Have you ever heard of Paynes Prairie(大草原)? It is one of the most important natural and historical areas in Florida. Paynes Prairie is located near Gainesville. It is large, 21,000 acres. This protected land is called a reserve, which is managed by the Florida Park Service.
The Paynes Prairie basin was formed when limestone(石灰石)broke down and the ground settled. It is covered by wet prairie plants. There are areas of open water. During brief periods it was flooded enough to be considered a lake. Except for that, the basin has changed little through time.
Man has lived on Paynes Prairie a very long time. He lived there as far back as 10,000 B.C.. At one time, the Seminoles lived there. The prairie is thought to have been named after King Payne, a Seminole chief. During the late 1600s, the largest farm where cattle are fed in Florida was on Paynes.
William Bartram who lived 200 years ago visited Paynes Praire in 1774. Bartram was the first person who described nature through personal experiences as well as scientific observations. At that time he called Paynes Prairie the “great Alachua Savannah". Most of the animal life, which Bartram described, is still here. A large number of animals live here in winter. The variety of animals is increased by the presence of pine flat woods, wetlands and ponds.
The Paynes Prairie Reserve State Park is open all year round. The Florida Park Service works hard so that the park will appear as it did in the past. It offers many opportunities for entertainment. In the park you can camp and picnic. You can hike and bike. You can boat and fish. You can ride on horses. And you can see Florida as it was in the early days.
【小题1】The second paragraph is mainly about   _______.

A.how the present Paynes Prairie basin came into being
B.what the present Paynes Prairie basin is covered by
C.why the present Paynes Prairie basin is unchanged
D.when the present Paynes Prairie basin began to exist
【小题2】All of the following statements are true EXCEPT that _______
A.the Florida Park Service manages Paynes Prairie
B.you can have fun in the Paynes Prairie Reserve State Park
C.there used to be a big cattle farm on Paynes Prairie
D.William Bartram was the first person to visit Paynes prairie
【小题3】The purpose of the passage is to _______.
A.call on people to protect wildlife of Paynes Prairie
B.introduce Paynes Prairie to people
C.tell people the recorded history of Paynes Prairie
D.attract people to visit Paynes Prairie
【小题4】What will the writer most probably talk about in the paragraph that follows?
A.The effect of tourism on Paynes Prairie.
B.The history and present of Florida.
C.The natural resources of Florida.
D.The future development of Paynes Prairie.


Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because her thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely----a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “Creative voice.”
“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”
Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?

A.She had seven brothers.B.She felt herself a nobody.
C.She was too shy to go to school.
D.She did not have any good teachers.
【小题2】The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.
A.work for a school magazineB.run away from her family
C.make a lot of friendsD.develop her writing style
【小题3】According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?
A.Her early years in college.B.Her training in the Workshop.
C.Her feeling of being different.D.Her childhood experience.
【小题4】What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?
A.It is quite popular among students.
B.It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.
C.It wasn’t success as it was written in Spanish.
D.It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.

A couple of years ago, those who forecast that oil price would reach $ 100 a barrel were seen as doomsters. However, now some are predicting $ 200 a barrel.
Had economists been told that oil price would barely pause at $ 100 before reaching the recent peak of nearly $ 127, they would no doubt have forecast terrible economic consequences. But the global economy, though interrupted by the high price of energy, is still chugging along. Meanwhile, inflation has picked up, but the headline rates of inflation (通货膨胀率) in most developed countries are nowhere near the levels seen in the 1970s and 1980s.
There are three explanations for the oil price’s unclear impact. The first is that nowadays developed economies are more efficient in their use of energy, thanks partly to the increased importance of service industries and the diminished role of manufacturing(制造业). According to the Energy Information Administration, the energy intensity of America’s GDP fell by 42% between 1980 and 2007.
A second theory is that the oil-price rise has been steady, not sudden, giving the economy time to adjust. Giovanni Serio of Goldman Sachs points out that in 1973 there was a severe supply shock because of the oil embargo(石油禁运), when the world had to cope with 10%-15% less crude almost overnight. Not this time.
The third explanation turns the argument on its head; rather than oil harming the global economy, it is global expansion that is driving up the price of oil.
The most important factor is the shift in favor of the developing economies. America has responded to high price in familiar fashion: UBS forecasts that demand will drop by 1.1% this year and will be no higher in 2010 than it was in 2004. But the demand from China and other emerging markets is more than offsetting(抵消) this shortfall.
【小题1】What is the passage mainly talking about?

A.The prediction of economists.B.The situation of economy
C.The increase of oil priceD.The American response to high price
【小题2】How many explanations for the oil price’s impact are mentioned in the passage?
A.TwoB.ThreeC.FourD.Five
【小题3】What can we conclude from the passage?
A.In USA, the demand for oil in 2010 will be very high.
B.In USA, the demand for oil in 2010 will be higher than it was in 2004.
C.In USA, the demand for oil in 2010 will be as high as it was in 2004.
D.In USA, the demand for oil in 2010 will be as low as it was in 2004.

Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the worldIt’s an increasingly urgent questiongiven the recent high?profile(引人注目的) mining accidents in SagoW.Va.and HuntingtonUtah.A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the not?too?distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.

Robotic technologyin particularholds much promiseMcAteer saysespecially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners—the special operations of the mining industry.

One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Carnegie?Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.It was called Groundhog and it looked like a golf cart.It used lasers(激光器) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines—some of the most dangerous work in the business.

The latest design is called Cave Crawler.It’s a bit smaller than Groundhogand even more advanced.It can take photos and video and has sensors mounted(增加) that can detect the presence of dangerous gases.Incrediblythe robot has a real sense of logic.If it comes across an obstacle it gets confused.It has to think through the process and where to go nextand sometimes it throws_a_fit just like a real person.

The biggest obstaclethoughis cost.The original research project was federally fundedbut that money has dried upand it’s not clear where future funding will come from. Partly for that reasonand partly because of advances in safetymining is not nearly as dangerous as it was in the past.Since 1990fatalities(致命性) have declined by 67 percent and injuries by 51 percentaccording to the National Mining Association.

Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry.The robots do the most repetitive and dangerous jobsbut don’t eliminate(消除) the need for human workers.

1.The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”

Agets angry? Bgets sick

Cbecomes hungry? Dbecomes cheerful

2.We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

Arobots in mines will serve much in the automotive industry

Bthere will be no need for human workers in mines

Cthe mine robots will have a very bright future

Drobots in mines have a long way to go

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

AMining robots do most of the mining work at present.

BGroundhog can discover the presence of dangerous gases.

CExperts are trying to make robots save miners in danger.

DRobots cannot do dangerous work in dark areas.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

AMining Accidents in America

BCould Robots Replace Humans in Mines?

CCave Crawlerthe Latest Robot

DThe Development of Robots

 

An old man found a sparrow with a broken wing. He brought it home and nursed it back to  26   . Afterwards, though it could fly, the sparrow   27   to leave the house. The old man`s wife asked her husband to get rid of the bird as it was  28   the house.But he wouldn`t listen.

One day while her husband was asleep, the woman  29   the sparrow, took it far away from the house,and let it go,warning it never to   30  . The old man missed his friend and hoped it would come back,  31   it never did. Then one day,several weeks later,he was walking past an old house when he heard a  32   sound.He looked up and there was the  33   , sitting on the gate.The sparrow gave the old man a gold  34   it had found in the house.

The old man did not   35    much about money,but his wife was  36   when she saw the coin,and made up her mind to get more from the sparrow.   37  ,early the next morning she slipped out of her house and made her  38   to the old house.When she saw the sparrow she  39   it to return.

“If you have found  40  __,bring it along and I`ll spend it all on you.”she promised.

The sparrow brought her an old  41   with the help of its friends.The basket was   42  but the woman did not wait to find out what was in it.She grabbed it and ran,  43  that the sparrow would follow and take up residence(住所)in her house again.

The moment she reached home,she  44  the basket,expecting it to be filled to the eaves(屋檐)with gold and silver.Instead,out  45  dozens of sparrows.

The woman spent the rest of her life trying to drive the sparrows out.

1.A. danger                         B. life                          C. health                      D. help

2.A. refused                        B. decided                    C. managed                  D. failed

3.A. cleaning                      B. sweeping                  C. building                   D. dirtying

4.A. fed                              B. noticed                     C. caught                      D. killed

5.A. return                          B.fly                            C. stay                         D. cry

6.A. and                             B. if                             C. but                          D. until

7.A. strange                        B. sweet                       C.loud                          D. familiar

8.A. cat                              B. sparrow                    C. basket                      D. stick

9.A. coin                            B. watch                       C. ring                         D. cup

10.A. bring                         B. take                         C. care                         D. put

11.A. afraid                        B.sad                           C. nervous                    D.excited

12.A. However                    B. Therefore                 C. Instead                     D. Luckily

13.A. way                           B. mark                        C. picture                     D. sign

14.A. forbade                      B. forced                      C. begged                     D. helped

15.A. food                          B. treasure                    C. rooms                      D.plant

16.A. bowl                         B. box                          C. chair                        D. basket

17.A. covered                     B. empty                      C. big                          D. small

18.A. pleased                      B. afraid                       C. anxious                    D. hopeful

19.A. laid                           B. broke                       C. hid                          D. opened

20.A. walked                      B. ran                          C. flew                         D. jumped

 

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