1. What is TRUE about the woman?
| A．She grew up near the beach. |
| B．She doesn’t like summer. |
| C．Her hometown is in Northern California. |
| A．The sun was burning. |
| B．The water was cold. |
| C．The beaches were crowded. |
| A．90 degrees. | B．70 degrees. | C．60 degrees. |
3 . In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, two plants were brought to England, for the first time, by Sir Walter Raleigh, both of which are now very much used—the tobacco-plant and the potato. Sir Walter had sailed across the seas to America, in search of new lands; and he brought back both these plants with him.
When he was in America, he had seen the Indians smoke, and before long he acquired the habit himself. He became extremely fond of smoking, and frequently indulged in the practice.
When he returned to England, he was sitting by the fire one day, and began to smoke. In the middle of his smoking, the door opened, and in came his man-servant. Now this man had never in his life seen any one smoke, and did not know that where was such a plant as tobacco. So, when he saw the smoke coming from his master’s mouth, he thought that he was on fire!
But very soon the old servant got used to seeing people with smoke coming out of their mouths; and all the young nobles of the court began to smoke because Sir Walter did so.
At first, people did not like the potato at all: nobody would eat it. Yet Sir Walter told them how useful it would be. The potato, he said, could be made to grow in England. He told them that, when the corn-harvest failed—which it often used to do—people need not starve if they had plenty of potatoes.
Queen Elizabeth, who was a very clever woman, listened to what Sir Walter said, and had potatoes served up at her own table. There the grand people who dined with her majesty were obliged to eat them. But they spread a report that the potato was poisonous, because it belongs to the same order as the deadly nightshade(龙葵属植物) and many other poisonous plants. So, in spite of all that the Queen could do, no one would eat potatoes, and they were left for the pigs.
The people did not find out their mistake till many years afterwards when the French king Louis XVI asked his people to eat them. And people began to find out how good and wholesome they were. The potato was more and more liked; and now there is hardly any vegetable that is more highly esteemed.
1. What do we know about Sir Walter?| A．He introduced the tobacco-plant and the potato to England. |
| B．He went to America in order to do research on plants and animals. |
| C．He was forced to smoke by the Indians in America during his stay there. |
| D．He taught Queen Elizabeth how to smoke in court with the young nobles. |
| A．the Queen refused to eat them herself |
| B．they were used as poison by the Indians |
| C．they were long used as food for the pigs |
| D．they belong to the poisonous nightshade |
| A．Both the tobacco plant and the potato were native to France. |
| B．Young nobles in England refused to smoke for the terrible smell. |
| C．It was not easy to grow corn back in the age of Queen Elizabeth. |
| D．The English people were the first to accept potatoes as tasty food. |
| A．Only those who are willing to take risks can succeed in the end. |
| B．They are lots of new plants on the earth that can be used as food. |
| C．All people are afraid to try things that are new and strange to them. |
| D．The upper class had huge influence on the way people lived in the past. |
Once the capital of four dynasties in history and the capital of P.R.China today, Beijing is one of the world's truly grand cities with a 3,000 years history and 11 million people.
Situated in northeast China, Beijing adjoins(邻近) the Inner Mongolian Highland and the Great Northern Plain. Five rivers run
Beijing
The energetic city where the old and new meet remains
5 . Why Dogs Chase Their Tails
It might look like a strange activity to humans, but tail-chasing is a way for dogs to burn off some energy. In most cases, they're doing this for one of two reasons:
If a dog doesn’t have anything (or anyone) to play with, it might need to entertain itself—in this case, by playing with its tail. On the other hand, the behavior could be a warning sign that your dog is becoming anxious or stressed. ''We call these displacement(替代) behaviors, similar to a human playing with their hair or tapping their foot, '' says Hartstein. ''
One reason tail-chasing can be a must-do for dogs is that they start playing with their tails as playful puppies learning about their bodies.
| A．They are happy and content |
| B．They're bored or they're stressed |
| C．A visit to the vet is also a good idea |
| D．They gradually get into the habit of chasing tails |
| E．Owners often laugh at the activity and talk about it |
| F．They seek to do things that can comfort themselves |
| G．It’s normal for dogs to chase their own tails every now and then |
6 . In August 2017, Southeast Texas was underwater. Hurricane Harvey dumped five feet of rain in some areas, and nearly six feet of storm surge(风暴潮) made sure that the water had nowhere to go but into the houses, businesses, and lives of thousands of residents. More than 100 people died and $125 billion in damage was recorded before the waters went down weeks later.
About 30 miles due west of Houston, Katy, Texas, a former farm town of 18,000 residents, took a hard hit. Nearly 700 of its homes and 80 businesses were damaged or destroyed. But locals didn't wait for the rain to stop before opening their doors, refrigerators, and wallets to first responders, neighbors, strangers, and even pets.
Beaver Aplin, owner of the popular Buc-ee's chain of convenience stores, was preparing for the grand opening of his newest location just outside Katy. The 50,000-square-foot store was fully stocked with everything from food, water, and toiletries to batteries and Band-Aids. When the storm hit, Aplin opened the store early without thinking twice. He put the word out to first responders, telling them to take what they needed, free of charge.
Meanwhile, locals ran, drove, and paddled to rescue their neighbors stuck in the water. When the water was too deep, rescue came by boat. Pat Lester drove his air-boat into town from his home on the outskirts(郊外). He had seven life jackets, so he scooped up seven people at a time, starting with pregnant women, the elderly, and anyone who was ill.
These are just a small part of the stories of heroism that came out of Katy and all over Texas during one of the worst natural disasters the country has ever seen.
Even first responders coming from outside Katy could instantly feel the town's selfless spirit. ''We helped people in lots of other areas too, but Katy was amazing. Neighbors were going from house to house checking on people and helping everyone they could, '' David Scherff told Katy Magazine.
1. What was the result of Hurricane Harvey?| A．It killed almost 700 people. | B．It cost $125 billion in damage. |
| C．It totally destroyed Katy. | D．It forced all businesses to close. |
| A．Brave and selfless | B．Driven and focused |
| C．Optimistic and open-minded | D．Calm and intelligent |
| A．To show respect to the first responders in Katy. |
| B．To point out the importance of natural disaster relief. |
| C．To praise Katy people for their heroic behavior in the floods. |
| D．To emphasize the need to help each other through hard times. |
7 . THREE years ago Jenny Salgado, a Dominican shop assistant, moved to Highland town, a neighborhood of Baltimore. When she arrived the shop she works in, it was one of only a few Spanish businesses. Now there are many more. “It’s good now if you speak Spanish,” she smiles.
Baltimore has been losing people for 60 years. To address this, its mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, wants to make it the most immigrant-friendly city in the world. Its libraries provide Spanish-language exercise classes. To help those with no papers, the city is introducing micro-loans (小额贷款) which require no credit checks; city police would no longer routinely check the immigration status of citizens or enforce any federal immigration law unless required to. The then governor, Martin O’Malley made it possible for illegal immigrants to get driving licenses.
Such welcoming policies are spreading. Such cities as Cleveland, Dayton and Philadelphia all eagerly try to please immigrants. Rick Snyder, the governor of Michigan, has asked the federal government to offer 50,000 visas to people who agree to live in Detroit. His administration has made it easier for skilled migrants to get professional licenses.
When a city’s population falls, both tax receipts and services fall. Half-deserted neighborhoods breed (滋生) crime, driving yet more people to leave. No city has escaped this death circle without attracting new residents, says Steve Tobocman of Global Detroit.
Several studies suggest that when immigrants arrive, crime goes down, schools improve and shops open up. In Detroit, immigrants living near the tiny separate city of Hamtramck have formed local watches to guard against thieves. Their neighborhoods are not just safer; they are also among the only places where it is as easy to buy fresh vegetables as drugs and alcohol.
But attracting new immigrants to the cities which most need them is hard, argues Audrey Singer of the Brookings Institution. They care about the same things as everyone else: safe streets, good schools and jobs. Cities which have lost population for decades struggle with all of these.
1. What does the underlined word “address” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Account for. | B．Deal with. | C．Get rid of. | D．Take away from. |
| A．Credit card checks will be stricter. | B．Immigrants’ identity will be protected. |
| C．The public services will get worse. | D．The crime rate will decline. |
| A．Attracting immigrants to such cities as Detroit is demanding. |
| B．Immigrants have higher expectations of a city than its locals. |
| C．There is no need to encourage such immigrant-friendly policies. |
| D．Attracting immigrants helps prevent a city from losing population. |
8 . Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies like a fat chicken, eats green leaves, has the stomach of a cow and has claw s ( 爪) on its wings when young. They build their homes about 4.6m above the river, an important feature for the safety of the young. It is called the hoatzin.
In appearance, the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside. The head is small, with a large set of feathers on the top, bright red eyes, and blue skin. Its nearest relatives are the common birds, cuckoos. Its most striking feature, though, is only found in the young.
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip. Using these four claws, together with the beak (喙), they can climb about in the bushes, looking very much like primitive （远古的) birds must have done. When the young hoatzins have learned to fly, they lose their claws.
During the drier months between December and March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds, but in April, when the rainy season begins, they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．Hoatzins in dry and rainy seasons. |
| B．The relatives and enemies of hoatzins. |
| C．Primitive birds and hoatzins of the Amazon. |
| D．The appearance and living habits of hoatzins. |
| A．they look like young cuckoos |
| B．they have claws on the wings |
| C．they eat a lot like a cow |
| D．they live on river banks |
| A．They had claw s to help them climb. |
| B．They could fly long distances. |
| C．They had four wings like hoatzins. |
| D．They had a head with long feathers on the top. |
| A．To find more food. |
| B．To protect themselves better. |
| C．To keep themselves w arm. |
| D．To produce their young. |
9 . Next time you need directions, maybe you can ask an ant. These little creatures are masters of navigation（导航）that some can find their way home whether they're walking forward or backward,according to a study in Current Biology.
Ants often travel long to bring back the food to their nests. But how do they know where they’re going?
Researchers went to Spain to mess with some desert ants. They found an active nest and surrounded it with barriers that forced the foraging（搜寻）ants to follow a particular path back home. Once the ants were familiar with the maze, the researchers would take them up, hand them pieces of a cookie and then put them back in a different location, one that required taking a 90 degree turn to get to the nest.
The research found that the ants carrying a small, easy-to-carry piece would run forward with confidence and were able to head on home.Some ants, however, would drop the cookie and turn around to take a look at the scenery, which allowed the six-legged experts to reset their inner maps, catch their cookies and head in the right direction.
These ants seem to use sky clues, like the position of the sun,to keep them on track. When the researchers used a mirror to make it look like the sun on the other side of the sky, the cornered ants would turn tail for the opposite direction.
So ants integrate（整合）a lot of information to successfully bring home the food.
1. What does the word “maze” in Paragraph 3 probably refer to?| A．A nest that active ants live in. |
| B．An experiment that is done in the desert. |
| C．A method that helps to locate food. |
| D．A place that consists of confusing paths. |
| A．To get over the man-made barriers. |
| B．To enjoy the scenery along the route. |
| C．To ensure they're in the right direction. |
| D．To check directions with their maps. |
| A．The position of the sun. | B．One particular path. |
| C．A 90 degree turn. | D．Pieces of a cookie. |
| A．An adventure novel. | B．A geography textbook. |
| C．A science magazine. | D．A tourist brochure. |
10 . Earthquakes are something that people fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.
The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 700 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.
Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 2,000 people died.
In 1923, a very strong earthquake hit Tokyo, Yokohama area of Japan. A hundred and forty thousand people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.
One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 2008. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China, in which 400,000 people were killed or injured. This earthquake happened in 1556.
Earthquakes worry people a lot. The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming. People cannot prepare for earthquakes.
1. Earthquakes happen ________.| A．in all the places in the world |
| B．only in the countries that have a lot of mountains |
| C．regularly in most places in the world |
| D．only in a few places along the coast |
| A．In 1964 in Alaska. | B．In 1556 in China. |
| C．In 1923 in Japan. | D．In 2008 in China. |
| A．The stronger the earthquake is, the more people are killed. |
| B．Earthquakes often come unexpectedly. |
| C．Earthquakes can cause fires. |
| D．People still don't know how to tell when an earthquake will come. |
| A．How do earthquakes worry people? |
| B．What will people do to prepare for earthquakes? |
| C．How can we save people when earthquakes happen? |
| D．How do earthquakes happen? |
