The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.

The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker (面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery (面包房) into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall among them.

Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”

The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.

After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect (建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among them the mew St Paul’s

The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.

From the passage, we can learn that the fire began in ________.

A. a hotel　　　           B. the palace　　        C. Pudding Lane　　 D. Thames Street

The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means ________.

A. wife and husband　　      B. wife and children　   C. home                  D. children

It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ________.

A. many famous buildings were destroyed

B. some people lost their lives

C. the birds in the sky were killed by the fire

D. the King’s bakery was burned down

Why did the writer cite (引用) Samuel Pepys?

A. Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B. Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C. Because he wanted to give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.

D. Because he wanted to show that poor people suffered most.

How was the fire put out according to the text?

A. The King and his soldiers came to help.

B. Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down.

C. All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

D. People managed to get enough water from the river.

It is only during the last few years that man has generally realized that in the world of nature a balance exists between all forms of life. No living thing can exist by itself. It is part of a system in which all forms of life are joined together. If we change one part of the nature order, this will almost certainly bring about changes in some other parts.
　　The cutting of forests reduced the supply of oxygen. The killing of weeds and insects by chemicals led to the wide-spread poisoning of animals and birds. The throwing of waste products into the ocean hurt life in the sea, while waste gases changed the chemical balance of the atmosphere and shut out some of the sun’s necessary life-giving rays.
　　And so we could go on adding more examples until in despair(绝望) we might feel like giving up the struggle to control these harmful human activities. Man is very clever at changing the world around him to satisfy his immediate needs, but he is not so clever at looking far ahead, or at thinking about what the future results of his action might be. Man may well destroy himself because of his silly action.
【小题1】The first paragraph tells us that _____.

A．all living things in nature depend on each other

B．everything in nature can’t exist without the help of man

C．man has known the importance of the balance of nature for a long time

D．no living thing can live naturally

【小题2】In the second paragraph the examples given are used to prove that _____.

A．all forms of life belong to a system in which all the parts can be changed for one another

B．it is only during the last few years that man has generally known the balance of nature

C．there are some living things which can exist by themselves without change

D．we can’t change one form of life without destroying the balance of nature

【小题3】The last paragraph suggests that in order to get his immediate benefits(利益) _____.

A．man is always anxious to control his activities within limits

B．man is always too eager in planning for distant future

C．man often fails to think about their future results of his action

D．man often feels that he will have to give up in despair

【小题4】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Cutting down woods does little harm to human beings.

B．Man has to pay much more attention to the future results of his present action.

C．Oxygen comes from forests.

D．The passage tells us to try our best to get as much as possible immediately.

One thing the tour books don’t tell you about London is that 2,000 of its residents are foxes. They ran away from the city about centuries ago after developers and pollution moved in. But now that the environment is cleaner, the foxes have come home, one of the many wild animals that have moved into urban areas around the world.

“The number and variety of wild animals in urban areas is increasing,” says Gomer Jones, president of the National Institute for Urban Wildlife, in Columbia, Maryland. A survey of the wildlife in New York’s Central Park last year tallied the species of mammals, including muskrats, shrews and flying squirrels. A similar survey conducted in the 1890s counted only five species. One of the country’s largest populations of raccoons (浣熊) now lives in Washington D.C., and moose (驼鹿) are regularly seen wandering into Maine towns. Peregrine falcons(游隼) dive from the window ledges of buildings in the largest U.S. cities to prey on (捕食) pigeons.

Several changes have brought wild animals to the cities. Foremost is that air and water quality in many cities has improved as a result of the 1970s pollution-control efforts. Meanwhile, rural areas have been built up, leaving many animals on the edges of suburbs. In addition, urban wildlife refuges (避难处)have been created. The Greater London Council last year spent￡750,000 to buy land and build 10 permanent wildlife refuges in the city. Over 1,000 volunteers have donated money and cleared rubble from derelict lots. One evening last year a fox was seen on Westminster Bridge looking up at Big Ben.

    For peregrine falcons, cities are actually safer than rural cliff dwellings (悬崖栖息地). By 1970 the birds had died out east of the Mississippi because the DDT had made their eggs too thin to support life. That year, scientist Tom Cade of Cornell University began raising the birds for release in cities, for cities afforded abundant food.

Cities can attract wild animals without turning them harmful. The trick is to create habitats where they can be self-sufficient but still be seen and appreciated. Such habitats can even be functional. In San Francisco, the local government is testing different kinds of rainwater control basins to see not only which ones retain (保持) the cleanest water but which will attract the most birds.

1.The first paragraph suggests that ________.

A. environment is crucial for wildlife           

B. tour books are not always a reliable source of information

C. London is a city of fox　　           

D. foxes are highly adaptable to environment

2.Which of the following is NOT a reason that wildlife is returning to the cities?

A. Food is plentiful in the cities.          

B. Wildlife is appreciated in the cities.

C. Wildlife refuges have been built in the cities

D. Air and water quality has improved in the cities

3.The underlined word “tallied” in Para. 2 means __________.

A. distinguished       B. described       C. counted      D. excluded

4.It can be inferred from the passage that _________.

A. Londoners are putting more and more wild animals into their zoos.

B. Londoners are happy to see wild animals return to their city

C. Londoners are trying to move wild animals back to the countryside

D. Londoners have welcomed the wild birds, but found foxes a problem

5.What is the passage mainly about?

A. Wildlife returning to large cities        

B. Foxes returning to London

C. Wild animals living in zoos           

D. A survey of wildlife in New York