The kiwi bird
The kiwi bird is a flightless bird，about the size of a chicken. It sleeps during the day and is active at nighttime. It has a long beak that is onethird the length of its body, and its beak actually has nostrils (鼻孔) at the end. The kiwi is the only bird with this feature. Another unique feature of the kiwi is that it has no tail. It has thick brown hairlike feathers. This bird has many physical features unlike any other bird on earth.
Kiwi birds have been called a genetic leftover. Their characteristics seem very odd to us probably due to the fact that they haven't evolved much at all. They are suspected to be about 8 million years old. That's 7 million years older than humans. Due to New Zealand's isolated environment, it has been safe from predators(食肉动物) and hasn't needed to do much adapting. They just hang around.
With its long beak, the kiwi digs up and chows down on worms. A kiwi is almost blind; it can see about six feet at night and around two feet during the day，so when it comes to hunting the kiwi is not well equipped.It uses the nostrils on its beak to find its food and then picks up the worms with its beak.
The kiwi bird is native of New Zealand.It is the island country's national bird, and is rare anywhere but here and a few Pacific island neighbors. Of course，it is available for viewing at certain zoos.It has stayed in its native land due to the facts that it is an isolated island and that kiwis can't fly.
Kiwi birds are extremely unique in the bird world. Though they are the size of chickens, they lay eggs the size of ostrich eggs, weighing around a pound each.Their enormous eggs are the largest in the bird world, compared to their bodies. These birds were named after their distinctive shrill cry “keewee keewee”．
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT the distinctive feature of the kiwi bird?
| A．It has no tail at all. |
| B．It has a long beak. |
| C．Its feathers are thick and brown. |
| D．There are nostrils at the end of its beak. |
| A．the climate is mild |
| B．they have no enemy |
| C．something is wrong with their genes |
| D．they have adapted to living on the island |
| A．Its long beak. | B．Its eyes. |
| C．The nostrils. | D．Its tail |
| A．The kiwi bird's habitat. |
| B．The kiwi bird is New Zealand's national bird. |
| C．The kiwi bird can not fly. |
| D．The kiwi bird is available at zoos. |
| A．the large size of their eggs |
| B．the food they feed on |
| C．their appearance |
| D．their unique cry |
【小题1】D
【小题2】B
【小题3】C
【小题4】B
【小题5】D
解析【小题1】解析 根据第一段第四句The kiwi is the only bird with this feature.可知应选D项。
答案 D
【小题2】解析 根据第二段第五句Due to New Zealand's isolated environment，it has been safe predators...可知答案为B项。
答案 B
【小题3】解析 根据第三段第三句It uses the nostrils on its beak to find its food...可判断选C。
答案 C
【小题4】解析 根据第四段第一、二句The kiwi bird is native of New Zealand...可知答案为B。
答案 B
【小题5】解析 根据最后一段最后一句可判断答案为D。
答案 D。
科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Most students, when asked about their ideal graduation gift, would probably reply, “A car”, or “Money for a deposit on a house”. Cai Kaiyuan, 21, made a different choice. As a graduation gift to himself, he decided to work as a volunteer teacher in a remote village in Tibet.
Cai, a senior majoring in electrical engineering at Huan Railway Professional Technology College, originally planned to cycle from Sichuan to Tibet. During his journey, Cai’s idea for a different graduation gift to himself began to take shape. “I did not know beforehand what the journey would mean to me. I just want to gain a unique experience and have pleasure in appreciating the view there,” he said.
It turned out cycling on a plateau was extremely challenging. And it has kept changing his outlook on life. Cai’s fingers even became frostbitten while cycling up a 5008-meter-high mountain, where temperatures often dropped to 18 below zero. At night, the ice covered the road and he fell off his bike three times. The lack of oxygen made him feel dizzy and weak. “At the most serious moment, I felt that my life was on the line,” said Cai.
However, he also gained something unexpected. At Ya’an, a city in Sichuan, he met a group of tourists who are also university students. A girl called Wu Ling told him that she planned to work as a teacher in a primary school in Tibet after her journey. He was impressed by the idea as she looked slender and weak.
It was not until he reached a family-run hotel in Shigatse that Cai’s spirits began to rise. The hotel manager’s two daughters enjoyed talking with him. The kids asked about his experiences on his trip, and showed him the beautiful local lakes. “They told me that they always liked to talk to guests, as they wanted to improve their Mandarin,” he said, “Their parents and many locals can only speak Tibetan.”
Cai was touched by the girls’ story. Their situation is tough and the local people have little chance to learn Mandarin because the schools are short of teachers. “I want to do something to improve the situation for kids like them,” said Cai. His parents finally gave their agreement and his teachers also supported him.
【小题1】According to the passage, Cai Kaiyuan’s graduation gift to himself is _________.
| A．to have money for a deposit on a house |
| B．to travel by cycling from Sichuan to Tibet |
| C．to own a new car and marry a slender girl |
| D．to work as a volunteer teacher in Tibetan school |
| A．unique and pleasant | B．challenging but rewarding |
| C．relaxing but unexpected | D．freezing cold and boring |
| A．in a dilemma | B．making a phone call |
| C．at risk | D．very painful |
| A．tell us about an unusual graduation gift |
| B．introduce a dangerous journey to us |
| C．give advice on how to travel to Tibet |
| D．encourage us to be a teacher in Tibet |
| A．He met Wu Ling and was impressed by her plan. |
| B．His parents and teachers persuaded him to go to Tibet. |
| C．He was moved by the kid’s desire to improve their Mandarin. |
| D．A lack of teachers makes the local people have little chance to learn. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Spanish explorers called them Las Encantadas, the Enchanted Isles, and Charles Darwin used his studies of the islands as the foundation for his theory of natural selection. The Galapagos are among the world's most important scientific treasures, a group of volcanic islands surrounded by deserted beaches and inhabited by unique varieties of giant tortoise, lizards, and birds.
Yet life on this United Nations world heritage site has turned sour. Battles have broken out between fishermen and conservationists. Ecuador, which owns the islands, has sent a naval patrol (海军巡逻队) to put down disturbances.
The controversial director of the Galapagos National Park—which controls 97 percent of Galapagos land and the reserve extending to 40 miles offshore—has been fired, while an air of uneasy tension hangs over the islands, as the islanders prepare for election when they pick their representatives in Ecuador’s national assembly.
“It’s a very tense situation,” said Leonor Stjepic, director of the London-based Galapagos Conservation Trust, which raises money to help projects on the islands. “We are watching it with concern.”
The violence has been triggered by an alarming growth in the islands’ population. Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz island, housed just 45 inhabitants in the 50s. Today there are more than 10,000, while the islands' total population is more than 19,000 and growing by 6 percent a year, despite recently introduced a law to limit waves of immigrants fleeing the poor areas of Ecuador for a life “in paradise (天堂)”. On top of this, more than 100,000 tourists visit the islands every year.
Such numbers have put the islands, special ecology under intense pressure. Conservationists backed by the Ecuador government, have replied by exercising strict controls to protect the islands* iguanas, blue-footed boobies, and giant tortoises.
These moves have angered many local people, however. They want to exploit (开发利用) the islands’ waters and catch its protected species of sharks, lobsters and sea cucumbers, which can fetch high prices in Japan and South Korea.
Angry fishermen surrounded the Charles Darwin research station on Santa Cruz last February, threatened to kill Lonesome George—the last surviving member of the Pinta Island species of the Galapagos giant tortoise.
The situation got improved after the Ecuador government made concessions (让步) by increasing fishing quotas (配额), which angered conservationists. “It is tragic, the short-term gain of a few fishermen versus the long-term survival of the Galapagos,” said John McCosker of the California Academy of Sciences. “They are killing the golden goose.”
Then, the Ecuador government appointed Fausto Cepeda as the national park's new director, a post that has become a political football for the mainland government. There have been nine directors in the past 18 months.
This appointment was particularly controversial, however. Cepeda was known to have close ties with the fishing industry, and the rangers (管理员),who run the national park and reserve, rebelled.
More than 300 staged a sit-in at the park’s headquarters and prevented Cepeda from taking up his post. A battle broke out, and at least two people suffered serious injuries. Eventually, Cepeda—with the fishermen’s help- entered the park. “I am in office, i am in control. And I am trying to lower the tension,” he announced.
The Ecuador government took no chances, and sent a patrol boat to maintain the peace. A few days later, Ecuador Environment Minister Fabian Valdivicso met representatives of rangers. After discussions, he told newspapers that he had decided to remove Cepeda from the post.
However, as the population continues to rise, the long-term pressures on the islands are serious and will not disappear that easily.
“We have to balance its special environment with the needs of local people. In that sense, it is a microcosm (缩影) for all the other threatened parts of the world. So getting it right here is going to be a very, very important trick to pull off,” said Stjepic.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．The island’s swelling population. |
| B．The law to limit waves of immigrants. |
| C．A life in paradise. |
| D．The tourists’ visiting the islands every year. |
| A．He based his theory on his studies there. |
| B．He built the Charles Darwin research center there. |
| C．He advocated the balance between ecology and people there. |
| D．He found the last surviving giant tortoise there. |
| A．The dismissal of the previous director of the Galapagos National Park. |
| B．The exploitation of the islands. |
| C．The government's support of Galapagos Conservation Trust. |
| D．Cepeda’s close tie with the fishing industry. |
| A．the projects of Galapagos Conservation Trust on the islands are profitable |
| B．conservationists get angry when fishermen are killing a goose |
| C．politicians from the mainland government play football on the islands |
| D．the government is trying to ease the tension |
| A．The government did not seize opportunities. |
| B．The government made no compromises. |
| C．The government did not run risks. |
| D．The government shrank from responsibilities. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Students from Florida International University in. Miami walked on water Thursday for a class assignment. To do it, they wore aquatic (水上的)shoes they designed and created.
Alex Quinones was the first to make it to the other side of a 175-foot lake on campus in record time - just over a minute. Quinones, who wore oversized boat-like shoes, also won last year and will receive $ 500. Students had to wear the aquatic shoes and make it across the lake in order to earn an '6A" on the assignment for Architecture Professor Jaime Canaves, Materials and Methods Construction Class. "It's traditional in a school of architecture to do boats out of cardboard for a boat race. I thought our students were a little bit more special than that, " Canaves said. "We decided to do the walk on water event to take it to the next level. "
A total of 79 students competed in the race this year in 41 teams. Only 10 teams failed to cross the lake. Others who fell got back up and made it to the end. The race is open to all students and anyone in the community. The youngest person to ever participate was a 9-year-old girl who competed in place of her mother, while the oldest was a 67-year-old female.
A large crowd on campus joined Canaves as he cheered on the racers. He shouted encouraging words, but also laughed as some unsteadily made their way to the end.
"A part of this is for them to have more understanding of designing and make it work better, " he said. It is also a lesson in life for the students.
"Anything, including walking on water, is possible, if you do the research,test it and go through the design process seriously.
【小题1】Which statement about Alex 'Quinones is ture ?
| A．He finished the race in less than a minute. |
| B．He won the race with the help of 2 boats. |
| C．He failed the race last year. |
| D．He set a new record this year. |
| A．To go across the lake to school. |
| B．To test their balance on the water. |
| C．To pass Professor Canaves’ class. |
| D．To win the prize money of $ 500. |
| A．The students who fell into the water had to quit. |
| B．More than 20 teams failed to cross the lake. |
| C．The students kept silent when the other racers competed. |
| D．The youngest competitor competed instead of her mother. |
| A．understand designing better | B．achieve almost everything |
| C．work together and unite as one | D．walk on the surface of water |
| A．To advertise a student' s program. |
| B．To report an interesting assignment. |
| C．To introduce a creative professor. |
| D．To encourage special events on campus. |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It’s the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart’s music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.
The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it ,we’ll become more intelligent.
The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart’s music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce better milk.
I’ll leave the debate on the impact on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn’t make us more intelligent.
【小题1】What can we learn from paragraph 1?
| A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children. |
| B．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent. |
| C．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart’s music. |
| D．There is little scientific evidence to support Mozart effect. |
| A．Because a study described it in the journal Nature. |
| B．Because Mozart himself was a genius. |
| C．Because Mozart’s music is enjoyable. |
| D．Because Mozart’s music makes people relaxed. |
| A．people were strongly against the idea |
| B．the idea was accepted by many people |
| C．Mozart played an important part in people’s life |
| D．the US government helped promote the idea |
| A．Favorable | B．Objective | C．Doubtful | D．Positive |
| A．Listening to Mozart , necessary? | B．What music is beneficial? |
| C．What is the Mozart effect? | D．To be or not to be? |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
Everyone has done experiments in high school laboratories, but have you ever thought about designing a satellite to explore space?
On Nov. 19, a team of students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the US awed peers and even scientists by successfully launching a satellite.
The first satellite designed and built by high school students was sent up into space along with a record-setting. 28 other small ones on a rocket were sent from a NASA center in Virginia, CNN reported. It took the students seven years to build.
The students call their tiny satellite TJ3Sat, which is named after their school. It is just 10x10x12 centimeters and weighs only 0.89 kilograms, according to Orbital Sciences, a company which developed the rocket and supported the students’ project. It can be controlled with a smartphone.
Like most satellites, TJ3Sat can send and receive data. The small spacecraft is equipped with a voice synthesizer (合成器), which can switch text to voice and transmit those sounds back to Earth over radio waves, said Orbital officials. In this case, anyone can give it a try via the project’s website (school website) by submitting (提交) a text. The texts that get approved will be sent to the satellite, changed to voice and then broadcast back to Earth via radio waves.
“I can say ‘Go Colonials’ on our ground station and when it is on the other side of the world, in India, someone can hear ‘Go Colonials’over the radio,” the team explains on the website.
The satellite will stay in space for at least three months.
School principal Evan Glazer told The Washington Post that the project started in 2006 as an activity in the spare time. Later it became a research project for a select group of seniors.
At a time when American students are busy with SATs, the launch of the satellite shows what diligent teenagers can achieve when allowed to pursue their own curiosities, Glazer said.
“It used to be that kids growing up wanted to be an astronaut,” Andrew Petro, program executive (主管) for small spacecraft technology at NASA, said in a statement. “I think we might be seeing kids saying what they want to do is build a spacecraft. The idea here is that they really can do that.”
【小题1】 The underlined word “awed” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ___.
| A．influenced | B．amazed | C．delighted | D．inspired |
| A．It took a group of students about a decade to build the satellite. |
| B．Besides TJ3Sat, 28 other small satellites were built by the students. |
| C．TJ3Sat can receive text messages that the students send into space, which it can change to voice messages and broadcast back to Earth. |
| D．TJ3Sat is expected to stay in orbit for the next year, sending out messages together with information about its position in space. |
| A．is evidence of the advance of spacecraft technology |
| B．proves that hard-working teenagers can achieve a lot |
| C．shows the importance of extracurricular activities at school |
| D．has inspired many people to take an interest in space travel |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
A 16-year-old boy finds himself on a boat in the Pacific Ocean after escaping a shipwreck(海难). Even worse, he is left with a huge tiger for company. But he manages to survive after 227 days of fighting against all the hardships of the sea.
Pi, the lead character in Oscar-winning Ang Lee’s new movie Life of Pi, went through an inspiring journey of growth and self-discovery. So did 19-year-old Suraj Sharma, the Indian actor who plays him.
But it was a lucky chance that opened up the opportunity for the new star. Sharma was a regular student who lived with his mathematician parents in Delhi, India. As the director traveled to Mumbai to find his Pi, the teenager went along with his younger brother, who had acted in a couple of movies, to audition(试镜). But little did Sharma know that he would end up winning the role from 3, 000 hopefuls.
Lee said he saw Pi in Sharma: “Not only does he have a compelling and wise look. He has this rare talent.” The director said that in the final round, Sharma gave one of the “most compelling readings we had. In the end, he was in tears.” Understandably, Sharma didn’t want to let Lee down. “He (Lee) had given me this opportunity. I had to give it my best,” Sharma told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Sharma swam for four or five hours a day until he was completely comfortable with the water. He also worked on his body because he had to first gain weight and then quickly lose weight as the story developed. He even had rats run all over him to prepare for his role. Lee was impressed by the teenager, especially his endurance and patience in staying in a water tank for many hours each day. Sharma was only 16 when Lee signed him. After three years of shooting, Sharma said he had matured with Pi’s journey.
【小题1】What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| B．To appeal to readers to watch a movie. |
| C．To attract readers to continue reading. |
| D．To suggest the theme of this passage. |
| A．Sharma wanted to become a mathematician |
| B．Sharma had acted in a couple of movies |
| C．Sharma was sure to win in the audition |
| D．Many teenagers wanted to act the role Pi |
| A．To make somebody disappointed. |
| B．To seat somebody down. |
| C．To reject somebody’s requirement. |
| D．To take down somebody’s information. |
| A．Confident and passionate. |
| B．Talented and diligent. |
| C．Strong and courageous. |
| D．Endurable and easily-excited. |
| A．the thrilling escape from a shipwreck |
| B．how an Oscar-winning movie attracts audience |
| C．a young actor became matured when acting in a movie |
| D．the difficulty in winning a role in a movie |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
In 1980，Candy Lightner’s 13-year-old daughter Cad was killed by a drunk driver as she walked down a suburban street in California. “I promised myself on the day of my daughter’s death that I would fight to make this needless accident count for something positive in the years ahead,” Candy Lightener later wrote.
The drunk driver received a two-year prison sentence. However, he avoided prison by serving time in a work camp and a halfway house. Ms. Lightner was very angry about that and so organized Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), which later changed to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The aim of her organization was to raise public awareness of the serious nature of drunk driving and to promote tough legislation against the crime.
Before Ms. Lightner’s MADD, intoxication (醉酒), including drunk driving, was not taken seriously. Intoxication was often used as an excuse for otherwise unacceptable behavior: “I didn’t know what I was doing—I was drunk.”
Candy Lightner appeared on major television shows, spoke before the US Congress, addressed professional and business, groups, and worked tirelessly for years to change public attitudes, change judicial(审判的) behaviour, and promote tough new legislation. Ms. Lightner left MADD because the organization that she herself created is changing its focus. “I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”
The President of the United States awarded her the President’s Volunteer Action Award and she was the subject of the movie “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers: the Candy Lightner Story”.
【小题1】One of the purposes of MADD was to______ .
| A．make the public aware of the danger of drunk driving |
| B．fight against the drunk hit-and-run drivers on the road |
| C．make new laws against crimes caused by drinking |
| D．warn people not to drink alcohol while driving |
| A．Talking on major TV shows. |
| B．Giving a talk to businessmen. |
| C．Applying for a job with the government. |
| D．Giving suggestions to the US Congress. |
| A．the drunk driver had not been caught |
| B．drunk driving didn’t receive enough attention before MADD |
| C．Candy Lightner played a leading role in a film |
| D．MADD didn’t get much support from society |
| A．Ways to prevent drunk driving |
| B．Purposes of founding MADD |
| C．New law against drunk driving |
| D．Candy Lightner and her MADD |
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：阅读理解
April 11, 2003 12:44 a. m. PST, Associated Press
The respiratory(呼吸系统) virus known as SARS has appeared to spread in the United States only to family members of health workers with close contact to a sick person.
On Thursday, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there might be a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome（综合症） spreading through the workplace.
Dr. Julie Gerberding said a suspected SARS virus patient who became ill after traveling to Asia might have infected a co-worker in Florida, which made her “very worried”.
So far, a dozen people—nine family members and three health workers—were infected after coming into close contact with the person with SARS. The rest of the 166 suspected American cases have something to do with people who were infected while traveling in Asia.
In the Gainesville, Fla. area, a 47-year-old woman was believed to have been infected at work by a 60-year-old woman who was the nation’s first suspected SARS case, said Tom Belcuore, director of the Alachua County health department.
Since the World Health Organization announced a worldwide warning last month about SARS, the United States has started infection control in hospitals and among families of suspected cases.
Florida officials said a school in Okaloosa County went through a cleaning after a 6-year-old boy suspected of having SARS appeared at school with slight symptoms. “Health officials are watching the boys’ contacts at school to make sure no one else is infected,” said Rob Hayes, health department spokesman, “The boy may have been infected from a family member,” Hayes said, “We immediately became aware of it and had the child sent home. He’s staying at home with his family until 10 days after symptoms disappear.”
The researchers guessed that the virus might have come from animals. However, the scientists have not ruled out the possibility that some other microbe might also help make SARS more serious or easier to catch.
【小题1】The best title for this text is _______.
| A．A Worldwide Warning |
| B．Suspected SARS Cases |
| C．What Is SARS |
| D．Possible Spread of SARS in the USA |
| A．discuss the danger of SARS |
| B．report research result about SARS |
| C．inform people of the spread of SARS |
| D．explain to the readers what SARS is |
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