The College Entrance Examination is around the corner. At this extremely important moment, the strong wind and the chilly（寒冷的）rain are sure to   36   my cold .

Last week, I was so confident about my good   37   that I went swimming when there was still a cold   38  . Unfortunately, it   39   that I' m not as strong as I thought. Soon, I felt it difficult to breathe   40   my nose and had a sore throat.

So here I am in the school clinic   41   all my classmates are working against the clock in the classroom.   42   , the approaching typhoon means I will have to move from the clinic for   43   treatment.

Catching a cold is   44   one of the worst things if it happens before big exams. You are never going to get a（n）  45   result in an exam when your nose   46   faster than your brain, are you?

As a boarding school student far away from home, I feel   47   at the moment. I want to   48   mum but I know fully well that the exams are not only a test of our knowledge   49   of our body and will. Certainly I won’t let years of hard work   50

no fruits just because of a stupid cold.

In order to fight the cold, I’ve   51   a plan. I' m going to jog two-laps（慢跑兩圈）on the track every day after school, go to bed   52   than ever before and eat more fruits and vegetables. I have even decided to drink bitter tea to   53   .

Now, I am fully prepared for the changing weather.   54   is going to stop me from marching towards my dream, not   55   the terrible typhoon.

第三部分閱讀理解（共20小題；每小題2分，滿分40分）
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
Barrier Islands
Texas has an extensive coastline that runs along the Gulf of Mexico. If you look closely at the map, you’ll notice that there are narrow islands located just off the coast of Texas. These are called barrier islands.
Barrier islands stretch along about 15 percent of the world’s coastlines. They are separated from the mainland by a shallow body of water. Some barrier islands spread out for more than 100 miles. In Texas, some of the largest barrier islands include Galveston Island, Mustang Island, and Padre Island.
Barrier islands are fragile (脆弱的) areas that contain an interdependent community of land, plants, and animals. All three need each other to exist. If one is harmed in some way, then the other two can suffer. For example, barrier islands are in constant danger of erosion, or loss of land, from wind, waves, and people. The steady movement of ocean waves and wind moves sand along the beaches. This movement contributes to erosion, which changes the shape and size of a barrier island over time. Plants not only provide animals with food and shelter, but it also helps keep an island’s sand and soil in place. When people pick native plants, it advances the process of erosion. This can harm the environmental balance that keeps an island’s ecosystem healthy. For this reason, visitors to barrier islands are usually warned to leave plants alone and to stay on roads and public beaches so that the land, plants, and animals are not disturbed.
As their name suggests, barrier islands provide a natural barrier that helps block the mainland from very bad weather such as strong windstorms and hurricanes. This protection saves lives, homes, and money every year. Barrier islands are also a major source of income for an area’s economy. Padre Island, for example, is visited every year by hundreds of thousands of tourists who take advantage of its sandy beaches and beautiful waters that are perfect for swimming, boating, and fishing. The dollars that tourists spend on the island help financially support the region and state.
1．Paragraph 3 is mostly about _____________.
A．what barrier islands are like    B．how barrier islands form
C．how barrier islands can exist   D．why barrier islands are important
2．Which of the following can do harm to barrier islands?
A．Keeping plants wherever they are.    B．Going wherever visitors like.
C．Fishing on public beaches.            D．Driving about on roads.
3．We can tell from the article that the author ___________.
A．lives on Padre Island and loves it
B．cares about the ecosystem on barrier islands
C．wishes less and less travelers would visit barrier islands
D．is concerned about the beautiful waters around the islands
4．Barrier islands are important because they ___________.
A．help prevent bad weather damaging mainland
B．bring in much more money than mainland
C．can protect rare plants and animals
D．provide more shelters for people

_____ by the clear waters, this forest provides visitors with a wonderful chance to see some endangered native birds in the wild.

Whales live in the ocean, but they are not fish. They are warm-blooded mammals and must have air to breathe. The babies are born alive and drink milk from the mother's body. It took millions of years for the whale to develop as it is today.
Every spring groups of whales swim hundreds of kilometers to warm places to bear their young. Each group goes to the same place every year. The mothers take very good care of their babies. The fully grown whales are very gentle and playful with each other, and with humans. They “talk” to each other with a high noise that  sounds beautiful. This“talking” can be heard for more than 300 kilometers in open waters.
Yet humans kill over a hundred whales a day. They kill them to make whale oils and a lot of other things. Killing them is a modern business with modern machines and even harpoons( 魚叉炮) that explode( 爆炸) inside the whales. A whale dies very slowly and in great pain. Some ships kill every whale they can find, even the mothers and babies. Then there are no young whales to grow up or to bear more young.
【小題1】A commonly mistaken belief is that ____.

Several animal species including gorillas in Rwanda and tigers in Bangladesh could risk extinction if the impact of climate change and extreme weather on their habitats is not addressed, a UN report showed on Sunday.
Launched on the sidelines of global climate negotiations in Durban, the report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization shows how higher temperatures, the rise in sea levels, deforestation and excessive land use have damaged the habitats of certain species, especially in Africa.
“Many ecosystems have already been stressed by increasing population, historical and recent deforestation, unsustainable management practices and even invasive (入侵的) species,” Eduardo Rojas-Briales, assistant director general at the FAO's forestry department, said at the launch of the report.
The most affected areas include mountains, isolated islands and coastal areas, which limit the possibilities for animals to migrate elsewhere and create new habitats.
“The remaining populations become surrounded in very small ecosystems, they have inbreeding (近親交配) problems ... and at the end these species may disappear,” he added.
Other examples of affected animals included elephants in Mali, lions in the Serengeti and crocodiles in Malawi.
The report said an estimated 20-30 percent of plant and animal species will be at higher risk of extinction due to global warming and a significant proportion of native species may become extinct by 2050 as a consequence.
Other consequences could include the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases, it said.
The report urges more focus on restoration of damaged ecosystems, especially those key to dealing with climate change such as mangroves(紅樹林), inland waters, forests, savannahs(非洲大草原) and grasslands.
The FAO also called for the creation of migration corridors for animals in areas where their movement was limited.
The organization said while more resources were flowing to biodiversity conservation, more action at the government and policy level was needed.
It also urged local communities to develop projects that mitigate the impact of climate change on wildlife, naming eco-tourism activities as an example.
【小題1】What does the author tell us in Paragraph 2?