A predator(捕食性动物) kills and eats other animals as prey(猎物).Sometimes it also becomes food for other predators. Polar bears are the largest of all the land predators. They can run across snow and swim in icy water for hours without rest. Their favorite food is seal. Not all big animals live on small animals. Hippos have heavy bodies and huge mouths. But they don’t eat animals. They just eat grass.
Some predators use speed to catch their prey. Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land. They can run up to 70km an hour. Other predators use their senses to find their food. Sharks can see, smell, hear, feel and taste. They can also sense electrical currents(电流 )from other animals’ bodies. Some fish try to hide themselves, but with this sixth sense, sharks can always find them. Sharks have smooth bodies. This helps them swim without using lots of energy. They need to save their energy because they never really sleep and never stop hunting. Flying is a useful skill for many predators in the sky. The butcher bird is the most interesting predator. It has a special way of eating its prey. First it kills its prey. Then it hangs it on a fence or in a tree, just like a butcher hangs meat in his shop. Finally, it eats its prey.
Some people hunt and kill more animals than any other predator. They not only hunt for food. They also hunt for fun. They kill sharks for their fins, and tigers for skins. Those human hunters are the worst predators on Earth.
【小题1】The following statements are about “predators”, which one is true?

A student newspaper reports that most students go to sleep at 1:30 am. Even if that’s an overstatement (夸张), it’s close to the truth. Scientists say teens should sleep nine hours each night. But that’s hard. Some are even “pulling all-nighters” (开夜车). These students must hand in their homework the next day but they haven’t done it. In the morning they don’t look healthy and you can tell who’s been doing it. One of my classmates did a survey on the topic. She found that most kids pull all-nighters to finish homework, but some do it for other reasons, such as playing computer games!
Maybe our lack(缺乏) of sleep is because of laziness — I think I’m a rather lazy student — or maybe it’s because we have too much to do in American high schools. I usually go to bed around midnight. If I stayed up past 1:30 am, I wouldn’t get any work done. I’d be falling asleep at my computer. My classes begin at 7:30 am. I’m partly awake in my first class. By the second, I’m a little sleepy. By my third class, I’m sleepy. By midday I’m finally fully awake. But by 3:00 pm, I’m slowing down again. Yet I get more sleep than usual students.
Most American high schools seem to have a similar(相似的) problem with sleepy students. High school classes start at 7:30 am, so students have to get up one and a half hours before that to get ready and catch the bus. It’s believed that lack of sleep can be bad for both grades and health. Some schools are paying attention. Classes in those schools start at 8:30 am.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence “it’s close to the truth” mean?

A student newspaper reports that most students go to sleep at 1:30 am. Even if that’s an overstatement (夸张), it’s close to the truth. Scientists say teens should sleep nine hours each night. But that’s hard. Some are even “pulling all-nighters” (开夜车). These students must hand in their homework the next day but they haven’t done it. In the morning they don’t look healthy and you can tell who’s been doing it. One of my classmates did a survey on the topic. She found that most kids pull all-nighters to finish homework, but some do it for other reasons, such as playing computer games!

    Maybe our lack(缺乏) of sleep is because of laziness — I think I’m a rather lazy student — or maybe it’s because we have too much to do in American high schools. I usually go to bed around midnight. If I stayed up past 1:30 am, I wouldn’t get any work done. I’d be falling asleep at my computer. My classes begin at 7:30 am. I’m partly awake in my first class. By the second, I’m a little sleepy. By my third class, I’m sleepy. By midday I’m finally fully awake. But by 3:00 pm, I’m slowing down again. Yet I get more sleep than usual students.

    Most American high schools seem to have a similar(相似的) problem with sleepy students. High school classes start at 7:30 am, so students have to get up one and a half hours before that to get ready and catch the bus. It’s believed that lack of sleep can be bad for both grades and health. Some schools are paying attention. Classes in those schools start at 8:30 am.

1.What does the underlined sentence “it’s close to the truth” mean?

A. It doesn’t tell the truth.         B. It is quite true.

C. It is impossible.              D. I don’t think it’s right.

2.Why do most of the teens have to stay up late?

A. They play computer games.             B. They watch videos late.

C. They have to do a lot of housework.      D. They have to do a lot of homework.

3.When do students in most American high schools have to get up?

A. At 7:30 am.     B. At 6:00 am.    C. At 9:00 am.    D. At about 7:00 am.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the reading?

A. The writer usually stays up past 1:30 am.

B. The writer usually goes to bed around midnight.

C. The writer usually does a survey.

D. Many American students don’t get enough sleep, so they can have high grades.

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. Something has to be done to solve the problem of students’ lack of sleep.

B. Many American high school students are sleepy in class.

C. Many kids have too much homework to do.

D. Students can’t play computer games.

A blind boy sat there with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, “I am blind, please help.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins and dropped them into the hat .He then turned the sign around and wrote something on it. He put the sign back and walked away.
　　Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and ask, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you do?”
　　The man said, “I only wrote the truth in a different way.”
　　What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
　　Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second one told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
　　The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second one told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
　　There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.
　　Treasure (珍惜) what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.
　  Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.
【小题1】From the passage we know that________.