There are an extremely large number of ants worldwide. Each individual ant hardly weigh anything, but together they weigh almost the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops or around the Antarctic. For animals their size, ants have been surprisingly successful, largely due to their wonderful social conduct.
In groups that vary in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear distribution of labor. Even more amazing is how they achieve this level of organization. While we use sound and sight to communicate, ants depend mostly on pheromone (信息素), which is a kind of chemical released by individuals and smelled or tasted by fellow members of a group. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the whole group to prepare for a defensive fight.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will take on an animal much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and beating their target. They show so much devotion to their group that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
United and devoted, these little animals have survived on the earth for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a united intelligence greater than you would expect from one small individual ant.
1.We can learn from the passage that ants are__________.
A. unwilling to share food
B. more successful than mankind
C. not used to living in cold environment.
D. too many to achieve any organization.
2.Ants can use pheromones for __________.
A. tasting food B. communication
C. warning enemies D. arranging labor
3.What does the underlined expression "take on" in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. Help out. B. Give in to.
C. Show favor to. D. Fight against.
4.Ants have survived for so long mainly because of ____________.
A. their social cooperation.
B. their large group size.
C. their fearless attack.
D. their individual intelligence.
A new word duang is taking the Internet by storm in China - but no one knows quite what it means. The character “duang” is so new that it does not even exist in the Chinese dictionary. But it has already spread like wildfire online in China, appearing more than 8 million times on China's micro-blogging site Weibo, where it drew 312,000 discussions among 15,000 users. On China's biggest online search engine Baidu, it has been looked up almost 600,000 times. It's been noticed in the West too, with Foreign Policy seeing it as a “break the Internet” viral meme - like a certain Kim Kardashian image, or a certain multicoloured dress.
But what does it mean? “Everyone's duang-ing and I still don't know what it means! Looks like it's back to school for me,” said Weibo user Weileiweito. Another user asked: “Have you duanged today? My mind is full of duang duang duang.” “To duang or not to duang, that is the question,” wrote user BaiKut automan.
“Duang” seems to be an example of onomatopoeia, a word that phonetically imitates a sound. It all seems to have started with Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, who in 2004 was featured in a shampoo advertisement where he said famously defended his smooth, black hair using the rhythmical-sounding “duang”. The word resurfaced again recently after Chan posted it on his Weibo page. Thousands of users then began to flood Chan's Weibo page with comments, making the word in reference to his infamous shampoo appearance.
The word appears to have many different meanings, and there's no perfect translation, but you could use it as an adjective to give emphasis to the word that follows it. A cat might be “duang cute”, for example. Or you might be “very duang confused” by this blog. For readers of Chinese characters, the Jackie Chan theme is also apparent from the strange way in which the word is written: a combination of Chan's names written in Chinese.
1.What’s the best title of the passage?
A. Millions share new Chinese character
B. There are many great storms in China
C. The Internet has made out new words
D. Many try to find ways to stop wildfire
2.What is discussed in the second paragraph?
A. The doubt of the word.
B. The structure of the word
C. The meaning of the word
D. The root of the word
3.When Jackie Chan first said duang, he really wanted to _____.
A. create an important word
B. see his Weibo Page flooded
C. praise a kind of shampoo
D. play a Hong Kong action film
4.When duang is used as an adjective, it can be used to _____.
A. emphasize the word after it
B. make other people confused
C. combine the users’ names
D. open China’s micro-blogging
A teenager has gained a six-figure sum for a vampire (吸血鬼) novel she wrote after being inspired by the Twilight. Abigail Gibbs, 18, who started writing the book aged 14, released chapters of her novel online, where the book eventually received 17 million hits. Harper Collins in Britain has now signed this talented author following her extraordinary Internet success.
Miss Gibbs, from Brixham, Devon, who is about to start studying English at Oxford University, is the first author to be discovered on Wattpad. Wattpad is an online library which allows subscribers (用户) to upload or read other people’s stories. Miss Gibbs also said Stephenie Meyer’s famous Twilight books had influenced her novel, The Dark Heroine. “I read the Twilight and did really enjoy it. At first, my parents were a bit opposed to my writing because I was staying up till 3 a.m. on school nights and they were worried that I might fall behind.”
Miss Gibbs finished her book at the age of 16. She posted each chapter after she had written it on the Internet site, until she got to five chapters before the end when she stopped. “I had signed with an agent and he basically said, ‘Don’t post anymore so as to keep the readers’ anxiety”. That was tough because I disappeared in the site for a year and there were a lot of fans asking where I was. I have had so many requests from fans to upload the last five chapters; some people even said they were going to write their own endings.” Her fans can buy the e-book for ￡2.99, or wait for the paperback book priced at ￡6.99 in shops next month.
1.Her parents didn’t support Gibbs’ writing because _____.
A. they didn’t like vampire novels
B. writing might influence her studies
C. Gibbs spent too much time online
D. a possible failure might let Gibbs down
2.We can infer from the text that Gibbs _________.
A. got support from Meyer
B. dropped out of school to concentrate on her career
C. spent two years in writing The Dark Heroine
D. wrote several books before The Dark Heroine
3.Why did Gibbs stop posting the last five chapters of the story online?
A. She would rewrite it later.
B. She had to finish her university education first.
C. She wanted readers to write their own ending.
D. She hoped to attract readers’ more interest.
4.If a reader wants to read the whole story, he or she___________.
A. may pay for an e-edition
B. must wait for about a month
C. can buy a paperback in a bookstore now
D. can ask for a copy of the manuscript (原稿)
假如你是交换生李明，正在美国一所高中学习。近日你在学校网站上看到学校篮球体育俱乐部要招收一名成员的消息。要求如下：
1. 爱好并擅长篮球；
2. 英语流利；
3. 有一定的比赛经历。
请根据以上要点给俱乐部负责人Mr. Brown写封信，表达你想加入该俱乐部的愿望。
注意：
1. 词数：100词左右
2. 行文连贯，不可逐字翻译。
Dear Mr. Brown,
I am learning English painting in our school as an exchange student from China. Recently I read it from notice on our school website that
Yours,
Li Ming
短文改错
文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Jack,
I am terrible sorry that I won’t be able to go to your birthday party this Saturday afternoon. So yesterday my mother didn’t feel better and I took her to the hospital. The doctor suggest that she should have an operation immediately. I have to look after her in the hospital for a few day. I sincerely hope something will go well and that you can have happy birthday party. By the way, I have sent to you the latest CD of Jay Chou as a birthday gift. I know you are a fan of Jan Chou and I hope he will enjoy it. I am looking forward to see you soon.
Once upon a time, there was a mother who lived alone with her son. They worked very hard all year round 1. they still couldn’t live a comfortable life. They really looked forward to making their life better, but didn’t know how.
One year, a merchant came to the village. He needed 2. (spend ) some weeks there. The merchant was so kind-hearted that he made a 3. (decide) to help the poor mother and her son. He gave 4. some money from time to time. Because they 5. (help) by the merchant, they lived a 6. (good) life than before.
But one day, the woman talked to her son, “The merchant will leave sooner or later. After he leaves, we’ll live 7. (poor) again. Since he lives alone and isn’t always at home, we can go and get all his money.” But the son 8. (immediate) refused to do so, saying, “Oh, no, Mom! We should never do that. He helps us a lot! We should be grateful to him instead of 9. (rob) him.” Having heard her son’s words, the woman gave up her terrible idea. When the merchant left, he took the son with him and taught him how to do business. And the son returned as10. successful merchant.
