It happens every spring. Flowers come out everywhere on the same day. But how do plants “know” when to flower?

For years, it has been a difficult question for scientists. But a US research group may have finally answered it—the secret lies in a protein(蛋白质)called FKF1. This helps plants to know when the days become long and when they get short. Then they can tell the seasons are changing.

Researchers found the FKF1 protein when they were studying a plant called Arabidopsis(拟南芥). It is sensitive(敏感的)to sunlight, and can be made active by sunlight.

Plants produce this protein every day in the late afternoon all year. If there is no light at this time, for example in winter when the sun goes down early, the protein won’t be active. But when spring comes and the days get longer, the FKF1 protein can be made active by day light and the plants “know” it is time to flower. “If there is light in the late afternoon, plants will know that the days are getting longer and that it is the best time for flowers to come out,” explained Takato Imaizumi, leader of study. But when conditions are poor for growing, such as during autumn or winter when the weather is cold and days are short, plants won’t flower.

Although researchers have only studied how the FKF1 protein works in the Arabidopsis, they believe that it is the same with many other plants, including crops such as rice and wheat. This could be useful to the agricultural industry.

“If we can control when flowers come out, we might be able to increase crop production,” Imaizumi said.

1. The passage is mainly about ____.

A. how plants “know” when to flower

B. what people can do with plants

C. how seasons are changing

D. what kind of plant Arabidopsis is

2.Scientists found the FKF1 protein when they were____.

A. answering a question

B. controlling the clours of flowers

C. planting flowers in the garden

D. studying a plant called Arabidopsis

3.The best time for flowers to come out is when____.

A. it rains in spring

B. there is light in the late afternoon

C. it is getting dark

D. the sun goes down early

4.Scientists believe that____.

A. other plants also know when to flowers

B. flowers are more valuable than fruits and vegetables

C. people have known how to control when flowers come out

D. if the weather is cold and days are short, plants will flower

When I was four years old, I wanted nothing more in life than to play the piano. My best friend Betty had a piano. But Betty hardly played it at all. She would rather play hide-and-seek. It didn’t seem fair.

One day my mother came to pick me up from Betty’s house. “Watch this!” I told her. Then I ran to play a song I had learned that morning. I was so proud of what I’d learned. “That’s nice, Jenny,” she said. “But we can’t afford a piano.”

When I turned six, my mother bought me a recorder(直笛). The problem was that I didn’t love the recorder. When I played the recorder, I didn’t feel anything special inside. I asked my mother if we could have a piano. “We still can’t afford one,” she said. “One day, I promise.”

In the sixth grade, my mother traded in the recorder for a real clarinet(黑管). I like the clarinet more, but it still wasn’t a piano. It wasn’t the music that was inside of me.

One day, when I was in the seventh grade, my mother cut an ad out of the newspaper. We drove to a stranger’s home in Providence, Rhode Island. The woman had a beautiful, dark wood piano from Russia. It was called an upright piano because it was tall. It was so shiny that it looked like it was wet. “We’ll take it,” my mother said. “It has a nice sound.”

After that, I played the piano every single day.When I left for school in the morning, I would leave the sheet music open on the piano. When I got home, I would walk straight to the piano and sit down and start playing the sheet music. I even played if I stayed home sick. I had finally found the music inside of me.

Do you struggle with music? Have you been given an instrument to play, but you just can’t play it? Maybe you think you’re just no good or that you don’t have any musical talent. Don’t get discouraged. It’s not true! We all have music inside of us, even if it’s just what we listen to. Now it’s up to you to find the right way to set that music free.

1.What did Jenny get when she was six?

A. A clarinet. B.A recorder. C. A violin. D. A guitar.

2.How did Jenny get her piano?

A. Betty gave it to her.

B. She traded in the clarinet for it.

C. She got it from her uncle.

D. Her mother bought it from a stranger.

3.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Betty was more interested in playing the piano.

B. An old woman sent Jenny a clarinet from Russia.

C. Jenny enjoyed playing music with the right instrument.

D. Jenny’s mother borrowed a recorder in her seventh grade.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A. How Jenny found the music inside of her.

B. What benefits Jenny got from making music.

C. How Jenny learned to play musical instruments.

D. What trouble Jenny had taking up music as a hobby.

阅读短文,根据短文内容回答问题。(共10分,每小题2分)

In April 2007, a 16-year-old boy named Charlie McDonnell was bored, so he used his laptop and webcam to make his first video, and posted it on YouTube under the name Charlieissocoollike. Two days after that, he had 150 subscribers(关注), so he decided to make more videos. He soon became quite popular in the UK.

A few months later, Oprah Winfrey, the famous American TV host, showed one of his videos called How to be English on her programme. In this video, Charlie wears a suit and tie and talks in a funny accent. He shows viewers how to make a cup of tea. The video made Charlie suddenly famous in the United States too. To say thank you to all his fans, he made a video called Challenge Charlie. In this video heasked people to suggest funny or difficult things for him to do in his videos. Challenges included drinking tomato ketchup, wearing all of his clothes at once and painting himself purple!

Charlie is also a singer and songwriter. His most popular videos are of him singing and playing the ukelele. In Duet with Myself, he uses special effects to sing a duet with himself about what a boring person he is. This has now been watched over 7 million times! Charlie met Alex Daythrough YouTube and they started a band together. They have made two CDs and performed several concerts.

With more than one and a half million subscribers, Charlie is the most popular video blogger in the UK. He has now made enough money to buy a house with his friend Alex. But what is the secret of his success? “I make the kind of videos that I want to watch,” he says. He says that he wants to go to university in the future but has decided to try and make a career on YouTube before that. So far, it’s going very well!

1.When did Charlie make his first video?

2.Which video made Charlie suddenly famous in the United States?

3.Why did Charlie make Challenge Charlie?

4.Who did Charlie start a band together with?

5.What is the passage mainly about?

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