阅读理解

　　Many students of English think that learning a new language is very difficult. Now think how difficult it is to learn English when your brain is only the size of a bird's brain! That is what some birds can do.

　　Many different kinds of birds can copy the sounds of language. African gray parrots are the birds best known for this.

　　Every December in London, the National Cage and Aviary Bird Show tries to find the best “talking” bird in the world. One bird named Prudle stood out among the “talking” birds. She won this prize for 12 years in a row from 1965 to 1977.

　　Prudle was also the oldest bird in the world that lived in a cage. Mr. Frost took care of the bird until Prudle died in 1994. Prudie was 35 years old.

　　A different kind of bird, not parrot, named Puck was tested in 1993. It turned out that Puck knew more English words than Prudle knew. Puck knew more than 1700 words.

(1) What kind of birds usually speaks the best?

[　　]

A. African gray parrots.

B. Uganda's.

C. The Aviary Bird Show.

D. English parrots.

(2) What is Prudle?

[　　]

A. A bird.

B. A cage.

C. A contest.

D. A prize.

(3) How many years did Prudle win the speaking contest for birds?

[　　]

A. 1965.

B. 12.

C.55.

D.800.

(4) Why was Puck better than Prudle?

[　　]

A. He died.

B. He spoke faster.

C. He knew more words.

D. He was bigger.

(5) Who was Mr. Frost?

[　　]

A.  parrot.

B. Prudle's owner.

C. An English teacher.

D. Puck's owner

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以完成句子或回答所提问题的最佳选项。

　　Japanese students work very hard but many are unhappy. They feel heavy pressures (压力) from their parents. Most students are always told by their parents to study harder and harder so that they can have a wonderful life when they grow up. Though this may be a good idea for those very bright students, it can have terrible results for many students who aren't gifted (天赋) enough. Many of them have tried very hard at study but have failed in the exams and have their parents lose hope. Such students feel that they are hated by everyone else they meet and they don't want to go to school any longer. They become dropouts.

　　It is surprising that though most Japanese are worried about their children, they do not help them in any way. Many parents feel that they are not able to help their children and that it is the teachers' work to help their children. To make matters worse, a lot of parents sent their children to those schools opening in the evenings and on weekends. They only help the students to pass the exams and never teach them very real sense of the world.

　　Many Japanese schools usually have rules about everything from the students to their clothes and things in their schoolbags. Child psychologists (心理学家) now think that such strict rules are harmful to the feelings of the students. Almost 40% of the students said that no one had taught them how to get on with others, how to tell right from wrong and how to show love and care for others, even for their parents.

1．Dropouts are those who ________.

[　　]

A．make troubles in and out of school

B．go about or stay home instead of begin at school

C．try hard but always fail in the exams

D．lose hope and gave up some of their subjects

2．According to the passage, it's necessary to teach students ________.

[　　]

A．how to study well

B．how to get on with others

C．to show love and care for others

D．all above

3．Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

[　　]

A．The trouble in Japanese Schools

B．The Problem of Japanese Students

C．Education in Japan

D．The Pressures on the Students in Japan

　　Some years ago, Chinese high school students would show their new schoolbags ,new clothes or new pens to their classmates when the new term started. Today, however, all have ___1___. If you still come back to school ___2___ only these things, you are falling out-of-date（过时的）. Students in big cities like to bring the latest high-tech things to school, and feel happy and ___3___ to show off（炫耀）these things to ___4___. Mobile phones, MP3 players, CD players, electronic dictionaries, the list is endless.