Feathers are not just for flight. They keep birds warm, and attract mates. And for one Australian bird, feathers even help produce an important sound—an alarm.
“People had long noticed these birds produced these loud sounds.” Trevor Murray, a researcher at the Australian National University said. “My supervisor Rob Magrath and May Hingee thought they were used as an alarm. So they did some playbacks and they could show quite strongly that if you play back these sounds to other birds, they flee straightaway. So I was really interested in how they produce the sound, whether it is actually a signal, and whether it’s a reliable signal.”
The team focused their experiment on specific feathers in the pigeon’s wing. “We were able to target the eighth primary feather, which is unusually narrow. And then we also removed, on different sets of birds, those neighboring feathers, the ninth primary feather and the seventh primary feather. And we were able to see when the eighth primary feather was missing, the high note had completely disappeared. So the eighth primary feather produced that high note and the ninth primary feather actually produced the low note.”
And if the birds are fleeing from danger, they produce a louder and higher sound than they do during a normal takeoff. The study is in the journal Current Biology.
Murray and his colleagues did another experiment where they used the recordings they made to observe the reactions of other pigeons. “We were able to see the unusual eighth primary feather was important for signaling the alarm. When that eighth primary feather was missing, they very rarely responded. They almost never fled. Whereas when the ninth primary produces the sound, they fled just as much as to normal alarms. This shows us this unusual primary feather is important for signaling alarm.”
That makes birds of a feather flee together.
1.What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. The birds B. Rob and May
C. The feathers D. The loud sounds
2.What did Rob Magrath and May Hingee find out about the birds?
A. They fly away as a group. B. They produce different notes.
C. They send alarms with feathers. D. They attract mates with feathers.
3.Why did the team remove different feathers?
A. To record the notes they produce. B. To keep the pigeons stay in cages
C. To compare their width and length. D. To observe other pigeons’ reactions.
4.According to Murray and his colleagues, why does the unusual feathers matter most?
A. It keeps the pigeons warm B. It responds to alarms
C. It helps birds fly more quickly D. It sounds alarms of danger.
Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22,1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the second child of the family. Reese spent the first four years of her life in Wiesbaden, Germany, where her father John served in the US Army Reserves. Shortly after, John moved the family back to the United States, settling in Nashville, Tennessee.
Reese was introduced to the entertainment industry at a very early age. At age 7, she began modeling. This led to appearances on several local television commercials. At age 11,she was placed first in a Ten-State Talent Fair.
In 1990, she landed her first major acting role in The Man in the Moon(1991). Her role as a 14-year-old tomboy earned her good reviews. Roles in bigger films such as Jack the Bear(1993) and A Far Off Place(1993) followed shortly after.
Following high school graduation in 1994, Reese decided to have a pause in her acting career and attend Stanford University where she would major in English literature. However, her plans were shortly stopped when she accepted roles to star in two major movies. Although neither film was a huge box-office success, they did help to make Reese a rising star in Hollywood and open the door for bigger and better film roles.
Her breakthrough role came as Elle Woods in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde. In box office terms, the movie was a great success and made Reese one of the top female stars in Hollywood. In the year 2014, she produced both Gone Girl and Wild, for which she got nominated(提名) for a best actress Oscar again for her role.
Reese is actively involved in children’s and women’s advocacy organization.She is a longtime supporter of Save the Children,an organization that helps provide children around the world with education, health care and emergency aid.
1.Why did Reese stop her studies at Stanford University?
A. Because she starred in two successful films.
B. Because she was more famous in Hollywood.
C. Because she didn’t want to get higher education.
D. Because she couldn’t balance studies and acting.
2.Which film made Reese most famous?
A. Man in the Moon B. Legally Blonde
C. A Far Off Place D. Jack the Bear
3.What is the author’s attitude toward Reese?
A. Caring B. Admiring
C. Critical D. Defensive
4.How does the passage develop?
A. Giving examples B. Using figures
C. Following the order of time D. Making comparison
Harlequino: Onto Freedom
Date:Nov.19-20 7:30 p.m.
Venue:Beijing Comedy Theater
Price:80-680 yuan
The drama discusses the true essence(本质) of are with the humor of Italian improvisational(即兴的 ) comedy. The performers discuss the purpose of art, reflect on how history is written and survey what is funny and what needs to be liberated.
Plastic Fantastic--Minirichi in Shanghai
Date:Nov.17 7:30 p.m.
Venue:Shanghai Dancing Theater
Price:100-380 yuan
Four Ukrainian “kidult” comedians decide to throw a wild party using plastic of all shapes and colors. Plastic Fantastic delivers a series of short comic stories that mix improvisation, mime, clown art and sound to draw you into their crazy world.
The Collection of American Modern Dance from Paul Taylor
Date:Nov.19 7:30 p.m.
Venue:National Center for the Performing Arts
Price:100-480 yuan
Paul Taylor, one of the most accomplished artists this nation has ever produced, has continued to shape America’s homegrown art of modern dance since he became a professional dancer and pioneering choreographer in 1954. Taylor first presented his choreography with five other dancers in Manhattan on May 30,1954. That modest performance marked the beginning of a half-century of unmatched creativity,and in the decades that followed, Mr.Taylor became a cultural symbol and one of the history’s most famous artists .
The little Singers of Paris in Suzhou
Date:Nov.30 7:30 p.m
Venue: Zhangjiagang Poly Theater
Price: 30-480 yuan
The boys’choir Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois was created in 1907 and is now famous worldwide. Each world tour is a huge success. The choristers are between 9 and 15 years old and are proud of their choir’s long history of over 100 years and are still fulfilling childhood dreams. They have to leave their families in order to be part of this extraordinary adventure: traveling, sharing their passion for singing and enabling others to discover the joy of music.
1.Tourists are likely to appreciate American modern dance in ________.
A. Beijing Comedy Theater B. Shanghai Dancing Theater
C. Zhangjiagang Poly Theater D. National Center for the Performing Arts
2.Which of the following may appeal to those who are crazy about short comic stories?
A. Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois B. Italian improvisational comedy
C. Plastic Fantastic D. Harlequino: Onto Freedom
3.With the cheapest admission ticket, tourists can have access to the performance____.
A. on Nov.30 B. on Nov.20
C. on Nov.19 D. on Nov.17
假如你是晨光中学学生李华, 你的美国笔友 Peter 对你校上周举办的艺术节(the Art Festival)非常感兴趣。请你给他介绍一下艺术节的情况，并邀请他下次来参加。
1. 时间与地点；
2. 活动目的；
3. 活动内容与参加者；
4. 收获与感想。 注意:1. 词数不少于 100；
2. 可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯；
Dear Peter,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
Elias was born in the 20th century when the black people were put in to a miserable position 1.they had no rights at all. Elias, like most black people in South Africa, had little 2.(educate)and was worried 3. whether he would become out of work. This was the very reason 4. he met Mandela. Mandela always encouraged him not to lose heart.
At that time, black people had no rights of 5. (vote). They couldn’t get jobs they wanted. The parts of town in which they had to live were decided by white people. They were sent to the poor areas 6.no one could grow food.
Nelson Mandela organized the ANC Youth League to fight against the 7.(govern). They first broke the law in a 8. (peace) way.
When it was not allowed, they decided to answer violence with violence. So Elias joined the ANC Youth League, helping Nelson Mandela blow up some government 9. (build). Elias 10. (strong) believed what he did would help them achieve their dream of making black and white people equal.
When I was in seventh grade, I was a candy striper(志愿当护士助手的小姑娘)at a local hospital in my town. Most of the________I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. He never had any_______ , and nobody seemed to care about his_______.
I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him, ______anything that needed to be done. He became a close friend of mine, _______he responded with only an occasional squeeze(捏)of my hand. Mr. Gillespie was in a coma(昏迷).
I left for a week to vacation with my parents, and when I came back, Mr. Gillespie was_______ . I didn’t have the _______to ask any of the nurses where he was, for fear they might _______me he had died. Several_______later, when I was a junior in high school, I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face.
When I _______who it was, my eyes were filled with tears. He was ________! I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie. With a(n)_______look on his face, he replied yes. I ______how I knew him, and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. His eyes welled up with tears, and he gave me the warmest hug I had ever ______ .
He began to tell me how, ______ he lay there asleep, he could hear me talking to him and could_______me holding his hand the whole time. Mr. Gillespie_______believed that it was my voice and ______that had kept him alive.
Although I haven’t _____ him since, he fills my heart with_______every day. I know that I made a difference between his life and his death.
1.A. time B. energy C. money D. effort
2.A. patients B. relatives C. visitors D. problems
3.A. condition B. requirement C. interest D. thought
4.A. talking about B. helping with C. pointing out D. looking for
5.A. so B. as if C. yet D. even though
6.A. gone B. mad C. died D. excited
7.A. right B. chance C. courage D. time
8.A. cheat B. warn C. remind D. tell
9.A. days B. years C. months D. weeks
10.A. heard B. wondered C. realized D. asked
11.A. great B. lucky C. successful D. alive
12.A. happy B. proud C. nervous D. uncertain
13.A. explained B. remembered C. apologized D. told
14.A. dreamed B. received C. wanted D. shown
15.A. because B. as C. unless D. if
16.A. notice B. appreciate C. imagine D. feel
17.A. firmly B. rightly C. hardly D. wrongly
18.A. touch B. worry C. humour D. treatment
19.A. forgotten B. seen C. missed D. called
20.A. respect B. regret C. joy D. sympathy
