Dogs have an understanding of fair play and become angry if they feel that another dog is getting a better deal, a new study has found.
The study looked at how dogs react when a companion is rewarded for the same trick in an unequal way. Friederike Range, a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria, and her colleagues did a series of experiments with dogs who knew how to respond to the command “give the paw “. The dogs were normally happy to repeatedly give the paw, whether they got a reward or not. But that changed if they saw that another dog was being rewarded with a piece of food, while they received nothing.
“We found that the dogs hesitated significantly longer when obeying the command to give the paw,” the researchers write. The unrewarded dogs eventually stopped cooperating.
Scientists have long known that humans pay close attention to inequity. But researchers always assumed that animals didn’t share the trait. “The argument was that this is a uniquely human phenomenon,” says Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.
That changed in 2003 when he and a colleague did a study on monkeys. The monkeys had to hand a small rock to researchers to get a piece of cucumber in return. They were happy to do this. But if they saw that another monkey was getting a more delicious reward, a grape, for doing the same job, they would throw away the food and rock, and at some point just stopped performing.
In that experiment, the monkeys considered the fairness of two different types of payment. But when Range and her colleagues did a similar study with their trained dogs, testing to see if dogs would become upset if they only got dark bread when other dogs received sausage, they found that as long as the dogs got some kind of food payment, even if it wasn’t the most delicious kind, the animals would play along.

  1. 1.

    How did the dogs in Range’s study react to the order of “giving the paw”?

    1. A.
      They took the order even without being rewarded.
    2. B.
      They took the order only when rewarded.
    3. C.
      They turned a deaf ear to repeated orders.
    4. D.
      They hesitated longer when given repeated orders.
  2. 2.

    The research by Frans De Waal in 2003 ___________.

    1. A.
      originated from Range’s research on dogs.
    2. B.
      showed that animals do pay attention to inequity.
    3. C.
      began the argument that only humans are aware of inequity.
    4. D.
      was conducted to find out how monkeys reacted to humans’ orders.
  3. 3.

    Some monkeys in the research become angry because they found another monkey _______.

    1. A.
      was given less work.
    2. B.
      was given more food.
    3. C.
      was given the same type of food.
    4. D.
      was given more delicious food.
  4. 4.

    Range found that, compared with monkeys, dogs ____________.

    1. A.
      care more about whether they are rewarded.
    2. B.
      care less about what they are rewarded with.
    3. C.
      care more about what they are ordered to do.
    4. D.
      care less about who gives them orders.
  5. 5.

    What is the main idea of the passage?

    1. A.
      Animals have various ways to show their anger.
    2. B.
      Dogs are less intelligent than monkeys.
    3. C.
      Dogs have a sense of fairness.
    4. D.
      Most animals want to be rewarded equally.

February 28th, 2009 2:54 am GMT
I have to say that am shocked at just how bad the new music is. This cannot be the same band that produced great albums such as HTDAAB and ATYCLB! This is awful! They either do not care anymore, or have completely lost it. I never thought U2 would become irrelevant, but they have officially become one of those bands that you will now say, “Remember when they were great?”
----- Posted by Ronald Harris
February 28th, 2009 8:29 pm GMT
Total drivel, Mr Harris. The new album is great, far better than the safe, cynical HTDAAB and ATYCLB. U2 have become inventive again, like they were in the 1990s. thank goodness!
----- Posted by Dan
March 3rd, 2009 12:09 pm GMT
Agree, Dan. The new album is the best since Actung Baby. Magnificent is an anthem in the waiting, Breathe is unbelievable, and Stand Up Comedy is absolutely outstanding----- to name just three! Loving the new sound, pure class as usual.
----- Posted by Martin
March 4th, 2009 7:43 pm GMT
Totally agree with you guys. This album is unbelievable. Breathe is definitely a great song, same with Moment of Surrender. I bet their upcoming tour will be amazing. If you haven’t bought the CD yet, you should. I bought mine on Amozon.com for $3.99. I couldn’t believe it.
----- Posted by Josh Briggs

  1. 1.

    According to Ronald Harris, U2’s new album is _________.

    1. A.
      pretty good
    2. B.
      so bad
    3. C.
      the same as before
    4. D.
      completely fresh
  2. 2.

    whose comment is contrary to the others?

    1. A.
      Martin’s
    2. B.
      Dan’s
    3. C.
      Josh Briggs’
    4. D.
      Ronald Harris’
  3. 3.

    Martin and Josh Briggs both like the song _________.

    1. A.
      Magnificent
    2. B.
      Moment of Surrender
    3. C.
      Breathe
    4. D.
      Stand Up Comedy
  4. 4.

    Which of the following statements is not true according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Most fans felt disappointed at the new album.
    2. B.
      The new album is available on the Internet.
    3. C.
      The people who made comments are fans of U2.
    4. D.
      U2’s upcoming tour may be a great success.
  5. 5.

    The passage is most probably from ________.

    1. A.
      a concert poster
    2. B.
      a TV review
    3. C.
      a newspaper
    4. D.
      the Internet

This is a story from 28 years ago. My dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for an auction. Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction.
One day, I was riding with my dad when he noticed a hitch-hiker with a backpack. Without hesitation, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name, and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things. Dad asked him where he was going. The hitch-hiker told him he was heading for the west. I can’t recall why but he told Dad a lot of things that had occurred to him and that persuaded him to make that decision. He talked about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before. He was low in spirits, but I could see that the hitch-hiker’s attitude was changing as someone was really listening to him.
We drove 45 minutes before the hitch-hiker got off. We pulled over and Dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitch-hiker a twenty-dollar bill. The guy smiled. He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway.
We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I had just witnessed. I was always told by everyone never to pick up a hitch-hiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. While reflecting upon that story I came to understand that just one single kind act could change someone’s life, and I am sure that my father’s deed made that poor man’s day.

  1. 1.

    The underlined words “that decision” in Para. 2 refer to ___________.

    1. A.
      catching the car
    2. B.
      heading for the west
    3. C.
      talking about his experiences
    4. D.
      driving 45 minutes
  2. 2.

    What made the hitch-hiker become less upset?

    1. A.
      The writer’s father offering him a free ride
    2. B.
      The writer’s father really listening to him
    3. C.
      The writer’s father agreeing to driving him to his destination
    4. D.
      The writer’s father talking to him about all sorts of things
  3. 3.

    When his father helped the hitch-hiker, the writer ___________.

    1. A.
      was deeply moved
    2. B.
      strongly disagreed
    3. C.
      admired his father
    4. D.
      couldn’t understand
  4. 4.

    Which of the following words cannot be used to describe the father?

    1. A.
      willing to help
    2. B.
      easy-going
    3. C.
      far-sighted
    4. D.
      full of sympathy
  5. 5.

    The author wrote the text mainly to _________.

    1. A.
      show his respect for his father
    2. B.
      tell a story about his kind father
    3. C.
      prove his father is the best teacher
    4. D.
      advise people to learn from their fathers

Doctors say anger can be an extremely damaging emotion, unless you learn how to deal with it. They warn that anger can lead to heart disease, stomach problems, headaches, emotional problems and possibly cancer.
Anger is a normal emotion that we all feel from time to time. Some people express anger openly in a calm reasonable way. Other burst with anger, and scream and yell(咆哮).But other people keep their anger inside. They can not or will not express it. This is called repressing anger.
For years many doctors thought that repressing anger was more dangerous to a person's health than expressing it. They said that when a person is angry, the brain releases the same hormones(荷尔蒙).They speed the heart rate, raise blood pressure, or sugar into the blood, etc. In general the person feels excited and ready to act.
Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger can be dangerous. They believe that those who express anger violently may be more likely to develop heart disease, and they believe that those who keep their anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure.
Doctors say the solution(解决办法) is learning how to deal with anger. They say the first step is to admit that you are angry and to recognize the real cause of the anger, then decide if the cause is serious enough to get angry about. If it is, they say, “Do not express your anger while angry. Wait until your anger has cooled down and you are able to express yourself calmly and reasonably.”
Doctors say that a good way to deal with anger is to find humor in the situation that has made you angry. They said that laughter is much healthier than anger.

  1. 1.

    “Damaging emotion” means that _________.

    1. A.
      the emotion is harmless
    2. B.
      the emotion is harmful
    3. C.
      the feeling is very strong
    4. D.
      the feeling is hard
  2. 2.

    Expressing anger violently _________ repressing it according to some scientists.

    1. A.
      is just the same as
    2. B.
      is more harmful than
    3. C.
      is no better than
    4. D.
      is much better than
  3. 3.

    According to the author, you'd better _________.

    1. A.
      never be angry
    2. B.
      cool it down before you express it
    3. C.
      laugh and laugh when you get angry
    4. D.
      admit you are wrong when you are angry

Making group purchases of famous local products and cosmetics (化妆品) with co-workers has become a common habit for the nine-to-fivers. But if your impression of group buys is still a piece of paper being passed around the office, everyone writes their details down, or endless phone calls or faxes to the supplier, then I’m sorry to say you’re behind the times. The popular way to make such purchases today is to get on line, form a special “group” and shop together. Not only can you save money by getting the best discounts, but it’s also a great way to meet new people.
“You could cut off my clicking finger and I’d still keep shopping this way!” so goes a common comment left by customers of China’s famous e-commerce website “Taobao”. Some even refer to group purchasing as a “path of no return”, saying that “Once you’ve tried it, you’ll get hooked!”
The origins of this new trend can be found in China’s well-known online consumers’ BBS, 55BBS, and the shopping boards. Since most BBS users are “white-collared workers and students who live in concentrated areas, buying clothes, food, and so on as a group saves on delivery costs as well as – if they meet the seller’s criteria (标准) – earn gifts, discounts, and frequent shopper points.
Users of this online group shopping boards purchase a lot of different items, from Japanese and Korean style clothes and Ugg boots, through fake eyelashes (假睫毛), stockings, food seasonings (调味品), and kitchen knives, to cosmetic masks and online college courses. All kinds of things have people coming together in groups to buy them, and the pickups are often organized on college campuses or office buildings.
Internet observer Liu Chenxi points the purchasing behavior that these online groups’ power creates a “team” effect. Unlike e-commerce sites driven by individuals’ purchases, sites that create this team effect have users that come together to achieve a common goal. The Internet has made this joining of forces to form group buying power possible, and it continues to snowball all around us.

  1. 1.

    The passage mainly deals with _________.

    1. A.
      group purchases with co-workers    
    2. B.
      online group purchases
    3. C.
      how to do shopping online             
    4. D.
      buying famous local products and cosmetics
  2. 2.

    What does the word “hooked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

    1. A.
      excited              
    2. B.
      lost                  
    3. C.
      addicted          
    4. D.
      bored
  3. 3.

    According to the text, this kind of purchase has some benefits EXCEPT________.

    1. A.
      earning gifts                                        
    2. B.
      making new friends
    3. C.
      saving money                               
    4. D.
      saving time
  4. 4.

    What can we infer from the text?。

    1. A.
      Online group shopping will become more and more popular.
    2. B.
      The goods are usually delivered to each doorstep.
    3. C.
      Doing shopping online is not reliable.
    4. D.
      People prefer to do group purchases with their co-workers.

Just as the world’s most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming. Countless recent reports from the world’s leading scientific bodies have said the same thing. For example, a 2010 summary of climate science by the Royal Society stated that: “There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity.”
The idea that humans could change the planet’s climate may be counter-intuitive(与直觉不符的), but the basic science is well understood. Each year, human activity causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases to be released（释放）into the atmosphere. As scientists have known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket.
Of course, the planet’s climate has always been changing thanks to “natural” factors(因素) such as changes in solar or volcanic（火山的）activity, or cycles relating the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific literature, however, the warming recorded to date matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.
Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming observed so far, that would beg a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it in The Rough Guide to Climate Change: “If some newly discovered factor can account for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”
The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.

  1. 1.

    In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ________.

    1. A.
      solar activity
    2. B.
      volcanic activity
    3. C.
      the Earth’s going around the sun
    4. D.
      human activity
  2. 2.

    The text is developed by ________.

    1. A.
      giving typical examples
    2. B.
      following the order of space
    3. C.
      analyzing a theory and arguing it
    4. D.
      comparing and finding differences
  3. 3.

    The underline word “identical” means ________.

    1. A.
      totally different
    2. B.
      exactly the same
    3. C.
      extremely important
    4. D.
      relatively independent
  4. 4.

    Which of the following can be the best title?

    1. A.
      Are All the Scientists Really Scientific?
    2. B.
      Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to?
    3. C.
      Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming?
    4. D.
      What’s Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases?

It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I'm going to college, but I need a way to pay for it，” Deluca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘you should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn't cover their start?up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn't go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn't know how badly, because we didn't have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They'd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful; we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners' learn?as?you?go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and hand?deliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn't necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out，” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal，” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimillion?dollar restaurant chain.

  1. 1.

    Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ________

    1. A.
      support his family
    2. B.
      do some research
    3. C.
      help his partner expand business
    4. D.
      pay for his college education
  2. 2.

    Which of the following is true of Buck?

    1. A.
      He put money into the sandwich business
    2. B.
      He was a professor of business administration
    3. C.
      He was studying at the University of Bridgeport
    4. D.
      He rented a storefront for Deluca
  3. 3.

    What can we learn about their first shop?

    1. A.
      It stood at an unfavorable place
    2. B.
      It lowered the prices to poor management
    3. C.
      It made no profits due to poor management
    4. D.
      It lacked control over the quality of sandwich
  4. 4.

    They decided to open a second store because they ________

    1. A.
      had enough money to do it
    2. B.
      had succeeded in their business
    3. C.
      wished to meet the increasing demand of customers
    4. D.
      wanted to make believe that they were successful
  5. 5.

    What contributes most to their success according to the author?

    1. A.
      Learning by trial and error
    2. B.
      Making friends with supplies
    3. C.
      Finding a good partner
    4. D.
      Opening chain stores

A woman whose sports car was stolen with her dog in it put up notices all over the area that made it clear getting back her pet was more important than her car.
“Whoever did this can keep my car.Please let Benjerman come home,” the notice said.
It is not known whether the thief showed any pity, but almost 30 hours after the 1 pm theft Friday, Kimberly Atkins of Dover and Benjerman，a 12-year-old black retriever（猎犬），were reunited after police located them in Barrington.
“He’s hungry, he’s dirty, but he’s very happy to be home，”Atkins said.
The car was found at about 5 pm Saturday off Route 125 in a swampy area frequented by off-the-road cars and dirt bikes.However, the police couldn’t control Benjerman，and they had to call Atkins to come and get him.
Atkins said the thief cared for Benjerman a little by providing him with some dry cat food.She believed Benjerman ended up drinking some muddy water in the area.
She said they have been together for nearly 11 years after she took him back from a society shelter in Dallas, Texas.
Before Benjerman was found，Atkins and several friends put up notices all over the city and in Somersworth.They also contacted animal shelters，throughout southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
The notice stated there was a reward，and also that the dog needed medication.Any caller could remain anonymous（匿名的）.
Atkins had parked the car outside a hardware store with the keys inside and gone in to rent a carpet cleaner.
¨It was l0 minutes and I came out and my car was gone along with Benjerman in broad daylight，” Atkins said.The car thief threw Atkins’ wallet and other personal items out of the car before escaping from the scene.

  1. 1.

    What would be the best title for the passage?

    1. A.
      A car with a dog was stolen
    2. B.
      Lucky dog was returned to his owner
    3. C.
      Stealing cars：a most important social problem
    4. D.
      Woman wants dog back more than stolen car
  2. 2.

    Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened?
    a.Notices were put up saying there was a reward.
    b.Atkins saw Benjerman again.
    c.Police found Atkins’car.
    d.Atkins took Benjerman back from a society shelter. 
    e.Atkins hired a carpet cleaner in a hardware store.

    1. A.
      d,e,a, b,c
    2. B.
      d,e,a,c,b
    3. C.
      e,a,d,b,c
    4. D.
      e,a,c,d,b
  3. 3.

    We can infer from the passage         .

    1. A.
      the dog was treated extremely badly by the thief
    2. B.
      car stolen accidents happen frequently nowadays
    3. C.
      the dog was found because of the reward
    4. D.
      the thief stole the car easily
  4. 4.

    Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Benjerman was sent back immediately after Atkins put up the notices.
    2. B.
      Atkins and her friends made a great effort to look for Benierman.
    3. C.
      The thief gave the dog back but kept the sports car.
    4. D.
      The dog was back at 1 pm on a Friday.

The United States is the world's largest consumer of energy. We use electricity, gas and oil to light and heat our buildings and run our cars. The demand for power is growing. But we may not need to build new power plants or find more oil. The best way to increase our supply of energy is to be more efficient.
Did you know that when you leave your video-game console (游戏机操纵台) on, it consumes more electricity than two refrigerators? Or that those funny-looking, twisty bulbs (灯泡) use 75％ less power than traditional light bulbs? We have the tools to save money, reduce pollution and even help our planet, simply by wasting less energy.
As President, Barack Obama plans to make energy efficiency in American a major goal. He has promised to cut 15% of all energy used by the Federal Government. In a speech, he called for 75% of government office buildings to be updated for better efficiency. He pointed out that energy-efficient buildings and homes will save consumers billions of dollars on energy bills. An “extra benefit”, he added, will be “a cleaner, safer planet.”
Gas, coal and oil are called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels have been the world's main source of energy for hundreds of years. But burning them releases dirty gases, which cause pollution.
There are two main ways to save energy. The first is to use more efficient machines. Hybrid cars use less gas. New appliances are designed to use less electricity. Today's refrigerators are three times more efficient than those before 1973. Laptop computers consume much less energy than desktop computers.
The second is to use machines more productively. According to the US Department of Energy, in the average home, 75％ of the electricity used to power electronic equipment is standby power (备用电源) . That means power flowing to plugged-in appliances whether or not they are being used.
Homeowners can avoid wasting power by pulling the plug on appliances when they are not in use. Efficiency experts argue that today's best techniques could cut US oil and gas use in half, and reduce our electricity use by three-fourths.

  1. 1.

    By referring to Obama's plan, the author mainly intended to say that _______

    1. A.
      the US government office buildings have wasted the most energy
    2. B.
      Obama has decided to take the lead to cut down the use of electricity
    3. C.
      it is time for the US to shoulder the responsibility for a cleaner planet
    4. D.
      the US is determined to improve energy efficiency in the whole America
  2. 2.

    It can be inferred from the text that ________.

    1. A.
      to build new power plants or find more oil is no longer useful
    2. B.
      burning fossil fuels can lead to a growing demand for power
    3. C.
      everyone can make a difference by wasting less energy
    4. D.
      most of the electricity is wasted with appliances plugged-in
  3. 3.

    What would be the best title for the text?

    1. A.
      The world's largest consumer of energy
    2. B.
      The world's energy efficiency movement
    3. C.
      We need to find new energy
    4. D.
      We have to be more energy efficient

What would you do if Martians (火星人) kidnapped (绑架) your mom? In the 3-D animated movie Mars Needs Moms, a young boy named Milo finds himself in this exact difficult situation. The aliens want to steal Milo’s mother’s “momness” for their own young. Now it’s up to the 9-year-old to get his mom back before she is lost forever.
Every good action movie has a bad guy. The villain (反派角色) in this film is the Martian Supervisor, played by Mindy Sterling. The Supervisor has an icy cold heart. Remarkably, Sterling acted out almost all of her scenes in a special Martian language created just for the movie. “Learning Martian was a piece of cake,” Sterling said. “There wasn’t too much to learn; sometimes, I just made it up!”
Anyone who has a mother will be moved by this movie. In fact, anyone who loves someone will be moved by this movie. Maybe it is because the story was inspired by a real-life event. The movie is based on a novel by prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. He wrote the book after a dinner-table incident between his wife and son, who was then 4 years old. That night, Breathed’s son had thrown his broccoli into the air and rushed out of the room angrily, yelling at his mother on the way out. Breathed told his son, “You might think differently about your mom if she were kidnapped by Martians.” He wrote the novel that same evening.
All kids get into arguments with their parents. The fights may be about homework, chores or eating vegetables. Mars Needs Moms tells us to look past these silly disagreements and to remember the importance of family and the things that really matter.

  1. 1.

    In the movie Mars Needs Moms the aliens want to _____.

    1. A.
      kill Milo’s mother
    2. B.
      take Milo as their kid
    3. C.
      make Milo’s mother their kids’ mom
    4. D.
      send their kids to Milo’s family
  2. 2.

    To Mindy Sterling, learning Martian language is _____.

    1. A.
      simple
    2. B.
      difficult
    3. C.
      interesting
    4. D.
      unacceptable
  3. 3.

    What made Breathed write the novel?

    1. A.
      The movie producer’s idea.
    2. B.
      His wife’s inspiration and help.
    3. C.
      His good relationship with his mother.
    4. D.
      His son’s bad behavior toward his mother.
  4. 4.

    In the last paragraph the author wants to _____.

    1. A.
      advise children to help with the housework
    2. B.
      encourage readers to learn something from the movie
    3. C.
      stress the importance of doing something different
    4. D.
      ask parents to be good teachers of their children
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