Today, many people use plants from other places to design their yards. Well, do they have any influence on animals living nearby? As we know, plants supply food for things like insects and plant-eating animals. In turn, birds and meat-eating animals feed on these insects and plant-eating animals. It is easy to see how important plants are.

Although foreign plants may look beautiful, they can cause problems when there are too many of them. I live in Virginia, USA, and sometimes see a plant—commonly known as Kudzu—that seems to cover everything in the area, even climbing over whole trees and houses.

Kudzu is an unbelievable plant since it grows very fast. It was first brought to the United States from south-east Asia around the 1870’s as a crop that farmers could grow. However, Kudzu quickly came to be considered harmful throughout the southern United States.

Since Kudzu grows fast in many different environments, it can completely cover areas of land quickly. The plant is also not eaten by any insects or birds in the United States so it can grow unchecked. Kudzu can cover trees, bushes, and even houses. It costs the United States 500 million dollars a year to just keep Kudzu from growing too fast. The plant is a perfect example of what scientists call an invasive (侵略性的) species, which grows more quickly than other native plants.

All foreign plants have the possibility to spread quickly. Not only are they costly, but planting them in gardens actually takes away food from insects. If everyone filled their garden with plants native to where they live, many lovely butterflies and other native creatures would be attracted to their backyards! So, take a look out of your window — how does your garden grow?

1.We can learn from the text that Kudzu in Virginia ________.

A. is very popular

B. is difficult to grow

C. can cause big trouble

D. can make air cleaner

2.Which of the following is TRUE of Kudzu?

A. It served as food at first in America.

B. It came to America in the early 19th century.

C. It grows fast in Asia, but slowly in America.

D. It is often eaten by insects or birds in America.

3.How does the author sound when telling of these foreign plants?

A. Sad.B. Worried.C. Proud.D. Excited.

4.What does the author mainly discuss in the text?

A. Everyone should learn to love nature.

B. It is a hard job to grow plants in yards.

C. Gardening has become a serious hobby.

D. It is important to say no to foreign plants.

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。

Be an inventor

The biggest secret about inventing is that anybody can do it! Perhaps this sounds crazy, but it’s true. Maybe you have the wrong idea about inventing, so read on to discover the truth.

Wrong idea number 1: 1.

Well, inventing means creating something “new”, but the idea could come from something that already exists. 2.

Wrong idea number 2: Inventors are born, not made.

There are a lot of factors that make invention possible. Take Mozart, for example. He was born with a special talent for music. 3. His father was a music teacher, and Mozart practiced for hours every day, from the time he was in kindergarten.

4. Very successful creators don’t give up when they get something wrong. As one inventor said, “A failure is the right answer to the wrong question!”

Wrong idea number 3: Inventors are always old people.

5. Here is an example of a young inventor: Louis Braille went blind when he was a child. When he was 15, he invented a system of reading and writing for blind people that is still used in most countries today.

A. Everyday things can give people lots of ideas.

B. An invention has to be something completely new.

C. But other factors were also important for his creativity.

D. As a young man, George Nissen invented the trampoline (蹦床).

E. Don't believe that you can’t invent something when you are young.

F. Thomas Edison said that being an inventor was “99% hard work and 1% inspiration”!

G. The Wright brothers, for example, got the idea for building a “flying machine” from watching birds.

阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

When I was in the seventh grade, I was a volunteer at a local hospital in my town.Most of the ________ I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie.He never had any visitors and nobody seemed to care about his ________.

I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him, ________ anything that needed to be done.He became a close friend of mine, ________ he responded with only an occasional squeeze(捏) of my ________. Mr. Gillespie was in a coma(昏迷).

I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I came back, Mr. Gillespie was ________. I didn’t have the ________ to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear that they might ________ me he had died.

Several ________ later, when I was a senior in high school, I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face.When I ________ who it was, my eyes filled with tears.He was ________! I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie. With an uncertain look ________ his face, he replied yes.I ________ how I knew him and that I had spent many days talking with him in the hospital.His eyes welled up with tears, and he gave me the warmest hug I had ever ________.

He began to tell me that ________ he lay there comatose(昏迷的), he could hear me talking to him and could ________ me holding his hand the whole time. Mr. Gillespie ________ believed that it was my voice and ________ that had kept him alive.

Although I haven’t seen him since, he fills my heart with ________ every day.I know that I made a(n) ________ between his life and his death.

1.A. timeB. energyC. effortD. money

2.A. interestsB. requestsC. conditionsD. opinions

3.A. talking aboutB. looking afterC. pointing outD. helping with

4.A. so thatB. even thoughC. soon afterD. as if

5.A. handB. headC. noseD. arm

6.A. killedB. lostC. goneD. changed

7.A. energyB. chanceC. courageD. time

8.A. cheatB. tellC. remindD. warn

9.A. daysB. weeksC. monthsD. years

10.A. recognizedB. wonderedC. heardD. asked

11.A. wellB. aliveC. happyD. alone

12.A. atB. onC. behindD. in

13.A. apologizedB. rememberedC. explainedD. admitted

14.A. dreamedB. seenC. wantedD. received

15.A. becauseB. ifC. unlessD. although

16.A. noticeB. feelC. imagineD. watch

17.A. hardlyB. quicklyC. firmlyD. nearly

18.A. humorB. dutyC. touchD. success

19.A. sorrowB. excitementC. regretD. joy

20.A. effortB. wishC. differenceD. decision

阅读下面短文,然后用60个单词左右概括短文的要点。

Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.

In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.

Though the belief in the advantage of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War Ⅱ. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?

Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist (免疫学家), encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some reason.

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