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(2014·德州模拟)Some animals will defend their territory by fighting with those who try to invade it.Fighting，however，is not often the best choice，since it uses up a large amount of energy，and can result in injury or even death.Most animals rely on various threats，either through sounds or smells.The songs of birds，the drumming of woodpeckers and the loud calls of monkeys are all warnings that carry for long distances，advertising to possible invaders that someone else’s territory is being approached.Many animals rely on smells to mark their territories or leaving droppings around the territories.Other animals will be warned off the territory without ever meeting with the territory’s defender.
Sometimes，these warnings may be ignored，and an invader may move accidentally into a neighboring territory，or two animals may meet near the border of their nearby territories.When the two animals meet，they will generally threaten each other with visual (视觉的) displays.These displays will often exaggerate an animal’s size by putting up feathers or fur，or will show off the animal’s weapons.The animals may go through all the behavior of fighting without ever actually touching each other.The displays are generally performed best near the center of an animal’s territory，where it is more likely to attack an invader and where retreating becomes more of a choice.
Actual fighting usually only happens in overcrowded conditions，when resources are not enough.Serious injury can result，and old or sick animals may die，leading to a more balanced population size.Under most natural conditions，territoriality is an effective way of maintaining a healthy population.The study of social behaviors such as territoriality in animals may also help us to understand human society.
1.What topic is the passage mainly involved in?
A．What animals’ territory is usually like.
B．How animals deal with different threats.
C．How animals defend their territory.
D．Where animal fights take place frequently.
2.For most animals，what’s their first response to the possible invaders to defend their territory?
A．Fighting in groups.
B．Threatening and warning.
C．Escaping before being hurt.
D．Asking partners for help.
3.What does the underlined word “exaggerate” in the second paragraph mean?
A．enlarge B．change
C．shake D．shrink
4.An actual fight will happen when________.
A．animals meet near the border of their territories
B．the invader enters the defender’s territories
C．the defender notices the invader smaller than itself
D．the living resources are limited in the territory
5.The last paragraph tells us that territoriality has an influence on the________of the animals.
A．communication B．condition
C．population D．migration
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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When you make a mistake，big or small，cherish it as it’s the most precious thing in the world.
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes，beat ourselves up about it，feel like failures，and get mad at ourselves.
And that’s only natural：Most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad，and we should try to avoid mistakes.We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home，school and work.Maybe not always，but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction.
Yet without mistakes，we could not learn or grow.If you think about it that way，mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world：They make learning possible；they make growth and improvement possible.
By trial and error—trying things，making mistakes，and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric lights，to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel，and to fly.
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler，make speech possible，and make works of genius possible.
Think about how we learn：We don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it.You don’t just read about painting，or writing，or computer programming，or baking，or playing the piano，and know how to do them fight away.Instead，you get information about something，from reading or from another person or from observing usually...then you construct a model in your mind...then you test it out by trying it in the real world...then you make mistakes...then you revise the model based on the results of your real world experimentation...and repeat，making mistakes，learning from those mistakes，until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something.
That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers，and how we learn as adults.Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed in something，it’s probably something you already knew how to do.You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey，not the whole journey.Most of the journey is made up of mistakes，if it’s a good journey.
So if you value learning，if you value growing and improving，then you should value mistakes.They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible.
1.Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?
A．Because mistakes make us suffer a lot.
B．Because it’s a natural part in our life.
C．Because we’ve been taught so from a young age.
D．Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers.
2.According to the passage，what is the right attitude to mistakes?
A．We should try to avoid making mistakes.
B．We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes.
C．We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn.
D．We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction.
3.The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph 6 probably means________.
A．a small child learning to walk
B．a kindergarten child learning to draw
C．a primary pupil learning to read
D．a school teenager learning to write
4.We can learn from the passage that________.
A．most of us can really grow from success
B．growing and improving are based on mistakes
C．we learn to make mistakes by trial and error
D．we read about something and know how to do it right away
5.The author wants to tell us________.
A．what you should do when meeting with difficulties
B．where you can find your mistakes
C．how you can avoid making mistakes
D．why you should celebrate your mistakes
难度: 中等查看答案及解析