You know that pearls grow inside oysters(牡蛎), but would you ever think to look for diamonds inside an ostrich(鸵鸟)? Well, a hunter once shot an ostrich and discovered, to his great surprise, that the big bird had swallowed a bunch of diamonds. How could such a strange thing happen?
Like many other birds, the ostrich swallows small stones that stay inside its “gizzard”. The gizzard is a bird’s second stomach. It is where the food is ground up. The small stones help to grind up the food so it can be digested. The small stones do the chewing because birds don’t have teeth. In that case of the ostrich with the diamonds, the bird simply had expensive taste in rocks. It used the diamonds to digest its dinner.
Diamonds and stones aren’t all that an ostrich will swallow. If there are no stones around, it will eat just about anything. Sadly for ostriches in zoos, this can be a fatal habit. The tendency to swallow anything it sees has caused the death of many an ostrich. Cruel or careless people often throw things into the bird’s living space. They throw keys, coins, and even large objects such as horseshoes. The ostrich swallows them without hesitation. Coins can be the worst. Inside the ostrich they wear down to a razor-sharp edge. They will cut open the bird’s gizzard from the inside. When one young zoo ostrich died, 484 coins weighing more than eight pounds were found in its gizzard.
【小题1】
Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

A．important	B．alive
C．dangerous	D．uncomfortable

第四部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每小题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项
This story took place in Central Africa more than 30 years ago. One day two Europeans got to a small village in which the Negroes lived. One of them looked like the boss, the other was his assistant. The boss looked Sambo up and down said,“Young fellow, you look strong. Would you like to work for me? I will give you more money than at the rubber plantation(橡胶园).”At first Sambo wasn’t able to make up his mind, but a few minutes later he agreed.
Sambo’s new work wasn’t hard. He had only to carry light parcels from the village to the camp of the Europeans. He went a short distance along the road, then into the forest and straight to the camp. On the fifth day, when he went through the woods, he saw a big cage with a lion in it. He hesitated a little and went on. All of a sudden the cage was opened and out jumped the lion with a horrible roar(吼叫).
Sambo dropped the parcel and ran as fast as possible, so as to reach the camp in time. for the white man there were armed with guns. All at once Sambo saw two men high up in the tree. They were the two Europeans for whom he was doing. The assistant was turning the handle of the camera with a smile. It was now clear to him that he had been cheated. His eyes were filled with hatred. He wished to kill them, but it was too late.
1. The young man named Sambo was probably _____.
A. the assistant of the two Europeans           
B. an African who worked at the rubber plantation
C. an African who acted as a hunter in the forest   
D. the servant of the two Europeans.
2. The two Europeans went to the African village_____.
A. so as to take some photos for the villagers there
B. in order that they could write a book on travels.
C. to take a picture which showed how a real lion ate a real man
D. in order to save Sambo in time of danger
3. What did the boss say to Sambo?
A. He asked Sambo to serve as his servant in his country.
B. He wanted Sambo to guard against the lion.
C. He asked Sambo if he was afraid of a lion.
D. He told Sambo that he would be well paid if he would work for him
4. Not until Sambo _____ did he find out that he was cheated.
A. caught sight of the lion                     
B. saw the cage with a lion
C. found the white men on the branch of the tree  
D. ran before the lion as fast as he could
5. In this story the writer mainly told us_____.
A. how Negroes were not so clever as the white  
B. how cruel the two white men were
C. what a silly young man Sambo was 
D. Sambo carted so much for money that he lost his life at last

A grave of a man dating back to around 2300 BC was found by archaeologists in England On May 3, 2002. Buried with him were the tools of a hunter or warrior. There was a bone pin that may have been from a piece of clothing such as a leather coat. He carried a copper knife on his breast. The most amazing find was two gold earrings. That would have made him a man of distinction. Only a few centimeters from his head were two pots made of clay, tools and materials to make arrows, a bow and a dozen arrows for hunting and a second, smaller copper knife. Next to them lay a cushion stone, upon which the man could work metal.
His grave is the richest of any found from that period, because this man was buried with two gold earrings which are the oldest gold ever found in Britain (dated to 2470 BC). Besides, he was buried three miles from Stonehenge. Archaeologists tend to believe he was a member of a powerful class who might have organized the construction of Stonehenge.
Stonehenge was begun around 3000 BC. In about 2300 BC the huge stone circles were built. The biggest stone weighed approximately 20 tons. But the smaller blue stones, still weighing 4 tons on average, came from west Wales. It is not yet known how these were conveyed over a distance of 380 km. It is also a mystery how early man was able to construct Stonehenge without the use of modern construction machines and lorries.
He is an example of people who brought culture and new techniques from the European mainland to Britain. In terms of technical development people were going from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and then to the Iron Age.
【小题1】Which are not included in the things that are found in the grave of a man?

The days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken mainly by banning tiger-shooting to protect those animals which still survive.

Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely our earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.

I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.

The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives. One of them wrote:

“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it clearly and on the animal’s own territory. You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals. Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing—not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”

I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger-shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used. The so-called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits.

1. There is no more hunting in India now partly because ______.

A. it is dangerous to hunt there                         B. hunting is already out of date

C. hunters want to protect animals                 D. there are few animals left to hunt

2. The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly ______.

A. to make the countryside safe                    B. to earn people’ s admiration

C. to gain power and influence                  D. to improve their health

3. What do we learn about the big-game hunters?

A. They hunt old animals.                  B. They mistreat animals.

C. They hunt for food.                       D. They hunt for money.

4. What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?

A. Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face.

B. Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons.

C. Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers.

D. Modern hunters should put their safety first.

Once upon a time, there was a group of forest deer. In this group was a wise and respected   36  , smart in the ways of deer. He taught the tricks of   37   to the fawn-the young deer.

One day, his younger sister   38   her son to him, to be taught   39   is so important for deer. The teacher said to the fawn, “Very well, you can come at this time tomorrow for your first   40  .”

At first, the young deer came to the lessons   41   he was supposed to. But soon, he became more interested in   42   with the other young bucks（雄鹿）. He didn’t realize how   43   it could be for a deer who learned   44   but deer games. So he started

   45  . Soon he was escaping school all the time.

       46  , one day the fawn who played hooky   47   a snare（陷阱）and was trapped. Since he was   48  , his mother got worried. She went to her brother the teacher, and

   49   him if her son had learned something. The teacher   50  ,”My dear sister, your son was disobedient and   51  . Out of respect for you, I   52   to teach him. But he did not want to learn the   53   of deer. He played hooky! How could I possibly teach him?”

Later they heard the sad news. The   54   fawn had been trapped and killed by a hunter. He skinned him and took the meat home to his family.

The moral is: Nothing can be learned from a teacher by one who   55   the class.

1.A. student         B. mother             C. teacher        D. magician

2.A. perform        B. survival            C. hunting        D. hiding

3.A. brought         B. caught             C. arranged       D. referred

4.A. that            B. which              C. how          D. what

5.A. arrival          B. punishment         C. prize          D. lesson

6.A. as              B. because            C. whether       D. where

7.A. learning         B. playing            C. talking         D. fighting

8.A. interesting       B. boring             C. dangerous      D. useful

9.A. nothing         B. something          C. all            D. none

10.A. working hard     B. cutting classes      C. playing games   D. teaching others

11.A. Luckily          B. Unexpectedly      C. Definitely      D. Unfortunately

12.A. found out        B. set up             C. stepped in      D. got over

13.A. dying           B. missing            C. unhappy       D. improving

14. A. told            B. scolded           C. asked          D. suspected

15.A. replied           B. analyzed          C. advised        D. questioned

16.A. unbelievable      B. unreachable        C. inflexible      D. unimportant

17.A. made up my mind  B. tried my best       C. gave up        D. would like

18.A. stories           B. structures          C. games         D. tricks

19.A. proud            B. sick              C. stubborn       D. shy

20.A. misses           B. loves             C. forms          D. attends