When Emily Beardmore first heard that a trip was being planned by the biology class at Windsor High School, she thought about how much fun it would be.
“I thought it would be a really good experience to go with other friends and teachers to another country in an environment other than a vacation environment,” the 17-year-old girl said.
A few months later, Emily got her chance when she and 14 of her classmates, along with biology teacher Tamara Pennington went to Costa Rica for eight days in late May.
“It was not just a tour,” said Pennington, who organized the trip. “You can go any place in the world on just a tour. This one was really working with the sea turtles (海龟) and practicing conservation(保护). It just seemed like the perfect science field trip for kids who think they want to get into science to see what it's really like to be out in the field and enjoy themselves.”
Emily said her time on the turtle program, which was the focus of the trip, was “crazy.”“We were walking on the beach at night and you can’t see anything—just see a big black dot.” She said with a laugh. “I was not expecting the turtles to be that big.” The turtles are leatherback turtles, which are becoming extinct (灭绝) because their eggs are used as food.
“When they would move their legs while laying their eggs they were really hard to control because they were a lot more powerful than you would imagine,” Emily said.
Once the eggs were collected, the students took them back to a hatchery(孵化场) and dug holes to copy the hole the mother turtle had made and then buried the eggs for the 60 days needed to hatch.
“The experience was so cool,” Emily said. “You go to another country to see what their culture is like and learn what their everyday lives are like. It made me really want to help out my mom a lot more than I do, and value what I have.”
【小题1】What did Pennington consider the trip to be?

I met Ryan, a young man with cerebral palsy (脑瘫), in my biology class. My simple "Hello!" and his cheerful reply were the   36  to our friendship from the first day of school. There was a time when Ryan was not able to come to school. He was in a great deal of   37    after having a surgery on his legs, but he   38  his sufferings from everyone.
In our junior year, we found that we didn't   39  a single class. This was not a problem, though. We just talked a little more in the hallway   40  passing periods. That year seemed to fly by. One day, Ryan asked me to hold the torch (火炬) runner's flag that would   41  the spot where Ryan would   42  his Olympic torch run. He gently explained that he would be honored   43  I would accept this position for him. The Olympic committee sent a letter saying that the person that holds the flag for him must be someone   44  to him. He said I was the only true friend he had   45  made that talked to HIM and not to his wheel chair. How could I   46  such a request?
On the morning of June 5th, as I walked down the sidewalk, my heart   47  and my mind became a factory of questions. I kept wondering how everything was going to happen and how Ryan would   48  the huge crowd of thousands of people.
After the van arrived, the other runners got out and lined up outside the van, chanting his name, "Ryan! Ryan!" Then all of the people   49  in, “Ryan! Ryan!” The lift then lowered Ryan to the ground. There he was, in all his   50 .
It all became slow motion at the sight of the arriving torch. The runner lit Ryan's torch and then Ryan began his   51 . As he took off down the street, the chanting became louder and louder. The   52  filled the air and even I felt like I was on cloud number nine. I could not have been any prouder of Ryan！ He   53  this moment in time --a historic moment--a moment that he was a part of and   54  me to be a part of, too.
Mr. Weinheimer, the next torch runner, bent over and gave Ryan a hug. That moment will last in time forever. It symbolized the whole   55  of the flame: love, excitement, enthusiasm, brotherhood, and life of any man. The flame united us all and showed that love is really what makes this small world go around after all.

When you think of the tremendous technological progress we have made, it’s amazing how little we have developed in other respects. We may speak scornfully of the poor old Romans because they enjoyed the seemingly excited killing that went on in their arenas（竞技场）. We may despise them because they mistook these goings on for entertainment. We may forgive them because they lived 2000 years ago and obviously knew no better. But are our feelings of superiority（优越）really justified? Are we any less blood-thirsty? Why do boxing matches, for instance, attract such universal interest? Don’t the audience who attend them hope they will see some violence? Human beings remain as bloodthirsty as ever they were. The only difference between ourselves and the Romans is that while they were honest enough to admit that they enjoyed watching hungry lions tearing people apart and eating them alive, we find all sorts of arguments to defend sports which should have been banned long ago.

　　It really is incredible that in this day and age we should still allow hunting or bull-fighting, that we should be prepared to sit back and watch two men punch each other in a boxing ring, that we should be relatively unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames. Any talk of ‘the sporting spirit’ is merely hypocrisy（虚伪）. People take part in violent sports because of the high rewards they bring. Audience are willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence. A world heavyweight championship match, for instance, is front page news. Millions of people are disappointed if a big fight is over in two rounds instead of fifteen. They feel disappointment because they haven’t experienced the exquisite pleasure of witnessing continuous violence.

　　Why should we ban violent sports if people enjoy them so much? You may well ask. The answer is simple: they are uncivilized. For centuries man has been trying to improve himself spiritually and emotionally—though with little success. But at least we no longer tolerate the sight madmen imprisoned in cages, or public punishment of any of the countless other barbarous (野蛮的) practices which were common in the past. Prisons are no longer the harsh forbidding places they used to be. Social welfare systems are in operation in many parts of the world. Big efforts are being made to distribute wealth fairly. These changes have come about not because human beings have suddenly improved, but because positive steps were taken to change the law. The law is the biggest instrument of social change that we have and it may exert great civilizing influence. If we banned dangerous and violent sports, we would be moving one step further to improving mankind. We would recognize that violence is unworthy of human beings.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s opinion of nowadays’ human beings is ________________

A. not very high.             B. high.       C. scornful.       D. neutral

Why does the author mention the old Romans in this article?

A. To reveal that the old Romans first started violent sports.

B. To prove that the old Romans were not civilized.

C. To show human beings in the past knew nothing better.

D. To indicate human beings today are as bloodthirsty as the old Romans.

How many dangerous sports does the author mention in this passage?

A. Three.             B. Four.    C. Five.                     D. Six.

     What does the author want to illustrate in this article?

A.  By banning the violent sports, we human beings can improve ourselves.

B.  By banning the dangerous sports, we can improve the law.

C.  We must take positive steps to improve social welfare system.

D.  Law is the main instrument of social change.

The butterfly Ecological Park, which opened early this May, is located in Dabao Village in Longfeng Township of Pengzhou City, some 65 kilometers to the north of Chengdu downtown.
The park, covering an area of 67 hectares, is more famous for a variety of butterflies living in lush surroundings and houses a collection of some 30,000 butterfly species. An ideal site for parents and kids alike to enjoy the sight of “the flying flowers” and the ecological area.
A great variety of butterflies live in China, and Sichan and Yunnan are rich in butterfly resources. At present, 702 species have been discovered in Sichuan, where the number of butterfly species equals to the total of Europe. In the Longmen Mountain of Pengzhou City alone, there are more than 500 species.
The butterfly Ecological Park, a project of RMB200 million at the foot of the Longmen Mountain, is the natural habitat of butterflies. The park also has educational and cultural programs. The park has prepared many spring and summer activities for visitors, including a scientific exhibition about butterflies, a “butterfly valley” where visitors can have a close look at butterflies, even with them resting on the shoulders, and enjoy themselves in activities designed for children.
Tourists can enjoy the splendid scenery of thousands of butterflies at the “butterfly valley” and appreciate more than 30,000 different kinds of butterfly species at the exhibition area. Classified as the only category I butterfly species the Wild Animal Protection Law in 1989 in China, the Golden Kaiserihind is the most expensive species living in “butterfly valley”, with an estimated value of RMB10,000 each.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “lush’in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?

Driving to a friend's house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that most city people? Myself included? Usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.　　

My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.

I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.　　  

Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibre-glass. We have televisions, cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.

Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains And perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.

【小题1】The best title for the passage would be______.

A. Touched by the moon        B. The pleasures of modern life

C. A bottomless well of silence   D. Break away from modern life

【小题2】 What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?

A. No modern equipment       B. Complete silence.

C. The nice moonlight          D. The high mountains

【小题3】Modern things (Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to______.

A. show that the writer likes city life very much

B. tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life

C. explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature

D. show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them

【小题4】The author wrote the passage to_______.

A. express the feeling of returning to nature

B. show the love for the moonlight

C. advise modern people to learn to live

D. want to communicate longing for modern life