Haikou: A shark was killed after being dragged to shore at Yalong Berth beach in Sanya, South China’s Hainan Province, on Sunday afternoon.

It was the first time a shark had been caught in the beach area, a popular tourist site in Hainan.

Local fishermen said they caught the 3-meter-long, l-ton shark by chance When they were fishing in sea water 1,000 metres deep near the beach.

Police temporarily（暂时）protected the shark while oceanographers decided whether it was a species belonging to State protection.

Fishermen later killed and sold the shark after oceanographers confirmed that it was a whale shark and therefore not under State protection.

The shark was believed to have drifted into the area from the deep sea due to strong waves caused last week by Typhoon Imbudo. It had no open injuries but experts said they believed it suffered from internal（内部的）bleeding.

Local police officer Fu Chenggeng said beachgoers should not feel threatened by sharks because the fish never attack human beings on their own initiative. Fu said he had never heard of any shark attacks at the Sanya beach since he first started work there eight years ago.

However, police said they will improve the security system to safeguard tourists’ safety on the beach.

1．A possible title of the article should be      .

A．Tourists in Danger              B．Killing Whale Shark

C．Shark Caught in Beach Area      D．Whale Shark in Danger

2．From the article it can be learned      .

A．the shark was caught because of obvious injuries 

B．the number of the whale shark may be small

C．typhoon Imbudo may have brought the shark to the area

D．it’s not unusual to see a shark on the beach

3．The underlined word “confirmed” probably means      .

A．said      B．believed       C．thought        D．made sure

 

Running like the wind, roaring like thunder, tigers have long been feared and respected as a king of the animal world．But last week a report said that there are no more than 30 wild tigers left in south China．

    This was the conclusion of a team of scientists from China's State Forestry Administration and the World Nature Fund．

    The South China tiger, also known as the Chinese tiger, is native to southern China．In the 1950's, there were over 4000 tigers found in mountain forests in the country．But due to the destruction of their natural habitat and uncontrolled hunting, it has been pushed on to the list of the world's top ten most endangered species．

    Sixty-six of the big cats can be found in the cages of a dozen zoos around China．But they are nothing like their wild cousins．They have lost their natural skills such as hunting and killing．If they were set free they could not look after themselves．

    "Breeding has damaged the quality of the species", said Pei Enle, deputy director of the Shanghai Zoo．

    To reintroduce the species into the wild, the country started a programme to send five to ten young tigers to South Africa．Four of them have already arrived．Progress has been made as two elder tigers have recovered some of their instincts（本能）and can hunt wild animals by themselves at the African base．

    " South Africans are very experienced in reintroducing big animals to the wild．The country has very good natural conditions for the tigers to learn in", said Lu Jun, office director of the National Wildlife Research and Development Center．" We tried in Fujian Province, but it was not successful as there was not a complete eco-chain（生物链） and there was a lack of space．"

The tigers should return to China in 2007 when the reservations in Fujian are ready．

1．What is the main reason for the South China tiger becoming one of the world's top ten most endangered species?

    A．Because it has lost its natural instincts．  B．Because there is not a complete eco-chain．

    C．Because there is no space for it．   D．Because uncontrolled hunting has destroyed its natural living conditions．

2．How is the programme of sending several tigers to South Africa getting on?

    A．Its effect still remains to be seen．

    B．Two tigers can already compete with their wild cousins．

    C．Some of the tigers are already on the road to recovering their natural skills．

    D．The tigers should be able to recover their instincts completely by 2007．

3．By saying " but they are nothing like their wild cousins", the writer means that ______．

    A．they are no longer feared by other wild animals

    B．they don't know how to hunt or kill

    C．a complete change has resulted in the species because of breeding

    D．to reintroduce them into the wild has become an urgent task

4．What is the purpose of sending young tigers to South Africa?

    A．To help the tigers recover their ability to live in the wild．

    B．To provide them with a better environment．

    C．To get the tigers to go on a tour．

    D．To find a complete eco-chain for them．

5．Which one is not the reason for South Africa being chosen as the training place?

    A．Because the tigers can hunt wild animals by themselves at the African base．

    B．Because South Africans are skilled at dealing with the tigers．

    C．Because there is a complete eco-chain and enough space there．

    D．Because the country has good natural conditions for the tigers to learn in． 

At the end of the year 2010, some species of birds ddn’t survive the _____ winter in some European countries.

A．severe

B．serious

C．mild

D．extreme

 

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

 

Scientists at Harvard University and Bates College find female chimpanzees (黑猩猩) appear to treat sticks as dolls, carrying them around until they have children of their own. Young males engage in such behavior much less frequently.

The new work by Sonya M. Kahlenberg and Richard W. Wrangham, described this week in the journal Current Biology, provides the first evidence of a wild non­human species playing with dolls, as well as the first known sex difference in a wild animal’s choice of playthings.

The two researchers say their work adds to a growing body of evidence that human children are probably born with their own ideas of how they want to behave, rather than simply mirroring other girls who play with dolls and boys who play with trucks. Doll play among humans could have its origins in object—carrying by earlier apes (猿类), they say, suggesting that toy selection is probably not due entirely to socialization.

“In humans, there are obvious sex differences in children’s toy play, and these are remarkably similar across cultures,” says Kahlenberg. “While socialization by elders and peers has been the primary explanation, our work suggests that biology may also have an important role to play in activity preferences.”

In 14 years of data on chimpanzee behavior at the Kibale National Park in Uganda, Kahlenberg and Wrangham counted more than 100 examples of stick­carrying. Some young chimpanzees carried sticks into the nest to sleep with them and on one occasion built a separate nest for the stick. “We have seen juveniles occasionally carrying sticks for many years, and because they sometimes treated them rather like dolls, we wanted to know if in general this behavior tended to represent something like playing with dolls,” says Wrangham, a Professor at Harvard. “If the doll hypothesis (假设) was right, we thought that females should carry sticks more than males do, and that the chimpanzees should stop carrying sticks when they had their first child. We have now watched enough young chimpanzees to prove both points.”

1.What does a female chimpanzee do with sticks?

A．She gives them to her child to play with.

B．She treats them as dolls.

C．She makes useful tools from them.

D．She treats them as weapons.

2. What causes the different toy selection of chimpanzees, according to the passage?

A．Sex difference.	B．Socialization.
C．Environment.	D．Cultural difference.

3.We can infer from the fourth paragraph that ________.

A．socialization has nothing to do with human’s choice of playthings

B．sex difference is the only factor in human’s choice of playthings

C．the biology factor may also influence toy choice

D．people choose different toys in different cultures

4.It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

A．both humans and chimpanzees choose their playthings due to sex difference

B．different factors cause humans and chimpanzees to choose different playthings

C．only female chimpanzees have playthings

D．chimpanzees usually choose playthings for their children