What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生学) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鸟). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!
【小题1】The first paragraph is written to_____.

The population conference in Brasilia has now ended. One of the aims of the conference was for countries from each continent to look back at past experiences and to learn from them for the future.
In Europe
Population problems are different in different parts of the world.  For example, in many European countries the population is getting older. The birth rate is very low because many young people have only one child or none at all. People are living longer, too. On average, men tire to 76 and women to 78. By 2050 around 25 % of the population of some European countries will be over 60 years old.
This change has happened very fast within two generations. If governments had expected this change, they would have encouraged people to prepare more for old age. At the moment many old people are very lonely and often very poor. If people had expected to live so long, they would probably have saved more money for their retirement.
In Africa
In Africa, the problems of the future will be very different. There, the population is doubling every 24 years. Many families continue to have large numbers of children to look after older people and to help on the land. However, better medical services have increased life expectancy and more children survive to become adults. Research shows that the size of the family is connected with the standard of women’s education. If more girls had gone to school in the last 20 years, family size in Africa would probably not have continued to be so big.
In Asia
In contrast, the problem in Asia is not just population growth but also overcrowding in many cities. Traditionally, most people have lived in the countryside, but within the next 25 years more than 65% will live in cities. If Asian countries had expected this kind of change 20 years ago, they would have tried to provide more work and better education in the countryside. This is starting to happen now, but it may be too late.
56. What is the cause of African population problem?
A. Low birth rate and increased life expectancy. B. More older people, more children.
C. People’s moving from the countryside to the cities.
D. Better medical services and increased life expectancy.
57. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. In Europe it is normal to live to be 76 or more.
B. Medicine has changed population patterns.
C. Population problems are the same everywhere.
D. Many old people in Europe experience poverty.
58. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Cities everywhere are becoming larger and larger.
B. Asian countries have tried to provide more work for people.
C. A lot of girls couldn’t go to school in Africa.
D. The older people in Europe are, the lonelier they will be.

此题要求改正所给短文中的错误，对标有题号的每一行作出判断；如无错误，在该行右边横线上画上一个勾（√）；如有错误（每行只有一个错误），则按下列情况改正；
此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线（﹨）划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。
　 此行少一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），在该行右边横线写出该加的词。
此行错一个词: 在错的词下面画一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。
注意：原行没有错的不要改。
Before lunch Allen happened to see a man fished in            
【小题1】 ___________
a ditch about five metre outside a bar. Allen stopped             
【小题2】 ___________
curiously. All people passing over the man who was fishing    
【小题3】 ___________
regarded him like a foolish man. Allen’s heart went out          
【小题4】 ___________
of him. He said kindly to fish-catcher, “Hello, will              
【小题5】___________
you please do me a favor and have a drink with me             
【小题6】___________
in the bar?” The man gladly received his invitation.            
【小题7】 ___________
After buying the man several cups soft-drinks,                 
【小题8】___________
Allen asked, “You are fishing there, right? May I                 
【小题9】 ___________
know how much fish you have caught this morning?”             
【小题10】___________
“You are the number 8,” said the man humorously.

B
Many people say that the United States is a paradise for the children, a struggling field for the youth and a tomb for the aged. However, the situation is quite different in Australia. Different people have their own ways for enjoyment and their own worlds of pastime.
Most children often work hard in school since they have to face various exams. After school they do not want to confine themselves to books any more. Instead, they put aside their schoolbags at home and sneak quickly to some quiet street comers for their games. Bigger children like to shoulder their large kites to some steep cliffs, and jump to fly in the sky with their kites.
Some old people often get up early in the morning and go to parks to do newspaper reading. After breakfast, they come to horse races, dog races and sometimes car races for betting. If he wins, he will feed himself a good dinner. In the evening, they stay at home, watching TV sometimes with grandchildren. Some of the aged also enjoy fishing and gardening.
Young people prefer to go outing for holidays. At the weekends, they go to the seashore for swimming or to the forest for hunting and camping, or mountainous areas for picnicking. Then in the evenings on Sundays, they start their long bumper-to-bumper drive back on the highways. Nobody seems in a hurry.
The Australian government also encourages its people to have more relaxation after work. Sometimes, certain kind of financial help is distributed to people going on holidays and public holidays are purposely set on Monday or Friday so that Australians may have a longer weekend for enjoyment. They think people can word better only after they get a full relaxation. And it grows out of this idea that relaxation comes the top priority(优先权)for enjoyment in Australia.
60．According to many people’s opinion, which of the following is NOT true?
A．All people in the US live a desirable life.
B．The competition among American young people is fierce.
C．The life of the American old people is very terrible.
D．Children in America are extremely happy.
61．Australia is different from America because Australia_______.
A．is not a paradise for children
B．is not a struggling field for the youth
C．is not a tomb for the aged
D．has different worlds for different people
62．There is an idea of enjoyment priority in Australia because____.
A．enjoyment is more important than other aspects of life
B．a full relaxation will make people work better
C．enjoyment can make people happy
D．Australian people are lazy
63.The underlined part can be replaced by “ ______．
A.adjust themselves to                                      B．prevent themselves form
C．limit themselves to                                      D．satisfy themselves with

Many young people want to be pop stars. Pop stars are rich. Many people think they are leading a happy and easy life. In fact, they have very hard lives. They spend much of their time on travel. Sometimes the travel is interesting, but in most time it is boring to pop stars. The following chart is a day’s life of a pop star.

Feb. 10, 2007
5:00	Woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, packed bags. Took taxi to airport.
7:30	Plane took off half an hour later than usual for the bad weather.
8:30	Plane landed. Waited for luggage for half an hour. Signed for fans at the airport.
9:45	Arrived at the hotel and had a short rest.
10:00	Started out to attend the meeting with fans and gave an interview to the local reporters.
11:00	Went to radio station to attend the live show.
12:00	Had lunch with local producer.
13:00	Went to theatre and prepared for the night’s show. The lighting of the theatre was good, but the band did poorly.
17:00	Back to hotel. Tried to have a rest. Still worried about the band.
18:00	Had supper, but ate little.
18:30	Went to theatre again and got ready for show.
19:00	Sang very well, and audience gave a warm welcome. The band improved a little.
22:00	Show was over. Very tired from it.
23:00	Back to hotel. Took a bath. Too excited to sleep, so watched TV
0:00	Fell asleep, with TV on.