Who hasn’t enjoyed eating peanuts? Did you know that although peanuts look like nuts and taste like nuts, they aren’t nuts at all? They belong to the pea family, so they are called peanuts. The peanut grows flowers above ground, but its “fruit” grows underground. It grows in more countries than most other “nuts”.
The peanut is a native South American plant. Scientists believe that it grew wild in Brazil long ago. They think that for several thousand years the early peoples of South America made it a part of their diet. These peoples were nomads who moved on when a natural food could no longer be found in one area. Along the way they probably let fall some peanuts, which got into the ground and grew. This is believed to be the way the plant reached the place where the Incas（印加人）lived. The Incas, from about 1100 to 1532, thought highly of peanuts. The peanuts were eaten in several forms and used as sacrificial offerings（祭品）to the Incan Sun God. Later in the 16^th century, European soldiers had brought peanuts to other parts of the world, including North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Pacific Islands.
Although peanuts were found native in South America, they are now grown in almost every country that has warm weather. India produces the most peanuts. China’s production is next, followed by the United States.
The peanut is special in more ways than one. It can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or fried. Hundreds of widely different products have been made from it. Carver, an American scientist, set himself the task of discovering new uses for eating and for many other products.
Peanuts are very highly nutritious and are also high in protein （蛋白质）. Americans use about seven-tenths of their protein in the form of meat. In India, where the poor can’t pay for meat or milk, peanut meal and peanut milk have been produced. These have been a great help to the poor.
New products are continually being made from peanuts, among them peanut cheese and a powder that becomes peanut butter when water is added. The fact is that peanuts are so healthy that they were used by astronauts. The unusual nut that isn’t a nut is one of nature’s most amazing gifts.
【小题1】 Although we like eating peanuts, many of us don’t know peanuts belong to _______ family.

完形填空  从题中所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选择能填入相应空白处的最佳答案。（10分）

Save the Wild Tiger

When people think of tigers, they think: strong and dangerous. But now, the big animal is calling for our help.

There were once eight kinds of   1  in the world, but three died out during the 20th century. In the last 70 years, the    2  of Siberian tigers（东北虎）has gone from as many as 300 to_____3____22 somewhere The Siberian tiger has been___4____ dying out completely. If the government doesn’t make any efforts, it’s quite___5____ that there will be no more Siberian tigers in China in the to twenty years.

In order to double the number of wild tigers  in the __6___ ten years the World Wildlife Fund (世界自然基金会) has started a program recently It ___7___save wild tigers and put an end to tiger hunting and killing. China together with twelve other____8___, has joined in.

Wild animals, such as red deer and wild pigs, are the main ____9____ of the tigers. The hunting of these animals is the greatest threat(威胁)to tigers. So the most important thing is ___10___ the animals that tigers eat. To protect the wild tigers, we need to call on more people to stop eating and hunting wild animals.

1.                A．pigs           B．tigers          C．deer D．lions

2.                A．name          B．kind           C．number  D．type

3.                A．less than        B．more than       C．bigger than    D．over

4.                A．in need of       B．in danger of     C．in front of     D．out of

5.                A．possible        B．impossible       C．necessary     D．sure

6.                A．last            B．next           C．past D．later

7.                A．aims to         B．used to         C．refuses to     D．in order to

8.                A．cities          B．provinces       C．countries D．towns

9.                A．friends         B．food           C．members D．groups

10.               A．to sell          B．to kill          C．to save    D．to keep