Some plants get so hungry they eat flies, and even small frogs. What's more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they're found on every continent except Antarctica.
You've probably seen a Venus' flytrap -- a small plant, which grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (莖) are leaves that act like traps (陷阱). Inside each trap is a lining of tiny hairs. When an insect lands on them, the traps suddenly shut. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.
The Venus' flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International Carnivorous Plant Society's Newsletter. He states although you might have read some science-fiction stories, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.
Barry says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following: "attract, kill, digest, and absorb" some form of insects. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants -- well, most of the time.
All green plants make sugar to produce food. What makes meat-eating plants different is their special leaves, which need insects for one reason: nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can't obtain any other way. Why?
Almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil. Meat-eating plants can't. They live in places where nutrients are hard to get from the soil because of its acidity. So they've come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soft is poisonous to meat-eating plants. Never fertilize (施肥) them! But don't worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they'll grow very slowly.
【小題1】According to the passage, a Venus' flytrap ______.

A．is a small plant which grows in a container

B．is a kind of plant which gets hungry easily

C．can trap and feed on some form of insects

D．can only grow 6-8 inches tall

【小題2】From the passage, we can infer that ______.

A．meat-eating plants are found nowhere else except Antarctica

B．a(chǎn)ll green plants get nitrogen from the soil

C．meat-eating plants endanger humans in science-fiction stories

D．the nutrient-poor soil is beneficial to meat-eating plants

【小題3】Meat-eating plants grow very slowly, ______.

A．so you'd better fertilize them

B．probably because the supply of nitrogen is cut off

C．simply because they can't absorb nitrogen from the soil

D．a(chǎn)nd then they will die slowly

【小題4】Which of the following is true?

A．Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants.

B．It's hard to get nutrients in the soil when acidity is high.

C．The Venus' flytrap eats flies to get nutrient from them.

D．Green plants make sugar at night.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were more than a million lions worldwide. Today there are less than 30,000 in the wild. The remaining lions are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, hunting and activities to protect farms and cattle.
For generations, Masai tribesmen on the large African plains in southeastern Kenya have hunted lions — to protect their farms and cattle. Today they celebrate the lions’ life.
Noah is an elder in the Masai community. “We have decided as a community of the Masai to lay down our spears, and there will be no more killing of lions in our community.” He is part of a group of Masai visiting the United States promoting (推廣) the Predator Compensation Program.
Conservation International’s Frank Hawkins explains, “The Masai have been living with wildlife for many generations and it has been a conflicting ( 有沖突的) relationship in many ways. They compete with the animals for food as lions eat their cattle. We’re trying to find ways in which the wildlife will become something useful to them.” They had the Predator Compensation Fund founded in 2003. After much discussion, a group of Masai farmers agreed to protect lions. In turn, if lions or other predators kill their cattle, the Masai owner will be paid market value for the dead animals from the fund.
One man said that in the past, when a lion killed cattle, they killed it immediately. And now, after the start of the program, the Masai see the lion population growing. Since 2003, only four lions have been killed here.
【小題1】What is the aim of the Predator Compensation Program?

A．To protect people in the wild.	B．To protect Masai’s farms.
C．To protect lions only.	D．To protect the wildlife.

【小題2】According to the passage, why haven’t Masai tribesmen killed many lions since 2003?

A．Because lions don’t eat their cattle any more.

B．Because they will be fined if they kill lions there.

C．Because the fund will pay for dead animals killed by lions

D．Because there are less than 30,000 lions in the wild now.

【小題3】What do you think of the Masai ?

A．Wise.

B．Mean.

C．Generous.

D．Stupid.

Blackbird (畫眉)
★A good sign
★Paradise
★Magic
Seeing a blackbird for most is a good sign. It can also mean shyness and insecurity, which directly means a lack of self-confidence. The color black, as we know, is connected with supernatural power.
Bluebird (藍(lán)知更鳥)
★The arrival of spring
★Hard work
★Joy
Bluebirds are connected with joy, and they most often mean a happy condition or good news coming your way. They may also refer to the hope of an individual for their inner child, which means innocence (單純).
Bluejay (冠藍(lán)鴉)
★Fearless
★Truthful
★Talkative
A bluejay can mean being faithful to others. Seeing a bluejay either in its natural habitat or in your dreams could also send across a message to develop an innate (先天的) talent.
Canary(金絲雀)
★Joy
★Freedom
★Intellectual development
Canaries are happy birds that spread joy and a sense of well-being. For some, a flying canary can be a sign of the spread of unwanted information. It can also mean that you are the cause of the gossip (閑話) as an individual. A canary is also a symbol of selflessness.
【小題1】Both the bluebird and the canary can be a sign of      .

A．innocence

B．joy

C．the coming of spring

D．shyness

【小題2】Which bird can be a sign that someone is not confident?

A．The blackbird.

B．The bluebird.

C．The bluejay.

D．The canary.

【小題3】What does it mean when you see a bluejay in your dream?

A．It means you spread unwanted information.

B．It means you man develop an innate talent.

C．It means you will have joy.

D．It means someone is missing you.

【小題4】Which bird can mean selfessness?

A．The blackbird.

B．The bluebird.

C．The bluejay.

D．The canary.

It’s a common belief that over time, pet owners start to look like their animals, and vice versa. Now conies the terrifying news that cats look up to their owners as role models and copy their behavior.
Next time you reach for your fridge, think twice. If Kitty is watching, she is likely to overeat as well.
What is your cat’s IQ?
In a new study from the University of Messina, it turns out that indoor cats who live closely to their owners “mirror” the lives of their caregivers. They sleep at the same time, eat at the same time,  and can even become more or less social depending on the behavior of their owners.
“Cats are intelligent animals with a long memory, ”Jane Brunt, the executive director of the CATalyst Council, told Discovery News. “They watch and learn from us, noting the patterns of our actions. as evidenced by knowing where their food is kept and what time to expect to be fed, how to open the cupboard door that’s been improperly closed, and where their feeding and toileting areas fife. ”Because cats copy our habits, if you spend a lot of time raiding(搜刮)the fridge, your cat will return to its food bowl for that midnight snack, too. According to the study, this explains why “human and cat overweight rates often seem to match. ”So. if you felt guilty about leaving your precious kitty at home while you go to work, now you call feel even worse：You fife making your cat fat!
There’s no word if drinking green tea and making sure you go to Yoga will benefit your cat, but based on the study. it sounds like sticking to a healthy eating and sleeping schedule is best for both of you.
There’s a lot we can learn from our cats in return. “When they sit on our laps softly purring with rhythmic breathing and half-closed eyes. the sense of peace and calm that comes over us is like a private 1esson in inner meditation. ”Brant said. Sure. But cats don’t have to sit in rush hour traffic for an hour a day or worry about their in-laws. They’re probably pretty good at remaining calm.
So, according to science。even though we assumed that cats were not close to us all these years, it turns out they fife in fact learning from us and looking up to us. Scary, huh?
【小題1】According to the passage. which of the following is NOT true?

A．Cats can copy humans’ schedule.	B．Humans can learn from cats in some way.
C．Cats are smart and have fl long memory	D．Green tea and Yoga can benefit cats.

【小題2】What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 5 refer to?

A．Humans’ keeping searching the fridge.

B．Cats’ going to their owners for food.

C．Cats’ copying humans’ habit of looking for food.

D．Humans’ leaving cats home while working.

【小題3】What can we learn from our cats?

A．To remain calm.

B．To be able to copy.

C．To stay proud.

D．To look up to friends.

【小題4】The best title for the passage could be ________.

A．Your Cat Can Bring You Pleasure	B．You Are Copying Your Cat
C．You Can Make Your Cat Social	D．Your Cat Is Copying Your Habit

Extract 1（摘錄一）
A computer
A computer is an "information processor". It is given information, called "data", instructed to do certain things and then show us the results. The data put into the computer is called the" input" and the results which come out are the "output". Some people say the circle of large standing stones at Stonehenge is a kind of computer. Prehistory people worked out their calendar from the position of the shadows made by the sun shining on the stones.
Extract 2
Teach yourself new subjects and skills at your own pace with a home computer. Use it to help with schoolwork, for self-improvement, even to improve your career skills. Learn touchtyping.
Foreign languages or computer programming. A home computer can help children of all ages learn classroom subjects such as spelling, geography and others. In fact it makes learning fun. So if you want to teach yourself, or help your children teach themselves---get a home computer. It can also help you manage your personal finances(經(jīng)濟(jì)）or help you to work taxes and plan household budgets(預(yù)算）.You can make business a pleasure with a home computer.
【小題1】The writer introduces the words such as "input" and "output" in order to_____.

A．introduce people to computer language

B．show computer language is the same as English

C．help people some scientific language

D．give people some scientific language

【小題2】Why does the writer talk about Stonehenge in Extract 1?

A．To give an example of the very first computer.

B．To show that computers are older than mankind.

C．To tell the difference between the past and the present.

D．To give another way of explaining computers.

【小題3】If you think of the circle of large standing stones as a computer,_____.

A．the shadow is the input and the position is the output

B．the sunlight is the input and the calendar is the output

C．the position is the input and the sunlight is the output

D．the calendar is the input and the shadow is the output

【小題4】Extract 2 is probably taken from_____.

A．a(chǎn) computer textbook	B．a(chǎn) company's advertisement
C．a(chǎn) teach-yourself computer book	D．a(chǎn) children's guide to computers

Air is an odorless (無(wú)氣味的), invisible (看不見(jiàn)的) gas that surrounds the earth. It is everywhere on the planet. An “empty” drinking glass and an “empty” room, to give two examples, are not really empty. Each is filled with air. When the glass is filled with water, the water pushes the air out of the glass.
Air, as a gas, has no definite (明確的) shape, but, because it is matter, it takes up space. It is easy to prove that air is something that takes up space. Stuff a dry handkerchief into the bottom（底部） of a glass so that it will not fall out when the glass is turned upside-down. Push the upside-down glass; hold it straight into a jar of water till the glass is completely covered. When the glass is taken out of water, the handkerchief will be dry. The air inside the glass takes up space and keeps the water from coming in.
【小題1】What does the underlined word “Stuff” (in Paragraph 2) mean?

A．Press tightly.	B．Take out.
C．Put down.	D．Turn fully.

【小題2】The writer tells us that _______.

A．the experiment is done in the laboratory

B．the experiment is done outside the room

C．the experiment is easily done

D．the experiment is carried out indoors

【小題3】Which of the following pictures gives us the correct result?
( W—water;  A—air;  H—handkerchief )

About 97% of the world's water is salty and is found in our oceans and seas. But, as we can't drink seawater, how can it be important?
Every part of our seas and oceans contains an amazing number of animals and fish that live at different ocean depths. Most of the different species of animals and fish depend on simple plants for their food. These simple plants called algae (海藻) drift near the surface of the ocean and use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. In fact, algae produce over half of the oxygen people breathe. How important seawater is!
Each plant or animal in our seas and oceans is an important link in a food chain. The algae are eaten in large amounts by microscopic animals, which are in turn consumed by larger animals. These food chains are delicately balanced.
The bad news about the food chains in the oceans is that they are under threat because of man. People once thought that the oceans were so big that it didn't matter if we dumped rubbish into them or caught huge quantities of fish and whales for food. But we now know this is not true and fish stocks in the oceans have started to drop.
Thankfully, the world is taking steps to protect the future of our oceans by introducing international agreements to protect marine habitats. Most countries have introduced fishing restrictions to protect fish stocks in the oceans and new techniques are being pioneered to cope with pollution. Finally, the importance of protecting oceans is being made known to more people. This is just the beginning of a long process to protect the oceans for our future. We depend on the oceans for fish which are an important part of the human diet. How important seawater is!
【小題1】People used to think that the rubbish thrown into the sea ________.

A．wouldn't harm the fish in the sea

B．would change the balance of the food chain

C．would be broken down in the sea

D．wouldn't do much harm to the sea

【小題2】From the passage, we learn that ________. 

A．most fish and sea animals live at the surface of the seas

B．it is very difficult to break the balance of a food chain

C．excessive fishing has caused the decrease in fish stock

D．it won't be long before the problems concerning oceans will be solved

【小題3】Which of the following is NOT a way being used to protect oceans?

A．The use of international agreements.

B．Forbidding fishing to protect fish stocks.

C．The use of new techniques.

D．Raising people's awareness of the need to protect oceans.

【小題4】What would be the BEST title of the passage?
A. The importance of seawater.
B. Life in the oceans.
C. How to protect food chains.

Babies understand what their mothers say, even when they speak a language their children have never heard before, scientists claim.
The researchers found that one-year-olds reacted in exactly same way to their mothers’ voices regardless of whether they were speaking English or Greek, showing what mothers have long known – that babies pick up on tone of voice rather than the words themselves.
The researchers, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, observed babies as they watched their mothers perform actions with toys using the English words “whoops” and “there”. The scientists studied reactions from one-year-old babies to their mums’ voices even when they were speaking both English and Greek, and keeping the same tone of voice. The academics found that babies reproduced the same reactions regardless of whether they knew the language.  
Study leader Dr Merideth Gattis of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology says, “What this work showed was that children could have access to understanding simply through tone of voice. We did ‘whoops’ and ‘there’ in two languages and got exactly the same results.” The research, published in the journal Cognitive Development, was conducted on 84 babies aged between 14 and 18 months, over the course of a year, with none of the babies having any previous exposure to Greek.
Dr Gattis says that children respond to tone clues in their parents’ voices from an early age.
She says, “Tone of voice is a really useful signal of what someone is thinking. We never have direct access to other people’s minds, except the signals in language that they give out.” She says the study shows that it is less important what parents say than how they say it.
Dr Gattis adds, “A child may ask if you like his / her drawing, for example. You might say yes, but if you don’t sound enthusiastic, the meaning may not get across.” Before children begin to speak, parents should use exaggerated tone when speaking to them.
【小題1】According to the text, what have mothers long-known?

A．Babies have a better understanding of English.

B．Babies pick up on tone of voice.

C．Babies like their mothers’ performances.

D．Babies like drawing from an early age.

【小題2】Which of the following is TRUE, according to the study?

A．Tone of voice is the most useful sign of what someone is thinking.

B．After children begin to speak, tone becomes unimportant.

C．The babies acted the same way regardless of the language.

D．The research was conducted on 48 babies.

【小題3】According to the text, Dr. Gattis believes that _________.

A．we have no access to other people’s minds

B．babies can’t understand what “yes” means

C．parents should always sound enthusiastic

D．how a parent speaks is more important than what he or she says

【小題4】What’s the text mainly about?

A．The content of the journal Cognitive Development.

B．The famous works of Dr. Gattis.

C．Babies understanding their mothers through tone.

D．Babies having the potential to learn language well.

【小題5】The text can be classified as _________.

A．a(chǎn) report

B．a(chǎn)n advertisement

C．a(chǎn) handbook

D．a(chǎn) guide

We human beings haven’t been good friends to animals. For thousands of years, we have been polluting the environment, making it hard for animals to live on the planet. We have been killing animals for their fur, feathers or meat, or simply because they are dangerous. As a result, many kinds of animals have disappeared forever. Hundreds more are on the endangered list today.
Should we care about animals? Of course we should. If animals of a certain kind all disappear, they will never come back again. Animals are more than just resources of things we need. Every kind of animal has its place in the balance of nature. Destroying any kind of animal can lead to many problems. For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks, the corn and grain that the farmers stored were destroyed by rats and mice. Why?  Because hawks eat rats and mice. With less and less hawks to keep down their numbers, rats and mice multiplied quickly. And if people kill too many birds, more and more insects will eat the crops.
Luckily, we’ve realized that we shouldn’t kill animals any more. And people are working hard to save those animals that would disappear soon. The government also passed laws to protect the endangered animals. In fact, quite a few countries have passed such laws. These laws forbid the killing of any kind of animal on the endangered list. We should try our best to protect and save the endangered animals.
【小題1】The text calls on us to__________.

A．keep animals at home	B．protect the environment
C．protect the endangered animals	D．know more about the balance of nature.

【小題2】Why do people kill animals?

A．Animals cause many serious problems.

B．They kill animals for something they need.

C．Animals destroy their natural resources.

D．They kill animals to protect the environment

【小題3】The example that farmers killed hawks shows that__________.

A．there were too many rats and mice

B．hawks are the most important in the nature

C．a(chǎn)nimals are good food resources

D．every kind of animal is important in nature

The art of reading fiction is largely a matter of inferring meanings. To infer means to understand facts which are not directly stated---only suggested. Inference is one of the commonest ways of knowing things: a child holds his knee and cries; this action implies his feeling; an observer infers that the child is hurt. To infer accurately in everyday life requires caution in observing; to infer skillfully in fiction requires caution in reading; both require disciplined imagination.
The short-story reader can expect to find certain basic elements in any story. For example, all stories involve a person or persons, in a particular setting, faced with a demand for a response. The response called for may be a physical action, such as defeating an adversary(對(duì)手) or escaping from a danger; or it may be a mental action, such as adjusting to others or within oneself. In either case, the short story is a description in two ways: first, it shows the motives for a given human action; second, it makes a point about the general human situation. Such descriptions, however, rather than being stated directly, usually are implied by the elements of the story.
When the reader of a story understands all the facts and their interrelationships, he is ready to infer the significance of the story as a whole---its comment on the human situation. This comment, or theme, is the seed from which the story grew. It is also the idea by which all the separate elements of the story are governed, while these in turn further shape and modify the theme. In addition to action, character, and setting, these elements include structure, mood, tone, and point of view.
Fiction reading requires an awareness of all the ways in which a story communicates. It also requires attention to detail. What the author provides is a network of points which serve as clues to his meaning. He invites the reader to develop the meaning by inference, actually to create much of the story himself and so make it part of his own experience.
【小題1】According to the author, "infer" means ________ .

A．knowingfactsbeyondthestatement

B．lookingformoreevidencesforthestatement

C．findingoutadifferentmeaningfromthestatement

D．a(chǎn)ddingsomefactstothestatement

【小題2】What is inferring in fiction based on?

A．Readers’guessing.	B．Thebasicelementsofthestory.
C．Thesettingofthestory.	D．Theinterrelationshipsbetweenpeopleinthestory.

【小題3】What is the implied meaning of the last sentence?

A．Inferringcanreallyhelpthereaderdevelopimaginationandenrichhimself.

B．Inferringcanhelpthereaderwriteastoryofhisown.

C．Thereadershouldlookforanexperiencedescribedinthestoryhereads.

D．Theexperiencedescribedinthestorywillleaveagreatimpactonitsreader.

【小題4】What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Inferringisanartofwriting.	B．Inferringisaneedinfictionwriting
C．Inferringisthebasicskillinreadingfiction.	D．Inferringiscommoninreading.