Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However, they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

Do you know what a ‘territory’ is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting(筑巢)season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

1.Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually________.

A. an expression of happiness B. a way of warning

C. an expression of anger D. a way of greeting

2.What does the underlined word “territory’’ mean?

A. A place where families of other species are not accepted

B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice

C. An area for which birds fight against each other

D. An area which a bird considers to be its own

3.Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A. Because they want to invite more friends

B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away

C. Because they want to find outsiders around

D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears

4.How does the writer explain bird’s singing?

A. By comparing birds with human beings B. By reporting experiment results

C. By describing birds’ daily life D. By telling a bird’s story

A girl complained to her father about her hard life.She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up.She felt tired of fighting and fighting.One problem had been finished but another came over.

Her father,a cook,took her into the kitchen.He poured water into three pans and boiled(煮沸) them.After boiling,in the first pan was put some carrots,the second was put some eggs and the last was put with coffee.

The girl waited impatiently (不耐烦的),confused by what her father did.About 20 minutes later,her father took out the carrots and put them in a bowl.He took the eggs and put them in a bowl.After that the coffee was poured into a cup.“My sweet heart,what do you see?” he asked.

“Carrots,eggs and coffee,” she replied.

Her father told her to close her eyes and asked her to touch the carrots.She did so and felt that the carrots were soft.After that he asked her to take the eggs and break them.After peeling (剥开) them,she got the eggs,cooked and hard.The last,the father let her smell the coffee. She asked,“What did you do this for,Father?” He explained that each had the same unlucky experience—the boiling water,but each had a different result. The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak.Thefragileeggs became hard after being cooked. The coffee was very special,they could change water.“Who are you?” asked her father.“When bad luck knocks at your door,what is your decision? Are you carrots,eggs or coffee?”

1.The girl complained about her hard life because she didn't ________.

A. want to give up B. finish one problem

C. know what to do D. get tired of fighting

2.The girl's father took her to the kitchen to ________.

A. ask her how to boil eggs

B. show her how to make coffee

C. teach her how to be a cook

D. tell her how to face difficulties

3.After about twenty minutes,the carrots became ________.

A. soft B. hard C. salty D. sweet

4.The underlined word “fragile” in the passage means “________”.

A. 美味的 B. 易碎的 C. 特别的 D. 可怜的

5.What can we learn from the passage?

A. The girl's father liked to eat some kinds of food.

B. Bad luck always knocks at strong people's doors.

C. Boiled carrots,eggs and coffee had the same result.

D. People should make right decisions when in trouble.

Bicycle sharing systems are also known as yellow bicycle programs, white bicycle programs, public bikes, or free bikes. They are increasingly popular in Europe now. Paris has the world’s largest urban (城市的) cycle rental system.

This is a bike rental station in Paris. The workers are showing how to use a new self-service bike. They say that Paris will become “a green capital of bikes” and they plan to park 20,000 bicycles at 1,600 stations. Paris created this plan to reduce waste gas displacement (废气排气量).

At a rental station, you only have to put your credit card into the machine to rent a bike. It provides French, German, English and Chinese services. If you ride the bike for only 30 minutes to relax, you needn’t pay for it. A two-hour bike rent only costs you 4 euros.

These stations work for 24 hours every day, so a bike is rented for 10 to 14 times a day. In this way there are 200,000 people using bikes a day.

In the past few years, Paris has encouraged its people to ride bikes, but something unhappy has happened now and then. Some people break the traffic rules during rush hours. Some park their bikes everywhere. So how to park their bikes is a problem that Paris will face. But this project is still a helpful way to improve its traffic environment.

1.Bicycle rental system can help Paris become a ______.

A. fashion capital

B. sleepy city

C. green capital of bikes

D. green capital of stations

2.The machine at a bicycle rental system offers ______ language services.

A. two B. three C. four D. five

3.According to the passage, the problem that Paris will deal with is ______.

A. how to encourage its people to ride bikes

B. how to park their bikes

C. how to improve its traffic environment

D. how to obey the traffic rules

4.From the passage we can infer (推断) that the writer ______.

A. thinks bicycle rental systems are great

B. thinks Paris is a bicycle capital

C. doesn’t agree with the idea of bicycle

D. thinks bicycle rental systems are bad

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