From a young age, it was my dream to go to Africa and work with animals. Everybody laughed at me, but my mother, Vanne, told me never to give up, and that I could always find a way.

So, when I was 23, after saving up my earnings from working as a waitress, I went to wild, untamed (野性的) Africa and began my work. In 1960 I went to the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve. At that time, we knew nothing of the behavior or social structure of chimps (黑猩猩), and I was to go there and see what I could find out. Usually, when you wake up, you leave your dreams behind you, but I found myself waking up to my dream.

As the British government wouldn’t let me go without older women’s company, my amazing mother came with me and stayed for four months. We shared a second-hand army tent, and we used the stream for fresh water and washing. We could swim in the lake, although there were crocodiles.

It was beautiful there, although both my mother and I nearly died of malaria (疟疾). I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do what I had set out to, because, at first, the chimps ran away from me in fear. I spent my days watching, listening, tracking and in the evenings writing up my notes.

For my mother, who stayed back at the camp, it must have been terrifying, and very lonely. There were snakes and spiders, as well as an old leopard who would come by. But she had an amazing way with people, and would hand out medicines to the fishermen, who saw her as a witch doctor.

In my fifth month there, I finally saw one of the chimps, which I called David Greybeard, stripping (剥光) straw to “fish” for termites (白蚁). It proved that man wasn’t the only toolmaker, and that everything had to be redefined.

What does the author mean by saying “I found myself waking up to my dream” in the second paragraph?

A. She lacked sleep due to busy work.

B. She found her dream was hard to realize.

C. She had more new dreams about her work.

D. She tried to realize her dream every day.

The author was afraid at the Reserve in the beginning because _____.

A. there were crocodiles in the lake    B. she could not get close to the chimps

C. it was hard to get clean water   D. the chimps attacked her sometimes

The author’s mother was thought of by the local people as _____.

A. helpful and warm-hearted         B. funny and selfish

C. romantic and talkative  D. honest and hardworking

Which of the following is the author’s important discovery?

A. She found a new kind of termite.

B. Chimps can communicate with each other.

C. Some other animals can also make tools.

D. Chimps can find medicines to cure themselves.

Pierre is a 25-year-old penguin at the California Academy of Sciences. Due to his old age, he was going bald, which made him feel too cold to swim in the pool. Therefore, biologists at the academy had a wetsuit created for this penguin to help him get back in the swimming pool.
Unlike marine mammals, which have a layer of fat to keep them warm, penguins depend on their waterproof feathers. Without them, Pierre was unwilling to jump into the swimming pool and ended up trembling on the side of the pool while his 19 peers played in the water.
"He was cold; he would shake," said Pam Schaller, a senior biologist. Schaller first tried a heat lamp to keep Pierre warm. Then she got another idea: if wetsuits keep humans warm in the cold Pacific, why not make one for Pierre?
Schaller designed the suit, which covered Pierre’s body and had small openings for his flippers.
“I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps, and cut and refit and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely suitable,” she said.
One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new suit, but in fact, they accepted his new look. He swam freely and got along with others well, although he was the only penguin with a black stomach.
Schaller couldn’t say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover his fine feathers, but “certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable”.
Pierre will take off his suit after his new feathers grow back.
【小题1】Pierre felt too cold to swim in the pool because of _____.

A.not having a layer of blubberB.having few feathers due to old age
C.having no wetsuitD.others penguins rejecting him
【小题2】The idea of making a wetsuit for Pierre came from _____.
A.total inventionB.waterproof feathers
C.the use of wetsuit on humansD.the use of heat lamp
【小题3】Schaller followed Pierre in order to see _____.
A.whether other penguins would reject him
B.if anywhere of wetsuit needed to be cut and refit
C.if the wetsuit kept warm
D.whether the wetsuit would keep the feathers from recovering
【小题4】 The best title of the passage is _____.
A.Wetsuit for An Old PenguinB.Old Penguin Getting Bald
C.Unwilling to SwimD.Strange Look of Pierre

 “I was only thirteen when four of my team members and I were chosen by my swim coach to train with the Chinese National Team. The following piece shows how that experience has influenced me.”

The night before I left for China, my mother called me into her room. I entered not knowing what to expect. I sat down at the end of her very neatly-made bed, opposite the bedroom table on which she kept a Ming-style vase illustrated in great detail. She told me that my great-grandmother was still living in the surroundings of Beijing. Her name was Ren Li Ling and she was 97 years old. This was the first time I had ever heard of her.

The dragon on the vase snaked through the flowers and vines(藤蔓)as my mother said, “Pu Pu, look at me. You need to hear this so that when you go to China you will understand. You must keep this knowledge in your heart.”

She told me a story about my grandfather, Ren Li Ling's son, who left Beijing to go to college in Taiwan. She told me how the Chinese civil war kept him away from his mother for fifty years, so neither of them even knew that the other was alive. No one from Taiwan could visit, write, or call anyone in mainland. All lines of communication were cut off.

She told me of my grandfather's devotion to his own children, and how difficult it was for him to send his daughter to America for her education, fearing that same separation. He gave my mother all that he could give — nineteen years of love and fifty years of savings. I learned how my mother, through means only available in this country, would finally be able to unite my great-grandmother with my grandfather again. The dragon curled around the vase, connecting the separate vines. For a fleeting second, I felt it was present in my mother's room. It was all very strange, yet very clear. I began to understand that this trip to China was not just for me; it was for my mother, and her father, and his mother. Now, I had not only a future, but more significantly, a past. I saw the world with new eyes.

And so I went to China and met my great-grandmother. My great-aunt picked me up at the training center, and we rode in a taxi through the crowded city. The noise of the taxi and the city united into a deep roar. We finally stopped in front of a narrow street lined on either side with small one-level houses. As we made our way to a house like all the others, I drew the stares of many people in the street. My great-aunt led me through a rotting(朽烂的)doorway into a room with a furnace(炉子), table, and a rocking chair where an old woman wearing gloves sat facing the doorway, covered with a worn brown blanket. I walked over and immediately embraced this frail woman as if I had known her all my life. My limited, broken Chinese wasn't up to expressing my complicated feelings. And even though I couldn't completely understand what she was saying in her thick Beijing accent, I knew — the same way I knew what my mother had been trying to tell me before I left. Her joy shone through her toothless smile. She wouldn't let go of my hand. I haltingly(结结巴巴地)asked her how she had managed to live such a long life. She answered in words I will never forget, “Hope has kept me alive. I have lived this long because I wanted to see my son before I died.”

My fellow team members must have wondered how two people separated by three generations could be so close. Before this trip, I would have wondered the same thing. And even now, I can't quite explain it. We were as different as two people can be; some 85 years and 8,000 miles apart. We came from two entirely different cultures; yet we were connected by a common heritage(传统).

I stayed for dinner which was cooked in a black iron wok(锅)over the furnace. The meal was lavish(过分丰盛的), prepared in my honor. As I began to eat, with my great-grandmother beside me, I felt the dragon was present. But this time, the feeling didn't pass; the dragon had become a part of me.

My great-grandmother passed away last year at the age of 100. With her highest hopes and wildest dreams fulfilled, I know she died happy.

1. The writer’s mother called him into her room to ___________________.

A.prepare him for the trip and warn him against possible problems

B.remind him of his origin

C.ask him to look for his great-grandmother

D.share with him the story of her childhood

2. The dragon is mentioned several times in the passage because __________________.

A.the vase with the dragon on it is very valuable and beautiful

B.it stands for the blood running in every Chinese

C.it is a sign of the writer’s devotion to his birthplace

D.the writer’s mother hoped the writer would be as strong as a dragon

3. How old was the writer’s mother when she was sent to America for her education.

A.13               B.16               C.19               D.20

4.Which of the following can be inferred from the text?

A.The writer’s grandfather was afraid of a war when sending his daughter to America.

B.The hope to see her son again kept the writer’s great-grandmother alive for this long.

C.It was within the writer’s expectation that he could be so close to his great-grandmother.

D.The writer’s great-grandmother was reunited with her son before she died.

5.Which is the best title for the text?

A.We Share the Same Heritage.

B.Love from My Great-grandmother.

C.A Story from My Mother.

D.An Unforgettable Training Trip.

 

阅读理解(共20小题; 每小题2分,满分40分)

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。

I felt encouraged by his words and began to swim more calmly.But my clothes stuck to me like a heavy weight.I could hardly stay above the surface.

Counsel saw this.“Shall I cut them?”he asked.

With a knife he cut my clothes from top to bottom and took them of quickly while I swam for both of us.

Then I did the same for Counsel,and we continued to swim near each other.

But we were in serious trouble.The crew(船员)might not have noticed our disappearance.

And if they had,they could not return because the rudder(舵)had broken.Counsel thought of all this,and calmly made his plans.We decided to wait for the ship as long as possible,because we had no other hope of safety.I suggested that we save our strength so that both of us would not be tired out at the same time.This was how we did it:While one of us lay on his back,quite still,with arms crossed and legs stretched out(伸直),the other would swim and push him along.We changed every ten minutes or so.In this way we could swim for hours,perhaps till daylight.The crash(破裂声)of the ship and the whale(鲸)had appeared at about eleven o’clock.We had about eight hours to swim before daylight.This seemed possible,if the sea remained calm.

1.What happened to the man who told the story?

A.He and his companion got into the water to test their strength.

B.He jumped into the water to save the broken rudder.

C.He was knocked into the water by his enemy.

D.He was thrown into the sea when the ship struck a whale.

2.Why did the two men cut their clothes?

A.Because no people helped them to take off their clothes.

B.Because they couldn’t take off their clothes on the sea.

C.Because they wanted to get rid of their clothes quickly.

D.Because they wanted to lifebuoys(救生圈)with their clothes.

3.What does the word “still” in the last paragraph mean?

A.not moving

B.even

C.yet

D.however

4.n order to save their strength,______.

A.one of them pushed the other while swimming and then they changed

B.they both swam calmly

C.they crossed their arms and stretched their legs on the water

D.they lay on their backs instead of swimming

5.Which one of the following is true?

A.Neither of the two men was good swimmers.

B.The sea was calm before eleven o’clock that night.

C.The story took place at night.

D.The two men had to swim eight hours to catch up with the ship.

 

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