Be careful what you say around your dog. It might understand more than you think.

A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany. The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child. Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee(黑猩猩).

In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects. Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back. In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. As the dog couldn't see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words.

In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew. The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before.

The correct object was chosen in seven out of l0 tests, suggesting that the dog had worked

out the answer by process of elimination(排除法). A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive.          

Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog. For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed (品种)known for its mental abilities. In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months.

It's hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can't talk back. Still, it wouldn't hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then. You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!

61. From paragraph 2 we know that __        .

A. animals are as clever as human beings

B. dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees

C. chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills

D. dogs have similar 'learning abilities as 3-year-old children

62. Both experiments show that             .

A. Rico is smart enough to get all commands right

B. Rico can recognize different things including toys

C. Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics

D. Rico won't forget the names of objects once recognizing them

63. Which of the following statements is true?

A. The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie's mental abilities.

B. Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training.

C. The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects.

D. Rico is born to understand its owner's commands.

64. What does the writer want to tell us?

A. To train your dog.                        B. To talk to your dog.

C. To be friendly to your dog.                 D. To be careful with your dog.

65．Trough the passage, we can infer EXCEPT_______________.

A. We should make friends with dogs.

B.The dog is our enemy.

C.We should respect dogs.

D.The dog is clever.

The word “death” is a word many Chinese friends tell me I should not say aloud. They advise me to avoid the word because only speaking of it may bring ill fortune. I deeply believe, however, that to know how to live, we must also know how to die. The problem is how we talk about death.      
Like everyone in Taiwan this week, I have had “Tomb Sweeping Day”. I am proud to be part of a people whose culture sends millions of families to cemeteries on this special day to share memories and endless love.
Today, eight days after the death of Pope John Paul II, millions of people of all backgrounds still grieve(悲痛) his passing away. He was a deeply human person who knew how to laugh and show emotions, a writer with a gift for words a leader who appealed to us by the sheer light of his love for life.
On the same day and only hours before the Holy Father left us, a friend of mine named Veronica McBride died of cancer in a small Wisconsin city. My friend Veronica was 52 years old. She was an attractive, humorous young woman who, as the saying goes, “never married”. She published several humor books with her mother, Mary McBride. She enjoyed traveling, and for years sent Christmas card photos of herself standing beside monuments or odd animals. She fought cancer for five years. She joked about her treatment keeping her pretty because it kept her thin, and told me she didn’t mind losing her hair because of chemo therapy. “I get to wear nice wigs!”
The last time I saw Veronica was when I visited her family on a sunny day in August in 2003. When she burst into the front door later and saw me in the living room, she ignored me completely in her hurry to hug her newest baby nephew, leaving me shaking my head in laughter at her.
As we look to the significance of the Holy Father and his life, surely we must also keep our eyes open to see the wonder and goodness in ordinary people who show us how to live and how to die.
【小题1】The purpose of the article is ___________.

On Sunday while I was having my own Father’s Day celebration, I thought about my dad a lot. By the time I called to tell him that I loved him, he had already gone to bed. So I wrote the following to show what my dad means to me.

About 28 years ago, my dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for the auction（拍卖会）. Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it there.

One day, I was riding with my dad to Shreveport for the auction when he found a hitchhiker（搭车者）with a backpack. As soon as dad saw him, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name and continued to talk to him about all sorts of things. I can’t recall why but he told dad a lot of terrible things that had occurred to him. I sat in the back seat and watched the scene with amazement. I could see that the hitchhiker changed his attitude as he could tell someone who was really listening to him.

We drove another forty-five minutes before we had to exit the interstate（州际公路）. We pulled over and dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitchhiker a twenty-dollar bill and then a the-dollar bill.

We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I just witnessed. I was always told everyone to never pick up a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. I’m sure that it made that poor man’s day, probably a month to follow.

While reflecting upon that story, I learned a lot about my dad and life. I learned that if you come from a place of service or compassion, you can change people’s lives. Just one single kind act can change someone’s life. It never occurred to my dad about not stopping to help him.

This is the type of person my dad is. Thank you for setting such high standards for me to follow.

Dad, I love you. Happy Father’s Day!

1．The author and his dad met a hitchhiker（搭车者）_______.

A. when they were just warned not to pick up a stranger

B. on their way to Shreveport to sell a car　

C. on their way to the west for a trip　

D. when their car was running out of gas

2．What do we learn about the hitchhiker from the passage?

A. Something unpleasant occurred to him.　

B. He was going to the auction.

C. At first he didn’t believe in the author. 　

D. It was he who bought the author’s car.

3．How did the author feel about his dad’s behavior at that time?

A. Angry　　　 B. Appreciated　　　 C. Surprised　　 　　　 D. Ashamed

4．What did the author learn from his father?

A. Just a single kind act can make a difference.

B. Try learning to be a good listener.

C. Set high standards for yourself in life.

D. Offering a ride to a stranger is dangerous.

  “Eddy，no!” I screamed at my dog when I realized what he had done．My finished homework was completely ruined by Eddy．This had actually happened to me，unlike most kids just looking for an excuse．But Eddy looked at me with a cocked(竖起的)head as if to say．“What，cant a dog be hungry?”

    I couldn’t believe it；my dog had actually eaten my homework! Jenny．my step-mom, came into the room and saw my sadness, but assured me that the teacher would understand．I did not believe her. So Jenny wrote my teacher a note to explain the unfortunate incident. The next morning I didn’t want to go to school. I couldn’t  imagine how the teacher would punish me．

    I went into the classroom with the remains of my homework in my backpack．Maybe she wouldn’t check homework today. What if she found out that my homework was not intact(完整无缺)? I would disappoint her for sure．I didn’t want to disappoint her. “kids，take out your homework，”the teacher said just the same as she did  every day. I could feel my heart beating hard and fast. The teacher began checking everyone’s homework．She got closer；I hunted for homework that looked similar to avoid embarrassment．No luck. She came closer “Kyle, where is your homework?” she asked．Unable to produce a similar worksheet, I reluctantly(不情愿地)handed over my sorry excuse for homework．

    She began to laugh. Why was she laughing? Was I going to disappoint her? Would I be forever laughed? “I never thought I would see the day that excuse would actually be true，”she gasped(喘息).

    Every year since then she has told my story to her students．“Unlike you, her dog did eat her homework. So don’t use this excuse again.” she says.

    56. In the author’s opinion，homework was         ．

      A. the dog’s favorite food       B. too difficult to be finished

      C. often eaten by students’ dogs  D. seldom eaten by students’ dogs

    57. Why didn’t the author want to go to school the next morning?

      A. Because she didn’t finish her homework．

      B. Because she was afraid of her teacher’s punishment

      C. Because her step—mom explained nothing to her teacher．

      D. Because her step—mom would punish Eddy after her leaving

   58. It can be learned from the passage that      ．

      A. the teacher checked homework every day

      B. the teacher didn’t believe the author at all

      C. the author re—did her homework at last

      D. homework was the only way to judge a student’s score

    59. When the teacher checked homework，the author felt ——．

      A. calm and quit      B. lucky and happy

      C. excited and pleasant  D. unwilling and sorry

   60. The teacher tells the author’s story to her students in order to——．

     A. tell them as a joke for fun    B. warn them to be careful of their dogs

     C. tell them to be honest people  D. tell them an excuse of not doing homework

  “Eddy，no!” I screamed at my dog when I realized what he had done．My finished homework was completely ruined by Eddy．This had actually happened to me，unlike most kids just looking for an excuse．But Eddy looked at me with a cocked(竖起的)head as if to say．“What，cant a dog be hungry?”

    I couldn’t believe it；my dog had actually eaten my homework! Jenny．my step-mom, came into the room and saw my sadness, but assured me that the teacher would understand．I did not believe her. So Jenny wrote my teacher a note to explain the unfortunate incident. The next morning I didn’t want to go to school. I couldn’t  imagine how the teacher would punish me．

    I went into the classroom with the remains of my homework in my backpack．Maybe she wouldn’t check homework today. What if she found out that my homework was not intact(完整无缺)? I would disappoint her for sure．I didn’t want to disappoint her. “kids，take out your homework，”the teacher said just the same as she did  every day. I could feel my heart beating hard and fast. The teacher began checking everyone’s homework．She got closer；I hunted for homework that looked similar to avoid embarrassment．No luck. She came closer “Kyle, where is your homework?” she asked．Unable to produce a similar worksheet, I reluctantly(不情愿地)handed over my sorry excuse for homework．

    She began to laugh. Why was she laughing? Was I going to disappoint her? Would I be forever laughed? “I never thought I would see the day that excuse would actually be true，”she gasped(喘息).

    Every year since then she has told my story to her students．“Unlike you, her dog did eat her homework. So don’t use this excuse again.” she says.

    56. In the author’s opinion，homework was         ．

      A. the dog’s favorite food       B. too difficult to be finished

      C. often eaten by students’ dogs  D. seldom eaten by students’ dogs

    57. Why didn’t the author want to go to school the next morning?

      A. Because she didn’t finish her homework．

      B. Because she was afraid of her teacher’s punishment

      C. Because her step—mom explained nothing to her teacher．

      D. Because her step—mom would punish Eddy after her leaving

   58. It can be learned from the passage that      ．

      A. the teacher checked homework every day

      B. the teacher didn’t believe the author at all

      C. the author re—did her homework at last

      D. homework was the only way to judge a student’s score

    59. When the teacher checked homework，the author felt ——．

      A. calm and quit      B. lucky and happy

      C. excited and pleasant  D. unwilling and sorry

   60. The teacher tells the author’s story to her students in order to——．

     A. tell them as a joke for fun    B. warn them to be careful of their dogs

     C. tell them to be honest people  D. tell them an excuse of not doing homework