Today, many species of animals and plants are endangered. This means they are in danger of becoming extinct and living on only in the pages of history books. The famous dodo is a classic example of a creature that became extinct. A flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius, it was discovered by sailors in 1598 but was hunted to extinction by 1681.
Hunting has caused the Bengal tiger and the African elephant to be endangered today but habitat destruction can also lead to extinction. This is equally true for plants. Animals and plants disappear for other reasons too, but the main cause is often a disruption（打乱，破坏） in the natural food chain, whether due to hunting, habitat destruction, or even the introduction of alien species.
The natural food chain is the cycle that governs the existence of all life on this planet. It is a carefully balanced cycle and any imbalance that occurs can cause knock-on effects that have serious consequences. At the beginning of the natural food chain are plants which turn sunlight into energy and draw nutrients from the earth. Plants are called producers.
After the producers come the consumers. There are three tiers of consumers. First are creatures such as plant-eating animals, fish and insects which feed off the producers. These animals that only eat plants are called herbivores. The second tier of consumers are carnivores - animals that live off other animals. The third tier of consumers eats both other animals and plants. These consumers, including most humans, are called omnivores.
After animals and plants die, they become food for other smaller creatures, such as bacteria and some plants, such as fungi. As they feed, these creatures turn the dead bodies back into gases and minerals which are again food for the producers at the beginning of the food chain. And so the cycle continues.
All of nature is connected and governed by hundreds of these delicate food chains and if a single plant in the chain cannot survive, then the insects that live off the plant start to die and the animals that eat the insects also start to die.
When a food chain is disrupted, the consequences can be extremely serious. One estimate suggests that for each plant species that is lost, up to 30 animals and insects may also die out. One wonders how many species were affected by the extinction of the dodo?
Humans can have disastrous effects on food chains. We've already mentioned hunting but now let's look at travel. When people first started to explore the world they took plant and animal species from their home countries and introduced them wherever they went. They didn't realize that by introducing alien species they were disrupting the natural food chains of the areas they discovered. Although there are strict rules in place today controlling the import and export of alien species, some places are still fighting the effects of aliens introduced hundreds of years ago.
For example, Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is a breeding ground for albatrosses that have been nesting there for centuries. But in the 19th century, mice from passing ships were brought to the island. Being a species alien to the island, they had no natural predators and have now grown to such a size that they are attacking and killing albatross chicks. If they are allowed to continue, they will wipe out the albatross population.
With import laws and people's rising awareness of how humans affect the natural environment, hopefully we can learn to fit better into the natural food chains that govern our world. Otherwise we need to accept that the loss of any more plants and animals could eventually mean our own extinction.
1.What do the first two paragraphs mainly tell us?
A. Hunting and habitat destruction lead to extinction.
B. Many species of animals and plants are endangered.
C. Plants and animals become extinct for the same reasons.
D. The main cause of extinction is often a disruption in the natural food chain.
2.Which of the following sentence is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Strict rules alone can remove the bad effects of alien species.
B. Plants, herbivores and carnivores are the three tiers of consumers.
C. If a bird becomes extinct, the relevant food chain will be disrupted.
D. Animals and plants become extinct because alien species are imported.
3.By mentioning the mice in Gough Island, the author intends to highlight ______.
A. mice worldwide are growing all the time
B. being aliens, they had no natural predators
C. some places are still fighting the effects of aliens
D. traveling can have disastrous effects on food chains
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. Survival of the fittest.
B. Endangered animals and plants.
C. How to protect the natural environment.
D. The link between food chains and extinction.
There is one holiday in the year which is completely American, Thanksgiving Day. It is the day when everyone goes back home to spend the day with his family, to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner of roast turkey, to talk about old times.
This is a story of Thanksgiving Day and of one man's efforts, under rather special circumstances, to carry on these traditions.
Old Pete took his seat this day on his usual bench in Union Square. Every Thanksgiving Day for nine years, Pete had taken this same seat exactly at one o'clock, and each time the same pleasant thing had happened. But this time Pete had come here more from habit than from hunger.
Certainly today Pete was not hungry. He had just had a dinner so enormous that he could hardly breathe. The buttons on his ragged shirt and coat were about to burst. He was so full of soup, oysters, roast turkey, apple pie, ice cream, and a dozen other rich foods that the November breeze and the first light fall of snow felt cool and pleasant to his face.
The meal had been completely unexpected. He had been passing one of the large homes on Fifth Avenue, where there lived two rich old ladies. It seems that it was their custom each Thanksgiving to place a servant at the front entrance with orders to bring in the first hungry looking person that passed and then give him a Thanksgiving dinner of everything he could eat. On this particular Thanksgiving Day, Pete had passed, the servant had brought him in, and, before Pete knew it, he was being served like a king with more food than he could eat.
Pete sat on the bench now, hardly able to move. He happened to look to the left and there in the distance he saw the Old Gentleman coming toward him. He wanted to get up and run, but he was so full of food that he stayed right there. Every Thanksgiving Day for nine years, the Old Gentleman had come here, and found Pete on this same bench, and then taken him to a restaurant and bought him a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a kind of tradition which the Old Gentleman, who had no family and lived alone, had tried to continue. The old man was tall and thin and sixty years old. He was aristocratic looking and he always dressed in black. His hair was whiter and thinner than it had been the year before, and he leaned more heavily on his cane than he used to.
"How do you do!" said the Old Gentleman. "I am glad to see that the changes of another year have permitted you to move in health through this beautiful world."
Each time the Old Gentleman had said exactly this same thing. It was part of the tradition. Old Pete, too, began to feel as though he himself was now a part of the tradition, and he therefore did not have the courage to tell the old man that he had already eaten. This dinner seemed to mean so much to the Old Gentleman.
"Thank you, sir," said Old Pete at last. "I'll go with you gladly. I'm very hungry sir."
Together the Old Gentleman and Pete walked south to the same restaurant where each year Pete had his Thanksgiving dinner. They sat at the same table. The Old Gentleman seemed pleased and happy. When the waiter brought dish after dish of food to Pete, the Old Gentleman sat quietly and smiled. Under the circumstance, Pete had to eat. It was part of the tradition, and so he ate like a hero. Soup, oysters, roast turkey, pie, he ate everything, although when he entered the restaurant even the smell of more food almost made him sick. At last Pete leaned back with the battle won.
"Thank you sir," he said, with some effort, " for a fine dinner."
They parted as they did each year at the door, the Old Gentleman going south, Pete north.
Around the corner, Pete stopped for a moment, felt a terrible pain in his stomach, then fell to the sidewalk unconscious. A little later an ambulance came. In the hospital they discovered that he had had an attack of indigestion.
An hour later, another ambulance brought the Old Gentleman to the same hospital. At first they thought it was also indigestion but later one of the nurses said,
"That nice old gentleman over there-- you wouldn't think that it was a case of starvation. Proud old family, I suppose. He told me that he hadn't eaten a thing for three days.”
1.This year Old Pete came to the Union Square because ______.
A. he was hungry and expected to find some food
B. he had nowhere to go on the Thanksgiving Day
C. he wanted to meet the Old Gentleman and check his health
D. it was a convention for him to accept the Old Gentleman’s dinner
2.Why didn’t Old Pete refuse the invitation from the Old Gentleman?
A. Because he felt he had more room for food.
B. Because he realized he was involved in the tradition.
C. Because he felt moved by the Old Gentlemen’s generosity.
D. Because he didn’t dare to tell the old man he had already eaten.
3.According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A. Only the Old Gentlemen observed Thanksgiving Day traditions.
B. The two gentlemen were both hospitalized because of hunger.
C. The Thanksgiving dinner offered by the Old Gentleman is more than dinner itself.
D. The food in the restaurant tastes better than that in large homes on Fifth Avenue.
4.What can we learn from the two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen?
A. One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
B. They are really gentlemen true to their word.
C. They are too vain to express their true feelings.
D. The conduct of the two gentlemen is really absurd.
The right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights of any democracy. Yet, for too long, too many of our fellow citizens were denied that right simply because of the color of their skin.
Fifty years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson signed a law to change that. The Voting Rights Act broke down legal barriers that stood between millions of African Americans and their constitutional right to cast ballot(投票). It was, and still is, one of the greatest victories in our country’s struggle for civil rights. But it didn’t happen overnight. Countless men and women marched and organized, sat in and stood up, for our most basic rights. For this, they were called agitators(挑拨者) and un-American; they were jailed and beaten. Some were even killed. But in the end, they reaffirmed (重申)the idea at the very heart of America: that people who love this country can change it.
Our country is a better place because of all those heroes did for us. But as one of those heroes, Congressman John Lewis, reminded us in Selma this past March, “There’s still work to be done.” Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act, there are still too many barriers to vote, and too many people trying to erect（建立） new ones. We’ve seen laws that roll back early voting, force people to jump through hoops to cast a ballot or lead to legitimate (合法的) voters being improperly purged from the rolls. Over the years, we have seen provisions (规定) specifically designed to make it harder for some of our fellow citizens to vote. In a democracy like ours, with a history like ours, that’s a disgrace. That’s why, as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, I’m calling on Congress to pass new legislation to make sure every American has equal access to the polls.
It’s why I support the organizers getting folks registered in their communities. And it’s why, no matter what party you support, my message to every American is simple: get out there and vote—not just every four years, but every chance you get, because your elected officials will only heed(留心) your voice if you make your voice heard. The promise that all of us are created equal is written into our founding documents but it’s up to us to make that promise real. Together, let’s do what Americans have always done: Let’s keep marching forward, keep perfecting our union, and keep building a better country for our kids.
[From Obama Weekly Address Aug 8th , 2015]
1.Many Americans were denied the right to vote simply because _____.
A. they were unwilling to go out and vote
B. they were agitators and un-American
C. too many people tried to erect new barriers
D. the color of their skin was different
2.What message does President Barack Obama want to convey in this speech
A. The President underlined that all people are created equal.
B. The President celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.
C. The President reaffirmed the commitment to protecting the right to vote.
D. The President called on everyone to seize every chance to elect officials.
完形填空
Learning a second language fuels children’s intelligence and makes their job prospects brighter. ______the fact is, in U.S.A, as in many other English speaking countries, speakers of two or more languages are in the ______ . Eighty-four percent of US people are monolingual (speakers of only one language). This leaves a small number who ______ to speak two or more languages.
No matter how proud people are of their cultural roots, to speak anything ______ English is a marker of differencehere. That’s why fourteen-year-old Umar is______ when people comment on the fact that he is able to speak Arabic.
Umar’s mother points out: ―In U.S.A, it’s not ______ for kids to be bilingual. But, if you speak another language to your children in U.S.A, it is thought that you are not helping them to ______ society.
But in fact, the general ______ among experts is that learning a second language is good for children. Experts believe that bilinguals – people who speak ______ languages – have a clear learning advantage ______ their monolingual schoolmates. This ______on how much of each language they can speak, not on which language is used, ______ they are learning Arabic, French, Chinese or any other language.
Vinss Millon, a professor of Foreign Language Training, says: ―A lot of studies have ______ that children who speak more than one language sometimes learn one language more______, but in the end they do as well as their monolingual schoolmates, and often better, in other subjects.
The view is that there is a(n) ______ from the effort of learning another language. A few other ______ agree that “Bilinguals tend to use language better as a whole. They also ______ greater creativity and problem-solving ability, and
they learn further languages more easily”.
With all of the benefits, why do we not show more ______ for learning other languages? Parents and teachers ______in bilingual education say it is pressure from friends at school, general ______ to other languages in English-speaking countries, and problems in the school system that are to blame.
1.A. And B. So C. But D. Thus
2.A. minimum B. maximum C. minority D. majority
3.A. claim B. pretend C. decide D. plan
4.A. more than B. less than C. rather than D. other than
5.A. excited B. embarrassed C. disappointed D. appreciated
6.A. common B. unusual C. unique D. general
7.A. fit in B. build up C. contribute to D. figure out
8.A. distinction B. commission C. announcement D. agreement
9.A. one B. two C. three D. more
10.A. beneath B. beyond C. over D. of
11.A. determines B. focuses C. comments D. depends
12.A. if B. whether C. when D. because
13.A. rejected B. released C. revealed D. reminded
14.A. slowly B. rapidly C. easily D. efficiently
15.A. outcome B. improvement C. advantage D. tendency
16.A. parents B. learners C. schoolmates D. professors
17.A. display B. produce C. inspire D. discover
18.A. concern B. respect C. enthusiasm D. intelligence
19.A. involved B. impressed C. competing D. replacing
20.A. opinions B. obstacles C. senses D. attitudes
---- I was reading A Dream of Red Mansions by Cao Xueqin yesterday, but I couldn’t understand it.
---- ______. It is classical literature, so take your time to enjoy it.
A. Don’t fly off the handle
B. You got me there
C. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart
D. More haste, less speed
News of the world was gone, shut down after ______ in the biggest newspaper scandal ever to hit Britain.
A. catching B. caught
C. being caught D. having caught
