A recent survey in the United States showed that the average family spent more money on its pets than on its children. Although rather shocking, it should not surprise anyone who has seen the doggy parlors(客厅) where loved pets rest. Are Americans unique in treating their little friends in this way? No, the English, too, pay more attention to their pets.
This can clearly be seen when we look at pet foods, which often contain more vitamins than human food. They certainly cost much. Last year the British public spent two hundred million pounds on pet food alone, to say nothing of veterinary bills or animal furniture. It is difficult not to feel angry about this when considering what the same amount could do for victims of starvation and poverty, so it is not unusual for me to get hot under collar when I read an old man left all his money to his dog instead of his children.
There are a variety of reasons why I find pets-raising alarming. They cause physical problems. An example of this is New York where they have great difficulty getting rid of the mess that dogs leave on the streets. Many people find this funny, but in a number of large cities it is a major problem. Animals can cause disease, too. It is the threat of rabies — a disease with no known cure.
Another problem is the carelessness of pet owners. Most little children want a dog or a cat, and they continually push their mothers and fathers until they get one. It is only when the "sweet little thing" has been brought home that the parents realize how much time and money must be spent on "Rover" or "Bonzo". Then they just abandon it. As a result, they are allowed to run free. English farmers lose hundreds of sheep a year, killed by someone's pet and you must have read of children being hurt by some pets of their own.
Lastly, I would only suggest that we have got our priorities wrong and that something should be done about it. In my view, it's time we stopped being sentimental about pets. I can see no reason why we should get upset when animals are cut up for medical experiments. This will lead us to discovering cures for serious human diseases, then I say, “keep cutting!”The doggy parlors are mentioned in the 1st paragraph to show ________.
| A．where Americans keep their pets |
| B．what costly lives the pets are living |
| C．why children love their pets so much |
| D．how much pets depend on their masters |
In the second paragraph "to get hot under the collar" probably means ________.
| A．getting quite hot | B．feeling overwhelmingly angry |
| C．becoming excited | D．receiving a fashionable shirt |
According to the author, in which field can animals be most useful?
| A．Pet. | B．Food. | C．Medicine. | D．Sports. |
What is author’s attitude towards pets-raising?
| A．Pitiful. | B．Neutral. | C．Opposed. | D．Supportive. |
Susan Sontage（1933—2004）was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything---to read every book worth reading ,to see every movie worth seeing .When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American culture life ,trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art .With great effort and serious judgement. Sontage walked at the latest edges of world culture.
Seriousness was one of Sontage’s lifelong watchwords(格言), but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In “Notes Camp”, the 1964 essay that first made her name ,she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous .“Notes on Camp”. she wrote, represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.
By conviction（信念）she was a sensualist（感觉论者）, but by nature she was a moralist （伦理学者）,and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s , it was the latter side of her that came forward. In illness as Metaphor —published in 1978, after she suffered cancer—she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities（被压抑的性格）, a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact , re-examining old positions was her life long habit.
In America, her story of a 19th century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said，“I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means Sontag_________.
| A．was a symbol of American cultural life |
| B．developed world literature, film and art |
| C．published many essays about world culture |
| D．kept pace with the newest development of world culture |
She first won her name through ___________.
| A．her story of a Polish actress |
| B．her book illness as Metaphor |
| C．publishing essays in magazines like partisan Review |
| D．publishing the essay “Notes Camp” |
As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit , she __________.
| A．misunderstood the idea of seriousness |
| B．re-examined old positions |
| C．argued for an openness to pop culture |
| D．preferred morals to beauty |
Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon___________.
| A．tireless, all-purpose cultural view |
| B．her lifelong watchword----seriousness |
| C．publishing books on morals |
| D．enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing |
According to the passage, Susan Sontag__________.
| A．was a sensualist as well as a moralist |
| B．looked down upon the pop culture |
| C．thought content was more important than form |
| D．blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed |
Every human being has a unique arrangement of the skin on his fingers and this arrangement is unchangeable. Scientists and experts have proved the uniqueness of finger-prints and discovered that no exactly similar pattern is passed on from parents to children, though nobody knows why this is the case.
The ridge（脊状）structure on a person's fingers does not change with growth and is not affected by surface injuries. Burns, cuts and other damage to the outer part of the skin will be replaced in time by new one which bears a reproduction of the original pattern. It is only when the inner skin is injured that the arrangement will be destroyed. Some criminals make use of this fact to remove their own finger-prints but this is a dangerous and rare step to take.
Finger-prints can be made very easily with printer's ink. They can be recorded easily. With special methods, identification can be achieved successfully within a short time. Because of the simplicity and economy of this system, finger-prints have often been used as a method of solving criminal case. A suspected man may deny a charge but this may be in vain. His finger-prints can prove who he is even if his appearance has been changed by age or accident.
When a suspect leaves finger-prints behind at the scene of a crime, they are difficult to detect with the naked eye. Special techniques are used to "develop" them. Some of the marks found are incomplete but identification is possible if a print of a quarter of an inch square can be obtained.Scientists and experts have proved that the pattern of a human being's finger skin__ ___
| A．is similar to his mother's |
| B．is valuable to himself only |
| C．is like that of others with the same type of blood. |
| D．is different from that of all others |
If your fingers are wounded by knife, fire or other means, the structure of skin will____.
| A．be changed partly |
| B．be replaced by a different one |
| C．be the same when the wound is recovered |
| D．become ugly |
Some criminals remove their own finger-prints by ____.
| A．using printer's ink |
| B．injuring the inner skin |
| C．damaging the outer skin |
| D．damaging the color |
Finger-prints have often been used as a method of solving criminal case because it_____.
| A．is complicated but reliable |
| B．is simple and not expensive |
| C．is expensive but easy to do |
| D．can bring a lot of money |
It is ________for a criminal to deny his crime when finger-prints are used to identify him.
| A．worth trying | B．successful | C．useful | D．useless |
Could we "terraform" Mars—that is, change its frozen, thinaired surface into something more friendly and Earthlike? Should we? The first question has a clear answer: Yes, we probably could. Spacecraft, including the ones now exploring Mars, have found evidence that it was warm in its youth，with rivers flowing into vast seas. And right here on Earth, we've learned how to warm a planet: just add greenhouse gases to its atmosphere. Much of the CO2 that once warmed Mars is probably still there，in frozen dirt and polar ice caps, and so is the water.
Most of the work in terraforming，says NASA scientist Chris Mackay, would be done by life itself. "You don't build Mars," Mackay says. "You just warm it up and throw some seeds." Powerful greenhouse gases could be produced from elements in dirt and air on Mars and blown into the atmosphere； by warming the planet, they would release the frozen CO2 , which would quicken the warming and increase atmospheric pressure to the point where liquid water could flow. Meanwhile, says botanist James Graham of the University of Wisconsin, human settlers could seed the red rock with a succession (系列) of ecosystems, first bacteria and lichens (地衣)，which survive in Antarctica, later mosses (苔藓)，and after one thousand years or so，redwoods. Getting breathable oxygen levels out of those forests，though，could take thousands of years.
However, Mars is in no immediate danger. Some space scientists recently recommended going to the moon or an asteroid (小行星)first，and pointed out the space agency lacks the funds to go anywhere. It didn't estimate the cost of gardening a dead planet. What is the most essential to make Mars fit for living?
| A．Turn ice into flowing water. |
| B．Clean the dirty atmosphere. |
| C．Make the atmosphere more suitable. |
| D．Go to the moon or an asteroid first. |
What does the author think of the idea of terraforming Mars?
| A．We could do it. | B．We couldn't do it. |
| C．We should do it. | D．We shouldn't do it. |
In the botanist's opinion, man needs to ______ .
| A．enable Mars to clean its atmosphere |
| B．build a greenhouse on Mars |
| C．send some people to settle on Mars |
| D．cultivate ecosystems from lower to higher life form |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Making Mars the New Earth. |
| B．A Good Way to Change the Universe. |
| C．Humans' Great Power. |
| D．Terrible Science and Technology. |
We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change ： Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets.
Not long ago， my wife，PJ， and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is heating up even faster than predicted only a few years ago，and that the consequences could be severe if we don't keep reducing emissions (排放)of carbon dioxide ( CO2) and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.
We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO2. We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household produces about 150 pounds of CO2 a day by doing commonplace things like turning on air conditioning or driving cars. That's more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce?
For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers： How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In his book， he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. "To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent," he said.
Good advice, I thought. I'd opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We'd gotten so used to keeping our air conditioning going around the clock. I'd almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It's time for us to change our habits if necessary. Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?
| A．To take special kinds of food. |
| B．To respond to climate change. |
| C．To lose weight. |
| D．To improve their health. |
The underlined words "tipping points" most probably refer to ______ .
| A．freezing points | B．burning points |
| C．melting points | D．boiling points |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______ .
| A．it is necessary to keep the air conditioning on all the time |
| B．it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO2 |
| C．the average US household produces about 3,000 pounds of CO2 a month |
| D．the average European household produces about 1, 000 pounds of CO2 a month |
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Saving Energy Starts at Home |
| B．Changing Our Habits Begins at Work |
| C．Changing Climate Sounds Reasonable |
| D．Reducing Emissions of CO2 Proves Difficult |
Let These Plants Swat the Bugs for You Some plants get so hungry that they eat flies，spiders, and even small frogs. What's more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they're found on every continent except Antarctica.
You've probably seen a Venus' flytrap. It's often sold in museum gift stores, department stores, and even supermarkets. A small plant，it grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (are specially modified leaves that act like traps. Inside each trap is a lining of tiny trigger (触发)hairs. When an insect lands on them, the trap suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus' flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants， says Barry Meyers-Rice ， the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society's Newsletter. Note： Despite any science-fiction stories (科幻小说)you might have read, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Dr. Meyers-Rice says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following："attract, kill, digest, and absorb" some form of insect, including flies, butterflies, and moths. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants—well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar through a process called photosynthesis (光合作用). Plants use the sugar to make food. What makes "meat-eating" plants different is their bug-catching leaves. They need insects for one reason ： nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can't obtain any other way. Why?
Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. "Meat-eating" plants can't. They live in places where nutrients are hard or almost impossible to get from the soil because of its acidity (酸度). So they've come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soil is poisonous to "meat-eating" plants. Never fertilize (施肥)them! But don't worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they'll grow very slowly. Venus flytrap ______.
| A．is a small plant which grows in a container |
| B．is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily |
| C．can attract, kill， digest and absorb some form of insects |
| D．grows 6—8 inches tall |
From the passage, we know ______.
| A．"meat-eating" plants are found on every continent |
| B．all green plants get nitrogen from the soil |
| C．bug-catching leaves make "meat-eating" different from other plants |
| D．some "meat-eating" plants in the rainforest do danger to humans |
"Meat-eating" plants grow very slowly, ______.
| A．so you'd better fertilize them |
| B．probably because the source of nitrogen is cut off |
| C．simply because they can't absorb nitrogen from the soil |
| D．and then they will die slowly |
Which of the following is true?
| A．"Meat-eating" plants look and act like other green plants. |
| B．No insects, no "meat-eating" plants. |
| C．The reason why Venus flytrap needs flies is that it needs to get nutrient from them. |
| D．Green plants make sugar at night. |
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