2 . Animal appear to predict earthquakes by sensing electricity in the air — the first study to find reliable evidence of the phenomenon has shown.

Cameras revealed an “amazing” drop in the number of animals up to 23 days before a major quake hit their rainforest home at Yanachaga National Park in Peru. Lead scientist Dr Rachel Grant, from Anglia Ruskin University, said, “The results showed that just before the earthquake, animals’ activity dropped right down.”

On a normal day the cameras placed around Yanachaga National Park record between 5 and 15 animals. But in the 23 days before the earthquake, the number of animals dropped to five or fewer per day. No animals were photographed at all on five of the seven days immediately before the quake.

Another study showed that animal activity remained normal in the park over a different period when seismic (地震的) activity was low. Co-author, professor Friedemann Freund, said, “The cameras were located at an altitude of 900 meters. If air ionization occurred, the animals would escape to the valley below, where there were fewer positive ions ( 离子). With their ability to sense their environment, animals can help us understand small changes that occur before major earthquakes.”

Other evidence suggested that before the earthquake, the air around the high mountain sites filled with positive ions that can be produced when rocks are placed under stress. Positive ions have been known to cause ill effects in humans as well as animals. Scientists believe the animals were made to feel uncomfortable by the positive ions, leading them to avoid the area. They are thought to have escaped to lower ground, where the air was less ionized. The findings may help experts develop better short-term seismic forecasts.

1. How did scientists conduct the study?

A．By comparing different animals’ habits.

B．By observing animals in high mountains.

C．By explaining the positive ion phenomenon.

D．By analyzing images of animals they obtained.

2. What can be inferred from animal activity before earthquakes?

A．The ground at a lower altitude is less ionized.

B．Cameras normally record more animals per day.

C．Earthquake warnings can be detected in lower places.

D．The activity of animals and earthquakes is consistent.

3. What can we learn from the text?

A．The findings make for accurate seismic forecast.

B．Animals tend to be uneasy with more positive ions.

C．Positive ions make humans and animals depressed.

D．All the animals remain abnormal before the earthquake.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Negative Influence of Positive Ions.

B．Ions’ Destruction to the Environment.

C．Animals’ Behavior Before Earthquakes.

D．Creatures’ Ability to Predict Earthquakes.

3 . Philosophers have a bad reputation for expressing themselves in a dry and boring way. The ideals for most philosophical writing are precision, clarity, and the sort of conceptual analysis that leaves no hair un-split.

There is nothing wrong with clarity, precision, and the like — but this isn’t the only way to do philosophy. Outside academic journals, abstract philosophical ideas are often expressed through literature, cinema, and song. There’s nothing that grabs attention like a good story, and there are some great philosophical stories that delight and engage, rather than putting the reader to sleep.

One of the great things about this is that, unlike formal philosophy, which tries to be very clear, stories don’t wear their meanings on their sleeve — they require interpretation, and often express conflicting ideas for the reader to wrestle with.

Consider what philosophers call the metaphysics (形而上学) of race — an area of philosophy that explorers the question of whether or not race is real. There are three main positions that you can take on these questions. You might think that a person’s race is written in their genes (a position known as “biological realism”). Or you might think of race as socially real, like days of the week or currencies (“social constructionism”). Finally, you might think that races are unreal — that they’re more like leprechauns (一种魔法精灵) than they are like Thursdays or dollars (“anti-realism”).

A great example of a story with social constructionist taking on race is George Schuyler’s novel Black No More. In the book, a Black scientist named Crookman invents a procedure that makes Black people visually indistinguishable from Whites. Thousands of African Americans flock to Crookman’s Black No More clinics and pay him their hard-earned cash to undergo the procedure. White racists can no longer distinguish those people who are “really” White from those who merely appear to be White. In a final episode, Crookman discovers that new Whites are actually a whiter shade of pale than those who were born that way, which kicks off a trend of sunbathing to darken one’s skin-darkening it so as to look more While.

Philosophically rich stories like this bring more technical works to life. They are stories to think with.

1. What does the author think of philosophical stories?

A．The meaning behind is very obvious.

B．They am extremely precise and formal.

C．They often cause conflicts among readers.

D．They are engaging and inspire critical thinking.

2. Which category might “Christmas” fall into according to paragraph 4?

A．Social constructionism.	B．Anti-realism.
C．Biological realism.	D．Literary realism.

3. What is Black No More in paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．Racial issues caused by skin colors.

B．A society view on race and self-image.

C．Black people accepted by the white society.

D．The origin of sun bathing among white people.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Stories Made Easy	B．Stories to Think with
C．Positions in Philosophy	D．Nature of Philosophical Writing

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Kuppan was a good badminton player. His rise within the ranks of the badminton players of the school was impressive but unusual. One day he was nothing, the next he was a member of the school team.

In the School Championships, he sprang a surprise by knocking out the top seed, Richard Lee, in the semi final. In the final, he easily beat another competitor Abdul Rauf by 15-3 and 15-10. He was the School Champion. It was unbelievable. The previous year he did not even get past the first round, This year he was the champion.

Success got into his head, He began to think he was really good, In fact, he arrogantly (傲慢地) told Richard Lee and the others that they would never beat him again. He claimed he was simply too good for them, in a league of his own.

Well, it was true that Kuppan was a good and skillful player. He had natural ability and talent. So he picked up the game very quickly and soon became the best. However. he did not realize that nobody can remain at the top all the time. What goes up must certainly come down. Kuppan thought he could stay up indefinitely.

The other players were annoyed by Kuppan’ s declaration. They resolved to train harder to beat the guy who had insulted (羞辱) them, They even trained on their own every day while Kuppan wandered around talking with pride about his success. The State Individual Championships were coming up，So was the Interschool Tournament. The school’s coach worked hard to improve the school players. All of them trained hard, except Kuppan. He would miss training or perform half- heartedly. He was more interested in entertaining the admirers that had gathered around him. He thought he was too strong to be defeated.

注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

The State Individual Championships reached us in time.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kuppan tried to make a difference in the second round,

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

My middle child, Jake, was smart and good-looking, but he always sees the cup of life as half empty. Every day when he came home from school, Jake would list everything bad that happened that day!

On his ninth birthday, we saved enough money to take the family to Disneyland for two days. His dad and I didn’t make much then, so it cost a considerable amount, but we felt Jake’s birthday was worth it. After doing Disneyland to death (玩够了), we returned to our hotel room, all exhausted. And I asked the birthday boy, “Did you have fun today, Jake?”

All my fault-finding son could say to me was “Pirates (海盗) of the Caribbean was closed!” “Jake Marshall,” I was clearly unable to contain my anger, “we stood in line for an hour and a half to see The Haunted Mansion. We rode Space Mountain three times. We spent two days playing in the park, and all you can say is, Pirates of the Caribbean was closed?” Clearly, something had to be done about his negative attitude and I was going to be the one to do it!

I was determined to help him. I read every article and bought every book. With the help of great resources, I found my son had the tendency to see the worst in every situation. My research told me that people with negativity have an emotional need for order and sensitivity. That meant I needed to listen to my son’s daily pessimistic reports. My usual reaction was to try to talk Jake out of his negativity, but that wouldn’t satisfy his need for sensitivity, so I had to let him finish his complaints and ask what good things happened. Then I needed to wait until he could tell me. This would help Jake realize that good things really were happening to him.

注意：
1．所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2．续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
One day Jake came home from school and complained as usual.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From then on, Jake came to understand the power of seeing good points.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Kevin was a “slow” boy. He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. He never came in first in the schoolyard races. However, Kevin could get along well with other people. And his enthusiasm for life was quite contagious (有感染力的). So, when he discovered that his teacher, Randy Moss, was putting together a basketball team, his mother could only answer, “Yes, you may join.”

Basketball became the center of Kevin’s life. He liked to stand in a certain spot near the free-throw line and shoot baskets. Patiently, he stood there throwing ball after ball.

The day before their first game, Randy gave each player a bright red jersey (运动衫). Kevin had stars in his eyes when he saw his number 12. He quickly put it on and almost never took it off again. Kevin and his whole team truly loved basketball. But just loving the game doesn’t help you win. More balls fell out of the basket than into it, and the boys lost every game that season, except one—the night it snowed. and the other team couldn’t make it to the game.

At the end of the season, they had the misfortune to play against the first-place team-the undefeated first-place team. The game went pretty much as expected, and near the middle of the fourth quarter Kevin’s team stood nearly 30 points behind.

At that point, one of Kevin’s teammates called a time-out. As he came to the side, Randy couldn’t imagine why the time-out had been called. “Mr. Moss, this is our last game and I know that Kevin has played in every game, but he’s never made a basket. I think we should let Kevin make a basket,” said the boy.

With the game completely out of reach, the idea seemed reasonable, so the plan was made. Every time Kevin’s team had the ball, Kevin was to stand in his special spot near the free-throw line and they would give him the ball.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

His first shot bounced around but missed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soon, all the players threw the ball to Kevin and clapped for him.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Spreading Kindness Around the World

“Mom, we want to write a book,” my five-year-old twins, Delilah and Nathenial, told me one day.

I looked at my kids curiously. “What do you mean?”

Are they joking? I thought. I don’t know the first thing about getting a book published. Still, I didn’t want to squash their creativity. “Okay…what do you want it to be about?”

“An envelope that travels all over the world spreading kindness,” Nathenial said, his eyes shining.

Over the next few months,my kids dreamed up more of the story. The main characters were a pair of twins just like them. I wrote down everything, making sure not to miss a detail. The kids even sketched scenes with colored pencils.

The theme of Delilah and Nathenial’s story was being kind to others, no matter how little you might have. I wondered if that was partly because I’d told them what my life had been like when I was their age.

I remember my father died when I was five. My mom, younger sister and I ended up on the streets,sleeping in parks and homeless hotels for more than a year. I found myself standing in any line I could to get donated food.

Despite—or maybe because of—our hardships, I tried to help others. I handed out snacks to people who were homeless, took in stray (走失的) animals and helped give out donations at a church where the woman in charge would send me home with food. After I gave birth to our twins, I not only taught them to be kind but also to make sure they knew that anything was possible.

I guess I did a pretty good job, because here the twins were, at age five, managed to write a book. After we self-published The Magical Envelope last Children’s Day, the kids decided to donate it to the kindergarten in our community.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

The twins, now eight, continue to amaze me.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My kids understand more about the hardship I endured.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________