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A

Growing roots

When I was a child， I had an old neighbour named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any other doctor I’d ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as a clement（和藹的） person.

When Dr.Gibbs didn’t work， he planted trees. His house covered an area of ten acres， and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.

He had some intererting theories concering planting. He came from the “No pains， no gains”school of horticulture（園藝）. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said， ”Watering plants will spoil them， and if you water them，each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the tiny trees.”

So he never watered his trees. He would plant an oak（橡樹），and instead of watering it every moring， he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did so， and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

I planted a couple of trees a few years ago. I carried water to them for a solid summer， sprayed them and prayed over them. Two years of coddling（嬌養） has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows in， they trembletheir branches. Sissy（膽小的）trees.

Dr. Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home.Now and again，I walked by his house and looked at the trees.They ’re strong now. Big and robust（強健的）.

Funny things about Dr.Gibbs’ trees. Adversity（逆境） and deprivation seemed to benefit them while comfort and ease never could.

Life is tough，whether we want it to be or not. Too many times we pray for ease，but that’s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the earth，so when the rains fall and the winds blow，we won’t be swept away.

1． What did the author think of Dr. Gibbs ? He was _______.

A．lazy and stubborn

B．kind and wise

C．generous and open-minded

D．mean and narrow-minded

2． How did Dr. Gibbs plant his oak?

A． He was too busy to water it.

B． He liked removing its weeds.

C． He sometimes watered it.

D． He often beat it to get its attention.

3． What were the author’s trees like?

A． The more care he gave ， the better the trees grew．

B． They grew strong and big because of great care.

C． They were very weak in spite of his hardwork.

D． They often trembled with cold.

4． By introducing Dr. Gibbs’ theory concerning planting， the author implies that _______．

A． No pain， no gains.

B． Life is not easy.

C． Experience is the best teacher.

D． Hardship benefits one in life.

B

History has arrived

Nine-year-old Barrack Obama was looking through a magazine. But the African-American boy was shocked by a series of photos. The pictures were of a black man who destroyed his skin with chemicals that promised to make him white.

For the first time， the boy began to doubt who he was. “I stood in front of the mirror and wondered if something was wrong with me，” Obama said.

However， now the boy who used to struggle with his identity（身份） doesn’t see it as a problem any more， but an advantage for his successful career. Last week Obama made history by being elected as the first black president of the United States.

Obama’s story starts in opposite corners of the world. His white mother was born in the heartland of the US. His black father grew up in a tiny village in Kenya. They met during college in Hawaii， but his father left the family when Obama was just two years old and his mother moved to Indonesia.

At 10， Obama moved back to live with his white grandparents in Hawaii where his sense that he didn’t belong to grew. At his class， a white boy asked Obama if his father ate people. Out of embarrassment， Obama lied to his classmates that his father was a prince. “I kept asking who I am and I ended up trying drugs and drinking，” Obama recalled.

Things came to change after the young man made friends with those with a similar background at college. Their experiences back in Africa helped Obama to finally face up to his African origin（血統）. He worked hard to become a star at Harvard Law School and the third black senator（參議員） in US history.

Obama’s victory is “a historic victory that promised change and overcame centuries of prejudice（偏見）. His success fulfilled Martian Luther King’s dream that a man be judged not by the color of his skin， but by the content of his character，”wrote ABC news.

1. _______ made Obama wondered if some thing was wrong with him.

A. A magazine

B. The photos of a black man

C. Chemicals to make him white

D. The mirror in front of him

2. It’s _______ that helped Obama to become president of the United States.

A. his family

B. his school education

C. his college friends

D. his identity as a black man

3. Obama lied to his classmates at school because _______.

A. he didn’t want them to know his true family background

B. he didn’t know what his father was

C. he didn’t love his father

D. he didn’t know he was a black man

4. Which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A. When Obama was a boy he saw his identity as an advantage.

B. Obama made some black friends at college.

C. Obama made history by becoming the first black senator.

D. His white grandparents helped him a lot to face up to his African origin.

C

China ordered Tuesday（Oct.14，2008） all milk products more than a month old pulled from store shelves for emergency testing.

The move was the largest blanket withdrawal of milk products since infant formula （嬰幼兒配方奶粉）laced with the industrial chemical killed four infants and sickened thousands of children nationwide， AP said.

All milk powder and liquid milk produced before Sept.14 must be tested by manufacturers nationwide， Xinhua News Agency reported， citing a notice approved by 6 government ministries and administrations.

September 14 was set as the benchmark date as that was when Sanlu（三鹿）， one of the nation’s biggest dairy producers， admitted to having melamine in its baby milk powder， Xinhua reported.

“Regardless of the brand or the batch， they must be taken off shelves. Their sale must be stopped，” Xinhua said.

The notice said the products will be sold again only after they pass quality tests and are labeled as safe. The notice is the latest in a series of measures China has taken to allay worries over the quality of Chinese products and restore consumer confidence since the uproar began last month.

Melamine， a chemical normally used to make plastics， has been found in fresh milk， powders and yogurt from more than 20 Chinese dairy producers. Melamine can cause kidney （腎）stones and， in extreme cases， lead to life-threatening kidney failure， and infants are particularly susceptible.

It has pushed concerns over the safety of made-in-China products to an all-time high， AFP said.

1.The main purpose of the passage is to ______.

A. describe the difficulties milk producers have met with

B. The food safety has raised concerninternationally .

C. suggest the ways to handle poisonous milk powder.

D. inform people of the latest measure to handle contaminated（受污染的）milk products.

2. Why was Sept.14 set as the benchmark（基準） date?

A. Because all milk products should be tested on Sep.14.

B. Because all milk products must be taken off shelves on Sept.14 .

C. Because no one will buy any milkproducts by Sanlu from Sept.14 .

D. Because Sanlu admitted to havingmelamine in its baby milk powder that day.

3. In the seventh paragraph， the underlined word “susceptible” means _______.

A. harmed B. harmful

C. deadlyD. dangerous

4. According to the passage， which of the following statements is true?

A. Some famous milk products needn’t be pulled from store shelves.

B. China has taken enough measures to ensure food safety.

C. Melamine has been found only in dairy products for babies.

D. all milk products produced before Sep.14 must be tested for Melamine before going on sale again.

D

It seems that there’s a good reason why dogs have remained as man’s best friend. Scientists have found that dogs are the only animals that can read emotion in faces much like humans. The finding suggests that like an understanding friend， dogs can see at a glance

if we are happy， sad， pleased or angry.

When humans look at a new face their eyes usually wander left， falling on the right hand side of the person’s face first. This “left gaze bias”（左視偏好） only happens when we look at faces and does not apply any other time， such as when looking at animals or objects.

A possible reason for the tendency（傾向） is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotions.

Researchers at the University of Lincoln have now shown that pet dogs also have “left gazes bias”， but only when looking at human faces. No other animal has been known to show this behavior before.

A team led by Dr Kun Guo showed 17 dogs images of human， dog and monkey faces as well as objects.

Film of the dog’s eye and head movements shows a strong left gaze bias when the animals were presented with human faces. But this did not happen when they were shown other images， including those of dogs.

“Guo suggests that over thousands of generations of association（交往） with humans， dogs may have developed the left gaze bias as a way to guess our emotions，” New Scientist magazine reported.

“Recent studies show that the right side of our faces can express emotions more accurately than the left. If true， then it makes sense for dogs — and humans — to see the right hand side of a face first.”

1. The reason why dogs are man’s best friend is that _______.

A. they can read our facial emotions easily

B. they can help us in many ways

C. they are the only animal that can protect us

D. they are easy to deal with

2. The “left gaze bias” only happens when we look at _______.

A. animals B. plants

C. peopleD. dogs

3. From the passage we can learn that______.

A. the left side of the human face is better at expressing emotions

B. only pet dogs have “left gaze bias”

C. Dr Kun Guo is a team leader

D. The “left gaze bias”happens when dogs were presented with images of dogs

4. The passage mainly wants to tell us that ______.

A. dogs are man’s best friend

B. what is the “left gaze bias“

C. dogs can guess our emotions

D. dogs read emotions the same as us

5. The underlined word “accurately” in the last paragraph probably means _______.

A. luckilyB. exactly

C. slowly D. easily

【答案解析】

A

1. B根據文章第一段最后兩句和下文描寫 他栽樹成功的獨特方法得出答案。

2. D根據文章第四段得出答案。

3. C根據文章倒數第四段得出答案。

4. D根據文章最后兩節推斷出作者的寫作意圖。

B

昔日為膚色苦惱的黑人少年登上了美國總統寶座，成為美國歷史上第一位黑人總統。

1. B 細節理解題。一位想要通過化學藥品使自己變白的黑人的圖片使奧巴馬非常震驚，致使他開始懷疑自我。

2. D分析判斷題。由第三段中的However， now the boy who used to struggle with his identity doesn’t see it as a problem any more， but an advantage for his successful career.可知：他的黑人身份是他能成為美國總統的一大優勢。其他選項文中未提及。

3. A推理判斷題。小時候的奧巴馬對自己的黑色皮膚感到苦惱，不愿坦誠面對自己的非洲血統。

4. B是非判斷題。由倒數第二段中的Things came to change after the young man made friends with those with a similar background （相同的背景出身）at college可推斷出答案為B。其他選項與原文內容不符。

C

1. D根據文章第一段和第六段第二句得出答案。新聞類文章開頭點明全文大意。

2. D根據文章第四段得出答案。

3. A根據文章倒數第二段最后一句得出答案。嬰幼兒為受害者。因主語為infants，其他三個答案不對。

4. D根據文章第五段和第六段第一句得出答案。注意錯答案B中的enough和答案C中only。

D

狗作為人類最好的朋友能夠很容易地識別人的喜怒哀樂，動物中也只有它和人一樣具有“左視偏好”，總是把目光集中在人的右臉上。

1. A細節理解題。由第一段可知：科學研究表明狗是唯一可識別人面部表情的動物，這就是它為什么是人類最好朋友的原因。

2. C細節理解題。由第三段可知：左視偏好只適用于看人臉時，而不適用于看其他動物或物體。

3. C推理判斷題。由第六段中的第一句話A team led by Dr Kun Guo…可推斷出Dr Kun Guo為科研小組組長。

4. D. 主旨大意題。科學家們通過研究發現狗是唯一可識別人的面部表情的動物，它像人一樣在看人臉時具有左視偏好，而在其他動物身上卻不存在。

5. B詞義猜測題。第三段中的A possible reason for the tendency is that the right side of the human face is better at expressing emotions與本句意思相同，be good at的意思是“擅長，在……做得好”，也就是說右臉比左臉表達情感更“準確”。