Dolphins(海豚) live in a dark underwater world. It’s often impossible to see each other or anything else around them, so sound plays an important role in their survival. To communicate with each other, dolphins produce all kinds of sounds.
Only other dolphins understand what the sounds mean. Scientists haven’t uncovered their secret communication, except for one kind of whistle. It might last less than a second, but this whistle is a big deal. Why? Because these whistles are actually names of dolphins - and every dolphin has one. Scientists call these sounds a “signature whistle.” When other dolphins hear the whistle, they know which dolphin is calling.
Dolphins often hunt by themselves but still need to stay connected to the group. Since they can’t always see each other, dolphins use their signature whistles to check in with other dolphins hundreds of yards away. “In coastal areas, dolphins exchange whistles even when they’re a third of a mile apart,” says Greg Campbell, who studies animals. That means dolphins shout out to group members that might be nearly five football fields away.
What’s amazing is who names the baby dolphin. Not the mother. Not an auntie dolphin or another group member. Scientists believe the baby dolphin itself comes up with the signature whistle. Like human babies, a baby dolphin plays with sounds throughout its first year. While testing its sound skills, a baby dolphin is doing something amazing. It’s creating or figuring out its signature whistle. How or why it chooses its signature whistle is not clear. Studies show that most of the time the signature whistle is nothing like its mother’s or group members’ whistles.
When the baby dolphin is about a year old, its signature whistle is set. It repeats it often so the other dolphins learn to recognize it.
Deciphering(破译) dolphin names is just the beginning of figuring out what dolphins communicate about. Do they chat about sharks? Discuss the tides? Maybe they even have a name for people. Someday scientists are to decipher the rest of dolphins’ communication.Sound is important for dolphins because of ______.
| A．their poor sense of direction |
| B．their living environment |
| C．their strong enemies |
| D．their big groups |
The dolphin’s signature whistle ______.
| A．lasts along time |
| B．can travel long distances |
| C．is especially helpful in hunting |
| D．can be recognized by other animals |
The author writes the text mainly to _____.
| A．encourage readers to study dolphins |
| B．tell readers how dolphins communicate |
| C．show how lovely and clever dolphins are |
| D．introduce a special sound made by dolphins |
A baby dolphin gets its name ______.
| A．soon after it was born | B．according to its size |
| C．all by itself | D．with the help of its group |
Cause and effect is one way to explain things that happen around us. Many things happen because something caused or influenced them to happen. Sometimes it is hard to look at a cause and find out what causes the effect. It may help you to start with the effect and use your reasoning(推理的) skills. Think about all the things you know that could be reasons for the effect you can see.
For example, you may see someone putting on a heavy jacket. This is the effect. To look for a cause, think to yourself, “What would make someone put on a heavy jacket?” Maybe the person works in the penguin pen(企鹅圈养地) at a Sea World. Maybe the person is going to visit an ice skating rink where the air is kept very cold. All of these things could be a cause for putting on a heavy jacket.
Now, think about a second example. The effect is a boy named Abi has to go to the head teacher’s office. What are the possible causes? Maybe he bullied(欺负)another student. Maybe he is just being picked up early. Maybe he is being given a prize!
Here is another example for you to think about its cause and effect. Cait, 13, was trying to fall asleep when her 8-year-old brother,Doug, came into her room. He looked around a bit, but seemed really out of it. Then Doug went back into the hallway and stood there looking straight up at the hall light for quite a while. Little brothers can be very strange, this was really much too strange. Cait didn’t know what to do. Just then, Cait’s father appeared and explained that Doug was sleepwalking. What’s the cause and effect, could you tell?According to the second paragraph, which of the following is an effect?
| A．Someone will go outside into cold weather. |
| B．Someone works in the penguin pen. |
| C．Someone puts on a heavy jacket. |
| D．Someone will go to visit an ice skating rink. |
Abi has to go to the head teacher’s office. Which of the following isn’t the possible cause?
| A．He bullied another student. | B．He is going shopping. |
| C．He is being picked up early. | D．He is being given a prize. |
What was Doug doing when his sister Cait tried to fall asleep?
| A．He was going outside | B．He was reading a story. |
| C．He was leep walking. | D．He was looking for his dad. |
Which of the following is cause and effect?
| A．Tony got up and had a glass of water. |
| B．We came home and found him sleeping. |
| C．The ball was lost and a window was broken. |
| D．Tim was late again and his teacher got angry. |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Truth and lies | B．Work and sleep |
| C．Cause and effect | D．Life and dreams |
Lu Xun is one of the greatest Chinese writers of the 20th century. Besides his famous stories, he also wrote many influential articles about the living conditions of Chinese people.
Born in 1881 to a wealthy family, Lu Xun had a happy childhood. In 1893, however, his grandfather, a senior government official, was put into prison for taking money. At the same time, his father became seriously ill. From that time on, his family were no longer accepted by their relatives and friends. These early experiences greatly influenced his writing.
By the time Lu Xun arrived in Nanjing to study at university in 1899, he already believed that Chinese society had to change and become modern. In 1902 he went to study in Japan. There, he began writing articles for several Chinese student magazines. He showed a gift for writing and translating and he even wrote several books, although none was popular. He returned to China in 1909 because he was in need of money.
After working for several years as a teacher in Beijing, Lu Xun again returned to writing. In 1918, he wrote his famous short story Diary of a Madman. It was the first Chinese novel published using the everyday language that people spoke, which helped make it a great success. This, together with his novel The True Story of Ah Q (1921), made Lu Xun a leading Chinese writer.
Although successful, Lu Xun still worried greatly about China’s future. In 1926, he moved to Shanghai and gave up writing stories in order to devote himself to what he called “pen warfare”. He now only wrote articles which called on the people to fight against the government. For this, the government stopped him from publishing any more books. He was forced to write his articles using false names.
Since his death in 1936, Lu Xun’s importance and influence have grown. Today, many of his writings are included in school textbooks and his works are read by millions around the world.Which of the following greatly influenced Lu Xun’s writing according to the passage?
| A．The people he met in Japan. |
| B．Working as a teacher in Beijing. |
| C．The experiences in his early life. |
| D．His father’s being put into prison. |
According to the passage, why was Lu Xun’s story Diary of a Madman so popular?
| A．It was based on Lu Xun’s diary. |
| B．It was the first novel to use everyday language. |
| C．Its story took place in modern times. |
| D．It was written using a western style. |
The underlined word “This” (Paragraph 4) refers to .
| A．the success of Diary of a Madman |
| B．the use of everyday language |
| C．the first Chinese novel |
| D．The True Story of Ah Q |
After moving to Shanghai, Lu Xun mainly wrote .
| A．funny stories |
| B．articles about himself |
| C．articles against the government |
| D．stories about government officials |
In what order did these events take place in Lu Xun’s life?
a. The government stopped him from publishing books.
b. He wrote Diary of a Madman.
c. His father became ill.
d. He moved to Shanghai.
e. His writings were put into textbooks.
| A．c-a-b-d-e | B．c-b-d-a-e |
| C．a-c-d-b-e | D．a-d-b-c-e |
Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.
There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.
The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adults’ tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady told him the price.
The man’s wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man’s face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady again told him the price.
The man obviously didn’t have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?
Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, you dropped this.”
The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad’s eyes, and in tears replied. “Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”
Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn’t go without.Why does the writer say “Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean” ( Paragraph 2)?
| A．To show how rich the family were. |
| B．To show cheap clothes could be popular. |
| C．To show how hard the mother worked. |
| D．To show the children were well looked after. |
Why was the poor man unhappy after he spoke with the ticket lady?
| A．He had lost his money. |
| B．His children were noisy. |
| C．The tickets were sold out. |
| D．The tickets were too expensive. |
Who did the $20 note belong to?
| A．The poor man . | B．The writer’s father. |
| C．The poor man’s wife. | D．The ticket lady. |
Why was the poor man in tears at the end of the story?
| A．He found the money he lost. |
| B．He wanted others to help him. |
| C．He made his children unhappy. |
| D．He was thankful for the kindness. |
Which of the following statements is probably true according to the passage?
| A．The poor mans saw the circus that night. |
| B．The two families became close friends. |
| C．The writer’s father earned some money. |
| D．The writer saw the circs that night. |
Growers around the world are using new methods to grow grapes to make wine. They use natural and organic methods to control harmful insects and weeds instead of using chemicals. Now, a winery in Canada has adopted a natural way to control its grapevines (葡萄藤).The Featherstone Winery is in southern Ontario. The grapevines, like other plants, need to be cut every year.
Cutting grapevines must be done very carefully. Only a targeted area of leaves is removed from the lower part of the vines to help the grapes grow better. But at the Featherstone Winery, no man or machine does the cutting. Instead, the job is done by 40 little wooly lambs.
David Johnson owns the vineyard. He says he learned about using lambs while visiting wineries in New Zealand. The young lambs are perfectly designed to do the job. They eat the grape leaves on the lower parts of the vine. But they are not tall enough to reach the grapes. They only weigh about 22 kilograms, so they do not beat down the soil. And their waste makes good organic fertilizer. In addition, using the lambs costs much less than hiring workers to cut the vines for seven weeks in summer. And when the cutting is done in August, the lambs become tasty dishes.
Mr Johnson says he had a difficult time finding enough lambs to do the job. There are about 50 million lambs in New Zealand. But there are not nearly as many in Ontario. Also, some organic pesticides (杀虫剂) are harmful to lambs. And the lambs must be watched to make sure they do not eat too much of the grapevines.
David Johnson says the lambs help him carry out his environmental ideas about farming. They are lovely and peaceful and he likes having them in his vineyard. People visiting the vineyard also enjoy watching the lambs do their job.Farmers who grow grapes with natural and organic methods _____.
| A．don't cut grapevines every year |
| B．don't use chemicals to control harmful insects and weeds |
| C．don't need to control harmful insects and weeds |
| D．don't use organic fertilizer |
In order to help the grapes grow better, growers _____.
| A．only have to remove the dead leaves |
| B．need to remove a specific area of leaves |
| C．shouldn't remove any part of the plants |
| D．should let little lambs do the cutting |
Paragraph 4 is mainly about _____.
| A．the future of getting lambs to do the cutting |
| B．the worries about using organic pesticides |
| C．the ways to get lambs to do the cutting |
| D．the problems related to lambs doing the cutting |
We can infer from the passage that David Johnson______.
| A．owns several wineries in Canada |
| B．buys lambs from New Zealand |
| C．is concerned about protecting the environment |
| D．loves keeping lambs instead of farming |
In the 18th century, New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How can the change in its size and importance be explained?
To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history, and economics. Together these three will explain the huge growth of America’s most famous city.
The map of the Northeast shows that the four areas with the largest populations in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter the United States, and the products of the land are sent there for export across the sea.
We know that places where transportation lines meet are good places for making raw materials into finished goods. That is why seaports often have cities nearby. But cities like New York needed more than their geographical location in order to become great industrial centers. Their development did not happen simply by chance.
About 1815, when many Americans from the east had already moved toward the west, transportation routes from the seaports to the central regions of the country began to be a serious problem. The slow wagons of that time, usually drawn by horses, were too expensive for moving heavy freight (货物) very far. In New York State a canal seemed the best answer to the transportation problem. From the eastern end of Lake Erie all the way across the state to the Hudson River there is a long strip of low land. Here the Erie Canal was built, and after several years of work it was completed in 1825.
The canal produced an immediate effect. Freight costs were cut to about one tenth of what they had been. New York City, which had been smaller than Philadelphia and Boston, quickly became the leading city of the coast. In the years that followed, transportation routes on the Great Lakes were joined to routes on the Mississippi River. Then New York City became the end point of a great inland shipping system that started from the Atlantic Ocean far up the western branches of the Mississippi.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Development of Transportation in New York |
| B．Export and Import of New York |
| C．How New York Became America's Largest City |
| D．How New York Exchanged with Europe |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The Erie Canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson River. |
| B．Economists are of the opinion that places where farming is done are good for making raw materials into finished goods. |
| C．Wagons drawn by horses and oxen soon proved to be better and cheaper than canal transportation. |
| D．The seaports usually have less population but more business. |
Freight costs were reduced to 10% of what they had been because of ________.
| A．cheap and fast wagons | B．the new sea routes |
| C．the construction of the Erie Canal | D．the development of industry |
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