the next generation . |
| D．The Internet is mentioned to show it is possible to use advanced technology in forests. |
3 . More than 10 years ago，it was difficult to buy a tasty pineapple (菠萝)．The fruits that made it to the UK were green on the outside and，more often than not，hard with an unpleasant taste within.Then in 1996，the Del Monte Gold pineapple produced in Hawaii first hit our shelves.
The new type of pineapple looked more yellowygold than green. It was slightly softer on the outside and had a lot of juice inside.But the most important thing about this new type of pineapple was that it was twice as sweet as the hitandmiss pineapples we had known.In no time，the Del Monte Gold took the market by storm，rapidly becoming the world’s bestselling pineapple variety，and delivering natural levels of sweetness in the mouth，up until then only found in tinned pineapple.
In nutrition (营养) it was all good news too.This nicetasting pineapple contained four times more vitamin C (维生素C) than the old green variety.Nutritionists said that it was not only full of vitamins，but also good against some diseases.People were understandably eager to be able to buy this wonderful fruit.The new type of pineapple was selling fast, and the Del Monte Gold pineapple rapidly became a_fixture in the shopping basket of the healthy eaters.
Seeing the growing market for its winning pineapple，Del Monte tried to keep the market to itself.But other fruit companies developed similar pineapples.Del Monte turned to law for help，but failed.Those companies argued successfully that Del Monte’s attempts to keep the golden pineapple for itself were just a way to knock them out of the market.
1. We learn from the text that the new type of pineapple is________.| A．green outside and sweet inside |
| B．goodlooking outside and soft inside |
| C．yellowygold outside and hard inside |
| D．a little soft outside and sweet inside |
| A．It was rich in nutrition and tasted nice. |
| B．It was less sweet and good for health. |
| C．It was developed by Del Monte. |
| D．It was used as medicine. |
| A．that people enjoy eating |
| B．that is always present |
| C．that is difficult to get |
| D．that people use as a gift |
| A．allowed other companies to develop pineapples |
| B．succeeded in keeping the pineapple for itself |
| C．tried hard to control the pineapple market |
| D．planned to help the other companies |
Many roads and places in Singapore（新加坡）are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries ---- in both the West and the East.
Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus ---- obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.
Some places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example, “Base Basah” means “wet rice” in Malay（马来语）. Now why would anyone want to name a road “Wet Rice Road”? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.
A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is “Circular Road” for one. Other roads may have part of their names to describe their shapes, like “Paya Lebar Crescent”. This road is called a crescent（月牙） because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again.
1. We learn from Paragraph 1 that _____.| A．the government is usually the first to name a place |
| B．many places tend to have more than one name |
| C．a ceremony will be held when a place is named |
| D．people prefer the place names given by the government |
| A．Change suddenly. | B．Change significantly. |
| C．Disappear mysteriously. | D．Disappear very slowly. |
| A．Raffles Place. | B．Selector Airbase. |
| C．Piccadilly Circus. | D．Paya Lebar Crescent. |
| A．after a person | B．after a place | C．after an activity | D．by its shape |
| A．Some place names in Singapore are the same as in Britain. |
| B．Some places in Singapore are named for military purposes. |
| C．The way Singaporeans name their places is unique. |
| D．Young Singaporeans have forgotten the pioneers. |
