Polar bears are one of the most popular animals for people. Polar bears are different from every other bear in the world. This is because polar bears have white fur. However, there are many facts about polar bears that people might not be aware of .
The skin of polar bears is black, which according to thinkquest.org allows them to absorb more heat from the sun. Polar bear fur is transparent , because it is made up of hollow guard hairs. Loc.gov explains that the reason polar bears display white fur is that when the sun hits the fur ,the hollow spaces in the hair scatter the light. Since none of the light is absorbed, the light reflected back appears white to human eyes.
Polar bears’ conservation status is considered close to extinction. Global warming is considered the main cause of the decline in polar population. Polar bears use ice floats to hunt for their food. However, these ice floats are melting so polar bears are starting to drown in the search for food ,and the food is becoming more difficult to get. Contrary to popular belief, polar bears do not eat penguins ,because polar bears are not found in the Antarctic region of the world. Polar bears are only found around the Arctic Circle. Polar bears do not drink water. They get all the water they need from the prey they eat.
FES. Gov specifies that polar bears are considered the largest land carnivores(食肉动物) in the world. The polar bear weight ranges between 700--1,500 pounds. Since the polar bear habitat is melting away, their main evolutionary advantages are fading. Polar bears are not able to use their camouflage(伪装) to find prey in habitats not covered with snow. Polar bears do not hibernate(冬眠). However, when the weather gets uncomfortable, or mothers give birth, polar bears 
will dig themselves a hidden home.
What can we do to help save the polar bears? We can donate to organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, reduce our carbon footprint, and send letters to politicians explaining to them that we need to set up more preserves to help save the polar bear habitat.
1.What do we know about the fur of the polar bears?
A. It absorbs more heat from the sun.
B. It is black and hollow.
C. Light can pass through it.
D. It is white actually.
2.What does “main evolutionary advantages” in Paragraph 4 refer to？
A. Hibernation habit B. The function of their fur
C. Eating meat D. Their weight
3.What do we know from the passage?
A. Polar bears face danger due to the melting of ice floats.
B. The biggest polar bears weigh about 1,000 pounds.
C. Polar bears never hibernate and do not need water.
D. Polar bears are the largest carnivores in the world.
4.Which of the following ways is NOT the measure used to protect polar bears according to the passage?
A. Donating to wildlife conservation organizations.
B. Trying our best to reduce greenhouse gases.
C. Writing letters to make people protect polar bears.
D. Setting up more polar bear conservation organizations.
Visitor Guide to Birch Aquarium General Information
Thank you for respecting the health of our animals and the experience.
◆ Keep voices low in exhibit areas.
◆ No tapping on marine life displays.
◆ As a courtesy, please silence cell phones.
◆ Please use trash and recycling bins.
◆ Birch Aquarium is smoke-free facility.
Photography
For the safety of our live animals, please do not use flash photography. Visitors may be photographed or videotaped by aquarium staff for professional use, or by the media covering aquarium news. Entry into the aquarium grants permission for use of these images.
Refreshments
Splash Cafe offers a variety of gourmet, sustainable, and organic sandwiches, snacks, and beverages.
Drinks, food, and gum are not permitted inside the aquarium.
Restrooms ＆ Baby Care
Changing tables are located in both the men’s and women’s restrooms.
Re-entry
Please keep your ticket or have hand stamped at the Visitor Service Office if you plan to exit and re-enter the same day , including visits to Splash Coffee Shop.
Visitors with Disabilities
See the Visitor Information Center for assistance. All exhibits are wheelchair accessible. Wheelchairs are available at no charge.
Emergencies /First Aid/ Lost ＆ Found
Go to the Visitor Service Office or alert the nearest staff member.
Don’t Miss!
Watch a diver hand-feed the fishes----including three species of sharks----during our Kelp Tank Dive Show.
Learn about this unique and beautiful undersea world during a live, interactive presentation. After your visit, view the exhibit at home through our live, online Kelp Cam.
1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
a. Visitors can attract the fish in the tank by knocking on the window of the tank.
b. Visitors can come back to the aquarium with the ticket whenever they need to.
c. Visitors are allowed to refresh themselves with snacks while enjoying the exhibition.
d. You can’t smoke freely during your visit to the Birch Aquarium.
e. You can’t take photos but can be photographed by the staff.
f. Babies can get changed by either mother or father.
g. The disabled have to pay for the wheelchairs provided by the aquarium.
A. a b B. c e
C. d f D. f g
2.What does the underlined phrase “as a courtesy” probably mean?
A. To save electricity. B. For your own safety.
C. When answering the phone. D. As good manners.
3.What information is necessary for visitors but not included in this Visitor Guide?
A. Opening hours B. Animal Feedings
C. Membership Cards D. Volunteer Work
4.In which section of a newspaper can we probably read this passage?
A. Fashion B. Travel
C. Sports D. Science
R.U.Darby and his uncle were digging for gold in the West. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded when he discovered shining ore(矿石). He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So he borrowed money from his relatives and neighbors and went back to work on the mine.
The first car of ore was mined and sent to a smelter. The gold that they got in return proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big profits.
Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! The pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again, but they found nothing.
Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. That man asked a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer said that the project had failed because the owners were not familiar with “fault lines(裂纹线)”. His calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where it was found.
The man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to ask for expert advice before giving up.
R.U. Darby was struggling for years to pay back the money from his relatives and neighbors. He went into the business of selling life insurance.
Remembering that he lost a 
huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited from the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself , “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance.”
Darby is part of a small group of fewer than 50 men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance every year. His “stick-ability” comes from the lesson he learned from his “quit-ability” in the gold mining business.
1.Darby and his uncle stopped digging for gold because___
A. They didn’t have the machinery to dig for the ore
B. They didn’t have enough money to manage the mine
C. They had already had enough gold and made big profits
D. They had tried to find the vein of gold again, but it was in vain.
2.What was a good quality of the man who worked on the mine after Darby and his uncle?
A. He knew the machinery better than the Darbys.
B. He knew the importance of seeking expert advice.
C. He had very strong stick-ability and never gave up.
D. He was good at calculations and familiar with fault lines.
3.What happened to Darby in the end?
A. He became a very successful businessman.
B. He worked as an ordinary salesman selling life insurance.
C. He struggled for the rest of his life to pay back the money he had borrowed.
D. He lived an easy life with all the money he had earned from the gold.
4.What is the main message that the author intends to convey with the story?
A. One is never too late to start a new career.
B. Don’t hesitate to ask for help when you are in need.
C. Never give up and you will succeed eventually.
D. It is important to have knowledge about everything.
When it was announced that Patrick Modiano had won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Oct.9, the Swedish Academy had not yet managed to reach the writer himself to tell him the news. as the Telegraph put it, “It was a curious case of missing personhood in an author whose career had been spent in searching others, within the confines (界限) of a single city.”
Though the 69-year-old French author has had a successful writing career, only six of his books have been translated into English. One reason for this might be that “Modiano’s storylines are as slim as the books themselves”, said the BBC.
While most of Modiano’s works don’t run for hundreds of pages, they explore serious subjects. The author’s signature themes are Germany’s occupation during World War II and the evolution of Paris over the past century.
Modiano’s life has been greatly affected by Nazi Germany’s occupation during the war, and his family’s connections to it. According to New York-based newspaper Forward, his father survived the war dishonorably. When Paris’s Jews were rounded up for deportation(驱逐)to concentration camps, the businessman did not join them but spent the time making money from deals with Nazis on the black market.
“The novelist has a duty to record the traces of the people who were made to disappear,” French writer Clemence Boulouque, also an expert in Jewish Studies, told The New York magazine.
In his more than three dozen novels, Modiano has returned again and to the same themes: Jewishness, the Nazi occupation, and loss of identity.
Paris is another recurring(重复的)theme in Modiano’s works .Most of his novels are set in the city , from the rich parts of downtown Paris to more remote suburbs where the characters try to live anonymous protect lives.
Anne Ghisoli, the director of Librairie Gallimard, a bookstore in Paris, concluded, “Modiano is a master of writing on memory and occupation, which haunt(萦绕)and inform his works. He is a chronicler(年代记录者)of Paris ,its streets, and its present.”
1.According to the article, Patrick Modiano ____________.
A. likes to involve his his memories in his writing
B. usually writes stories with disappearing people
C. is so popular that post of his works are on sale
D. didn’t suffer much during World War II thanks to his father
2.The underline word “slim” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ____.
A. thin B. hard
C. simple D. dull
3.Which of the following can be the best title?
A. French Author’s Surprise
B. Modiano’s Life and His Books
C. World War II and the Nazis
D. Memory Author Wins the Nobel
假定你是李华，你收到了你的美国朋友Peter寄来的最新英文小说。请给他回信，告诉他礼物己收到，并回赠他一件礼物以及说明礼物的意义，并邀请他来中国旅游。
注意：1.词数100左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Peter,
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Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每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：把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，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 Mommy.
Happy Mother's Day! This is a special holiday because that it is a day for you to feel the appreciation for all you have done for Amy and 1. I am most thankful for all the sacrifices you had made in order for us live the most comfortable lives possible. You put yourself in difficulty situations so that we have food to eat, clean clothes to wear and a warm home to sleep in. Thank you for your endless love and hard works. Your efforts are never taking for granted. I really couldn’t ask for the better mom. Through you, I am able to understand which true love is: loving someone unconditional for what they were, are and will be.
Love,
Anna
