1 . Snow leopards (豹) are so hard to photograph that scientists aren’t even sure how many of these endangered animals still live in the wild.
The Snow Leopard Conservancy(SLC) set up 20 cameras in Russia in 2010 to learn more about the big cats. After a full six months, they had exactly zero picture! That’s when the organization understood they needed help. And the only people who could help them in finding the leopards were the very people from whom they wanted to protect the animals—local hunters (猎人).
Hunting snow leopards is against the law in Russia, but in the terrible climate of Siberia, the few people living there had to turn to poaching (盗猎) to feed their families.
In 2013, Russian naturalist Sergei Spitsyn approached Mergen Markov, a local hunter, and told him his project. Markov agreed to set up the camera where he knew he would find leopards, and it worked.
Markov, once a poacher, works full time for the conservationists now and has 10 cameras monitoring leopards. “I visit each camera once a month. I have known this whole region since I was a child,” he said proudly.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) began working with other local villagers in 2015. The village would be paid 40,000 rubles at the end of the year if the image of a snow leopard is caught. WWF also rents horses from the villagers so that they do not need to make money by poaching anymore. “Today there are far fewer leopard poachers but leopards still get caught in traps set for other animals, so I have to stay watchful,” said Markov.
Changing guns for cameras has made a big difference in the lives of these former poachers, the village, and the Russian snow leopards. The number of snow leopards has been rising and their population is expected to recover to normal levels within 10 years.
1. Why was no picture of snow leopards taken in six months?| A．SLC’s 20 cameras failed to work properly. |
| B．The number of snow leopards in the wild was too small. |
| C．The local poachers destroyed these cameras on purpose. |
| D．The researchers knew little about the animal’s living habits. |
| A．Find the poachers. | B．Repair cameras in the forest. |
| C．Catch more leopards. | D．Work for SLC. |
| A．To get some pictures of snow leopards. |
| B．To help villagers make a living. |
| C．To prevent villagers from hunting animals. |
| D．To rent their horses at a low price. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Curiosity kills the cat. |
| C．Kill two birds with one stone. | D．Old habits die hard. |
2 . My father's reaction to the bank building at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York city was immediate and definite: "You won't catch me putting my money in there!" he declared, "Not in that glass box !"
Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a good deal of modern architecture is upsetting, but I am convinced that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his concept of the nature of money .
In his generation money was thought of as a real commodity (实物)that could be carried, or stolen. Consequently, to attract the custom of a sensible man, a bank had to have heavy walls, barred windows, and bronze（青铜） doors, to affirm the fact, however untrue, that money would be safe inside. If a building's design made it appear impenetrable（难以渗透的）, the institution（公共机构, 协会, 制度）was necessarily reliable, and the meaning of the heavy wall as an architecture symbol dwelt in the prevailing attitude toward money.
But the attitude toward money has, of course, changed. Excepting pocket money, cash of any kind is now rarely used; money as a tangible（切实，实在）commodity has largely been replaced by credit. A deficit (赤字) economy, accompanied by huge expansion, has led us to think of money as product of the creative imagination. The banker no longer offers us a safe: he offers us a service in which the most valuable element is the creativity for the invention of large numbers. It is in no way surprising, in view of this change in attitude, that we are witnessing the disappearance of the heavy-walled bank.
Just as the older bank emphasized its strength, this bank by its architecture boasts of imaginative powers. From this point of view it is hard to say where architecture ends and human assertion (人们的说法)begins.
1. The main idea of this passage is that________ .| A．money is not as valuable as it was in the past |
| B．changes have taken place in both the appearance and the concept of banks |
| C．the architectural style of the older bank is superior to that of the modern bank |
| D．prejudice makes the older generation think that the modern bank is unreliable[来 |
| A．The former thinks more of money than the latter. |
| B．The younger generation values money more than the older generation. |
| C．Both generations rely on the imaginative power of bankers to make money. |
| D．To the former money is a real commodity but to the latter be a means to produce more money. |
| A．ambitious and friendly | B．reliable and powerful |
| C．sensible and impenetrable | D．imaginative and creative |
| A．cautious | B．regretful |
| C．positive | D．hostile(敌意的) |
3 . Passage 1
As one of China's most popular and widely known legends，the Story of Monkey King is set to return to screens with 3D effects. It may feature many of the same leading actors from the earliest 1986 TV series Journey to the West.According to the producer，viewers can enjoy the 3D cinematic experience at home simply with a pair of special 3D glasses, which can be got easily in the market. The TV drama，with a total investment of 150 million yuan，will be aired on Sichuan TV. Almost 90 million yuan has been put into 3D effects with each 45minute episode containing eight minutes of 3D. “The 3D effects not only cost us a lot of money but also a lot of time，” director Kan Weiping said. “We had to put off its broadcasting time，which was set at first this summer.”
Passage 2
The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun，while providing safer driving conditions along with power. American inventors of the Solar Road said that it will power itself，and reduce the country's carbon marks. Many panels are fixed on the Solar Road. The top of the Solar Road panels is made of glass and the inventors are working together with top glass researchers to develop superstrong glass that would offer vehicles pulling power they need. The Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and, therefore, electric vehicles can be recharged at any rest stop，or at any business that uses solar road panels in their parking lots. Such parking lots will be safer at night with the light provided by LED within the road panels. The inventors say their solar roadway has many applications and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths and runways.
1. What's Passage 1 mainly about?| A．The origin of the story about Monkey King. |
| B．Monkey King will return to screens with 3D effects. |
| C．The brief introduction to the TV series Journey to the West. |
| D．The amount of money invested on the 3D TV series Journey to the West. |
| A．it contains 45 episodes in total |
| B．it will feature new actors completely |
| C．we could watch it on TV after the summer |
| D．we can enjoy it at home just with normal glasses |
| A．It will have a bright future. |
| B．It can't work without electricity. |
| C．Its driving conditions aren't safe. |
| D．The electric vehicles can't be recharged on it. |
4 . If a noisy neighbor is blasting music at all hours of the day and night, drowning out your phone conversations and interrupting your sleep, you can call the police. But what is a whale to do?
Natural noise from waves, wind, rain and even earthquakes is common in oceans. Unfortunately, manmade noise from oil and gas drilling, sonar, and ships is also present.
Low frequency noise has doubled off the California coast every decade since the nineteen sixties. The main reasons are ships' propellers (螺旋桨). They not only generate continuous low frequency sound, some propellers cavitate(形成气穴), which means they create air bubbles that collapse, creating loud popping sounds.
Whales use low frequency calls to communicate across thousands of miles of ocean. They are threatened by noise pollution because it can prevent them from contacting each other and from locating their foods. Endangered humpback and right whales, which use fibrous baleen to strain food from the water, are the most at risk.
Scientists studying right whales off Canada's east coast have discovered that whales are sending louder calls through the water to make themselves heard. Because they invest more energy in making calls, they have less energy available for finding food and mating. Other scientists measuring whale calls against background noise pollution have discovered that right whales have lost about eighty percent of their normal communication area. This could seriously affect survival of this already threatened species.
Scientists don't have badges and guns, but they are trying to correct the noise pollution problem. By tracking ships and marine mammals and understanding how noise travels, they are creating sound maps. They hope to get shipping lanes moved so that the noise pollution ships create will not overlap with areas most important to the whales.
1. What does the passage mainly talk about?| A．Whales are in danger because of the noise. |
| B．Noise pollution is affecting whales. |
| C．Natural noise is good for whales. |
| D．How to protect whales endangered. |
| A．You can call the police if you are disturbed by a noisy neighbor. |
| B．Low frequency noise has doubled off the Canadian coast every decade since the 1960s. |
| C．Noise pollution can prevent whales from contacting each other and from locating prey. |
| D．Endangered humpback and right whales are the most at risk. |
| A．some areas important to whales are overlapped with the ship lanes |
| B．scientists are creating the sound maps by tracking ships and marine mammals |
| C．if scientists have guns, they can correct the noise pollution |
| D．scientists have worked out a plan to protect the whales |
| A．right whales off the Californian coast have been in danger because of the loss of the energy |
| B．right whales cannot find food and mate for they lose a lot of living area |
| C．there are about 20% of the normal communication areas still available for the right whales |
| D．the right whales always invest most of their energy for making calls |
5 . In no other time in history information, good and bad, has been spread as fast as today. Media just pushes out violence and cruelty and of course it will affect the minds of people watching. Internet has damaged the idea that love is something special and school social workers are busy teaching teenage boys how to behave in a relationship and girls to say no to things they do not want to do.
Quite a lot of studies have been made into the way children are affected by watching TV and other media such games with a high content of violence. In a young age children cannot differentiate themselves and their fantasies from the real world. By playing games that mixes reality with fantasy children learn about themselves and the world. In their games they also act out things they might be considering, their wishes and things they have been through. If a child is let to watch a lot of violence, not surprisingly, the child is very likely to play violent games. Acting out what they have been through is a normal way of trying out new concepts and form ideas about how to interact with other people. Also, up to certain age most children adore adults how ever good or bad they are. Children look upon these adults as role models and copy their behavior.
So what happens then if a child watches adults harm and kill each other in a movie or in a game? What adults do is usually OK to do, so what happens on the screen must be OK even if it looks strange and makes the child feel uneasy. Children become insecure and anxious.
1. Why are children easily affected by TV programs and games?| A．Because they easily ignore the directions from their teachers and parents |
| B．Because they can't tell reality from fantasy and like to act things out. |
| C．Because TV programs and games are more attractive than their lessons. |
| D．Because they cannot find their role models from the real world. |
| A．most people are deeply pessimistic about their future |
| B．young children get in touch with much content of violence |
| C．educators fail to teach what is right and what is wrong |
| D．films on TV are too difficult for children to understand |
| A．The Impact of Media on Children |
| B．Violence and Cruelty in Games |
| C．Our Worrying Future |
| D．Take Control of Children |
6 . The problem with students using Google is not that the search leader is unable to offer useful educational content. It’s that finding that content using simple search terms is a difficult art to master. But some educational companies and organizations aim to make it easier to find useful educational content among the Web. They are forming a working group to come up with more detailed criteria(标准)that could eventually be added into the search lines for Google, Bing, and Yahoo !
The project was encouraged by a joint move by those major search engines to help users do more effective Websearches. The idea behind the new education corporation is to determine a common “framework” for narrowing search results for education content—by subject area, or source type, or content type, or any number of possible criteria. The goal is also to persuade publishers of educational content to use a matching set of tags(分类)to help the search engines sort out their content more easily.
Search engines are used by college students, but they were not designed for them. This has been a subject of much handwringing (绝望) among professors, who worry that students are not finding the most reliable content on the Internet even if more and more content providers of good fame—textbook publishers, scholars, universities and many others—have been putting useful academic resources on the open Web.
Michael Johnson, a member who will be serving on a working group devoted to developing the framework over the next six months or so, said “The project is aimed at benefiting the publishers of educational content as much as students. ”
1. What may annoy students using Google to help them?| A．They can’t search useful educational content at home. |
| B．Google doesn’t provide valuable educational content. |
| C．It’s hard to find educational content in simple and effective ways. |
| D．There are so many students searching the same using Google now. |
| A．demand the major search engines offer more content |
| B．train more students to surf safely on the Internet |
| C．ask students to use more kinds of search engines |
| D．link better standards to the major search engines |
| A．They should produce less educational content with better quality. |
| B．They can set standard tags to match with searched contents. |
| C．They may develop better searching software. |
| D．They will provide more educational content. |
| A．not all content providers of good fame offer reliable content |
| B．textbook publishers shouldn’t put resources on the open Web |
| C．college professors don’t believe in content on the Internet |
| D．college students don’t know how to use search engines |
7 . “The U．S.Food and Drug Administration(FDA)is considering to put stricter limits over tanning salons(晒黑廊)and wants to ban anyone younger than 18 years of age from using a tanning bed，”an advisory panel(专家团)announced last week.
The panel is calling for tighter controls on the industry such as requiring teenagers to get the approval from their pare
nts before using tanning beds or limiting the use of artificial tanning to a certain age.“Given the absence of any demonstrated benefits，I think it is an obligation for us to ban artificial tanning for those under 18，”said panelist Dr.Michael Olding.
Along with a possible ban for teenagers，the panel also recommended that visible warning labels should be placed either on the tanning machines or in the salons in order to caution tanners of the possible dangers.In addition，the committee decided that stricter regulations and classifications were critical to make the machines safer.At this time the machines are categorized as FDA Class 1 devices，the ones that are least likely to cause harm.In case the FDA decided to change their classification from Class 1 to Class 2，as advised by the panel，the FDA could limit the levels of radiation the machines emit.Class 2 devices include Xray machines and powered wheelchairs.
Getting a tan，whether from a tanning bed or the sun，increases the risk of developing skin cancer.Last year，the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)declared tanning beds as “carcinogenic(致癌的)to humans”．It was discovered that young individuals in their teens and 20s who use tanning beds on a regular basis have a 75 per cent higher risk of suffering from melanoma(黑素瘤)，the deadliest form of skin cancer.According to the American Cancer Society，melanoma accounted for nearly 69,000 cases of skin cancer in 2009 and will account for most (about 8,650)of the 11,590 mortality cases due to skin cancer each year.
1. According to the passage，what measures will U．S.FDA most probably take?| A．Banning tanning salons. |
| B．Posing heavier tax over tanning salons. |
| C．Having tighter controls over tanning salons. |
| D．Limiting the number of tanning salons in every state. |
| A．Visible caution. |
| B．Setting age limit. |
| C．Professional personnel. |
| D．Parental approval for teenagers. |
| A．Tanning in one's youth may mean death. |
| B．Tanning in the sun is safer than on the tanning bed. |
| C．People should get tanned without getting melanoma. |
| D．Getting tanned is only a good idea for those above thirty years old. |
| A．Fewer people will suffer from skin cancer. |
| B．Tanning salons will have more customers. |
| C．Getting a tan in a tanning salon will cost less. |
| D．Parents will be more anxious about their tanning children. |
8 . A study published Monday found that people who sleep less tend to be fat，and experts said it’s time to find out if more sleep will fight fatness.
“We’ve put so much emphasis on diet and exercise that we’ve failed to recognize the value of good sleep，”said Fred Turek，a physician at Northwestern University.
Monday’s study from Eastern Virgnia Medical School in Norfolk covered 1,000 people and found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index－a measure of weight based on height increased.
“Men slept an average of 27 minutes less than women and overweight and fat patients slept less than patients with normal weights，”it said.In general the fatter subjects slept about 1.8 hours a week less than those with normal weights.
“Americans experience insufficient sleep and fat bodies.Clinicians are aware of the burden of fatness on patients，”the study said.
“Our findings suggest that major extensions of sleep time may not be necessary，as an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night seems to be associated with a lower body mass index，”it added.
“We caution that this study does not set up a causeandeffect relationship between restricted sleep and fatness，but investigations indicating success in weight loss via extensions of sleep would help greatly to set up such a relationship.”
The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine along with an editorial by Turek and Northwestern colleague Joseph Bass commenting on it and related research.
Inan interview，Turek said some studies have shown the lack of sleep causes declines in an appetiteholding back protein hormone，and increases in another hormone that cause a longing for food.“In addition neuropathies(神经疗法)in the brain governing sleep and fatness appear to overlap(部分重叠)，”he said.
“Fatness has been rising dramatically in developed countries and reached epidemic(流行病)levels in the United States，”it added，“leading to a variety of health problems.”
| A new study having been | |||
| in the past | diet and | ||
| this time | sleep | ||
| A study from Eastern Virginia Medical School | People | 1,000 were | |
| difference | Men slept 27ms less than women on | ||
| Americans' problem | |||
| conclusion | Weight loss set up | ||
| Reason | Less sleep causes protein hormone to | ||
| concern | developing countries | rising with | |
| in the USA | quite | ||
9 . If you can find a tree which has been cut down，you will see many rings，or circles，on the base of the trunk.By learning to read these rings，you can find out about the tree's life.
The number of rings tells you how old the tree is.Each year，new wood is formed on the outside of the tree.This new wood is light in color when the tree is growing in spring and summer，and dark in winter when the tree is not growing much.So，if you count the rings of darkorlight colored wood，you can often find out how old the tree is.
You can also tell which years have been good years and which years have been bad years.When the lightcolored rings are very wide，it means that the tree has been growing quickly that year.If the rings are narrow，it has been growing slowly.If the rings on a tree trunk were greatly magnified，you would be able to see why the rings are lightcolored when the tree is growing quickly and darkcolored when the tree is growing slowly.The tree trunk is made up of microscopic tubes，like some pipes，carrying water from the soil，through the trunk，and up to the leaves.They are wide and thinwalled when the tree is growing quickly and they are carrying a lot of water.They are narrow and stuck together when the tree is not growing so quickly.
When a tree is old，the tubes in the centre of the tree don't carry water.The walls of the tubes have become thick with materials which have stuck along them over the years，forming a kind of wood called“heartwood”．This kind of wood is darker in color than the young，growing wood on the outside of the tree.
You don't very often see whole tree trunks which have been cut across.But once you learn to read a cross section of the wood，you can see much more in wood which has been used to make boxes，houses and other things.
In most wood，instead of seeing the trunk cut across，you are seeing it cut along its length.Because you don't see the whole tree，you can't tell how old it is.
Title：
| General information | Old trees | ||
| Items | Facts | Items | Facts |
| Where can rings be seen | On the | The tubes in the centre of the tree | Don't carry water |
| The | Helps us know about its age | The walls of the tubes | Become Form |
| Show the tree grows quickly | |||
| Narrow rings | Mean the tree grows slowly | ||
| Microscopic tubes | Function | Carry | |
| Features | Wide and | ||
| Narrow and stuck together when growing | |||
On a cold January afternoon in 1989，I was hiking up the trail that leads to the top of Egypt’s Mt. Horeb. I’d spent the day at St. Catherine’s Monastery and wanted to get to the peak by sunset to see the valley below. As I was winding up the narrow path，I’d occasionally see other hikers who were coming down from a day on the mountain. While they would generally pass with simply a nod or a greeting in another language，there was one man that day who did neither.
I saw him coming from the last switchback on the trail that led to the backside of the mountain. As he got closer，I could see that he was dressed differently from the other hikers I’d seen. Rather than the high-tech fabrics and styles that had been the norm，this man was wearing traditional Egyptian clothing. He wore a tattered， rust-colored galabia and obviously old and thick-soled sandals that were covered in dust. What made his appearance so odd，though，was that the man didn’t even appear to be Egyptian！ He was a small-framed Asian man, had very little hair，and was wearing round，wire-rimmed glasses.
As we neared one another，I was the first to speak.“Hello，”I said，stopping on the trail for a moment to catch my breath. Not a sound came from the man as he walked closer. I thought that maybe he hadn’t heard me or the wind had carried my voice away from him in another direction. Suddenly he stopped directly in front of me on the high side of the trail， looked up from the ground， and spoke a single sentence to me in English，“Sometimes you don’t know what you have lost until you’ve lost it.”As I took in what I had just heard，he simply stepped around me and continued his descent down the trail.
That moment in my life was a small miracle. The reason is less about what the man said and more about the timing and the context. The year was 1989，and the Cold War was drawing to a close. What the man on the trail couldn’t have known is that it was during my Egyptian pilgrimage， and specifically during my hike to the top of Moses’s mountain，that I’d set the time aside to make decisions that would affect my career in the defense industry，my friends，my family，and，ultimately，my life.
I had to ask myself what the chances were of an Asian man dressed in an Egyptian galabia coming down from the top of this historic mountain just when I was walking up，stopping before me，and offering his wisdom，seemingly from out of nowhere. My answer to my own question was easy： the odds were slim to none！ In an encounter that lasted less than two minutes on a mountain halfway around the world from my home， a total stranger had brought clarity， and the hint of a warning， regarding the huge changes that I would make within a matter of days. In my way of thinking，that’s a miracle.
I suspect that we all experience small miracles in our lives every day. Sometimes we have the wisdom and the courage to recognize them for what they are. In the moments when we don’t，that’s okay as well. It seems that our miracles have a way of coming back to us again and again. And each time they do，they become a little less subtle ，until we can’t possibly miss the message that they bring to our lives！
The key is that they’re everywhere and occur every day for different reasons， in response to the different needs that we may have in the moment. Our job may be less about questioning the extraordinary things that happen in our daily lives and more about accepting the gifts they bring.
1. Why did the author make a pilgrimage to Mt. Horeb in Egypt?
| A．He was in search of a miracle in his life. |
| B．It was a holy place for a religious person to head for. |
| C．He intended to make arrangements for his life in the future. |
| D．He waited patiently in expectation of meeting a wise person. |
| A．For what reason did the man stop before me? |
| B．Why did the Asian man go to the mountain? |
| C．What change would I make within a matter of days? |
| D．What was the probability that others told us the right words? |
| A．Apparent. | B．Delicate. |
| C．Precise. | D．Sufficient. |
| A．the Asian man’s appearance had a deciding effect on his future life |
| B．his words were in perfect response to the need he had at that moment |
| C．what the Asian man said was abundant in the philosophy of life |
| D．the Asian man impressed on him the worth of what he had possessed |
| A．Can you recognize a miracle? |
| B．Is a miracle significant to us? |
| C．When might a miracle occur? |
| D．Why do we need a miracle? |
