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Dolphins（海豚）are not fish, but warm-blooded animals. They live in groups, and speak to each other in their own language. In this, they are like other animals, such as bees and birds. But dolphins are very different from almost all land animals. Their brain is nearly the same size as our own, and they live a long time―at least twenty or thirty years. Like some animals, dolphins use sound to help them find their way around. They also make these sounds to talk to each other and to help them find food. We now know they do not use their ears to receive these sounds, but the lower part of the mouth, called the jaw.

Strangely, dolphins seem to like man, and for thousands of years there have been stories about the dolphin and its friendship with people.

There is a story about sailors in the 19th century. In a dangerous part of the sea off the coast of New Zealand, they learnt to look for a dolphin called Jack. From 1871 to 1903, Jack met every boat in the area and showed it the way. Then in 1903 a passenger on a boat called The Penguin shot and wounded Jack. He recovered and for nine years more continued to guide all ships through the area－except for The Penguin.

Today, some people continue to kill dolphins, but many countries of the world now protect them and in these places it is against the law to kill them.

1. Dolphins are different from many other animals in that they _____.

A. live in groups B. have large brains C. are warm-blooded D. have their own language

2. Which of the following does the dolphin use to help it find its way around?

A. Its nose. B. Its ears. C. Its mouth. D. Its eyes.

3. Why did the sailors off the coast of New Zealand look for Jack?

A. He was lonely and liked to be with people.

B. They enjoyed playing with him.

C. He was seriously wounded.

D. They wanted his help.

4. By telling the story of Jack, the writer wanted to show that _____.

A. dolphins are friendly and clever

B. people are cruel to animals

C. Jack is different from other dolphins

D. dolphins should be protected by law

5. What can we inter from the passage?

A. Dolphins can communicate with men in their own language.

B. Dolphins can guide all ships through the sea.

C. Many countries have made laws to protect dolphins.

D. Dolphins are clever than human beings.

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B.

The Zhoukoudian Beijing Man Site is one of the most important world heritage sites in China．Since the discovery, which changed China’s knowledge of its history, was made in the 1920s, Zhoukoudian has become an important place for archaeologists from all over the world．At the site in the south-west suburb of Beijing, there is, for example, the earliest evidence of the use of fire by humans．It has also been proved that people lived there continuously between 500,000 and 10,000 years ago．

Today, however, Zhoukoudian is in serious danger．Parts of the cave have been badly affected by rain and exposure to the air．Some areas are almost completely covered in weeds, causing serious damage．Pollution from nearby cement factories has also contributed to the problem．

The site is extremely expensive to maintain and it will cost between three and five million yuan to repair it．At the moment, visitors are not allowed to visit the caves．

Zhoukoudian is on the World Cultural Heritage List, organized by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization．The list is constantly checked．Any site which is seriously damaged or which is not properly protected is an endangered heritage, and UNESCO is very quick to do something about situations like this．They have recommended that the site be closed and repaired．If nothing is done to repair it, it could be removed from the list．

This is a very serious matter and the Chinese Academy of Sciences is trying to raise public awareness about it．They have suggested that the general public be encouraged to help with the problem．A professor at the Academy has proposed that a fund be established to raise money．

Dr Zhu Ming of the Academy said, “ We have requested that the government get involved, but we also need assistance from ordinary people．They can help by contributing to the cost of repairing the caves．They are a precious part of our cultural heritage—it is of vital importance that we do something．If not, it will be a catastrophe．”

1. Why does Zhoukoudian have become an important place for archaeologist?

A．Because the site tells some information about how man lived in the old times．

B．Because it has brought in lots of money as a place of interest．

C．Because it is the only place in China on the World Cultural Heritage List．

D．Because it changed our knowledge of China’s history of the 1920’s．

2. What is the second paragraph about?

A．Zhoukoudian’s discovery B．Zhoukoudian’s future

C．Zhoukoudian’s in danger D．Zhoukoudian’s protection

3. The following has caused the damage of the site except________________．

A．Weeds B．Rain C．Fire D．Cement factories

4. The passage suggests that to repair Zhoukoudian, Chinese Academy of Sciences is seeking

help from_________．

A．Archaeologists from all over the world

B．Government and the public

C．Experts from UNESCO

D．Visitors

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5. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “catastrophe”?

A．case B．worry C．wonder D．disaster

C

During lectures，my students often ask which is the most difficult language to learn.It's not easy to answer because there are many factors to take into consideration.For a person's first language these factors are unimportant because people learn their mother tongue naturally.So the question of how hard a language is to learn is only relevant when learning a second language.

Studies have shown that native speakers of Spanish find Portuguese much easier to learn than，say，native speakers of Chinese，because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish，while Chinese is very different.So a person's first language affects their learning of a second language.The greater the differences between a second language and the first，the harder it will be for most people to learn.Many Westerners think that Chinese is the hardest language to learn because of its writing system and pronunciation.But for Japanese speakers，who already use Chinese characters in their own language，learning writing is less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

A recent study reported that British embassy staff found that the second hardest language to learn was Japanese.More surprising was the language that they found most problematic－Hungarian.In this case the issue was not the writing system(as both English and Hungarian use a similar alphabet) but grammatical complexity.Hungarian has 35 cases (forms of a noun according to whether it is subject，object，genitive，etc.) and it was this that caused the British diplomatic personnel most difficulty.One suspects they would have even more problems with Tabasaran，a Caucasian language with 48 cases，if they ever had to learn it.

Teachers and the circumstances in which a language is learned also play important roles，as does each learner's motivation for learning.If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally，they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day-to-day life.

Put simply，no language is easy to learn well，though languages which are related to our first language are easier.Learning a completely different writing system is a huge challenge，but that does not necessarily make a language more difficult than another.In the end，it is impossible to say that there is one language that is the most difficult language in the world.

1．According to the passage，who is likely to have the most difficulty learning a new language?

A．A Korean person learning French.

B．A Spanish person learning Portuguese.

C．A German person learning English.

D．A Chinese person learning Japanese.

2．Which language do British embassy staff find most difficult to learn?

A．Japanese. B．Caucasian. C．Hungarian D．Tabasaran

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3．Which of the following is Not mentioned as a factor affecting language learning?

A．The amount of time spent studying the new language.

B．The environment in which language learning takes place.

C．The reasons a person has for learning the new language.

D．The similarity between a person's first language and the new language.

4．Why does the author believe there's no single hardest language?

A．All languages are equally difficult to learn well.

B．With enough effort，any language can be learned well.

C．There is not enough evidence to make any final conclusion

D．To different people，the hardest language is different.

5．The writer is probably ________.

A．a language learner

B．a language teacher

C．a newspaper journalist

D．an embassy official

D

TAIBEI－Increasing numbers of Taiwanese students are joining the island’s “China rush”, seeking education on the Chinese mainland．

According to official Chinese figures, the number of Taiwanese students admitted into college and postgraduate（研究生）programs on the mainland totaled 461 in 1996, 928 in 1997 and 839 in 1998．Although no latest official numbers were available,” Netbig. Com Said this number had risen between 30 to 50 percent annually in the past two years with well over 1000 entering mainland campuses last year.

The Internet site, based in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, provides education service and information on Chinese mainland college and universities. “Many Taiwanese believe a Chinese education giving more knowledge about the people and culture in the mainland will increase their chances in the Chinese job market, Net. Com vice-president Ingrid Huang said．“I believe it will give me hands-on experience in the business field in the Chinese mainland and a better understanding of the Chinese mainland people,” said Lydia Chang, a 19-year-old majoring in journalism at Shih Shin University. Chang plans to go on to get a master’s degree in business administration in Shanghai, which she says offers the best environment for such studies.

A journalism graduate student, surnamed Lin, at the National Taiwan University said he would like to study law on the Chinese mainland since “there will be better career prospects now that more Taiwanese companies are going there”. “They hope the children could build up connections which could later become useful in their business operations,” said Yang Ching-yao, professor of the Chinese mainland studies. A Netbig. Com survey showed the campuses favored by Taiwan students included Beijing, Qinghua and Renmin universities in Beijing, and Jinan and Zhongshan universities in Guangzhou. The most popular studies were law, business and Chinese medicine. At present, Chinese Taibei doesn’t recognize diplomas earned in the Chinese mainland nor help with any inquiries about studying there. But recognizing the trend, education authorities are giving a final form to a policy accepting certificates（证书）from selected universities.

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1. More Taiwanese students study on the Chinese mainland because ________.

A. Taiwan will reunite with the mainland sooner or later

B. the fees asked for are lower than those of Taiwan

C. what they have learned on the mainland will bring them a bright future

D. there are many famous universities for them to choose

2. Which is true according to the passage?

A. Chinese Taibei recognizes diplomas earned on the Chinese mainland

B. The number of Taiwanese students going to study on the mainland will surely be increasing in the next few years.

C．Chinese Taibei doesn’t help with any inquiries about Taiwanese studying in the mainland

D. Education of Taiwan is far behind the mainland.

3. The underlined word“it”in the third paragraph refers to __________.

A. a Chinese education on the mainland B. Netbig. Com

C. the Chinese job market D. the university

4. The author wrote the article to tell us ______________.

A. Taiwan and the mainland should cooperate with each other in every field

B. the number of Taiwanese students going to universities on the mainland had

been increasing year after year

C. education on the mainland is more attractive compared with that of Taiwan

D. more Taiwanese students are studying on the mainland.

5. Where can we probably find this passage.

A. in a newspaper B. in a novel C. in a travel guide D. in a short story

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