1 . “You can get a kitten,” I promised my daughter Cali after her father and I divorced (离婚). After
One orange-and-white kitten drew Cali’s
“
“Can we take them both?” Cali
“We have to follow the
“I know,” Cali
We brought Caramel home. Caramel seemed
However, we were told Butter was
Two years later I had a new boyfriend Brain. The first time I went to his home, I saw a flash of orange and white. Caramel? I thought,
“That’s my daughter’s cat Butter,” Brian said.
After comparing the adoption papers, I
“They might not
Today Caramel and his brother are inseparable. As are Brian and I, and our daughters after our marriage.
1.| A．cooling down | B．lying down | C．settling down | D．slowing down |
| A．expectation | B．attention | C．strength | D．response |
| A．Instantly | B．Merely | C．Roughly | D．Actually |
| A．sisters | B．partners | C．twins | D．neighbors |
| A．doubted | B．demanded | C．opposed | D．begged |
| A．rules | B．strategies | C．theories | D．concepts |
| A．relieved | B．sighed | C．wondered | D．resisted |
| A．hesitant | B．energetic | C．distant | D．lonely |
| A．shelter | B．hospital | C．apartment | D．nursery |
| A．familiar | B．ordinary | C．identical | D．common |
| A．sold | B．adopted | C．attacked | D．stolen |
| A．amused | B．shocked | C．ashamed | D．satisfied |
| A．interpreted | B．defended | C．exposed | D．confirmed |
| A．approve | B．contact | C．remember | D．distinguish |
| A．affection | B．concentration | C．ease | D．courage |
2 . Scientists are worried about the future of the axolotl, an unusual Mexican salamander (蝾螈), and they’re asking for help. A new program lets people “adopt” an axolotl to raise money to support efforts to save the endangered animal.
The axolotl is a strange, but amazing animal, with a long body, short legs, and a long tail. Its body is covered with smooth, slimy skin. Axolotls are famous for their ability to cure themselves. If an axolotl loses a leg, or even part of its heart, brain, or lungs, it can regrow them. Scientists have long been interested in how the axolotl does this. Some people think the information could help solve some human medical problems.
Sadly, axolotls are in trouble. The number of axolotls in Mexico has dropped 99.5% in less than 20 years. There are a number of reasons for the drop in axolotls. One is that the water in the lakes has become more and more polluted. Another is that there are invasive (入侵的) fish in the lakes which are eating the axolotls’ food, and even their babies.
Scientists at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) have been working for years to try to protect the axolotls. Last year, the UNAM scientists started a program they called “AdoptAxolotl”. They asked people to donate money to help pay for efforts to save the axolotls. The program was a big hit, and raised more than $26,000. The money was used to help clean up some of Mexican lakes and for a program to raise axolotls in a safe environment. Besides, people were encouraged to pay $30 to virtually (虚拟的) “adopt” one of the animals for a month or pay for food for an axolotl.
1. What do we know about the axolotls from paragraph 2?| A．They can live without hearts or lungs. |
| B．They have short bodies and long legs. |
| C．They can solve some human problems. |
| D．They have the ability to cure themselves. |
| A．Water pollution. | B．Habitat loss. | C．Invasive disease. | D．Serious overfishing. |
| A．A great success. | B．A big mistake. | C．A complete failure. | D．A total imagination. |
| A．To let people clean up Mexican lakes. |
| B．To get money for scientists’ own projects. |
| C．To raise money to help axolotls live better. |
| D．To encourage people to take axolotls home. |
3 . While there are plenty of factors that go into how attractive you are to mosquitoes, new research has found the colors you’re wearing definitely play a role.
For the study, researchers from the University of Washington tracked the behavior of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes when they were given different types of visual and scent cues (气味信号). The researchers put the mosquitoes into small test rooms and exposed them to different things, like a colored dot (小圆点) or person’s hand.
The mosquitoes first detect that you’re around by smelling carbon dioxide from your breath, which pushes them to look for certain colors and visual patterns that could indicate food, the researchers explained. When there was no scent cue like carbon dioxide in the test rooms, the mosquitoes neglected the colored dot, no matter what color it was. But once researchers sprayed carbon dioxide in the room, they flew toward dots that were red, orange, or black. Dots that were green, blue, or purple were overlooked.
“Light colors are perceived as a threat to mosquitoes, which is why many species avoid biting in direct sunlight,” researcher Timothy Best says. “Mosquitoes are very likely to be affected by dehydration (脱水) which can even cause them to die, therefore light colors may represent danger and cause avoidance. In contrast, darker colors may copy shadows, which are more likely to absorb and preserve heat, allowing mosquitoes to locate a host.”
If you have the option of wearing lighter or darker clothes when you know you’ll be going into an area with lots of mosquitoes, you’d better go with the lighter choice. Dark colors stand out to mosquitoes, whereas light colors blend in. When you’re going into areas where these small insects are known to hide, you can use bug spray and wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers. Regularly get rid of standing water around your home and empty items that hold water such as bird baths, toys, and planters. Each of these protective measures will contribute to decreasing your likelihood of getting bitten. And, if you’re able to wear something other than red or dark colors, even better.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The result of the experiment. | B．The process of the experiment. |
| C．The purpose of the experiment. | D．The significance of the experiment. |
| A．Adored. | B．Located. | C．Ignored. | D．Approached. |
| A．A dry and clean yard. | B．A classroom painted in white. |
| C．A kitchen with delicious food. | D．A bathroom with dark walls. |
| A．How to protect plants. | B．How to keep the room tidy. |
| C．How to avoid mosquito bites. | D．How to choose summer clothes. |
4 . Plants are very important living things. Life could not go on if there were no plants. This is because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight.
Animals get their food by eating plants and other animals. Therefore animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why we find that there are so many plants around us.
If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non-flowering plants.
Flowering plants can make seeds. The seeds are protected by the fruits. Some fruits have one seed, some have two, three or four, and some have many seeds. But a few fruits have no seeds at all. An example of a fruit without seeds is the banana fruit.
Most nonflowering plants do not grow from seeds. They grow from spores. Spores are very small. Some spores are so small and light that they can float in the air.We may say that spores are quite the same as seeds .When these spores are all on wet and shady places, they usually grow into new plants.
1. The main idea of the first paragraph is that________.| A．plants are important for life. |
| B．plants cannot grow without air. |
| C．there are many plants in the world . |
| D．we can not live without water. |
| A．Of all living things animals are most important. |
| B．Spores are seeds. |
| C．All fruits of flowering plants have seeds. |
| D．Without plants, man will die out. |
| A．a medicine book. | B．a novel. |
| C．a science magazine. | D．an experiment report. |
| A．damaged | B．serve |
| C．prevented | D．guarded |
5 . We know mosquitoes very well. Mosquitoes fly everywhere. They can be found almost all over the world, and there are more than 2,500 kinds of them.
No one likes the mosquito. But the mosquito may decide that she loves you. She? Yes, she. It’s true that male mosquito doesn’t bite (咬) and only the female mosquito bites because she needs blood to lay eggs. She is always looking for things or people she wants to bite. If she likes what she finds, she bites. But if she doesn’t like your blood, she will turn to someone else for more delicious blood. Next time a mosquito bites you, just remember you are chosen. You’re different from the others!
If the mosquito likes you, she lands on your body without letting you know. She bites you so quietly that you may not feel anything different. After she bites, you will have an itch (痒) on your body because she puts something from her mouth together with your blood. By the time the itching begins, she has flown away.
And then what happens? Well, after her delicious dinner, the mosquito feels tired. She just wants to find a place to have a good rest. There, on a leaf or a wall, she begins to lay eggs, hundreds of eggs.
1. “Mosquito” means __________ in Chinese.| A．苍蝇 | B．蜻蜓 | C．跳蚤 | D．蚊子 |
| A．They fly here and there. | B．They can be found easily. |
| C．There are many kinds of them. | D．They can fly. |
| A．long | B．fat | C．woman | D．man |
| A．get angry with you. | B．be afraid of you. |
| C．make a lot of noise. | D．choose another one. |
Twin giant pandas have been born at a breeding (繁殖) center in southwestern China,
The male and female baby pandas, born on Tuesday at the Qinling Panda Research Center in Shaanxi Province, are the second pair of twins born to
Chinese researchers for years have been working
The efforts have paid off, with some captive-bred pandas being released into the wild. The population of wild pandas
7 . The first time ever I realized that plastic was a serious matter for our planet was during a road trip in Western Australia, almost 12 years ago.
We
This was just one of the many experiences I’ve lived that made me more
Our trip to Borneo was another life-changing
Besides, we were also
Facing this global issue
| A．stayed | B．visited | C．worked | D．stopped |
| A．land | B．ocean | C．district | D．supermarket |
| A．threw | B．picked | C．dropped | D．carried |
| A．sure | B．proud | C．concerned | D．comfortable |
| A．travel | B．deliver | C．remove | D．play |
| A．story | B．growth | C．experience | D．suffering |
| A．free | B．cheap | C．valuable | D．safe |
| A．failed | B．managed | C．hesitated | D．happened |
| A．firmly | B．violently | C．deeply | D．dramatically |
| A．action | B．project | C．schedule | D．protection |
| A．dry up | B．tie up | C．clean up | D．take up |
| A．washed | B．proved | C．rushed | D．injured |
| A．on purpose | B．for sure | C．by mistake | D．in person |
| A．confusion | B．determination | C．frustration | D．satisfaction |
| A．make | B．do | C．achieve | D．find |
8 . Many ocean birds fly long distances to avoid severe storms. But not the streaked shearwaters (条纹鹱) ! A new study led by Professor Ken Yoda of Japan’s Nagoya University states that the brave seabirds often fly right into the eye of the storm to survive. This strange behavior — not reported in any other bird species—might help streaked shearwaters survive strong storms.
The scientists analyzed 11 years of data collected from GPS trackers attached to the wings of 401 shearwaters nesting on Japan’s Awashima Island. By combining this information with data on wind speeds during typhoons, scientists discovered that shearwaters that were caught out in the open ocean when a storm blew in would ride tailwinds (顺风) around the edges of the storm. However, others that found themselves sandwiched between land and the eye of a strong hurricane would sometimes change their usual flight patterns and head toward the center of the storm. Scientists found that 75 birds chose to fly during ten typhoons or tropical storms. Some even chased the storm’s eye for up to 8 hours!
The researchers say shearwaters can survive fierce storms. The strong winds over water enable the birds to glide (滑翔) for long distances without flapping their wings too much, saving energy. While skilled in flight, shearwaters are clumsy on land. The birds have a hard time taking off, leaving them at risk of predators like crows and cats. These may explain why some shearwaters prefer flying into the storm to survive. But to do that, the birds need to know where the land is so they can avoid it. The adult shearwaters seem to have developed a mental map to guide them in the right direction.
While this is the first time this behavior has been spotted in any bird species, flying with the winds could be a common strategy for preserving energy during hurricanes, says Andrew Farnsworth, an ornithologist at Cornell University who was not involved in the study. “It might be contrary to common sense,” he says. “But from the perspective of bird behavior, it makes a lot of sense.”
1. What is the new study about?| A．The methods of saving rare bird species. |
| B．The flying distance of streaked shearwaters. |
| C．The impact of extreme weather on seabirds. |
| D．The behavior of streaked shearwaters surviving storms. |
| A．fly to the center of the storm | B．find rock cracks and holes as shelters |
| C．try their best to fly far away from the storm | D．ride tailwinds around the edges of the storm |
| A．propose a theory | B．explain a fact | C．make a prediction | D．present an example |
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Favorable. | D．Disapproving. |
1. 活动目的；
2. 活动过程；
3. 活动意义。
注意：1. 词数80左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
A Clean-up Activity
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10 . You must have heard about animal migration (迁徙),such as Wildebeests dash across Africa; Monarch butterflies fly across the Americas... But did you know that forests migrate, too?
In his new book The Journeys of Trees, science writer Zach St. George explores an extremely slow migration, as forests creep inch by inch to more pleasant places.
“The migration of a forest is just many trees sprouting (发芽) in the same direction,” St. George writes. “Through the fossils that ancient forests left behind, scientists can track their movement over thousands of years. They move back and forth across continents, sometimes following the same route more than once, like migrating birds or whales.” This has happened over thousands of years, and climate change tends to be the driving force.
Of course, today, climate change is speeding up, and trees can’ t keep pace. Take California for example: It’s getting hotter and drier and scientists estimate that before too long, Sequoia National Park may not be able to keep giant sequoias (巨杉).
“The scientists there had never seen anything like it” St. George says. “They worried, and I think at some point we will lose these ancient trees and that we will have to think about what we do with the places, and whether we should plant new groves where they are easy to grow.”
This is known as “assisted migration” —humans planting trees in other places where they’ re more likely to flourish. But this process carries risks—people can accidentally introduce insects and diseases to new places, where they may wipe out entire native populations. So, St. George writes, there’ s a debate among conservationists and foresters today: Should humans help the trees escape?
“There may be cases where people are probably going to step in and help species move to places where they’ll be more suitable in the future,”St. George says.“So far, there are no huge movements of citizen groups moving trees north. But that is kind of one vision of the future that the people I interview hope to see.”
1. What can be learned about the forest migration?| A．It is very difficult to track the migration. |
| B．It takes several decades to complete it. |
| C．It is mainly the result of climate change. |
| D．It often follows certain migrating species. |
| A．To prove the assisted migration carries risks. |
| B．To stress the park is able to keep giant sequoias. |
| C．To state scientists are hopeful about the environment. |
| D．To show trees fail to adapt to climate change. |
| A．Grow well. | B．Become valuable. |
| C．Develop rapidly. | D．Escape diseases. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Objective. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Disapproving. |
