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. |
| A．Tiredness and hunger. | B．Beast attack on the ground. |
| C．Hunting of humans. | D．The long journey. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
2 . Almost everyone has heard the expression “the calm before the storm.” It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument.
British sailors coined the phrase in the late 1600s; they noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become still and the winds would drop.
Science has given us the reason. According to US website HowStuffWorks, a calm period occurs because many storms, tornadoes and hurricanes draw in all the warm and humid(湿热的) air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as “fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car”. Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. As the air goes down, it becomes warm and dry. Warm and dry air is stable, so once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm. This same process also causes the “eye of the storm” in hurricanes and tornadoes. In these conditions, the calm occurs in the center of the storm because of the strong rotating (旋转的) winds.
The Weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is. First count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, roughly three seconds equal one kilometer. So, for example, if you count nine seconds, the storm is about three kilometers away. A good method is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.
However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms take place after calm. Given the right conditions, some storms announce themselves with heavy rain and fierce winds.
So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. That's the most reliable way to predict the next display(展示) of nature's temper (脾气).
1. What is the function of Paragraph 3?| A．To describe how the eye of the storm comes into being. |
| B．To stress why tornadoes and hurricanes are destructive. |
| C．To explain why a peaceful period occurs before some storms. |
| D．To remind how dangerous a storm can be in certain situations. |
| A．one kilometer away | B．three kilometers away |
| C．four kilometers away | D．five kilometers away |
| A．Heavy storms don't usually last long. |
| B．It is not always quiet before a storm. |
| C．Storms have a big influence on our life. |
| D．Weather reports often fail to predict a storm. |
| A．A travel journal. | B．A science fiction. |
| C．A literature review. | D．A geography magazine. |
3 . Like all big cities, Paris has a traffic problem: lots of cars. lots of traffic jams and lots of pollution from exhaust fumes(废气). So the city began a scheme(计划)to improve the situation.
Under the Velib scheme ('Velib' comes from velo liberte, or 'bicycle freedom') people can take a bicycle, use it for as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half-hour-on the bike is free, but if you don't return it after 30 minutes, you have to pay. But it's only € 1 a day or € 29 a year! The bicycles are heavy (25kg), and they are all grey and have baskets. There are about 20,000 of them in the city, and around 1,450 bicycle stations. So there are a lot more Velib stations than the 298 subway stations!
Paris is not the first city to have a scheme like this. But not everybody thinks it's a great idea. One Parisian said. “These bicycles are only for short journeys. If people want to travel across the city, they won't use a bicycle-they'll still use their cars.”
A city spokesman said, “The bicycle scheme won't solve all our traffic problems, of course. But it might help reduce air pollution. Traffic, together with factory fumes, is a big problem. There aren't any simple answers to traffic problems and pollution in cities. But unless we do something now, there will be more traffic jams and temperatures will continue to rise, so the problems in our environment will get worse. The bikes might help people to lead a healthier life, too. “
1. What can we know about the Velib scheme?| A．Its bikes have no baskets. | B．Its bikes are light and colorful. |
| C．It owns more stations than the subway. | D．It aims to make traveling easier. |
| A．€1. | B．€30. | C．€29. | D．No money. |
| A．The cost is rather high. | B．It's not suitable for a long journey. |
| C．It's hard to find a Velib station. | D．The distance between two Velib stations is long. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．worried. | C．Uncaring. | D．Positive. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Low-carbon Living
Last week, we close go to school by bike or with foot rather than by bus or by car. Before we left the classroom, we made surely the lights and the computers was turned off. In order to make a full use of paper, we began to write on both side. Beside, when we were doing some shopping, we no long used plastic bags but carried environmental-friendly ones. I think what we do last week was meaningful, what can help us to form a good habit. We should also encourage the people around them to do something for low-carbon living. The earth will become a good place to live in this way.
5 . A baby saved his parents and himself from almost certain death in a landslide(泥石流) that buried about 120 people in Southwest China on Saturday morning, Chengdu Economic Daily reported. Xiao Yanchun and her husband, Qiao Dashuai, both 26, live in Xinmo village, Maoxian county, in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture(自治州) of Sichuan province. At about 5:40 am, their 38-day-old son was crying, so Xiao got up to change his diaper(尿布).
When she was about to go back to bed after taking care of her baby, she heard a strange sound outside the door and felt the earth quaking. Seeing stones, water and mud flooding into the room, she grabbed the baby and struggled to get out. She and her husband simply swarm through the moving mud as they attempted to get out, and were finally able to run to a safe area as the whole village was engulfed.
At about 9 am, the family was sent to Maoxian County People's Hospital. "Mud is all over our bodies," Xiao said. She said her baby had swallowed(吞下) some mud. The three remained in the hospital for treatment on Saturday evening, but their injuries are not life-threatening, the report said.
However, the fate of Xiao’s grandmother, parents and 3-year-old daughter, who were in a different house, is still unknown, according to media outlet The Paper.
1. What can be the best title for the news report?| A．Parents saved by their baby’s cries at dawn |
| B．Three survivors remain in the hospital for treatment |
| C．Xiao felt the earth shaking when landslide happened |
| D．Landslide buried about 120 people in Southwest China |
| A．Kept under control |
| B．Completely surrounded or covered |
| C．Separated into two or more parts |
| D．Disappeared below the surface of a mass of water |
| A．They simply swarm through the moving mud |
| B．They were helped to get out by other villagers |
| C．They went out before mud flooding into the room |
| D．They managed to get out before rocks blocked their way |
| A．Qiao Dashuai was badly injured in the landslide |
| B．The family was sent to hospital by their neighbours |
| C．Xiao’s 3-year-old daughter might have died in the landslide |
| D．Before looking after Xiao’s baby, the landslide had happened |
