1 . 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.

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Why does the woman invite the man to the beach?

A．To collect some plastic.

B．To see a whale.

C．To relax.

2. Who will deal with the garbage?

A．The community.

B．The government.

C．A recycling company.

3. What is the woman like?

A．Responsible.

B．Lazy.

C．Emotional.

6 . A lot of people are afraid of spiders — even the small ones. But a big tarantula (狼蛛) is much more terrible for many. Now, scientists in Sri Lanka have discovered a huge species (物种) of tarantula that’s about the size of a person’s face.

Although it is very big, is there a real reason to be afraid of one? Maybe. This tarantula has enough poisonous fluid (液体) to kill mice and small birds and snakes — but its bite wouldn’t cause the death of most humans.

Tarantula was first seen in 2009, when a villager in Sri Lanka found the body of a male Tarantula and brought it to a Sri Lanka research organization.

An examination of the body proved that it was a type of tarantula scientists hadn’t seen before. So the scientists carefully looked through the Sri Lankan forests to try to find more of the spiders.

It’s still too early to know whether this species is in danger. But researchers fear that the Tarantulas’ natural habitat (栖息地) is slowly being destroyed.

“They prefer old trees, but due to the widespread removal of trees, the number has dropped,” the scientists said in an interview.

Tarantulas have eight legs and two body parts. They are different from insects, which have only six legs but three body parts. Tarantulas have hairy bodies and are usually larger than other types of spiders. Some species of tarantulas can live up to 25 years.

While Tarantula is very big, the largest one is the Goliath bird-eater. Found in the rainforests of South America, its legs can be up to 10 inches long. But don’t worry if you ever see one. Its poisonous fluid isn’t really dangerous to humans.

1. Which of the following is most likely to survive a bite from tarantula?

A．A small bird.

B．A little child.

C．A small snake.

D．A small frog.

2. What is causing the number of the tarantulas to drop?

A．They have too many natural enemies.	B．Some people are killing them illegally.
C．More and more forests are disappearing.	D．The global climate has changed.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Tarantula was first seen by a scientist in Sri Lanka.

B．None of the insects are bigger than tarantulas.

C．Scientists have discovered that all of the tarantulas live in the Sri Lanka forest.

D．People knew little about tarantulas until the body of a male tarantula was discovered.

4. Which section of a newspaper is the text most probably taken from?

A．Life.

B．Sports.

C．Nature.

D．Business.

5. What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To inform the readers of a huge species of Tarantula.

B．To entertain the readers with a discovery.

C．To educate people to protect the environment.

D．To remind people to keep away from spiders.

8 . Washington State's growing population of gray wolves is exposing deep divides among residents and testing its decision makers. And managing the animals is about to get more complicated, as the state begins drawing up a management plan and weighing whether to start a hunting season.

The wolves, nearly non-existent in the Northwestern state for almost a century, have grown in numbers about 28% each year since 2008, about a decade after they were introduced to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. By late last year, Washington had at least 126 wolves and 27 packs.

The wolves' return has brought cheers from conservationists, who view them as symbolic creatures that can improve the state's ecosystems, and criticism from farmers and livestock（家畜）owners, who see them as killers threatening livelihoods. With wolves expected to reach targeted recovery levels in a few years, the debate over how to manage them is getting fierce. Officials recently canceled three public meetings about wolves after threats of violence and Interruption.

Wolves were largely eradicated across the Western U.S. in the 20th century, targeted by government agencies and hunted by farmers and other private citizens. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relocated some wolves to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, leading to their return in the West.

Tensions in Washington have risen after decisions from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to kill a number of wolves responsible for the deaths or injury of cattle and livestock. The conflict is centered in Ferry County in the northeastern part of the state. Fish and Wildlife staff this year killed nine wolves in Ferry County-including the last of a pack that killed or injured 29 livestock in the county.

Washington governor Jay Inslee has asked the state Fish and Wildlife agency to reduce the need to kill wolves as a result of their killing livestock, and instead increase the use of deterrent（威慑物）which can include electric fencing or range riders to monitor cattle and other livestock. Officials have said killing wolves is a last choice.

Meanwhile, researchers are racing to understand the wolves’ effect on the ecosystem to better inform how to manage the population.

1. What is puzzling the state?

A．Why gray wolves can reproduce so quickly.

B．When a management plan should be drawn up.

C．Whether wolves should be hunted seasonally.

D．How they can persuade residents to live in harmony with gray wolves.

2. What do conservationists think of the growing population of gray wolves?

A．They have reached the targeted recovery levels.

B．They have a positive effect on the local ecosystem.

C．They are responsible for threatening the lives of farmers and livestock.

D．They are a good example to get nearly non-existent animals back to nature.

3. What does the underlined word “eradicated” mean?

A．Removed.

B．Introduced.

C．Released.

D．Reproduced.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Wolves facing possible hunt in Washington.

B．Wolves involved in a war against.

C．Wolves in danger of being wiped out.

D．Wolves on the way to growing rapidly in Washington.

9 . Part of Antarctica is already green due to blooms of algae（水藻花）living on the snow.     1     However, it isn't clear what this will mean for the climate.

Patches（块）of “snow algae” have been known about for decades in the Arctic.    2     Satellite images were used to identify patches of green on the snow-covered surface of Antarctica, which is warming the fastest.

It was found that in total, there were 1679 blooms of snow algae that covered up to 1.9 square kilometres at the height of summer when the blooms are largest.    3     The temperature has to be warm enough for the snow to melt and there has to be a source of nutrients-mostly penguin guano（鸟粪）.

    4     And it also destroys some of the algae’s home. But it would also mean more areas of melting snow further inland, so there could be a net increase. It isn't clear what more algae would mean for the climate. It is estimated that the algal blooms absorb 479 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year. The amount of carbon that's in there is relatively small. However, this may increase if the blooms become more widespread.

While the algae may remove some carbon dioxide from the air, they also darken the white snow causing more of the sun's heat to be absorbed. In the long run, climate change could cause or problems for the algae because temperatures could rise so much that the continent's snow completely melts.     5     If it warms up a lot, the whole system could crash completely because there's no snow.

A．But we know much less about their distribution in Antarctica.

B．As the continent warms, more of it may turn green.

C．It is clear that blooms of algae are the root cause of global warming.

D．If it warms up a bit, you get a lot more blooms.

E．Two factors seem to determine where the blooms are.

F．We are unaware of the relationship between the Arctic and Antarctica.

G．A warmer climate would melt more Antarctic snow.

10 . You go to the coffee shop and take your coffee to go. You enjoy your drink, and then throw the paper cup in the garbage. Or do you put it in the recycling? I's confusing. A lot of us—people everywhere—are using to-go cups these days. A recent report said that there are 600 billion cups-billion with a ‘b’- that are produced and sold globally on an annual basis So that`s a lot, " say Christy Slay with The Sustainability Consortium. Starbucks alone says it contributes 1 percent of those disposable cups: That's an estimated 6 billion cups a year.

To help reduce those numbers. Starbucks and McDonald's are launching a three-year project to build a better cup: one that's both fully recyclable and compostable. Here's the big problem with the paper one you get there and in other coffee shops. “They look like paper, but they actually have a thin layer of plastic on the inside,” Slay says. That plastic coating keeps the cups from leaking. The problem is that it also makes the cups really hard to recycle, and only a few facilities in the world can do it.

A few companies have already rolled out compostable coffee cups. But Dylan de Thomas with The Recycling Partnership says there is a problem with those cups, too. "Typically they're compostable in industrial settings, so not your backyard compost that you and I might have, but at fairly technically advanced composting facilities." There aren't a lot of those facilities around, either.

So why exactly, in the 21st century, is it so hard to produce a better paper cup? "It's not necessarily very technically hard, though there are technical problems to overcome to make something recyclable and compostable, says Bridget Croke with Closed Loop Partners, a firm working to build what they call a circular economy. It's a fancy way of talking about turning waste into value. Almost anything is technically recyclable, Croke says. "But recycling is a business, and if materials can't move through the recycling system and be turned into a product that has value, they're not functionally recyclable.”

1. What are people puzzled at about the paper cup?

A．How to deal with the used one.	B．Why people reject it carelessly.
C．What makes it hard to compost.	D．Why Starbucks uses so many cups.

2. How does the plastic layer of the paper cup function?

A．It helps make the cup more portable	B．It makes the cup easily recyclable.
C．It prevents the water from escaping	D．It promotes the extended use of the cup.

3. What does Bridget Croke think of recycling the cup?

A．Its future is promising	B．It is not a profitable business.
C．technical problems are unsolvable	D．A more recyclable cup will be put into the market.

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

A．How can we design a better paper cup?

B．Why is it so hard to recycle paper cups?

C．What can we do to lessen the need of paper cups?

D．What damage do paper cups cause to our environment!