Wouldn’t it be great if you could just look up at the sky and read the weather forecast right away? Well, you can. The forecast is written in clouds. If you can read that writing, you can tell something about the atmosphere. With some practice, you can become a pretty good weather forecaster. Who knows, you might even do as well as meteorologists（气象学家）.
Meteorologists use much more information than just the appearance of the clouds to make their forecast. They collect data（数据）from all over the world. Then they put it into powerful, high speed computers. This does give the meteorologists an advantage, because they can track（追踪）weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country. But you have an advantage, too. You can look at the sky and get your data directly. A meteorologist uses a computer forecast that’s several hours old to make a local forecast.
What are you seeing when you look at a cloud? “A picture of moisture(水汽)is doing in the atmosphere,” says meteorologist Peter Leavitt. There’s moisture throughout the atmosphere. Most of the time you don’t see it, because it’s in the form of an unseeable gas called water vapor. Sometimes, the temperature of the air gets cold enough to cause the waster vapor to change to liquid water. It’s called condensation(凝结), and we see it happen all the time (for example, when humid air from the shower hits the cold glasses of a mirror). When enough water vapor condenses（冷凝）, droplets(小滴）come in the air. These droplets scatter(分散) light. A cloud is seen.
Watching clouds over a day or two tells you a lot more than a single cloud about the weather to come. Changes in clouds show changes in the atmosphere. You should begin to notice patterns. Certain clouds, following each other in order, can signal an approaching storm. But don’t take our word for it; see for yourself.According to the passage, an ordinary person might read the weather forecast as well as meteorologists _________.
| A．with some simple practice looking up at the sky |
| B．with the help of the high-speed computers |
| C．through complex (复杂的) instruments |
| D．by visiting a weather station |
Meteorologists can make their weather forecast .
| A．by using information of the appearance of the clouds only |
| B．by collecting data from parts of the world |
| C．by collecting and analyzing（分析）the data |
| D．by watching the sky |
According to the passage, your advantage in weather forecast is that .
| A．you have a high-speed computer |
| B．you observe the sky and get your data directly |
| C．you have more instruments at home |
| D．you can track weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country |
This passage mainly tells us about how to .
| A．train ourselves as meteorologists |
| B．be an assistant to a meteorologist |
| C．forecast the weather by ourselves |
| D．broadcast the weather forecast |
How do successful people think? What drives them? Interviews and investigations indicate that there are several keys to success that successful people share.
First of all, successful people never blame someone or something outside of themselves for their failure to go ahead.They realize that their future lies in their own hands. They understand that they cannot control things in life, such as nature, the past and other people. But in the meantime, they are well aware that they can control their own thoughts and actions. They take responsibility for their life and regard this as one of the most empowering things they can do. Perhaps what most separate successful people from others is that they live life “on purpose”——they are doing what they believe they are put here to do．In their opinion, having a purpose in their life is the most important element that enables them to become fully functioning people．They hold that when they live their life on purpose, their main concern is to do the job right. They love what they do—and it shows. People want to do business with them because of their commitment（投身；奉献）. To live their life on purpose，successful people find a cause they believe in and create a business around it. Besides, they never easily give up.Once they have set up goals in their life, they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.Rather than seeing it negative or depressing they use the knowledge to spur themselves on an
d go after what they want energetically and passionately.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
| A．How People Live Their Life on Purpose |
| B．How People Can Be Successful |
| C．How People Can Do Their Own Things |
| D．How People Do Business |
By living life “on purpose”，successful people can __________.
| A．do a lot of work |
| B．concentrate on their jobs |
| C．do business with many people |
| D．do all of the above mentioned |
The underlined word “it’’ in the second paragraph refers to __________.
| A．the main concern of successful people |
| B．the job that successful people do |
| C．the commitment with which successful people do their job |
| D．the business that successful people do with other people |
The underlined word “spur” in the last sentence most probably means________.
| A．encourage | B．excite | C．relieve | D．force |
It is Saturday afternoon. You and your friends are planning to go to the movies and then spend the night together. Just as you start to get ready, your dad reminds you it is your aunt's birthday and the whole family is going out to dinner to celebrate. How can this possibly end without a huge argument?
One of the greatest sources of tension(紧张情绪)between teenagers and their families is the struggle to balance personal desires with family expectations. As you are getting older, you are becoming more independent and more interested in being with your friends.
However, at the same time，your family is trying to figure out how to deal with these changes. While you once spent most of your free time with your family, you are now often absent from home. Parents may get their feelings hurt. Or they might feel that they are losing control of their family during this period. You might feel angry that so many family demands are placed on you.
There are a few things you can try to make it a little easier to ease(缓解)the tension.
* Make your plans in advance．Ask your parents if there is anything else planned at that time.
* When something with your friends interferes(干扰；冲突)with a family event, try to figure out if there is any way you can do both.
* Suggest something you would really like to do with your family. Sometimes parents feel better just knowing their teenager wants to spend time with them.
Some of the time you won’t be happy with the outcome(结果). You might either have to disappoint your parents or have to miss out being with your friends. However, if you show consideration(体谅)for the feelings of both your family and your friends, you can solve the problem in a tender way.The purpose of the first paragraph is to _________.
| A．show a disagreement of views |
| B．serve as a description of teenager trouble |
| C．serve as an introduction to the discussion |
| D．show the popularity of teenager problem |
The tension between teenagers and their families is caused by the fact that____________.
| A．teenagers don’t like to take family demands |
| B．parents want to keep their family under control |
C．parents feel unhappy t hat their children make so many friends |
| D．both parents and teenagers don’t pay attention to each other’s feeling much |
Which of the following is NOT the advice given in the passage?
| A．Don’t feel angry if your parents ask you to do something． |
| B．Try to think of ways to balance family event with friend event． |
| C．Tell your parents before you decide to spend time with your friends． |
| D．Advise your parents to do something that you are interested in with you． |
What’s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To inform us of parent and teenager tension． |
| B．To tell us about a common teenager problem． |
| C．To persuade parents to show consideration for teenagers． |
| D．To advise teenagers how to deal with their tension with their family． |
Compared to the other parts of the body, our ears don’t ask for much. They don't need to be brushed once a day like your teeth. But they need some special care, especially if you like listening to music with earphones.
Maybe your mum or dad has told you, "Turn that down before you go deaf!" Well, they are quite right. Loud noise might cause hearing loss for a short time or even forever. Think that earphones are a good way to escape from your parents’ eyes? Well. It may not be as good a way as you expect. American doctors have studied a group of 44,000 people who used earphones more than 15 hours per week. The doctors found that 37,000 of them were getting hearing problems.
If you use earphones for too long a time, your ears might feel painful. You could also lose your hearing for the rest of your life.
So don’t wear your earphones too long. Use them less than one hour a day.
Want sharp hearing? Don’t forget to do the following:
Try to stay away from places where there is too much noise, like a disco. If you have to go, wear earplugs.
When swimming, remember to put earplugs into your ears to stop water from getting in.
Never put anything sharp into your ears. If you think you have too much earwax, ask your mum or dad to help you clean it out.
Keep these things in mind! Then you won't be saying "WHAT???" when you are older.Which is the topic paragraph of the article?
| A．Paragraph One. | B．Paragraph Two |
| C．Paragraph Five. | D．The last Paragraph |
Using earphones "may not be as good a way as you expect" because _______.
| A．your parents know what you're doing |
| B．it can cause hearing problems |
| C．it makes your parents angry |
| D．most of you use them improperly |
If you want sharp hearing, you should _____.
| A．have your ears specially trained |
B．often we ar earplugs and clean out the earwax |
| C．take good care of your ears |
| D．choose what you listen to carefully |
"WHAT???" in the last sentence is an expression showing that the speaker____.
| A．has become impatient | B．speaks in a loud voice |
| C．is slow in understanding | D．asks for a lot of repetition |
Do dogs understand us?
Be careful what you say around your dog. It might understand more than you think.
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany. The dog also
appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child. Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee.
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects. Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back. In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. As the dog couldn't see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words.
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew. The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before.
The correct object was chosen in seven out of ten tests, suggesting that the dog had worked
out the answer by process of elimination(排除法). A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive.
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog. For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed (品种)known for its m
ental abilities. In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months.
It's hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can't talk back. Still, it wouldn't hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then. You might just get a big, wet kiss in return! From paragraph 2 we know that __ .
| A．animals are as clever as human beings |
| B．chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills |
| C．dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees |
| D．dogs have similar learning abilities as 3-year-old children |
Both experiments show that .
| A．Rico is smart enough to get all commands right |
| B．Rico can recognize different things including toys |
| C．Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics |
| D．Rico won't forget the names of objects once recognizing them |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training. |
| B．The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie's mental abilities. |
| C．The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects. |
| D．Rico is born to understand its owner's commands. |
What does the writer want to tell us?
| A．To train your dog. | B．To talk to your dog. |
| C．To be careful with your dog. | D．To be friendly to your dog. |
Parents should stop blaming themselves because there’s not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal.
I’ve seen friends deal with it in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself (懒散地躺) on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. “I don't know what to do with him these days,” she said. “He’s forgotten all the manners we taught him.”
He hasn’t forgotten them. He’s just decided that he’s not going to use them. She confessed (坦白) that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor.
Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, “I don’t like your dress; it’s ugly.” One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home.
“Where did we go wrong?” her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents.This text is most probably written by ______.
| A．a specialist（专家） in teenager studies | B．a headmaster of a middle school |
| C．a parent with teenage children | D．a doctor for mental health problems |
The underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refers to ______.
| A．the change from good to bad that’s seen in a child |
| B．the way that parents often blame themselves |
| C．the opinion that a child has of his parents |
| D．the advice that parents want their children to follow |
From the second example we can infer that the parents of the two daughters __.
| A．pay no attention to them | B．are too busy to look after them |
| C．have come to hate them | D．feel helpless to do much about them |
What is the author’s opinion about the sudden change in teenage children?
| A．Parents have no choice but to try to accept it. |
| B．Parents should pay still some attention to the change. |
| C．Parents should work more closely with school teachers. |
| D．Parents are at fault for the change in their children. |
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