A friend of mine was sitting in the living room one day when his cat dragged in a little “gift” in its mouth—a dead animal of some sort. Taking a closer look, he was surprised to  36  it as the bunny(小兔子) that  37  Mary, the young daughter of the family next door. My friend felt  38  , believing his cat had killed Mary’s bunny.

My quick-thinking friend came up with a plan.  39   from the cat’s mouth the dead animal, which by now was a     40  mess, he put it in the kitchen sink. With a little warm water and some shampoo, he tried to  41  the dead bunny as best he could. Then he took a hair dryer and blowdried the bunny  42  it looked pretty good.

Finally, under the cover of darkness, he crept into the next-door garden and placed it  43  in the cage. He managed to make the bunny look very  44  there in his little box.

The next morning, my friend looked out of the window and noticed a crowd of people  45  around the rabbit hutch(笼). Everyone seemed to be talking and pointing. My friend  46  to go over and act like any normal  47  neighbor and find out what was going on.

When he got there, Mary’s mother said to my friend, “You won’t believe this! It’s a(n)   48  thing! Mary’s bunny  49  a few days ago, and we buried that little bunny right over there…”

Have you ever tried to cover up one wrongdoing with another? Covering up only makes matters  50  .

When we get caught doing something  51  , for example, we may  52  to cover it up with a lie. But just like Mary’s bunny, the result is  53  what we expected. We  54  looking foolish. We would have been better off admitting we were wrong and accepting the  55  . What do you think of it?

A. treat        B. catch          C. appreciate         D. recognize

A. looked for    B. got along      C. belonged to         D. resulted from

A. pleased        B. terrible       C. confused          D. excited

A. Looking     B. Removing      C. Preventing        D. Hearing

A. dirty               B. lovely        C. gifted           D. strange

A. dress up          B. bring up        C. clean up            D. make up

A. whenever     B. though       C. before            D. until

A. carefully       B. strangely     C. especially          D. wonderfully

A. serious        B. accurate       C. balanced        D. natural

A. cheered          B. gathered        C. ran             D. looked

A. wished        B. decided       C. hesitated        D. meant

A. anxious       B. discouraged           C. wise             D. curious

A. strange        B. difficult       C. committed       D. annoying

A. passed away    B. ran away           C. set out               D. went up

A. more           B. worse         C. better          D. faster

A. exciting       B. perfect               C. strange         D. wrong

A. refuse          B. attempt        C. promise        D. pretend

A. often           B. just             C. always                D. never

A. get down        B. end up                     C. go through        D. set out

A. consequences  B. opportunities     C. expectations       D. choices

   Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do; once or twice she had looked into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of the book,” thought Alice, “without pictures and conversations?”

   So she was considering in her own mind whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain(雏菊花环) would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

  There was nothing so very remarkable in that; but when the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit- hole under the bush.

  The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

    Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? “I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?” she said aloud. “I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think. I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think—but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. ‘Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?’ And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask.”

  Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, when suddenly, thump! thump! Down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

What kind of books do you think will interest Alice most?

  A. Books that her sister was reading.

  B. Books without pictures or conversations.

  C. Books about white rabbits.

  D. Books with pictures and conversations.

Which of the following is true?

  A. Alice suddenly saw a white rabbit with a strange umbrella.

  B. Alice managed to fall right through the earth.

  C. Alice ran after the white rabbit across the field out of curiosity.

  D. The people on the opposite side of the earth walk with their heads downward.

Which is the right order of the story?

  a. Alice jumped into a large hole.

  b. A white rabbit ran close by her.

  c. Alice sat by her sister, doing nothing.

  d. She fell upon some sticks and dry leaves.

  A. c-b-a-d     B. d-a-c-b       C. a-b -c-d        D. d-c-a -b

From the passage, we can see Alice is a(n)________girl.

  A. helpful and friendly           B. curious and imaginative

  C. brave and curious             D. ignorant and pretty

The following paragraph “In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” can be put between_________.

  A. Paragraphs 1 and 2             B. Paragraphs 2 and 3

  C. Paragraphs 3 and 4             D. Paragraph 4 and 5

A new study shows one of the largest glaciers① in Greenland is becoming smaller and speeding to the sea faster than scientists expected. If it continues, Greenland itself could become much smaller during this century and global seas could rise as much as 3 feet.

The rates② of change that we’re noticing are much higher than expected. If these rates continue, it is not unlikely that Greenland could shrink③ by several tens of percent this century. However, it’s not known how quickly this coastal response of the Greenland ice sheet melting will have an effect on the vast inland ice.

Greenland is the world’s largest island, covering an area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it is covered by ice, and there are many glaciers. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers of ice. Where a glacier meets the sea, its weight keeps it firmly resting on the bottom. A glacier’s front is the point where the water is deep enough that the glacier floats.

Since the 1970s, the front of Helheim stayed in the same place. Then it began melting rapidly, moving back 4.5 miles from 2001 through this past summer. It has also grown thinner, from top to bottom, by more than 130 feet since 2001. And over these past four years, its trip to the sea has sped up from about 70 feet per day to nearly 110.

The melting is driven by a warmer climate. Temperatures in Greenland have risen more than five degrees Fahrenheit in the last decade. Since most of Greenland’s ice is on land, seas will rise as the ice melts. If all Greenland’s ice sheet melted, oceans would be 15-20 feet higher. Nobody expects that to happen anytime soon.

Notes:

① glacier  n.  冰川

② rate  n.  比率

③ shrink  v.  缩小

1. Which of the following about the glaciers is TRUE?

  A. Glaciers only lie in Greenland.        B. Water in glaciers is more than sea water.

  C. Glaciers sometimes float on the water.  D. Glaciers can increase the water level of lakes.

2. According to the text, we know that Greenland ______.

  A. belongs to Canada                  B. is the largest island in North America

  C. is all covered with glaciers            D. is sinking under the sea level

3. Which of the following may be the result of the disappearing of Greenland glaciers?

  A. the climate of the world will be warmer.

  B. the glaciers in other area will be bigger.

  C. It will be easy for explorers to visit the island.

  D. Some coastal cities may be under the sea.

A Charlotte N.C. man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors (公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.

But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Absolutely, no question about it.

The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon，chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the automatic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to early humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is poisonous in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death.

By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in excitement or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead.

1.What is Martin Samuels’ attitude to the possibility of being frightened to death?

A. Approval.            B. Disapproval.                            C. Doubtful.     D. Indifferent.

2.What can we learn about the fight-or-flight response according to the passage?

A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin Samuels.

B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.

C. The ancient humans had a better fight-or-flight response than modern ones.

D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.

3.What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?

A. Winning an unexpected fortune.

B. Missing a dead family member.

C. Watching a horror movie.

D. Listening to a sweet song.

4.The purpose of the passage is ______.

A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack

B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure

C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death

D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death

A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.

But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Absolutely, no question about it.

The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.

By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.

1. Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?

A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.

B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.

C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack

D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.

2. Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?

A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.

B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.

C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.

D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.

3.What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?

A. Winning a big lottery.                   B. Missing a dead family.

C. Watching a horror movie.                 D. Listening to a sweet song.

4. The purpose of the passage is_________.

A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack

B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure

C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death

D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death