Social Bond of Animals

Friendship is an important part of human life. Friends can share our joys and our hardships. We aren’t alone. Many different animals also make friends.

Recently , a British research team finished an eight-year study of Indo-Pacific dolphins off the coast of Western Australia. These dolphins can use different tools to search for food. The researchers found that these dolphins are more willing to hang out with partners that like the same tool. Other factors, like family closeness or sex, have no influence on this relationship.

“It suggests that dolphins form social bonds （紐帶）based on shared interests,w UK biologist Simon Allen told Science Daily. "Using different tools is time-consuming （耗時間的）” for dolphins to cooperate.

Apart from dolphins, elephants, horses and bats are also known to form friendships. Are friendships only limited to the same species? Of course not, The

Atlantic reported in 2015, a goat Timur was originally left in the tiger Amur's enclosure （圍場）as a meal. But instead of eating Timur, Amur likes to play with it and gets jealous when others are close to his friend.

The Atlantic said it’s not unusual among captive （圈禁的）animals. That's because in captivity, animals don’t need to spend much time and energy marking their territory （領(lǐng)地）or looking for mates the way they would in the wild. They are actually more likely to feel bored. " In this particular situation, the animal's motivation to engage （參與）socially and playfully may be higher than eating. n

More interestingly, animals not only make friends but also try to keep lasting friendships. Take bats for example. In 2011, scientists found bats prefer to hang out with a few certain friends, keeping loose ties to the rest of their group.

Humans aren't so different. “We do not work, play and live together with the same friends all the time，" Swiss zoologist Gerald Kerth explained. “ But nevertheless, we are able to maintain long-term relationships …despite our often highly dynamic （動態(tài)的）social lives."

1.What did the recent British research find about dolphins?

A.They form a group to look for food together.

B.They form friendships based on family closeness.

C.They are likely to make friends based on interests.

D.They are better at building friendships than other animals.

2.What can we infer from Gerald Kerth’s words?

A.Animals like to hang out with different friends.

B.Animals might feel bored with friends of the same species.

C.Humans are better at keeping long-term bonds than animals.

D.Humans and animals make and keep friendships in similar ways.

3.What's the passage mainly about?

A.How animals form and keep friendship.

B.The importance of friendship for animals.

C.How to build strong ties with your friends.

D.The different ways humans and animals socialize.

Powering up with a Catchy Tune

When watching sports events, we often notice athletes with their earphones on while preparing in the locker room or entering the stadium. They keep their eyes shut, and gently nod along the beats. It seems as if the music is empowering them and toughening （使更堅強(qiáng)）them up for the competition. We sometimes do the same. You might have a list of favorite songs for your morning exercises. But is there any science behind such practices?

According to a recent research, it turns out there is. Music actually does make us feel powerful, but not all songs have the same effect.

The research was led by Dennis Hsu of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the US. His team had people listen to 31 songs of different types. The listeners felt powerful after listening to some songs, such as Queers We will Rock You and 2 Unlimited-Get Ready for This.

Researchers also found that high-power music made people want to take control in social events and come first in competition. That matters a lot in sports. " It's commonly said that sports are 90 percent mental and only 10 percent physical,” The HuffPost reported.

Great athletes know this idea well. Former NBA player Kobe Bryant, for example, often put on big headphones and even did a little meditation to boost his game and ease his anxiety.

As for the reason for music's magical power, Hsu's team came up with one possible explanation: when people hear music that expresses a sense of power, they mimic （模擬）these feelings in their mind.

When choosing music, we also need to look at the type of music, according to researchers.

In previous research by the Music in Exercise and Sport Group at Brunel University in London, they found that pop was perfect for slower, more repetitive-type tasks. If you're warming up or cooling down after exercises, pop songs are the correct choice.

Dance music was found to be best suited to strength and weight training because it's "fast and rhythmical （有節(jié)奏感的）".

During high-intensity （高強(qiáng)度的）workouts, though, you'd better not listen to rock. Its different changes in tempo （節(jié)拍）can affect your rhythm.

1.What is the main purpose of the first paragraph?

A.To introduce favorite songs for morning exercises.

B.To lead in the topic that music matters in sports.

C.To give an example of athletes’ daily life.

D.To explain how to choose music.

2.According to the passage, Dennis Hsu probably agrees that .

A.listening to music always makes athlete relaxed

B.powerful music can make people produce similar feelings in their mind

C.the result of a game is mainly affected by the physical condition of the players

D.most athletes still don't know the effects of high-power music on their performance

3.The word "boost” in Paragraph 5 probably means " "?

A.control B.lose C.continue D.improve

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A.Pop music is a reasonable choice for high intensity workouts.

B.Rock music helps people keep their rhythms when exercising.

C.People are advised to listen to pop music before and after exercises.

D.People should dance to music while doing strength and weight training

Both native English speakers and non-native speakers find the spelling of English is the most difficult. The English spelling system is not based on a phonetic （語音） link between sounds and letters, as is the spelling of Spanish and some other languages. Instead, English spelling is affected by the historical development of the language. Some words are pronounced in several different ways； similarly, different combinations （結(jié)合）of letters can produce the same pronunciation.

The link between sound and spelling in English is not phonetically exact for two main reasons. First, spelling changes did not keep pace with changes in the sound system after the development of printing and of conventions （慣例）for spelling. For example, the k in knife and the gh in right come from the Middle English period (from about 1100 to about 1500) , when they were pronounced as separate sounds. Second, there are some spelling conventions that are based on other languages. For example, during the 16th century the "b" was put into the word doubt. This reflected the Latin word, dubitare, even though the "b” was not pronounced in English.

Two further influences contributed to the illogical system of spelling. When books began to be printed in England, the newly invented spelling system was undermined （逐漸削弱）because nearly all the early London printers were foreign. They were usually paid by the line and often put additional letters into words to earn more. They regularly also added extra letters to the last word of a line to make the whole text look neater. Many of their spelling errors eventually became accepted English spellings.

There have been many attempts （試圖，嘗試）to reform English spelling. The author and playwright George Bernard Shaw suggested a completely new alphabet, but this had very limited success. American English has developed some of its own spelling conventions, largely as a result of the work of spelling reformer Noah Webster. Webster attempted to get rid of some of the irregularities from the English spelling system and distance American English from British English. Nevertheless, the system as a whole remains particularly complex, and English is widely regarded as having the worst spelling of any language in the world.

1.What is the most difficult for native English speakers and non-native speakers?

2.Why isn't the link between sound and spelling in English phonetically exact?

3.Did the printers often put additional letters into words to get more money?

4.What did Noah Webster do to reform English spelling?

5.What is the passage mainly about?

從下面兩個題目中任選一題，根據(jù)中文和英文提示，完成一篇不少于50詞的文段寫作。文中已給出內(nèi)容不計入總詞數(shù)。所給提示詞語僅供選用。請不要寫出你的校名和姓名。

題目①

假如你是李華，你們學(xué)校將要開展以“垃圾分分類，地球不受罪”為主題的志愿者進(jìn)社區(qū)宣傳服務(wù)活動，你打算邀請你們班交換生Peter參加。請用英語寫一封電子郵件，告訴他活動的時間和地點，你們將在那兒做什么，以及需要他做什么準(zhǔn)備。

提示詞語：volunteer service （志愿服務(wù)），community, clean, collect, proud

提示問題：•When and where will you do the volunteer service?

•What volunteer service will you do there?

•What do you advise Peter to prepare for it?

Dear Peter ，

How is it going？ I’m writing to invite you to take part in the volunteer service._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If there is anything that I can do, please let me know.

Yours ，

LiHua

互聯(lián)網(wǎng)科技的迅猛發(fā)展無時無刻不在改變著人們的生活方式、學(xué)習(xí)方式和思維方式。某英文網(wǎng)站正在開展以“我與互聯(lián)網(wǎng)”為主題的征文活動。假如你是李華， 請用英文寫一篇短文投稿，談?wù)勀阍谄綍r的學(xué)習(xí)中常用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)做什么，以及這樣做給你帶來的好處。

提示詞語：search, improve, learn from

提示問題：

• What do you usually do online?

• What benefits have you got from doing so?

The rapid development of Internet technology is changing the way we live and study.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who is ________ girl with curly blonde hair?

A.a B.an C.the D./

Eric is a friend of _____. He is outgoing and always helps ____ with difficult problems.

A.my; him B.I; he C.mine; me D.mine; my

About ______ of students ______ reading English stories in our class.

A.one fifth; likes B.one five; like C.one fifth; like D.one five; likes

She opened the door ________ because she didn’t want to wake up her grandma.

A.angrily B.quietly C.loudly D.heavily

We can _______ some information about this city on the Internet.

A. look up

B. look like

C. look after

D. look forward to