Have you ever heard of Paynes Prairie? It is one of the most important natural and historical areas in Florida. Paynes Prairie is located near Gainesville. It is large, 21,000 acres. This protected land is called a preserve. The Florida Park Service manages the preserve.
The Paynes Prairie basin was formed when limestone dissolved and the ground settled. It is covered by marsh(沼泽)and wet prairie vegetation. There are areas of open water. During brief periods it has flooded enough to be considered a lake. Except for that, the basin has changed little through time.
Man has lived on Paynes Prairie a very long time. He lived there as far back as 10,000 B. C. At one time, the Seminoles lived there. The prairie is thought to have been named after King Payne, a Seminole chief. During the late 1600s, the largest cattle ranch in Florida was on Paynes Prairie. Today, Paynes Prairie is preserved land. It is occupied by visitors and Florida Park Service employees.
Willam Bartram visited Paynes Praire. Bartram was the first person who portrayed (described) nature through personal experience as well as scientific observation. He lived 200 years ago. He visited Paynes Prairie in 1774. At that time he described it. He called Paynes Prairie the “great Alachua Savannah.”
Most of the animal life, which Bartram described, is still here. A large number of sandhill cranes, hawks and waterfowl are here in winter. The animal diversity is increased by the presence of pine flatwoods, hammock, swamps and ponds.
The Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is open year round. The Florida Park Service works hard so that the park will appear as it did in the past. It offers many opportunities for recreation. At the park you can camp and picnic. You can hike and bike. You can boat and fish. You can ride on horse trails. And you can see lots of nature and wildlife. You can see Florida as it was in the early days.
Paynes Prairie is a part of our Florida history. It is an example of our Florida natural resources. It is a place for recreation. Paynes Prairie is an important experience of the Real Florida.How was the Paynes Prairie basin formed?
| A．By the Seminole Indians. |
| B．By the Florida Park Service. |
| C．From dissolved limestone and the ground settling. |
| D．From lots of flooding and wet prairie vegetation. |
The underlined word “diversity” means “ .”
| A．variety | B．society | C．population | D．area |
All of the following are true EXCEPT that __ .
| A．Paynes Prairie has changed little through time |
| B．Paynes Prairie is covered by wet prairie grasses |
| C．there used to be a big cattle farm on Paynes Prairie |
| D．William Bartram was the first person to visit Paynes Prairie |
The purpose of the passage is to .
| A．call on people to protect widlife |
| B．attract people to this preserved park |
| C．show you the formation of Paynes Prairie |
| D．introduce the recorded history of Paynes Prairie |
It was a sunny winter day. I had gone down the tower when a blind man came toward me. He kept close to the wall, touching it lightly with his arm. I stood still and looked at him walking toward the tower.
"What does a blind man want to climb up the tower for?" I wondered, "Not the view (景色) certainly, perhaps he wants to jump. "Thinking of this terrible reason, I thought I should follow him.
He went up slowly and stopped from time to time. I followed him a few steps behind. When he got to the first corner of the bell tower, I came close to him. "Excuse me," I said as politely as I could, "but I wonder why you came up."
"You'd never guess." he said.
"Not the view or the fresh air on this winter day?"
"No." he said.
"Tell me, then."
He smiled, "Perhaps climbing up the tower. You have noticed - and yet, not being blind, perhaps you won't - how the sun shines into the tower through the windows here and there, so that one can feel the cool steps suddenly become quite warm, even in winter. But behind the wall there is shade (阴影). There is no place so good as this for feeling the difference between light and darkness. Though I'm blind, I also want to feel the happiness brought by the sunlight. In fact, it isn't my first time to be here." He said and seemed as pleased as a child.
I had never thought that even a blind man could have his way to enjoy the beautiful life. But we often paid no attention to its value because we never lost it.
We went down the tower together and I left him. From then on, I began to treasure what life has given me.The winter met the blind man on .
| A．a sunny winter day | B．a rainy winter day |
| C．a sunny summer day | D．a rainy summer day |
The writer thought the blind man wanted to .
| A．see the view | B．breathe the fresh air |
| C．warm himself | D．jump off the tower |
What did the writer learn from the blind man?
| A．To take exercise | B．To feel happiness |
| C．To enjoy sunlight | D．To treasure life |
Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My life and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going Green. | B．Protecting the Planet. |
| C．Keeping Open-Minded | D．Celebrating Our Green Year. |
It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.
| A．they were expected to follow the green fad |
| B．they didn’t know how to educate other people |
| C．they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
| D．they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
| A．They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
| B．They ignore others’ ungreen behavior. |
| C．They chose better chemical cleaners. |
| D．They sold their home-made food. |
What can we infer form the last paragraph?
| A．The government will give support to the green people. |
| B．The couple may continue their project in the future. |
| C．Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
| D．Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |
Christmas has never looked as beautiful as it is now, when this one-foot-tall mini tree grew from a pothole(坑洼)in the streets of London.
London pothole gardener Steve Wheen , 34 , has created over 150 little gardens so far the smallest one of which is just one-inch-square.
“I really enjoy the reactions of people who come across my work and love them .”said Steve. "London can be so grey, especially at this time of year. When l was thinking about how to brighten it up, gardening came to my mind."
Steve has been pothole gardening for four years, mainly around the streets of London His pothole gardens are made with some plants he chooses from his local garden centre. Each of them usually costs between five and ten pounds. Although they are often temporary to the streets, Steve is sure that they can be in people's mind for a long time, if they are lucky enough to come across these small gardens while they go about their daily lives.
“I'm always surprised when I ask people what they think the message is behind my Work .”he said. "Often they think I'm against or in honor of something. One person even considered that l was marking the places where people had died in car accidents."
“I think in a city like London, where it's easy to feel short of green space, my message can be seen as a green one and that's fine with me. ”he said. "The environment is something we all need to be thinking about more and more. But most importantly, it's all about making people smile and giving them an unexpected moment of happiness.”Which of the following pictures can describe "a pothole garden" best?
Steve thinks the main color of London around Christmas is
| A．white | B．blue | C．grey | D．green |
What does the underlined word "temporary" probably mean?
| A．lasting for a short time. |
| B．beautiful but dangerous |
| C．strange to passers-by |
| D．very expensive |
Steve Wheen makes pothole gardens in London mainly to _____.
| A．be against or in honor of something |
| B．mark the places where car accidents happen |
| C．protect the environment |
| D．make people enjoy more greens |
When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.
For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫无掩饰的).
In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.
In adulthood the things that bring deep joy — love, marriage, birth — also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated.
My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.
I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.
Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don’t think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.
We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we’ve got to have. We’re so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it’s making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.
Happiness isn’t about what happens to us — it’s about how we see what happens to us. It’s the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have, but enjoying what we do possess.As people grow older, they ___________________.
| A．feel it harder to experience happiness |
| B．associate their happiness less with others |
| C．will take fewer risks in pursuing happiness |
| D．tend to believe responsibility means happiness |
What can we learn about the author from Paragraphs 5 and 6?
| A．She cares little about her own health. |
| B．She enjoys the freedom of traveling. |
| C．She is easily pleased by things in daily life. |
| D．She prefers getting pleasure from housework. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 7?
| A．Psychologists think satisfying work is key to happiness. |
| B．Psychologist’ opinion is well proved by Grandma’s case. |
| C．Grandma often found time for social gatherings. |
| D．Grandma’s happiness came from modest expectations of life. |
People who equal happiness with wealth and success______.
| A．consider pressure something blocking their way. |
| B．stress their right to happiness too much. |
| C．are at a loss to make correct choices. |
| D．are more likely to be happy. |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．Happiness lies between the positive and the negative. |
| B．Each man is the master of his own fate. |
| C．Success leads to happiness. |
| D．Happy is he who is content. |
The United States government wants to know what the public think about its findings on the safety of cloned animals.
The Food and Drug Administration says meat and milk from clones of adult cattle, pigs and goats are safe to eat. An F.D.A. official called them "as safe to eat as the food we eat every day." And when those clones reproduce sexually (有性繁殖), the agency says, their offspring (后代) are safe to eat as well. But research on cloned sheep is limited. So the F.D.A. suggests that sheep clones not be used for human food.
The United States this year could become the first country to approve the sale of foods from cloned animals. First, however, the public will have ninety days to discuss three proposed documents. On December 28th the F.D.A. released a long report, called a draft risk assessment, along with two policy documents.
The agency says it must receive the public’s opinion by April second. The F.D.A. seemed ready to act several years ago, but an advisory committee called for more research. For now, the government will continue to ask producers to honor a request that they not sell foods from cloned animals.
Clones are still rare. They cost a lot and are difficult to produce.
The F.D.A. says most food from cloning is expected to come not from clones themselves, but from their sexually reproduced offspring. It says clones are expected to be used mostly as breeding animals to spread good qualities.
Public opinion studies show most Americans do not like the idea of food from cloned animals. But this research also shows the public knows little about cloning.
Cloning differs from genetic engineering. A cell taken from a so-called donor animal is grown into an embryo in the laboratory. Next, the embryo is placed into the uterus (子宫) of a female animal. If the process is successful, the pregnancy reaches full term and a genetic copy of the donor animal is born.The main purpose of the text is to __________.
| A．tell an interesting story |
| B．give some advice on foods |
| C．give a report |
| D．compare different opinions |
From the passage we know that ___________.
A. foods from cloned animals are popular in America
B. according to F.D.A., some cloned adult animals are safe to eat
C. cloned animals will be easy to produce
D. most foods from cloning is expected to take place of other foodsWho believe that foods from cloning are safe to eat?
A. Most Americans B. An advisory committee
C. Critics D. The F.D.A.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that __________.
| A．cloning has much in common with genetic engineering |
| B．not every cell taken from a donor animal can grow into a genetic copy |
| C．the donor animal should be a female one |
| D．cloned animals grow faster than normal ones |
Which of the following is TRUE about foods from cloning?
A. They come from the sexually reproduced offspring of cloned animals.
B. The government is in favor of foods from cloning now.
C. Only F.D.A. has the right to sell the food.
D. Many countries have sold foods from cloned animals.
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