If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonnet and say, "Hey, Butterfly Man," his face would break into a smile. The title suits him. And he loves it.
Arthur Bonnet works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back thanks to him. But years ago if you'd told him this was what he'd be doing someday, he would have laughed, "You're crazy." As a boy, he used to be a little tough guy on the streets". At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.
"I knew it had hurt my mom," Bonner said after he got out of prison. "So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again."
One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called E1 Segundo blue.
"I saw the sign 'Butterfly Habitat' and asked, 'How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?'" Bonner recalls. "Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass (放大镜) , "Look at the leaves. ' I could see all these caterpillars (蝴蝶的幼虫) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, 'Without the plant, there are no butterflies. '"
Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly that needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he's been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragals, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.
The butterfly's population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonnet, he earned something more: he turned his life around.
For six years now Bonnet has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.When he was young, Arthur Bonner
| A．broke the law and ended up in prison |
| B．was fond of shooting and hurt his morn |
| C．often offered necessary help to other people |
| D．often caught butterflies and took them home |
Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he ______.
| A．found the butterfly had died out |
| B．won many prizes from his professor |
| C．met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology |
| D．collected butterflies and put them into a lab |
From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has ______
| A．made Bonner famous | B．changed Bonner's life |
| C．brought Bonner wealth | D．enriched Bonner's knowledge |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．A Promise to Morn | B．A Man Saved by Butterflies |
| C．A Story of Butterflies | D．A Job Offered by Dr. Mattoni |
Maybe you are an average(一般的) student. You probably think you will never be a top student. However, anyone can become better if he or she does his or her best. Here are some tips to help you.
★ Plan your time carefully. You should plan your time for things such as eating, sleeping and dressing. Then make a good, regular time for studying. But don’t forget to set enough time for entertainment.
★ Keep your study quiet and clean. The study should have a desk, a chair and some study materials, but no games, no radio and no television! When you sit down to study, you can put your heart into it. Make good use of your time.
★ Listen to everything that the teacher says. Listening carefully in class means less work later. Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says.
★ After you get home from school, go over your notes. Review the important points. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss next day, read the material. It will help you study better.
★ Develop a good attitude to tests. The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. It helps you know what you are not good at. The world will still go on even if you fail in a test, so don’t be too worried.How many tips are mentioned in the passage?
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
What does the underlined word “study” mean in Chinese?
| A．学习 | B．研究 | C．书房 | D．教室 |
Which is a good place for studying?
| A．A clean and beautiful place. |
| B．The place with a computer. |
| C．The place with a television and a radio. |
| D．A quiet place with a chair, a desk and some study materials. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The purpose of a test is to show what you are good at. |
| B．After class, you should review what you have learned. |
| C．You should listen to your teacher and take notes carefully in class. |
| D．When you plan your time, you should think of the time for eating, sleeping and so on. |
What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．How to become a better student. | B．How to plan your time. |
| C．How to study English. | D．How to take notes. |
In western countries, especially in America, some social customs have lasted still today. For example, ladies first, that is to say, women in those countries are respected(尊重) in many ways.
In the U.S. and Europe, you will see men usually open doors for women and women generally walk ahead of men into a room or a restaurant unless the man have to be ahead of the ladies to choose the table, to open the door of a car or to give other services. On the street, men almost walk or across the street on the side of the ladies which is closer to traffic, but if a man walks with two ladies, he should walk between them.In this passage， “customs” especially refers to _______.
| A．what a group of people usually do |
| B．what people in western countries do |
| C．what people in eastern countries do |
| D．what people in united states do |
When you introduce a group of people in English, you will probably begin with _____.
| A．Men and women | B．Women and men |
| C．Gentlemen and ladies | D．Ladies and gentlemen |
In which country people may think it strange that men should open doors for women?
| A．England | B．Italy | C．Japan | D．Germany |
Which of the following statements is not true?
| A．In Europe, a man generally follows a woman when they enter a restaurant together. |
| B．In America a man who walks ahead of a women always gives services. |
| C．In the U.S, women almost always walk closer to the running cars. |
| D．In the U.S, men should always walk by the side of the ladies. |
Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of this passage?
| A．In western countries, some social customs have lasted till today. |
| B．Women in western countries are respected in many ways. |
| C．Men usually open doors for women in the U.S. as well as in Europe. |
| D．Men show respect for women by giving them good services. |
Since people first sent rockets into space in the 1950s, we have been leaving behind all sorts of things. Some of them, like the camera, were lost by astronauts while they did work outside their spaceship. But much of the space junk is made up of little pieces of things that were once bigger objects, until they struck each other and broke apart.
Some things we send into space fall back toward the earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But larger pieces sometimes survive the extreme heat and hit the ground or the ocean at great speeds. So there is always concern that something may fall from the sky and do some harm.
But space junk falling on housetops (屋顶) is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting (绕轨道飞行) the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.
So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet? Marco Castronuovo, an Italian researcher, talks about sending a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere.
Mr. Castronuovo has proposed (提议) using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite would jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.
Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean-up have been too great. Mr. Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money.Much of the space junk _____.
| A．was thrown by the astronauts |
| B．is from broken spaceship |
| C．is made up of small pieces of things |
| D．returns to the earth piece by piece |
Scientists are most worried that the space junk _____.
| A．will stop the future space vehicles |
| B．will do harm to the atmosphere |
| C．will fall on the housetops |
| D．will burn up in space |
What does Marco Castronuovo think of his system?
| A．It can remove space junk completely. |
| B．It can save a large amount of money. |
| C．It can create a large amount of space. |
| D．It can develop robotic technology. |
It’s a sure sign that summer is over and winter is on the way — leaves that were once deep green turn red, yellow and bright orange. It happens every autumn. But did you ever wonder why?
The leaves start changing color when the nights start getting longer and the temperature starts getting cooler. Some scientists think that as the number of daylight hours shrinks, the leaves stop making chlorophyll which makes plants green. The reason is that the process of making chlorophyll requires sunlight. But according to horticulture (园艺) educator Susan Rose from Colorado State University, it turns out leaves don’t really change color at all. “The fall colors are actually there all along,” she said. “But they are covered by the green chlorophyll. As the chlorophyll stops being produced, the other colors can shine through.”
The kind of color that the leaves are going to change to is determined by the plant’s genetic (基因的) background. In some places, the leaves start changing color in September — before autumn even officially begins. In other places, they don’t change until late October or even November. Some scientists say the leaves have been changing color later than usual in recent years. And they think global warming has something to do with that.
In one study, researchers found that the growing season in the Northern Hemisphere was nearly a week longer, on average, in 2008 than it was in 1982. And a professor from Harvard University found that the leaves, west of Boston, Massachusetts, are changing color about three days later than they used to. However, other scientists disagree with the global warming theory. Susan Rose said the leaves in her part of Colorado are changing “right on schedule.” But the leaves in other parts of that state are running a little late. “The lateness in the mountains may have something to do with the really warm late summer and early fall,” she said. “But I’m afraid that’s just a guess.”According to Susan Rose, _____.
| A．the fall colors are always in leaves |
| B．leaves make chlorophyll all the seasons |
| C．leaves’ changing color have nothing to with the weather |
| D．leaves begin changing color because they start making chlorophyll |
The underlined word “shrinks” in Paragraph 2 could best be replaced by _____.
| A．reduces | B．increases | C．lasts | D．appears |
Scientists guess leaves change color later than usual probably as a result of _____.
| A．genetic background | B．dry weather |
| C．global warming | D．low temperature |
The purpose of the last paragraph is to tell readers _____.
| A．why leaves change color at fall |
| B．leaves change color at different time |
| C．the effects of the global warming on plants |
| D．different opinions on the lateness of leaves’ changing color |
Have you listened to music on an iPod? Used a computer at home? Those are just two of the ways your life was touched by the work of Steve Jobs.
Jobs, one founder of Apple Computers, died on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at the age of 56. He had been fighting with cancer since 2004.
Steven Jobs was born in Los Altos, California. He and his childhood friend, Steve Wozniak, designed and built the first Apple computer in his parents’ garage in the 1970s. The Apple II, built when Jobs was just 21 years old, was the first personal computer to be widely sold to the public.
Steven Jobs didn’t stop there. He went on to invent more devices (设备) that allowed people to bring their own creativity to computing: the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. People found his products beautiful and easy to use.
Jobs also changed the music and film industries. He started Pixar, a film production company in 1986. Toy Story was the world’s first computer-animated feature film (电脑动画电影).
“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, confident enough to believe he could change the world, and clever enough to do it,” said President Barack Obama. “By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only easy to reach, but fun ... And there may be no greater praise to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his death on a device he invented.”
All around the world, people are talking about the effects that Jobs’ creations have had. By creating products that surprised people, he changed the way people worked and lived their everyday lives.Which of the following about Steve Jobs is NOT true?
| A．He was born in California in 1955. |
| B．He built the Apple II in 1970. |
| C．He set up a film production company at 31. |
| D．He was found to suffer from cancer at 49. |
The underlined word “innovators” in Paragraph 6 could best be replaced by _____.
| A．inventors | B．businessmen | C．producers | D．founders |
According to Barack Obama, the highest praise for Steve Jobs is that _____.
| A．his products are widely used all over the world |
| B．his products are thought to be beautiful and easy to use |
| C．people all over the world are sad at his death |
| D．people learned about his death from his products |
Jobs changed the way we work and live by _____.
| A．building the first personal computer |
| B．making computer-animated feature films |
| C．developing the music industry |
| D．creating surprising products |
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