B
For Canaan Elementary’s second grade in Patchogue, N.Y.，today is speech day, and right now it’s Chris Palaez’s turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.
But he’s nervous.＂I’m here to tell you today why you should … should…＂Chris trips on the＂-ld,＂a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support.＂…Vote for …me …＂Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.
A son of immigrants, Chris started learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls（回想起）how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.
Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. ＂It takes a lot for any student,＂ Whaley explains, ＂especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I don’t know，but I want to know.’＂
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Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast（夸耀）about themselves.
＂Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities,＂ Whaley says, ＂is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident.＂
24. What made Chris nervous？
A. Telling a story. B. Making a speech.
C. Taking a test. D. Answering a question.
25. What does the underlined word ＂stumbles＂ in paragraph 2 refer to?
A. Improper pauses. jokes.
B. Bad manners. C. Spelling mistakes. D. Silly
26. We can infer that the purpose of Whaley’s project is to _________.
A. help students see their own strengths
B. assess students’ public speaking skills
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C. prepare students for their future jobs
D. inspire students’ love for politics
27. Which of the following best describes Whaley as a teacher?
A. Humorous. B. Ambitious. C. Caring. D. Demanding.
B
I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
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Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
24. What is unavoidable in the author’s rescue work according to paragraph 1?
A. Efforts made in vain. B. Getting injured in his work.
C. Feeling uncertain about his future. homes.
D. Creatures forced out of their
25. Why was the author called to Muttontown?
A. To rescue a woman.
B. To take care of a woman.
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C. To look at a baby owl.
D. To cure a young owl.
26. What made the chick calm down?
A. A new nest. B. Some food.
C. A recording. D. Its parents.
27. How would the author feel about the outcome of the event?
A. It’s unexpected.
B. It’s beautiful.
C. It’s humorous.
D. It’s discouraging.
C
As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric（生物测量）technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.
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Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device（装置）that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence（节奏）with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user’s typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people’s identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it’s connected to — regardless of whether someone gets the password right.
It also doesn’t require a new type of technology that people aren’t already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.
In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word ＂touch＂four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.
28. Why do the researchers develop the smart keyboard?
A. To reduce pressure on keys. B. To improve accuracy in typing
C. To replace the password system. D. To cut the cost of e-space
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protection.
29. What makes the invention of the smart keyboard possible?
A. Computers are much easier to operate.
B. Fingerprint scanning techniques develop fast.
C. Typing patterns vary from person to person.
D. Data security measures are guaranteed.
30. What do the researchers expect of the smart keyboard?
A. It’ll be environment-friendly. B. It’ll reach consumers soon.
C. It’ll be made of plastics. D. It’ll help speed up typing.
31. Where is this text most likely from?
A. A diary. magazine.
B. A guidebook C. A novel. D. A
C
Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent
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times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers,small, tightly knit (联系)groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other.Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.
Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centres, trade,industrialisation. the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education. Especially glbalisation and better communications in the past few decades,all have caused many Languages to disappear,and dominant languages such as English．Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.
At present, the world has about 6 800 languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages. Often spoken by many people while hot. wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers.Europe has only around 200 Languages: the Americas about 1,000. Africa 2 400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number (中位数)of speakers is a mere 6.000, which means that half the worlds languages are spoken by fewer people than that.
Already well over 400 of the total of, 6,800 languages are close to extinction(消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon
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(eight remaining speakers),Chiapaneco in Mexico(150). Lipan Apache in the United States(two or three)or Wadjigu in Australia (one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.
28. What can we infer about languages in huntergatherer times?
A.They developed very fast. B. They were large in number.
C. They had similar patters. D. They were closely connected
29. Which of the following best explains\"dominant \" underlined in paragraph 2？
A.Complex. B. Advanced.
C.Powerful. D.Modern.
30. How many languages are spoken by less than 6, 000 people at present?
A.About 6 800 B.About 3 400
C.About 2.400 D.About 1-200
31. What is the min idea of the text?
A. New languages will be created.
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B Peoples lifestyles are reflected in languages
C. Human development results in fewer languages
D. Geography determines language evolution.
答案：
1. BAAC
2. ADAB
3. DCBD
4. BCBC
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