Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn’t master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.

When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn’t find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn’t escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying no the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.

“What does hell look like?”

“Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.

What does the underlined word “master” in the first paragraph mean?

  A. Miss.      B. Finish.          C. Follow.          D. Learn well.

Why did the bird hide herself when other birds were learning flying skills?

  A. Because she was lazy.

  B. Because she didn’t like learning flying skills.

  C. Because she thought she could go to hell by doing this.

  D. Because she thought she didn’t have to learn flying skills.

According to the passage, the bird at last found that      .

A. hell was a place full of water.          B. hell was a place full of burning fire

C. there was no hell                        D. hell was a small well-decorated cage

Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel Islands in Jersey where they had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how to behave in this new landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their kind for 50 years. To the researchers’ surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages, on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.  

Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated （没收） on arrival north of the border, and raised by their parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and psychology （心理） of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out: “Reintroducing species of high intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than pets or valuable ‘collectables’.”  

Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point: conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both wild and caged birds.  

Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. First, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots kept as pets, particularly as the Trust’s campaign does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds raised by humans.  

55. What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?  

A. Its landscape is new to parrots of their kind.  

B. It used to be home to parrots of their kind.  

C. It is close to where they had been kept.  

D. Pine trees were planted to attract birds.  

56. The reintroducing experience three years ago shows that man-raised parrots  

A. can find their way back home in Jersey  

B. are unable to recognize their parents  

C. are unable to adapt to the wild  

D. can produce a new species  

57. Why are researches on parrots important according to the passage?  

A. The Trust shows great concern for the programme.  

B. We need to know more about how to preserve parrots.  

C. Many people are interested in collecting parrots.  

D. Parrots’ intelligence may some day benefit people.  

58. According to the passage, people are advised ______.  

A. to treat wild and caged parrots equally  

B. to set up comfortable homes for parrots  

C. not to keep wild parrots as pets  

D. not to let more parrots go to the wild  

It was a cloudy Saturday afternoon. A group of birds were having a great time 
  36  food and playing on the main road. All of a sudden, a big truck sped through… A   37  thing happened. Birds could   38 , too. Although this bird had already   39 , another bird flew over to her immediately, just like a family member, unable to accept the   40 .
Not long after that, another car passed by quickly,   41  the dead bird’s body to whirl(旋转) with the wind. The male bird   42  the movement. As if she was still alive, he   43  flew beside her again. He stared at her as if he was asking, “  44  are you not getting up?”
  45 , she was no longer able to hear him. At the same time, he was trying to lift her up. He,   46 , was unable to bear the burden. Another car soon passed by. He quickly   47 . Once the car had gone, he came down again.
Although other birds told him that it was   48 , he never gave up. He was trying his best to lift her up to   49  her flying again. Another car passed by, and her dead body whirled again as if she was still   50  and trying to fly. He had used all of his   51 , but he was too weak.
The   52 , who was taking photos of the scene, said he couldn’t shoot any more. He was so   53  that the living bird was going to be hurt by passing cars. So he picked up he dead bird and left it at the   54 . The living one still stayed at a nearby tree as if he was crying with his singing and   55  to leave.

短文改错(共l0小题；每小题1.5分，满分l5分)

此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行作出判断：如无错误，在该

行右边横线上画一个勾(√)；如有错误(每行只有一个错误)，则按下列情况改正：

此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。

此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。

此行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。

注意：原行没有错的不要改。

Have you ever been bored with the busy life in the city？If so，    1．___________

have glimpse of the primary forest with me. The breathtaking        2．___________

scenery make you forget everything when you’re exploring what      3．___________

the forest has to offer. With thousands of trees surrounded             4．___________

you，you will feel like to floating on the green ocean. Under the       5．___________

leaves are all kinds of flowers，peacefully and shy. And a          6．___________

variety of birds were singing happily in the trees. While you’re       7．___________

enjoying the scenery on the ground，watching out for the sky！  8．___________

It will give your eye a feast. Wandering alone in the forest，  9．___________

we will have the feeling of returning to nature.    10．___________

Mass deaths of birds were not unheard of, but they normally happened unnoticed at sea or in rural areas away from towns. Many birds are weak and die in winter _______ food is scarce.