I met the old man at a cafe. “Did you hear the radio news yesterday?” he asked me. “No,” I replied. “Anything exciting?”“Exciting? NO! Something very sad. A group of hungry dogs killed and ate my best friend.”?

“Oh, dear!” I cried. “How did it happen?”“He was working on the hillside when the dogs attacked him. When he didn't return, I went to the hillside and found…”“His body?” I asked. The old fellow drank half of his coffee. “No. I told you they were hungry dogs, didn't I? The big bones were lying every where. But they found this.” He pushed open a match box he was holding in his hand. In it was a man's thumb, lying on some white bloody material.?

“This is my friend's right thumb. The dogs ate the rest of him”. The old man began to cry. He finished his coffee quickly and left the cafe. I drank mine and called the waiter. “I'll pay the gentleman's bill. His poor friend—how terrible!”“You've heard the news?” The waiter laughed. “Sure. There's a hole in the bottom of the match box. He put his own thumb through the hole. The blood is red ink, I believe. Is the story worth a cup of coffee, sir?”“But he held the box in his right hand.”“Yes, but listeners look into the box. They just can't take their sight off that terrible thing.”“And when he tells the story, he gets free cup of coffee!” I said, laughing. “Yes, sir, but only from strangers who come to this town, and, of course, he does us no harm!”?

1. We can learn from this passage ________.?

2. Having heard the old man's story, the writer _______ .?

3. It turned out that the thumb in the match box was actually __________.?

4.The waiter hadn't let out the truth of the old man's story earlier because _______ .

5. As suggested by the passage, what might happen in the end?      ??

American beekeeping operations have been hit hard by what scientists call Colony Collapse Disorder. Almost half of their worker bees have disappeared during the past season. C.C.D. has also been reported in Israel, Europe and South America. Bees fly away from the hive and never return. Sometimes they are found dead; other times they are never found. Many crops and trees depend on pollination （授粉） by bees to help them grow.
A new report says virus may be at least partly responsible for the disorder in honey bee colonies in the United States. This virus is called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. It was first identified in Israel in 2004. Ian Lipkin at Columbia University in New York and a team reported the new findings in Science magazine. Doctor Lipkin says the virus may not be the only cause. He says it may work with other causes to produce the collapse disorder.
The team found the virus in colonies with the help of a map of honey bee genes that was published last year. They examined thirty colonies affected by the disorder. They found evidence of the virus in twenty – five of them, and in one healthy colony. The next step is further testing of healthy hives.
The researchers suggested that the United States may have imported the disorder in bees from Australia. They say the bees may carry the virus but not be affected.
The idea is that unlike many American bees, the ability of Australian bees to fight disease has not been hurt by the varroa mite. This insect attacks honey bees, which could make the disorder more likely to affect a hive. Australian bee producers reject these suspicions.
And some researchers suspect that bee production in the United States is down mainly because of the weather. Honey bees gather nectar（花蜜） from flowers and trees. The sweet liquid gives them food and material to make honey. But cold weather this spring in the Midwest reduced the flow of nectar in many flowers. Many bees may have starved. Dry weather in areas of the country could also be playing a part.
Wayne Esaias is a NASA space agency scientist who keeps bees in his free time. He lives in central Maryland, where he has found that flowers are blooming a month earlier than they did in 1970, which may be partly responsible for the disorder. Wayne Esaias is organizing a group of beekeepers to document nectar flow around the country.
【小题1】 What is the author’s attitude to the causes of the bee disorder?

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。 

增加：在缺词处加一个漏子符号（/\），并在其下面写出该加的词。 

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。 

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。 

注意：1. 每处错误仅限1词； 

2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。 

When I was in high school, most of my friend had bicycles. I hoped I could also have it. One   

day I saw a second-hand bicycle, that was only one hundred yuan. I asked my father /\ the money.   But he said he could only give me half of the money. He should find the other half myself. So I went to sell newspapers after the school. My father was pleased if I showed him the money a month  after. He gives me the other fifty. You can imagine how much happy I was when I rode to school on later gave my own bicycle.

Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure (血压) and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.

     Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress (紧张) levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners –while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic (算术) or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did

It best .Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned

Most quickly to baseline heart rates .With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes

Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released (放松)around

Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don’t judge.

A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a

Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of

56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，

Or 5% of their body weight .Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then

15%of their body weight .Dog owners didn’t lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say

Researchers，got more exercise overall –mostly with their dogs –and found it worth doing.

What does the text mainly discuss?

A．What pets bring to their owners

B．How pets help people calm down

C．people’s opinions of keeping pets

D．Pet’s value in medical research

We learn from the text that a person with heart disease has a better chance of getting well if

____________

A．he has a pet companion

B．he has  less stress of  work

C．he often dose mental arithmetic

D．he is taken care of by his family

According to Allen, why did the people do better with pets around when facing stressful tasks?

    A．They have lower blood pressure.

    B．They become more patient.

    C．They are less nervous.

    D．They are in higher spirits.

The research mentioned in the last paragraph reports that

    A．people with dogs did more exercise

    B．dogs lost the same weight as people did

    C．dogs liked exercise much more than people did

    D．people without dogs found the program unhelpful