【题目】You may have seen a talking parrot on a TV show, in a movie, or even in someone’s home. The parrot has learned to copy sounds that people make. Birds are not the only animals that can copy the noises they hear. Dolphins, bats, and some apes also copy sounds. Now we can add elephants to this list of copycats.

Dr. Joyce Poole is a zoologist. She studies the sounds of elephants. While she was in Kenya, she would hear strange noises made by Mlaika after sunset. Mlaika was a 10-year-old African elephant.

Mlaika lived near a highway. Dr. Poole says, “I could not tell the difference between Mlaika’s call and the distant truck noise.” She and other scientists studied Mlaika’s sounds. It turned out that Mlaika was copying the sounds of the trucks driving by. Why would Mlaika copy trucks that she heard going by on the highway? Animals that are able to copy sounds may enjoy practicing new sounds. When they are kept outside of their natural environment, they may copy unusual sounds. That may be why an elephant would copy the sound of a truck.

“Mlaika was not the only copycat elephant,” Dr. Poole says. Calimero is a 23-year-old male African elephant. He spent 18 years with two female Asian elephants. Asian elephants make chirping sounds (sounds made by birds) to talk with one another. African elephants usually do not make chirping sounds. But Calimero now does. He is copying his Asian elephant friends. Dr. Poole says that elephants need to form bonds with their family and friends. She says, “They make sounds to communicate with each other. When they are separated, they use sounds to keep in contact.”

Parrots, dolphins, humans, and elephants show that being a copycat is one way that animals and people make new friends and keep old ones.

【1According to the passage, what does Mlaika copy?

A. The sound of people. B. The sound of trucks.

C. The sound of Calimero. D. The sound of birds.

【2Why is Calimero mentioned in the passage?

A. To clarify the meaning of copycat elephants.

B. To show the cleverness of African elephants.

C. To add another example of copycat elephants.

D. To introduce a special life skill of Asian elephants.

【3From paragraph 4, we can know ________.

A. how long it takes for an elephant to learn a new sound

B. why the African elephant can make chirping sounds

C. why the Asian elephants make noises after sunset

D. how Asian and African elephants are alike

【4According to the passage, why do some animals like to be copycats?

A. To keep in touch with nature.

B. To please people and other animals.

C. To make new friends and keep old ones.

D. To avoid the danger from the outside world.

【题目】请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意:每个空格只填一个单词。

Research shows that the summer before college can be a dangerous time for teenagers, as they are between home and high school on the one side, and a more challenging and independent existence as a college student on the other

Take drinking for exampleResearch has reported that teenagers tend to increase their alcohol use during the summer before college and in their first termSuch drinking can lead to tragedy: it’s estimated that more than 1,100 college students at 18 to 24 years of age die each year from alcohol-related injuries, including car crashes, and almost 600, 000 are injured under the influence of alcohol.

In addition to drinking, future freshmen may also have gaps in their knowledge about other aspects of university lifeA study has found that students are “generally aware” of the fact that they have to place them into college courses and their school’s curricular requirementsIn addition, many students hold misunderstandings such as “Getting into college is the hardest part”, and “I can take whatever classes I want when I get to college”In fact, students’ courses may be determined by their level of preparation

It is found that college-bound high-school graduates are faced with a number of potentially frightening tasks during the summerFor example, colleges typically require students to take placement tests(分班考试)and fill out a lot of paperwork, including housing and medical forms, over the summerCompleting these tasks may be especially frightening for low-income and first-generation college-bound students whose families may be short of experience with the college-going process

In addition, it’s only in the summer after high-school graduation when students face the reality of paying the first college bill, which often includes unexpected costs like required health insuranceFor college-intending students, successfully controlling the post-high-school summer thus requires a level of finance that may be unrelated to their ability to succeed in the classroomAs a result, students who have already broken through many barriers to college admission may fail to enter college

Paring college-bound students with “fellow advisers”---students already in college who have been trained to support and coach their learners through the summer---improves the rate at which the learners show up at collegeEven more wonderful, a low-cost campaign of text messages---in which researchers sent recent high-school graduates and their parents a series of eight to ten text-message reminders of key tasks to complete over the summer---is just as effective in increasing the rate of students who successfully make the change to college

A little “summer pushing” could be a key step in getting students all the way across the finish line

The Key to College Success: Summer

Facts

The summer before college throws1dangers to high-school graduates

College life is challenging and needs students’2

Reasons for college failure

Many misfortunes happening to future freshmen are related to3

Future freshmen have false4about college life

Tasks related to going to college may create some5for a certain group of high-school graduates.

Finance may become a threat6to those who can give good academic performance


7

Get ready, as the level of preparations really does8

Future freshmen may be recommended to9to “fellow advisers”.

Text messages can be used as10of completing key tasks

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