Scientists have argued for long over whether birds show real intelligence. Some scientists believe birds
have abilities(能力) including communication and different kinds of memory. In some unusual cases, their
abilities seem better than those of humans.
     Irene Pepperberg, a birds expert, did research about a grey parrot named. Griffin. Ms. Pepperberg says
Griffin can arrange objects in order of size. She says the talking bird also can combine words in the right
order. For example, he will combine words when asking for a piece of food. The researcher says experts
had thought that only humans and other mammals with large brains have the ability to combine objects and
words. She believes that bird brains have the ability to understand that complex(復雜的) tasks must be done
in the correct order.
     Some birds have other memory skills. For example, they collect and store thousands of seeds in autumn,
and find them later in winter. Alan Kamil and Alan Bond of the University of Nebraska are studying the
memories of birds called jays and nutcrackers. Their experiments show that these birds use natural objects to
find the seeds they have stored.
     It's said some birds can learn as many as 2,000 different songs. Songs may have developed as a way for
birds to communicate with other birds.
     According to Verner Bingman of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, birds must have a special
guidance system in their brain. He says that understanding how a bird's brain operates may help us better
understand how a human brain processes information.
     However, some scientists do still believe birds do many things that appear to be acts of thoughtful
intelligence. In most cases, they say, their behavior is simply instinctive (本能的), no reasoning power
directing it.

1. What is the main subject discussed in the passage?

A. The intelligence of birds.
B. Irene Pepperberg's study on birds.
C. The difference between humans and birds.
D. Ways for experts to train birds.

2. What's the main idea of Paragraphs 2-3?

A. Griffin, jays and nutcrackers are clever birds.
B. Objects help birds remember things.
C. Birds are as intelligent as humans.
D. Birds have certain memory skills.

3. It can be inferred from this passage that______.

A. most scientists believe birds have real intelligence
B. mammals understand the relationship between objects and words
C. maybe trees help jays to find the seeds they have stored
D. birds always communicate with one anther by singing

    The more we do a thing, the more we tend to like doing it; and if we do not continue to do it, we feel
uncomfortable. This is called the force of habits, and the force of habits should be fought against.
     Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed. When a person does a certain thing, he is driven
by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly, then a habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it
is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. It is therefore very important that we should pay great
attention to the formation of habits. Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as
long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits as long as they live, and sometimes become ruined
by them.
    There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help. Many successful men say
that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty
and so on. 
    Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on. They are all
easily formed habits. Unfortunately, older persons often form bad habits, which should have been avoided.
    We should keep from all these bad habits, and try to form such habits as will be good for others and
ourselves. Remember: Habits cure habits.

1. _____ are formed little by little.

A. Good habits
B. Bad habits
C. Both good habits and bad habits
D. Neither good habits nor bad habits

2. The underlined word "them" in the first paragraph refers to ______.

A. bad habits
B. good habits 　
C. children
D. other persons.

3. Why should we pay much attention to the formation of habits? 　　

A. Because habits are of great help to every one of us. 　　
B. Because a man can never get rid of a habit. 　　
C. Because it's hard and sometimes even impossible to throw away bad habits.
D. Because we are forced to do them again and again.

4. According to the passage, early rising ________. 　　

A. has something to do with success　　
B. is an easily formed habit 　　
C. is such a habit as should have been avoided
D. is such a habit as will be kept

     Height is just one of the thousands of features your genes (基因) decide. In fact, because you have two
parents, your genes provide you a height that usually lands somewhere between the height of each parent. If
both your parents are tall, then most probably you will be tall, too, but if you have questions about how tall
you're going to be, ask your doctor if he or she can help you find it out.
     But genes don't decide everything. For example, eating an unhealthy diet can keep you from growing to
your full potential (潛力). Getting plenty of sleep and enough exercise will help you grow to the expected
height.
     No doubt (懷疑) you're wondering how fast you should grow. It depends. There's no perfect or right
answer. In general, kids grow about 2 inches (6 centimeters) a year between age 3 and the time when they
start puberty (when your body starts changing and becoming more grown up).
     Your doctor will know how your growth has been going over the years. Two centimeters here and 2
inches there are not nearly as important as the height you're at now, how you've been growing up to this point,
and what other changes your body may be going through.
     Don't be scared if you seem to have grown a lot in a very short time. Everyone has a growth spurt (高峰)
during puberty. The age for starting puberty is about 10 for girls and about 11 for boys. But it can be earlier
or later -between 7 and 13 for girls and 9 and 15 for boys.
     You'll usually begin to notice that you're growing faster about a year or so after your body starts to show
the first changes of puberty.

1. What is the Chinese for the word"puberty"?
_____________________________________________________________
2. Whom will you turn to if you want to know how fast and how tall you should grow?
(回答詞數(shù)不超過1個)
______________________________________________________________
3. What's the main idea of the passage? (回答詞數(shù)不超過8個)
______________________________________________________________

     However important we may regard school life to be, there is always the fact that children spend more time
at home than in the classroom. Therefore, the teacher should realize that parents have a great influence on their
children. Parents can become strong allies (助手) of the school or they can get in the way of the school
education.
     Experts have realized the need to keep parents informed of the newer methods used in schools. Many
headmasters have conducted workshops explaining such matters as the reading readiness, program writing
and mathematics to parents.
     Moreover, the classroom teacher, with the permission of the supervisors(管理者), can also play an
important part in giving more knowledge to reporting pupils progress, teachers can help parents a lot in
educating their children and parents can give much help to teachers.
     Suppose that a father has been drilling Junior arithmetic lessons night after night. In a friendly talk between
the teacher and the father, the teacher can help the parent to make Junior interested in it. He might be persuaded
to let Junior join in discussing the family budget, buying the food, using a ruler or measuring cup at home,
setting the clock, calculating the distance of a trip and engaging in scores of other activities that have a
mathematical basis.
     If the father follows the advice, it is reasonable to say that he will soon realize that his son is making
satisfactory progress in mathematics, and at the same time, enjoying the work.
     Too often, however, teachers' talks with parents are devoted to small accounts of children's misdemeanors(不良行為). They talk about the laziness and poor work habits of the children.
     What is needed is a more creative way in which the teacher, as an adviser, plants ideas in parents' minds to
make sure that the child spends the many hours out of the classroom learning something useful.
     In this way the school and the home join forces in educating children.

1. The main idea of the passage is that ____.

A. home training is more important than school training
B. parents should help their children to do their homework
C. there're many ways in which the mathematics program can be carried out at home
D. teachers can and should help parents to use better ways to teach their children

2. From this passage we can know that the writer ____.

A. is satisfied with the relationship between school and home
B. feels that parent-teacher talks can be made much more constructive
C. believes that schools can't teach pupils well
D. calls on parents to teach their children mathematics at home

3. What way that the writer doesn't talk about can improve the present situation?

A. Classes for parents.
B. New type of report card.
C. Parent-teacher talk.
D. Dinner or party.

4. The writer implies that ____.

A. interesting activities can improve one's achievement
B. too many children are lazy and have poor work habits
C. teachers should often make home visits to parents
D. headmasters do more than teachers in this area

5. We can infer from the passage that the writer does not favor ____.

A. father's helping his son with his study
B. written reports to the parents from the teachers
C. talking about children's shortcomings
D. having the parents help their children with their lessons

     The United States government has started a website to help children think critically about the advertising
that is aimed at them. The new site is called Admongo. It claims to provide visitors with an "aducation"
through games and other entertainment.
     A cartoon man dressed in old time pilot clothing greets visitors to Admongo. "Call me Haiz" he says upon
arrival in a rocket ship that opens up with a crazy world inside it. Dabce plays in the background as Haiz tells
visitors that they need to learn about advertising.
     The Admongo website is aimed at children eight to twelve years old. Its inventors say that is the age kids
develop their critical thinking abilities. Kids that age are also a big market for advertisers.
     The idea behind Admongo is to teach children three things: to identify the advertiser, to know what the
advertiser is really saying, and to know what the advertisement is trying to get the child to do.
     Children learn these things through a video game. They create their own game character. They can choose
different skin colors, hairstyles, eye and mouth shapes. Then they begin a trip through ad- land. They take a
walk through the neighborhood. They seek out the advertising and capture treasures. There are ads on buses
and billboards. The players have to find all the marketing in the neighborhood before they can move on to the
next level.
     The Admongo game takes players inside a home, to the advertising studio and everywhere else ads can be
found. It is a complete exploration of the world of marketing.
     One such area is food marketing. The Federal Trade Commission says it is an especially big business. The
F. T. C. estimates that food, drink and fast-food restaurants spent more that one and a half billion dollars on
advertising to young people in 2009.
     The F. T. C. says children are important for three reasons. They buy products. They influence parents and
caregivers to buy. And they are the future adult buyers of the products.
     A recent study says most advertising aimed at children is for foods of the lowest nutritional value. First
Lady Michelle Obama has said she would like to see advertisers marketing healthy foods for children.

1. What is the best title of the text?

A. A website aimed at children's food
B. The cartoon guide named "Haiz"
C. An"aducation" website for children
D. A popular online video game

2. Why did the government start the website?

A. To advertise the video game for children.
B. To help children know about advertising.
C. To attract the biggest market of buyers.
D. To sell the products of its company.

3. What can players do in the website game?

A. They can play video games in the trip.
B. They can travel to a supermarket.
C. They can choose hairstyles for their own character. 
D. They can eat in a fast-food restaurant.

4. Children are important for advertising because they ____.

A. are the most important for society
B. are the most potential buyers
C. are easily influenced by ads 
D. are easily affected by low-quality products

5. According to Michelle Obama, lots of foods advertised for children are ________.

A. of low quality
B. yummy
C. of high nutrition
D. healthy

     A Low-Carbon Economy (LCE) refers to an economy which has a minimal emission of greenhouse gas
(GHG), namely, carbon dioxide into the biosphere (生物圈). Recently, most of the scienti sts and the public
hold the opinion that the climate is changing because there is such an accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere
due to human activities. The over-concentration of these gases is producing global warming that affects
long-term climate, with negative impacts on humanity in the foreseeable future. LCE, therefore, is proposed
as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change.
     All nations which are considered carbon intensive societies and societies which are heavily populated
should become zero-carbon societies and economies. Several of these countries have promised to become
'low carbon' but not entirely zero carbon, and claim that emissions will be cut by 100% by balancing emissions
rather than ceasing all emissions.
     Nuclear power and the strategies of carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been proposed as the primary
means to achieve a LCE while continuing to exploit non-renewable resources. Scientists are afraid, however,
whether the spent-nuclear-fuel can be stored, and whether it is secure. Also they are not certain about the
costs and time needed to successfully implement CCS worldwide and whether the stored emissions will leak
into the biosphere or not. Alternatively, many have proposed renewable energy should be the main basis of a
LCE, but, they have their associated problems of high-cost and inefficiency; this is changing, however, since
investment and production have been growing significantly in recent times. Furthermore, it has been proposed
that to make the transition to an LCE economically attractive we would have to attach a cost (per unit output)
to GHGs through means such as emissions trading and/or a carbon tax .
     A LCE is aimed to integrate all aspects of itself from its manufacturing, agriculture, transportation to
power-generation around technologies that produce energy and materials with little GHG emission and thus
around populations, buildings, machines and devices which use those energies and materials efficiently and
dispose of or recycle its wastes so as to have a minimal output of GHGs.

Title:   1  
I.   2   : an economy with a minimal output of GHG
II.   3   of the present economy:
     ● global warming
     ● long-term climate change
     ●   4   on humanity
III.   5   :
     ● to produce energy and materials with little GHG emission
     ● to use those energies and materials efficiently
     ● to have   6   of GHGs
IV.   7   to achieve a LCE:
      ● nuclear power
      ● the strategies of carbon capture and storage
     ● renewable energy
     ●   8   
     ● a carbon tax
V.   9   :
     ● spent-nuclear-fuel storage / storage of spent-nuclear-fuel
     ●   10    
     ● uncertainty about the costs and time needed

     In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child's acquisition (學會) of each new skill-the
first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing. It is often tempting
to hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states
of worry in the child. This might happen at any stage. A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, a young
child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads. On the other
hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural
enthusiasm for life and his desire to find out new things for himself.
     Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children. Some may be especially strict in
money matters, others are sever over times of coming home at night or punctuality for meals. In general, the
controls imposed represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community as much as the child's
own happiness.
     As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in
parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality (道德). Also,
parents should realize that "example is better than precept". If they are not sincere and do not practice what
they preach (說教), their children may grow confused and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough
to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled. A sudden awareness of a marked
difference between their parents' principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment.

1. Eagerly watching the child's acquisition of new skills _____.

A. should be avoided
B. is universal among parents
C. sets up dangerous states of worry in the child
D. will make him lose interest in learning new things

2. When children are learning new skills, parents should _____.

A. achieve a balance between pushing them too hard and leaving them on their own
B. not expect too much of them
C. encourage them to read before they know the meaning of the words they read
D. create as many learning opportunities as possible

3. The second paragraph mainly tells us that _____.

A. parental restrictions vary, and are not always for the benefit of the children alone
B. parental controls reflect only the needs of the parents and the values of the community
C. parents should be strict with their children
D. it's parents'and society's duty to control the children

4. The word "precept" in Paragraph 3 probably means "_____".

A. idea
B. punishment
C. instruction
D. behaviour

5. In moral matters, parents should _____.

A. satisfy their children's needs
B. be aware of the marked difference between adults and children
C. forbid things which have no foundation in morality
D. observe (遵守,奉行) the rules themselves

     National Family Week－an event that encourages families to spend more time together－carried out a study
among 8－15 year olds. The study found 40% of girls thought Facebook was one of the most important things
in their lives－compared with 6% of boys. Parents were found to underestimate (低估) the importance of
Internet technology.
     The role of social networking was particularly important in families with a single mother as parent. The
survey was carried out last month and based on 3,000 parents and 1,000 children across the UK.
     The survey shows that girls are using social networking as something central to their social and family life.
Girls saw websites such as Facebook as much more influential (有影響力的) than television, magazines,
famous people and even their own brothers and sisters. Asked to name the three most important things in their
lives, the most popular choices for girls were friends, family and then Facebook and MSN. 
     Girls are also more likely to believe that technology－in the form of social networking and mobile
phones－plays an important role in their lives. While 41% of girls think technology is one of their biggest
influences, only 17% of boys believe this.
     Girls see their big influences as parents, teachers and technology, while boys choose parents, friends and
school as their big influences. The survey says that parents have failed to keep up with their children's use of
technology, overestimating (高估) their own importance in their children's lives.
     The survey also looked at how children thought about their relationships with their parents. It found that
both boys and girls would much rather have stories read to them by their mothers. However, girls felt closer
to their fathers, while boys felt closer to their mothers.

1.What can we know from the first paragraph?

A. The study was carried out by the government.
B. The researchers studied more girls than boys.
C. Boys liked to surf the Internet more than girls.
D. Parents didn't think the Internet was so important.

2. How many people were included in the survey last month?

A. 1,000.
B. 2,000.
C. 3,000.
D. 4,000.

3. Which of the following is NOT among the three most important things for girls?

A. Teachers.
B. Family.
C. Facebook and MSN.
D. Friends.

4. According to the passage, the survey shows _____.

A. girls felt closer to their mothers
B. children are better at using technology than their parents
C. televisions are much more influential in girls than magazines
D. more boys regard technology as one of the biggest influences than girls

     After a discussion last week. "Do SCHOOL Libraries Need Books?" the comments from readers included
some first-hand views from students. Below are excerpts (摘錄)from their observations on how studying has
changed and how they use libraries.
     It makes little difference whether the books you are reading is electronic or paper. But if you want a place
to read, a library is still the place to go. As a kid in school, I often avoid the study hall noises and go to the
quiet school library. The library is a place. A learning place. Modern technology won't change the library as
long as things are learned.
      -Scott
     Being a student I am aware that many of us seldom look at the books in the library unless told to do so by
a teacher as a requirement for an assignment. It takes time to find the very book you want at the library, and it
may not be necessary to do so. More and more students, such as myself, use the internet for nearly every
assignment. There are countless online resources for us to use with a click of the mouse. What's more, books
are very expensive and schools could put that money towards charities.
     -Hayley H
     I hope schools continue to have libraries. As a student, I know there is a difference between reading
something on a screen and something printed. When I read something in a book that I do not understand or
want to look further into. I record it and will research later or discuss with someone. With a screen (especially
online) I will instantly access the information and look into the question at hand, which interrupts my reading
and especially my imagination.
     -Allie
     To me, it depends on the purpose of the books. As a student, I prefer to do research online. Online
research is faster and more efficient. But when I'm reading for pleasure, I absolutely refuse to give up a real
book. The tactile sensation(觸感)and freedom that real books give you really makes the reading experience
more enjoyable. So my suggestion is that schools have more digital collections for research and scholarly
work, and a good selection of interesting and age-appropriate fiction and nonfiction for pleasure reading.
     -CM

1. In Scott's opinion _____.

A. it's necessary for a school to have a library
B. there are many learning places better than a library
C. the school library is noisy and crowded in most cases
D. electronic books are totally different from paper books

2. According to the text, Hayley H _____.

A. hopes school libraries can provide more books
B. often searches for information at the library
C. suggests schools spend less money on books
D. thinks students rely on paper books to learn

3. Allie believes that compared with book reading, screen reading _____.

A. takes more time
B. interrupts (干擾) her imagination
C. provides more information
D. allows her to discuss with others

4. Who prefers printed books when reading for fun?

A. Scott
B.H ayleyH
C. Allie
D. CM

5. Which of the following share a similar attitude towards online research?

A. Scott and HayleH
B. HayleH and Allie
C. HayleH and CM
D. Allie and CM