1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What disaster hit Nah a yesterday?

A．A typhoon.

B．A snowstorm.

C．An earthquake.

2. How many emergency relief workers have been sent to the rescue?

A．700.

B．500.

C．160.

3. Who saved Jenny Lynn?

A．Her schoolmate.

B．Her father.

C．The police.

4. What is the last news about?

A．Music.

B．Sports.

C．Weather.

2 . Scientists have studied cats’ social relationships—both with other cats and humans—but it can be difficult to tell whether two cats are playing or fighting, says cat behavior researcher Noema Gajdoš-Kmecová.

To assess and classify interactions, Gajdoš-Kmecová and colleagues watched about 100 videos of different cats interacting in pairs. After viewing about one-third of the videos, Gajdoš-Kmecová identified six types of behaviors, including wrestling and staying still. She then watched all of the videos and noted how often each cat displayed one of the specific behaviors, and for how long. By running statistical analyses on the behaviors, she found three types of interactions between the cat pairs: playful, aggressive and intermediate. To confirm the outcome, other members of the team also watched the videos and classified each interaction between cats.

Some clear connections appeared. Quietly wrestling, for example, suggested playtime, while chasing and vocalizations(发声), like growling, hissing or gurgling, implied aggressive encounters.

Intermediate interactions had elements of both playful and aggressive encounters, but especially included prolonged activity of one cat toward the other, such as pouncing(突袭) on or grooming(梳毛) its fellow cat. These in-between encounters could suggest that one cat wants to keep playing while the other doesn’t, with the more playful cat gently pushing to see if its partner wants to continue, the authors say.

This work provides an understanding of cat interactions for the first time, Gajdoš-Kmecová says, but it’s just the start. In the future, she plans to study more subtle behaviors, like ear twitches and tail swishes. Gajdoš-Kmecová also stresses that one potentially controversial encounter doesn't necessarily signal a terrible cat relationship.

1. What did the study focus on?

A．The cats' social relationships with humans.

B．The real meaning of the interactions between cats.

C．The ways cats communicate with each other.

D．The benefits of being a cat owner.

2. What can we learn about the study from Paragraph 2?

A．Researchers determined nine types of interactions finally.

B．The frequency and length of certain behaviors were noticed.

C．The cats were trained and grouped before they were filmed.

D．100 pairs of different cats interacting were watched on the spot.

3. Which can be viewed as intermediate interactions?

A．The two cats are wrestling quietly.	B．The two cats are grooming each other.
C．One cat is pouncing while the other stays still.	D．One cat is running after the other violently.

4. What can be found according to the last paragraph?

A．A future idea of the study.	B．A data analysis of the study.
C．A conclusion of the study.	D．An application of the study.

3 . In a study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, a team of French researchers at the University of Sorbonne Paris North demonstrated that ants have the potential to act as early stage cancer detectors.

“We knew that ants can be easily trained,” Baptiste Piqueret, who led the study, said. “Furthermore, they have an efficient sense of smell. We then combined these two abilities and tested whether ants were able to detect the smell of cancer or not.”

Tumor (肿瘤) cells produce specific chemical compounds that allow them to be distinguished from healthy tissues. These are known as cancer biomarkers. Animals can be trained to sniff out (嗅出) these chemicals and thus identify when a patient has cancer.

In the present study, worker ants of the species Formica fusca — commonly known as the silky ant —were trained to recognize cancer biomarkers of an extremely aggressive human breast cancer. The urine (尿液）of mice carrying these tumors was collected and presented to the trained ants, alongside urine from tumor — free mice.

After just three rounds of training, where the ants learned to associate the smell of cancer biomarkers with a sugary treat, they spent approximately 20 percent more time near the urine from the tumor - bearing mice than the urine from those who were tumor-free.

In the past, dogs and mice have also been shown to sniff out cancers. But ants would provide a particularly attractive alternative as they are relatively easy to keep, they don't require expensive rearing (饲养) facilities, and it appears that they can be trained to recognize specific odors in relatively few trials.

1. What does the underlined phrase “two abilities” in paragraph 2 refer to?
① Ants are cheap to buy.                                 ② Ants can be easily trained.
③ Ants have a good sense of smell.                    ④ Ants are available all over the world.

A．①②

B．②③

C．③④

D．①④

2. How do tumor cells differ from healthy cells?

A．They are different in size.	B．They are different in color.
C．They are different in smell.	D．They are different in quantity.

3. How did the researchers draw their conclusion?

A．By doing experiments.	B．By quoting others’ research.
C．By collecting published data.	D．By doing online questionnaires.

4. Why are dogs and mice mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．To indicate the new trend of medical research.

B．To list the achievements made by the researchers.

C．To show the advantages of ants as cancer detectors.

D．To explain how to train other animals to serve people.

4 . Dogs and humans clearly have a special bond. But do dogs, like humans, produce more tears at times when they are flooded with emotion? A new study, which may be the first to look at this question, says that, indeed, the eyes of dogs do well up with tears. In fact, it happens regularly when they’re reunited (团聚) with the owners.

“We found that dogs produce tears associated with positive emotions,” says Takefumi Kikusui of Azabu University in Japan. “We also made the discovery of a chemical, oxytocin, as a possible mechanism (机制) behind it.”

Kikusui and his colleagues made the discovery after one of his two dogs had babies 6 years ago. He noticed that, when his dog was nursing the babies, something changed in the dog’s face — there were tears. Those tears don’t fall as they often do in humans but they do get teary eyes. “That gave me the idea that oxytocin is likely to increase tears,” Kikusui says.

They decided to run a reunification experiment and see if oxytocin brought dogs to tears. First, they used a standard test to measure dogs’ tear volume (量) before and after reuniting with their owners. They found that tear volume indeed ascended when they got back together with the familiar human and not with a person they didn’t know. When they added oxytocin to the dogs’ eyes, their tear volume also increased. That finding supports the idea that the release of oxytocin plays a role in tear production when dogs and their owners get back together. They also asked people to rate pictures of dogs’ faces with and without artificial tears in them, and it turned out that people gave more positive responses when they saw dogs with teary eyes. These findings suggest that dogs’ tear production helps to develop stronger connections between people and their dogs.

Kikusui says they had never heard of the discovery that animals produce tears in joyful situations, such as reuniting with their owners, and that they were all excited that this would be a world first!

1. What’s the author’s purpose in raising the question in the first paragraph?

A．To compare different ideas.

B．To express his personal doubt.

C．To lead in the topic for discussion.

D．To introduce the rich emotions of dogs.

2. What made Kikusui think oxytocin might increase tears?

A．A lesson at university.	B．An experience of his own.
C．The interaction with a dog.	D．A reminder from his colleagues.

3. The underlined word “ascended” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．remained unchanged	B．rose
C．became zero	D．decreased

4. In Kikusui’s opinion, the experiment’s findings ________.

A．came as a big surprise	B．required further evidence
C．were within their expectation	D．were contrary to previous ones

5 . My childhood is closely associated with the Yellow River. My father ______ to take me with him on his trips to Longyangxia Reservoir. At Longyangxia, I was ______ by the beauty of nature and as a child, I wanted to stay there and ______ up with the Yellow River. Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, praised the ______ water of the Yellow River. He saw it as coming down from heaven and ______ the people living on the banks of the river. However, in 1997, for about 330 days, not a single ______ of water from the Yellow River went into the sea. ______ are not the only punishments given by nature. A friend of my father, a university professor, is doing ______ on the Yellow River. According to him, since there is no longer enough water to ______ the mud, the river may soon change its course ______ we allow this situation to continue. This is the ______ of unbalanced growth. If we’d taken care of the vegetation in the upper and middle ______ of the river, we would still be able to ______ it as Li Bai described it.

In fact, people have begun to ______ the problem. I have seen farmers _______ trees on mountain slopes in Shanxi province. I have seen them ______ up the hillsides carrying heavy buckets of water collected several kilometers away down in the valley to ______ around the trees. These farmers are ______ helping our Yellow River, just as the river has helped them. These unsung heroes gave me the confidence that with hard work of us all, we and nature will grow together, and ______ in the future, we will be able to drink the ______ water from the Yellow River-our mother river.

1.

A．used

B．longed

C．trained

D．refused

2.

A．forced

B．struck

C．recognized

D．brought

3.

A．live

B．grow

C．eat

D．cheer

4.

A．floating

B．traveling

C．flowing

D．freezing

5.

A．supporting

B．doubting

C．harming

D．promising

6.

A．pool

B．river

C．ocean

D．drop

7.

A．Droughts

B．Floods

C．Storms

D．Deserts

8.

A．exercise

B．research

C．progress

D．plan

9.

A．pull away

B．hold up

C．take up

D．carry away

10.

A．so

B．until

C．if

D．though

11.

A．cost

B．advantage

C．expense

D．produce

12.

A．classes

B．levels

C．reaches

D．shelves

13.

A．experience

B．examine

C．provide

D．express

14.

A．answer

B．solve

C．raise

D．prove

15.

A．cut

B．climb

C．plant

D．remove

16.

A．falling

B．putting

C．running

D．struggling

17.

A．move

B．pour

C．go

D．look

18.

A．calmly

B．closely

C．seriously

D．quietly

19.

A．sometimes

B．somewhere

C．someday

D．somewhat

20.

A．mineral

B．dirty

C．green

D．clean

6 . In the early 1990s, Eric Domb, a highly successful lawyer, came up with the idea of building a bird park. His father-in-law ________ the idea in the beginning, but when the ________ started to make shape he backed out. Domb thus had to ________ money from former clients, his two brothers and father as well as a bank to build a zoological park known as Pairi Daiza.

After the park opened in 1994, his inexperience led to many ________, but he pushed on with his venture (冒险). By 2000, the park was turning a profit, and Domb’s ambitions were ________. The park needed more than birds, he believed, and other creatures and cultural gardens would help turn it into something ________.

Since his childhood he has been fascinated by Chinese ________. In 2006, he built the first Chinese garden, Dream of Han Wu Di in his zoo. It was said to be the largest Chinese garden in Europe. Domb kept ________ new elements. It finally took more than six years to complete the project.

Domb felt ________ by the joint panda breeding program. Domb and his people spent the following months ________ building giant panda houses with no guarantee that Pairi Daiza would be fortunate enough to ________ giant pandas. The huge enclosure built includes a pool, cave and ________ plantation.

Now, Domb is eager to tell how he ________ a pair of giant pandas, Xing Hui and Hao Hao in February 2014. The sense of ________ is all the more profound in that Pairi Daiza is one of the few private zoos outside China to ________ giant pandas.

1.

A．rejected

B．supported

C．doubted

D．raised

2.

A．project

B．rule

C．law

D．document

3.

A．steal

B．win

C．earn

D．borrow

4.

A．rewards

B．wonders

C．mistakes

D．regrets

5.

A．missing

B．spreading

C．shaking

D．growing

6.

A．extreme

B．unusual

C．irregular

D．essential

7.

A．culture

B．food

C．poetry

D．dream

8.

A．containing

B．changing

C．adding

D．removing

9.

A．embarrassed

B．surprised

C．confused

D．inspired

10.

A．willingly

B．enthusiastically

C．automatically

D．confidently

11.

A．take charge of

B．pay attention to

C．get hold of

D．gain knowledge of

12.

A．grass

B．tea

C．coffee

D．bamboo

13.

A．bought

B．protected

C．received

D．tracked

14.

A．pride

B．humor

C．security

D．duty

15.

A．hide

B．house

C．train

D．save

7 . Michael Gonsalves, a chef of Golden Oak at Disney World, has a cuisine concept rooted in fresh, locally-sourced ingredients that originated from childhood harvesting produce from their family garden with his mom to eventually leading kitchens at Walt Disney World Resorts to employ a sustainable model.

“Truly the whole process starts with menu planning,” he said. Creating one dish leads into the creation of many more through the end-to-end use of products. As chefs, they are always searching for the best ingredients. It is then their focus to ensure they appreciate and respect all that go into each and every one of them. For example, they source chicken that is naturally grown and fed on a natural plant forward diet, no hormones (激素) or additives — that’s used in many ways throughout menus from a simple grilled chicken breast to bone soup. Nothing goes to waste.

When they do have waste, even if minimal, they shift it from landfills to transform it into compost (堆肥) that’s then used across the Walt Disney World property. They also support Second Harvest, a local community food bank where healthy produce, prepared, but not served, meals eatable for human consumption are donated. Disney also works with pig farmers when they can’t distribute foods past the point of safety for human consumption. Besides, wildlife reservations love to get the meat because tigers and wild cats can still eat that.

Their operations are “on a path to a sustainable zero waste kitchen of tomorrow” where chefs learn the full-life cycle of plants from seed to plate and gain a better understanding and appreciation for the product and their craft.

Golden Oak at Disney has millions of bees that produce up to 300 pounds of honey per year, plus those bees help with cross pollination (授粉) of their gardens on a daily basis. They advocate a culture that helps develop not only the quality of food, but an appreciation for nature.

1. Where did Michael Gonsalves’ idea about cuisine come from?

A．His mom’s suggestions.	B．His dream of becoming a chef.
C．His interest in delicious food.	D．His labor experience as a child.

2. How are the ingredients dealt with in Golden Oak?

A．They are grilled to eat.	B．They are used to the fullest.
C．They are divided into groups.	D．They are selected by quality.

3. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 3?

A．Give examples about zero waste.

B．Introduce the unique habit of wildlife.

C．Stress the importance of natural food.

D．Explain the operation mode of the food bank.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Disney World:New Cuisine Road

B．Michael Gonsalves:Creative Chef

C．Michael Gonsalves:Advocate of Food Diversity

D．Disney World:Pioneer in Environmental Protection

8 . The effect of climate change extends beyond ruining Earth’s environment and our physical safety. A report published this week suggests that climate change has a negative effect on our mental health, too.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States(PNAS), links an increase in monthly temperatures to a rise in mental health issues. The experimental evidence stems from meteorological (气象的) data paired with information collected from nearly 2 million randomly sampled residents in the United States. The data was collected over the span (跨度) of a decade.

“We find that experiences with hotter temperatures and added rainfall each worsen mental health, that long-lasting warming associates with an increased popularity of mental health issues, and that exposure to tropical cyclones(热带气旋), likely to increase in frequency in the future, is linked to worsened mental health,” authors of the study stated. “These results provide added large-scale evidence to the growing link between climate change and mental health.”

The report specifically focused on mental health outcomes due to the effects of environmental stress - such as temperature, rainfall, and tropical cyclones - but other climate change-related issues are likely to affect mental health as well - specifically, the stress and anxiety of knowing natural disasters could be more frequent as temperatures rise.

1. From the newly-published report, we learn that the climate change may _________.

A．save a lot of people’s lives

B．cause unbelievable disasters

C．influence people’s mental health

D．greatly change people’s life styles

2. Why did the author mention “the span of a decade” in Paragraph 2?

A．To stress the importance of the study.

B．To show that the study cost too much money.

C．To explain the difficulties and hardships of the study.

D．to indicate that the study is objective and believable.

3. Where can we find some specific results of the study?

A．In Paragraph 1	B．In Paragraph 2
C．In Paragraph 3	D．In Paragraph 4

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The study has its limits.

B．The results of the study aren’t satisfactory.

C．The environmental problems can’t be solved.

D．Mental health is determined by climate change.

9 . It was a sunny day when my dad and I were arriving at his company. We parked the car and got out of it. I looked around and saw a grey thing on the ground. I thought it was, a garbage bag, but it started to move. As we approached we realized that it was a small wounded (受伤的) dog.

We were so moved by the scene that we decided to help the poor dog. We bought some dog food in the store across the street and got some pure water for the dog, in order to help him regain strength.

He was so hungry that while we were giving him the food and water he almost buried his head in them. After he had eaten we encouraged him to move; however, he could not. My dad tried to take him in his arms, but he started barking due to a wounded bleeding paw (爪子). In the end, we decided to carry him on a small stretcher (担架) to our car.

Rapidly, we took him to the vet (兽医) for him to heal his wound. The vet told us that he had a broken leg and that he had been starving for days. He got out of the vet’s office after 5 days of recovery, and we decided to look for a family for him. He was finally adopted by one of my dad’s workers and is living happily.

In conclusion, I learned from this that everybody can do an act of kindness. Everyone deserves a second chance to be happy.

1. What’s the author’s attitude toward the wounded dog?

A．Doubtful.

B．Disappointed.

C．Uninterested.

D．Helpful.

2. Why did the dog begin barking?

A．There was blood on his paw.	B．He was afraid of strangers.
C．His wounded paw hurt.	D．He was beaten by someone.

3. What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．A Meaningful Lesson	B．An Act of Kindness
C．An Unforgettable Experience	D．A Small Wounded Dog

10 . Today, we have the ability to predict dangerous tornadoes (龙卷风), hurricanes (飓风) winter storms, and floods with more accuracy than ever. We know the areas that are likely to be struck by earthquakes, and the areas that are easily harmed by wildfires, and we can tell hours in advance whether a tsunami (海啸) will hit our shores.

However, in spite of all the capabilities for advance warnings, Americans are still quite poor at preparing for these disasters. In a 2006 poll (民意调查) carried out by TIME Magazine, only 16% percent believed they were “well prepared” for the next one.

A few weeks ago I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) as I was cooking dinner, and I heard a moving story about a young boy, Noah Stewart, who lived through a tornado that hit his Alabama home.

Noah was sucked up into the tornado and then dropped. He landed on his head first, a fall of such force that, under normal conditions, would have killed him. However, he survived because his mother made a quick decision to put a baseball helmet on his head right before the tornado hit. Noah was unhurt in the storm. But the helmet cracked (破裂) down the middle.

The CDC states that they can’t say whether helmets save lives during a tornado impact (撞击) . However, it still seems wise for anyone in a tornado-prone (可能的) area to keep several helmets at the ready. Any added protection is going to increase your chance of survival, and as Noah’s story clearly shows, helmets can save lives.

You don’t have to buy new helmets—picking up used bicycle, football, or baseball helmets at economical stores and garage sales (旧货市场) can save money and keep your family protected.

However, it’s necessary that you keep these helmets in an easily reachable place; they should not be used for any other purpose, as they may be misplaced. Remember, when a tornado hits, you might only have minute—or even seconds—to find shelter. You don’t want to be running around the house, searching for those helmets.

1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．Americans are fear of disasters.

B．There are many disasters in America.

C．Disasters are better predicted in America.

D．Most Americans are not well prepared for disasters.

2. Why could Noah Stewart survive in the tornado?

A．Because he stayed with his mother.

B．Because he was brave in the tornado.

C．Because he was well protected by a helmet.

D．Because he was quick-minded in emergency.

3. What should you do to make the helmets function well?

A．Put them at hand.	B．Choose new ones.
C．Use professional ones.	D．Save money to buy expensive ones.

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

A．To ask us to prepare for the disasters.	B．To warn us of the tornado impact.
C．To advise us to keep helmets handy.	D．To describe the moving story of a boy.