4 . Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.

Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting the places for birds to stop, rest and feed. The scientists studied the migration or flight paths of almost 1,500 species. They decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.

The major danger for migratory birds is development. Buildings and pavements have covered the places where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another. One of the scientists who worked on the study says “Many of these important places have been lost to land reclamation because of urban, industrial and agricultural land expansion”.

The problem, according to scientists, is that many of these small birds die along their migration paths because they don’t have a safe place to feed and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time in protecting land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. One species that doesn’t exist now is the Eskimo curlew. “Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,” one of the scientists says.

The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopping areas for birds that pass through their boundaries. For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might die.

One scientist who is not connected with the report tells Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds.

He says small changes, like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of the areas birds would be likely to use, could make a big difference.

1. What mainly caused the disappearing of birds’ habitats?

A．The decrease of awareness to protect birds.	B．Natural disasters.
C．Overuse of land by human beings.	D．The rising sea level.

2. What may be the main reason for many birds’ death on the way of migration?

A．Tiredness and hunger.	B．Beast attack on the ground.
C．Hunting of humans.	D．The long journey.

3. According to the last two paragraphs, how should we protect the migrating birds?

A．By keeping fewer cats or dogs.

B．By restoring their destroyed habitats.

C．By helping change the birds’ migration paths.

D．By preserving the ecological environments on their migration paths.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call on people to protect the birds’ habitats.

B．To analyze the reasons for disappearing of birds’ habitats.

C．To offer some solutions to the problem of birds’ habitats.

D．To tell us a huge percentage of bird species are in danger.

8 . The latest in cat research reveals that the lovely animal seems to have a basic grasp on both the laws of physics and the ins and outs of cause and effect.

According to a newly published study, cats seem to be able to predict the location of hiding prey (猎物) using both their ears and an inborn (天生的) understanding of how the physical world works.

In a recent experiment, Japanese researchers taped 30 domestic cats reacting to a container that a team member shook. Some containers rattled (发出响声); others did not. When the container was tipped over, sometimes an object fell out and sometimes it didn’t.

It turns out that the cats were remarkably smart about what would happen when a container was tipped over. When an object did not drop out of the bottom of a rattling container, they looked at it for a longer time than they did when the container behaved as expected.

“Cats use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds to predict the appearance of invisible objects,” lead researcher Saho Takagi says in a press release. The researchers conclude that cats’ hunting style may have developed based on their common-sense abilities to infer where prey is, using their hearing.

Scientists have explored this idea with other lovely creatures: babies. Like cats, babies appear to engage in what’s called “preferential looking”—looking longer at things that are interesting or unusual than things they perceive as normal.

When babies’ expectations are not met in experiments like the ones performed with the cats, they react much like their animal friends. Psychologists have shown that babies apparently expect their world to obey the laws of physics and cause and effect as early as two months of age.

Does the study mean that cats will soon grasp the ins and outs of cause and effect? Maybe, Okay, so cats may not be the next physics faculty members at America’s most important research universities. But by demonstrating their common sense, they’ve shown that the divide between cats and humans may not be that great after all.

1. What do we learn from a newly published study about cats?

A．They can be trained to understand the physical world.

B．They know what kind of prey might be easier to hunt.

C．They have a natural ability to locate animals they hunt.

D．They are capable of telling which way their prey flees.

2. What may account for the cats’ response to the noise from the containers?

A．Their inborn sensitivity (敏感) to noise.	B．Their unusual sense of direction.
C．Their special ability to perceive.	D．Their understanding of cause and effect.

3. In what way do babies behave like cats?

A．They focus on what appears strange.	B．They view the world as normal.
C．They do what they prefer to do	D．They are curious about everything.

4. What can we conclude about cats from the passage?

A．They rely on their instincts (本能) to hunt.

B．They interact with the physical world much like humans.

C．They display extraordinarily high intelligence in hunting.

D．They can aid physics professors in their research work.

9 . New bio-plastics are being made in laboratories from straw, wood chips and food waste, with researchers aiming to replace oil as the source of the world’s plastic.

The new approaches include genetically modifying bacteria to eat wood and produce useful chemicals. But the bio-plastics are currently significantly more expensive to make than fossil fuel-based plastics.

Land and seas around the world, from high mountains to deep oceans, have become polluted with plastic, prompting major public concern. The world has produced 8bn tons of plastic since the 1950s and demand is still rising.

While some waste plastic is recycled, much of it is burnt to produce electricity, resulting in carbon emissions that drive climate change. In contrast to plastic made from oil, plastics made from plant-based materials only release the carbon the plants absorbed from the air as they grew. Bio-plastics will also give more options for products that biodegrade (生物降解) in the environment, although they can be made very long-lasting if required.

“Plastics are an incredible enhancement to our daily lives,” said Paul Mines, CEO of Biome Technologies in the UK, which has spent t5m in the last five years on bio-plastics research. “But we can’t go on using fossil fuel-based materials. About 6-7% of every barrel (桶) of oil is used to make plastics.”

“Using plant materials is feasible,” said professor Simon, at the University of York. “Replacing half of the nation’s plastic bottles could be done using just 3% of the sugar beet crop, 5% of wheat straw or 2.5% of food waste,” he said.

Currently, just a few thousand tons of bio-plastic are used in the UK each year, compared to millions of tons of conventional plastic. Mines said this could rise to about 20,000 tons in the next five years.

1. Why are high mountains and deep oceans mentioned in Paragraph 3?

A．To display the range of plastic pollution.	B．To show the widespread use of plastic.
C．To present a reason of wide use of plastic.	D．To stress the increasing demand for plastic.

2. What is one advantage of bio-plastics over fossil fuel-based plastics?

A．Producing electricity.	B．Being eco-friendly.
C．Driving climate change.	D．Biodegrading other plastic.

3. What does the underlined word “feasible” mean in Paragraph 6?

A．Possible.

B．Troublesome.

C．Original.

D．Costly.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Plastics arc necessary in daily life.	B．Oil is the source of the world’s plastic.
C．Bioplastic making is a promising industry.	D．Scientists are researching bioplastic making.

10 . Fire ants tunnels got dug efficiently by only a small percentage of the group doing most of the work. Freeloaders, they just sit around while their hard-working colleagues get things done. But might freeloaders actually be necessary for society to function efficiently? The answer could be yes — at least when it comes to fire ants and their efforts to dig nests underground.

Fire ants are highly social organisms. So, Goldman and his colleagues wanted to know how individual ants knew what to do without a central leader issuing orders.To find out, Goldman’s team labeled individual fire ants with paint and then watched them dig their tunnels — only wide enough for two workers. Turns out, just 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the labor. “I was surprised that we ended up with so few workers actually doing the work at any one time.”

A quarter of the ants never even entered the tunnel. Others went inside, but left without digging out a single grain of dirt. These behaviors ensured the tunnels did not get clogged with insect traffic, which would make the construction process stop.

And when the scientists removed the five hardest-working ants from the tunnel, others immediately jumped in to compensate (补偿) — with no reduction in the group’s productivity. Seems that it doesn’t matter which ants are working or freeloading at a given time, as long as there is some division of labor to keep the tunnels flowing smoothly. The findings are in the journal Science.

The study could provide suggestions for the robotic. Imagine groups of robots sent to search for survivors from the ruins. Or nanobots (纳米机器人) coursing through our bodies to diagnose illness and deliver targeted medical treatment. Such robots will need to avoid getting jammed up in tight spaces. It might be necessary to program them so some just sit back and watch their colleagues work.

1. How do fire ants get the work done when digging tunnels?

A．They all work under the order of their leaders.

B．Only the strong ants do the majority of the work.

C．They all cooperate together and spare no effort to do the work.

D．Some work efficiently while others just sit around and do nothing.

2. What does the underlined word “clogged” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Covered.

B．Crowded.

C．Destroyed.

D．Spotted.

3. When the hardest-working ants were taken away by the scientists_______.

A．the rest of them didn’t know what to do

B．the leaders had to do the work by themselves

C．other ants took their place and continued to do the work

D．other ants were in panic and escaped from the tunnels immediately

4. According to the passage, the research findings can be applied to _______.

A．robot technology	B．social communication
C．underground construction	D．scientific observations