When Dr, Karen McComb came to Amboseli Park her first task was to learn the names of the one hundred or so elephants most often seen.

Scientists working in the park have learned to study elephants by watching them up close. They have a list of almost one thousand elephants. There are records for all of the elephants born since 1972. Amboseli was a good place for Dr. McComb to study animal communications. Elephants were a great subject because their lifestyle depends on communication.

Dr. McComb and her team had learned a lot about elephant communication, but they kept on thinking about one puzzling (困惑的) watch. Some families were better at distinguishing (區(qū)別) calls of friends from those of strangers.

What made some families smarter than others? The scientists searched their records for an explanation. To their surprise, there was only one factor (因素) of importance: The "smartest" families always had the oldest grandmothers. A family, as it did in all other activities, waited for some signal (信號(hào)) from the grandmother when they heard a strange contact call. And older, more experienced grandmothers were better at telling whether other elephants were strangers or friends just by their calls.

That was an important discovery. It showed how an elephant family depends on the experience of the grandmother.

回答下面5個(gè)問(wèn)題,每題答案不超過(guò)5個(gè)詞。

【1】How do scientists working in the park study elephants?

【2】What did Dr. McComb study?

【3】What did Dr. McComb and her team do for an explanation?

【4】Who does everyone in elephant families listen to?

【5】What does an elephant family depend on in all the activities?

In ancient Egypt, women did not go out to work. They stayed and worked at home. Many Egyptian men were farmers. Some men were builders or fishermen. Other men worked as artists. Some other important people did not do any farming.

The weather in Egypt was very hot. Ancient Egyptians did not wear many clothes, Men, women and children often wore simple robes made of thin cloth. On their feet they wore light open shoes. People, including women, shaved(剃) hair from their heads to keep cool.

Children in ancient Egypt grew up to do the same jobs as their parents. Girls stayed at home with their mothers. They learned to look after the home Boys worked with their fathers. They learned to do the jobs their fathers did. They learned to look after the home Boys worked with their fathers. They learned to do the jobs their fathers did. They only went to school to learn to write if they wanted to become a scribe (抄寫員).

Many of the games played by ancient Egyptians are similar to games we still play today, Children played racing and jumping games. They also played ball games and with wooden toys. Older children played a game like chess.

The kings of Egypt (the pharaohs) had enough power to master their country. The people thought that the pharaoh was a god. He owned everything. Everyone had to do what he told them to do. The pharaohs built huge tombs. When a pharaoh died, he was buried in the tomb. The tombs were often in the shape of pyramids. When a pharaoh was buried. he was surrounded by treasure and by things to help him in the next world, such as food, clothes, furniture and weapons.

When the sky suddenly turns dark and the wind is strong, watch out! A dangerous storm might be coming. Storms are scary. Watch for flashes of lightning. Listen for thunder. If nature sends these warnings, don't wait for rain. Act right away to keep safe.

Safety Steps

At the first flash of lightning, quickly get inside a building or a car. Do not go into a shed (棚）for protection. It is not closed like a building, so it is not safe.

Even after you are indoors, be careful. It is not smart to go near doors and windows. They can blow in or break. A room with no windows is the safest place to be.

Do not wash your hands during a storm. Do not use anything that runs on electricity either. Water and electrical lines are like roads for lightning. Even if you really want to play computer games, don't! It is better to be bored than to risk getting hurt. Try reading a book instead. Reading is more fun than playing computer games.

If you can’t get to somewhere safe, stay out in the open. You may feel safe under a tree, but that is not a good place to be. Lightning is pulling toward tall poles and trees. Stay down in an open space and cover your ears to protect them. Loud thunder can damage your hearing.

Lightning Strikes

Lightning does not strike people very often. It is not likely that you will ever see that happen. If you do, call 1-2-0. Only trained emergency workers should care for a person who has been hit by lighting.

If you follow these rules, you should stay safe during a storm.

【1】From Paragraph I, we learn that _________.

A. storms are frightening and harmful

B. storms often come without warnings

C. people should wait and watch lightning

D. people should take action after the storm

【2】The underlined word "It" in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.

A. a building

B. a car

C. a room

D. a shed

【3】During a storm you had better _______.

A. use a computer for a while

B. listen for thunder by a window

C. leave the room and stay out

D. find a closed or an open place

【4】If a person is hit by lightning, you should _________.

A. call for emergency help

B. stay down in a safe space

C. move him or her to safety

D. cover his or her ears quickly

【5】The best title for the passage is __________.

A. Training Steps

B. Home Rules

C. Natural Order

D. Storm Safety

Mushrooms are small living things that look like umbrella. They are not plants because they do not have the green material that plants use to make food. Mushrooms get their food from the living or dead plants around them.

A mushroom has two parts: the mycelium（菌絲體） and the fruit． Mycelium is underground and gets food for the mushroom. Sometimes it dies quickly, but if it gets enough food it may live for hundreds of years.

The fruit, umbrella-shaped body, only lives for a few days. Gil(菌褶）, small plants under the mushroom's cap, have small spores(孢子) on them． When these spores fall off the mushroom the wind blows them away. If they fall on a warm, wet area a new mycelium develops.

Some mushrooms can be eaten with plenty of vitamin B and also minerals like iron. They are sold at high price.The best-known and most widely eaten is the button mushroom(草菇). They are found in all kinds of food, from pizzas to salads.

Truffles(松露) are mushrooms that grow completely underground. Dogs and pigs can find the places where they grow by using their noses. The mushrooms cost a lot of money and can be eaten in very expensive restaurants around the world.

Some types of mushrooms are poisonous(有毒的). They lead to illness， and a few mushrooms are even deadly. One is a beautiful white mushroom which grows in summer and autumn, Unless you get quick treatment death may come very fast.

It's hard for people to tell between safe and poisonous mushrooms. So,never eat a mushroom you find unless you know what it is.

Mushrooms help plants grow. They help dead material and minerals get back into the soil so that it can be used again.

The Chinese have used mushrooms in medicine for hundreds of years. Some types are turned into a medicine that gives strength or energy. Scientists have found out that some mushrooms prevent high blood pressure（高血壓）.

【1】現(xiàn)代發(fā)明不僅對(duì)我們的生活產(chǎn)生了很大的影響，而且改變了我們思維的方式。

Modern inventions not only ________________________________ in our lives, but also have changed the way we think.

【2】聽這樣一個(gè)無(wú)意義的報(bào)告真是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間！

______________________________ it is to listen to such a meaningless report!

【3】我認(rèn)為這個(gè)博物館根本不值得參觀。

I ___________________________________________________ at all.

【4】地球人口正在快速增長(zhǎng)，越來(lái)越擁擠了。

The population _____________________________________ that the Earth is becoming more and more crowded.

【5】你處理這件事情有困難嗎？

Do you ________________________________________________ the matter?

【6】盡管他已經(jīng)80多歲了，他還是寧愿被嘲笑也不愿改變主意。

Although he is in his eighties, he would rather ___________________________.

【1】---How’s everything going in the USA, my dear?

---The school life abroad I expected __________(not seem) so perfect, Mum.

【2】The number of deaths from lung cancer ___________(reduce) greatly if people give up smoking and have cleaner air.

【3】To do this would be__________(cut) the foot to fit the shoe.

【4】In April, 2015,Shanghai Newspaper reported that Liu Xiang ___________ (hang) up his boots from then on.

【5】It’s said that many books about MJ, the King of Pop, _________(come) out since last year.

【6】---I can’t believe you’ve sold me such a terrible robot. I want my money back.

---I ___________(listen), madam. Can you just slow down and tell me what’s wrong?

Blind people are better at locating sounds than people who can see, a new study says, without the benefits of vision the ears seem to work much better

Previous studies have shown that blind people are better than others at reaching out and touching the sources of sounds that are close by. Researchers from the University of Montreal wanted to see if blind people were also better at locating sounds that are far away.

Twenty-three blind people participated in the study. All had been sightless for at least 20 years. Fourteen of them had lost their vision before age 11. The rest went blind after age 16. The experiment also included 10 people who could see but were wearing blind-folds.

In one task, volunteers had to pick the direction of a sound coming from about 3 metres away. When the sound was in front of them or slightly off center in front, both groups performed equally well.

When sounds came from the side or the back, however, the blind group performed much better than the blindfolded group. The participants（參與者）who had been blind since childhood did slightly better than those who lost their sight later.

“Recognizing（認(rèn)識(shí)）the locations of distant sounds can be a matter of life-or-death for blind people,” say the researchers. Crossing the street, for instance, is much harder when you can’t see the cars coming.

Still, the researchers were surprised by how well the blind participants did, especially those who went blind after age 16. In another experiment, the scientists also found that parts of the brain that normally deal with visual（視覺的）information became active in locating sound in the people who were blind by age 11. These brain parts didn’t show sound-location activity in the other group of blind people or in the sighted people. The scientists now want to learn more about the working of brains of “l(fā)ate-onset” （遲發(fā)性的）blind people.

【1】The recent study shows blind people are better at telling ________________.

A. The sources of loud sounds.B. the locations of distant sounds

C. the direction of sharp soundsD. the distance of a sound in front of them

【2】If people were asked to tell the direction of a sound from the side, who would perform best?

A. Those who are blind.

B. Those who have gone blind since children.

C. Those who went blind at age 16.

D. Those who are blindfolded.

【3】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Whether to be able to locate the sounds can be of vital(生死攸關(guān)的) importance for the blind.

B. All the volunteers in the experiment are sightless.

C. All the participants did equally well when picking sounds from whatever direction.

D. The later people become blind, the better they can perform in telling the direction of sounds.

【4】What do we know about that parts of brain dealing with visual information are active in locating sounds?

A. This happens in almost all the testers.

B. This only happens in the people who were blind after age 16.

C. It remains nothing new to the scientists any more.

D. It remains a mystery why it is so.

My housetraining was a long process, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. We went for long walks, runs in the park and car rides. We stopped for ice cream. I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Step by step, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human friend. Finally, you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a dog person, but I still welcomed her into our home. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement, I was attracted by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them too. Your wife was afraid I would bite them. However, as they began to grow, I became their friend.

Now, you have a new job in another city and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your “family”, but there was a time when I was your only family.

I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the dog pound(收容所). It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said, “I know you will find a good home for her.” They shrugged（聳肩）and gave you a pained look. The children were in tears as they waved me goodbye. And “How could you?” were the only three words that swept over my mind.

Is it better to live with hope or without hope? At first, whenever anyone passed my pen (圍欄), I rushed to the front, hoping it was you, that you had changed your mind and that this was all a bad dream.

My beloved master, I will think of you and wait for you forever. I hope you receive more faithfulness from your family than you showed to me.

【1】Who tells this story?

A. A dog.B. A child.C. A dog's owner.D. A dog trainer

【2】Which is true about the dog when it lived at the pound?

A. It hoped to be adopted by another family.

B. It continued to love its former owner.

C. It did not trust humans any more.

D. It was excited about the pound.

【3】What is the theme of the story?

A. Be ready for changes.B. Never expect too much.

C. Never complain about your life.D. Be faithful to those who love you.

— Thanks. _________ I’ll work harder to catch up with those who are good at it.

A. There is still a long way to go.B. But I don’t think you are telling the truth.

C. Please don’t make fun of me.D. Really? Are you serious?

A. what’s her ageB. how much she weighs

C. whether she had been marriedD. where she came from