If you are interested in animals, you probably heard about the tragedy at Seaworld Orlando. On February 24, Tillicum, a six-ton orca(虎鲸),was performing with his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, who stood on a platform by his pool.

They had done the same show together many times before, without incident. This time, though, events took a terrible turn. Without warning, Tillicum leaped from the water, took hold of Branchcheau by her hair, and dragged her deep below the water’s surface. Before other trainers could react, Brancheau drowned.

Although known as killer whales, orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family. They are easy to train, and performances like Tillicum’s have been done safely thousands of times. Yet Dawn Brancheau’s death was a shocking reminder of what can happen when human being act together with wild animals. People began to ask, “Should orcas be kept in captivity(囚禁)”

Yes

Worldwide, only 42 orcas are being kept by humans. Scientists know very little about these huge sea animals, which are difficult to study in the wild. However, they do know that orcas are easily harmed by pollution. As our oceans become ever more damaged by human activity, observing orcas up close helps us understand them and do a better job of protecting them in nature.

“I think that some dangerous animals, such as killer whales, should be kept in captivity because it raises awareness about them and educates people about wild animals,” says Lauren, 12, a 6-grader from Colorado. “Keeping some in captivity will help protect their species.”

No

Enclosed habitats can be painful to wild animals, and make them act in unpredictable even harmful ways.

“It is wrong to keep these animals in captivity”, says Prathm, 12 The 7th grader from New Jersey, adds, “They should live in their own habitats, not be used as entertainment slaves.”

Richard Ellis, a marine conservationist in New York, agrees. “It is part of human nature to keep wild animals in small spaces and train them to do tricks,” he says. “I’m against it because I think it humiliates the animals.”

1.Why does the author tell the tragedy of Dawn Brancheau ?

A.To introduce the topic.

B.To express his sympathy.

C.To describe the human animal relationship.

D.To warn people of the danger of keeping animals.

2.What can we infer from the text?

A. It is hard to train orcas.

B. Orcas are rare sea animals.

C. Orcas’ habitat is being destroyed.

D. Many orcas are hunted each year.

3.The underlined word ”humiliates” in the last paragraph most probably means “ _____”.

A. makes somebody less intelligent

B. makes somebody feel ashamed

C. makes somebody physically weak

D. makes somebody feel threatened

4.The text is mainly about_______.

A. how to help animals live a better life

B. how to develop friendship with animals

C. whether killer whales should be protected

D. whether animals should be kept in captivity

China is going green. In order to reduce air pollution and oil shortages, automobile manufacturers have announced their plans to develop hybrid vehicles (混合燃料汽车) for the Chinese market. Toyota's hybrid car Prius will be ready to drive in China this week. Let's have a look at the new car.

Any vehicle is a hybrid when it combines two or more sources of power. Hybrid cars run off a rechargeable battery and gasoline. Hybrid cars have special engines, which are smaller than traditional gasoline engines. They run at 99 percent of their power when the car is cruising (匀速行驶). A specially designed battery motor provides extra power for running up hills or when extra acceleration is needed.

Step into a Prius, and turn on the engine. The first thing you notice is how much quieter it is than a traditional car. At this point, the car's gasoline engine is dormant (休眠). The electric motor will provide power until the car reaches about 24 km/h. If you stay at a low speed, you are effectively driving an electric car, with no gasoline being used, and no waste gas gives off.

The onboard(车载的) computer makes the decision about when to use a gas engine, when to go electric, and when to use a combination of the two. If you go over 24 km/h, when you step on the gas pedal (油门), you are actually telling the computer how fast you want to go.

The electronic motor recharges automatically using a set of batteries. When driving at high speed, the gasoline engine not only powers the car, but also charges the batteries. Any time you use the brake, the electric motor in the wheels will work like a generator and produce electricity to recharge the batteries. As a consequence, the car's batteries will last for around 200,000 miles.

1.The author writes this passage mainly to________.

A. teach people how to drive a hybrid car

B. show how to save their gasoline when driving a car

C. introduce a new kind of "green" car

D. announce plans to develop hybrid vehicles for China

2.The first sentence probably refers to ________.

A. there will be more and more green land in China

B. China has started producing environmentally friendly cars

C. China's new cars are combinations of different green models

D. China is still young and lacking experience

3.What is the most important feature of hybrid cars?

A. They have smaller engines than traditional gasoline ones.

B. They are much quieter than traditional cars.

C. They only use 99 percent of their power to run up hills.

D. They are powered by both a rechargeable battery and gasoline.

International teams have spent nearly half a year looking for evidence of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, a search that includes the hunt for the aircraft’s so-called black box, which holds flight data that would likely explain what caused MH370 to move away from its course. But many aviation experts wonder why, in our increasingly networked world, divers are searching the Indian Ocean for a metal box when technology already exists that would enable planes to stream black box data to the ground in the event of an emergency.

Black boxes have been on planes since the late 1950s, and now every commercial aircraft has two: a flight data recorder and a voice recorder. (Although they are referred to as black boxes, they are typically orange in color, making them easier to spot in waters.) Black box recorders are mainly used to investigate the cause of in-flight accidents.

While black boxes are built to survive a crash and long-term submersion(浸没)in water, it can be a real challenge to find the device if a plane has gone down in the ocean. While each box contains a beacon(无线电信标台), the unit only has enough battery power to transmit a signal for 30 days. After the crash of Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, it took divers two years to find the black box.

Pierre Jeanniot, a Canadian engineer who helped perfect black box technology about 40 years ago, feels that the device, in its current form, is “obsolete”. He started to question its effectiveness more than a decade ago, after seeing the broken pieces of the black boxes in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade towers in New York. Jeanniot is now on the advisory board of a Toronto-based firm that has built a live-streamed black box system. When a plane experiences an irregular event, the system can send streaming data off the aircraft to one of the satellites and then down to ground-based servers, where the message is interpreted and sent to the airline. It seems necessary that the loss of MH370 and other similar cases wake more people up to the fact that the tools being used at this stage are inadequate for dealing with emergency situations, Jeanniot says. He also estimates that if this technology had been on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight and live-streaming for the estimated seven hours after the flight first experienced a problem, it would have cost about $3,000.

While there is widespread approval of a live-streamed black box system, most airlines see its cost prohibitive. The airline industry is an industry with small profits, and is reluctant to add costs that will further cut the bottom line.

However, given how much time, money and effort has been spent on the luckless search for MH370, s black box, the cost of operating a live-streaming version seems like a trifle(区区小数)

1.In this passage, the underlined word “obsolete” probably means .

A. out of date B. out of use

C. on the move D. on the increase

2.Which fact is mentioned to support aviation experts’ doubt about the effectiveness of the black box?

A. MH370’s black box holds flight data that might explain what happened to the aircraft.

B. The recorders are actually orange in color though referred to as black boxes.

C. The beacon in the black box has limited battery power to send out a signal for 30 days.

D. It’s necessary for people to wake up to the weaknesses of the black box

3.What’s airlines’ attitude towards the live-streamed black box system?

A. They approve of the system since it may save time, money and effort.

B. They consider using the system as the bottom line of costs.

C. They are reluctant to start the system because it still needs improving.

D. They are unwilling to equip planes with the system as it cuts their profits.

4.From the passage, we can learn that__________.

A. it takes divers one or two years to find the black box after a crash

B. the new system does not live stream black box data for the whole flight

C. Jeanniot changed his view on black box technology when working for a Canadian firm

D. operating a live-streamed black box system costs only three thousand dollars

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