1 . New research has found that grey seals can simulate(模仿) human speech and songs. The study carried out by Dr Amanda Stansbury and Professor Vincent Janik,at the University of St Andrews,found that grey seals use the same sound production system as humans due to having similar vocal tracts(声道).
Three young grey seals—Zola,Gandalf and Janice—were monitored from birth by Stansbury and Janik to determine their natural talents.Once this process was complete,the researchers began teaching the seals to simulate common seal sounds or noises a seal might normally hear from a herd mate in the wild. Fish was used to encourage the seals to come out of the water and sing a series of notes.Stansbury would record the seals’own sounds and play them back. The seals quickly learnt that if they sang back the same notes, they would be rewarded with fish.
Once the seals were familiar with this process and could easily copy these basic sounds,Stansbury and Janik used higher and longer tones(音调)and unfamiliar vowels(元音)from human speech.The seals were then rewarded for matching these new sounds.Stansbury even used some combinations to simulate songs that no seal would be expected
to produce under natural circumstances. Zola had a gift for copying up to ten notes of songs such as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and the theme song of Star Wars. Gandalf and Janice were better at accurately reproducing combinations of human vowel sounds.
Stansbury said,“I was amazed how well the seals copied the model sounds we played to them.Copies were not perfect,but given that these are not typical seal sounds,it is pretty impressive.Our study really shows how flexible seal voices are.”
After one year of working with the researchers,the seal pups were released back into the wild. “This study gives us a better understanding of the development of vocal learning,a skill that is important for human language development.”Janik believes this knowledge can help to develop new methods to study speech problems.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．A research finding on grey seals. | B．Grey seals’learning environments. |
| C．Humans’sound production system. | D．A comparison of humans and grey seals. |
| A．made funny noises | B．came out of the water |
| C．repeated the same notes | D．copied typical fish sounds |
| A．It can copy some musical sounds played to her. | B．It is good at copying human vowel sounds. |
| C．It is smarter than Gandalf and Janice. | D．It likes singing children’s songs. |
| A．It shows the living environments of grey seals. |
| B．It leads to a better understanding of human evolution. |
| C．It raises an awareness of the need to protect grey seals. |
| D．It inspires new methods for research on speech problems. |
Sea turtles have been swimming in the world’s warm waters for millions of years.
Male sea turtles stay in the water, while females come out at night
When we pollute the water
Catching fish for food is a big business. The problem happens when fishermen
After all these years,
3 . “Fighting like cats and dogs” is a common phrase that people use to mean people argue, fright or don’t get along. If you like cartoons, you’ve probably seen many that describe cats and dogs fighting like sworn enemies (不共戴天的仇敌). There have even been movies made that describe cats against dogs.
As with many questions in life, there’s simply no easy answer to the question of whether dogs and cats can get along. Dogs and cats are different in many ways that can make it difficult for them to get along. However, with patience and the right circumstances, cats and dogs can be best buds (兄弟).
For example, dogs tend to be social animals that are naturally playful. Cats, on the other hand, tend to be more independent. A dog that wants to play might seem aggressive and frightening to a cat. This may lead the cat to defend itself against an attack although that’s really just a desire to play. Similarly, dogs—especially puppies—like to chase each other. It’s a fun game. Chasing cats can be just as fun as chasing other dogs. Again, cats may interpret such playful behavior as a threat.
Even there’s something dogs and cats have in common, tails, but tails can make things confusing. When dog wags (摇摆) its tail, it’s sending a friendly message: “I’m happy. Let’s play.” Cats, however, wag their tails when they are angry. You can see how this might lead cats and dogs to become confused if they’re facing each other with wagging tails!
Although dogs and cats aren’t really sworn enemies dogs are hunters by nature. This means that they might hunt and chase anything that moves-including a cat. This natural behavior that could cause problems between dogs and cats can be controlled by special training called socialization when the animals meet for the first time.
1. By saying “fighting like cats and dogs”, parents most probably mean that ________.| A．they like neither cats nor dogs |
| B．their kids don’t get on well with each other |
| C．cats and dogs fight like sworn enemies |
| D．the fights between cats and dogs are often made into movies |
| A．Dogs become tired out. | B．Cats are very happy. |
| C．Dogs feel enjoyable. | D．Cats get injured easily. |
| A．They couldn’t understand each other. | B．They are worried about their behaviors. |
| C．They enjoy exactly the same hobbies. | D．They wag their tails too often. |
| A．Dogs are good at hunting animals. |
| B．Dogs don’t like cats naturally. |
| C．Cats usually like playing with dogs. |
| D．Dogs and cats can possibly live in harmony. |
4 . Anyone who commutes (通勤) by car knows that traffic jams are an unavoidable part of life. But humans are not alone in facing potential backups.
Ants also commute—between their nest and sources of food. The survival of their colonies depends on doing this efficiently.
When humans commute, there’s a point at which cars become dense (稠密) enough to slow down the flow of traffic, causing jam. Motsch, a mathematician in Arizona State University, and his colleagues wanted to know if ants on the move could also get stuck. So they regulated traffic density by constructing bridges of various widths between a colony of Argentine ants and a source of food. Then they waited and watched. “The goal was to try to find out at what point they are going to have a traffic jam.” said Sebastien Motsch.
But it appears that that never happened. They always managed to avoid traffic jam. The flow of ants did increase at the beginning as ants started to fill the bridge and then levelled off at high densities. But it never slowed down or stopped, even when the bridge was nearly filled with ants.
The researchers then took a closer look at how the behaviour of individual ants impacted traffic as a whole. And they found that when ants sense overcrowding, they adjust their speeds and avoid entering high-density areas, which prevents jams. These behaviours may be promoted by pheromones, chemicals that tell other ants where a trail is. The ants also manage to avoid colliding (碰撞) with each other at high densities, which could really slow them down. The study is in the journal eLife.
Can ants help us solve our own traffic problems? Not likely, says Motsch. That’s because when it comes to getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, human drivers put their own goals first. Individual ants have to be more cooperative in order to feed the colony. But the research could be useful in improving traffic flow for self-driving cars, which can be designed to be less like selfish humans—and more like ants.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in para.2 refer to?| A．Surviving. | B．Commuting. |
| C．Finding food. | D．Avoiding jams. |
| A．By finding out the dense points. | B．Through closer observation. |
| C．By controlling the widths of their path. | D．By regulating their numbers. |
| A．they follow a special route. |
| B．they level off at high densities. |
| C．they never stop or slow down on the way. |
| D．they depend on their natural chemicals to adjust their speeds. |
| A．Traffic jams. | B．Unavoidable? Not for ants! |
| C．Survival of an ant colony. | D．Difference between human and ants. |
5 . Plants go into a state of complete “panic” when it rains, according to surprised scientists. This response is so unusual because plants obviously need water to live. The researchers think that the “panic” response is due to the fact that moisture creates the number one way for diseases to spread in vegetation.
Biochemist Harvey Millar from the University of Western Australia explained: “When a raindrop splashes across a leaf, tiny droplets of water go in all directions. These droplets can contain bacteria, or viruses. A single droplet can spread these up to 10 meters to surrounding plants.” The longer a leaf is wet, the greater the chance that a disease can take hold.
So this is why the researchers think plants react to rain like humans would react to someone sneezing on them. They conducted an experiment in which they mimicked rain with a spray bottle and noticed rapid microscopic reactions from the plants that are invisible to the human eye. After the first 10 minutes of artificial raining, over 700 genes in the plants were said to respond in a panic-like manner and most of them continued to do so for around 15 minutes. In this time chemical reactions like how the plant creates proteins and its hormone balance were affected.
A single touch of water activated an immediate response from plants. The reactions created warning signals that travelled from leaf to leaf and resulted in the plant producing a range of protective measures. Plants that were repeatedly watered eventually suffered from stunted growth and delayed flowering.
Interestingly, the plants were also found to be communicating their “fears” with nearby vegetation. They did this by producing airborne chemicals that can be picked up by other plants and inform them what’s going on and how they’re coping. Millar said: “If a plant’s neighbors have their defence systems turned on, they are less likely to spread disease, so it’s in their best interest for plants to spread the warning to nearby plants.”
1. Paragraph 2 mainly talks about ________.| A．how droplets spread bacteria or viruses |
| B．why plants get into a “panic” when it rains |
| C．how tiny drops of water go in all directions |
| D．that longer leaves can take hold of more diseases |
| A．poured | B．fetched |
| C．contained | D．imitated |
| A．To question the ideas mentioned above. |
| B．To introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| C．To offer additional topic-related information. |
| D．To compare it with previous experiments. |
| A．Plants respond to water slowly. |
| B．Plants shut their defence systems when it rains. |
| C．Plants only communicate within their own species. |
| D．Plants may not grow well when watered too frequently. |
6 . Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats are disappearing.
The scientists studied the migration, or flight, paths, of almost 1,500 species and decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas. The major danger for migratory birds is development. Building and paving have covered over nature where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another.
For example, a bird called the bar-tailed godwit migrates from its breeding grounds in the Arctic. It flies all the way to Australia and New Zealand. The problem, according to investigators, is that many of these small birds die along their migration because they don't have a safe place to eat and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. "They simply perish along the way," says one of the scientists.
Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time conserving land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds.
"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 stopover 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 involved in the report tells the 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 areas birds would be likely to use—could make a big difference.
1. What’s the major danger for migratory birds according to the passage?| A．They can’t find enough food along the way. |
| B．They have lost their way because of human development. |
| C．Human development has occupied their natural habitats. |
| D．They are sometimes struck by human diseases. |
| A．They fly from the Arctic south to Australia every year. |
| B．They can pick out good resting place along the way. |
| C．They have died out because of human hunting. |
| D．They have their conserved land in Australia. |
| A．fight the poverty of people to protect the birds |
| B．work together to conserve safe areas for birds |
| C．plant more trees to provide safe areas for birds |
| D．maintain a good relationship with neighboring countries |
| A．Countries working together to protect the sea. |
| B．Protecting the original habitats for the migrating birds. |
| C．Reserving some land for the birds to rest along the way. |
| D．Planting some native plants for the migrating birds to use. |
One morning, Ann’s neighbour Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. It was a beautiful dog, which attracted Tracy a lot. So Tracy thought the owner of the dog must have been worried about it and looked for it around, she was a warm-hearted woman, so she decided to help the lost dog. In no time, she asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.
Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND flyers (传单), and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann’s son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old.
Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, which they had started to call Riley. They began to love the dog, which was so clever and cute that every member of the family loved it. One day, when Ann arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys’ room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent.
“If it hadn’t come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died,” Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it.
Paragraph 1:
However, the next morning Tracy got a call.
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Paragraph 2:
Peter drove to Ann’s house to pick up his dog,
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8 . No longer in the pink
The world is going to have to start thinking thoroughly to save its coral reefs. Corals are comeback creatures. As the world froze and melted and sea levels rose and fell over 30,000 years, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is roughly the size of Italy, died and revived five times. But now, thanks to human activity, corals face the most complex mixture of conditions they have yet had to deal with.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise in global temperatures of 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial times could cause coral reefs to decline by 70-90%. When waters become unusually warm, corals throw out the algae, leaving reefs a ghostly white. This ''bleaching'' is happening five times as often as it did in the 1970s.
Corals need protection from local sources of harm. Their ecosystems suffer from coastal currents, whether dirty water or waste from farms. Plastic and other rubbish block sunlight and spread aggressive bacteria. Governments need to carry out tighter rules on these industries, such as tougher local building codes, and to put more effort into strengthening rules against overfishing.
Many reefs that have been damaged could benefit from restoration. Coral's biodiversity offers hope, because the same coral will grow differently under different conditions. Corals of the western Pacific near Indonesia, for example, can survive higher temperatures than the same species in the eastern Pacific near Hawaii.
Stronger measures to fight against the larger threats corals face should also attract more research. Shading reefs using a polymer film as a sunscreen to cool them is under discussion for parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Other schemes to help corals involve genetic engineering, selective breeding and brightening the clouds in the sky above an area of the reef by spraying salt into the lowest ones, so that they turn away more of the sun's energy. These measures may sound extreme, but people need to get used to thinking big. Dealing with the problems caused by climate change will call for some far-reaching ideas.
1. Thorough thinking is needed to save the coral reefs because __________.| A．corals have come back in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia |
| B．corals are frozen and melted five times over 30,000 years |
| C．corals are strong enough to survive human activity |
| D．human activity are threatening the condition of coral reefs |
| A．warming | B．throwing out |
| C．whitening | D．dying |
| A．coastal water flows | B．more sunlight |
| C．waste from farms | D．bad bacteria |
| A．encourage people to come up with more ideas |
| B．introduce some advanced technological progress |
| C．raise people's awareness of protecting the environment |
| D．warn people of the threats and risks corals are facing |
9 . Scientists think they have the answer to a puzzle that confused even Charles Darwin： How flowers evolved and spread to become the most important plants on earth．
Flowering plants, or angiosperms (被子植物), make up about 90% of all living plant species,but how they did this has been a mystery. New research suggests it is due to genome (基因组) size．
Hundreds of millions of years ago,the earth was dominated by ferns (蕨类)and conifers(针叶树) - they were the main plants on the earth． Then, about 150 million years ago， the first flowering plants appeared on earth. They quickly spread to all parts of the world．
Why angiosperms were successful and diverse on earth has been debated for centuries.Charles Darwin himself called it a "mystery", fearing this apparent sudden change might challenge his theory of evolution．
Kevin Simonin from San Francisco State University in California US and other researchers analyzed data held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew， on the genome size of hundreds of plants, including flowering plants, gymnosperms (a group of plants including conifers) and ferns. They then compared genome size with anatomical (结构上的) features. This provides "strong evidence" that the success and rapid spread of flowering plants around the world is due to "genome downsizing"．
By reducing the size of the genome, which is contained within the nucleus (核) of the cell, plants can build smaller cells. The researchers say genome-downsizing happened only in the angiosperms, and this was "a necessary condition for rapid growth rates among land plants"．
1. What do we know about angiosperms？ ______| A．They are superior in number among all living plant species． |
| B．They controlled the earth for hundreds of millions of years． |
| C．They challenge Charles Darwin's theory． |
| D．They are extinct plants in the world． |
| A．Simonin works in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |
| B．Simonin is probably an American biologist |
| C．Darwin was confident of his theory of evolution |
| D．Darwin succeeded in figuring out the flower evolution |
| A．The weaker ferns and conifer． |
| B．The larger nucleus． |
| C．The stronger cell． |
| D．The smaller genome． |
| A．Why were gymnosperms successful on earth？ |
| B．What puzzle confused even Charles Darwin？ |
| C．Why angiosperms dominated the earth？ |
| D．When angiosperms outnumbered conifers and Ferns？ |
“I'm going to miss you so much, Poppy, "said the tall, thin teenager. He bent down to hug his old friend goodbye. He stood up, hugged his parents, and smiled, trying not to let his emotions(情绪)get the better of him.
His parents were not quite able to keep theirs under control. They had driven their son several hours out of town to the university where he would soon be living and studying. It was time to say goodbye for now at least. The family hugged and smiled through misty eyes and then laughed.
The boy lifted the last bag onto his shoulder, and flashed a bright smile.” I guess this is it, “he said.” I'll see you back home in a month, okay？"His parents nodded, and they watched as he walked out of sight into the crowds of hundreds of students and parents. The boy's mother turned to the dog, “Okay, Poppy, time to go back home.”
The house seemed quiet as a tomb without the boy living there. All that week, Poppy didn't seem interested in her dinner, her favorite toy, or even in her daily walk. Her owners were sad too, but they knew their son would be back to visit. Poppy didn't.
They offered the dog some of her favorite peanut butter treats. They even let her sit on the sofa, but the old girl just wasn't her usual cheerful self. Her owners started to get worried. "What should we do to cheer Poppy up？"asked Dad. “We've tried everything.”
“I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy, “smiled Mom.” Without anybody left in the house but us, this place could use a bit of fun. Let's get a little dog for Poppy."
It didn't take long before they walked through the front door carrying a big box. Poppy welcomed them home as usual, but when she saw the box, she stopped. She put her nose on it. Her tail began wagging(摆动)ever so slowly, then faster as she caught the smell.
注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Para 1. Dad opened the box and a sweet little dog appeared.
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Para 2. A few weeks later, the boy arrived home from university.
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