When many people see birds cleaning their feathers, they attribute it to vanity on the part of the bird. But, in reality, what they are doing is maintaining their wings, the instruments that they depend on for safe flight. If a bird’s wings are not in perfect condition, the bird either won’t be able to fly or won’t be able to control its flight. That is why after a long flight and even throughout the day, you will see them cleaning their feathers.

Most birds, if they get a chance, will take a bath at least once a day. They do this to get rid of the dust that has accumulated in their feathers throughout their flight s during the day. In dry or desert areas, birds will not always be able to find water in which to bath, but they still need to clean their feathers. What many birds will do is to take dust baths. They will roll around in dust until it covers their feathers. They will stand up, shaking the dust out, and then clean their feathers with their beaks (鸟嘴) as usual.

Baths are important for another reason. During the course of the day and night, many parasites (寄生虫) are attracted to birds. Bugs, mites, fleas and so on will try to reach birds and suck from their blood. Daily baths help to keep the parasites to a minimum.

Some birds, especially those that spend a lot of time in or around water, have skin glands (皮肤腺) that produce oil. After bathing, these birds will squeeze the glands to spread the oil over their wings to keep them free of water.

If you are a bird lover and have bird houses in your yard, it can be good to go to the extra step, providing a bird bath. Once the birds in your neighborhood discover it, you will be surprised at how popular it becomes as they periodically stop by to take their daily bath.

1.What’s the passage mainly about?

A．How birds clean themselves.	B．What birds enjoy doing.
C．Why baths matter so much to birds.	D．What bird lovers should do.

2.What does the underlined part in Para 1 probably mean?

A．Most people think it good for birds to clean their feathers.

B．Most people show much interest in how birds clean themselves.

C．Most people believe that birds’ keeping themselves clean is necessary.

D．Most people think birds’ cleaning their feathers of no practical significance.

3.According to Para 3, birds’ feather cleaning _____.

A．helps keep them healthy	B．keeps them free of any parasite
C．makes them more attractive	D．helps them relax enough

4.In the last paragraph, the author further reminds us that _____ .

A．we should love birds as much as possible

B．birds enjoy cleaning themselves by bathing

C．we can be good bird lovers by bathing birds

D．birds like to come close to the people in a yard

 

Do your spirits soar (猛增) on a sunny day? Do you relax at the sound of flowing water?

    Some scientists suggest that these contacts with nature are good for your health. In one study, hospital patients with a view of trees had shorter hospital stays and less need for pain medications. Another study indicated that prisoners with a view of the outdoors had fewer doctor visits.

    “Why do we desire nature? Maybe we’re programmed to need it, since our ancestors’ survival was so dependent on their connection with nature,” suggests biologist E.O. Wilson.

    Want to find out if contact with nature improves your outlook on life? Try a few of these ideas.

    Hang out a bird feeder and watch the birds that visit it.

    Sit down in the backyard or a nearby park. Close your eyes. What do you hear? Birds singing? The wind in the trees? Crickets (蟋蟀) chirping?

    Find an anthill. Sit down and watch the ants work.

    Take a walk right after a rainstorm. What looks different? Smells different?

    Go barefoot on a sandy beach.

    Open the curtains and the window, if the weather allows it.

    On a windy day, watch the trees.

    Go to a creek, river or park fountain. Listen to the sound of water in motion.

    Camp out in the backyard or at a nearby state park. Use a tent or sleep on the ground.

    Find a wide-open space to study the stars. Learn about the different constellations (星座).

    Raise a garden. Or plant some seeds in a flowerpot.

    Go hiking with your family. Talk about all of the colors you see in nature.

    Take a camera and capture your nature experience.

1.From Paragraph 2 we can learn that ______.

A. prisoners don’t like to go to the doctor when ill   B. trees can be used as pain medications

C. prisoners should often get out of prison to come into contact with nature

D. contacts with nature are very helpful for hospital patients

2.According to E.O. Wilson, we desire nature probably because ______.

A. it can help us feel relaxed

B. we have inherited (继承) from our ancestors who were dependent on nature

C. people have lived with nature for thousands of years

D. contacts with nature can improve a person’s outlook on life

3. From the passage, we can learn that ______.

A. studying the constellations is important to everyone

B. you can know all the colors only by going hiking

C. nature is quite important to us    D. walking in a rainstorm can be very helpful

4.What is the best title of the passage?

A. Go hiking with your familyB. Let nature nurture you.

C.Visit your doctor less.D.Watch the trees more often.

 

阅读下列文字资料，按照要求匹配信息，并将答题卡上的相应选项涂黑。

请阅读下列科技新闻的信息：

A. One of the biggest science stories last year was the research on stem cells announced by South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk. But now it appears that the research was false. In June, Mr. Hwang reported that he and his team at Seoul National University had created eleven new stem cell lines.

B. Another major science story last year came from the United States. On December twentieth, a federal judge ruled that teaching “intelligent design” in public schools is a violation of the United States Constitution.

C. There was also news last year about the American space program. The American space shuttle（航天飞机） returned to the skies in July. Discovery and its seven-member crew made the first shuttle flight in two and one-half years. NASA had suspended shuttle flights following the deadly explosion of the shuttle Columbia in 2003.

D. Avian influenza（禽流感） was also a major science story last year. The H5N1 virus appeared in birds in Europe for the first time. Yet the only known human cases of the disease have been in East Asia. There have been about one hundred forty confirmed cases of bird flu since 2003. About half the people have died.

E. The World Health Organization advises patients to take a combination of four drugs to treat tuberculosis（肺结核）. These four antibiotics must be taken for about six months to cure the disease. Some people, however, take the drugs only until they feel better. Discontinuing treatment is a mistake.

F. The researchers began the study in January, 2002. They called it SMART---Strategies for Management of Anti-retroviral Therapy. The scientists reached more than ninety percent of the target before they halted（停止） new enrollments last month. The researchers tested all the people for the level of CD-four cells in their blood. The researchers divided the patients into two groups.

阅读以下与科技有关的信息卡，然后匹配信息卡和与之相关的科技新闻：

1.Card 1: One group stayed on continuous anti-retroviral therapy. They took their medicines every day. The other took them periodically. They took the drugs only when their CD-four count fell below two hundred fifty cells per cubic millimeter of blood.

2.Card 2 : Judge John Jones said that intelligent design is not science. He said it is a version of Christianity. So to teach it in public schools violates the law that requires the separation of church and state. Supporters of intelligent design criticize the science of evolution.

3.Card 3: Stem cells have the ability to grow into other cells. Science magazine published the report. The new lines were made from the eggs of eighteen women and skin cells from eleven other people.

4.Card 4: Many of the victims had touched or been around infected farm birds. But health experts around the world began warning that the bird flu virus could change into a form that is passed from person to person.

5.Card 5 : That explosion was the result of damage done to Columbia during its launch. A piece of lightweight protective material fell off the shuttle’s external fuel container. The object hit the shuttle at a high rate of speed and made a hole in one of the wings. This permitted extremely hot gases to enter the shuttle and destroy the spacecraft as it returned to the earth.

 

Lee Humberg, district manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is the man in charge of figuring out how to remove the flocks (群) of 15,000 to 20,000 Canada geese(大雁) that could strike planes flying in and out of the New York area. The Port Authority, the agency that manages airport in New York and New Jersey, estimates that there have been as many as 315 bird strikes annually in the past 30 years.

    Bird strikes have been a hot topic since a US Airways jet suffered a “double strike” and made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in January 2009. All 155 passengers were rescued safely and the flight was called “Miracle on the Hudson”. The plane finally ended up at the Carolinas Aviation Museum. The next major bird strike may not have such a happy ending.

    To thin the flocks, Humberg and his team have tracked down goose nests and killed eggs with corn oil. They’ve also terrified the birds with dogs, remote-controlled boats and kites that look like eagles. But the only method that effectively decreases the goose population is the one that angers animal lovers the most: gassing hundreds at a time.

    “If all you are doing is goose harassment (骚扰) every day, it’s very frustrating, because you are just playing Ping-Pong with the birds,” Humberg told New York magazine. “It’s basically an arms race to come up with the tools to deal with them.”

    Now New York City plans to send the geese captured to Pennsylvania to be cooked and distributed at food banks as meals for the poor. That might just be a fate better than flying into a 747 engine.

1.What can we learn form Humberg?

    A. He does research on geese’s living conditions.

    B. He makes efforts to protect wild birds.

    C. He deals with the danger of birds at airports.

    D. He tries to find newer and safer airlines.

2.Why was the flight called “Miracle on the Hudson”?

    A. It suffered a “double strike”.         B. It arrived at a plane museum.

    C. It only caused a few deaths.         D. It succeeded in landing on a river.

3.By saying “you are just playing Ping-Pong with the birds”, Humberg means ______.

A. It’s interesting to fight with the birds

B. It’s a skill-needed race against the birds

C. you can’t defeat the bird in the end           

D. you should live with birds peacefully

4.It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

    A. Canada geese can fly as high as planes

    B. New York airlines are in poor management

    C. bird strikes happen once a week on average

    D. the poor may also benefit from Humberg’s work

 

In a room at Texas Children Cancer Center in Houston, eight-year-old Simran Jatar lay in bed with a drip (点滴) above her to fight her bone cancer. Over her bald (秃的) head, she wore a pink hat that matched her clothes. But the third grader’s cheery dressing didn’t mask her pain and weary eyes.

Then a visitor showed up. “Do you want to write a song?” asked Anita Kruse, 49, rolling a cart equipped with an electronic keyboard, a microphone and speakers. Simran stared. “Have you ever written a poem?” Anita Kruse continued. “Well, yes,” Simran said.

Within minutes, Simran was reading her poem into the microphone. “Some bird soaring through the sky,” she said softly. “Imagination in its head…” Anita Kruse added piano music, a few warbling (鸣, 唱) birds, and finally the girl’s voice. Thirty minutes later, she presented Simran with a CD of her first recorded song.

That was the beginning of Anita Kruse’s project, Purple Songs Can Fly, one that has helped more than 125 young patients write and record songs. As a composer and pianist who had performed at the hospital, Kruse said that the idea of how she could help “came in one flash”.

The effect on the kids has been great. One teenage girl, curling (蜷缩) in pain in her wheelchair, stood unaided to dance to a hip-hop song she had written. A 12-year-old boy with Hodgkin’s disease who rarely spoke surprised his doctors with a song he called I Can Make It.

“My time with the kids is heartbreaking because of the severity of their illnesses,” says Anita Kruse. “But they also make you happy, when the children are smiling, excited to share their CD with their families.”

Simran is now an active sixth grader and cancer-free. From time to time, she and her mother listen to her song, Always Remembering, and they always remember the “really sweet and nice and loving” lady who gave them a shining moment in the dark hour.

1.Simran Jatar lay in bed in hospital because ______.

A．most of her hair had fallen out

B．she was receiving treatment for cancer

C．she felt depressed and quit from school

D．she was suffering from a pain in her back

2.What do we know about Anita Kruse’s project?

A．It helps young patients record songs.

B．It is supported by singers and patients.

C．It aims to replace the medical treatment.

D．It offers patients chances to realize their dreams.

3.What does the case of a 12-year-old boy suggest?

A．Most children are naturally fond of music.

B．He was brave enough to put up performance.

C．The project has positive effect on young patients.

D．Singing is the best way to treat some illnesses.

4.What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Purple Songs Can Fly

B．Singing Can Improve Health

C．A Shining Moment in Life

D．A Kind Woman—Anita Kruse