Last summer, bird-watchers confirmed the discovery of a new species of bird in Cambodia（柬埔寨）: the Combodian tailorbird. It was not an event of particular biological significance but it was striking for one reason: This species of tailorbird was discovered not in an unspoiled rain forest but within the limits of Combodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
We don’t typically think of the city as a likely habitat for natural life except rats and pigeons（鸽子）, let alone as a hiding place for an undiscovered species of bird. But a new paper, published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, proves it incorrect. A team of 24 researchers has studied birds and plants in 147 cities, and found that cities much more closely resemble their native habitats than they resemble each other.
It’s also true that in the world of birds and plants, as in human society, there is such thing as a world species who feels equally at home in Francisco, Milan and Beijing. Four birds appear in more than 80 percent of the cities studied, and 11 plants in more than 90 percent of the cities. On the plant side, those include meadow grass, shepherd’s purse, weeds. In the air, it’s the usual species: the pigeon, the house sparrow and the European starling（惊鸟）. They all have become completely adapted to urban life.
However, not all cities are equal protectors of plants and animals, though. City design plays an important role in greening a city. In fact, the amount of green space is a stronger predictor of the biodiversity than a city’s size.
In a world where architecture, food, language, fashion and commerce are increasingly globalized, a city’s native plants and animals are considered as a kind of city identity. Cities tend to become similar, but their natural environments stand differently apart.
1.What does the author think of the discovery of the Cambodian tailorbird?
A.It is just an exception.
B.It is a wonder for the Cambodians.
C.It is an amazing biological event.
D.It is very common in the world.
2.Weeds and sparrows are found in many cities. This seems to be a result of ________.
A.complete adaption
B.natural selection
C.good urban design
D.rapid globalization
3.We can learn that while cities tend to become similar, their natural environments ________.
A.are becoming worse
B.remain diverse
C.are expanding in size
D.stay unchanged
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A.The Discovery of New Species of Bird in Cambodia
B.The Similarity of the Habitats in Different Cities
C.City’s Native Plants and Animals—A Kind of City Identity
D.City—Protector of Native Plants and Animals
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
Last summer, bird-watchers confirmed the discovery of a new species of bird in Cambodia（柬埔寨）: the Combodian tailorbird. It was not an event of particular biological significance but it was striking for one reason: This species of tailorbird was discovered not in an unspoiled rain forest but within the limits of Combodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
We don’t typically think of the city as a likely habitat for natural life except rats and pigeons（鸽子）, let alone as a hiding place for an undiscovered species of bird. But a new paper, published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, proves it incorrect. A team of 24 researchers has studied birds and plants in 147 cities, and found that cities much more closely resemble their native habitats than they resemble each other.
It’s also true that in the world of birds and plants, as in human society, there is such thing as a world species who feels equally at home in Francisco, Milan and Beijing. Four birds appear in more than 80 percent of the cities studied, and 11 plants in more than 90 percent of the cities. On the plant side, those include meadow grass, shepherd’s purse, weeds. In the air, it’s the usual species: the pigeon, the house sparrow and the European starling（惊鸟）. They all have become completely adapted to urban life.
However, not all cities are equal protectors of plants and animals, though. City design plays an important role in greening a city. In fact, the amount of green space is a stronger predictor of the biodiversity than a city’s size.
In a world where architecture, food, language, fashion and commerce are increasingly globalized, a city’s native plants and animals are considered as a kind of city identity. Cities tend to become similar, but their natural environments stand differently apart.
1.What does the author think of the discovery of the Cambodian tailorbird?
A.It is just an exception.
B.It is a wonder for the Cambodians.
C.It is an amazing biological event.
D.It is very common in the world.
2.Weeds and sparrows are found in many cities. This seems to be a result of ________.
A.complete adaption
B.natural selection
C.good urban design
D.rapid globalization
3.We can learn that while cities tend to become similar, their natural environments ________.
A.are becoming worse
B.remain diverse
C.are expanding in size
D.stay unchanged
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A.The Discovery of New Species of Bird in Cambodia
B.The Similarity of the Habitats in Different Cities
C.City’s Native Plants and Animals—A Kind of City Identity
D.City—Protector of Native Plants and Animals
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The new invention made last month would have a variety of _______ in industry.
A. discoveries B. profits C. guidances D. applications
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The discovery of an ancient giant panda skull has confirmed its bamboo diet dates back more than 2 million years and may have played a key part in its survival.
A Chinese-US research team reports its results today following studies on a fossil skull found in south China’s Cuangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2001.
The six fossils unearthed in Jinyin Cave are dated between 2.4 and 2 million years ago, according to the report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an influential US journal.
Jin Changzhu, of the chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and lead author of the paper, said the smaller fossil skull indicates the giant pandas were about a third smaller than today’s pandas.
Researchers knew the panda reached its maximum size about 500,000 years ago, when it peaked ,and then gradually became smaller.
Jin, a paleontologist (古生物学者) at the Institute of Vertebrate paleontology and Paleoanthropology (古人类学) attached to the CAS, said the size variation was a basic rule of evolution.
“A species tends to grow bigger when it reaches the peak of its population , but becomes smaller when numbers decline,” he said.
The dental remains of the skull, which is the oldest giant panda skull ever found, are similar to today’s pandas, indicating the type of teeth that could munch (津津有味地嚼)mountains of bamboo. A panda can eat up to 40kg of bamboo per day.
Paleoanthropologist Russell Ciochon, the US co-author at the University of lowa, said the panda’s focus on bamboo could have helped it survive all these years.
“Once an animal begins to rely on a common and stable food source, such as bamboo, it tends to evolve a larger body size,” he said. “As individuals of the evolving species grow bigger, they have a better chance not to be eaten by predators (肉食动物) due to their larger body size.”
1.According to the research of the CAS , there were most pandas in the world .
A. 2 million years ago
B. between 2.4 and 2 million years ago
C. 500,000 years ago
D. Nowadays
2.The underlined word “variation” in para 6 means .
A. fall B. change C. increase D. decrease
3.From the passage, we can learn .
A. pandas began to eat bamboo 2 million years ago
B. a species tends to grow smaller when numbers decline
C. the giant pandas were about a third the size of today’s pandas
D. pandas’ bamboo has played an important role in its development
4.The passage mainly tells us that .
A. pandas are endangered
B. pandas had a long history
C. pandas had bamboo to beat predators
D. today’s Pandas are similar to the oldest ones
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
The discovery of the new drug is of great ____ to people who suffer from heart problems.
A. appreciation B. significance C. satisfaction D. guidance
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
One of the best aspects of travel is in discovery. Whether you're burying yourself in a new culture or wandering the streets of a foreign city, you're finding new things to see and experience. Part of that discovery is in what you learn about yourself. 1..
Here are some of those ways:
◆ 2.
Travel means new foods, cultures and places to explore. Try speaking that new language or eat a new kind of food you never knew existed. When you’re thrown outside of your normal circumstances, you’ll discover more about who you are and what you're like.
◆ The chance to reinvent yourself
At home, people can see you a certain way and classify you into a personality type that can be hard to escape. 3.. You're free to break away from how people normally see you and reinvent yourself.
◆ Building confidence
You've just traveled across a country, tried a new language and bargained over prices in a market. They're all things you didn't know you could do before, but you dug up a new-found sense of adventure and somehow made it work. 4.. And the more challenges you take on, the more sure of yourself you become.
◆ Choices and organizing skills
What's the best route to take so I see all the major attractions? What's the best way to get to the next city and back so I don't miss my flight? How should I organize my itinerary (行程)? 5.. You have to organize your trip so that you have a place to stay and transportation to and from certain destinations.
A.With travel, come challenges
B.Travel is about making choices
C.Forcing you out of your comfort zone
D.Trips don't always go according to plan
E.Having time to reflect on your life
F.Travel can give you a chance to explore other sides of your personality
G.Like most experiences, travel can change you in ways you might never have expected
高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
34. It was extremely hot last summer. ________, it was the hottest summer of the last 50 years.
| A．At last | B．In fact | C．On average | D．For example |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
When my friend went to Europe last summer, instead of snapping photographs of the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower or Stonehenge, she brought back 32 rolls of ... cathedral ceilings. Ceilings. For the 10 years I’ve known her I had never suspected that she was this passionate about stained glass.
Still one of the best things about such pictures — despite their obvious narrow appeal — is that they can’t help but tell us a great deal about the people who took them.
So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got the roll of film back from my 5-year-old son’s first camping trip. I opened the envelope, naively expecting to see pictures of the nightly campfire, the sun setting over the forest, and possibly even a deer or two.
Instead, I saw an off-center picture of tennis shoes. Not even his tennis shoes, mind you, but a pair someone had lost and left in the cabin. Mystery shoes. And that’s not all.
As I went through the stack, I found that my son had also taken a picture of his sleeping bag, a penny he found in the gravel next to the car, a leaf, an orange sock, a close-up of his father’s ear, a burned hot dog, his thumb, a piece of gum, and many other similar things.
There was barely one sign of nature in the whole stack. I couldn’t help thinking that if he’d wanted pictures of assorted junk, it would’ve been cheaper had he spent the weekend in our back-yard.
AT LEAST that is what I thought until I showed the photographs to my ceiling-snapping friend, the mother of three teenagers, who said simply, “There’s nothing wrong with these.”
But of course, this is just the type of answer you’d expect from someone who photographs ceiling.
Then she told me about the time her daughter went to Yosemite Valley and returned with rolls of photographs of the hotel, restaurant, and gift shop. She also told me about the time her son took his camera to a Major League Baseball game and returned with 24 pictures of cloud formations.
I had a feeling she was just trying to make me feel better.
Then again, to a 5-year-old boy, finding a penny is more exciting than seeing a squirrel. And why would he waste good film on something like, say, some endangered water buffaloes, when he could take a picture of cool tennis shoes? Or his shiny new green sleeping bag?
Face it: Things like beautiful sunsets and campfires can’t compare to a bag of extra-large marshmallow.
So I did what any good mother would do: I marked the date on the back of the pictures and slid them into our family vacation photo album — right after the five pages of ice sculptures I took last year on our cruise to the Bahamas.
1.Which of the following proverbs best displays the author’s final thought?
A. Every dog will have its day.
B. Every man has his hobby-horse.
C. If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
D. You can take a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink.
2.Who might have taken a picture of the back seat of the family car in his or her trip mentioned in this passage?
A. The author’s friend. B. The author’s son.
C. The author. D. The author’s friend’s daughter.
3.The author changed her mind on her son’s picture taking because______ .
A. her friend persuaded her to do so
B. her son’s pictures finally struck her
C. she realized the truth by herself inspired by the surrounding examples
D. it suddenly occurred to her that she herself had also taken unique pictures before
4.What can we infer from this passage?
A. Age and gender play an important role in one’s vision of the world.
B. The author’s friend is a better mum in terms of educating children.
C. The author will allow her son more freedom to choose in his future life.
D. The author will take vacation pictures of different kind from her past ones.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Last summer, I had to stay in the room during the period of my recovery from cancer after the operation. It was unexpected that life highlighted everything that I might tend to take for granted in the normal course.
On the first morning, my children presented me a coffee pot. I liked to begin the day with a cup of coffee and was eager to try the pot.
When I made coffee, it spilled out over the whole table. Fortunately, nobody was there to see my embarrassed look! I kept trying, but each morning would see me wiping up the coffee. Then I realized that if I poured very slowly there would be no spilling.
This was at first a very painful experience. My normal practice was to rush through breakfast so that I could get on with my day. But at that moment I learned not only to pour slowly but to enjoy the experience: the smell, the taste, and the stillness of a new day.
It helped me to reflect upon whether there were other areas of my life 1 was rushing through. Most of life, it seemed. Strangely, those we consider loved ones may go of radar(雷达)when we would expect them to enquire about our well-being. However, others we seldom keep in touch with came into our lives suddenly, full of concern, well-meaning advice and love.
After the recovery period, I started to leave extra time to do even the most ordinary tasks. When shop owners would apologize for keeping me waiting, I would say, "Not a problem, I'm not in a hurry." Even hanging out washing became pleasurable when a couple of extra minutes of standing still, and listening to the birds singing in the trees around me became part of my routine.
Besides, one of my favorite experiences living in the inner city for many years was sitting on the front doorstep of our home spending time with strangers. We sat on the steps, each of us with a cup of coffee in our hands, listening to each other's stories. It was one of the warmest things about living in a busy city.
1.What was the author's life like before the time of recovery from the illness?
A.Awkward. B.Relaxing.
C.Hurried. D.Thrilling.
2.How did the author enjoy the pouring-coffee experience?
A.By pilling coffee over the table. B.By buying a new pot.
C.By chatting with the strangers. D.By pouring coffee slowly.
3.What happened when the author changed her lifestyle?
A.She had more time for reflecting on her past.
B.She found joy in ordinary daily activities.
C.She became impatient with any shop owner.
D.She liked listening to mysteries in busy cities.
4.What is the main purpose of this article?
A.To tell people how to make coffee tasty.
B.To advocate enjoying slow-paced life.
C.To show the gift from her children.
D.To recommend making friends with others.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
短文改错
Last summer, I participated in the Secondary School Program in Harvard. I spent half of the day in my class and homework, and then I'd be free to do I wanted. Since my course was a 8-credit one, it was a lot faster than other summer school course. I had to learn how to keep up with it the pace of my class and study efficient. For me, taking notes were of great help. I also come to know many professors who were available for extra help whenever I needed it. The resources and opportunities combined with the environment here made me want to attending Harvard even more.
高三英语短文改错中等难度题查看答案及解析
It was the last day of July and the long hot summer was drawing to a close As for me．1 was out of spirits，and，if the truth must be told, out of money as well，During the past year I had not managed my finances as carefully as usual；and 1 was now limited to spending the autumn economically between my mother’s cottage at Hampstead and my own in town.
My father had been dead for some years，and my sister and 1 were the sole survivors of a family of five children. My father was a drawing-master before me He had been highly successful in his profession and my mother and sister were left economically independent after his death.
The view of London below me had sunk into the black shadow of the cloudy night, when I stood before the gate of my mother’s cottage I had hardly rung the bell．When the house door was opened violently．My worthy Italian friend，Professor Pesca，appeared in the servant’s place，and rushed out joyously to receive me．
I had first become acquainted(熟悉)with my Italian friend at certain great houses，where he taught Italian and I taught drawing What I then knew of the history of his life was that he had left Italy for political reasons and that he had been respectably established for many years in London as a teacher of languages It once happened that I saved him from certain death by drowning while we
were swimming in the sea at Brighton Afterwards he overwhelmed(淹没)me with the wildest expressions of affection and exclaimed passionately, that he would hold his life at my disposal from then on, and declared that he should never be happy again until he had had the opportunity of proving his gratitude．Little did I think that the occasion to serve me was soon to come．
Pesca dragged me in by both hands into the parlor, where my mother sat by the open window, laughing and fanning herself．Pesca was one of her especial favorites，and his wildest strange acts were always pardonable in her eyes．
“Now, my good dears．”began Pesca．“listen to me The time has come I recite my good news．I speak at last…'Hear, hear!”said my mother, humoring the joke“I go back into my life，and I address myself to the noblest of men，who found me dead at the bottom of the sea，and who pulled me up to the top. What did I say when l got into my own life and my own clothes again? I said that my life belonged to my dear friend，Walter, for the rest of my days Now,”cried the enthusiastic little mall at the top of his voice．“happiness bursts out of me at every pore of my skin．For I have found a job for you”
1.The first two paragraphs of the passage serve as an introduction to——
A. the financial situation the writer then faced
B. the season that the story was set in
C. the family members of the writer
D. the successful profession of the writer’s father
2.The underlined word‘‘sole’’in the second paragraph probably means‘‘ ”
A．main B. only C. lucky D. possible
3.It can be learned from the passage that Pesca
A. used to be a politician
B. was a successful drawing-master
C. was quite close to the mother
D. wanted to give the writer some money in return
4.According to the last paragraph，Pesca was more than happy because
A. he went back into his life
B . he met his dear friend again
C. his friend ever saved his life
D. he had done something good for his friend
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析