Everybody hates rats. But in the earthquake capitals of the world—Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey—rats will soon be man’s new best friends.

What happens after an earthquake? We sent in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can’t get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat’s brain gives a signal (信号). This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat’s brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, “‘Robots ’noses don’t work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that.” Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don’t need electricity(电)!

The “rat project” is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Corps in Scotland says, “It would be fantastic. A rat could get into spaces we couldn’t get to and a rat would get out of it if it wasn’t safe.” Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).

1.In the world earthquake capitals, rats will become man’s best friends because they can     .

A. take the place of man’s rescue jobs

B. find the position of people alive who are trapped in buildings

C. serve as food for people alive who are trapped in buildings.

D. get into small spaces

2.In doing rescue jobs,        .

A. rats smell better than dogs

B. dogs don’t need to be trained to smell people

C. robots’ sense of smell can be affected by other smells around

D. rats can see in the dark and smaller than robots

3.Rats have all the following advantages EXCEPT that       .

A. they are more fantastic than other animals

B. they are less expensive to train than dogs

C. they don’t need electricity

D. they are small and can get into small places

4.After reading the passage we can know       .

A. at present rats have taken the place of dogs in searching for people

B. the “rat project” has been completed

C. people are now happy to see a rat in a building

D. now people still use dogs and robots in performing rescues

 

Rachael lives in Wisconsin and has lived there all her life. She is just an average girl; at first when you are around her, she seems to be very shy. If you get to know her, she’ll start to open up but always keep things to herself.
Sports are something that keeps her going, a way to release stress. Usually, you will see Rachael out with friends or just sitting down reading a good book. She takes pride in the fact that she can read a whole book in one day, and that she still doesn’t consider herself a bookworm.
Some people call Rachael strange because of things she does. She’s learned to disregard what other people think because she just doesn’t care any more. She likes to surround herself with people like her so it makes he feel like she is the less strange one in most situations.
Rachael wants to be two completely different people in her life. A communication journalist for one, she has always wanted to be that person. The second possible career would be lawyer. It’s a huge goal, and one day you’ll see her doing something she loves.
Influenced by her parents, Rachael enjoys listening to all kinds of music. Rarely, if ever, do you see her without some sort of music. Every morning you can see Rachael in her bathroom getting ready for school with her player at maximum volume(音量).Her parents always get mad at her about that, but she can’t hear them anyway over the music. They don’t know that she uses their surround sound stereo when they aren’t at home!
【小题1】 Rachael likes to be with people like her because_______.

A．she only wants to make friends with the people like her

B．many people think she is strange and don’t like to be with her

C．she knows there are many other people who are also strange

D．it makes her feel like she is not so strange as people think

【小题2】 The underlined word “disregard” in the third paragraph probably means “_______”.

A．ignore

B．realize

C．accept

D．mind

【小题3】Rachael’s parents don’t like their children to _______.

A．be late for school

B．use their surround sound stereo

C．listen to the music in the bathroom

D．play music to loudly

【小题4】It can be inferred from the passage that______.

A．Rachael likes to be different from others

B．Rachael never reads books carefully

C．Rachael will be a lawyer in the future

D．Rachael’s parents also like music

【小题5】The passage mentions the following about Rachael EXCEPT her_______.

A．hobby

B．personality

C．ideal jobs

D．appearance

Making friends is a skill like most skills. It improves with practice. If you want to meet people and make friends, you must be willing to take some action. You must first go where there are people. You won’t make friends staying home alone.

Joining a club or a group, talking with those who like the same things as you do is much easier. Or join someone in some activity.

Many people are nervous when talking to new people. After all meeting strangers means facing the unknown. And it’s human nature to feel a bit uncomfortable about unknown. Most of our fears about dealing with new people comes from doubts about ourselves. We imagine other people are judging us, finding us too tall or too short, too this or too that. But don’t forget that they must be feeling the same way. Try to accept yourself as you are, and try to put the other person at ease. You’ll both feel more comfortable.

Try to act self-confident even if you don’t feel that way. When you enter a room full of strangers, such as a new classroom, walk tall and straight, look directly at other people and smile.

If you see someone you’d like to speak to, say something. Don’t wait for the other person to start a conversation.

Just meeting someone new does not mean that you will make friends with that person—friendship is based on mutual liking and “give and take”. It takes time and effort to develop.

1.The best topic of the passage may be ________.

A．Friendship         B．Making friends      C．Meeting New People D．Facing the Unknown

2.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A．Making friends needs practicing.

B．Making friends needs to be more active in getting in touch with people.

C．When meeting someone, make him feel nice and easy.

D．Before making friends with someone, judge him if he’s too this or too that.

3.The development of friendship needs ________.

A．a lot of money                          B．lots of conversation

C．time and effort                         D．carefully judging

 

It’s parents’ worst nightmare. Their child doesn’t come home one evening and is missing for several days.

    When a 14-year-old boy from Atlanta, Georgia disappeared earlier this year, his mother turned to her Smartphone for clues using an app（应用程序） called Family Tracker that helped track his location.

    “You can see where your loved ones are without having to call or bother them. ”said Roberto Franceschetti of LogSat, the creators of the Family Tracker, which has more than 100,000 users and is available worldwide.

    Parents can track the location of their child on a map, send messages, and even sound an alarm on the phone in a long distance.

    “We have an option for the sender to make a very unpleasant, noisy sound. It’s a loud alarm and we repeat that sound every two minutes until the person picks it up, ”he said.

    Parents don’t need to own a Smartphone to track their children. The service is also accessible through the web, as long as the phone that is being tracked is running the app.

    Family Tracker has an additional service that keeps records of all data from the app for a two-week period, which the company calls GPS breadcrumbs.

    “With a subscription（预定）, we keep all the locations where people have been on our servers. You can see where your kid has been for the past two weeks. You can find out where someone was at a certain time or when that person was at a specific place, ”Franceschetti explained.

    “When somebody gets abducted（劫持）, usually whoever does this throws the phone away or takes the battery out. We were hoping that our app would at least provide information on where the person was abducted or where they had been in the past. ”

    But will these types of apps let out personal secrets?

    “The advantages are huge compared to the disadvantages. Let’s not forget that the person always has to give initial permission—no one can be tracked unless they allow someone to do it. ”said Franceschetti.

1.According to the passage, all of the following about “Family Tracker” are true EXCEPT that __________.

A. it can help parents know where their children are

B. all parents don’t need to own a Smartphone to track children

C. parents can use all the services of the app for free

D. it has little to do with letting out personal secrets

2.What can we infer from the passage?

A. The app will enjoy a great popularity in the future.

B. The loss of children won’t be a nightmare for parents any more.

C. The app will repeat the loud alarm continuously whenever parents track children.

D. The app can keep records of information for more than half a month.

3.Which belong to the functions of the new app?

a. track location    b. detect criminals          c. send messages

d. protect privacy           e. send remote alarm      f. record information

A. a, b, c, e    B. a, c, e, f               C. a, c, d, e               D. a, d, e, f

 

When we talk about someone’s personality , we mean the ways ________ he or she acts, speaks , thinks and feels that make that person different from others.

A. how                               B. /                                     C. which                             D. why