What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生學(xué)) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鳥). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!
【小題1】The first paragraph is written to_____.

A．start a discussion	B．make a brief summary
C．introduce the topic of the text	D．test readers' knowledge on science

【小題2】Why did Janine Benyus set up the Biomimicry Institute?

A．To honor the Wright Brothers.

B．To show her recent inventions.

C．To gather talented people for her research.

D．To explore the link between nature and technologies.

【小題3】We know from the text that the Biomimicry Institute _____.

A．earns a lot by giving classes on biomimicry	B．tells people about their technologies
C．gives free support to scientists	D．teaches children about birds

【小題4】The author gives the two examples at the end of the text to show _______.

A．biomimcry works harmoniously with nature	B．the fast development of modern technology
C．how biomimcry changes our life	D．how nature inspires scientists

【小題5】What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Biomimicry is widely used in the world.

B．People copy nature to create new technologies.

C．The Biomimicry Institute was set up for science.

D．Birds play an important part in new technologies.

Throughout time, people have loved music for its ability to transport them into a world of rhythm and melody. Recently more and more hospitals and clinics have been tapping into the power of music –not only to comfort patients, but to help cure them as well. Welcome to the world of music therapy(療法).
After each of the two world wars, musicians visited hospitals and played instruments for injured soldiers suffering from emotional and physical pain. Today's music therapists continue this practice, playing instruments such as guitars and harps to bring comfort to their audiences.
Therapist Eric Mammen encourages his patients at a children’s hospital to participate with him as he plays. During visits with 13-year-old cancer patient Lawrence Garcia, Mammen encourages Garcia to beat on electric drums while he plays the guitar. The therapy won’t cure his cancer, but it does, according to Garcia’s mom, take away much of the boy’s depression(沮喪).
Music therapy can put patients in better moods and ease the symptoms of depression according to the American Music Therapy Association. Other benefits include relieving pain, calming tension, aiding sleep, reducing worry or fear, and easing muscle tension.
Jose Haro personally experienced the benefits of music therapy when he was recovering from heart surgery. During his recovery, he played a piano whose keys lit up, indicating which keys to touch to play along with the background music. Soon he was playing tunes and noticing something strange. “I was searching for my pain.” He says of his experience, “but it was gone.”
While Haro's experience provides an evidence of the power of music to relieve pain, scientific research has proven music also helps patients with Alzheimer's disease and arthritis.
In addition, music therapy helps premature babies. Doctors are tapping into a powerful way to teach premature babies that haven’t yet learned how to suck. Doctors use a device that comforts the babies by playing music when they suck on a pacifier（奶嘴）. Soon the babies learn to suck in return for music, gaining weight faster and going home earlier than those who do not use the device.
Even perfectly healthy people are discovering the power of music to calm and heal. Drum circles attract people who find stress relief in beating out rhythms. While music is not a cure-all, it does make life a little easier.
【小題1】In the first paragraph, the underlined phrase “ tapping into “ can be replaced by “_________”

A．discussing on

B．looking for

C．showing interest in

D．making use of

【小題2】According to the passage, Jose Haro_______________.

A．went through an obvious effect of music on his recovery

B．was asked to play the piano with the background music

C．felt no pain in his surgery because of music therapy

D．recovered from heart disease completely

【小題3】From the passage, we know_________________.

A．music can prevent people from suffering from arthritis

B．Garcia found much comfort in music according to his mom

C．musicians cured many soldiers after each of the two world wars

D．the more music they listen to, the faster premature babies gain weight

【小題4】What is the best title for this passage?

A．Music to Patient Ears	B．Music Popular in Hospitals
C．Musicians Work with Doctors	D．People's life Benefits from Music

Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons (季風(fēng)), but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.
Every year, moist (潮濕的) air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.
According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings（年輪）, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.
Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.
Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology（大事年表） that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.
“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”
【小題1】What’s the passage mainly about？

A．The effects of Asian monsoons.	B．The necessity of weather forecast.
C．The achievements of Edward cook.	D．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction.

【小題2】It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because _______.

A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records.

B．they are formed under complex climate systems.

C．they influence many nations.

D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia.

【小題3】What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research.

B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years.

C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak.

D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas.

【小題4】According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees _______.

A．determine the regional climate.

B．have a great influence on the regional climate.

C．offer people information about the regional climate.

D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information.

【小題5】What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?

A．It is a great achievement in climate science.

B．It should include information about human life in the past.

C．It has analysed moisture models world wide,

D．It will help people prevent droughts and floods.

【小題6】Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?

A．Matter-of –fact

B．Pessimistic

C．Humorous

D．Friendly.

The possibility that pleasant smells might reduce pain has recently been suggested by new research. In a scientific study, doctors asked 20 men and 20 women to keep their hands in very hot water for as long as possible while breathing in different smells.
As people believe that strong smells can affect the senses, volunteers were asked not to eat or drink for eight hours before the experiment began. During the experiment, volunteers were asked to take in pleasant smells such as vanilla (香草), and unpleasant smells such as durians (榴蓮). The volunteers kept their hands in the water until it became too hot for them. When they could not bear the pain any more, they took their hands out of the water.
Scientists are interested in whether the senses or smell is related to pain and whether men and women have the same senses. Now, the study has proved that for women, pleasant smells reduce pain. For men, there is no change.
Dr Finkelstein has been studying smells since 1999. He says that scientists already have data from 40 volunteers. He adds that this year, scientists will test another 60 volunteers and will be in a better position to explain the results.
One explanation is that women’s sense of smell developed long ago, and is linked to recognizing the smell of babies. Scientists used to believe that mothers recognized their children by sight only. Now, they have started to believe that the sense of smell also helps, but why pleasant smells do not reduce pain in men is a question still to be answered by scientists.
【小題1】Before the experiment, volunteers ______.

A．a(chǎn)re gathered and take a training

B．cannot eat or drink for several hours

C．must wash their hands carefully

D．will be interviewed by Dr Finkelstein

【小題2】If both men and women are asked to keep their hands in hot water while taking in some pleasant smells, ______.

A．women may stand the pain of the hot water longer

B．men may keep their hands in the hot water longer

C．they will probably take their hands out at the same time

D．we are not quite sure who will take their hands out earlier

【小題3】From the passage we learn that _________.

A．the reason why women are sensitive to smells is clear

B．the experiment for the sense of smell has come to an end

C．unpleasant smells affect men’s senses more than women’s

D．scientists have not totally explained the result of the study

【小題4】Now scientists believe that _______.

A．mothers recognize their children only by sight

B．men’s sense of smell developed a long time ago

C．strong smells have a great influence on people’s senses

D．smells are helpful for mothers to spot their children

【小題5】The writer wrote the passage in order to ________.

A．supply some entertainment to us

B．show women’s sharper senses than men’s

C．inform the readers of some knowledge

D．call for volunteers for the experiment

The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are “rocket-boosters” to the brain and better therapy than self-help books, researchers will say this week.
Scientists, psychologists and English academics at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of the Bard and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind, catches the reader’s attention and cause moments of self-reflection.
Using scanners, they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read works by William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, T.S Eliot and others.
They then “translated” the texts into more “straightforward”, modern language and again monitored the readers’ brains as they read the words.
Scans showed that the more “challenging” prose （散文）and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the more pedestrian versions.
Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it “l(fā)it up” as the readers encountered unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentence structure.
This “l(fā)ighting up” of the mind lasts longer than the initial electrical spark, shifting the brain to a higher gear, encouraging further reading.
The research also found that reading poetry, in particular, increases activity in the right hemisphere （半球）of the brain, an area concerned with “autobiographical memory”, helping the reader to reflect on and reappraise their own experiences in light of what they have read. The academics said this meant the classics were more useful than self-help books.
Philip Davis, an English professor who has worked on the study with the university’s magnetic resonance centre, will tell a conference this week: “Serious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain.
"The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the elderly alike.”
【小題1】How do classics such as Shakespeare and Wordsworth benefit the readers?

A．They set off far less electrical activity in the brain.

B．They light up the mind shorter than the initial electrical spark.

C．They shift physical pathways in the young and the elderly.

D．They draw readers’ attention and help make self-examination.

【小題2】Why does the author mention” They then” translated”… modern language“？

A．To prove that classics are more useful than ordinary versions.

B．To show self-help books act like rocket-boosters to the brain.

C．To tell serious literature sets off far less electrical activity.

D．To make known ordinary versions set off more electrical activity

【小題3】What can we conclude according to the researchers?

A．Self-help books are more valuable than classics.

B．Serious literature lights up the mind shorter than ordinary versions.

C．The right hemisphere of the brain is related to autobiographical memory.

D．Literature has a beneficial effect only on the mind of the young.

【小題4】Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Ordinary Versions Create New Thoughts

B．Modern Language Increases the Brain

C．Classics Help lmprove the Brain Activity

D．Self-help Books, Rocket-boosters

There are only about 1,000 Hawaiian monk seals(夏威夷僧海豹) left and its population is going down 4% a year. Hawaiian monk seals are found in the northwest part of the Hawaiian Islands. They spend a lot of time at sea. They are able to dive 600 feet deep, and can stay under water for up to 20 minutes. Adults grow up to seven feet long, and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. They can live as long as 30 years.
These seals are born on land. Every year, usually in May or June, females find sandy beaches and give birth to a single baby. The female seals avoid beaches where the water becomes deep very quickly because this lets sharks swim close to land and catch the seals.
Mothers stay with their babies for six weeks. During that entire time, they do not leave the beach even to eat. Instead, they live off fat that they have stored up over the previous year and feed their babies with fat-rich milk. After six weeks, mothers go back to the sea. The young have to live on their own.
Human disturbance(打擾) has been regarded as the important factor in the decrease of the monk seals. In fact, if human come too near a mother seal too often, she will go out to the sea. Unfortunately, this usually means death for the baby. It is now against the law for people to come within 100 yards of a seal on a beach.
Recent research has shown that the decrease in the Hawaiian monk seal population is due to lack of survival of these seals at one of the most important breeding(繁殖) beaches at French Frigate Shoals. Also, seals often get trapped in fishermen and by changes in weather patterns. If these threats(威脅) were not enough, during the breeding season, males will attack females until they are badly injured or finally killed.
【小題1】What can we learn about Hawaiian monk seals?

A．They are in danger of dying out.

B．They spend most of the time on the beach.

C．They are the largest animals on the Hawaiian Islands.

D．They can stay under water as long as they like.

【小題2】According to the text, a seal baby______.

A．is born at sea

B．is fed on fat by the mother

C．stays with its parents all life

D．is looked after by its mother for 6 weeks

【小題3】It can be inferred from the text that______.

A．sharks are a threat to Hawaiian monk seals

B．male monk seals fight each other for females in the breeding season

C．when disturbed by people, the mother seal will protect the baby seal

D．Hawaiian monk seals give birth usually in July

【小題4】What are the last two paragraphs mainly about?

A．Ways to protect Hawaiian monk seals。

B．The struggle of Hawaiian monk seals to survive.

C．The reasons for the decline(減少) of Hawaiian monk seals.

D．The influence of climate change on Hawaiian monk seals.

The Internet is not perfect. There are many problems with it. The Internet is not organized. There is no one in charge of the Internet. It is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for. It is also easy to get the wrong information on the “Net”. Some businessmen cheat people on the Internet. Internet thieves can steal credit card numbers. Some advertisers send spam to e-mail boxes. E-mail boxes are often filled with these unwanted advertisements. Illegal(不合法的) businesses can operate on the Internet. These businesses sell X-rated materials, cigarettes and alcohol to teenagers.
The Internet has websites with information about making bombs, breaking the law and terrorism. Criminals（罪犯） can fool people, especially children, in chat rooms. They can spread poisonous（有毒的） information and attack new members.
The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since human appeared. But it can also be like a dark road in a dangerous part of town. Parents need to set parental controls on their children when they use the Internet. This will keep some of the bad material away from their children. The Internet can be dangerous to computers, too. Some people who have bad intentions enjoy causing problems for other people they don’t even know. They create computer viruses（病毒）. A computer can get virus by downloading a program that has a virus in it. Some virus come by e-mail.
A virus can destroy the data a person has saved in computer files. A virus can cause a computer to crash（崩潰）. A virus can also reproduce（復(fù)制） itself! It can send copies of itself to everyone on a person’s e-mail address list. Then these people’s will have the same problems and can’t work normally!
【小題1】The underlined word “spam” in the third paragraph means ___________

A．letters	B．products
C．useless information	D．poisonous information

【小題2】Why can illegal businesses operate on the Internet?

A．Because there is no one in charge of the Internet.

B．Because some people like to buy banned products on the Internet.

C．Because X-rated materials, cigarettes, alcohol and so on can be sold well on the Internet.

D．Because people who operate businesses on the Internet are criminals.

【小題3】Parental controls are needed when children use the Internet because________

A．children can’t use the computers well

B．children may damage the computers

C．the Internet is always unsafe for the children

D．poisonous information may have a bad effect on children

【小題4】The harm of a computer virus is that___________

A．it can change the saved data in computer

B．it can reproduce the computer

C．it can make the computer operate ill

D．it can destroy the saved files and the computer itself

【小題5】We can infer from the passage that the key to solving the problems with the Internet is____________

A．to improve the computers	B．to improve people’s moral （道德）level
C．to order people not to use the Internet	D．to find a medicine to kill computer viruses

Scientists have proved that sleeping and learning go hand in hand. Even a short nap can boost our memory and sharpen our thinking. But the relationship goes deeper than that.
“The brain is not passive while you sleep,” scientist Anat Arzi said. “It’s quite active. You can do many things while you are asleep.”
Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteers any complex information, like new words or facts. Instead, the scientists taught volunteers to make new connections between smells and sounds.
When we smell something good, like a flower, we take deep breaths. When we smell something bad, we take short breaths. Arzi and her co-workers based their experiment on these reactions.
Once the volunteers fell asleep in the lab, the scientists went to work. They gave them a whiff of something pleasant and meanwhile played a particular musical note. They didn’t wake up, but they heard—and sniffed(吸氣) deeply. Then the scientists gave the volunteers a whiff of something terrible and played a different musical note. Again, the volunteers heard and smelled—a short snort this
time—but didn’t wake up. The researchers repeated the experiment.
After just four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their paired smells. When the scientists played the musical tone that went with good smells, the sleepers breathed deeply. And when the scientists played the musical tone that went with bad smells, the sleepers breathed briefly—despite there being no bad smell.
The next day, the volunteers woke up with the sound-smell connection. They breathed deeply when hearing one tone and cut their breaths short when hearing the other, which must have been unusual for them. Imagine walking down the street and taking a deep breath upon hearing a particular sound!
【小題1】In the study, the volunteers were taught _______. 

A．to become active during sleep

B．to tell the difference between smell

C．to learn new words and scientific facts

D．to make sound-smell connections

【小題2】 How did the volunteers react when smelling something nice and hearing musical notes?

A．They took a deep breath.	B．They had a wonderful dream.
C．They woke up at once.	D．They took a short breath.

【小題3】 When the volunteers woke up the next day, they_______.

A．learned how to play to musical tones

B．forgot what happened during their sleep

C．continued with the sound-smell connection

D．changed their reaction when hearing.

【小題4】The passage mainly tell us______

A．special smells and sounds can improve our memory.

B．our brain can actually learn something new during the sleep.

C．the volunteers will always hear similar sounds in the street.

D．our brain can tell the difference between smells during the sleep.

【小題5】Which of the following is NOT true?

A．A short sleep can improve our memory and sharpen our thinking.

B．Arzi and her coworkers didn’t try to teach the sleeping volunteer some simple information.

C．When the volunteer smelt something terrible, they didn’t wake up.

D．After four repetitions, volunteers made a connection between the musical notes and their pared smells.

You and your friends will have lots of fun with Rabbit
Ears Walkie -Talkies. You can talk to someone who is in another
room at your house or someone who is up to 180
feet away from you. You can take your walkie
-talkie with you when you go camping or walking.
Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies are easy to use. This is what you do:
1. Push the ON button.
2. Hold the TALK button in and say something. If your friend has his/her walkie - talkie on, he/she will hear you.
If you want to talk for a long time, you can lock the TALK button. Just push the button in and up. When you finish talking, push the TALK button down.
3. When you finish talking, let go of the TALK button and listen. When your friend pushes the TALK button and says something, you will hear what your friend says through your walkie -talkie.
4. When you finish talking with your friend, push the ON button again to turn your walkie-talkie off.

REMEMBER ◆If you cannot hear , push L (loud) to make it louder. ◆If it is too loud, push S (soft) to make it quieter.

【小題1】 What are Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies used for?

A．Locating places.	B．Listening to music.
C．Giving directions.	D．Talking with others.

【小題2】 How can you lock the TALK button?

A．Keep the button on.	B．Hold the button back.
C．Push the button in and up.	D．Turn the button off and down.

【小題3】 Which button will you push when you can't hear clearly?

A．L

B．S

C．TALK

D．ON

【小題4】The author writes this passage to _____.

A．show how to use Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies

B．explain to the readers his camping experience

C．introduce some special ways to make friends.

D．tell how to make Rabbit Ears Walkie –Talkies

The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem(生態(tài)系統(tǒng)). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原) surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.
It is the elephant’s great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and under-bushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.
What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.
【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “setting the terms” most probably mean?

A．Improving the quality.

B．Worsening the state.

C．Fixing the time.

D．Deciding the conditions.

【小題2】The passage is developed mainly by_________.

A．showing the effect and then explaining the causes

B．giving examples

C．pointing out similarities and differences

D．describing the changes in space order

【小題3】What is the passage mainly about?

A．Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants.

B．The eating habit of African elephants.

C．Disappearance of African elephants.

D．The effect of African elephants’ search for food.

【小題4】What do we know about the open spaces in the passage?

A．They are home to many endangered animals.

B．They result from the destruction of rain forests.

C．They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds.

D．They provide food mainly for African elephants.