D

Here’s one new mom with lots of experience — at least 62 years old. On February 3, a Laysan albatross (黑背信天翁) named Wisdom hatched a healthy chick on a Pacific island near Hawaii. It was the sixth year in a row this bird had hatched a chick.

What makes Wisdom so special is that her species normally lives only 12 to 40 years. So not only has she outlived most other Laysan albatrosses by at least two decades, but also remained productive and able to hatch healthy chicks in her 60s.

To track a wild bird, biologists often wrap a long-lasting, numbered metal band around one of the bird’s legs. Scientists can then recognize a particular bird every time its band comes into view. Chandler Robbins first banded her leg in 1956. At the time, this biologist from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that she was already at least 5 years old.

Once reaching breeding age, Wisdom and her kin (亲属) return each November to a tiny Pacific island to breed. At breeding time, the Laysan albatross will scratch out a shallow nest in the ground. A female then lays a single egg. Both she and her mate will take turns incubating (孵化) the egg until it hatches. More than seven out of every ten Laysan albatrosses nest on just one island—Midway Atoll. That’s Wisdom’s home.

Wild albatrosses often die long before they come close to Wisdom’s age. Some are eaten. Others starve to death, get sick or suffer life-threatening injuries from the gears used by fishing boats. Keeping track of such long-lived birds offers scientists an opportunity to learn much about how these animals reproduce, especially late in life. Since she was first banded, Wisdom may have reared as many as 35 chicks.

12. What makes Wisdom special?

　 　 A. She becomes the oldest bird in the world.

　 　 B. She often flies to a Pacific island to nest.

　 　 C. She hatched a healthy chick at a very old age.

　 　 D. She can hatch a healthy chick almost every year.

13. In Paragraph 3, the writer tells us 　　　.

　 　 A. when the albatross hatched its first chick

　 　 B. how scientists know the albatross’ age

　 　 C. why the albatross lives such a long life

　 　 D. why scientists are interested in the albatross

14. What do we know about Laysan albatrosses’ breeding habits?

　 　 A. They begin to incubate eggs in October.

　 　 B. All albatrosses like nesting on the same island.

　 　 C. A female albatross hatches one chick each time.

　 　 D. Male albatrosses are not responsible for incubating eggs.

15. What is the best title of the text?

　 　 A. An albatross outlives most of other albatrosses

　 　 B. An albatross attracts scientists’ attention

　 　 C. An albatross hatched a healthy chick at 62

D. An albatross was seen again 56 years later

C

Only about 30 percent of people in the US know how to perform CPR (心肺复苏术). Recently, a 9-year-old boy showed a Georgia woman how to perform CPR on her newborn baby.

Susanna Rohm said she had experienced a parent’s worst nightmare (噩梦) — her 2-month-old son, Isiah, was not breathing. “I noticed he looked pale. I looked at his arms and his legs and they were limp (无力的),” Rohm told a local newspaper. “Then I noticed that he looked like he wasn’t alive.” In dismay, she dropped and broke her cellphone. Rohm had to run into the street, screaming for help.

“I had him in my arms and screamed over and over. Then I ran outside. I saw two boys playing across the street, and I yelled, ‘Go and ask your parents to call 911,’” Rohm said. But the two boys were able to do more than that. Nine-year-old Ethan Wilson took action, showing Rohm how to perform CPR on little Isiah while ten-year-old Rocky Hurt helped as well.

Rocky said he had learned the CPR technique from a poster in a health class at their school, Sedalia Park Elementary. “I was thinking we’d better give her a helping hand instead of getting scared,” Ethan said. “I told her to push on the baby’s chest five to ten times a minute with only two fingers, tilt back the baby’s head, plug the baby’s nose and breathe into the baby’s mouth,” Ethan said in an interview.

At last, Isiah began crying and was breathing again. He spent two nights in a local hospital. “If the little boy hadn’t shown me what to do right there, my baby would probably not be alive right now,” Rohm said.

8. We can learn from Paragraph 1 that in the US, 　　　.

　 　 A. CPR is considered important by most people

　 　 B. most children are taught how to perform CPR

　　 C. many parents don’t know how to perform CPR

　 　 D. kids must learn how to perform CPR on babies

9. What does the underlined word “dismay” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

　 　 A. Panic.　　　　　　 B. Anger. 　　　　 C. Excitement.　　 D. Joy.

10. What did Rohm do when she saw the two boys?

　 　 A. She asked them to call 911 as soon as possible.

　 　 B. She asked them to teach her how to perform CPR.

　 　 C. She asked them to ask their parents for help.

　 　 D. She asked them to help her perform CPR on her baby.

11. What Rohm said in the last paragraph shows that she was 　　　.

　 　 A. grateful　　　　　 B. regretful　　　　 C. surprised 　　　 D. ashamed

B

Imagine shopping for clothes online and being able to run your hand across the screen of your computer or smartphone to feel the materials. That kind of simulation (仿真) technology could be available within the next five years.

“We’re talking about reinventing how computers interact with humans,” said Bernie Meyerson, IBM Vice President. Extending our sense of touch is one of the innovations (创新) IBM believes will change the world in the next five years, according to the company’s annual “Five in Five” list.　

Smart machines will also be able to listen to the environment and highlight the sounds we care about most. For instance, an advanced speech recognition system will tell new parents why their baby is crying. This kind of thing is not possible today, but with an advanced enough system, it’s actually possible.

In the near future, personal computers will be able to do more than recognize images and visual data. Their built-in cameras will be able to analyze features such as colors, and understand the meaning of visual media, such as knowing how to sort family photos.

Smart machines will also be able to smell. If you sneeze on your computer or cellphone, tiny sensors (传感器) in the machine will be able to analyze thousands of molecules (分子) in your breath. “It can give you an alarm and says, ‘Hey, you are probably sick, go to see your doctor immediately,’” Meyerson says.

Mark Maloo is a computer science professor from Georgetown University. He hopes the advances will encourage more students to study science, technology, engineering and math, preparing them to play a role in future innovations. He believes there’s little doubt that advances in computer technology over the next five years will make what now seems like science fiction a part of our everyday lives.

4. The purpose of the text is to show us 　　　

　 　 A. how smart machines will replace humans

　 　 B. what our lives will be like in the future

　 　 C. how to go shopping on the Internet

　 　 D. why IBM wants to invent these smart machines

5. In the future, if you buy clothes online, you may 　　　.

　 　 A. feel the materials of the clothes by touching the screen

　 　 B. ask your computer to give you some advice

　 　 C. ask your computer to make the decision for you

　 　 D. save a lot of money by using a smartphone

6. How will a smart machine figure out that you are probably sick?

　　 A. By analyzing the thousands of molecules in your breath.

　　 B. By analyzing your comments about your body condition.

　　 C. By referring your condition to doctors.

　　 D. By asking you to describe how you feel.

7. What can we infer from the text?

　 　 A. The advanced speech recognition system is already available now.

　 　 B. Extending the sense of touch is the most important object of IBM.

　 　 C. Students have an important role to play in the future inventions.

　 　 D. Personal computers can only be used to recognize images.

A

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is generally accepted as the earliest adventure novel as well as the first English realistic novel. It is an exciting tale and a study of human characters. Living on an island isolated (隔绝) from the world, the hero Robinson Crusoe not only surprisingly survives starving to death and extreme loneliness, but also creates a new comfortable paradise (天堂) through his hard work and ingenuity (创造力). This is the impression given by Robinson to modern readers. Young people especially love Robinson Crusoe’s adventure experiences and creative life.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island tells an adventure story about a boy, Jim Hawkins, and his adventures with murderous (凶残的) pirates. The tale is told by Jim Hawkins, who gets hold of a treasure map and sets off with an adult crew in search of buried treasure. He fights with the pirates and goes through many difficulties and hardships. In the end he finds the treasure. This romantic novel with a fascinating and interesting plot has great value in literature and has made its writer well-known all over the world.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is commonly regarded as one of the greatest American literature. It is told in the first person by Huck, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels. It is a direct sequel (续集) to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Perennially (永久地) popular with readers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been the object of study by literary critics since its publication.

1. Which of the following is NOT true about Robinson Crusoe?

　　 A. It is a study of human characters.

　　 B. It is especially popular with young readers.

　　 C. It is generally regarded as the earliest adventure novel.

　　 D. Its story is based on the author’s personal experiences.

2. From Treasure Island we can infer that 　　　.

　　 A. the pirates treat Jim well 　　　　　 B. all the pirates are killed by Jim

　　 C. Jim is a brave and witty boy 　　

　　 D. Jim fails to find the treasure in the end

3. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is famous for 　　　

　　 A. its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River

　　 B. its detailed description of common people’s lives in America

　　 C. its brief introduction of American literature

　　 D. the narrator of the novel “Huck”

五、书面表达

假如你是Peter，你的表弟Tony迁入他爸爸工作的城市里上学，上周他给你写信诉说他没有朋友的烦恼，请你根据以下要点给他回信，提出一些交友建议。

要点：

1. 在居住区玩耍时主动与同龄人交流，结交新朋友；

2. 跟随家长到公共场所、课外或周末参加各种活动、郊游等；

3. 保持良好心态。

注意：

1. 词数120左右；　

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

D

We now only sleep for six hours and 41 minutes each night and half of us have no chance of a weekend lie-in, a new study shows. And it seems even during the week, we are struggling to get enough shut-eye.

It is said that two-thirds of us are sleeping for only six hours and 27 minutes every night, one hour and 33 minutes shorter than the normal daily amount (总额) of sleep — eight hours. More than 27 percent are getting less sleep than they did a year ago. Instead of a weekend lie-in, most people will choose 11 minutes of extra snooze button (睡眠键) time, which could be bad for health. 68 percent now use their mobile phone to wake them up every morning. Four out of ten adults say they set their wake-up call earlier than needed, then hit the snooze button on their mobile phones twice for an 11 minutes’ rest, in order to make their bodies feel like they have had more sleep.

Professor Stevie Williams said, “Setting your alarm clock much earlier and continually pressing the snooze button actually makes you feel even weaker after a night’s sleep. Napping in this way can make you miss out on the important REM sleep, which happens just before you wake up. And it is necessary for you to use the weekend to catch up on the sleep debt during the week.”

A third of adults are kept awake at night because of money worries, a quarter can’t fall asleep due to family problems, and just under one-fifth worry about work stresses. Being short of sleep is extremely harmful to a person’s heath and well-being. But we have to stop treating sleep as a luxury (奢侈品), and realize that it is necessary to get eight hours of sleep every night.

47. What can we know about REM sleep?

　　 A. We should avoid it before we wake up each day.

　　 B. It happens before we wake up and is good for our health.

　　 C. It’s useless to enjoy this stage of sleep before we wake up.

　　 D. It can do harm to our health as it makes us wake up earlier.

48. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the last paragraph?

　　 A. To show what keeps us awake.

　　 B. To tell us why we need to treat sleep seriously.

　　 C. To give us some tips on how to get a sound sleep.

　　 D. To offer some evidence that sleep is a kind of luxury.

49. The author writes the passage in order to tell us that we should 　　.

　　 A. avoid working late into the night

　　 B. get enough sleep and know its importance

　　 C. try to keep a balance between family and work

　　 D. replace the unhealthy lifestyle with a healthy one

50. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

　　 A. What an eight-hour sleep means　

　　 B. Why people need to sleep every day

　　 C. How to get a sound sleep　　　　

　　 D. Enough sleep is very important

C

Each year the Pritzker Architecture Prize (普立兹克建筑奖) goes to a star designer with a long list of attractive buildings around the world. This year’s winner is a little different.

Shigeru Ban has designed museums, homes and concert halls. But Ban is best known for a more simple kind of work: the temporary (暂时的) buildings for people who became homeless after disasters.

Ban may be the only designer in the world who makes buildings out of paper — cardboard paper tubes (管). Ban actually tested the strength of cardboard tubes, and said he was surprised by what he had discovered. He has used them to build temporary buildings in Japan, Haiti, China and elsewhere.

　“After a disaster, the building material is going to be more expensive,” Ban explains. “But the paper tube is actually not a building material. It is cheap and plentiful. We can get the material easily anywhere. And unlike costs for traditional building materials, the price of paper tubes doesn’t jump after an earthquake or flood. The tubes are also lightweight, so you don’t need heavy machines to work with them.”

Ban started using cardboard paper tubes in the 1980s. At that time he had just graduated from the architecture school, and he was looking for a cheap substitute for wood. So he started reusing the paper cardboard tubes that were left over from rolls of paper in his office.

Ban was born in Tokyo and studied architecture in the U.S. before moving back to Japan to start his practice. Some of Ban’s temporary buildings have become permanent (永久的), like the paper church he built after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.

43. The author uses the first paragraph to 　　.

　　 A. raise an argument　　　　 　　　　　 B. give an introduction

　　 C. give an example　　　　　　　 D. offer a description

44. What is special about Shigeru Ban?

　　 A. He failed to get this year’s architecture prize.

　　 B. He graduated from the best architecture school in the U.S.

　　 C. He is good at building houses for homeless people.

　　 D. He builds special houses for special groups of people.

45. Why did Shigeru Ban choose cardboard paper tubes?

　　 A. Because they are cheap and easy to take away.

　　 B. Because they are strong and last for a long time.

　　 C. Because they are plentiful and look very beautiful.

　　 D. Because they are common and hard to break.

46. What does the underlined word “substitute” probably refer to?

　　 A. A new way of building houses by using wood.

　　 B. A new method of producing cardboard paper tubes.

　　 C. A new kind of building material to take the place of wood.

　　 D. A new machine to produce a new kind of building material.

B

The New York Vegas Hotel has some of the most beautiful and luxurious (豪华的) rooms. Here are four kinds of them.

Park Avenue

This kind of room has about 350 square feet of space. It comes with either a king-size or queen-size bed. The room has the following: a 40-inch television and a good bathroom. The Park Avenue room costs about $65 to $85 per night during weekdays and has a weekend rate of $100 to $110 per night.

Marquis

This Marquis room is up-grade. It provides guests with 700 square feet of space. This up-grade room has a good bathroom, two separate dining areas, and Internet access. There is also a small refrigerator in the room. Guests can stay in this kind of room for about $125 per night.

Players　

The Players room comes with two queen-size beds. This room is almost 800 square feet and has a sitting area. The Player room has the following: two 40-inch televisions, a good bathroom, dining and entertainment areas and Internet access. One can stay in the Players room for $155 per night.

Penthouses

This kind of room has about 1,100 square feet of space with a DVD and CD player, coffee pots, and a separate master bedroom. Penthouses rooms have more up-grade amenities (设施). Guests can stay in this room comfortably for $415 per night, and it has a different price in the busy season.

Las Vegas travelers have their choice of one of these hotel rooms. It doesn’t matter which room one chooses because all of them are wonderful!

39. The price of some rooms of the New York Vegas Hotel 　　.

　　 A. is a bit higher during weekdays　 　　　

　　 B. depends on what time of year it is

　　 C. keeps the same all the year round　　　

　　 D. changes almost every day

40. What will you choose if you want to surf the Internet and also save some money?

　　 A. Park Avenue.　　　 B. Marquis. 　　　 C. Players.　　　 D. Penthouses.　　

41. What can we learn from the passage?

　　 A. There are two beds in a Players room.

　　 B. The queen once stayed in a Park Avenue room.

　　 C. There is a small refrigerator in every room.

　　 D. The New York Vegas Hotel provides guests with free meals.

42. The writer writes the passage mainly to 　　.　

　　 A. introduce the New York Vegas Hotel

　　 B. raise funds for the New York Vegas Hotel

　　 C. make some rooms of the New York Vegas Hotel known to readers

　　 D. introduce the luxurious amenities of the New York Vegas Hotel