Researchers believe that the insect(昆虫) is better at managing congestion (拥挤) than humans. Ants are the most many type of animal on earth with brains that contain about 250,000 cells ---- the largest among insects.

Now an intelligence expert Dr. Dirk Helbing says understanding more about ants could help solve one of the headaches of modern life -- road congestion.

His team set up an "ant motorway" with two routes of different widths from the nest to some sugar syrup (糖浆). Soon the narrower（更窄的） route soon became crowded（拥挤的）. But when an ant returning along the crowded route to the nest met with another ant just starting out, the returning ant pushed the newcomer onto the other path. However, if the returning ant had enjoyed a trouble-free journey, it did not send the newcomer in a different direction.

The result was that just before one route became clogged , the ants had turned to another route and traffic jams never formed.

The researchers also created a computer model of more complex ant networks with routes of different lengths. The team found that even though ants being sent in another direction sometimes took a longer route, they still got to the food quickly and efficiently.

Dr. Helbing, of the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, said that while you cannot allow cars to meet with traffic coming in the opposite（相反的）direction as a form of traffic control, you could do the next best thing and allow them to communicate.

His plan is to force cars traveling in one direction to tell oncoming traffic what the conditions they are about to meet with-- so they can avoid that situation if necessary.

1.The first paragraph suggests that _______.

A．ants have a special way to manage congestion

B．ants are clever and good at dealing with the traffic jams because of developed brain

C．insects are similar to animals in dealing with the traffic jams because of developed brain

D．insects have more advantages than humans

2. The underlined word "clogged" can be replaced by _______ in the following four words.

A．cleaned

B．narrowed

C．crowded

D．shortened

3.If an ant returns along crowded route to the nest, how does the ant solve the traffic problem?

A．The ant will change the direction of its own.

B．The ant stopped the newcomer from moving ahead and forced the newcomer to wait there patiently.

C．The ant can't direct the newcomer.

D．The ant will push the newcomer to the other route, so traffic jams won't form.

4. What's the advice that Dr. Helbing gives us?

A．The cars cannot be allowed to communicate with traffic coming in the opposite direction.

B．The cars can communicate with traffic in the same direction.

C．The cars that travel in one direction can tell oncoming traffic about the traffic conditions.

D．We should build more routes of different lengths and widths.

 

Starry Night

Have you ever seen a real night sky that looks like Van Gogh’s Starry Night? I hope not! So, why would an artist paint the sky this way? Perhaps I can answer that with another question. When you’re happy, why do you sing instead of speaking? Or when you’re in love, why do you speak of roses and honey? When we do these things, we, too are artists. We’re using something that goes beyond a mere scientific description in order to communicate our feelings more powerfully than straightforward words can. So consider for a moment that Van Gogh might not have been hallucinating (产生幻觉的) on the night he painted this. Maybe he felt something so powerful that he had to go beyond the familiar to express it.

I hope I’m reminding you of something you already know as I describe the experience of being outside at night under a crystal clear sky that makes everything seem clean and refreshing. So you look up. And suddenly you see the sky that you’ve seldom seen before. It’s not just the same old dark night sky tonight. Instead, the blackness is a deep, rich blue that is more bottomless than any ocean. The stars are not spots of light but brilliant, magical diamonds that dance like tiny angels. In just this special moment, the sky is somehow alive, and it seems to speak to you silently about the meaning of infinity (无限).

Now look at the painting again. Can you see something of what makes this such a famous and well-loved image? But there’s more here than that. Van Gogh painted this while he was quite struck down by a mental disease. It is natural to imagine that he frequently battled the fear that he would never escape his prison to true freedom. It is natural for us to imagine this because each of us has faced our own personal prison, whether it be disease, the loss of a loved one, serious financial problems … In such moments it is tempting to give up to despair (绝望) and collapse in hopelessness.

Looking at this painting, I imagine Van Gogh in just such a moment of despair, when he is struck by the memory of one of those amazing night skies. He recalls the sense that he is not alone, that there is a living, infinite world with rich colorful creatures and scenes all around.

And so the sky flows across the canvas (画布) full of vitality (活力) and power. The stars don’t just sparkle; they explode. Looking closer, we notice that the earth itself seems to respond to the movement in the sky, forming its own living waves in the mountain and rolling trees. In the sleepy village, the windows of the houses glow (发光) with the same light that brightens the universe. The giant trees at the left seem to capture the joy by stretching upwards toward the sky.

What a tremendous message of hope there is in this masterpiece! Even if our troubles persist, the world around us assures us that life is worth living. That’s what the angels sing about. Doesn’t it make you want to sing, too?

1.Looking at the painting Starry Night, we can see all the following except________.

A. The singing angels                             B. the giant trees

C. the sleepy village                               D. the sparkling stars

2.Van Gogh does NOT describe a feeling of ______ through the Starry Night.

   A. happiness         B. vitality            C. power                    D. despair

3.The underlined word “prison” in the 3rd paragraph probably means ______.

   A. trouble in one’s life                                   B. mental illness

   C. control from the authority                  D. a place where criminals are kept

4.What is the main purpose of this passage?

 A. To explain how Van Gogh painted the Starry Night.

 B. To tell us how to appreciate the Starry Night.

 C. To prove Van Gogh was in a hallucinating state of mind while painting the picture.

 D. To show us the beauty of the sky on a starry night.

 

Tim Becker and his neighbors are doing something to make their neighborhood a trouble-free area.

When Tim Becker gets in his car to go shopping, he doesn’t    1  drive to a store and back home. He always looks    2  up and down the streets of his neighborhood. He looks for anything

   3  such as strange cars, loud noises,  4  windows, or people gathering on street comers.

Tim   5  to a neighborhood watch group in Stoneville, Indiana, USA. The neighborhood watch group   6  on the third Wednesday of every month. That’s   7  .Tim gets together with ?about? ten of his neighbors to discuss community ?  8  .?Members of the neighborhood watch group want to help the police   9  their homes, streets, and families safe.

Tina Stedman, president of ?  10  ?neighborhood watch group, agrees with Tim.“People seem to think that crime happens to other people but not   11  them. Well, it’s never happened to me,” she said,“but I don’t think anyone has the   12  to steal from other people or to make them feel   13  sitting in their own homes.”

Alex, a member of the group, said that all the neighbors   14  out for one another,“We 15  each other’s homes. We keep watch on the neighborhood at night and on weekends. Usually a  16    of four or five of us goes out together. If something doesn’t look right, then we call the  17  .?For example, if we notice a group of teenagers who seem to be looking for   18  ,or someone destroying property, we report to the police.”

Alex feels the neighborhood watch groups ?  19  ?a lot in keeping crime down. Her husband Jim agrees,“Police are good people, but they can’t do   20  .”

1.A.yet                         B.still                           C.just                           D.rather

2.A.carefully　             B.clearly                      C.nervously                  D.coldly

3.A.familiar                  B.unusual                     C.expensive                  D.interesting

4.A.curtained                B.open                         C.old                           D.broken

5.A.attends                   B.belongs                     C.goes                          D.turns

6.A.meets                     B.quarrels                     C.sings                         D.searches

7.A.where                    B.why                          C.when                        D.how

8.A.politics                   B.wealth                       C.health                       D.safety

9.A.keep                      B.hold                          C.let                                   D.protect

10.A.its                        B.his                            C.their                         D.your

11.A.round                   B.on                                   C.about                        D.to

12.A.right                    B.chance                      C.courage                     D.mind

13.A.unlucky                B.unsafe                       C.disappointed              D.discouraged

14.A.set                       B.let                                   C.hold                          D.look

15.A.care                            B.enter                         C.watch                        D.manage

16.A.group                   B.set                            C.number                            D.crowd

17.A.judges                  B.police                       C.firemen                     D.doctors

18.A.work                    B.burden                      C.service                      D.trouble

19.A.produce                B.find                          C.get                            D.help

20.A.anything               B.evening                     C.harm                         D.wrong

What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”. Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males send them off to bed at night.
Boys are found everywhere –--  on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble-maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature destroying the world and himself with it
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion (消化) of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker(鞭炮), but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only destroyed pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”
【小题1】The whole passage is in a tone (语气) of _________.

A．respect and harmony	B．humor and love
C．hope and expectation	D．confidence and imagination

【小题2】What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence?

A．He has altogether five fingers.	B．He is slow, foolish and clumsy.
C．He becomes clever and smart.	D．He cuts his hand with a knife.

【小题3】According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except _________.

A．ice cream	B．comic books
C．Saturday mornings	D．Sunday schools

【小题4】What does the writer feel about boys?

A．He feels curious about their noise.	B．He is tired of these creatures.
C．He is amazed by their naughtiness.	D．He feels unsafe staying with them.

There was a sweet, wonder-filled little girl who was hurt over and over again. She  36  that she was so bad that others just couldn’t be  37  to her.

She asked many wise people to help her  38  why she was so bad that even her mother hurt her, and why she was unable to be  39  so that others wouldn’t hurt her. So she was on a  40  that she thought was to help her be “better”, but she carried a big  41  with her everywhere she went.  42  was all the hurt she had experienced. During the trip she willingly  43  what the wise people said about forgiving（宽恕）.

After 50 years, she decided to  44  the bag up and just see what happened. When she looked inside it was filled with bits of paper. Once they had  45  on then, detailing the hurt. But as time went on, the words  46  slowly. She had been carrying this bag that held nothing  47  the image（印象）of something that once was.

The little girl had now become an almost-old woman. She  48  the silliness of carrying that bag around. She started  49  and dancing and she felt free!

She was able to see that her  50  loved her child, but was  51  that her little girl felt unloved. By throwing away the bag of paper and forgiving those who  52  her, she looked in the mirror and said, “I am clever, interesting and kind.” But most  53  , she was able to say “I am lovable.”  54  it took many years, she was finally open to bringing  55  into her life.

She finally saw the sweet, wonder-filled little girl that she had always been.

A. decided                        B. considered                C. promised           D. hoped           

A. bad                       B. sorry                        C. thankful            D. nice           

A. guess                            B. understand                C. expect               D. invent          

A. better                           B. worse                       C. angrier                     D. harder           

A. holiday                         B. date                         C. trip                   D. path           

A. bowl                                B. basket                      C. bag                   D. purse          

A. Beneath                        B. Above                      C. Outside             D. Inside          

A. agreed with                   B. fought against           C. gave up      D. suffered from          

A. pick                           B. open                        C. put                   D. break          

A. pictures                      B. memories                 C. words               D. dreams          

A. disappeared         B. appeared                    C. showed             D. changed          

A. and                                B. with                         C. among                     D. but          

A. refused                       B. forgot                      C. realized             D. preferred          

A. crying                        B. laughing                   C. shouting            D. worrying           

A. daughter                         B. mother                            C. teacher              D. friend          

A. sad                          B. happy                      C. excited              D. hopeful          

A. liked                          B. hurt                         C. educated            D. ignored          

A. surprisingly                 B. terribly                    C. nervously          D. importantly          

A. Although                    B. If                                   C. Because             D. So          

A. trouble                       B. love              C. money               D. future