We all know that animals are better at some things than our humans, and we can usually explain why animals can do certain things better than us. One of the skills which many animals have is homing instinct(本能). These animals such as pigeons, bees, salmons(三文鱼), frogs and cats are able to find their way home, sometimes making journeys of hundreds of kilometers back home. In our daily life, humans can make use of an animal’s homing instinct. Pigeons, for examples have been used to carry messages or letters to the battles(战场) in times of war. Nowadays some people join in the Pigeon Association(协会) with the pigeons they have trained because they look on pigeon racing as a hobby and they even bet(打赌) money on which pigeon would win in the race organized by the association.

There are many interesting stories of the homing instinct at work. In the USA a cat traveled 1,360 kilometers back to its old home after the owners moved, taking nearly a year over the journey. When we lose our kitten(小猫), we usually find her again near the house where she was born. We have a pond in the garden where the frogs come back every year. I even heard a dog which was injured by a car managed to take itself to the vet! There are other wonderful stories about the homing instinct. But how do these animals find their way home? They don’t have satellite navigation(导航) with them, they can’t read maps and, as far as we know, they can’t ask each other for directions. It seems that some animals, such as salmons, use their sense of smell to take them back to the place where they were born. Other animals such as birds and bees may use the sun, the stars and the moon to help them find their way. There is a theory(理论) that some animals have magnetic(磁的) cells in their brain which help them to find their way. As far as cats are concerned, nobody really knows how their homing instinct works and I am sure cats are never going to give away their secrets.

Finally, a joke about the homing instinct:

Question: What will you get if you cross(杂交) a pigeon with a parrot?

Answer: A bird which can stop and ask the way home!

1. What does the underlined phrase “give away” probably mean in the passage?

A. Hand out. B. Look into. C. Show off. D. Let out.

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Ancient people used to make money by flying pigeons.

B. The writer has collected many stories about the animals.

C. All the animals can go back home from far away places.

D. The writer knows exactly how animals’ homing instinct works.

3. What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Animals and their Living Habits. B. A Good Way to Protect Animals.

C. A Special Skill of the Animals. D. All Kinds of Animals in Nature.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A. We should learn from nature and make inventions.

B. We must stop the experiments on animals at once.

C. We have already known everything well in nature.

D. We still need to make clear some secrets of nature.

I cycle to work almost every day, but I have to admit that I sometimes take the car in bad weather. Now I share an office with Jimmy who lives near to me. He drives to work every day and, quite often, at the end of the day, he drives to a gym. I don’t see the logic(逻辑). It’s much easier to cycle to work so that you have some exercise as part of your daily routine.

I wanted to persuade(劝说) him to cycle to work, so I did some research on a few websites about the benefits of cycling to work. Cycling has some obvious(明显的) advantages over driving. It is cheaper, it is better for the environment, and you don’t have to find a parking space. The point about the parking space is an important one as the car park behind our office building is often full. I know that my colleagues(同事) usually spend nearly half an hour looking for a parking space! It is true that cycling is a little slower than going by car, but at the rush hour it doesn’t make much difference. The time it takes to cycle is generally easier to predict than the time it takes to drive. The reason for this is that when there is heavy traffic, people on bicycles can get past, while people in cars have to wait. Strong winds affect(影响) cyclists badly though.

There are clear health benefits of cycling even if you only cycle a short distance each day. According to one expert, if you cycle regularly, you should be as fit as a person 10 years younger. As well as being good for your health, cycling can reduce stress. I certainly find that I feel better after my riding on the road. I also find that when I can’t solve a problem at work, the answer often comes to me when I am cycling. Sometimes the harder you think about a problem, the harder it is to find the solution(办法) and you actually need to concentrate less on the problem and relax the mind. Cycling can help to relax our minds.

I’m going to say to the people around me until they get on their bikes!

1. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?                               

A. Cycling has good points compared with driving.

B. Driving is the best way for us to make a journey.

C. The parking lot is often filled with plenty of cars.

D. Driving to work is much expensive than cycling.

2. What does the writer tell us in the third paragraph?

A. Cycling is good for our environment.

B. Cycling will appear in sports centers.

C. Cycling is sure to help us keep healthy.

D. Cycling changed Jimmy’s daily routine.

3. What does the writer write this passage for?

   A. To show us it’s so good to drive to work every day.

   B. To advise us how to stay young by doing exercise.

   C. To tell us what we ought to do at the traffic rush hour.

   D. To prove why he cycles to work instead of driving.

As Tony walked with his family along the river, he saw a man playing a saxophone(萨克斯管) by the river . The man was wearing a hat with a leather strap(皮带) around his neck. He danced with the beautiful music from his saxophone. There was a large crowd of people around him. Tony’s family walked on up the river but he stayed there dreaming of playing a saxophone one day.

Two weeks later, it was Tony’s birthday. When he opened his present from his parents, he was glad to find it was a saxophone! He put it to his lips to play, but it wouldn’t make a sound. Then Dad told him to read the instrument book to find out what to do. After about 15 minutes, he raised it slowly to his lips as his family watched. But still there was no sound. He blew and blew but he couldn’t get the saxophone to play. He was almost crying when suddenly the saxophone made the most beautiful sound which made him think of the music of the man by the river. He blew again, he moved his fingers on the saxophone and he made more sounds. Some of them were loud and clear but many of them weren’t. He was happy because he was playing very interesting sounds. But he wasn’t playing music yet.

Then he began to take lessons. His teacher taught him how to play it. He started to improve and at last he could play music. Now Tony is in the TV studio with his saxophone strapped to his neck and his cap on his head. He is waiting to be called to the stage to play his first ever saxophone solo(独奏曲) on TV. He remembers the man playing the saxophone by the river.

1. What caught Tony’s attention by the river?

A. The music from a saxophone.                    B. The boats in the river.

C. The hat on the man’s head.                        D. The nests in the trees.

2. Who had a great influence on Tony’s life?

   A. His teachers at school.                               B. His own parents. 

   C. The man by the river.                                D. A famous TV star.

3. What can we know from the passage?

   A. Tony used to call on the man to learn music from him.

   B. Tony has already become a famous saxophone player.

   C. Tony asked the man to play on the same stage politely.

   D. Tony took the place of the man successfully in the end.

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，根据短文内容，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

1. We can find something in __________of Chasing Vermeer.

A. its background                    B. its pictures        C. its writer                 D. its covers

2. ________can be used to talk on the Internet.

A. Chasing Vermeer                                                   B. GYA-II

C. Painting by numbers                                       D. Verballs

3. How does the writer feel about GYA-II?

A. Difficult.                      B. Wonderful.              C. Popular.                  D. Boring.

完形填空

阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

Jim was good at playing football. His father was sent tickets during the football season and cheered for him. Although Jim was on the name list of the team, his coach always  1  him as a “walk-on” because he had a skinny, small build. As a result, Jim had no chance to play in a game. But he  2  missed any practice.

At the end of the football season, Jim   3   a letter about his father’s death. He asked the coach if he could stop his practice and go back home. The coach put his arms around his shoulder and said, “Take the  4 of the week off, you may come back at weekend.”

During the third quarter of the game, which was not going well for their team, Jim quietly slipped(溜)  5  the empty locker room and put on his football clothes. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were  6  to see Jim come back so soon. “Coach, please let me play. I’ve just got to play today,” said the young man. Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands(看台) could not believe their 7  . This little unknown, who had never  8  before, was doing everything right. He ran, passed, blocked like a star. In the closing seconds of the game, Jim intercepted(拦截) a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. His teammates   9   up and lifted him over their heads.

After the game, the coach noticed Jim sitting quietly in the corner alone. He came to him and said, “Kid, I can’t believe it. You were  10 !”

He looked at the coach with tears in his eyes and said, “Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know my dad was blind? Dad came to  11 my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!”

The coach was deeply moved and  12 to accept Jim as a real player on his team.

1. A. described    B. regarded           C. avoided    D. appreciated

2. A. never        B. even                 C. sometimesD. still

3. A. wrote              B. posted             C. heard        D. received

4. A. start                 B. score               C. rest           D. event

5. A. behind             B. under               C. into           D. above

6. A. regretted          B. surprised          C. worried     D. satisfied

7. A. ears                 B. noses               C. brains       D. eyes

8. A. played             B. invited              C. failed        D. practiced

9. A. cheered           B. gave                 C. sped         D. looked

10. A. polite             B. funny         C. fantastic    D. honest

11. A. many             B. other                C. every        D. all

12. A. expected       B. agreed             C. forgot       D. continued

---Do you know ____________a volleyball match next Monday?

---Sorry, I don’t know. Let’s go and ask our monitor.

A. whether we will have B. whether we have

C. whether will we have D. whether do we have

Susan’s money ______in the street the day before yesterday.

A. was stolen          B. is stolen            C. will steal           D. has stolen

---I’m sorry to keep you _______for a long time.x

   ---It doesn’t matter. I’ve just arrived.

A. to wait        B. waiting             C. waited             D. wait

Everyone will put on weight if he _____too much each meal.

A. will eat B. has eaten                 C. eats                 D. ate

Tom _______in New York since he went abroad two years ago.

A. lived                   B. will live             C. was living  D. has lived