The picture show eighteen – year- old Katy Ross in Nepal, small country in north India．Katy left school 8 months ago and soon she will go to university. She loves travelling and decides to visit Asia before she goes to university.

Katy is living with a family in the capital of Nepal. She has learnt a lot about the country since she arrived 4 months ago. The family has two children but many uncles and cousins live with them in their big house. They have taken Katy to many parties.

Katy teaches for four hours a day at a small school. All the classes are in English and the pupils have spoken English since the age of six. The older children speak English very well. Katy has taught writing, grammar and art, all in English. She enjoys art most. And she thinks the children like the lessons best, too.

Katy has not a lot of time to see Nepal, but soon she will stop teaching and travel around Nepal with a friend．“After that,” Katy says, “we will visit more countries in Asia．We’re not sure which ones yet.”

根据短文内容，从A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。

1．Why is Katy in Nepal?

A．She is studying there.                   B．She wants to take some pictures there.

C．She wants to learn more about the country.  D．She is an exchange student

2．Which of the following is TRUE about the family Katy is living with?

A．They are friendly.         B．There are three people in their house.    

C．They are strange.          D．They have never taken Katy to the parties.

3．How long has Katy been in Nepal?

A．eight months     B．six months     C．four months    D．one moth

4．When did the children begin to speak English?

A．When they are 5 years old．       B．When they are 6 years old．

C．When they are 7 years old．       D．When they are 8 years old．

5．According to the passage, Katy __________________.

A．likes travelling very much              B．doesn’t want to live with a family

C．only teaches writing in English             D．will go back to school after she leaves Nepal

Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a scientist at the University of Arizona，has worked with Alex for nineteen years. Teaching Alex to speak and understand wasn’t easy at first．He had to learn one word at a time. Irene and an assistant(助手)would teach Alex by showing him what a word meant．Irene would hold up an object, saying “What’s this?” Her assistant would give the word—“candy”，for example—while Alex watched .Irene would praise(表扬)her assistant, then ask Alex the name for the object．When he got it right，Irene would praise him and give him the object to play with as a reward．It took Alex many weeks to1earn his first word．After that，each new word became easier and easier for him．

Why did Irene spend so much time getting a parrot to talk? Scientists like Irene are interested in discovering how intelligent(聪明)animals are and hew their brains(大脑)work. But studying animal intelligence has always been difficult, partly because animals haven’t been able to communicate(交流)clearly with humans．Teaching Alex to speak words that he understands has let Irene talk to him directly．She can ask him questions，and he can answer them in English．In this way，Irene is finding out what kinds of things Alex’s brain can do．She has found that parrots are much smarter than scientists used to think.

1．According to the passage，how is Alex remarkable(不寻常的)?

  A．He can use the English language to answer questions．

  B．He uses words in English instead of bird calls to call other birds．

  C．He can copy the pronunciations of more than 100 English words．

  D．A1ex has a brain that is much bigger than those of other parrots.

2．How did Dr. Pepperberg teach Alex to speak with understanding?

  A．She said the same word all day long so that Alex could repeat it.

  B．She taught Alex a special sign language．

  C．She gave Alex rewards if he would say what she said．

  D．She gave Alex a candy every time he answered correctly．

3．Why did Dr. Pepperberg teach Alex to speak with understanding?

  A．She wanted to prove it could be done．

  B．She wanted to provide a model for people who want talking birds．

  C．She wanted to find out how many words parrots could remember.

  D．She wanted to find out what kinds of things his brain could do.

4．According to the passage，Alex has proved that       ．

  A．birds are not the only animals that can learn a language

  B．parrots are much cleverer than scientists used to think

  C．birds age just as intelligent as humans

  D．teaching parrots to speak a human language isn’t very difficult