A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion
that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species.
     The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard Universities when they were
examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to
modern elephants-the Asian elephant, African forest elephant,and African savanna elephant.
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石), mammoths and mastodons,
the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants.They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and
mammoths.
     The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephant and
the African forest elephant have been distinct species for several million years.The divergence
of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly
mammoths.This result amazed all the scientists.
     There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate
species, but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different
species.
     Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest
elephants were two populations of the same species, despite the elephants' significant size
differences.The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5 metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5 metres.The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant.But the fact that they look so
different does not necessarily mean they are different species.However the proof lay in the
analysis of the DNA.
     Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of
Illinois, said, "We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for
conservation purposes.Since 1950, all African elephants have been conserved as one species.
Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinctive animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority(優(yōu)先) for conservation purposes."

1. One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of________.

A. the Asian elephant            
B. the forest elephant
C. the savanna elephant          
D. the mastodon elephant

2. The underlined word"divergence" in Paragraph 4 means "________"．

A. evolution              
B. exhibition
C. separation            
D. examination

3. The researchers' conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant's________.

A. DNA            
B. height
C. weight          
D. population

4. What are Alfred Roca's words mainly about?  

A. The conservation of African elephants.
B. The purpose of studying African elephants.
C. The way to divide African elephants into two units.
D. The reason for the distinction of African elephants.

                                              High Speed Book Scanner
     Simply turning pages of a book quickly may not seem like the best way to scan it. A Japanese
research group at Tokyo University has created new software that allows hundreds of pages to be
scanned within minutes. Scanning text is normally a boring process with each page having to be inserted
into a scanner, but the team led by Professor Masatoshi Ishikawa uses a high speed camera that takes
500 pictures a second to scan pages as they are turned by workers.
     Normal scanners can only scan the information that is actually before them on the page. This high
speed book scanner uses a camera that captures pages at 1000fps as they are turned. A system built in
allows it to automatically correct any changes to the text due to the page bending as well as light differences due to shadows. "It takes a shot of the shape, then it calculates the shape and uses those calculations to
film the scanning," Ishikawa said, explaining the system used to reconstruct the original page.
     The current system is able to scan an average 250-page book in a little over 60 seconds using basic
computer hardware. While it now requires extra time to process the scanned images (影像), the
researchers hope to eventually make the technology both faster and much smaller. "In the more distant
future, once it becomes possible to put all of this processing on one chip (芯片) and then put that in an
iPad or iPod, one could scan just using that chip. At that point, it becomes possible to scan something
quickly to save for later reading," Ishikawa said.
     Being able to scan books with an iPhone may be further off, but Ishikawa says that a commercial
version of the large-scale computer based scanning system could be available in two or three years.
While the technology has the potential to take paper books into the digital age, it remains to be how
publishers will react to people scanning their books while just turning pages quickly.

1. According to the passage, the advantage of the new scanning software is that ______.

A. there is no need to scan every page
B. it can work much more effectively
C. no manpower is needed in operating the scanner
D. it can make the scanning process more interesting

2. According to Ishikawa, the scanner works by_____.

A. changing the shape of the images        
B. reducing the size of the images
C. reconstructing the original page          
D. scanning several pages at the same time

3. What is Ishikawa's attitude towards the development of the scanning system?

A. Optimistic.        
B. Uncertain.        
C. Disapproving.        
D. Cautious.

4. What does the underlined sentence mean?

A. People will get any book they like more easily.
B. Publishers will refuse to comment on the new software.
C. Publishers will probably not welcome the new software.
D. People won't need to buy books any more with an iPhone.

     根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容, 從短文后的七個選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項.選項中有兩項為
多余選項.
                                              Early Childhood Education
     Early childhood education is the formal (正規(guī)的) teaching and care of young children .It primarily
focuses on learning through playing to encourage the child's different kinds of development.    1   
     Studies with Head Start programs throughout the United States have shown some evidence that there
are quite a few advantages to early childhood education, which can produce significant gains in children's
learning and development. Compared to a child who does not attend pre-school, children completing
their early education programs are found to be better at math and reading skills. They are excited to learn
and have the tools to do so.    2   These children are more competent in their pre-school, kindergarten
and school-age years, and they are usually reported as "friendlier" by parents and the children's peers
(同伴). 
     3  In studies with matched control groups, more students who had early schooling experiences were
employed at the age of 19, fewer were on welfare, and fewer were involved with the criminal activity.
What's more, some studies show that children attending pre-school are more likely to graduate and have
higher education, and be well integrated (綜合) as an adult.
    Early childhood education gives most children a jump-start on education for their kindergarten and
primary school years. It is clear that early childhood education can have some great benefits for children.
    4   If early childhood education is less effective, perhaps the best model is finding strategies for
allowing a parent to stay home with his or her child for at least the first two to three years. Also important
is considering a child's own personality.    5    

A. The long-term influence of early education is significant as well.
B. They can benefit greatly from encouragement in their early childhood.
C. Yet its quality must be assessed to see what kind of benefits it actually provides.
D. They are also able to relate to others in a superior way and that improves their social skills.
E. Many experts of education have concerned about what early childhood education means today.
F. Individual differences in children mean that not all children will get equal benefits from early
     childhood education.
G. It consists of activities that serve children in the pre-school years and is designed to improve
     later school performance.

     The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.
     The most widespread fallacy(謬誤) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are
caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly
or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect
the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have
reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside
world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
     During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(戰(zhàn)壕), cold and wet,
showed no increased tendency to catch colds.
     In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp(奧斯維辛集
中營), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold
Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the
discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing
suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room.
Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the
volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
      If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the
winter？Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation
offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times,
and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
     No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as
aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms.

1. The writer offered _______ examples to support his argument.

A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 3

2. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?

A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.
B. Colds are not caused by cold.
C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.
D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.

3. Arctic explorers may catch colds when _______.

A. they are working in the isolated arctic regions
B. they are writing reports in terribly cold weather
C. they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions
D. they are coming into touch again with the outside world

4. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit _______.

A. suffered a lot  
B. never caught colds
C. often caught colds
D. became very strong

5. The passage mainly discusses _______.

A. the experiments on the common cold
B. the fallacy about the common cold
C. the reason and the way people catch colds
D. the continued spread of common colds

     You are only as old as you feel, it is said. But soon scientists will be able to calculate your real
"physiological (生理的) age".
     Researchers studying genes believe they can now tell exact physiological age by looking at a
number of clues in DNA. They don't have to ask people how they feel or look at their appearance.
     The breakthrough could solve the mystery of why some 70-year-olds function at the level of those
in their 50s, while others become weak sooner than you would think.
     The researchers made the breakthrough by finding the "biomarkers" of aging in tiny worms.
     The worms they studied had an average lifespan (壽命) of three weeks. Like humans, some remain
lively much longer than other similarly-aged worms, while others show signs of premature aging.
     By genetically profiling (基因識別) 104 different worms at various ages, the researchers found a
group of genes that are involved in the aging process.
     'This is a first step; our results were not perfect, but we were able to predict the ages of the animals
70 percent of the time, which is far better than anything that has been done before," said Simon Melov,
the lead researcher at Buck Institute for Age Research in California.
     Now they want to extend their studies to mice and eventually humans.
     "I am confident that at some point there will be a non-subjective method of determining how old
someone is with a high level of confidence," said Melov.
     The speed at which people age depends on a number of things including genetic inheritance (遺傳),
lifestyle and mental health.
     Determining chronological (按時間順序的) age in both worms and humans is easy - count forward
from birth. But determining physiological age has remained subjective ? based on how someone looks
or functions.
     The findings have major implications for age research in humans. Examining biomarkers over time
would provide a scientific basis for anti-aging medicines. The technology would also provide a means
of determining whether a person is aging faster or slower than people would normally think.

1. How can researchers tell one's exact physiological age?

A. By looking at their appearance.                  
B. By asking people how they feel.      
C. By looking at a number of clues in DNA.  
D. By finding the "biomarkers" of aging in tiny worms.

2. What did the researchers base their survey on as their first breakthrough?

A. Humans.      
B. Worms.      
C. Mice.    
D. Lifespan.

3. The researchers found__________.

A. some 70-year-olds function become weak sooner than expected.
B. anyone was as old as he was feeling.
C. a group of genes were involved in the aging process.
D. the speed at which people age only depends on their genetic inheritance.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A. Genetically profiling    
B. Find your true age 
C. Worms and humans      
D. Research in humans

                                                             Calling the future
     When American inventor Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution
in communication. For the first time, people could talk to each other over great distances. Over the last
two decades a new means of spoken communication has appeared: the mobile phone.
     The mobile phone is like a two-way radio. But the two-way radio is a limited means of
communication. As soon as the users move out of range of each other's broadcast area, the signal is lost
. In the 1940s, researchers experimented with the idea of using a number of radio masts (無線電桿) to
pick up signals from two-way radios. A caller would always be within range of one of the masts. When
he or she moved too far away from one mast, the next mast would pick up the signal. (Scientists referred
to each mast's reception area as being a "cell". This is why in many countries mobile phones are called
"cellphones".)
     However, 1940s' technology was just at the beginning. The "mobile phones" were huge boxes. They
had to be moved by car.
     The first real mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper. As soon as his invention
was complete, he tested it by calling a rival (競爭對手) scientist to announce his success. Within a
decade, mobile phones became available to the public.
     They have changed the way we do a lot of things. One powerful feature is: the short message service
(SMS) or text message. It's the perfect communication method for the busy modern lifestyle. The text
message has changed the way we write in English. The language construction became more lax (松散
的). Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important.
      Over the last few years mobiles have become more and more advanced. We have seen the
introduction of cameras, global positioning system and Internet access.
     Alexander Graham Bell would be surprised if he could see how far the science of the telephone has
developed in less than 150 years. If he were around today, he might say: '''That's gr8! But I'm v busy
rite now. Will call U 2nite.'  

1. The article is intended to_______.

A. warn people of the possible risks in using mobile phones
B. predict the applications of mobile phones
C. convince people of the uses of mobile phones
D. inform readers of the history and benefits of mobile phones

2. What's the CORRECT time order about the development of communication?
 a. the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
 b. "mobile phones" with very large boxes
 c. mobile telephone call made by Dr Martin Cooper
 d. mobiles with cameras, GPS and Internet access

A. a, c, b, d  
B. b, a,, c, d  
C. a, b, c, d  
D. a, c, d, b

3.The last sentence of the whole passage ''That's gr8! But I'm v busy rite now. Will call U 2nite."
   May probably means________.

A. It's eight now. I'm very busy. (I) Will call you tonight
B. That's great! But I'm very busy right now. (I) Will call you tonight 
C. That's great! But I'm busy writing now. (I) Will call you at two tonight
D. "8" is great! But I'm very busy right now. (I) Will call it "U" to night

4.What do you think of the author according to the last paragraph?

A. Worried.    
B. Ironic.    
C. Kind.      
D. Humorous.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容,從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項.選項中有兩項為多余選項。
     Being organized is an important skill for school and life.  When you're well organized, you can stay
focused, instead of spending time hunting things down.    1   For schoolwork, it means having one
notebook or place where you store all your assignments, so you know what you have to do and when.
  Keeping labeled folders(貼有標簽的文件夾) for handouts(課堂講義)and keeping all your
schoolwork neat and in a specific place-these are the main parts of organization.  
     For home stuff, being organized means having a place to put your things and putting them back as you
go.    2   It means keeping your schoolbag, your shoes, and your clean underwear in the same places so
you always know where to find them.  
     Planning is part of being organized, too.    3   Calendars, lists, and schedules can help you plan.  You
can buy or draw a calendar and keep it near your workplace.  Making a schedule or "to-do" list for
yourself is a good idea.  Looking at your list helps you keep track of what you need to do.    4  Check
off things when you've done them.  Use your list to help you decide which thing is most important to
work on first.  
       5  But once you're organized, it feels great.  The less time you spend hunting around for things or
panicking about homework, the more time you have for better things, like reading a good book or
playing.  

A.  Add new things as you get assignments.  
B.  First, you should get your schoolwork organized.  
C.  It means hanging your coat up instead of dropping it on the floor or throwing it on a chair
D.  It takes some extra efforts to organize yourself and your stuff.  
E.  Planning means deciding what you will do and when you will do it.  
F.  You will benefit a lot from a good habit.  
G.  What does it mean to be organized?

     Weather changes when the temperature and the amount of water in the atmosphere change. We can
see and feel water coming from the atmosphere when we have rain. But the water must somehow get
back to the atmosphere. Meteorologists call this the water cycle.
     There are many stages in the water cycle. Rain falls when water vapour in clouds condenses(冷卻成
液體). Drops of water form and fall to the ground. The water soaks into the ground and feeds streams
and rivers. A lot of rain falls into the sea. The heat of the sun evaporates some of the water in the ground
and in the rivers, lakes and the sea. It changes the liquid water into water vapour. The vapour rises onto
the air. Water vapour is normally invisible. On a very damp or humid day, however, you can sometimes
see water vapour rising from a puddle or pond in a mist above the water. Water vapour also gets into the
air from living things. Trees and other plants take in water through their roots and give off water vapour
from their leaves.  People and land animals drink water and breathe out water vapour. In all these ways
the water returns to the air. There it gathers to form clouds and condenses to form rain. The rain falls to
earth, and the cycle starts again. It contains even if snow or hail fall instead because both eventually melt
and form water. The amount of water vapour is more in the air tropics than in the cold polar regions.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Water cycle.                    
B. Water vapour.
C. How rain forms.                  
D. Water, vapour, rain.

2. How many ways of the water returning to the air are discussed in the text?

A. Three    
B. Four    
C. Five      
D. Six

3. Whether water vapour can be seen or not depends on_____.

A. how much water is evaporated
B. how good your eyes are
C. in which way water is evaporated
D. climate or weather

4. From the passage, we get to know_____.

A. there is more water vapour in the air tropics than in cold polar regions
B. there is more water vapour in the air in cold polar region than in the tropics
C. it gets more rain in the tropics than in cold polar regions because there is less vapor
D. the amount of water vapour in the air depends on how often it rains

1. The main subject talked about in this passage is________.

A. science on learning a second language
B. man's ability of learning a second language
C. language can help brain power
D. language learning and maths study

2. We may know from the scientific findings that________.

A. the earlier you start to learn a second language, the greater the grey matter
density is
B. there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn't know a second
language
C. the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people's brain
D. the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time

3. In the last two paragraphs,the author wants to tell us that________.

A. learning a second language is the same as studying maths
B. early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects
C. Italian is the best choice for you as a second language
D. you'd better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language