Curious to know how her daughter would use the phone, Jane Bidder, the mother, followed Lucy to the school bus in the morning. The bus seats 20, of whom half have a mobile phone. One rings and several adolescent(青少年)owners fumble(摸索)with their bags.

Many parents have just come to realize that the mobile phone is no longer only for traveling business-men—it is as likely to be found in school bags.

The mobile phone seems to have become something essential for today's teens in Britain, according to a survey(调查)published last week, by NOP, a leading market research company in Britain. Research found that 66 percent of 16-year-old kids now have access to a mobile phone.

The mobile phone has been turned into a secret messaging service by teen users. They are talking on the mobile and their parents are not able to eavesdrop on the second line.

The interview with 2 019 young people aged 7 to 16 found that they favor the text messaging services because they offer a secret way of keeping in touch. The days of secret notes in the classroom are dying out.

For example, “cu” means “see you”; “lol”means “laugh out loud”；and “2nite” is an abbreviation(缩略语)of “tonight”. All these are based on shorthand phrases used on the Internet.

Many schools have banned(禁止)students using mobile phones.

Scientists believe children are especially vulnerable(易受伤害的)to the mobile radiation(放射线).

1. The story of Lucy is told to show us　　　　　　   .

A. British parents meet their children’s needs whatever they are

B. British kids have good relationships with their parents

C. how British parents accept the truth of teenagers owning a mobile phone

D. why every child gets a mobile phone as a birthday present in UK

2. What would be the best title for this news story?

A. School Bans Mobile Phones

B. Parents’ Curiosity about Children Using Mobiles

C. Mobile Popularity among UK Teens

D. Secret Messages Popular among Kids in UK

3. The underlined word “eavesdrop” means　　　　　　   .

A. join in activity　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  B. interrupt rudely

C. watch carefully　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    D. listen secretly

4. Interviews discover children like sending messages instead of　　　　　　   .

A. calling each other　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. writing to each other

C. playing games on line　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    D. greeting each other

The smallest animal with a backbone（脊椎） known to science, a fish from the carp family, has been discovered in the peat swamps （沼泽）of Indonesia. Mature（成熟的）females of the fish species （种类）Paedocypris reach just 7.9mm in length.

　 The species was discovered in the highly acidic (酸性的) peat swamps of the Indonesian island of Sumatra by a team led by Ralf Britz, a zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

　 “This is one of the strangest fish that I’ve seen in my whole career,” Dr Britz said. “It’s tiny, and it lives in acid. I hope that we’ll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely.”

　 The species lives in dark tea-colored swamp waters, which are 100 times more acidic than rainwater. Although these swamps were once thought to be inhabited by very few animals, recent research has shown that they are home to a highly different range of species that occur nowhere else.

　 The peat swamps were damaged by forest fires in 1997, and are also threatened by agriculture. The scientists behind the discovery said that several populations of Paedocypris had already been lost.

　 “Many of the peat swamps we surveyed （调查）throughout South-East Asia no longer exist,” Dr Britz said. “Populations of all the miniature（微型的） fish of peat swamps have decreased or disappeared.”

　 Details of the discovery are published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B.

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

　　 A. The Strangest Fish

　　 B. Acidic Peat Swamps

　　 C. Strange Species

　 D. The Smallest Backbone Animal

2. Where does the smallest backbone animal live?

　　 A. It lives in highly acidic rainwater.

　　 B. The species lives in the acidic waters of dark tea-coloured swamps.

　　 C. It was put in the Natural History Museum in London.

　　 D. Its habitat disappears completely.

3. Dr Britz’s words imply____.

　　 A. the habitat will be more after a period of time

　　 B. many peat swamps that they surveyed have already survived

　　 C. he wants to find out more about them before their habitat disappears

　　 D. he wants to have a further research

4. According to the passage, the forest fires in 1997 have led to the fact that ____.

　　 A. many places where these animals lived have been damaged

　　 B. the population of the species has increased

　　 C. there are many animals in the acidic peat swamps today

　　 D. agriculture doesn’t affect the living space of these animals