Americans use many expressions with the word dog. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes a person who has an unhappy life. 

Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog. 

Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things. 

Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. But mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite. 

Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.

1.A person who lives an unhappy life can be described as “_______”.

A. becoming sick as a dog          B. leading a dog’s life

C. living in a dog-eat-dog world     D. Working like a dog

2.The underlined word “mean” in Paragraph 4 most probably means “_______”.

A. violent         B. selfish          C. wild          D. Poor

3.What can we learn from the text?

A. Everyone can be successful if he learns from the old.

B. It might be difficult for the young to learn new skills.

C. Junkyard dogs are careful in money arrangement.

D. Fierce persons aren’t so awful as their appearance sometimes.

4.To support his idea, the author develops the text mainly by _______.

A. listing reasons                 B. using idioms

C. giving examples               D. Making comparisons

In their book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a medium?sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.?
“We’re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We’ re just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”?
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares of land, while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares — or 1.1 hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.?
Convincing flesh?eating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non?starter, the Vales say. Instead they recommend keeping “greener”, smaller, and more sustainable pets, such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.?
The book’s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully “recycled”, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die, may not appeal to animal fans.?
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert Vale said.?
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said.?
“It’s about much more challenging and difficult issues,” he added. “Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things, you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.”?
56. The authors gave their book the playful title to________.?
A. make it amusing                    B. create a vivid image?
C. show　writing skills                 D. arouse people’ s concern
57. In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us________.?
A. the amount of consumed land ?
B. the neglected ecological impact?
C. some familiar examples ?
D. some actual figures?
58. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage??
A. Going vegetarian. ?
B. Raising cats and dogs.?
C. Using a cloth bag. ?
D. Keeping a greener life.?
59. Who may not like the idea of “recycling” pet animals??
A. Manufacturers.                  B. Drivers. ?
C. Animal fans.                     D. The authorities.?
60. What do the authors think of living a sustainable life??
A. Challenging.          B. Inspiring.          C. Inviting.         D. Touching.

IV.阅读理解（共17小题；每小题２分，满分34分）
Like cats, geckos（壁虎）always land on their feet. If they happen to fall from a wall or leaf they’ve been climbing, a quick move of the tail makes sure that they always land on their feet first, a new study finds.
Geckos are truly built for climbing: their feet have hairy toes that can fix themselves to a wall or other vertical（竖直的）surfaces. However, geckos’ feet can’t always keep hold and they may fall to the ground. When geckos fall or jump off a wall, they always land stomach-side down. Geckos’ long tails become necessary during their falls, the new study shows.
Researchers did an experiment. They placed geckos up-side-down on the underside of a leaf. When they lost their foothold and fell, the geckos pitched （倾斜）their tails for balance. They then rotated（旋转）their tails to make their bodies rotate. As soon as they were right-side up, they stopped rotating. On average, it only took the geckos about a tenth of a second to right themselves so that they would land on their feet.
Cats use a different way to land on their feet after a fall. As their tails don’t have the power like geckos’ tails, cats can’t use them to right themselves. Instead they twist their bodies around mid-air.
Engineers are trying to build a robot that imitates the geckos’ climbing ability. A tail will be fixed to the robot to allow it to keep balance.
54. What do we know about geckos?
A. Their toes make it possible for them to walk on walls.
B. Their tails can fix them to a wall or other vertical surfaces.
C. They often land on their backs when they jump off walls.
D. It takes them a second to right themselves in mid-air.
55. How do cats avoid their injury during a fall?
A. By twisting their bodies.                 B. By fixing their toes to the ground.
C. By using their tails to right themselves.        D. By landing upside-down.
56. Geckos’ special abilities have given engineers some new ideas to _________.
A. allow robots to climb vertical surfaces       
B. reproduce geckos like robots
C. invent robots that can rotate on the ground
D. invent robots that can balance themselves using their tails
57. What is the text mainly talking about?
A. The interesting living habits of geckos.   B. The differences between cats and geckos.
C. Why geckos always land on their feet.      D. How geckos climb up vertical walls.

In their book Time to Eat the Dog : The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robort and Breanda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
“We ‘re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog .We are just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41hectares of land ,while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares or 1.1hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesh-eating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non-starter,
The Vales say .Instead they recommend keeping greener, smaller, and more sustainable pets ,such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.
The book ‘s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully recycled, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die ,may not appeal to animal fans .
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog . It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said
It about much more challenging and difficult issues, he added . Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things , you might decide to have the cat but not also to have two cars and three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.
【小题1】. The authors gave their book the playful title to    .
A make it amusing       B  create a vivid image
C show writing skills     D  arouse people’s concern
【小题2】. In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us      .
A  the amount of consumed land     B  the neglected ecological impact
C  some familiar examples          D   some actual figures
【小题3】. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage?
A Going vegetarian    B  Raising cats and dogs
C Using a cloth bag    D Keeping a greener life
【小题4】. Who may not the idea of  “recycling” pet animal?
A Manufactures   B Drivers  C Animal fans  D The authorities
【小题5】.  What do the authors thing of living a sustainable life?
A Challenging    B Inspiring   C Inviting  D Touching

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