Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.

Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged 9 months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were typically boys’ toys ---- a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls’ toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys；and could pick whichever toy they liked their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.

Of the youngest children (9 to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents’ view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children’s choice.

Dr Brenda Todd said, “Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given ‘toys that go’ while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer: moving objects, probably through hunting instincts（本能）, while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby.”                                

1.Baby boys and girls have different toy preferences probably because ________.

2.Both baby boys and baby girls like to play with ________ according to the study.

3.What can we infer from Paragraph 3?

4.What conclusion did Dr. Brenda Todd draw from the results of the study?

A new argument has been put forward as to whether penguins are disturbed by the presence of tourists in Antarctica.

Previous research by scientists from Keil University in Germany monitored Adelie penguins and noted that the birds’ heart rates increased dramatically at the sight of a human as far as 30 meters away. But new research using an artificial egg, which is equipped to measure heart rates, disputes this. Scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge say that a slow moving human who does not approach the nest too closely, is not viewed as a threat by penguins.

The earlier findings have been used to partly explain the 20 per cent drop in populations of certain types of penguins near tourist sites. However, tour operators have continued to insist that their activities do not adversely affect wildlife in Antarctica, saying they encourage non-disruptive behavior in tourists, and that the decline in penguin numbers is caused by other factors.

Amanda Nimon of the Scott Polar Research Institute spent three southern hemisphere summers at Cuverville Island in Antarctica studying penguin behavior towards humans. “A nesting penguin will react very differently to a person rapidly and closely approaching the nest,” says Nimon. “First they exhibit large and prolonged heart rate changes and then they often flee the nest leaving it open for predators (掠夺者) to fly in and remove eggs or chicks.” The artificial egg, specially for the project, monitored both the parent who had been ‘disturbed’ when the egg was placed in the nest and the other parent as they both took it in turns to guard the nest.

However, Boris Culik, who monitored the Adelie penguins, believes that Nimon’s findings do not invalidate his own research. He points out that species behave differently ---- and Nimon’s work was with Gentoo penguins. Nimon and her colleagues believe that Culik’s research was methodologically flawed because the monitoring of penguins’ responses needed capturing and restraining the birds and fitting them with beart-rate transmitters. Therefore, argues Nimon, it would not be surprising if they became stressed on seeing a human subsequently.

1.According to the passage, what overall message is presented?

2.Which ONE argument of the following is stated in the passage?

3.What do you notice about the views presented in the passage?

4.What does the underlined word (final line) probably mean?

阅读下列各小题，根据所给的汉语句子，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子。

1.By the time he was twelve years old, he __________________ a chemistry lab of his own.   (set)

他十二岁时，已经建立了自己的化学实验室。

2._______________ that China produces one third of the world’s cigarettes. (astonish)

令人震惊的是全世界三分之一的香烟是由中国生产的。

3.____________________ should be no reason for treating one’s neighbors as strangers. （occupy）

工作繁忙不应该成为“对面不相识”的借口。

4.Rosalyn loves sports. She is proud ________________ competitions and to have broken a record by running 800 meters this year. (participate)

罗莎琳热爱运动。她为今年参加比赛并打破800米赛跑的记录而感到骄傲。

5.Not until we watched the Earth Day program on TV ______________________ much about global warming. (learn)

直到我们观看了地球日的电视节目，我们才了解了大量关于全球变暖的问题。

6.The settlement is home to nearly 1,000 people, __________________ their village homes for a better life in the city.   （leave）

近千人在这一小社区居住，他们当中很多都是从农村老家来城市寻求更好的日子的。

7.He arrived in New Orleans without a penny in his pocket __________________ that there were boats for South America. （find）

他身无分文的来到新奥尔良时，却发现那里没有开往南美洲的船了。

8.__________________ of over 400km per hour, the train can complete the 30-kilometre journey in eight minutes.  （travel）

以每小时400多公里的速度行驶，所以这辆火车能在8分钟之内可以完成30公里的行程。

9.When the survivor came to himself, he was eager to know _________________that saved him from the burning house. (be)

当生还者醒过来后，他急切的想知道到底是谁把他从燃烧的房子里救出来的。

10.Had he not broken the rules last week, he __________________ this week, which annoyed his mother. (fall)

要是上周他没有违反纪律，这周他就不会掉队，这让他妈妈很懊恼。

请根据以下提示，结合你生活中的一个事例，用英语写一篇短文。

Life is a series of events—both good and bad. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to change the recipe. The truly successful person expects the unexpected, and is prepared to make adjustments.  

注意：①无须写标题，不得照抄英语提示语；②除诗歌外，文体不限；③内容必须结合你生活中的一个事例；④文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称；⑤词数为120左右。

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secret        

nurse          

various       

charge       

soft         

—Tim，you are leaving for Jiuzhaigou tomorrow. Why not pack your clothes and food up now?

—________.