It is easy for us to tell our friends from our enemies. But can other animals do the same? Elephants can! They can use their sense of vision and smell to tell the difference between people who pose a threat and those who do not.
In Kenya, researchers found that elephants react differently to clothing worn by men of the Maasai and Kamba ethnic groups. Young Maasai men spear animals and thus pose a threat to elephants; Kamba men are mainly farmers and are not a danger to elephants.
In an experiment conducted by animal scientists, elephants were first presented with clean clothing or clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a Kamba man. When the elephants detected(察覺(jué))the smell of clothing worn by a Maasai man, they moved away from the smell faster and took longer to relax than when they detected the smells of either clothing worn by Kamba men or clothing that had not been worn at all.
Clothing color also plays a role, though in a different way. In the same study, when the elephants saw red clothing not worn before, they reacted angrily, as red is typically worn by Maasai men. Rather than running away as they did with the smell, the elephants acted aggressively toward the red clothing.
The researchers believe that the elephants’ emotional reactions are due to their different interpretations of the smells and the sights. Smelling a potential danger means that a threat is nearby and the best thing to do is run away and hide. Seeing a potential threat without its smell means that risk is low. Therefore, instead of showing fear and running away, the elephants express their anger and become aggressive.
小題1:According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE about Kamba and Maasai people?

A．Maasai people are a threat to elephants.

B．Kamba people raise elephants for farming.

C．Both Kamba and Maasai people are elephant hunters.

D．Both Kamba and Maasai people traditionally wear red clothing.

小題2: How did the elephants react to smell in the study?

A．They attacked a man with the smell of new clothing.

B．They needed time to relax when smelling something unfamiliar.

C．They became anxious when they smelled Kamba-scented(有…氣味的) clothing.

D．They were frightened and ran away when they smelled their enemies.

小題3: What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Elephants use sight and smell to detect danger.

B．Elephants attack people who wear red clothing.

C．Scientists are now able to control elephants’ emotions.

D．Some Kenyan tribes understand elephants’ emotions very well.

小題4:What can be inferred about the elephants’ behavior from this passage?

A．Elephants learn from their experience.

B．Elephants have sharper sense of smell than sight.

C．Elephants are more intelligent than other animals.

D．Elephants tend to attack rather than escape when in danger.

Mandara seemed to know something big was about to happen. So she let out a yell, caught hold of her 2-year-old daughter Kibibi and climbed up into a tree. She lives at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
And on Tuesday, August 23rd, witnesses say she seemed to sense the big earthquake that shook much of the East Coast before any humans knew what was going on. And she’s not the only one. In the moments before the quake, an orangutan (猩猩) let out a loud call and then climbed to the top of her shelter.
“It’s very different from their normal call,” said Brandie Smith, the zookeeper. “The lemurs (monkey-like animals of Madagascar) will sound an alarm call if they see or hear something highly unusual.”
But you can’t see or hear an earthquake 15 minutes before it happens, can you? Maybe you can — if you’re an animal. “Animals can hear above and below our range of hearing,” said Brandie Smith. “That’s part of their special abilities. They’re more sensitive to the environment, which is how they survive.”
Primates weren’t the only animals that seemed to sense the quake before it happened. One of the elephants made a warning sound. And a huge lizard (蜥蜴) ran quickly for cover. The flamingoes (a kind of bird) gathered before the quake and stayed together until the shaking stopped.
So what kind of vibrations were the animals picking up in the moments before the quake? Scientist Susan Hough says earthquakes produce two types of waves — a weak “P” wave and then a much stronger “S” wave. The “P” stands for “primary”. And the “S” stands for “secondary”. She said she thinks the “P” wave might be what set the animals off.
Not all the animals behaved unusually before the quake. For example, Smith says the zoo’s giant pandas didn’t jump up until the shaking actually began. But many of the other animals seemed to know something was coming before it happened. “I’m not surprised at all,” Smith said.
小題1:Why did Mandara act strangely one day?

A．Because it sensed something unusual would happen.

B．Because its daughter Kibibi was injured.

C．Because it heard an orangutan let out a loud call.

D．Because an earthquake had happened.

小題2:According to Brandie Smith, _____.

A．many animals’ hearing is sharp

B．earthquakes produce two types of waves

C．primates usually gather together before a quake

D．humans can also develop the ability to sense a quake

小題3:Which word in the passage has a close meaning to the underlined word “cover”?

A．vibration

B．shelter

C．quake

D．range

小題4:Which animal seems unable to sense a quake?

A．A giant panda.

B．A flamingo.

C．A lemur.

D．A lizard.

小題5:What is the best title for the passage?

A．How animals survive a quake.	B．How animals differ from humans.
C．How animals behave before a quake.	D．How animals protect their young in a quake.

New genetic analysis has revealed that many Amazon tree species are likely to survive human-made climate warming in the coming century, contrary to previous findings that temperature increases would cause them to die out. A study,   1  in the latest edition of Ecology and Evolution, reveals the   2  age of some Amazonian tree species -- more than 8 million years -- and   3  shows that they have survived previous periods as warm as many of the global warming imagined periods   4  for the year 2100.
The authors write that, having survived warm periods in the past, the trees will   5  survive future warming, provided there are no other major environmental changes.   6  extreme droughts and forest fires will impact Amazonia as temperatures   7 , the trees will stand the direct impact of higher temperatures. The authors   8  that as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions to minimize the risk of drought and fire, conservation policy should remain   9  on preventing deforestation（采伐森林）for agriculture and mining.
The study disagrees with other recent researches which predicted tree species’ extinctions   10  relatively small increases in global average air temperatures.
Study co-author Dr Simon Lewis (UCL Geography) said the   11  were good news for Amazon tree species, but warned that drought and over-exploitation of the forest remained major   12  to the Amazon’s future.
Dr Lewis said: “The past cannot be compared directly with the future. while tree species seem likely to   13  higher air temperatures than today, the Amazon forest is being transformed for agriculture and   14 , and what remains is being degraded by logging, and increasingly split up by fields and roads.
“Species will not move as freely in today’s Amazon as they did in previous warm periods, when there was no human   15 . Similarly, today’s climate change is extremely fast, making comparisons with slower changes in the past   16 .”
“With a clearer   17  of the relative risks to the Amazon forest, we   18  that direct human impacts -- such as forest clearances for agriculture or mining -- should remain a key point of conservation policy. We also need more aggressive   19  to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to make minimum the risk of drought and fire impacts and   20  the future of most Amazon tree species.”

小題1:	A．a(chǎn)dvertised B．described C．published D．presented

小題2:	A．frightening B．surprising C．exciting D．interesting

小題3:	A．still B．nevertheless C．however D．therefore

小題4:	A．a(chǎn)ssess B．confirm C．forecast D．promise

小題5:	A．particularly B．probably C．merely D．possibly

小題6:	A．Since B．Although C．When D．If

小題7:	A．rise B．change C．drop D．end

小題8:	A．consider B．decide C．guarantee D．recommend

小題9:	A．based B．built C．focused D．made

小題10:

A．in relation to B．in response to C．in reply to D．in reference to

小題11:

A．findings B．thoughts C．inventions D．writings

小題12:

A．threats B．disadvantages C．embarrassments D．instructions

小題13:

A．a(chǎn)ccept B．tolerate C．permit D．Require

小題14:

A．farming B．planting C．catering D．mining

小題15:

A．power B．influence C．desire D．violence

小題16:

A．difficult B．clear C．easy D．important

小題17:

A．belief B．direction C．understanding D．suggestion

小題18:

A．doubt B．conclude C．calculate D．prefer

小題19:

A．thought B．guidance C．protection D．a(chǎn)ction

小題20:

A．secure B．a(chǎn)dvance C．sacrifice D．evaluate

Family Vs Technology
Modern technology certainly changes family behavior, but does it really damage family life as many people fear? Not necessarily, says Dr. Silva, a professor in Sociology(社會(huì)學(xué)) at the Open University, she also argues it is wrong to assume technology erodes(腐蝕，侵蝕) the quality of family life.
“There is the idea that technology has an influence on the family and the family suffers. My take is quite different,” she explains. “Technological change happens because people’s lives change. And it is people’s choices of how to live that creates processes of innovation(革新) as well. The family has a role like the economy or like technology itself in changing the world. The imagination is important in driving the things technologists want to find for our daily lives. People desire to see nature as it is, so color television comes about,” she says.
In another case, the increase in working mothers helped create a market for labor-saving kitchen equipment. “The time that women have to shop every day for food is no longer available so there is a need to have a refrigerator for food storage,” says Dr. Silva. “The need to cook that food more easily and quickly, means you have developments in cooking technology like the microwave oven(微波爐). The microwave oven already existed because it was developed for the navy during World War Two but it wasn’t used in ordinary families until the early 1980s.
“Technologies for housework were as important as those for work itself,” she says, “So washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens are terribly important. We couldn’t imagine what life would be like if we didn’t have them.” Technological changes in the kitchen have played an important role in the changes of family behavior, creating a new social focus in the home.
“With advanced technology, you can feed the family in an easier manner. People can do housework with less difficulty. But that doesn’t mean that family practices are not important — it’s just a different way of doing things.”
小題1:What is Dr. Silva’s attitude towards the effect that technology has on family life?

A．Worried.	B．Optimistic(樂(lè)觀的).
C．Puzzled.	D．Uncertain.

小題2:What causes advances in technology according to Dr. Silva?

A．People’s love for nature.

B．Great changes in people’s way of life.

C．People’s desire to change the world.

D．The wonderful imagination in inventing things.

小題3:What can we learn from the passage?

A．The microwave oven was first used by working mothers.

B．People cook less because of modern kitchen equipment.

C．Technology has little effect on the changes of family behavior.

D．People need less skill to do housework due to advanced technology.

It was a cold evening and my daughter and I were walking up Broadway．I didn’t notice a guy sitting inside a cardboard box．But Nora did．She wasn’t even four, but she  36  at my coat and said, “That man’s cold, Daddy,  37  we take him home?”
I don’t remember my reply．But I do remember a sudden  38  feeling inside me．I had always been delighted at how much my daughter noticed in her  39 , whether it was  40  in flight or children playing．But now she was noticing  41  and beggary．
A few days later, I saw an article in the newspaper about volunteers who picked up a food package from a nearby school on a Sunday morning and  42  it to an elderly person．It was quick and easy．I  43  us up．Nora was  44  about it．She could understand the importance of food, so she could easily see how  45  our job was．When Sunday came, she was ready, but I had to  46  myself to leave the house to fetch the food package．On the way to the school, I fought an urge to turn  47 ．The Sunday paper and coffee were waiting for me at home．Why do this?  48 , we phoned the elderly person we’d been appointed．She  49  us right over．
The building was in a bad state．Facing us was a silver-haired woman in an old dress．She took the package and asked us to come in．Nora ran inside．I unwillingly followed． 50  inside, I saw that the apartment belonged to someone poor．Our hostess showed us some photos．Nora played and when it came time to say good-bye, we three hugged, I walked home in tears．
Professionals call such a（n） 51  a “volunteer opportunity”．They are opportunities, and I’ve come to see．Where else but as volunteers do you have the opportunity to do something  52 that’s good for others as well as for yourself? Nora and I regularly serve meals to needy people and  53  clothes for the homeless．Yet, as I’ve  54  her grow over these past four years, I still wonder ------ which of us has  55  more?

小題1:	A．pulled B．glanced C．pointed D．a(chǎn)imed

小題2:	A．would B．need C．can D．must

小題3:	A．general B．heavy C．funny D．simple

小題4:	A．a(chǎn)rea B．part C．eyesight D．world

小題5:	A．insects B．a(chǎn)nimals C．plants D．birds

小題6:	A．coldness B．suffering C．illness D．ignorance

小題7:	A．delivered B．returned C．devoted D．posted

小題8:	A．held B．hurried C．lined D．signed

小題9:	A．casual B．sorry C．a(chǎn)stonished D．excited

小題10:

A．valuable B．creative C．shocking D．simple

小題11:

A．push B．stop C．a(chǎn)llow D．warn

小題12:

A．a(chǎn)way B．back C．up D．out

小題13:

A．Therefore B．Obviously C．Still D．Also

小題14:

A．called B．promised C．invited D．helped

小題15:

A．Although B．Though C．Because D．Once

小題16:

A．visit B．stay C．a(chǎn)dventure D．challenge

小題17:

A．fair B．famous C．difficult D．enjoyable

小題18:

A．wear B．make C．order D．collect

小題19:

A．let B．watched C．made D．noticed

小題20:

A．increased B．tried C．benefited D．seized

Laws that would have ensured pupils from five to 16 received a full financial education got lost in the ‘wash up’. An application is calling on the next government to bring it back.
　At school the children are taught to add up and subtract(減法) but, extraordinarily, are not routinely shown how to open a bank account — let alone how to manage their finances in an increasingly complex and demanding world.
　Today the parenting website Mumsnet and the consumer campaigner Martin Lewis have joined forces to launch an online application to make financial education a compulsory element of the school curriculum in England. Children from five to 16 should be taught about everything from pocket money to pensions, they say. And that was exactly the plan preserved in the Children, Schools and Families bill that was shelved by the government in the so-called “wash-up” earlier this month — the rush to legislation before parliament was dismissed. Consumer and parent groups believe financial education has always been one of the most frustrating omissions of the curriculum.
　As the Personal Finance Education Group (Pfeg) points out, the good habits of young children do not last long. Over 75% of seven- to 11-year-olds are savers but by the time they get to 17, over half of them are in debt to family and friends. By this age, 26% see a credit card or overdraft(透支) as a way of extending their spending power. Pfeg predicts that these young people will “find it much harder to avoid the serious unexpected dangers that have befallen many of their parents' generation unless they receive good quality financial education while at school.”
　The UK has been in the worst financial recession(衰退)for generations. It does seem odd that — unless parents step in — young people are left in the dark until they are cruelly introduced to the world of debt when they turn up at university. In a recent poll of over 8,000 people, 97% supported financial education in schools, while 3% said it was a job for parents.
小題1:The passage is mainly about _____________.

A．how to manage school lessons	B． teaching young people about money
C．how to deal with the financial crisis	D．teaching students how to study effectively

小題2:It can be inferred from the first two paragraphs that __________.

A．laws on financial education have been effectively carried out

B．pupils should not be taught to add up and subtract

C．students have been taught to manage their finances

D．the author complains about the school education

小題3:The website and the consumer campaigner joined to _________.

A．instruct the pupils to donate their pocket money

B．promote the connection of schools and families

C．a(chǎn)sk the government to dismiss the parliament

D．a(chǎn)ppeal for the curriculum of financial education

小題4:A poll is mentioned to ___________.

A．show the seriousness of the financial recession

B．stress the necessity of the curriculum reform

C．make the readers aware of burden of the parents

D．illustrate some people are strongly against the proposal

The art of reading fiction is largely a matter of inferring meanings. To infer means to understand facts which are not directly stated---only suggested. Inference is one of the commonest ways of knowing things: a child holds his knee and cries; this action implies his feeling; an observer infers that the child is hurt. To infer accurately in everyday life requires caution in observing; to infer skillfully in fiction requires caution in reading; both require disciplined imagination.
The short-story reader can expect to find certain basic elements in any story. For example, all stories involve a person or persons, in a particular setting, faced with a demand for a response. The response called for may be a physical action, such as defeating an adversary(對(duì)手) or escaping from a danger; or it may be a mental action, such as adjusting to others or within oneself. In either case, the short story is a description in two ways: first, it shows the motives for a given human action; second, it makes a point about the general human situation. Such descriptions, however, rather than being stated directly, usually are implied by the elements of the story.
When the reader of a story understands all the facts and their interrelationships, he is ready to infer the significance of the story as a whole---its comment on the human situation. This comment, or theme, is the seed from which the story grew. It is also the idea by which all the separate elements of the story are governed, while these in turn further shape and modify the theme. In addition to action, character, and setting, these elements include structure, mood, tone, and point of view.
Fiction reading requires an awareness of all the ways in which a story communicates. It also requires attention to detail. What the author provides is a network of points which serve as clues to his meaning. He invites the reader to develop the meaning by inference, actually to create much of the story himself and so make it part of his own experience.
小題1:According to the author, "infer" means ________ .

A．knowingfactsbeyondthestatement

B．lookingformoreevidencesforthestatement

C．findingoutadifferentmeaningfromthestatement

D．a(chǎn)ddingsomefactstothestatement

小題2:What is inferring in fiction based on?

A．Readers’guessing.	B．Thebasicelementsofthestory.
C．Thesettingofthestory.	D．Theinterrelationshipsbetweenpeopleinthestory.

小題3:What is the implied meaning of the last sentence?

A．Inferringcanreallyhelpthereaderdevelopimaginationandenrichhimself.

B．Inferringcanhelpthereaderwriteastoryofhisown.

C．Thereadershouldlookforanexperiencedescribedinthestoryhereads.

D．Theexperiencedescribedinthestorywillleaveagreatimpactonitsreader.

小題4:What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Inferringisanartofwriting.	B．Inferringisaneedinfictionwriting
C．Inferringisthebasicskillinreadingfiction.	D．Inferringiscommoninreading.

We human beings haven’t been good friends to animals. For thousands of years, we have been polluting the environment, making it hard for animals to live on the planet. We have been killing animals for their fur, feathers or meat, or simply because they are dangerous. As a result, many kinds of animals have disappeared forever. Hundreds more are on the endangered list today.
Should we care about animals? Of course we should. If animals of a certain kind all disappear, they will never come back again. Animals are more than just resources of things we need. Every kind of animal has its place in the balance of nature. Destroying any kind of animal can lead to many problems. For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks, the corn and grain that the farmers stored were destroyed by rats and mice. Why?  Because hawks eat rats and mice. With less and less hawks to keep down their numbers, rats and mice multiplied quickly. And if people kill too many birds, more and more insects will eat the crops.
Luckily, we’ve realized that we shouldn’t kill animals any more. And people are working hard to save those animals that would disappear soon. The government also passed laws to protect the endangered animals. In fact, quite a few countries have passed such laws. These laws forbid the killing of any kind of animal on the endangered list. We should try our best to protect and save the endangered animals.
小題1:The text calls on us to__________.

A．keep animals at home	B．protect the environment
C．protect the endangered animals	D．know more about the balance of nature.

小題2:Why do people kill animals?

A．Animals cause many serious problems.

B．They kill animals for something they need.

C．Animals destroy their natural resources.

D．They kill animals to protect the environment

小題3:The example that farmers killed hawks shows that__________.

A．there were too many rats and mice

B．hawks are the most important in the nature

C．a(chǎn)nimals are good food resources

D．every kind of animal is important in nature

Babies understand what their mothers say, even when they speak a language their children have never heard before, scientists claim.
The researchers found that one-year-olds reacted in exactly same way to their mothers’ voices regardless of whether they were speaking English or Greek, showing what mothers have long known – that babies pick up on tone of voice rather than the words themselves.
The researchers, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, observed babies as they watched their mothers perform actions with toys using the English words “whoops” and “there”. The scientists studied reactions from one-year-old babies to their mums’ voices even when they were speaking both English and Greek, and keeping the same tone of voice. The academics found that babies reproduced the same reactions regardless of whether they knew the language.  
Study leader Dr Merideth Gattis of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology says, “What this work showed was that children could have access to understanding simply through tone of voice. We did ‘whoops’ and ‘there’ in two languages and got exactly the same results.” The research, published in the journal Cognitive Development, was conducted on 84 babies aged between 14 and 18 months, over the course of a year, with none of the babies having any previous exposure to Greek.
Dr Gattis says that children respond to tone clues in their parents’ voices from an early age.
She says, “Tone of voice is a really useful signal of what someone is thinking. We never have direct access to other people’s minds, except the signals in language that they give out.” She says the study shows that it is less important what parents say than how they say it.
Dr Gattis adds, “A child may ask if you like his / her drawing, for example. You might say yes, but if you don’t sound enthusiastic, the meaning may not get across.” Before children begin to speak, parents should use exaggerated tone when speaking to them.
小題1:According to the text, what have mothers long-known?

A．Babies have a better understanding of English.

B．Babies pick up on tone of voice.

C．Babies like their mothers’ performances.

D．Babies like drawing from an early age.

小題2:Which of the following is TRUE, according to the study?

A．Tone of voice is the most useful sign of what someone is thinking.

B．After children begin to speak, tone becomes unimportant.

C．The babies acted the same way regardless of the language.

D．The research was conducted on 48 babies.

小題3:According to the text, Dr. Gattis believes that _________.

A．we have no access to other people’s minds

B．babies can’t understand what “yes” means

C．parents should always sound enthusiastic

D．how a parent speaks is more important than what he or she says

小題4:What’s the text mainly about?

A．The content of the journal Cognitive Development.

B．The famous works of Dr. Gattis.

C．Babies understanding their mothers through tone.

D．Babies having the potential to learn language well.

小題5:The text can be classified as _________.

A．a(chǎn) report

B．a(chǎn)n advertisement

C．a(chǎn) handbook

D．a(chǎn) guide

About 97% of the world's water is salty and is found in our oceans and seas. But, as we can't drink seawater, how can it be important?
Every part of our seas and oceans contains an amazing number of animals and fish that live at different ocean depths. Most of the different species of animals and fish depend on simple plants for their food. These simple plants called algae (海藻) drift near the surface of the ocean and use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. In fact, algae produce over half of the oxygen people breathe. How important seawater is!
Each plant or animal in our seas and oceans is an important link in a food chain. The algae are eaten in large amounts by microscopic animals, which are in turn consumed by larger animals. These food chains are delicately balanced.
The bad news about the food chains in the oceans is that they are under threat because of man. People once thought that the oceans were so big that it didn't matter if we dumped rubbish into them or caught huge quantities of fish and whales for food. But we now know this is not true and fish stocks in the oceans have started to drop.
Thankfully, the world is taking steps to protect the future of our oceans by introducing international agreements to protect marine habitats. Most countries have introduced fishing restrictions to protect fish stocks in the oceans and new techniques are being pioneered to cope with pollution. Finally, the importance of protecting oceans is being made known to more people. This is just the beginning of a long process to protect the oceans for our future. We depend on the oceans for fish which are an important part of the human diet. How important seawater is!
小題1:People used to think that the rubbish thrown into the sea ________.

A．wouldn't harm the fish in the sea

B．would change the balance of the food chain

C．would be broken down in the sea

D．wouldn't do much harm to the sea

小題2:From the passage, we learn that ________. 

A．most fish and sea animals live at the surface of the seas

B．it is very difficult to break the balance of a food chain

C．excessive fishing has caused the decrease in fish stock

D．it won't be long before the problems concerning oceans will be solved

小題3:Which of the following is NOT a way being used to protect oceans?

A．The use of international agreements.

B．Forbidding fishing to protect fish stocks.

C．The use of new techniques.

D．Raising people's awareness of the need to protect oceans.

小題4:What would be the BEST title of the passage?
A. The importance of seawater.
B. Life in the oceans.
C. How to protect food chains.