Can trees talk? Yes, but not in words. Scientists have reason to believe that trees do communicate (交际) with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree attacked in the woods by caterpillars (毛虫) changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. Then even more astonishing, the tree sent out a special smell---a signal (信号) causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty.

Communication, of course, doesn’t need to be in words. We can talk to each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds and animals use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds, and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar (花蜜) for honey. So why shouldn’t trees have ways of sending message?

1.It can be concluded from the passage that caterpillars do not feed on leaves that ______.

A．are lying on the ground                   B．have an unpleasant taste

C．bees don’t like                        D．have an unfamiliar shape

2.The willow tree described in the passage protected itself by ______.

A．growing more branches                  B．communicating with birds and bees

C．changing its leaf chemistry                D．shaking caterpillars off

3.According to the passage, the willow tree was able to communicate with other trees by ______.

A．waving its branches                      B．giving off a special smell

C．dropping its leaves                      D．changing the colour of its trunk

4.According to this passage, bees communicate by ______.

A．making special movement                 B．Telling one another

C．smelling one another                    D．making unusual sound

 

Earlier this year I traveled to Turkana in Kenya. I was there to take pictures of the “broken food system”.

As a special visitor, I was greeted with songs and dances. The locals used to sing and dance all the time but now Turkana is silent and has been for some years. No one is singing or dancing any more because they have no food, nothing to celebrate. Many of them are surviving on a little corn a day and water, which they can get just every two days.

I met Tede Lokapelo, a local farmer who described the experience of a six-year drought(干旱). Tede used to have 200 goats, but now he has only seven left. He told me that this drought has taught him a hard lesson: It is too difficult to keep animals. He lives on animals. His traditional way of life has been completely destroyed now. Without the food aid(援助) they got, Tede is certain that they would starve because there are no other ways to feed themselves left.

Sadly, the same can be heard in almost any developing country around the world. Almost one billion people go to bed hungry each night. The food system is broken. In Turkana, not enough rain has fallen since 2005. They measure(测量) rainfall not in days or weeks but in minutes. More and more people are being forced to rely on food aid, but people like Tede don’t want food aid. They want to work and develop their country. It’s our responsibility(责任) to change the situation so that they can support themselves.

Drought is impossible to avoid but famine(饥荒) is manmade, and unless enough money is provided to develop a basic infrastructure(基础设施) for people in the area, thousands more lives are sure to be lost.

1. Why do people in Turkana no longer sing or dance any more?

A. Because they have no time.                    

B. Because they are tired of them.

C. Because they are always hungry.           

D. Because they have other interesting things to do.

2.During the drought Tede had experienced, ______of his goats were killed.

A. 200                B. 193                 C. 7                     D. 6

3. Which of the following is NOT true about Tede Lokapelo?

A. He was a farmer in Kenya.                                

B. He has never received any food aid.

C. His traditional way of life ha s been changed.

D. He found it hard to raise animals after the drought.

4.What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A. To show drought is serious in the world.

B. To tell readers the serious situation of food shortage(短缺).

C. To ask more people to give food aid to people in Kenya.

D. To make it clear what is the right way to help people suffering from drought.

 

Last year, on report card day, my son and a group of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald's. “Jack got a laptop for getting straight A's, and Laurie got a cell-phone,” one boy said. “Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she's only in third grade,” said another. “And how about Brian? He got $10 for each A.”

I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell-phone, and the DVD player?       

I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes---no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic（施有机肥料的）carrots. No more organic anything!            

I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal achieved by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns（橄榄球底线得分）? What about the orchestra（管弦乐队）? Would first chair pay more than second? I'd be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.

“We never paid anything for good grades,” said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. “He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that's about it.”

Don't you just hate that? We're all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she’s spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation. And what about the primary grades? What do these students get? “When the teacher asked if anyone got rewards for good grades, everyone in my class raised their hands and said they got ice cream cones (蛋卷),” said one third-grader.

1.What's the best title for the passage?

A．Tips on Paying Kids for Good Grades

B．New Trends in Paying Kids for Good Grades

C．Good Grades Mean Good Rewards

D．Don't Pay Kids for Good Grades

2.What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably mean?

A．Taking care of my children would influence my work.

B．I would spend less money on my children's good grades.

C．More rewards would be needed as my children grow up.

D．Reducing my children's homework load would cost me a lot.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________. 

A．if you buy children pizza as a reward, they will work harder

B．if you pay kids for good grades, they will take it for granted

C．children will not ask for rewards when they enter high school

D．good grades won't help kids make great progress in the future

4.The author takes her neighbor as an example to show _______.

A．pizza is the best way to motivate children

B．it is necessary to reward children for their good grades.

C．getting rewards for good grades is common nowadays

D．rewards are not the only way to motivate children

 

________ their son away to college, they got more room in the house.

A．With             B．Because           C．For              D．As

 

短文改错(共10小题;每小题1分,满分10分)

此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行作出判断。如无错误，在该行右边横线上划一个勾(√)；如有错误(每行只有一个错误)，则按下列情况改正：

该行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。

该行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。

该行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。

注意：原行没有错的不要改。

The village was always very quiet.The people lived                                        61._________

there were busy working in their field during the day,                                           62._________

and went to bed early at night,tiring after a long day’s                                           63._________

hard work.All of them had lived in a village                                                               64._________

for all their lives and had never left for less than                                                   65._________

one day at a time.On these days they left,they got up                                             66._________

early in the morning.They filled their carts of                                                       67._________

fruit and vegetables and sheeps,and went to the                                                     68._________

market in the town beyond their valley.They returned

back in the evening with some money and perhaps a                                             69._________

present for their children.That was their life.                                                               70._________