(05·湖北A篇)

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（声称）as its own .Only he and his family are welcome there .No other families of the same species（物种）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 all their own .Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

56．Some scientists believe that most of the time birds’ singing is actually       .

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

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

57．What is a bird’s “territory”?

       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 .

58．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.

59．How does the writer explain birds’ 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.

 (05·辽宁E篇)

There are two kinds of physical activity which require special training. The first demands exact careful movements of the muscles（肌肉）. This kind of activity must be strictly controlled because even a slight movement in the wrong direction will lead a mistake. To type quickly, for example, a person needs training; the slightest movement of a finger in the wrong direction may cause a spelling mistake. A dancer who has to dance on the point of her shoes or turn around on one foot must be trained for a long period of time before she can sense her own center and balance herself. You may have seen a girl walking on a rope across an empty space, which, too, requires a lot of practice.

The second kind of physical activity needs greater strength or extra effort. Most of us get tired if we try to run half a mile without stopping, but a specially-trained person can do this without much effort. Three years ago, some scientists carried out experiments, which produced meaningful and unexpected results. They wanted to find out whether a certain amount of physical exercise would injure those suffering from heart problems. They selected some male patients and trained them in continuous bicycle riding. They were surprised to find that the harmful effect of given amount of physical effort was actually less on the hearts of these trained patients than on those of the patients who were not similarly trained. This is important because it shows that regular physical exercise enables us to make better use of the oxygen（氧气）we breathe in and that this training, in fact, reduces the amount of work our hearts do. Many tasks which are hard for untrained people are not hard at all for trained people.

72．The first kind of physical activity must be strictly controlled because _________.

        A．a mistake in the wrong direction is dangerous to the fingers

         B．a wrong movement in a direction will cause no mistakes

         C．a movement in the wrong direction will cause a mistake

         D．a slight movement of a finger will lead to a mistake

73．What must a dancer do before she can balance herself?

        A．She must dance on the point of her shoes.

         B．She must receive long-time training.

         C．She must turn around on one foot.

         D．She must perform again and again.

74．The experiments done by some scientists showed that ________.

        A．some male patients were asked to ride bicycles regularly in the experiments

        B．the physical exercise had more harmful effect on the hearts of the untrained patients

       C．the physical exercise was harmless to the male patients with heart trouble

       D．the physical exercise could be helpful for the patients to take in more oxygen

75．What would be the best title for this text?

        A．Training Our Bodies                                         B．Physical Activities

C．Movement Training                                                D．Extra Body Effort

 (05·辽宁A篇)

When building houses, people used to think about not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive, people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.

Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock（家畜）.During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.

People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas. Instead of keeping livestock on the first floor, builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun’s rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy-saving.

House-building becomes a great challenge（挑战）to building designers and energy engineers. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy-saving houses.

56．What did people begin to consider as electricity was no longer cheap?

       A．The climate of their areas.                               

B．The energy for their houses.

       C．The fashions for their houses.                       

D．The building materials for their houses.

57．People in some areas gain a source of heat by _________.

       A．keeping their livestock downstairs                

        B．protecting their livestock from the cold

        C．sharing their houses only with their cows   

        D．living on the second floor with their livestock

58．The underlined words “natural law” in the third paragraph refer to the fact that ________.

       A．heat raises the temperature in the houses

       B．heat goes in the upward direction

       C．heat goes up if temperature is raised

       D．heat increases the temperature of rocks

59．From the passage, we can conclude that __________.

       A．people will no longer consider building materials in the future

        B．energy-saving buildings will become more popular in the future

        C．almost all people will move into the houses heated by large rocks

        D．energy engineers will devote themselves only to modern technology

 (05·福建C篇)

Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy ,warm ,damp and thick .But if you had been around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age ,would it have been the same ?For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted（反应）to the cold ,dry climates of the ice ages ,but until now ,no one has reached a satisfying answer.

       Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO₂ from the atmosphere and helping to slow global warming . Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tonnes of CO₂ each year; equal to the total amount of CO₂ giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier ,will it still survive and continue to draw down CO₂ ?Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past.

       Unfortunately ,getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult .To study past climate ,scientists need to look at fossilized pollen ,kept in lake muds .Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep down into lake sediments （沉淀物）,which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery .There are very few roads and paths ,or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes .Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest ,but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled（未取样）.So far ,only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change.

64．The underlined phrase “mopping up” in the second paragraph means      .

       A．cleaning up             B．taking in                  C．wiping out              D．giving out

65．How will the Amazon rainforest react to future climate change?

       A．It’ll get drier and continue to remove CO₂ .

       B．It’ll remain steamy ,warm ,damp and thick .

       C．It’ll get warmer and then colder and drier.

       D．There is no exact answer up to present.

66．What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?

       A．It’s important to drill deep down into lake sediments to collect information.

       B．It’s impossible to prove how climate changes in the Amazon rainforest.

       C．It’s hard to collect information for studies of the past climate in the Amazon rainforest.

       D．It’s necessary to have specialized equipment and machinery to study the past climate.

67．The best title for this passage may probably be        .

       A．Studies of the Amazon                                 B．Climates of the Amazon

       C．Secrets of the Rainforests                            D．Changes of the Rainforests

 (05·浙江B篇)

Special Bridges Help Animals Cross the Road

----- Reported by Sheila Carrick

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.

Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more concerned with how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road.

Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads, the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.

"Ecopassages" may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. "These ecopassages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid human conflicts," said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

But do animals actually use the ecopassages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an ecopassage that went under a highway. This showed that the lion used the passage.

Builders of some ecopassages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.

The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal overpass!

45. The writer uses the example of “ocelots” to show that_________.

A．wild animals have become more dangerous

       B．the driving conditions have improved greatly

       C．the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work

      D．an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents

46. From the news story, we know an ecopassage is_________.

A．an underground path for cars                      B．a fence built for the safety of the area

C．a bridge for animals to get over a river      D．a pass for animals to cross the road

47. When the writer says that animals seem “to be catching on”, he means_________.

A．animals begin to realize the dangers on the road

B．animals begin to learn to use ecopassages                              

C．animals are crossing the road in groups

D．animals are increasing in number

48. The writer asks visitors and drivers to look around when traveling because_________.

A．wild animals may attack cars                       B．wild animals may jam the road

C．they may see wild animals in the park     D．they may see wild animals on ecopassages

 (05·江苏D篇)

Animals can move from place to place, but plants cannot. When an animal is under attack, it

can run away or fight back.. Plants certainly cannot run away, and they lack teeth and claws. But

plants can defend themselves by using both physical and chemical means.

      Some plants have their own ways to keep animals away. For example, the leaves of the holly plant have sharp spines (刺) that discourage grass-eating animals. Holly leaves on lower branches have more spines than leaves on upper branches. This is because the lower leaves are easier for most animals to reach..

      Some plants, such as the oak tree, have thick and hard leaves that are difficult for animals to eat. Some grasses may contain a sandy material; eating such grasses wears down the animal's teeth.

      Many plants also have chemical defenses. Some plants produce chemicals that taste bitter or cause an unpleasant reaction. Some plants may fight against an attack by increasing the production of these chemicals. When a caterpillar (毛虫) bites a tobacco leaf, the leaf produces a chemical messenger. This messenger sends to the roots the information to produce more nicotine. The higher levels of nicotine discourage the caterpillar.

      Many plants depend on both physical and chemical defenses. A certain plant in China, for

instance, has prickly (多刺的) leaves, and each prickle contains poisonous venom (毒液) A single experience with this kind of plant will teach an animal to stay away from it in the future.

68. The holly plant has more spines on the lower leaves because most animals________.

   A. are not tall enough                       B. like the lower leaves only

   C. are not clever enough                     D. can get the lower leaves easily

69. To defend themselves, oak trees use________.

   A. chemical means                         B. physical means

   C. bitter chemicals                         D. sandy materials

70. How does tobacco protect itself against an attack from a caterpillar?

A. Its leaves fight against the attack by physical means.

B. Its roots send a messenger to discourage the caterpillar.

C. Its roots increase the production of nicotine when it is attacked.

D. Its leaves produce poisonous sand to drive the caterpillar away.

71. What would be the best title for this passage?

A. Plants and Animals                       B. How Plants Defend Themselves

C. Attacks and Defenses                     D. How Animals Eat Plant Leaves

 (05·山东E篇)

A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
   The system, called driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.
   Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband. The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.
   Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
   In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
   The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the markers will bring the product to market within about a year.
72. According to the text, Driver Alert ______.
   A. aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents
   B. has gone through testing at laboratories
   C. aims to prevent drivers from sleeping
   D. has been on sale for 12 months
73. How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
   A. By sounding a warning                             B. By touching the wristband
   C. By checking the driving time                     D. By pressing the steering wheel
74. We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is

  ______.
A. About 400 milliseconds                             B. below 500 milliseconds
C. over 500 milliseconds                               D. about 400 minutes

75. When the driver gets sleepy while driving, Driver Alert ______.
A. moves more regularly
B. stops working properly
C. opens the window for the driver
D. sounds more frequently and loudly

 (05·天津D篇)

The scene in the Hollywood movie The Day After Tomorrow, whem global warming could soon turn the global climate (气候) into a new ice age, may never occur, according to new research.

The next ice age could be 15,000 years away, say European scientists who last month announced a continuous record of 7.40,000 years of climate data (数据) obtained from the Antarctic ice.                                 

Scientists from 10 nations have now almost completely drilled through a 3,000-meter.depth of ice high in the Antarctic mainland. They figure out that the area where summer temperatures can fall to –40℃, has at least 900,000 years of snowfalls,, kept as neatly as the growth rings of a tree. And the ice and air caught in each layer(层) have begun to answer questions about the climates in the past..

The results show that there have been eight ice ages in the past 740, 000 years and eight warmer periods. And by comparing the pattern of global conditions today with those of the past, the researchers reported in Nature that the present warm period could last another 15, 000 years.

Research suggests that there is a very close connection between greenhouse gas levels and global average temperatures. It also shows that carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) levels are the highest for at least 440,000 years.         

"If people say to you: the greenhouse effect is a good thing because we would go into an ice age otherwise, our data say no, a new ice age is not hanging over our heads,”said Eric Wolff from the British Antarctic Survey. "Now we have eight examples of how the climate goes in and out of ice ages… and you can learn what the rules are that go into the climate models that tell us about the future."

Scientists found that whenever temperatures rose in the frozen record, so did carbon dioxide

level. "In 440,000 years we have never seen greenhouse gas get as thick as it is today," said Dr

Wolff.

48. In drilling through the ice in Antarctica, scientists, have found that______.

     A. the lowest temperature there is –40℃

     B. the depth of ice is 3,000 meters

     C. the ice has existed for 15,000 years

     D. snowfalls are kept in certain patterns

49. The information of the global climate conditions in the past can be obtained through______.

     A. separating carbon dioxide from the air

     B. examining the growth rings of trees

     C. comparing temperatures in different areas

     D. studying the ice and air caught in each layer

50. We can infer from Eric Wolff's words that_______.

     A. there is something wrong with the data

     B. greenhouse effect is always a bad thing

     C. a new ice age will not come in the near future

     D. greenhouse gas will get thick in the future

51. What would be the best title for the passage?

     A. Research over the Antarctic area.

     B. Warm period to last about 15, 000 years.

     C. Report on the eight ice ages in the past.

D. Hollywood movies and the global climate.

 (05·全国Ⅱ、全国ⅢD篇)

You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation（撤离）of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.

       During the 20th century ,sea level rose 8—12 inches. As a result .Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.

       Paani Laupepa , a Tuvaluan government official ,reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusaually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years .Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damagingtorms.

       Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions（导致温室效应的气体排放）,which are a main cause of global warming . “By refusing to sign the agreement ,the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.

       Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries .

       Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable （易受影响的）to rising sea levels .Maumoon Gayoon ,president of the Maldives ,told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

54．The text is mainly about           .

A．rapid changes in earth’s temperature

B．bad effects of global warming

C．moving of a country to a new place

D．reasons for lowland flooding

55．According to scientists ,the DIRECT cause of more and fiercer storms is           .

A．greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations

B．higher surface water temperatures of the sea

C．continuous global warming

D．rising sea levels

56．Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not        .

A．agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

B．sign an agreement with Tuvalu

C．allow Tuvaluans to move to the US

D．believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real

57．The country whose situation is similar to that of Tuvalu is          .

A．Australia         B．New Zealan       C．the Maldives     D．the United States

 (06·辽宁B篇)

Unlike modern animal scientists, dinosaur scientists cannot sit on a hillside and use telescopes to watch dinosaurs in order to know how they lived and whether they were good parents Instead, they have to search hard for information from dinosaurs’ fossils（恐龙化石） because dinosaurs died out millions of years ago.

It’s very difficult for the scientists to reach an agreement because different results can be got from the same fossils. Many fossils of the same kind of dinosaurs have been dug out from one place. They might have formed when an entire group of dinosaurs got stuck（陷入）all at once, or they might have been the result of dinosaurs getting stuck one after another over a course of a few centuries. Thus we can say that dinosaurs might have in the first case lived in big groups and in the second lived alone.

Though there are two different results, dinosaur scientists now generally agree that at least some kinds of dinosaurs lived in big groups. “That’s pretty much settled at this point. ” says Paul Sereno. A kind of dinosaurs called Sauropods left behind tracks in the western United States that appear to run north and south, suggesting that they even moved long distances together.

As to whether dinosaurs cared for their young, dinosaur scientists have turned to the closest living relatives of dinosaurs― birds and crocodiles ― for possible models. Birds give a lot of care to their young, while crocodiles just help their young to the water. The discovered fossils of dinosaurs sitting on their gees and staying with their young suggest the parents were taking care of their babies, but we still cannot say that all dinosaurs did the same.

There is still a long way to go before the above questions could be answered. Dinosaur scientists will have to find more proof to reach an agreement.

60. Dinosaur scientists can get information directly by _______.

A. studying dinosaur fossils                           B. examining modern animals

C. watching dinosaurs                                   D. using telescopes

61. What is pretty much settled according to Paul Sereno?

A. Half of the dinosaurs lived alone.              B. Most dinosaurs moved long distances.

C. Many dinosaurs settled in the north.          D. Some dinosaurs lived in big groups.

62. Dinosaur scientists can probably know whether dinosaurs were good parents by_______.

A. watching many kinds of animals

B. studying dinosaurs’ living relatives

C. following the tracks left behind

D. working on dug-out dinosaur eggs

63. Which of the following the according to the paragraph?

A. Birds hardly ay attention to their young.

B. Baby crocodiles can look after themselves well.

C. Some dinosaurs took care of their young.

D. Birds and crocodiles take good care of their young.