They don’t quite know how to cope with all the dam trouble they’ve got down in Hampden, Maine. And according to town manager Leslie Stanley, it doesn’t look as if things will improve any in the immediate future. “We’ve got a real annoying problem on our hands,” he says.

The annoyance began in late May. About three miles outside of town a group of beavers (河狸) built a dam near the mouth of a culvert (涵洞) that carries a stream under Canaan Road. Some 50 feet of roadway and several hundred feet of land on each side of the culvert were flooded. Stanley sent a road crew out to level the dam. The beavers rebuilt it. The crew tore it apart again. In fact, they tore it apart for ten mornings-and for ten straight nights the beavers rebuilt it.

On the eleventh day, the foreman tossed (扔) the problem back to the town manager. He, in turn, tossed it on to the local game warden (狩猎监督官). The warden, absorbed in beaver knowledge, moved quietly and carefully out one night and placed a petrol-soaked bag over the dam. (Any beaver expert will tell you the creatures just can’t tolerate petrol smell.)

In the morning the bag was found artistically woven (编织) into the dam.

The warden set out three steel traps that night. In the morning one was empty. The other two had been stolen by the beavers and used to strengthen the dam. The warden, cursing the state law against hunting beavers with firearms, got his traps back and set them out again and again. And every night the beavers stole them.

Town manager Stanley enlisted additional troops. He telephoned his police chief. Those beavers were breaking a state law against blocking up a natural watercourse. “Why aren’t you out there to uphold the law?” Stanley asked. “You’re the police chief. So remove them. Arrest them. Do something.”

Three mornings later, the police chief proudly announced the end of the dam. At 2:00 A.M., he said, he and a licensed dynamiter (炸药使用者) had blown it to small pieces. Stanley said he’d believe it when he saw it.

They drove out to the culvert and found a new dam already half-built. They also found the highway choked with mud and remains thrown up by the dynamite.

Stanley said maybe they should call in the Army Corps of Engineers. But the police chief’s faith in explosives was unshaken. He launched an all-out campaign,but the beavers always managed to have the holes plugged by the time the fire department appeared on the scene for its morning mop-up.

In time, the beavers tired of this nonsense and moved their dam “inside” the culvert-where it couldn’t be blown up without destroying the road too.

Stanley and his general staff held a council of war and agreed that fresh strategy was called for. Then they came up with an inspired idea. If we remove every branch of the dam by hand, we’ll force the beavers to go in search of new building material to replace what we’ve taken. Then we can place box traps along their runways and seized them.

The plan was completely approved. Moreover it worked. On July 30, town manager Stanley was able to announce that the beaver group had been trapped and removed to a remote wilderness area. And there was great joy in Hampden-until the middle of October, that is, when a group of young beavers was spotted swimming in the same waters from which its elders had recently been taken away.

But to make a long story short, the strategy that worked with the older beavers worked with the young ones too.

1.What was the annoying problem for the authorities in Hampden, Maine?

A. They failed to destroy the dam repeatedly built by the beavers.

B. They didn’t know who to send to deal with the dam trouble.

C. The beavers were building dams in every corner of the town.

D. The political situation in the town was becoming much worse.

2.What did the local game warden do?

A. He made steel traps to strengthen the dam.

B. He set out to hunt the beavers with firearms.

C. He learned a lot about the construction of the dam.

D. He used petrol-soaked bags to drive the beavers away.

3.Which is the correct order of the following events?

① The land on both sides of the culvert was flooded.

② The local leaders worked out a strategy.

③ The game warden set out steel traps.

④ The beavers rebuilt their dam inside the culvert.

⑤ The police chief used explosives to destroy the dam.

A. ①③②⑤④ B. ①③⑤④② C. ②①④③⑤ D. ②①⑤③④

4. The underline word “uphold” in Paragraph 6 probably means ________.

A. revise B. resist C. violate D. maintain

5. What can we learn about beavers from the passage?

A. The beavers seem to be stubborn about building dams.

B. The beavers are allowed to be killed when causing trouble.

C. The beavers can’t adapt themselves to living in wilderness.

D. The beavers finally returned to the culvert with their young.

阅读下面短文,从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

I believe I had the perfect life. Because I was about to______my high school, and on my way to college, I had great friends and a loving family. There was nothing______. But I spoke too soon.

It was around 9:25 a. m. that I heard the news that would______my life forever. My brother Zach had been in a car accident. He fought for five days before he______. That day, I became an only child. I felt desperately______.

After Zach’s death, I found______in food. I ate, then I slept, then I ate again. I couldn’t cry. I could barely feel anything, and I was______. I stopped building relationships for fear that they would end just as______as Zach’s life. Also, I became nervous about any potentially______situations—driving late at night—but I couldn’t express this fear of life______I wanted to be strong for my parents. I saw my parents’ ______worse than mine on account of the losing of their son. I didn’t want them to______me. I also experienced a lot of______, because I was angry about why the sadness had happened to me, and I never______from this emotion.

Now, it has been nearly five years since Zach’s death. I don’t______life anymore: I face it bravely. I______my friendships and began socializing more. I even______Zach’s story with people around me. Although my new friends never met him, they know about Zach.

One lesson I learned from losing my brother was never to be______to say, “ I love you.” I loved my brother, but it was too late to______it loudly. The last time I remember telling my brother I loved him was when he was dying. Don’t make this______like me.

1.A. skip B. finish C. admit D. determine

2.A. earning B. missing C. competing D. reaching

3.A. slip B. change C. simplify D. spoil

4.A. took away B. passed away C. gave away D. flew away

5.A. lonely B. deserted C. abandoned D. remote

6.A. nutrition B. relief C. guidance D. benefit

7.A. funny B. numb C. patient D. endless

8.A. finally B. suddenly C. appropriately D. violently

9.A. complicated B. risky C. particular D. tense

10.A. so B. if C. because D. unless

11.A. discouragement B. pain C. tolerance D. memory

12.A. think about B. care about C. consider about D. dream about

13.A. unpleasantness B. anger C. unhappiness D. power

14.A. hated B. escaped C. stopped D. measured

15.A. damage B. choose C. leave D. fear

16.A. produced B. rebuilt C. promoted D. insured

17.A. imitate B. share C. advertise D. perform

18.A. stubborn B. afraid C. tight D. nervous

19.A. explore B. express C. circulate D. scream

20.A. mistake B. explanation C. decision D. comment

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

_1.__: less red meat and more fiber, less saturated fat (饱和脂肪) and more fruit and vegetables, right? Wrong, according to a controversial new book by nutritionist Zoe Harcombe. In the book, Harcombe charts her careful journey of research into studies that underpin (巩固) dietary advice—and her myth(误区)-breaking conclusions are surprising.

Myth:__2.__.

“Real fat is not bad for us,”says Harcombe.“It’s man?made fats we should be demonizing.”Why do we have this idea that meat is full of saturated fat? In a 100g pork chop, there is 2.3g of unsaturated fat and 1.5g of saturated fat.

Myth: We should eat more fiber.

For three decades, we have eaten fiber into our bodies to help us feel full and keep our digestive systems moving.“__3._”, says Harcombe.

The advice to eat more fiber is put forward along with the theory that we need to clean our digestive systems. But essential minerals are absorbed from food while it is in the intestines (肠道), so why do we want to wash everything out? Concentrate on not putting bad foods in.

Myth: You need to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

“Five?a?day is the most well-known piece of nutritional advice,” says Harcombe.“You’d think it was based on firm evidence of health benefit.__ 4.__.‘Five?a?day’started as a marketing campaign by 25 fruit and vegetable companies and the American National Cancer Institute in 1991.There was no evidence for any cancer benefit.”

Myth: Fruit and vegetables are the most nutritious things to eat.

Apparently not Harcombe allows that vegetables are a great addition to the diet—if served in butter to deliver the fat-soluble(dissolved) vitamins they contain—but natural sugar, the fruit sugar in fruit, goes straight to the liver and is stored as fat.“__5.__”, says Harcombe, who adds “Vitamins and minerals in animal foods—meat, fish, eggs and dairy products—beat those in fruit hands down.”

A.Think again

B.This is not a good idea

C.Fat is bad for us

D.Fruit is best avoided by those trying to lose weight

E.Want to lose weight? Don’t trust these

F.We need take more exercise

G.We think we know what to eat

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