Look carefully at the back of a California state quarter. A man with a walking stick is pictured there. A bird called a California condor(大秃鹫)is flying overhead. Who is this man, and why is he so important that he is featured(处于显著地位)on the back of a coin?
The man on this quarter is John Muir. Even as a child, Muir loved watching nature. As a young man, he spent much of his life exploring the beauty of the wilderness. He walked more than a thousand miles across the country, through fields and woods. John Muir liked writing about the places he visited, describing their beauty.
Muir also wrote about problems. In order to create more farmland for sheep and cattle, many trees were being cut down. This made Muir unhappy and worried, because he knew that trees were important to forests and to the animals that lived in them．Muir believed that nature should be conserved(保护)instead of being changed by human beings. He wrote articles in magazines and newspapers to spread the word about conserving forests. Soon, others began to listen.
Muir wrote letters to important people, such as President Theodore Roosevelt. The president admired Muir’s love for nature. When Roosevelt came to visit Muir in California. Muir convinced(说服)the president to go camping with him for three nights under the trees so they could talk about conservation. Later, President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of land for national forests and established(建立)five national parks. National parks are large areas of land that are protected from development. This means that people cannot build homes or businesses there. One of these parks is Yosemite National Park, the area that is featured on the back of the California quarter.
Though it has been almost one hundred years since John Muir died, people continue his work today. His work as a conservationist helped us to see the beauty of our natural world. John Muir made us understand the importance of protecting our earth and our resources---then, now, and for the future.
【小题1】Why did President Theodore Roosevelt visit John Muir?

Imagine the situation. You are driving along a desert or on a mountain. You have no idea where you are. You passed the last house two hours ago. Then your car breaks down. It is night and it is cold. You have no mobile phone. What do you do? Well, next time take a GPS with you. This invention may be able to help you. It is a device (装置) which uses satellites (卫星) to find the user’s position (位置). It can find your position to within 20 metres. A GPS cannot start your car, but at least you will know where you are.

GPS, which means Global Positioning System, is a small radio receiver. It looks like a mobile phone. It is sometimes put into a watch or a telephone. We also find GPS devices in cars, planes, or boats. Some of these devices have electronic maps, so you know where you are. For example, in a city they can tell you the name of the street.

There are three parts to the Global Positioning System. The first part is the receiver. You can hold it in your hand, or have it fixed into your car, plane, etc. The second part is a group of satellites orbiting(环绕…运行) the Earth. The receiver contacts at least four of the satellites and calculates its position. The third part of the system is a network of ground stations. They are all over the world. They control the satellites and make sure they are working well.

Some people think that in the future the GPS will be as common as the mobile. They are becoming cheaper and more and more accurate. Also there will be new uses for the GPS. Perhaps they will become like watches. Everyone will have one and you will never be lost anywhere.

1.GPS can help you find your position, can’t it?

2.What does a GPS look like?

3.How many things are mentioned that GPS devices can be put into?

4.Why do some people think GPS devices will be popular in the future?

5.What is the use of ground stations?

6.What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?

1. Where are the rainforests?
Rainforests cover six per cent of the Earth’s surface. There are rainforests in many parts of the world but the biggest forests are in South America, Africa and South East Asia. There aren’t any rainforests in Europe or North America.
2. What’s in the rainforests?
About 75% of all the types of animals that we know come from rainforests. Thousands and thousands of animals live in rainforests. There are many very beautiful birds, insects and  reptiles. Many of them live in the trees, more than 30 metres from the ground. There are also thousands of different plants—and lots of tall trees! It is always hot in a rainforest and
the ground is always wet. It is also dark.
3. Why are the rainforests important?
The rainforests are very important for us. We need them! The trees and other plants in the forest help to make the air that we breathe. They give us wood, rubber, fruits and many of our medicines.
4.    
Unfortunately, in many places, the rainforests are in danger. For example, many years ago there was a large rainforest in Java. There were thousands of different plants and animals in the forest, but now there is nothing. People chopped down the trees because they wanted to grow rice. Many animals lived in the rainforest. Some of them went to other parts of Java but many of them disappeared — forever. The same thing is happening now in many other parts of the world. The rainforests are in danger.
【小题1】In which of the following places can we find rainforests according to Paragraph 1?
A. In the UK.   B. In Asia. C. In the USA.  D. In France.
【小题2】Which of the following belongs to a kind of “reptile”?

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy.  After all，you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However，they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.
Do you know what a ’territory’ is? A territory is an area that an animal，usually the male，claims(声称)as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same kind are welcome. Your garden and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten(威胁)you，you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so，you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time，especially at nesting(筑巢)season. So he is screaming all the time，whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song，and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs..
You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.
【小题1】 Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually _______.