Monarch Butterflies

 One of the last West Coast homes of the Monarch butterfly,a type of insect(昆虫),may soon disappear.Strangely,it is in a town that calls itself Butterfly U.S.A,Pacific Grove, California.

 The  town  of Pacific Grove loves the butterflies.Every year they have a parade(游行)and hundreds of children dress up as butterflies.Monarch butterflies are the town mascot.Tourism is very important,and many people come to see the butterflies.The butterflies are good for the development of the town.

 In 1981 there were so many butterflies it looked like it was raining butterflies.Tens of thousands of Monarchs stayed on tree branches near Pacific Grove.Now there are not so many.

The building goes on a little bit at a time,and you don’t notice it day by day.Over time,you can see that there has been a lot of development.As new buildings go up,many trees are cut down.

This reduces the natural homes for the butterflies.

Monarchs travel hundreds of miles each year,returning to the same woods,often to the same trees.The female Monarchs need milkweed to lay their eggs;the males will follow the females.

Millions of Monarchs have traveled regularly along the same path for thousands of years.They start their trip in the mountains of Mexico and travel to the middle part of America.If the woods where the butterflies live are destroyed,the whole species(物种)could be lost.There have been Monarch butterflies along the coast of California for as long as man can remember,but no one is sure how much longer they will last.

36.Why are Monarch butterflies important to Pacific Grove?

A.        They may disappear.            

B.        They come to stay every year.

C.        They help develop the town’s tourism.

D.       They give a name to Pacific Grove.

37.The underlined word  “mascot”in Paragraph 2 probably refers to_________.

A.        a new type of butterfly          

B.        an insect believed to bring good luck

C.        a parade organized by Pacific Grove 

D.       a special dress for children in Pacific Grove

38.What problem do Monarch butterflies face now?

A.        New buildings take up their living space.

B.        There has been too much rain m recent years.

C.        Their natural homes are destroyed by tourism.

D.       They have tot travel a long distance to get home.

39.Where do Monarch butterflies start their trip to Pacific Grove?

A.        From Central America.

B.        From the West Coast.

C.        From California.      

D.       From Mexico.

                        

 


第二节 完形填空(共20小题,每小题1分,满分20分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从41—60各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Ted Thomason was considered one of the students who showed the least interest in school. Whenever Miss Daisy talked with him, he would answer with a   41    “yes” or “no”. He was always in dirty clothes. His hair was   42    combed(梳). No one liked him. Miss Daisy had to admit that she felt sort of improper   43    when she graded his paper with an “F” (Fail).
It was Christmas. Presents from the boys and girls were piled up on her desk. Miss Daisy was   44   to find one of them was from Ted. It was an ugly   45    with half of the stones missing. The students raised a great noise at Ted’s present, but Miss Daisy realized she must put it on and   46    the class. She even asked whether it looked pretty   47    her. Class was over, and   48    all went home, Ted went up to the desk and, in a(n)   49    voice, he said, “Miss Daisy, Miss Daisy … I am so glad you   50    my present. You smile like my mother and her necklace is really beautiful on you.” After Ted   51   , Miss Daisy fell on her knees, begging God to forgive her: Ted’s mother   52    just a year ago and she was treating him in a way she shouldn’t be!
The next day, the children found a completely new teacher. Miss Daisy  53    into a different person. She did all she could to help each child in her class,   54    those with poor lessons and among them was Ted. At the end of the year, Ted made great    55 _. He caught up with most of the class, and   56    got ahead of some of them. Several years later, Ted graduated with honors from high school; another four years, Ted left his   57   as a best graduate. Again four years later, Miss Daisy received a letter,   58   her to Dr. Ted Thomason’s wedding. Of course, she   59   the party. And she was set in the seat intended for Ted’s   60    — her love and what she did were unforgettable for Ted all his life.
41. A. cold            B. happy               C. silent             D. direct
42. A. often          B. sometimes          C. never                   D. always
43. A. dislike               B. pride              C. disappointment     D. pleasure
44. A. surprised             B. happy              C. interested          D. puzzled
45. A. chain            B. necklace            C. watch             D. dress
46. A. frighten              B. comfort            C. calm             D. punish
47. A. around         B. on                 C. over                    D. with
48. A. since           B. until               C. before            D. after
49. A. friendly              B. eager              C. excited            D. worried
50. A. receive        B. praise              C. recognize          D. like
51. A. cried          B. talked              C. left               D. finished
52. A. visited         B. died                       C. disappeared        D. suffered
53. A. changed              B. grew              C. got                     D. went
54. A. exactly        B. completely           C. namely             D. especially
55. A. interest          B. presents                C. progress           D. necklaces
56. A. ever                  B. even              C. still              D. yet
57. A. college        B. school             C. class              D. course
58. A. reminding            B. requiring            C. telling            D. inviting
59. A. answered             B. attended            C. accepted          D. organized
60. A. teacher        B. friend              C. mother                  D. Lover

It was a cold, wet day on June 6, 2010, when 14-year-old Wasana arrived at school. Waiting outside his classroom for his classmates to   36  , Wasana stared at the   37  . Then his eyes fell upon the 18-metre-high hill that   38   at the back of the classroom.
He   39   large amounts of rainwater flowing down the hill, and water was also bubbling(冒泡) at the base of a rock on the hill. For a few minutes, Wasana   40   the water, wondering why it looked so   41  . Then it hit him — the   42   was similar to the video he was shown during Disaster Management classes. Fearing a  43   disaster, he shouted   44   at the students waiting outside their classrooms. “Run, run, don’t stay here! The   45   on the hill is going to fall on us!”
Chaos(混乱) broke out as the  46   ran to the open area that had been appointed as an emergency gathering point. When some teachers  47   Wasana, he showed them the water gushing from the hill, and they started leading the students to safer ground.
Just then Principal Gurusinghe drove into the school. Wasana ran over to tell him what was happening. After   48   the site, Gurusinghe knew the school was in   49  . The enormous rock at the top of the hill could come crashing down   50  .
51   a group of teachers and older students, Gurusinghe climbed the hill and tried to make the water flow away from the rock. They were too   52  : ten minutes later, they heard screams as the huge rock rushed down the hill. There was little Gurusinghe and his group could do as they watched the earth   53  their classrooms. Thanks to Wasana’s   54   action and careful observation,  55   was hurt in the incident.

【小题1】
A.arriveB.restC.dineD.chat
【小题2】
A.bookB.sunC.rainD.hill
【小题3】
A.placedB.stoodC.hidD.faced
【小题4】
A.noticedB.feltC.knewD.heard
【小题5】
A.shouted atB.aimed atC.glared atD.stared at
【小题6】
A.interestingB.dangerousC.movingD.familiar
【小题7】
A.showB.sceneC.siteD.view
【小题8】
A.goingB.headingC.comingD.leaving
【小题9】
A.happilyB.wildlyC.rudelyD.angrily
【小题10】
A.rockB.sandC.treeD.water
【小题11】
A.principalsB.villagers C.students D.climbers
【小题12】
A.questionedB.blamed C.instructed D.approached
【小题13】
A.examining B.visiting C.choosing D.clearing
【小题14】
A.security B.relief C.danger D.damage
【小题15】
A.for the momentB.at any minute
C.at one timeD.for once
【小题16】
A.TakingB.HelpingC.Demanding D.Leading
【小题17】
A.late B.unique C.nervousD.strange
【小题18】
A.occupyB.threaten C.swallowD.enter
【小题19】
A.legal B.quick C.united D.direct
【小题20】
A.someone B.only one C.anyone D.no one

A car that runs on coffee is unveiled(shown to the public for the first time)today but at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol, the invention won’t please any motor industry accountants.
Nicknamed the Car-puccino, it has been created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400 and it was chosen because it looked like the time-traveling DeLorean in the movie Back To The Future.The car will be driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules (颗粒).It has been built by a team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes The Theory and will go on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than traditional petrol can power vehicles.
The team calculates the Car-puccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee (咖啡粉) — about 56 cups of espressos (浓咖啡) per mile.The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey.In total, the trip will cost 11,760 espressos, and the team will have to take ‘coffee breaks’ roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules.They will also have to stop about every 60 miles to clean out the ‘coffee filters’ to rid them of the soot and tar which is also generated by the process.So despite a top speed of 60mph, the many stops mean the going will be slow, with the journey taking around ten hours.
Sadly, the inventors will still have to pay duty on their coffee fuel---even though tax collectors at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom haven’t yet worked out how much.
Nick Watson, producer of Bang Goes The Theory, said, “Coffee, like wood or coal, has some carbon content so you can use it as a fuel.The coffee needs to be very dry and in granules to allow the air to move through the pile of coffee as it burns.The brand doesn’t matter.” He said the same technology could be used to power a car on other unusual fuels, such as woodchips or nut shells, construction or agricultural waste.
【小题1】Which is the right way to choose the coffee used as fuels to run the Car-puccino?

A.It should be very dry.B.The stronger, the better.
C.The smaller the granules are, the better.D.It should be of a certain brand.
【小题2】What can be inferred from the passage?
A.All kinds of materials can be used as fuels.
B.The Car-puccino will be put into the market soon.
C.Nick Watson is the designer of the Car-puccino
D.Much remains to be improved for the Car-puccino.
【小题3】The Car-puccino has its disadvantages EXCEPT that ________.
A.it makes a lot of noise
B.it runs at a very high cost
C.it has to stop to be refueled very often
D.it’s not good enough for long-distance journey
【小题4】How much ground coffee will be used to cover a distance of 126 miles in this car?
A.About 70 kilosB.About 42 kilos.C.About 32 kilosD.About 30 kilos
【小题5】Why can coffee be used as a fuel?
A.It looks like wood or coal.B.It contains some carbon content.
C.It is very cheap.D.It is much better than woodchips or nut shells.

Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be a simple fact ? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit ?

If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant.The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake.The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk.The fourth, who had hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope.The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arm around one the elephant’s legs.

The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.

Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience.So if someone disagrees with you about a “simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.

To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a “simple fact”, try this simple experiment.Get three large bowls.Put ice water in one.Put hot water in the second.Put lukewarm water in the third.Now put your left hand in the ice water.Put your right hand in the hot water.After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water.Your right hand will tell you the water is cold.Your left hand will tell you it’s hot !

1.What makes people think about simple facts differently ?

     A.The fact that simple facts differ from one another

     B.The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact

     C.The fact that people often disagree with one another

     D.The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts

2.The writer’s advice is _______________.

     A.We should never think about simple facts

     B.We should never judge something with a one-sided view

     C.We should not agree about simple facts

     D.We must learn from the six blind men

3.After reading the last paragraph, we may think of __________.

     A.Newton’s law                    B.Galileo’s theory of falling objects

     C.Einstein’s theory of relativity       D.Marx’s On Capital (资本)

 

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