1 . Capybaras (水豚) are group animals, so they do not like being alone. In fact, leaving a capybara alone is not only uncomfortable for the animal, but it can be harmful to their physical health, as well as their mental happiness. Capybaras love to talk to each other throughout the day. Groups of capybaras spend their days sun bathing along the edge of rivers, where they enjoy swimming together in the water. They spend half of their lives in the water.
Since they spend so much time around water, it makes sense that capybaras would come into contact with different kinds of other animals who stop in for a drink. Capybaras are gentle and peaceful river animals who enjoy a short sleep along the water’s edge — and often do so with other animal species as well. You can find pictures all over the Internet of these lovely animals lying beside turtles, birds, ducks, rats, and even monkeys as they enjoy a nap by the water.
Capybaras are also known to be excellent and friendly taxis in the animal world. Birds and monkeys commonly stand on the back of a capybara for a ride as capybaras search for grass to eat. Sometimes capybaras even serve as boats for other animals, letting them sit on their heads as they swim through the water.
However, if you see a capybara lying on its side with a yellow-headed caracara (长腿秃鹰) on its body, don’t panic just yet. Most likely the copybara is enjoying a nice spa day. Birds often make friends with capybaras and provide a natural cleaning service, picking off insects that live in the capybara’s fur. It’s a relationship that benefits each other, since the yellow-headed caracara also gets to enjoy eating those tasty insects. Yet, such lovely capybaras are not free of human influences and even face extinction now.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us about capybaras?| A．Their life habits. | B．Their survival skills. |
| C．Their appearance. | D．Their risks in health. |
| A．They search for food for birds and monkeys. |
| B．They carry their food by riding on another animal. |
| C．They allow other animals to stay on their backs or heads. |
| D．They guide other animals to swim through the water as a driver. |
| A．The caracara won’t attack you. |
| B．The capybara won’t suffer any injury. |
| C．The caracara may just take a short break. |
| D．The capybara may be providing its cleaning service. |
| A．Calls for protection. | B．Habits of caracaras. |
| C．Benefits of extinction. | D．Threats from capybaras. |
2 . There is a huge need for shark fins (鳍) in Asian countries. As a result, many sharks are caught and killed. According to reports, sharks are being killed at an shocking rate (速度) of up to 273 million worldwide every year.
Some experts predict that if the killing continues at the current rate, many shark species will be lost forever. It can be very dangerous. Sharks are very important and they should be protected.
In a study of the east coast of the United States, 11 species of sharks were eliminated from their range. Of the 14 species of ocean life that those sharks used to eat, the populations of 12 exploded and caused great damage to the ecosystem. For example, the cownose ray (鳐) population was no longer kept under control by sharks and so grew out of control. As a result, the rays destroyed the population of bay scallops (扇贝), their favorite food. The scallop fishery, which had been in good condition for over 100 years, was destroyed completely. Also, the removal of the scallops most likely had an effect on water quality as they were no longer there to perform their function (功能) of cleaning the water.
Sharks tend to eat very efficiently (高效地), going after the old, sick, or slower fish in a population, keeping that population healthy. Sharks help keep many populations of ocean life to the right size so that those prey (猎物) species don’ t do harm to the ecosystem by becoming too populated. The ocean ecosystem is made up of very complex (复杂地) food webs. For the most part, sharks are at the top of these webs and are considered by scientists to be “keystone” species, meaning that removing them may cause the whole structure to fall apart. Therefore, we should protect sharks because doing so is to protect the whole ecosystem.
1. According to the passage, in Asian, people kill sharks mainly because ________.| A．sharks are dangerous for people | B．there are too many sharks |
| C．shark fins are in great need | D．sharks often attack swimmers |
| A．Fed. | B．Removed. | C．Charged. | D．Protected. |
| A．water quality improved as well | B．bay scallops grew out of control |
| C．there are more food for shark | D．the local scallop fishery was harmed |
| A．They can’t find enough food to feed on. |
| B．They never eat the old, sick or slower fish. |
| C．Their large populations can harm the ecosystem. |
| D．They play a key role in keeping the ecosystem healthy. |
3 . You can’t see your sleeping pet’s brain waves, but its behavior can tell you when your cat might be dreaming. If you watch closely, you’ll see that as she falls asleep, her breathing becomes slow and regular with her body still. She has entered the first stage of sleep, called slow-wave sleep. After about 15 minutes you’ll notice a change in her breathing, Her eyes move under her closed lids, her paws twitch (抽动) and she flicks (轻拂) an ear. She has entered dreaming. Although she twitches and makes little grunting noises, messages from her brain to the large muscles in her legs are blocked, so she can’t run about. She is in a state of “sleep paralysis (麻痹)”.
Michel Jouvet, a French scientist, interrupted their sleep paralysis. Even though they were completely asleep, the dreaming cats began to run for balls that Jouvet couldn’t see and arched (成弓形) their backs at unseen enemies. He figured he was watching them act out their dreams! Obviously, the dreaming cats seemed to be practising important cat skills: following, catching, and fighting.
In another study, Matt Wilson recorded rats brain waves while they learned mazes (迷宫). One day, he left the brain-wave-recording machine on while the rats fell asleep. The pattern of brain waves in the sleeping rats matched the pattern from the maze so closely that Wilson could figure out exactly which part of the maze each rat was dreaming about!
Many researchers now think that in both people and animals, one purpose of dreams is to practise important skills and figure out recent learning. This may explain why so many people dream about fighting and escaping, skills that were probably important to our ancestors, and why dreaming affects our ability to learn.
Do all animals dream? From looking at the brain waves of sleeping animals, how often animals dream seems to be tied to body size. Cats dream about every 15 minutes, mice every 9 minutes, and elephants every 2 hours. And though cows and horses usually sleep standing up, they only dream when lying down.
1. What does Michel Jouvet find in his study?| A．The dreaming cats are practising their important skills. |
| B．The dreaming cats are in a state of body paralysis. |
| C．The eyes of dreaming cats move while bodies are still. |
| D．The dreaming cats suddenly wake up and run for the ball. |
| A．Dreaming a lot can help humans learn more. |
| B．Learning mazes is the basic skill for cats to learn. |
| C．Fighting and escaping are not important skills for ancestors. |
| D．Rats also dream to work out their recent learning. |
| A．Dogs. | B．Rats. |
| C．Cows. | D．Elephants. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By using figures. |
| C．By telling stories. | D．By showing facts. |
