By Five-year-old Pepper has learned to open windows and let himself out every night by hopping onto a kitchen worktop and using his paws to turn the latch.

  So when a fire broke out while his owners were Christmas shopping,the quickthinking puss leapt into action and opened the window to allow the acrid smoke to escape.

  The billowing cloud of ash alerted neighbours,and firefighters rushed to the scene and ex?tinguished the blaze before it spread to the rest of the house.

  Owner Sharon White said, "He first did it (opened the window) at a dinner party,and everyone was applauding him. I think it spurred him on. He can climb back in through the win?dow by jumping diagonally onto the ledge as well,so he really does come and go as he pleases."

  Sharon and her husband Phil were handed Pepper over four years ago after a neighbour could no longer look after it. Pepper developed a "fierce independent streak" and would often leave the house for days on end.

  The dramatic fire started at 4p. m. on Saturday after the couple nipped to the shops and left their microwave on a ten minute timer,which then caught fire.

  Sharon said , " We put something in the microwave for ten minutes and then popped out to do our Christmas shopping in the local town. I discovered on the way that I had left my purse at home but decided not to turn around. It was my sister-in-law who lives next door that rang us about two hours into our trip and said , ' You had better get home as there is quite a lot of smoke coming out of your house and the fire brigade are here. ' We are thankful our neighbours did not just dismiss the smoke as a bonfire."

  Firefighters rushed to their £ 350,000 house and extinguished the flames before they could spread,and the kitchen suffered only smoke damage. There was some damage to the kitchen,but it was isolated,so nothing serious happened compared to what it could have been.

  "He's got a real mind of his own and is usually a bit of a pain. But on this occasion we're grateful,as without him and our neighbours,the fire could have been so much worse." 

(   ) 5. This passage mainly tells us         .

   A. that a hero cat saved a house from a big fire

   B. how a cat became a hero in a big fire

   C. why people love and admire the hero cat

   D. how the cat get on with his masters

(   ) 6. The underlined word "spur" in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by        .

   A. force   B. allow   C. encourage   D. drive

(   ) 7. According to this passage,who could have called the police first?

   A. The cat. B. A passerby. C. Their babysitter. D. Their sister-in-law.

(   ) 8. According to the story,it is true that         .

   A. the cat Pepper was handed to the couple because it was too naughty

   B. the cat Pepper enjoyed opening the window to let the smoke out

   C. the couple could have discovered the fire but they didn't turn around

   D. the couple always thought the cat as a lovely and brave pet

 Ever since they were first put on the market in the early 1990s,genetically modified (GM, 转基因) foods have been increasingly developed and marketed in many countries in the word,mainly on the basis of their promise to end the worldwide food crisis. But can GM technology solve world hunger problems? Even if it would,is it the best solution?

  Despite what it promises,GM technology actually has not increased the production potential of any crop. In fact studies show that the most widely grown GM crop,GM soybeans,has suf?fered reduced productivity. For instance,a report that analyzed nearly two decades of research on major GM food crops shows that GM engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop production.

  Something else,however,has been on the rise. While GM seeds are expensive,GM com?panies tell farmers that they will make good profits by saving money on pesticides (杀虫剂) .On the contrary,US government data show that GM crops in the US have produced an overall in?crease in pesticide use compared to traditional crops. "The promise was that you could use less chemicals and boost production. But neither is true," said Bill Christison,President of the US National Farm Coalition.

  At the same lime,the authors of the book World Hunger; Twelve Myths argue that there actually is more than enough food in the world and that the hunger crisis is not caused by pro?duction,but by problems in food distribution and politics. These indeed deserve our efforts and money. Meanwhile,the rise in food prices results from the increased use of crops for fuel rather than food,according to a 2008 World Bank report.

  As a matter of fact,scientists see better ways to feed the world. Another World Bank re?port concluded that GM crops have little to offer to the challenges of worldwide poverty and hunger,because better ways out are available,among which "green" fanning is supposed to be the first choice.

(   ) 1. The author develops the second paragraph mainly         .

   A. by classification   B. by comparison

   C. by example   D. by process

(   ) 2. What does the underlined word "boost" in the third paragraph probably mean?

   A. Control. B. Evaluate. C. Obtain. D. Increase.

(   ) 3. GM companies promise farmers that they will benefit from         .

   A. practicing " green" farming

   B. less use of chemicals

   C. fair distribution of their crops

   D. using more crops for fuel

(   ) 4. Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author towards GM technology?

   A. Optimistic. B. Defensive.

   C. Disapproving. D. Casual.

  The European beech on Central Park's Cherry Hill is 100 years old. It is a tree that is 1        by the tourists passing in horsedrawn carriages and only birds and 2        squirrels could love.

  However,one day it became the center of 3      it was chosen by New York City offi?cials as the first of 25 "historical" trees to be 4       . Last year,New York City officials 5       a plan to add a million 6        trees to streets,parks and public spaces over the next 7       .

  Agriculture students from a Queens high school reached to upper branches of the 60-foot tree and 8       6-to-12-inch branches. Those branches will be sent to a 9       tree nursery in eastern Oregon. If all goes well,the genetic copies will be sent 10        in two years for replanting.

  "We want to 11        people's idea that New York has only skyscrapers and sidewalks," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape said. "There are many 12        trees in New York."

The target trees include nine different 13       ,All the trees were selected by foresters for having 14        for at least a century ―either as the urban landscape or as having 15        signifi?cance to local communities.

  Among those are what may be the city's 16        tree,the St. Nicholas elm—also known as "the dinosaur" ―in upper Manhattan,which George Washington is said to have walked 17        during the American Revolution,230 years ago.

"They have withstood the test of time and the 18        life," said Benape. "As a result these trees tend to be hardy species,19 disease resistant. The trees are so 20        that people are looking to clone them. They are a great reaffirmation of the importance of nature in New York City."

(   ) 1. A. known   B. ignored   C. unknown   D. unnoticed

(   ) 2. A. clever   B. lazy   C. hungry   D. diligent

(   ) 3. A. city   B. attention   C. tourism   D. attraction

(   ) 4. A. cloned   B. planted   C. created   D. discovered

(   ) 5. A. announced   B. declared   C. commanded   D. refused

(   ) 6. A. big   B. new   C. young   D. small

(   ) 7. A. year   B. century   C. decade   D. month

(   ) 8. A. cut away   B. cut down   C. cut up   D. cut off

(   ) 9. A. natural   B. garden   C. farming   D. scientific

(   ) 10. A. abroad   B. away   C. back   D. out

(   ) 11. A. explain   B. change   C. express   D. hold

(   ) 12. A. historical   B. large   C. fresh   D. beautiful

(   ) 13. A. species   B. trees   C. flowers   D. plants

(   ) 14. A. developed   B. existed   C. appeared   D. disappeared

(   ) 15. A. attractive   B. splendid   C. special   D. ordinary

(   ) 16. A. best   B. longest   C. youngest   D. oldest

(   ) 17. A. beyond   B. over   C. above   D. under

(   ) 18. A. social   B. rural   C. urban   D. difficult

(   ) 19. A. carefully   B. naturally   C. freely   D. especially

(   ) 20. A. good   B. attractive   C. beautiful   D. important

 Canada is the second biggest country in the world. It has an area of about ten million square kilometers,1       most of the northern part of the North American continent and with a(n) 2       larger than that of the United States. Canada 3       to the southwest of Greenland. To the south,it 4       to the same latitude as southern France. The 5       from the Pacific coast in the west to the Atlantic in the east is greater than that from North America to Europe. But 6       its large size,twothirds of the population of Canada live in a 7       belt of land no more than 200 kilometers from the U. S. territory. In the east are the Great Lakes that lie on the 8        with United States. These huge inland seas 9        into the St. Lawrence River,which 10       them with the Atlantic Ocean. The 11       of government and finance is in Ontario. So are many of Canada's industries.

  Canada is a country of ten provinces and three territories. The first inhabitants of Canada were North American Indians and Inuit. France and Britain each 12        Canada to their rule in the past. At that time the population of Canada was almost 13        the French,but in the next few decades,thousands of British colonists 14        to Canada from the British Isles and from the American colonies. In 1849,the right of Canada to selfgovernment was finally 15       . To?day,18 percent of Canadians still speak only French.

Canada is often 16       a land of the future. The 17       is that the country's rich oil and mineral 18        have hardly been touched. It is among the ten 19        industrial nations of the world. Its capital is Ottawa and the largest city is Toronto. Other important cities 20        Montreal,Vancouver,Edmonton,Calgary,Winnipeg,Hamilton,and Quebec.

(   ) 1. A. making   B. recovering   C. covering   D. determining

(   ) 2. A. altitude   B. nation   C. area   D. water

(   ) 3. A. limits   B. lies   C. spreads   D. connects

(   ) 4. A. rises   B. wanders   C. grows   D. reaches

(   ) 5. A. distance   B. scenery   C. culture   D. atmosphere

(   ) 6. A. instead of   B. in spite of   C. as for   D. as with

(   ) 7. A. sensitive   B. wide   C. tight   D. narrow

(   ) 8. A. border   B. valley   C. forest   D. bank

(   ) 9. A. float   B. run   C. hide   D. fall

(   ) 10. A. surrounds   B. provides   C. links   D. combines

(   ) 11. A. centre   B. balance   C. connection   D. mixture

(   ) 12. A. protected   B. frightened   C. subjected   D. impressed

(   ) 13. A. originally   B. accidentally   C. usually   D. entirely

(   ) 14. A. turned   B. moved   C. devoted   D. led

(   ) 15. A. recognized   B. organized   C. honored   D. settled

(   ) 16. A. allowed   B. called   C. named   D. said

(   ) 17. A. fact   B. truth   C. reason   D. idea

(   ) 18. A. materials   B. resources   C. sources   D. energies

(   ) 19. A. leading   B. fortunate   C. possible   D. growing

(   ) 20. A. replace   B. conclude   C. represent   D. include

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