Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn’t a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.

I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.

I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.

I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird’s captivity my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.

The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.

Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”

Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.

1.Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?

A．He had just got a new cage.                B．He liked its beautiful feather.

C．He wanted it to sing for him.               D．He wanted a pet for a companion.

2.The mockingbird died because it ______.

A．was frightened to death                  B．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it

C．refused to eat anything                   D．drank the poisonous water by mistake

3.An ornithologist probably means ______.

A．a religious person                       B．a kind person

C．a schoolmaster                         D．an expert in birds

4.What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?

A．Freedom is very valuable to all creatures.

B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long.

C．You should keep the birds from their mother.

D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds.

Most people have no idea of the hard work and worry that gosintosthe

collecting of those fascinating birds and animals that they pay to see in the

zoo.One of the questions that is always asked of me is __1__ I became an animal

collector in the first __2__ .The answer is that I have always been interested

in animals and zoos.According to my parents, the first word I was able to say

with any __3__ was not the conventional“mamma”or“daddy”，__4__ the word“zoo”，

which I would __5__ over and over again with a shrill __6__ until someone,

insgroupsto __7__ me up, would take me to the zoo.When I __8__ a little older,

we lived in Greece and I had a great __9__ of pets, ranging from owls to

seahorses, and I spent all my spare time __10__ the countryside in search of

fresh specimens to __11__ to my collection of pets.__12__ on I went for a year

to the City Zoo, as a student __13__ , to get experience of the large animals,

such as lions, bears, bison and ostriches,__14__ were not easy to keep at

home.When I left, I __15__ had enough money of my own to be able to __16__ my

first trip and I have been going __17__ ever since then.Though a collector's job

is not an easy one and is full of __18__ ,it is certainly a job which will

appeal __19__ all those who love animals and __20__ .

1.A.how B.where C.when D.whether

2.A.region B.field C.place D.case

3.A.clarity B.emotion C.sentiment D.affection

4.A.except B.but C.except for D.but for

5.A.recite B.recognize C.read D.repeat

6.A.volume B.noise C.voice D.pitch

7.A.close B.shut C.stop D.comfort

8.A.grew B.was growing C.grow D.grown

9.A.many B.amount C.number D.supply

10.A.living B.cultivating C.reclaiming D.exploring

11.A.increase B.include C.add D.enrich

12.A.later B.further C.then D.subsequently

13.A.attendant B.keeper C.member D.aide

14.A.who B.they C.of which D.which

15.A.luckily B.gladly C.nearly D.successfully

16.A.pay B.provide C.allow D.finance

17.A.normally B.regularly C.usually D.often

18.A.expectations B.sorrows C.excitement D.disappointments

19.A.for B.with C.to D.from

20.A.excursion B.travel C.journey D.Trip

If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “ Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile. The title suits him. And he loves it.

Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back — thanks to him. But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “ You’re crazy.” As a boy, he used to be “ a little tough guy on the streets”. At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.

“ I knew it had hurt my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison. “So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again.”

One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.

“I saw the sign ‘Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls. “Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass(放大镜) , ‘Look at the leaves.’ I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼虫) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, ‘Without the plant, there are no butterflies.’”

Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.

The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around

For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.

11. When he was young, Arthur Bonner _______.

  A. broke the law and ended up in prison

  B. was fond of shooting and hurt his mom

  C. often laughed at people on the streets

  D. often caught butterflies and took them home

12. Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he _______.

  A. found the butterfly had died out        

B. won many prizes from his professor

  C. met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology  

D. collected butterflies and put them into a lab

13. From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has ________.

  A. made Bonner famous        B. changed Bonner’s life

  C. brought Bonner wealth       D. enriched Bonner’s knowledge

14. What does the underlined phrase “put through” mean in the 3rd paragraph?

A. hurt                         B. recall                C. remember                 D. experience

15. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

  A. A Promise to Mom               B. A Man Saved by Butterflies

  C. A Story of Butterflies               D. A Job Offered by Dr. Mattoni

Americans who volunteer for the Peace Corps get a chance to help improve lives in developing countries. They also get a chance to learn more about the world, and about themselves. This week this program is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

President John Kennedy established the Peace Corps soon after he took office in 1961. It was the time of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The new program gave Americans a chance to answer the call to service that the president made in his inaugural(就职的)speech. “Ask not what your country can do for you,” he said. “Ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy told Peace Corps volunteers that America’s image in the countries where they were going would depend largely on them.

On August 30th, 1961, the first group of 51 Peace Corps volunteers arrived in Accra, Ghana, to serve as teachers. They had agreed to work for almost no pay. They would spend two years in Ghana helping its people and learning the reality of life in a developing country. Most of the volunteers had just completed college. About half of them taught English or health care. In the 50 years since then, more than 200，000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers. They have worked in 139 countries.

The Peace Corps is a government agency that was created to promote world peace and friendship. There are three goals: First, to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. Second, to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served. And, third. to help promote a better understanding of other people on the part of Americans.

Today, the Peace Corps has more than 8,000 volunteers and trainees in 77 countries. They work in agriculture, economic development, education, the environment and health care. Some work in programs related to youth development.

Sixty percent of current Peace Corps volunteers are women. The average age of a volunteer is 28. But the ages of Peace Corps volunteers range from 18 to 86. Some Americans join the Peace Corps after they retire. Today seven percent of volunteers are over the age of 50. And 19 percent are members of minority groups.

1.Volunteers for the Peace Corps can _______.

A．improve their abilities by learning in some developed countries

B．travel to many foreign countries to learn more about the world

C．have an opportunity to help all the people in developing countries

D．contribute to lives in developing countries and develop themselves

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．Volunteers served as teachers to work for no pay in Accra, Ghana.

B．Kennedy established the Peace Corps before he took office in 1961.

C．Most of the volunteers of the first group had just graduated from college.

D．America’s image in the foreign countries depends completely on volunteers.

3.The fourth paragraph is mainly about _______.

A．what the Peace Corps is and its steps

B．why the Peace Corps was created and what are its goals

C．what role the Peace Corps play in daily life

D．How the Peace Corps was created and its aims

4.According to the text, volunteers and trainees assist in the following aspects EXCEPT _______.

A．industry           B．environment       C．education         D．health care

5.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Most of the volunteers for the Peace Corps are women.

B．Few minority groups joined the Peace Corps.

C．Half of the retired volunteers joined the Peace Corps.

D．People of different ages take an active part in the Peace Corps.

Since the beginning of history, man has been attracted by the idea of living forever, of winning the fight against death and disease. So far, this has only remained a dream. Many people have wondered whether it would be possible to find a way to preserve human bodies, and what would be the best way.

It has long been known that meat of fruit can be kept fresh for long periods by freezing; in ancient China, for example, food was stored with ice to keep it fresh. This method could also be useful for preserving humans.

However, most living beings that exist under warm conditions die when frozen. This is because of the harmful effects of freezing ice crystals(晶体), which not only are larger than the volume(体积) of the water originally in the cells, but also form sharp cutting shapes that harm the cells.

In the 1940s Dr B.J. Luyet and a group of scientists in England were working on the problem of freezing cells without damaging them. Since the harm caused by ice crystals was the main cause of damage, Luyet suggested removing some or all of the water from the cells before freezing them.

Using living cells form chicken, Luyet and his assistants discovered that they could partly dry the chicken cells, using a mixture of the white part of an egg and glycerin (丙三醇). Some success was obtained. The chicken cells were dried, frozen for a period of time, and then carefully unfrozen. Almost all the cells recovered when they reached normal temperatures.

Since then, the cooling of whole animals to a temperature far below freezing point for later unfreezing has become more of a possibility, and the glycerin method would probably be used to accomplish this. When this can be done completely and successfully, science will have moved much closer to its aim of freezing and storing incurable patients until the day they can be cured.

1.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Easy but practical ways to remove water from living cells.

B．The possibility of preserving human bodies by freezing.

C．The practice of preserving food by freezing.

D．The harmful effects of freezing.

2.The idea of freezing human bodies to preserve them ______________.

A．has already been realized

B．was invented in ancient China

C．has its roots in the way of storing food

D．is widely accepted by the scientific world

3.According to the text, freezing _________________.

A．is harmful to living cells

B．is the best way of preserving food

C．reduces the volume of water in living cells

D．is a way of removing water from living cells

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It is impossible to have whole animals frozen.

B．It remains unknown how to unfreeze frozen animals.

C．Freezing incurable patients for later treatment is still an idea.

D．The glycerin method has already been adopted to treat patients.