Every year seals would crowd ashore in Farne Island and give birth to their pups. Between early October and early December, 1,500 seal pups will be born. Almost half of them will not make it past the first three weeks of life.
“The pups have to stay out of the water for the first three weeks, when they have their white coat, which is not very waterproof,” explains the warden (监察员)，who spends nine months on the Island.
“But when you’re born in November on a rock in the North Sea, it’s a tough start to life,” he said. Storms often wash young pups into the water. And occasionally, young, inexperienced mothers abandon their pups and head out to sea.
“We lost 41% last year,” said David Steel, the National Trust’s head warden on the Farne Islands. “Mother Nature certainly keeps them in check.”
Despite the early challenges for every newborn seal, the population is healthily and slowly and steadily growing. There are almost 4,000 seals on a set of islands, which is named a Special Area of Conservation(SAC), meaning it is protected under EU regulations. This successful human safeguarding of the seals’ habitat is huge turnaround(转机).
Just a few decades ago, the seal population was deliberately decimated. The animals used to be thought of as a threat to local fish stocks. During the late 1960s and 1970s, thousands of seals were shot in a cull(剔除)that aimed to protect the local fishing industry. According to the National Trust, between 1962 and 1983 approximately 2,000 adult females and 3,000 pups were shot.
But, as the fishing industry collapsed, it was gradually replaced by tourism. Today, several companies use fishing boats to take groups of people to visit the islands and admire the scenery, seabirds and, of course, the seals that make their homes in this bleakly beautiful place. In the first three weeks after they were born, almost half of the seal pups _______.
| A．would be abandoned by their mothers |
| B．would be protected by the wardens |
| C．couldn’t live independently |
| D．would die mostly in the sea water. |
According to David Steel, death of so many pups________.
| A．is a normal and natural phenomenon |
| B．is mainly caused by farmers’ killing |
| C．can be prevented efficiently by man |
| D．will be controlled by Mother Nature |
The underlined word “decimate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to ____.
| A．increase | B．kill | C．reduce | D．control |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．The Beautiful Farne Island |
| B．A Tough Beginning |
| C．How to Protect Grey Seals |
| D．Tourism or Fishing Industry |
Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling(赌博) and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and nearly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup(拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him.
It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen.
“I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”Mrs. Lang did all housework because _______.
| A．she couldn’t find any work |
| B．she thought her husband was tired |
| C．her husband spent all time in gambling |
| D．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling |
_______, so he was put into lockup.
| A．Mr. Lang often gambled |
| B．Mr. Lang was late for work |
| C．Mr. Lang didn’t help his wife at home |
| D．Mr. Lang wasn’t polite to the police |
Which of the following is right?
| A．The boy hoped his father to be put into lockup again. |
| B．The boy thought his father needed some policemen. |
| C．The boy hoped his father to stop gambling soon. |
| D．The boy hoped his mother to come back. |
Margaret, married with two small children, has been working for the last seven years as a night cleaner, cleaning offices in a big building.
She trained as a nurse, but had to give it up when her elder child became seriously ill. “I would have liked to go back to it, but the shifts(工作班次) are all wrong for me, as I have to be home to get the children up and off to school.”
So she works as a cleaner instead, from 9 p．m. till 6 a．m. five nights a week for just ￡90, before tax and insurance. “It’s better than it was last year, but I still think that people who work ‘unsocial hours’ should get a bit extra.”
The hours she's chosen to work meant that she sees plenty of the children, but very little of her husband. However, she doesn't think that puts any pressure on their relationship.
Her work isn't physically very hard, but it's not exactly pleasant, either. “I do get angry with people who leave their offices like a place for raising pigs. If they realized people like me have to do it, perhaps they'd be a bit more careful.”
The fact that she's working all night doesn't worry Margaret at all. Unlike some dark buildings at night, the building where she works is fully lit, and the women work in groups of three. “Since I've got to be here, I try to enjoy myself——and I usually do, because of the other girls. We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags.”
Another challenge Margaret has to face is the reaction of other people when she tells them what she does for a living. “They think you're a cleaner because you don't know how to read and write，” said Margaret. “I used to think what_my_parents_would_say_if_they_knew_what_I'd_been_doing,_but I don't think that way any more. I don't dislike the work though I can't say I'm mad about it.”Margaret quit her job as a nurse because________
| A．she wanted to earn more money to support her family |
| B．she had suffered a lot of mental pressure |
| C．she felt tired of taking care of patients |
| D．she needed the right time to look after her children |
Margaret gets angry with people who work in the office because________.
| A．they never clean their offices |
| B．they look down upon cleaners |
| C．they always make a mess in their offices |
| D．they never do their work carefully |
When at work, Margaret feels________.
| A．Lighthearted because of her fellow workers |
| B．happy because the building is fully lit |
| C．tired because of the heavy workload |
| D．bored because time passed slowly |
The underlined part in the last paragraph implies that Margaret's parents would________.
| A．help care for her children |
| B．regret what they had said |
| C．show sympathy for her |
| D．feel disappointed in her |
Imagine, one day, getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours, and then, after a full day of work, going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.
Sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic, with the development of China’s high-speed railway system. And that’s not all. China has an even greater high-speed railway plan— to connect the country with Southeast Asia, and eventually Eastern Europe.
China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years, eventually reaching London and Singapore.
China has proposed three such projects. The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly to Germany. The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.
If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward, people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days.
The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard. And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.
China’s bullet train (高速客车), the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou, already has the world’s fastest average speed. It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.
Of course, there are some technical challenges to overcome. There are so many issues that need to be settled, such as safety, rail gauge (轨距), maintenance of railway tracks. So, it’s important to pay attention to every detail.
But the key issue is really money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.
China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment. Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.
It’ll be a win-win project. For other countries, the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business, tourism and so on, not to mention the better communication among those countries.
For China, such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources, but would also help develop China’s far west. We foresee that in the coming decades, millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where the land is empty and resources unused. With high-speed trains, people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all. And they’ll trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because _______.
| A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions |
| B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways |
| C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries |
| D．the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation, business and tourism |
According to the passage, the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is _______.
| A．technical issues | B．safety of the system |
| C．financial problems | D．maintenance of railway tracks |
Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed railway plan?
| A．Critical. | B．Reserved. | C．Doubtful | D．Positive. |
Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies like a fat chicken, eats green leaves, has the stomach of a cow and has claws (爪) on its wings when young. They build their homes about 4.6m above the river, an important feature (特征) for the safety of the young. It is called the hoatzin.
In appearance, the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside. The head is small, with a large set of feathers on the top, bright red eyes, and blue skin. Its nearest relatives are the common birds, cuckoos. Its most striking feature, though, is only found in the young.
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip. Using these four claws, together with the beak (喙), they can climb about in the bushes, looking very much like primitive birds must have done. When the young hoatzins have learned to fly, they lose their claws.
During the drier months between December and March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds, but in April, when the rainy season begins, they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.What is the text mainly about?
| A．Hoatzins in dry and rainy seasons. |
| B．The relatives and enemies of hoatzins. |
| C．Primitive birds and hoatzins of the Amazon. |
| D．The appearance and living habits of hoatzins. |
Young hoatzins are different from their parents in that_________ ．
| A．they look like young cuckoos |
| B．they have claws on the wings |
| C．they eat a lot like a cow |
| D．they live on river banks |
What can we infer about primitive birds from the text?
| A．They had claws to help them climb. |
| B．They could fly long distances. |
| C．They had four wings like hoatzins. |
| D．They had a head with long feathers on the top. |
Why do hoatzins collect together in smaller groups when the rainy season comes?
| A．To find more food. | B．To protect themselves better. |
| C．To keep themselves warm. | D．To produce their young. |
Love, success, happiness, family and freedom——how important are these values to you? Here is one interview which explores the fundamental questions in life.
Question: Could you introduce yourself first?
Answer: My name is Misbah, 27 years old. I was born in a war-torn area. Right now I’m a web designer.
Q: What are your great memories?
A: My parents used to take us to hunt birds, climb trees, and play in the fields. For me it was like a holiday because we were going to have fun all day long. Those are my great memories.
Q: Does your childhood mean a lot to you?
A: Yes. As life was very hard, I used to work to help bring money in for the family. I spent my childhood working, with responsibilities beyond my age. However, it taught me to deal with problems all alone. I learnt to be independent.
Q: What changes would you like to make in your life?
A: If I could change something in my life, I’d change it so that my childhood could have taken place in another area. I would have loved to live with my family in freedom. Who cares whether we have much money, or whether we have a beautiful house? It doesn’t matter as long as I can live with my family and we are safe.
Q: How do you get along with your parents?
A: My parents supported me until I came of age. I want to give back what I’ve got. That’s our way. But I am working in another city. My only contact with my parents now is through the phone, but I hate using it. It filters(过滤)out your emotion and leaves your voice only. My deepest feelings should be passed through sight, hearing and touch.In Misbah’s childhood, .
| A．he was free from worry |
| B．he liked living in the countryside |
| C．he was fond of getting close to nature |
| D．he often spent holidays with his family |
What did Misbah desire most in his childhood?
| A．A colorful life. | B．A beautiful house. |
| C．Peace and freedom. | D．Money for his family. |
How would Misbah prefer to communicate with his parents?
| A．By chatting on the Internet. | B．By calling them sometimes. |
| C．By paying weekly visits. | D．By writing them letters. |
If there were only one question left, what would it most probably be?
| A．What was your childhood dream? |
| B．What is your biggest achievement? |
| C．What is your parents’ view of you? |
| D．What was your hardest experience in the war? |
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