Hummingbirds have got their name from the distinct “hum” sound made by their rapidly flapping (拍打) wings. The size of the bird decides the number of flaps it can do. The average lifetime of a hummingbird is 3 or 4 years, but some of them have lived beyond 12 years also. They are unique in many ways. Besides the number of rapid flaps they can do per second, they can also fly backwards.
Hummingbirds have an amazing sense of assessing the amount of sugar in the nectar (花蜜) they eat. They feed on the nectar of flowers. Hummingbirds do not feed on flowers whose nectar contains less than 10% sugar. Talk about a sweet tooth! As they cannot sustain themselves on nectar alone because of its poor nutritional value, they also feed on insects and spiders, and hummingbird food mixture that one can make at home.
Attracting hummingbirds to your garden will require a little planning. Plant butterfly bush, mimosa, coral bells, foxglove, morning glory, etc. These flowers attract the hummingbirds due to their high visibility (可见性) and nectar production. Avoid using pesticides (杀虫剂), as it will not only kill the insects around the flowers, but hurt the hummingbirds as well.
A common food for these birds is the sweettasting sugar syrup (糖浆). Hummingbird food ingredients are just two: sugar and water. Take a large clean bowl, pour in it four cups of hot water, and dissolve one cup of table sugar in it. Stir slowly until all sugar has dissolved.
Hummingbirds, tiny as they are, collect a lot of nutrition. Providing them with hummingbird food mixture made of sugar water is a sure way to get all these beauties humming in your garden.Hummingbirds will have some little animals for their meal when .
| A．they can't find any green plants |
| B．they can't take in enough nutrition |
| C．they are bored with eating nectar |
| D．they are too old to fly |
In order to attract hummingbirds, you should .
| A．plan high trees |
| B．grow plants with small flowers |
| C．grow plants whose flowers are bright in color |
| D．grow plants coming into flower in the morning |
The main idea of the fourth paragraph is .
| A．how to prepare food for hummingbirds |
| B．where hummingbirds can find delicious food |
| C．hummingbirds can't live for long without sugar |
| D．hummingbirds like manmade food better than nectar |
The argument over a Philadelphia school district accused of secretly spying on pupils through laptop cameras became fiercer today after it acknowledged obtaining more than 56,000 images of its students, many of them in their homes.
When the scandal (丑闻) first broke, it was believed that only a few pictures had been taken of one pupil, Blake Robbins. But court papers released this week showed that thousands of images were taken of Robbins and other students.
Robbins and his parents have filed an action against the school district. Court papers from the Robbins’s lawyers said that at first it was thought that the laptops’ technology had produced a few images but they found more than 400 of Robbins, including images “showing him partially undressed and sleeping”.
Robbins said he did not know why the spying device was activated (激活) as his laptop had not been reported stolen or missing. Other students whose pictures were taken said their laptops had not been reported stolen or missing either.
An administrator at the school, one of the few with authority to track the laptops, remained silent, refusing to answer questions.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 38,500 of the images came from six laptops that had been reported missing from the Harriton gym in September 2008. These apparently helped the police catch a suspect. Another set of images were from cameras in laptops which employees responsible for tracking failed or forgot to turn off.
The court papers, filed by Robbins’ lawyers, said that the technology was activated between 20 October and 4 November last year, with most of the 400 shots of him while he was in his home, and included his family. “There were additional webcam pictures and screen shots taken of Blake Robbins which, up to now, have not been recovered because the evidence was deleted by the IT department,” the court papers say.
One of Robbins’ lawyers is trying to obtain access to the administrator’s home computer to confirm whether she downloaded any of the pictures. The court papers indicate she may be a voyeur (窥隐私者) though it has not been proved. We can learn from the passage that _________.
| A．Robbins’ parents remained calm over the scandal |
| B．Robbins had his laptop stolen before the scandal |
| C．the laptops’ technology produced some images |
| D．the private rights of the students were offended |
What did The Philadelphia Inquirer say about the case?
| A．The police had found some evidence. |
| B．Most of the laptops in Harriton gym were missing. |
| C．Employees in charge of tracking deliberately left the laptops on. |
| D．There was obviously more than one suspect related to the case. |
According to the court papers, the administrator _________.
| A．may have spied her students on purpose |
| B．may have broken into Robbin’s house |
| C．has downloaded many students’ pictures |
| D．has removed evidence from computers |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Modern technology has negative effects on our lives. |
| B．Students in Philadelphia are accustomed to being spied on secretly. |
| C．A Philadelphia school is charged with spying students through laptop cameras. |
| D．The American government should take measures to improve teachers’ qualities. |
| Answering the Community Needs of Our City The Silver City Council recognizes that citizens have certain needs. To better meet your needs, we have made several changes to community facilities in 2004. This chart shows how we have tried to make your life better. |
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| Transport |
☆Some facilities at Station Street Hospital have been upgraded. |
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| ☆Three stations for the suburbs have been added to the western train service. ☆20 new buses for the southern line were purchased in January. ☆50 percent of city bus-stops have been upgraded. ☆Buses to the eastern suburbs will run every 15 minutes. |
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| Education |
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| ☆Textbooks will be free to all primary students in 2004 ! ☆Rental for private schools has been reduced. ☆Teachers report that the 'no hat - no play' rule has been successful. |
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| Communication |
Protection and Security |
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| ☆Broadband cable is now available to all parts of the city. ☆All of the new Government buildings are ' smart'-wired for better computer service! |
☆Extra police now patrol (巡逻 ) the tourist areas. ☆50 new police officers graduated in July and have taken up duties in the city area. |
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| Medical Facilities |
Entertainment / Recreation |
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| ☆The new state-of-the-art Nightingale Hospital was opened in June. ☆To overcome a shortage of trained medical staff at Dover Hospital, 10 doctors have been employed from overseas. |
☆The John Street basketball courts have been re-surfaced ! ☆The new Central Community Building opened in May. ☆5,000 new fiction books were bought for the Silver City Library. |
The public notice is from _________.
| A．the community | B．the local government |
| C．the citizens | D．a travel agency |
The notice is mainly about _________.
| A．the work carried out by the people of Silver City |
| B．the facilities available in Silver City |
| C．some improvements in Silver City |
| D．information for interested tourists |
All the following are true EXCEPT that ___________.
| A．both residents and tourists can enjoy more security now |
| B．Station Street Hospital had out-dated facilities before 2004 |
| C．primary students had to pay for their textbooks in 2003 |
| D．Dover Hospital is still short of trained medical staff |
Which of the following changes would tourists to Silver City be most happy with?
| A．Travel books are provided in the new library. |
| B．Traveling by train is more convenient in Silver City. |
| C．Free medical treatment is available at Station Street Hospital. |
| D．There are more police officers on duty now. |
At a few minutes past five, Dave noted that the blanket of darkness was lifting. He was just able to make out the heavier masses that eventually appeared as the familiar trees that lined the road at the base of the hill. The upper reaches of the sky showed lighter shades of gray.
Dave got out of bed quietly and dressed quickly. He mixed a spoonful of instant chocolate into a glass of cold water, and his impatience forced him to finish the drink in gulps.
As he walked down toward the lake, Dave paused to reach for the fishing pole and gear box on the bench where he had left them the night before.
By the time where he reached the small boat, a thick white mist（雾气）had spread over the surface of the water. He stepped into the boat, sat down, and rowed out of the weed beds that lined the edge of the shore.
The outer fringe（边缘）of the lake disappeared as the boat moved forward noiselessly. All he could see was the enveloping whiteness. He could not tell where the boat and the surrounding air met the surface of the lake.
Dave rowed steadily ahead, relying on a mental picture of the surroundings. Then the mist began to rise, slowly. It soon rested inches above the still surface of the lake. The heavy silence was now being broken by the fish breaking through the surface as they leaped out of the water for low-flying insects.
The magic time had arrived. Dave raised his pole. Dawn was broken. He was excited with expectancy.Dave got up early in the morning to .
| A．enjoy the scene of the lake | B．seek adventure at the lake |
| C．go fishing in the lake | D．take a walk by the lake |
According to the story, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Dave broke the quietness of the lake. |
| B．Dave was familiar with the surroundings. |
| C．Dave took a picture of the lake with him. |
| D．Dave forgot the fishing pole at the beginning. |
The underlined word “It” in Paragraph 6 refers to .
| A．fish | B．boat | C．silence | D．mist |
What can we learn from the end of the story?
| A．Dave was hopeful of catching a lot of fish. |
| B．Dave wished the weather would be better. |
| C．Dave was happy that dawn was broken. |
| D．Dave expected someone else would come. |
Bad behavior is something that most people don’t want to tolerate. However, we have had to tolerate it more and more with each passing year. There seems to be no concern for other people’s feelings; nor do we seem to care about other people’s property. We live in an age where saying what is on our minds has priority over any harm that it might do.
There are ways to deal with bad behavior in modern times, though. Too many of us let bad behavior go because we don’t want to rock the boat. This is the time that you should rock the boat and rock it hard. Let people know that you expect it to change. That is the key to dealing with bad behavior. If it continues, take the proper action for the situation you are in. If you have developed the habit of bad behavior, take a hard look at it and then change it. You can’t expect others to behave well if you aren’t willing to look at your own bad behavior and change it.
If you don’t have control over anything in a situation, just walk away from it and move on to something that you do have control over. You needn’t feel ashamed of that. Besides, you must stand firm in what you believe. You can’t control what other people do, but you can control what you do about it. You can’t go wrong if you stand firm in what you believe. Understanding your responsibility is also important. Don’t try to take on the responsibility for other people’s behavior. Take care of what you have to and do it in the way you know it should be done. The rest will take care of itself.
Bad behavior is on the rise with more and more people behaving badly without having to pay any consequences. Worry about how you behave rather than how others behave. Pretty soon, it just may catch on.It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that _____________.
| A．bad behavior is common today |
| B．bad behavior is sure to hurt people deeply |
| C．people behave badly because of carelessness |
| D．people are more understanding than before |
When dealing with people’s bad behavior, you are advised to ____________.
| A．fight it bravely whenever it happens |
| B．ignore it if it is beyond your control |
| C．let it go to avoid trouble |
| D．make people feel ashamed of their bad behavior |
Why do many people behave badly according to the passage?
| A．Because bad behavior is often ignored. |
| B．Because people are often influenced by others. |
| C．Because people aren’t punished for their bad behavior. |
| D．Because people haven’t realized its consequences. |
In the past, man did not have to think about protection of the environment. There were very few people on the earth, and natural resources seemed to be unlimited.
Today things are different. The world has become too crowded. We are using up our natural resources too quickly, and at the same time we are polluting our environment with dangerous chemicals. If we continue to do this, human life on the earth will not survive.
Everyone realizes today that if too many fish are taken from the sea, there will soon be none left. Yet, with modern fishing methods, more and more fish are caught. We know that if too many trees are cut down, forests will disappear and nothing will grow on land. Yet, we continue to use more powerful machines to cut down more and more trees.
We realize that if rivers are polluted with waste products from factories, we will die. However, in most countries waste is still put into rivers, but there are few laws to stop this.
We also know that if the population of the countries in the world is to rise at the present rate in a few years, there will not be enough food.
What can we do to solve these problems?
If we eat more vegetables and less meat, there will be more food available for everyone. Land that is used to grow crops can feed five times more people than land where animals are kept.
Our natural resources will last longer if we learn to recycle them.
The world population will not rise so quickly if people use modern methods of birth control.
Finally, if all of us think about the problem, we will have a better and cleaner planet in the future.This passage mainly tells us about ______.
| A．the problems we are facing today about environment and the ways to solve them |
| B．the unlimited natural resources in the world |
| C．our rivers are being polluted by waste from factories |
| D．the ways early man protected the environment |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．If we eat more vegetables, more food can be saved. |
| B．In the past, there was no need for people to think about environmental protection. |
| C．If we keep on cutting trees, forests will disappear. |
| D．We shouldn’t take more and more fish out of the sea, or there will soon be no fish left. |
What is implied (暗示) in the passage?
| A．Man is cleverer than any other animal. |
| B．Man will destroy himself if he doesn’t solve the problem. |
| C．Modern fishing methods are helpful in our fishing industry. |
| D．We should make more laws in order to survive. |
From the passage we can see that the world’s natural resources ______.
| A．will never be used up | B．are being polluted |
| C．are as plentiful as in the past | D．are being used up very quickly |
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