1 . Beyoncé Knowles can do something that many humans struggle with: sing and dance at the same time. But, it turns out this great ability is not unique to humans. The superb lyrebird, already known to be a gifted singer, can perform coordinated(协调的)songanddance routines(一套舞蹈动作)that put most humans to shame.
The superb lyrebird is one of only two lyrebird species living in Australia, the other named Albert’s lyrebird. Male lyrebirds have tails in the shape of an ancient musical instrument when spread out. Like most animals with beautiful body parts, the males use their tails to attract females. Each one sets up a small mound(小丘)on the forest floor, where he walks around proudly and sings. He also shows his tail by holding it over his head.
Lyrebirds are gifted mimics(模仿者), so their songs combine their own calls, the songs of other species, and sounds they have heard in the forest. That would be enough showing off for other animals, but male superb lyrebirds also dance.
Anastasia Dalziell of the Australian National University in Canberra filmed 12 lyrebirds in the wild. She found that males only danced during four song types, and that each song type was accompanied by a specific move. “Lyrebirds match different dance styles to different types of songs, ”she says. For example, when the male sang a series of rapid notes he also stepped to the side and held his tail wide. Another song type was accompanied by jumping and moving up and down, with the tail held narrow.
“Our results suggest that the coordination between song and dance—like movements we see in humans can occur in other animals,” says Dalziell. Female lyrebirds might prefer males that are better at coordinating song and dance, although there is no evidence of that yet.
1. Beyoncé Knowles is mentioned in Paragraph 1 to ___________.| A．put most humans to shame |
| B．introduce the topic of lyrebirds |
| C．show the author’s admiration for her |
| D．share the experience of the famous singer |
| A．performing on a mound and showing their tails |
| B．walking in the forest with the heads held up |
| C．having tails shaped like a musical instrument |
| D．singing and dancing with other male lyrebirds |
| A．Both human beings and animals are born singers and dancers. |
| B．Female Albert’s lyrebirds are fond of copying and showing off. |
| C．Male superb lyrebirds are gifted at coordinating song and dance. |
| D．Male lyrebirds can sing four songs, each accompanied by a move. |
注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Ants: master cooperators
Millions of ants live together in a colony, but they don’t compete, get confused, or become disorganized. They behave in an amazing orderly manner at all times. Some scientists refer to ants as ‘super-organisms’ because they live in such highly organized societies that work together to survive. The way ants live and work together has made them one of the most important creatures on the planet.
Ants, like bees, belong to a class of eusocial insects. Eusocial insects are broken into groups within their community, and each group has a special job to do depending on the needs of the community. There are three basic groups in an ant colony: queens, soldiers, and workers. Queens are the largest ants, and their only job is to reproduce—they lay all of the eggs that will eventually become soldiers and workers. Soldiers are responsible for protecting the colony and finding new places for nests. Worker ants have many jobs within the community, including caring for the eggs and young ants, hunting for food and maintaining the nest.
Some scientists are studying how ants can lead to a better understanding of labor issues, social class, and the use of nature resources in human communities. Ants have had millions of years of practice in working together to survive and grow. For a colony to function successfully, ants have to cooperate, from which people can learn a lot. Researchers hope that gathering information about how ants live together in communities can help people learn to cooperate and compromise with each other.
However, others argue that there are fundamental differences between ants and humans that mean human societies are unlikely ever to attain ant-like levels of collaboration. For example, ants in a colony don’t compete with each other. When they are short of food in the colony, some worker ants automatically become ‘feeder’ ants and feed others with the food in their stomach, regardless of their usual job. When the food supply is replenished, they become worker ants again.
In addition, ants are able to work together without a leader giving them directions. Despite their names, queen ants are not leaders. Instead, ants find out what they need to do from their sense of smell. Research on harvester ants pass each other, they pick up a chemical smell which tells them what the other ant is doing. The number of ants they pass doing a particular job determines what they need to do. It is a form of communication, but unlike human communication it has no content; it is just based on numbers.
While ants undoubtedly have a great deal to teach us about organization and the structure of networks, those searching for a greater understanding of human behaviour and morals may need to look somewhere.
Ants: master cooperators | |
Main | They live together in colony without competitions, |
| The way they work together for | |
| Three groups, including queens, soldiers and workers in an ant colony have a special job, | |
| It helps people understand labor issues, social class, and the use of natural resources better. | |
| Ants are | |
| It helps people learn to cooperate and | |
Differences between ants and humans | For |
Suggestion | Researchers should have different |
3 . One of the newest words on the coffee stage is “shade grown coffee”. Shade grown coffee isn’t new. In fact, until only a few years ago, shade grown coffee represented the major coffee beans sold on the world coffee market. The coffee plant is a natural shade lover, growing best in the shade afforded by an overgrowing canopy (树冠) of rain forest plants. That canopy protects the coffee plant from sunlight that reduces its production and kills it.
Shade grown coffee is, however, more expensive to grow, at least in the short run. Growing coffee in the shade means that coffee growers also have to spend time working on the protectors. It means that less land is left to produce coffee beans. The arrival of technically engineered coffee plants that grow well in the sun represented a major development in coffee industry. Because there was no need to grow shade trees to protect the coffee trees, farmers could use more and more land to grow coffee trees, increasing their productivity and leading to more money for the coffee plantations (种植园) and farmers.
However, it was not a good idea to move away from shade grown coffee. The sheltering canopy provided more than just shade for the coffee trees. Those plants provided shelter for birds and other animals who feed on pests.
They help to fix nitrogen in the soil, and nitrogen is a natural fertilizer which makes plants grow more successfully. The increase in land used to grow sun loving coffee trees also had an unexpected effect on the law of supply and demand. The increased production resulted in a huge amount of coffee beans coming to the market, which brought down prices.
Moreover, most experts agree that shade grown coffee is better in taste than coffee grown in full sun. Plants grown in shade take longer to develop. The slower growing time helps to improve the coffee’s taste. You can buy a can of shade grown coffee to replace your usual sun coffee. One cup of coffee a day---it’s a small price to pay for a better world.
1. What do we know about shade grown coffee?| A．It has been introduced to the market recently. |
| B．It was the main coffee beans sold on the market. |
| C．It is protected by the canopy from pests and animals. |
| D．It grows well where there is adequate natural sunlight. |
| A．It had a bitter taste. |
| B．It left no land for shade trees. |
| C．It offered less profits. |
| D．It’s no longer well received. |
| A．They keep a balanced environment. |
| B．They bring more money to farmers. |
| C．They help clear the nitrogen in the soil. |
| D．They make coffee plants grow quickly. |
| A．Spending less on coffee. | B．Listening to experts’ ideas. |
| C．Buying shade grown coffee. | D．Planting sun loving coffee. |
4 . If life is a beach, then a village in Ireland has come back from the dead after the sand returned 33 years later due to a freak tide.
Dooagh beach on Achill Island in the west of Ireland, was washed away in 1984 after storms hit the area, leaving a rocky foreshore. The tourists left, causing the hotels and guesthouses as well as the cafes to close down. But in April this year, the sand returned over a ten-day period caused by an unusually high tide that deposited hundreds of thousands of tons of sand along the 300m beach, bringing the beautiful beach back to its former glory.
Emmet Callaghan from Achill Island Tourist Office told the journalist that the people of the island were excited at the beach’s reappearing. “It’s so nice for the villagers to have their beach back. It is an incredible example of the force and power of nature and how the coast can change in a matter of days. Yesterday we had traffic block here in the village with cars and people coming from all over Ireland and the UK to see our new beach,” he said. “The people here have always spoken about their days on the beach and how they enjoyed it as children. To have it back with their kids is unbelievable. Now locals are hoping that the beach is given the blue flag status. We already have five blue flag beaches and hopefully, if we keep our beach here, we’ll have a sixth.”
Dr Ivan Haigh from the University of Southampton said there were two explanations as to why the beach has reformed. “It could be a change in sediment (沉积物) supply, from further up or down the coast which has brought a fresh amount of sediment to the beach,” he said. “It could also be due to a change in environmental conditions, either a change in the wave climate or a series of tides that have provided the ideal conditions for this beach to reform.”
The tourism office and locals hope the new beach will stay, at least for the summer of this year.
1. What can we infer from the article?| A．Dooagh beach was washed away by storms in 1980s. |
| B．People worldwide showed great interest in the beach. |
| C．Blue flag beaches are beneficial to children in the village. |
| D．The locals had wonderful memories about Dooagh beach. |
| A．its reforming shows the force and power of nature |
| B．they will have more beaches to enjoy with families |
| C．they hope it can help promote the village’s economy |
| D．it will make the summer of the village amazing |
| A．The wave climate keeps changing. |
| B．A series of tides provide the proper conditions. |
| C．Environmental conditions are getting better. |
| D．A fresh amount of sediment exists in the sea. |
Unable to find work anywhere else, Henson took a job in a hat shop in Washington, D.C. One day in 1887, a man came in to buy a hat. The man, Robert Peary, asked the owner if he knew anyone with experience at sea. Peary would soon travel to South America for the U.S. government. He needed experienced men to accompany him. The shop owner knew about his young employee’s skills and experience on ocean journeys, so he introduced Peary to Henson.
Using his map-reading and sailing skills, Henson proved himself to be a worthy and smart seaman. Peary soon made Henson his assistant (助理), and they became close friends. One day Peary told Henson about his real dream: to be the first man to stand on “the top of the world” at the North Pole. He asked Henson to help him make his dream come true. Over the next five years, the two explorers made two trips together to the Arctic. However, they were not able to reach the pole either time. The cold, wind, and ice were worse than either of them had ever imagined.
In 1908, Peary and Henson were ready to make their final attempt at reaching the North Pole. Both men were over forty years old. The years of hardship in the arctic cold had made them suffer a lot. This would be their last chance. With four Inuit (因纽特) guides, they made a mad rush straight across the ice toward the pole. Peary’s feet were injured and he had to be pulled on a dogsled. In April 1909, Henson’s instruments showed they were standing at the North Pole. Together Henson and Peary planted the American flag in the snow.
In later years, Robert Peary and Henson were greatly honored for their achievements. Today, the two friends and fellow explorers lie in heroes’ graves not far apart in the Arlington National Cemetery.
1. In paragraph1, the author shows how Henson became ________.
| A．a wonderful seaman |
| B．an educated captain |
| C．a good shop assistant |
| D．a successful learner |
| A．why Matthew Henson went to the hat shop |
| B．how Matthew Henson met Robert Peary |
| C．why Matthew Henson stopped working on the Katie Hinds |
| D．how Robert Peary knew Matthew Henson had sea experience |
| A．Henson proved himself a better seaman than Peary |
| B．Peary wanted Henson to help him realize his dream |
| C．Before their final attempt, they made two trips together |
| D．After they died, they were highly respected by people |
| A．treasure hunters looking for fortunes |
| B．sailors seeking power over others |
| C．soldiers fighting for their freedom |
| D．fighters exploring an unknown land |
