Our plan was to drive into Cambridge, catch the 7:34 train to Liverpool Street Station, then to separate and meet again for lunch. We should have arrived at Liverpool at 9:19, but due to a typical London fog, the train had to move along so slowly that it was not until 10:30 that it got there. In spite of our late arrival, Joan, my wife’s sister, decided that she would go to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London while we went shopping. It was only after her sister had disappeared into the fog that my wife realized that we hadn’t decided where we should meet for lunch. Since I had our three tickets for the concert in my pocket, this was indeed a problem. There seemed to be nothing we could do except taking a taxi to the Tower of London, and try to find her there. Needless to say, we didn’t find her.

It was now one o’clock, and the concert began at 2:30. “Perhaps she will think of waiting outside the concert hall,” suggested my wife hopefully. By this time the fog was so thick that road traffic had to stop, and the only way to get there was by underground railway. Hand in hand we felt our way along the road to where we thought the nearest station should be. An hour later we were still trying to find it. Just as I was about to lose my temper completely when we met a blind man tapping his way confidently through the fog. With his help we found Tower Hill tube station just fifty yards down the road.

By now it was far too late even to try to get to the concert hall before the performance began at 2:30, so we decided to return to Cambridge. It took seven long hours instead of the usual two to make that journey. Nor were we able to get any food and drink on the train. Tired and hungry we finally reached home at ten, opening the door to the sound of the telephone bell. It was Joan; she had seen the Crown Jewels, had managed to get another ticket for concert, and had had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant near the hotel where she decided to stay for the night. Now she was ringing to discover whether we had had an equally successful day.

1.Why was Joan separated from her sister and her brother-in-law?

A. they could not see each other because of the fog.

B. Joan had not seen Crown Jewels.

C. They planned to do different things until lunch time.

D. The writer didn’t want to go to the concert.

2.What did the writer plan to do in the afternoon?

A. Go to the concert. B. See the Crown Jewels.

C. Return to Cambridge. D. Go shopping.

3.The reason why they didn’t all meet for lunch was that _______.

A. They lost their way in the fog

B. they forgot to make necessary arrangement

C. they waited at different places and didn’t meet each other

D. the couple couldn’t find the underground station

4.It’s quite clear that for Joan the trip to London had been ________.

A. spilt by the fog B. quite tiring

C. rather disappointing D. very enjoyable

Tiny transmitters(发射机) fixed on the backs of the blue-green bees have allowed scientists to follow the insects as they fly for miles in search of rare flowers.

Working in Panama,scientists caught 17 bees of the common species and fixed a 300 milligram radio light onto the back of each.The signals they sent out were used to follow their movements in and around the forest where they lived.

Professor Martin,from Princeton University,US,and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany,said,“By following the radio signals,we discovered that male bees spent most of their time in small centre areas,but could take off and visit areas farther away.One male even crossed over the shipping lanes in the Panama Canal,flying at least 5km,and returned a few days later.”

Researchers have struggled to follow the movements of bees before,following bees marked with paint or using radar which doesn’t work well in forests.

“Carrying the transmitter could reduce the distance that the bees travel,but even if the flight distances we record are the shortest distances that these bees can fly,they are impressive,long-distance movements,” said Dr.Roland Kays,from New York State Museum,a co-author of the research published today in the on-line journal.“This result helps to explain how these bees’ pollination(授粉) can be so rare.” Pollination by bees and other insects is the key to the diversity and continued growth of flowers and trees in some forests.

The new study is the first to use radio transmitters to follow bees in a forest.Similar research may now be carried in temperate forests,where bees also play a vital role.

1.The main purpose of the passage is to___

A. call on people to protect the bees for the environment

B. explain why the bees fly far away in search of flowers

C. introduce a modern way to follow the bees to readers

D. encourage the public to support the scientists' research

2.What was the problem when researchers tried to follow the bees in the past?

A. It was quite difficult to mark the bees

B. The radar itself didn't work very well

C. The bees weren't easy to be recognized

D. Environmental limits were hard to solve

3.What Dr.Roland Kays said implied that____

A. he didn't expect bees could fly so long a distance

B. The transmitter didn't have any effects on bees at all

C. He wanted to know how far bees could travel badly

D. The record was in fact as exact as he had thought

4.Researchers follow the movements of bees mainly to___

A. learn how far they can fly at most

B. discover how they affect the plants

C. correct some wrong ideas about bees

D. get to know where they enjoy living

Many countries follow special customs when a child’s baby teeth fall out. Many of these customs tell stories about animals taking the teeth.

For example, Koreans have the custom of throwing the fallen tooth onto the roof of a house so that a magpie (喜鹊) can take the tooth away and bring a new tooth for the child. This custom is also followed by some other Asian countries, such as Japan and Vietnam.

Other countries, though, have tooth customs about other animals. In Mexico and Spain, for example, it is thought that a mouse takes a fallen tooth away and leaves some money. But in Mongolia, it is dogs that take children’s teeth away. Dogs are highly respected in Mongolian culture. It is believed that the new tooth will grow strong if the baby tooth is fed to a dog, so parents in Mongolia will put their children’s fallen teeth in a piece of meat and feed it to a dog.

In France and the USA, a child will put a fallen tooth under his or her pillow before going to bed. It is thought that in the early morning, when the child is still sleeping, the Tooth Fairy will take the tooth away and leave something else under the pillow. What she will leave is hard to know. It is said that in France the Tooth Fairy may leave some candies; however, in the United States, she may leave money.

1.Koreans throw a tooth onto the roof of a house in order to __________.

A. get money B. feed magpies

C. get candies D. get a new tooth

2. In Vietnam, if a child’s tooth falls out, he or she will __________.

A. throw it onto the roof of a house

B. feed it to a mouse

C. put it in a piece of meat and feed the meat to a dog

D. leave it to the Tooth Fairy

3.From the last paragraph, we can know that in France and the USA _________.

A. a child will put his or her fallen tooth beside the pillow

B. the Tooth Fairy takes the fallen teeth away at midnight

C. the Tooth Fairy will leave some candies to the children after taking the fallen teeth away

D. no one knows for sure what the Tooth Fairy will leave to the children after taking the fallen teeth away

4.The passage is mainly about ___________.

A. customs about fallen teeth in western countries

B. customs about fallen teeth in different countries

C. stories about human teeth

D. stories about some animals

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