Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami(海啸), adding weight to ideas they possess a “sixth sense” for disasters, experts said on Thursday.

Sri Lanka wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island’s coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

“No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening,” H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.

The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the southeast, Sri Lanka’s biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants. “There has been a lot of evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven,” said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

“There have been no specific studies because you can’t really test it in a lab or field setting,” he said.

Other authorities agreed with this conclusion.

“Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds. There are many reports of birds detecting coming disasters,” said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators(食肉动物).

The idea of an animal “sixth sense” is a lasting one that the evidence on Sri Lanka’s damaged coast is likely to add to.

This passage is mainly about________.

A. the damage that was caused in the Indian Ocean tsunami

B. why animals can save them from natural disasters

C. how to protect the wildlife when disaster happens

D. the different opinions about animals’ natural power

Which of the following is true according to the text?

A. It has been proved that animals have a “sixth sense”.

B. Research has been made on the special movements of animals before disasters.

C. It’s generally considered that animals can sense the coming of disasters.

D. Animals have depended on the known senses to escape the Indian Ocean tsunami.

What does the term “sixth sense” in the text means?

A. It is the natural ability of animals that can save them from danger.

B. It is the animal’s imagination in the brain.

C. It is some hidden power to say in advance that something will happen.

D. It is a kind of sense that is the same as smell or hearing.

Which section does the text most probably appear in a newspaper?

A. News Report.        B. Discovery.       C. Science Fiction.      D. Culture.

Once an Englishman named Larry Belmont went to Russia for a holiday. After he got back some of his friends came. “I had a very dangerous trip while I was in Russia.” Larry said, “I went to see a friend in the country and when the sun went down, I was still traveling through a forest in a sleigh(雪橇). It was a long way from my friend’s house when about twenty wolves began to follow my sleigh.”

“It was very dark in the forest. There was thick snow on the ground. First I heard the wolves. The noise was terrible! Then I saw long, grey forms among the trees, and soon the wolves were near me. They were running very fast, and they didn’t seem to get tired like the horses.”

“What did you do?” one of Larry’s friends asked.

“When the wolves got very near,” Larry answered, “I put up my gun and shot the first wolf dead. Then all the other wolves stopped and ate it, so my sleigh got away from them for a few minutes. Then they finished their meal, and I heard them coming again. The moon was shining brightly on the snow now, and after a few minutes I saw them running among the trees once more. They came nearer again, and then I shot another one of them, and the others stopped once more to eat it. The same thing happened again, and my horses become more and more tired and ran slower and slower until, after two hours, only one wolf was still alive and following me.”

“Wasn’t it too fat to run?” one of Larry’s friends asked.

The purpose of this passage is to ______.

A. amuse readers                B. tell an exciting adventure

C. praise Larry Belmont’s bravery  D. show the danger of traveling through a forest

According to what Larry said, the last wolf _______.

A. was the strongest of all              B. had eaten up all the other wolves

C. ran much faster than the other wolves  D. was very fat and couldn’t run fast enough

From what Larry’s friend asked at the end, we know that_______.

A. Larry’s trip was really dangerous    

B. the last wolf was too fat to run

C. all the wolves had been shot by Larry

D. the friend did not believe what Larry had said

A technique that controls immediate gas explosions by spraying them with large droplets of water is being tested by scientists at the University of Wales, United Kingdom．Instead of using the traditional fine water sprays when a gas leak is detected, the researchers have discovered that large droplets help to draw in some of the force of any explosion and provide a better way of controlling fire．

The research is based on studies made of the Piper Alpha oil rig （油井） explosion that occurred in the North Sea nine years ago killing 167 workers．The Welsh team found that by covering the gas-leak area with water droplets, the explosion and its effect can be greatly reduced．

Dr Gerand Thomas, a good lecturer in physics at the university’s Center for Explosion Studies, said that it was impossible to deal with gas explosions in the same way as fires because the whole event may only last a quarter of a second and normal water sprays do not have time to be effective．

Using the droplets of water to hold explosions resulted in the water being turned into a mist that allows some force of the explosion to be reduced．The mist slows down the combustion （燃烧） process and can stop a large amount of the gas igniting （点火,燃烧）, thus greatly reducing damage by limiting pressure development．With such a system, the operator has to decide at what point after a gas leak to activate the sprays．

The Center for Explosion Studies is the first of its kind in the UK and has been purposely-built for the study and implication of industrial explosions on land and sea．Research is developed to the causes of accidental explosions and they might be prevented．Full-sized imitative buildings can be built at the center where explosions and fires are created to test preventative equipment using sensors to monitor their efficiency．

Another area that the Welsh researchers have been looking at is how materials respond to explosions．The center also carries out research requested by individual customers．

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

     A．Piper Alpha Oil Rig Explosion

     B．Large Droplets of Water

     C．A New Way of Controlling Gas Explosions

     D．The center for Explosion Studies

The research finds that _____ in holding immediate explosion．

     A．small water sprays are better than large droplets of water

     B．small water sprays are not as good as large droplets of water

     C．both small water sprays and large droplets of water are good

     D．neither small water sprays nor large droplets of water is good

Dr Geraint Thomas implies that ______．

     A．normal water sprays can put out fire effectively

     B．gas explosions break out more quickly than fires

     C．fires are easier to be held than explosions

     D．gas explosions break out so quickly that there is no way to control it

Which of the following is not included in the research area of the Center for Explosion Studies?

     A．To test the result of gas explosion．

     B．To get some implications of industrial explosions on land and sea．

     C．To find out how materials respond to explosions．

    D．To find out when material respond to explosions．

Once the 2008 Olympic Games finishes, the drums and trumpets(喇叭) of the competitions would also stop. But would the city remain as lively as it would be after this world event? Investment sustainability and high demand are two highly invaluable economic concepts(概念) that can be looked at in order to ensure post-Olympics flourish, or perhaps, an even better future for Beijingers.

    Naturally, an economic downturn occurs in an Olympic host city once the major event finishes. Renmin University Professor Jin Yuanpu noted that a global event like this would put Beijing into a position of large importance in the international stage. But after this event, who would use the heavily-funded equipment and public and private investments left in the city? Various economists argued that a meltdown (彻底垮台) is highly unlikely. Jonathan Anderson, UBS Asia economist, suggested that the negative effects of the end of Beijing Olympics 2008 on the entire country aren’t important compared to previous host cities. China is such a huge economy that the conclusion of the Olympics games is the same as an ant-bite on a dragon.

    But what about post-Olympics Beijing? Retired Headmaster of Peking University, Li Yining, noted that a long-term civil demand growth and a popular desire by companies to adopt careful financial management decisions can lead to continued investment growth. Even though demand in some departments of the economy would drop in the short-run, creativity, practicality and innovation(创新) would be the key factors that would continually enhance the city's image and flourish long after the Olympics in the city has ended.

    So what's next for Beijing after the Olympics? Well, it's business as usual...

Which one of the followings is the author’s idea?

   A. Beijing’s economy will have a downturn after the 2008 Olympic Games.

   B. The 2008 Olympic Games have no effects on Beijing’s economy.

   C. Beijing’s economy will go on as usual.

   D. Beijing’s economy will go worse after the 2008 Olympic Games.

What’s the Jin Yuanpu idea about Beijing’s economy after the 2008 Olympic Games according to the passage?

   A. to have a downturn

   B. to develop as usual

   C. to develop more rapidly

   D. all of the above

Why did Jonathan Anderson believe that the negative effects of the end of Beijing Olympics 2008 on the entire country aren’t important?

   A. The negative effects are small.

   B. The Chinese government has many measures to take.

   C. The Chinese economy has developed at a certain level so that the negative effects can’t affect it too much.

   D. Jonathan Anderson liked China very much so he didn’t want China to go worse.

Choose a best title for this passage.

   A. Beijing After the Olympics

   B. The negative effects of the end of Beijing Olympics

   C. Can Beijing get through the difficult period after the 2008 Olympic Games

   D. Beijing’s economy after the 2008 Olympic Games

A strong wind can be a dangerous thing — sometimes it is powerful enough to knock you off your feet. But to plants, the wind is a source of new life, carrying them or their spores (孢子) thousands of miles.

A NASA satellite called QuikSCAT has discovered highways of wind over the Earth's oceans. Scientists believe these invisible roads may explain why many nonflowering plants, such as mosses (苔) and lichens (地衣), grow where they do.

The satellite is able to send microwaves (微波) from space to the surface of the ocean. The pattern of signals that come back shows which way the winds are blowing.

Using this data, the scientists studied a group of islands in the southern hemisphere (半球), near Antarctica．Winds tend to blow anticlockwise (逆时针) in this region, but there are lots of local differences.

When the researchers compared these local patterns to botanical (植物学) data, they found that the wind had an important effect on where species of mosses, lichens, and other nonflowering plants grow.

For example, Bouvet Island and Heard Island, share 30 per cent of their moss species, 29 per cent of liverworts (叶苔), and 32 per cent of lichens — even though they are 4,430 kilometers apart. In contrast, Gough Island and Bouvet Island, separated by just 1,860 kilometers of sea, share only 16 per cent of mosses and 17 per cent of liverworts. They have no lichens in common.

Ferns (蕨类植物) and flowering plants don't travel as well in the wind, so they don't show the same kinds of distribution (分布) patterns.

This story is about _____.

       A．the discovery of wind highways    B．how wind travels

       C．how wind affects different plants        D． one function of the wind

The underlined word "data" in the fourth paragraph means _____.

       A．signal     B．pattern      C．information      D． research

Which of the following is wrong?

       A．Bouvet Island, Heard Island and Gough Island are all in the southern hemisphere.

       B．Winds in the researched area blow anti-clockwise.

       C．The scientists shouldn't base this research on how winds affect where ferns grow.

       D． Without the discovery of QuikSCAT, the research wouldn't have made sense.

Which of the following diagrams shows the correct position of the islands?