题目内容
GUATEMALA CITY(Reuters)---- A fish that lives in mangrove swamps(红树沼泽)across the Americas can live out of water for months at a time, similar to how animals adapted(适应)to land millions of years ago, a new study shows.
The Mangrove Rivulus, a type of small killifish, lives in small pools of water in a certain type of empty nut or even old beer cans in the mangrove swamps of Belize, the United States and Brazil. When their living place dries up, they live on the land in logs(圆木), said Scott Taylor, a researcher at the Brevard Endangered Lands Program in Florida .
The fish, whose scientific name is Rivulus marmoratus, can grow as large as three inches. They group together in logs and breathe air through their skin until they can find water again.
The new scientific discovery came after a trip to Belize.
“We kicked over a log and the fish just came crowding out,” Taylor told Reuters in neighboring Guatemala by telephone. He said he will make his study on the fish known to the public in an American magazine early next year.
In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can live up to 66 days out of water without eating.
Some other fish can live out of water for a short period of time. The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can stay on land for hours at a time, while lungfish found in Australia, Africa and South America can live out of water, but only in an inactive state. But no other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and remain active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at Canada’s University of Guelph.
Further studies of the fish may tell how animals changed over time.
“These animals live in conditions similar to those that existed millions of years ago, when animals began making the transition(过渡)form water onto land, ” Wright said.
【小题1】The Mangrove Rivulus is a type of fish that ________.
A.likes eating nuts |
B.prefers living in dry places |
C.is the longest living fish on earth |
D.can stay alive for two months out of water |
A.Patricia Wright. |
B.Researchers in Guatemala. |
C.Scientists from Belize. |
D.Scott Taylor. |
A.breathe through its skin |
B.move freely on dry land |
C.remain alive out of water |
D.be as active on land as in water |
A.It was made quite by accident. |
B.It was based on a lab test of sea life. |
C.It was supported by an American magazine. |
D.It was helped by Patricia Wright. |
【小题1】D
【小题2】D
【小题3】C
【小题4】A
解析
Some teachers are unforgettable. They lead by example and never lose their smile. They change lives. Eileen Madden is one of them. Her students must think she was born with an eraser and a piece of chalk in her hand.
“It’s a joy to get up early every morning to be the first one here,” say the 55-year-old Holy Ghost School third grade teacher. Madden arrives shortly after 6 am to prepare her classroom and work on the school breakfast program.
“My family all went to St. Teresa’s School,” she says. “I always said, ‘One day, I’m going to come back and get one of those big desks.’”
With a watchful eye always on the lookout for “one of those big desks”, Madden returned to St. Teresa after graduating from college and taught second grade at the Olneyville neighborhood elementary school until it was burnt in a fire in 1990 and had to be closed. Madden then went to Holy Ghost School where she started as a second-grade teacher and then moved up one grade level.
“I take care of setting up and serving breakfast,” she says. “In winter it is still dark when I arrive here.” Madden praises Holy Ghost School Principal Carol Soltys and the school’s workers for their continued support. “It’s a family,” she said.
Her class is small this year with 15 students, including some from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Haiti, Guatemala, Nigeria and Ghana. Madden admits that she’s encouraged by her former students, now grown-ups, who want their own children to enjoy a similar experience in a safe, good environment. “They tell others, ‘I send my child to Eileen Madden’s School, ’” she adds.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 suggest?
A.Eileen Madden was very smart as a child. |
B.Eileen Madden is a very good teacher. |
C.Eileen Madden has done a lot for her students |
D.Eileen Madden always has an eraser in her hand. |
A.is in her late fifties now. |
B.always teaches Grade 3 |
C.often arrives at school very early. |
D.cooks breakfast for all her students by herself. |
A.Lazy but kind |
B.Careful but helpless |
C.Hard to get along with |
D.Kind and helpful. |
A.Eileen Madden often gives lessons to small classes. |
B.Eileen Madden is remembered by all her former students. |
C.Eileen Madden thinks her former students think too highly of her. |
D.Eileen Madden’s former students are very happy to let her teach their children. |
A.Holy Ghost School is a very small school. |
B.St. Teresa’s School will be open again soon. |
C.Eileen Madden decided to be a teacher when she was young. |
D.Eileen Madden was very happy to leave St. Teresa’s School. |
For some kids, old photos and baby pictures are embarrassing. For others, they are cherished keepsakes (纪念品). But for thousands of children living in orphanages (孤儿院) worldwide, these records of the past simply don't exist. Either the kids' parents weren't around to snap photos, or the pictures have been lost. Whatever the reason is, the Memory Project is giving orphans a lasting document of their youth.
Over the last two years, the Memory Project has provided hand-painted portraits to more than 4,000 children living in orphanages in poor countries. Ben Schumaker, 24, got the idea when he was visiting an orphanage in Guatemala in Central America. But he's not creating the portraits(肖像) alone. Students in hundreds of high school art classes across the U.S. paint them using photos sent from the orphanages.
Schumaker believes that the artists benefit from the project as much as the orphans do. “There are two purposes of the Memory Project,” he said. “One is to offer a special gift to the child abroad. The other is to help open the eyes of the student who is painting.” Staring into the eyes of another person, Schumaker believes, it creates a real connection. This connection raises awareness in U.S. schools about the needs of the world's poor children. “It's about planting a seed,” he said.
Schumaker is also working on Books of Hope, a project in which students of all ages put together homemade books for children in Uganda and India. He hopes that one day children in Uganda and India will send books to the U.S. “It's important to me to have it be a two-way exchange,” Schmnaker says.
【小题1】
Old photos and baby pictures are clearly unavailable to .
A.the kids in rich families | B.the kids in common families |
C.the kids in expanded families | D.the kids without parents |
How can the orphans in Guatemala get a continuing record of their youth?
A.By hand-painted portraits that Ben Schumaker painted. |
B.By the photos the orphanage taken for them. |
C.By the photos taken by the U.S. students in high schools. |
D.By the Memory Project started by Ben Schumaker. |
What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?
A.The special gifts that the world's poor children received. |
B.The benefits that the Memory Project brings. |
C.The need of the US schools. |
D.How to help the orphans. |
According to the passage, Schumaker helps the kids in poor countries.
A.two | B.three | C.four | D.five |