The idea for a science experiment can come from an unusual place. After watching a YouTube video of a dancing bird named Snowball, a scientist in California decided to study the ability of animals to keep the beat.
Bird lovers have long claimed that their pets have rhythm, and there are many videos of dancing birds online. Until now, scientists have suspected that humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music.
Thanks to Snowball, that scientific opinion is changing. Snowball is a cockatoo, a kind of parrot, and his favorite song is "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys. When he hears the song, he moves his feet and rocks his body with the tempo, or pace of the music, as though he is the only bird member of the boy band.
Aniruddh Patel is a neuroscientist, or a scientist who studies how the brain and the nervous system contribute to learning, seeing and other mental abilities. He works at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. After seeing Snowball's dance online, Patel visited the cockatoo at the bird rescue facility he's called home for two years. The scientist played "Everybody" for Snowball and also played versions of the song that were sped up or slowed down. Sometimes, Snowball danced too fast or too slowly. Often, when there was a change in tempo, Snowball adjusted his dancing to match the rhythm. In other experiments, scientists have observed the same abilities in preschool children.
Patel isn't the only scientist who has studied Snowball's moves. Adena Schachner, who studies psychology at Harvard University, also wanted to know more about the dancing bird. Schachner's team played different musical pieces for Snowball and a parrot named Alex, as well as eight human volunteers. The scientists observed that the birds and the humans kept time to the music with about the same accuracy.
Schachner and her team watched thousands of YouTube videos of different animals moving to music. Not all the animals could dance, however. From watching the videos, the scientists observed that only animals that imitate sounds, including 14 parrot species and Asian elephants, accurately moved in time to music.
63.   The underlined words “that scientific opinion” in the third paragraph refers to the theory that ______.
A.birds like Snowball have the ability to keep the beat
B.humans are the only animals that can accurately keep rhythm with music
C.the brain and the nervous system contribute to some mental abilities
D.bird pets can have their special rhythm under human’s instruction
64.   From the fourth paragraph we may know that ______.
A.Patel is the only scientist who has studied Snowball’s moves.
B.Snowball is able to adjust his dancing to match the rhythm.
C.Snowball cannot dance to the versions of the song Everybody.
D.it is the brain and the nervous system that control the mental abilities.
65.   The idea of studying animals’ ability to keep the beat comes from ______.
A.bird lovers’ discovery
B.humans musical sense
C.the same abilities in children
D.videos of dancing birds
66.   According to the scientists, Snowball’s ability to dance to music is probably related to the fact that ______.
A.it is the only bird member of the Backstreet Boys band
B.it has the ability to imitate sounds
C.it is a kind of dancing parrot
D.it has the same abilities as preschool children
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


第二部分：閱讀理解（共20小題;每小題2.5分，滿分50分）
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中，選出最佳選項。
Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort in our work. College classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking.
We have entered the 21st century, but step into almost any college classroom and you step back in time at least a hundred years. Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The message behind such an arrangement is obvious. Everything of importance comes from the teacher.
With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourage interchange among students. In small or standard-size classes, chairs, desks, and tables can be arranged in a variety of ways. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Large classes, particularly those held in lecture halls, unfortunately, allow much less flexibility.
Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with movable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out loud, and see how other students’ thinking processes operate all essential elements in developing new modes of critical thinking.
In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine, John, allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. John then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from that time on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students’ names and faces.
1. The primary purpose of desk rearrangement is _______.
A. for the teacher to divide students into small groups.
B. to make it possible for students to interact with each other.
C. for the teacher to find out how students think.
D. to give students more opportunities to practice speaking.
2. The expression “step back in time at least a hundred years” in Paragraph 2 is intended to convey the idea that _______.
A. there is not much change in educational idea over the past hundred years
B. critical thinking was encouraged even a century ago
C. college classrooms often remind people of their college life
D. a hundred years ago, desk arrangement in a classroom was quite different
3. The greatest advantage in allowing each student to find his own group might be that________
A. learning is made comfortable in this way
B. the teacher can easily remember students’ names and faces
C. the teacher saves the trouble in doing that
D. brighter students can help slower ones.
4. It is implied in the passage that ______.
A. students are allowed to changed groups throughout the course in John’s class
B. classroom interaction between students is essential to the teachers
C. a comfortable environment leads to higher working efficiency
D. new kinds of desks and chairs should be made
5. The author mentioned John in the last paragraph in order to ________
A. create a comfortable setting for interaction
B. introduce an approach of learning students’ names and faces easily
C. give an example that students stay in the same seat throughout the course.
D. describe a good seat-arrangement mode in courses with small group format.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空

完形填空 (共10小題; 每小題2分, 滿分20分)
閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從21-30各題所給的A、B、C和D項中，選出最佳選項, 并在答題卷上將該項涂黑。 
Children find meanings in their old family tales.   
When Stephen Guyer’s three children were growing up, he told them stories about how his grandfather, a banker,    21   all in the 1930s, but did not lose sight of what he valued most. In one of the darkest times when his strong-minded grandfather was nearly   22    , he loaded his family into the car and   23    them to see family members in Canada with a   24   ,“There are more important things in life than money. ”  
The  25   took on a new meaning recently when Mr. Guyer downsized to a   26    house from a more expensive and comfortable one. He was   27   that his children, a daughter, 15, and twins, 22, would be upset. To his surprise, they weren’t. Instead, their reaction echoed（共鳴）their great-grandfather’s. What they   28    was how warm the people were in the house.K   Many parents are finding family stories have surprising power to help children through hard times. Storytelling experts say the phenomenon reflects a growing  29     in telling tales, evidenced by a rise in a storytelling events and festivals.  
A university   30    of 65 families with children aged from 14 to 16 found kids’ ability to retell parents’ stories was linked to a lower rate of anger and anxiety.  
21. A. missed       B. lost           C. forgot        D. ignored
22. A. friendless           B. worthless          C. penniless  D. homeless
23. A. fetched      B. allowed   C. expected  D. took
24. A. hope           B. promise   C. suggestion        D. belief
25. A. tale            B. agreement      C. arrangement            D. report
26. A. large           B. small        C. new          D. grand
27. A. surprised    B. annoyed   C. disappointed    D. worried
28. A. talked about      B. cared about      C. wrote about     D. heard about
29. A. argument   B. skill           C. interest    D. anxiety
30. A. study          B. design      C. committee     D. staff

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

.
Some schools that are not year-round often have summer programs. In many cases, students take summer classes to repeat a subject they failed. This way they get a second chance to succeed. But schools also offer summer classes to students who want to be free of a required class during the next school year.
Generally, students in these classes want to take fewer subjects during the year because they are involved in a lot of activities. They might be involved in sports or music programs. Or both – and more.
These summer school students do the same amount of work as if they took the class during the school year. But they do it in a much shorter time, one or two months. They say it makes for a lot of reading and homework and not much time for anything else. Some education experts are worried about high school students who take summer school because of pressure to attend a top university.
The New York Times recently reported about summer classes at one of the best high schools in the United States. New Trier High School is in Winnetka, Illinois. Almost six hundred students are in school this summer. Only twenty are repeating classes that they failed. The others are in difficult courses like physics and history.
The students say taking classes like these in the summer means that they can take even more difficult classes next year. They say this shows not only that they are serious about their studies but that they have experienced the most difficult high school program.
Another place with a lot of students in summer school is Palo Alto, California. The Mercury News reported that about twenty percent of the students in the city schools are in class this summer. That is more than two thousand teenagers.
A third are in classes they failed before. The others are taking subjects they do not have time for during the normal school year.
But they are not taking subjects like physics and history. The students in Palo Alto are in classes like creative writing, film studies, literature and cooking.
63. This passage mainly talks about ______.
A. summer classes in American schools
B. why American schools offer summer classes
C. the advantages of American summer school
D. experts’ anxiety(擔(dān)憂)about American summer school
64. Which of the following is NOT the reason for the students’ attending summer classes in America?
A.Repeating a subject.           
B.Completing a required subject ahead of time.
C.Improving their physical quality    
D.Learning some special skills
65. What’s the biggest difference between the summer classes in New Trier High School and in Palo Alto?
A.There are more students attending classes that they failed before in Palo Alto.
B.Some students in Palo Alto learn some special skills instead of taking physics and history.
C.Some students in Palo Alto take some subjects so that they can join in sports or music programs later.
D.The students’ attitude towards studies in Palo Alto is worse than that in New Trier High School.
66. What can we infer from the passage?
A.American students in schools don’t have any pressure to attend top universities.
B.Summer school students don’t do the same amount of work as they do during the school year.
C. American students attend summer schools in order to relax themselves very much.
D. American students in high schools face great pressure to attend top universities.

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


The world of the science-fiction 3-D film Avatar is so perfect that the line between fact and fiction has become somewhat blurred (模糊) .
Movie-goers have admitted being annoyed by depression at not being able to visit the planet Pandora. Set in the future when Earth's resources have been used up, director James Cameron's film tells the story of a company trying to exploit a rare mineral on a new planet. The humans clash with the natives — a peace-loving race of 7-foot-tall, blue-skinned creatures called the Na'vi, who exist in perfect harmony with nature.
Fans have flooded the Internet with their confused feelings. On the site Avatar Forums (論壇), the topic "Ways to deal with the depression of the dream of Pandora not being able to come true" has more than 1,000 posts. In a similar forum, Louis, one user, wrote: "When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed grey. It just seems so meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep doing things at all. I live in a dying world." On the Avatar site Naviblue, a fan calling himself Jorba has even asked others to join him in starting a real Na'vi tribe.
This fantasy world, with its wonderful plants and animal life, is brought to life by using impressive special effects. Many people believe that 2010 is the breakthrough year for the technology helped by 3-D movies such as Avatar. "It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as perfect as it seems on screen. It makes real life seem more imperfect."
66. What is the best title of the text?   
A. A blockbuster movie: Avatar
B. The Avatar effect: movie-goers feel depressed after watching Avatar
C. 2010: a breakthrough year for. 3-D movies
D. Pandora: a perfect world
67. We can infer that Louis___________after watching the film Avatar.  
A. will cherish his present life more
B. feels disappointed about the real world
C. will intend to create a real Na'vi tribe
D. is proud of living on the earth
68. Thanks to the success of Av'atar, ___________.  
A. 3-D technology will probably develop quickly in 2010
B. most people look forward to living on another planet
C. many more science-fiction films will be made in the coming years
D. people have become more realistic about life
69. The underlined word "virtual" probably means___________.       
A. unreal         C. true         B. perfect       D. practical
70. According to the passage the natives on the planet are___________ 
A. not harmony with the nature    B. blue-haired race
C. peace-loving creatures         D. fond of fighting with human race

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

"Depend on yourself" is what nature says to every man. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.
There have been many men in history.  But many of them were very poor in childhood, and no uncles, aunts or friends to help them. Schools were few. They could not depend upon them for an education. They saw how it was and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way till they became well-known.
One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils, "I can not make worthy men of you, but I can help make men of yourself."
Some young men don't try their best to make themselves valuable to the human beings. They can never gain achievement(成就) unless they see their weak points and change their course. They are nothing now, and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of their parents and teachers, and depend on their own efforts.
64. Which of the following titles fits this article best?
A. What Nature Says to Every Man.    B. How to Be Famous.
C. Men Must Help Each Other.        D. Depend on Yourself.
65. Many of the great men succeeded because ____________．
A. they wanted very much to become well known
B. they made great efforts to learn and work
C. they had received a good education
D. they had rich parents
66. According to the famous teacher in England, a teacher can________.
A. make his pupils rich men
B. help his pupils find a way to be famous
C. help his pupils make themselves useful men
D. make his pupils men of strength and courage
67. If young people depend on their own efforts, ______.
A. they are sure to be very famous in the world  
B. they can be successful in their lives
C. they can live without their families               
D. they no longer need any help

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


C
A technique that controls immediate gas explosions by spraying them with large droplets of water is being tested by scientists at the University of Wales, United Kingdom．Instead of using the traditional fine water sprays when a gas leak is detected, the researchers have discovered that large droplets help to draw in some of the force of any explosion and provide a better way of controlling fire．
The research is based on studies made of the Piper Alpha oil rig （油井） explosion that occurred in the North Sea nine years ago killing 167 workers．The Welsh team found that by covering the gas-leak area with water droplets, the explosion and its effect can be greatly reduced．
Dr Gerand Thomas, a good lecturer in physics at the university’s Center for Explosion Studies, said that it was impossible to deal with gas explosions in the same way as fires because the whole event may only last a quarter of a second and normal water sprays do not have time to be effective．
Using the droplets of water to hold explosions resulted in the water being turned into a mist that allows some force of the explosion to be reduced．The mist slows down the combustion （燃燒） process and can stop a large amount of the gas igniting （點火,燃燒）, thus greatly reducing damage by limiting pressure development．With such a system, the operator has to decide at what point after a gas leak to activate the sprays．
The Center for Explosion Studies is the first of its kind in the UK and has been purposely-built for the study and implication of industrial explosions on land and sea．Research is developed to the causes of accidental explosions and they might be prevented．Full-sized imitative buildings can be built at the center where explosions and fires are created to test preventative equipment using sensors to monitor their efficiency．
Another area that the Welsh researchers have been looking at is how materials respond to explosions．The center also carries out research requested by individual customers．
64．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．Piper Alpha Oil Rig Explosion
B．Large Droplets of Water
C．A New Way of Controlling Gas Explosions
D．The center for Explosion Studies
65．The research finds that _____ in holding immediate explosion．
A．small water sprays are better than large droplets of water
B．small water sprays are not as good as large droplets of water
C．both small water sprays and large droplets of water are good
D．neither small water sprays nor large droplets of water is good
66．Dr Geraint Thomas implies that ______．
A．normal water sprays can put out fire effectively
B．gas explosions break out more quickly than fires
C．fires are easier to be held than explosions
D．gas explosions break out so quickly that there is no way to control it
67．Which of the following is not included in the research area of the Center for Explosion Studies?
A．To test the result of gas explosion．
B．To get some implications of industrial explosions on land and sea．
C．To find out how materials respond to explosions．
D．To find out when material respond to explosions．

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


第三部分：閱讀理解（共15小題，每小題2分，滿分30分）.
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項。
 A
Scholars and researchers have tried to discover what personality characteristics go along with success in intercultural experiences. Their findings have often been unclear or incomplete. But three characteristics stand out in their reports: patience, a sense of humor, and the awareness of being unclear. 
Patience, of course, is the ability to keep calm even when things do not go as one wants them to, or hopes they will, or has even been sure they will. Impatience sometimes brings improvements in relations with other people, but usually it does not. 
A person with a sense of humor is less likely to take things too seriously and more ready to see the humor in his own reactions than a humorless person. The value of a sense of humor really needs to be paid more attention to. “The awareness of being unclear” is a more difficult concept than patience or a sense of humor. Foreigners often find themselves in situations that are unclear to the newcomers. That is, they do not know what is happening in the situation. Perhaps they do not understand the local language well enough, or they do not know how some system or organization works, or they can’t be sure of different people’s roles in what is going on. “It’s like I just got here from the moon,” a Chinese graduate student who newly arrived in the United States said, “things are just so different here. ”
56. The passage mainly tells us_____. 
A. some problems about communication.                
B. humor- an important thing in communication. 
C. some characteristics in communicating with foreigners. 
D. three useful ways of communicating with foreigners. 
57. From the third paragraph, we can infer that a humorous person_____. 
A. tends to treat everything carelessly              B. is optimistic about things.
C. likes making fun of others.                    D. is an impatient one .
58. The underlined part “The awareness of being unclear” refers to “_______”. 
A. knowing the meaning of an exact situation.    B. not stating clearly what happens. 
C. realizing the possible misunderstanding           D. being aware of the unclear situations. 
59. What can we know from the passage?
A. It is necessary to learn a language before you go abroad. 
B Americans are used to the culture of other countries. 
C. Patience usually improves the relationship with others. 
D. To live in a foreign land, one should get fully prepared. 

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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


D
An altimeter(高度計) is an instrument used in an airplane to tell the pilot how high he is flying. The altimeter used in most airplanes is a kind of barometer(氣壓計), which, like barometer found in ordinary homes, is a measuring instrument for air pressure. The weight of the atmosphere presses downwards everywhere. At sea level this pressure is more than 14 pounds on every square inch of the surface. The higher you go into the air, the lower the air pressure is. An altimeter measures this air pressure to show the altitude of the airplane, or, how high it is above sea level.
But the altimeter does not show how high the plane is above the ground. A plane might be flying at an altitude of 15,000 feet, but it would be only a thousand feet or so above the ground if the land in that area happened to be 14,000 feet above sea level. The pilot adjusts his altimeter to the actual sea-level pressure before leaving the airport and then corrects it in flight by new information given to him by radio. He flies high enough to be above any mountain he may pass on his course .The barometer altimeter is correct within about 300 feet.
Another kind of altimeter, the radio altimeter, makes use of radio reflection. It calculates the height of the flying plane by sending out electrical signals to the surface below and measuring the time required for them to bounce back(反彈). It is correct within 15 feet over water, but is not reliable over land. Big planes usually have both kinds of altimeter.
67. Which of the following diagrams gives the correct relationship between altimeters and barometers? (a----altimeters, b----barometers)

68. The following drawing shows a plane flying over a mountain. Which of the heights given in the drawing is given by the barometer altimeter in the plane at this moment?

69. Suppose a plane using a radio altimeter is flying 10,000 meters above highland which is 4,000 meters above sea level. What reading will be given by the altimeter?
A.10,000meters.   B. 4,000meters.    C.14,000meters.    D. 6,000 meters.
70. Suppose a plane using both kinds of altimeters is flying over a mountainous area where the land rises and falls very abruptly (迅速地). The pilot keeps his plane steady at the same height. What kind of reading will you get on each of the altimeters?
A. The readings on both altimeters will remain steady.
B. The readings on both altimeters will rise and fall abruptly.
C. The readings on the barometer altimeter will rise and fall abruptly, while that on the radio altimeter will remain steady.
D. The readings on the radio altimeter will rise and fall abruptly, while that on the barometer altimeter will remain steady.

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