1 . I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.

I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.

I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.

The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.

Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.

A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.

1. What is unavoidable in the author’s rescue work according to paragraph 1?

A．Efforts made in vain.

B．Getting injured in his work.

C．Feeling uncertain about his future.

D．Creatures forced out of their homes.

2. Why was the author called to Muttontown?

A．To rescue a woman.

B．To take care of a woman.

C．To look at a baby owl.

D．To cure a young owl.

3. What made the chick calm down?

A．A new nest.

B．Some food.

C．A recording.

D．Its parents.

4. How would the author feel about the outcome of the event?

A．It’s unexpected.

B．It’s beautiful.

C．It’s humorous.

D．It’s discouraging.

2 . Have you ever wondered when dogs first became “man’s best friend” and the world’s favourite pet? If you have then you’re not alone. When and where dogs first began living side-by-side with humans are questions that have stirred hot debate among scientists. There are a few hard facts that all agree on. These include that dogs were once wolves and they were the first animal to be domesticated (驯养) by humans. They came to life some 15, 000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture.

Beyond that, there is little agreement. The earliest bones found that are unquestionable dogs and not wolves date from 14,000 years ago. However, 30,000-year-old skulls (头骨) have been discovered in France and Belgium that are not pure wolves and that some scientists think could be dogs.

With such puzzling evidence, many scientists are now turning to DNA to find out when and where dogs were first domesticated. In one research project, tens of thousands of blood samples have been taken from street dogs around the world. The plan is to compare them with those of wolves. It’s even possible to analyse DNA from ancient bones. Tiny pieces of the 30,000-year-old skulls mentioned earlier are currently being studied, and another DNA study has already shown that ancient dogs preserved in the Alaskan ice fields evolved (进化) from Asian wolves, not American ones.

Indeed, the ancient DNA may turn out to be more informative than the DNA of living dogs. Because dogs have accompanied humans around the world for thousands of years, their current distribution may tell us very little of their origins. This is why different groups of scientists believe that dogs variously originated in eastern Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, Europe or Africa.

But why were the animals domesticated in the first place? The most recent theory is that dogs domesticated themselves, originally living in and around our ancient villages to eat any food thrown out. Today, this is a way of life still shared by three quarters of a billion unowned dogs worldwide.

1. Which of the following is the statement generally agreed on by scientists studying dogs?

A．They originally were used as farm animals.

B．They evolved from wolves found in Europe.

C．They helped the development of agriculture.

D．They were the first animal to be trained by humans.

2. Why does the writer first mention the 30,000-year-old animals’ skulls?

A．To show that dogs were much larger in the past.

B．To prove that dogs developed from Asian wolves.

C．To suggest that dogs may have evolved much earlier.

D．To argue that dogs were first kept in France and Belgium.

3. How did scientists determine the origins of the ancient dogs found in Alaska?

A．By examining the animals, DNA.

B．By analyzing the age of their bones.

C．By studying the shape of their skulls.

D．By comparing them with modern clogs.

4. Why did dogs start living with humans?

A．Because they were attracted by food.

B．Because they were trapped by humans.

C．Because they couldn’t survive in the wild.

D．Because they were trained to protect the villages.

3 . In Canada you can find dogs，cats，horses，etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses，they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections（注射）so that they won’t carry disease. They have special animal food stores， though they can get animal food in almost every kind of store. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people’s houses，they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal，you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car，people would be very sad about it.
People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be：Their family ties are not as close as ours. When children grow up，they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.
1. The passage mainly talks about ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ .

A．how to keep disease from pets

B．pets in Canada

C．how to take good care of pets

D．life of the old in Canada

2. In Canada，children leave their parents when they grow up because ＿＿＿.

A．they don’t love their parents any more

B．they can only find jobs far from their parents

C．their parents’ houses are too small

D．they wouldn’t depend on their parents any more

3. Which of the following is TRUE？

A．Peoplebuyanimal foodonlyattheanimalfood stores.

B．Pets eat better than people.

C．Almost every family has a birdcage in his house.

D．Any bird can come to the bird feeders to eat.

4 . In our modern world, when something wears out, we throw it away and buy a new one. The _______ is that countries around the world have growing mountains of _______ because people are throwing out more rubbish than ever before.

How did we _______ a throwaway society? First of all, it is now easier to _______ an object than to spend time and money to repair it. _______ modern manufacturing (制造业)and technology, companies are able to produce products quickly and inexpensively. Products are plentiful and _______.

Another cause is our _______of disposable (一次性的) products. As _______ people, we are always looking for _______ to save time and make our lives easier. Companies ________ thousands of different kinds of disposable products: paper plates, plastic cups, and cameras, to name a few.

Our appetite for new products also ________ to the problem. We are ________ buying new things. Advertisements persuade us that ________ is better and that we will be happier with the latest products. The result is that we ________ useful possessions to make room for new ones.

All around the world, we can see the ________ of this throwaway lifestyle. Mountains of rubbish just keep getting bigger. To ________ the amount of rubbish and to protect the ________, more governments are requiring people to recycle materials. ________, this is not enough to solve (解决) our problem.

Maybe there is another way out. We need to repair our possessions ________ throwing them away. We also need to rethink our attitudes about ________. Repairing our possessions and changing our spending habits may be the best way to reduce the amount of rubbish and take care of our environment.

1.

A．key

B．reason

C．project

D．problem

2.

A．gifts

B．rubbish

C．debt

D．products

3.

A．face

B．become

C．observe

D．change

4.

A．hide

B．control

C．replace

D．withdraw

5.

A．Thanks to

B．As to

C．Except for

D．Regardless of

6.

A．safe

B．funny

C．cheap

D．powerful

7.

A．love

B．lack

C．prevention

D．division

8.

A．sensitive

B．kind

C．brave

D．busy

9.

A．ways

B．places

C．jobs

D．friends

10.

A．donate

B．receive

C．produce

D．preserve

11.

A．adapts

B．returns

C．responds

D．contributes

12.

A．tired of

B．addicted to

C．worried about

D．ashamed for

13.

A．newer

B．stronger

C．higher

D．larger

14.

A．pick up

B．pay for

C．hold onto

D．throw away

15.

A．advantages

B．purposes

C．functions

D．consequences

16.

A．show

B．record

C．decrease

D．measure

17.

A．technology

B．environment

C．consumers

D．brands

18.

A．However

B．Otherwise

C．Therefore

D．Meanwhile

19.

A．by

B．in favour of

C．after

D．instead of

20.

A．spending

B．collecting

C．repairing

D．advertising

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

With the     1    (develop) of industry, air pollution is getting more and more serious. In Beijing, many people suffer different kinds of illnesses because     2     air pollution.

Air pollution is caused by the following     3    (reason): about half of the problem is caused by vehicles. There are more and more cars, buses on the roads, and they give off     4    (poison) gases. 25% of air pollution is caused by factories. Another factor is the smokers. Smoking not only does harm to their health     5     to others.     6    (beside) these, about 10% of air pollution is caused by other reasons.

We should take some measures to fight     7     pollution. New fuel can be used to take     8     place of gas. We can plant more trees. If everybody realizes the     9    (important) of the environment and does something to stop pollution, the problem will     10    (solve)．

6 . Are you facing a situation that looks impossible to fix?

In 1969,the pollution was terrible along the Cuyahoga River Cleveland, Ohio. It    1    (be) unimaginable that it could ever be cleaned up. The river was so polluted that it    2    (actual) caught fire and burned. Now, years later, this river is one of    3    most outstanding（杰出的）examples of environmental cleanup.

But the river wasn’t changed in a few days    4    even a few months. It took years of work     5    (reduce) the industrial pollution and clean the water. Finally, that hard work paid off and now the water in the river is    6    (clean) than ever.

Maybe you are facing an impossible situation. Maybe you have a habit    7    is driving your family crazy. Possibly you drink too much or don’t know how to control your credit card use. When you face such an impossible situation, don’t you want a quick fix and something to change immediately?

While there are    8    (amaze) stories of instant transformation, for most of us the    9    (change) are gradual and require a lot of effort and work, like cleaning up a polluted river. Just be     10    (patience).

7 . At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for paper copies of documents(文件) because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.

It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of use of Internet-connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime. “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more trees to be cut down,” says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organization.

Perhaps the best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high-tech industry itself, which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets. Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer. Earlier this week Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document, a medical record or just a on-line e-mail, even if they are nowhere near a computer. As the company sees it, the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers.

Does all this mean environmental concerns (环境问题) have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away.

“I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of, because of recycling（回收利用）,” said Kelly Quirke, director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high-tech may also prove helpful. He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity.

The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood, such as agricultural waste.

1. The growing demand for paper in recent years is largely due to ________.

A．the rapid development of small businesses

B．the opening up of new markets

C．the printing of high quality copies

D．the increased use of the Internet

2. Environmentalists believe one possible way of dealing with the paper situation is ________.

A．to encourage printing more quality documents

B．to develop new printers using recycled paper

C．to find new materials for making paper

D．to plant more fast-growing trees

3. Hewlett-Packard Co. has decided to develop new technologies because ________.

A．people are concerned about the environment

B．printers in many offices are working overtime

C．small companies need more hard copies

D．they see a growing market for printers

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Computers and Printers

B．E-mail and the Business World

C．Internet Revolution and Environment

D．Modern Technology and New Markets

8 . Eating too much fatty food, exercising too little and smoking can raise your future risk of heart disease. But there is another factor that can cause your heart problems more immediately：the air you breathe.

Previous studies have linked high exposure (暴露) to environmental pollution to an increased risk of heart problems，but two analyses now show that poor air quality can lead to heart attack or stroke (中风) within as little as a few hours after exposure. In one review of the research, scientists found that people exposed to high levels of pollutants (污染物) were up to 5% more likely to suffer a heart attack within days of exposure than those with lower exposure. A separate study of stroke patients showed that even air that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)considers to be of “moderate” (良好) quality and relatively safe for our health can raise the risk of stroke as much as 34% within 12 to 14 hours of exposure.

The authors of both studies stress that these risks are relatively small for healthy people and certainly modest compared with other risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure. However, it is important to be aware of these dangers because everyone is exposed to air pollution regardless of lifestyle choices. So stricter regulation by the EPA of pollutants may not only improve environmental air quality but could also become necessary to protect public health.

1. The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.

A．heart problems and air quality

B．heart problems and exercising

C．heart problems and smoking

D．heart problems and fatty food

2. The underlined word “modest” in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.

A．relatively high	B．extremely low
C．relatively low	D．extremely high

3. What can we learn from the text?

A．Eating fatty food has immediate effects on your heart.

B．The EPA conducted many studies on air quality.

C．Moderate air quality is more harmful than smoking.

D．Stricter regulations on pollutants should be made.

4. The author's purpose of writing the text is most likely to ________.

A．inform	B．persuade
C．describe	D．entertain

9 . Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not bring so much material home in the first place.

The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of it for carrying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to associate packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.

There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary material we are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.

1. What does the underlined word “over-consumption” refer to?

A．Using too much packaging.

B．Recycling too much waste.

C．Making more products than necessary.

D．Having more material than is needed.

2. The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show ________.

A．the tendency of cutting household waste

B．the increase of packaging recycling

C．the rapid growth of supermarkets

D．the fact of packaging overuse

3. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

B．Supermarkets care more about packaging.

C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging.

D．Other products are better packaged than food.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult.

B．Needless material is mostly recycled.

C．People like collecting recyclable waste.

D．The author is proud of his consumer culture.

10 . Most of the 20th century has been a development on the Industrial Revolution taken to an extreme: people now own more products than ever before; there are enough unclear weapons to destroy the earth several times over; there is hardly any forest left and pollution has got to the point where we buy water. Within a few years I predict you will be able to buy air. (There once was a time when you didn't need to buy food or shelter either.)

Important developments in the last century are the breaking down of the class structures left over from the Industrial Revolution stage, bringing with it the empowerment of the “common man”： the working day is set by law to only 8 hours a day; everyone has the vote; the media has less obvious government control; people have landed on the moon, sent spacecrafts to Mars and so on. Families have also shrunk drastically (强烈地); the nuclear family came about, and especially in the last half of the 20th century, one­parent families are becoming more common. This shrinking in the size of the family shows the increased independence of people — once upon a time people had to live in large groups to survive.

As humans have “become the gods”， they have realized their individuality and independence and taken their control of the world to an extreme. In many countries the land is almost completely used in the production of food and as living space and they live in small cities which are entirely human constructed, made from materials which are also entirely human constructed (concrete bricks) with hardly any remains of nature. Weeds are poisoned because they are messy; even parks have trees grown in tidy lines; grass is mowed to keep it short and so on. I think the massive drug “problem” troubling people is a result of too much of this influence, humans needing to escape the stark world they have created by entering fantasy worlds.

Over the last 100 years, the 20th century consciousness has spread throughout the world; most of Asia has been thoroughly “Westernized”， and most of the Third World is being overrun by Western ways of doing things and living.

1. What's the author most concerned about?

A．The influence of pollution.

B．Strong effects of development.

C．Changed positions of humans as gods.

D．The process of the Industrial Revolution.

2. What is the author's attitude towards the changes of the 20th century?

A．Objective.	B．Tolerant.
C．Vague.	D．Negative.

3. What does the underlined word “stark” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Unfair.	B．Illegal.
C．Dull.	D．Violent.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Men's individuality is over controlled.

B．People have damaged nature too much.

C．Men's independence is partially limited.

D．People show concern for nuclear families.