Alex knew colors and shapes．He learned about 150 English words．With his language ability he made himself known as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird．

But Alex．a parrot，died two weeks ago when he was 31．Irene，a psychologist（心理学家）at Harvard University，studied and worked with the parrot for nearly 30 years．

In 1977, Irene, then an excellent student in chemistry at Harvard, bought Alex from a pet store．At that time, scientists were not quite sure whether birds could learn to communicate with humans．

But using the methods of teaching, Irene helped Alex to learn about 150 words, and to count small numbers, as well as colors and shapes．

In experiments, Irene would give Alex a small reward （奖励）, like a grape．Alex learned to ask for the grape by watching what the trainer was doing to get it．The researchers then worked with the bird to help him with pronunciation．

Alex showed a surprising ability to learn．For example, when he was shown a blue paper circle, he could tell what color the paper was, what shape it was, and after touching it what it was made of．

Like other parrots, he also picked up some words when staying in the lab, like "calm down" and "good morning"．He could also show his happiness and sadness．

Even before the week he died, Alex was working with Irene on difficult words． As she put him into his cage for the night that Thursday, Irene said that Alex looked at her and said," You be good．See you tomorrow．I love you．"

He was found dead in his cage the next morning．

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

1．Alex is the name of_______

A．an excellent student                       B．a clever bird

C．a trainer                               D．a psychologist

2．How did Irene get the parrot?

A．A friend gave it to her．                     B．She caught it in a forest．

C．She bought it from the market．               D．The passage doesn't mention it．

3．The underlined words "picked up" in the seventh paragraph mean_______

A．捡到                    B．挑选                    C．举起                   D．学到

4．The best title of the passage can be _______．

A．A Thinking Parrot                                    B．The Owner of a Parrot

C．How to Teach a Parrot to Speak                  D．Parrots，Our Close Friends

5．The passage is probably taken from a_______．

A．history textbook                                      B．novel（小说）

C．newspaper                                                D．dictionary

There was once a millionaire(百万富翁).He loved money more      anything else in the world. He didn’t know exactly how       he had. So he asked a little girl to count(数)        his money for him. It        the little girl six days to count his money. When she told the millionaire       he had forty-two million dollars, he was very glad       asked, “How much pay do you want ?”He     that she was only a child, he could cheat(骗) her.

    The little girl said, “Well, I worked      six days, so I think you _    pay me for six days. Give me two pennies for the first day. Each day after that,       give me the amount(数量) you gave the day before multiplied (乘)by itself.”

    The millionaire thought that in this way he would only had to give her very few dollars. What a _    _ little girl! So he immediately(立刻) asked his lawyer to make a contract (条约). He was afraid that she would change _ ___.

On the first day, the millionaire paid her two pennies, and on the second day, __    pennies. He did what he had planned. And on the sixth day the foolish(愚蠢) millionaire      to give the clever little girl all his money.

  At last, it was more than he had .Do you know why? If you have       in it, you may try to work out this math problem..

1.A. as          B. so         C. than        D. then

2.A. many       B. much       C. often        D. far

3.A. both        B. some       C. most        D. all

4.A. cost        B. spent       C. used         D. took

5.A. that        B. what        C. how         D. if

6.A. and        B. but         C. so           D. or

7.A. asked      B. thought      C. told        D. spoke

8.A. in         B. on          C. for          D. at

9.A. had to      B. need        C. should       D. must

10.A. still       B. just         C. really       D. finally

11.A. kind       B. foolish      C. lovely       D. clever

12.A. his plan    B. her life      C. his place     D. her mind

13.A. two       B. four         C. six         D. eight

14.A. need      B. had         C. must        D. may

15.A. interest    B. interested    C. interesting    D. interests

 

Lions are big and strong.They have bright eyes, sharp teeth and black points on their brown bodies.So they look beautiful.
Lions can run fast.They are good at catching other animals.Lions like living as a family until baby lions are 2 years old.A lion lives alone during most of its life.
Now, many hunters hurt lions for their fur and meat.They sell their meat to people for meals.They use their fur to make clothes and bags.We must stop this.It is wrong for people to kill lions.We can write to newspapers about the danger the lions are facing.We should tell the government and people about the problems.If we do nothing, soon there will be no lions in the world any more!
【小题1】What are lions like?

A．Big and strong	B．Big and light
C．Black and white	D．Bright and Slim.

【小题2】What colour is the lion’s points?

A．Black

B．Brown

C．Blue

D．White

【小题3】When do baby lions begin to live alone?

A．20 years old	B．12 years old
C．2 years old	D．22 years old

【小题4】What do people hunt tigers for?

A．Fur	B．Fur and leather bags
C．Fur and meat	D．Leather bags and bones

【小题5】To save lions, what are NOT in the passage?

A．Write to newspapers.	B．Tell people about the problems.
C．Do a lion count once a year.	D．Ask the government to help.

Zhalong is a nature reserve in Heilongjiang in north-east China. It is one of the world’s most important wetlands. The reserve covers an area of 210,000 hectares. The area provides food and shelter for wildlife. It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants, fish and birds.

Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round, while some only stay there for a short time. There are many fish in the wetlands, and the birds can easily catch them for food. Zhalong has long been called “the home of the crane”. There are 15 crane species (物种) in the world. 8 of them are in China and there are 6 species in Zhalong area. It is an important living area for the rare red-crowned cranes. There are not many red-crowned cranes in the world. Every spring and summer, red-crowned cranes lay and hatch (孵化) their eggs in Zhalong.

Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife. More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space. Many of them died. The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered birds, and they can be safe in Zhalong.

Every year, a lot of tourists go to Zhalong to watch birds. This year, members of our Bird-watching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalong and the changes in their numbers. The study begins next month.

We _______ once a year. We are now inviting secondary school students to help. We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds.

Many people do not understand the importance of the wetlands. We hope this information will help them understand and make them actively take action to protect wildlife.

1. What does the underlined word “ideal” mean?

   A. Perfect.          B. Dangerous.       C. Crowded.     D. Expensive.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

   A. All birds stay in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round.

   B. There are eight species of red-crowned cranes in Zhalong.

   C. The number of the world’s red-crowned cranes is small.

   D. Every winter red-crowned cranes hatch eggs in Zhalong.

3.Which of the following can we choose for the blank (空白) in the fifth paragraph?

   A. go birdwatching   B. do a bird count  C. go bird-hunting  D. hold a bird show

4.The purpose of the article is to _______.

   A. attract more visitors to pay a visit to Zhalong Nature Reserve

   B. ask people to take action to protect wetlands and wildlife

   C. prevent people from watching birds in Zhalong Nature Reserve

   D. make people around the world know the Birdwatchting Club

 

At noon the rush hour had passed. There were few guests (顾客) in the snack bar. It was not crowded. When the boss was about to take a break to read a newspaper, in came an old lady and a little boy.
“How much money is a bowl of beef soup?” the grandma sat down, counted the money in her purse and ordered a bowl of beef soup. The grandma pushed the bowl to the little boy, who swallowed (吞咽) his saliva (口水), looking at his grandma and saying, "Grandma, did you really have lunch?" "Of course." His grandma chewed (咀嚼) a piece of radish (萝卜泡菜) slowly. Very quickly, the little boy ate up the meal.
Seeing this. the boss went over to them and said, "Old lady, congratulations, you are lucky to have the free food, for you are our 100th guest."
Afterwards, over a month or more, one day, the small boy squatted (蹲) across the snack bar, where he seemed to be counting something, which shocked the boss when he happened to look out office window.
When the small boy saw a guest walk into the snack bar, he would put a small stone into the circle he drew, but the lunch time had almost passed, the small stones he put into the circle were hardly 50.
The boss was quite worried and called up all his old guests. The guests started coming one after another.
"81, 82, 83… " the small boy counted faster and faster. At last, when the 99th small stone was put into the circle, the little boy hurried to pull his grandma's hand and went into the snack bar.
"Grandma, this time it's on me," the little boy said proudly. The grandma who had become the real 100th guest was served a bowl of beef soup by her grandson. As his grandma as before, the little boy chewed a piece of radish in his mouth.
【小题1】Grandma ordered only one bowl of beef soup because __________.

A．Grandma only liked radish

B．Grandma didn't like beef soup

C．Grandma loved her grandson more than herself

D．There was only one bowl of beef soup left in the snack bar at that time

【小题2】What do you think of the boss of the snack bar?

A．Impatient.	B．Warm-hearted.
C．Very rich.	D．Hard-working.

【小题3】Why did the boy put the small stones into the circle he drew?

A．He played games with his friends.

B．He was asked to count the guests for the boss.

C．He wanted to get the free beef soup for his grandma.

D．He only wanted to know the number of the small stones.

【小题4】Which can be the best title of the passage?

A．The 100th guest	B．A snack bar
C．A boy counting stones	D．A poor grandma