He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established (确立) himself in TV shows, scientific reports, and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.
But last week, Alex, an African parrot, died, obviously of natural causes, said Dr Irene Pepperberg, an expert at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.
Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language ability was, in some ways, more surprising than the efforts of those animals that have been taught, like Koko, the gorilla (猩猩) trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, or Washoe, another gorilla studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s.
When Dr Pepperberg, who was then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard, found Alex was good at remembering words in a pet store in 1977 and bought it, scientists had little expectation that birds could learn to communicate with humans. Most of the research had been done on pigeons, and was not promising.
But by using novel methods of teaching, Dr Pepperberg taught Alex to learn about 150 words, which he could put into categories. He could count small numbers and tell colors and shapes. “The work changed the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “We used to look down upon those birds, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex’s — with some awe.”
1.Alex is very famous because ________.
A. it died of a strange disease
B. it lived longer than any other parrot
C. it hosted many famous TV shows
D. it has a special talent in learning human language
2.What was the direct reason why Dr Pepperberg bought Alex?
A. He found it was good at remembering words.
B. He liked its colors and shapes.
C. He wanted to do research on birds.
D. Diana Reiss asked him to do that.
3.What does the underlined word “novel” mean in the last paragraph?
A. Special. B. New.
C. Great. D. Unique.
4.According to the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.
A. people used to think dolphins were the cleverest
B. Alex’s ability of learning human language has changed some researchers’ ideas about birds
C. elephants are better at learning human language
D. birds’ great ability in learning human language has already been noticed before
5.What would be the best title for this passage?
A. Who are cleverer, birds or gorillas?
B. A famous talking bird died
C. Have you ever talked with a bird?
D. The keeper of a famous bird
高一英语阅读理解中等难度题
He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established (确立) himself in TV shows, scientific reports, and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.
But last week, Alex, an African parrot, died, obviously of natural causes, said Dr Irene Pepperberg, an expert at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.
Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language ability was, in some ways, more surprising than the efforts of those animals that have been taught, like Koko, the gorilla (猩猩) trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, or Washoe, another gorilla studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s.
When Dr Pepperberg, who was then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard, found Alex was good at remembering words in a pet store in 1977 and bought it, scientists had little expectation that birds could learn to communicate with humans. Most of the research had been done on pigeons, and was not promising.
But by using novel methods of teaching, Dr Pepperberg taught Alex to learn about 150 words, which he could put into categories. He could count small numbers and tell colors and shapes. “The work changed the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “We used to look down upon those birds, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex’s — with some awe.”
1.Alex is very famous because ________.
A. it died of a strange disease
B. it lived longer than any other parrot
C. it hosted many famous TV shows
D. it has a special talent in learning human language
2.What was the direct reason why Dr Pepperberg bought Alex?
A. He found it was good at remembering words.
B. He liked its colors and shapes.
C. He wanted to do research on birds.
D. Diana Reiss asked him to do that.
3.What does the underlined word “novel” mean in the last paragraph?
A. Special. B. New.
C. Great. D. Unique.
4.According to the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.
A. people used to think dolphins were the cleverest
B. Alex’s ability of learning human language has changed some researchers’ ideas about birds
C. elephants are better at learning human language
D. birds’ great ability in learning human language has already been noticed before
5.What would be the best title for this passage?
A. Who are cleverer, birds or gorillas?
B. A famous talking bird died
C. Have you ever talked with a bird?
D. The keeper of a famous bird
高一英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
1. He had more money than he could ever spend, and he was admired and looked up to by his community．2. He wasn’t happy．All his life he had been pursuing happiness and striving (奋斗) for happiness, but he had never been able to find it.
Then one day he heard about a hidden temple in Nepal that had a special room that contained the secret of happiness．3. After many years of searching and countless hardships he arrived there．He was tired and penniless, but he knew that none of that mattered now because he had found the temple．He asked a wise, smiling monk (僧侣) if he could enter the special room．The monk agreed and showed him the stairs leading to the room．4. He stared into the room with sunlight steaming through the window and saw what he had come so far to find． There hanging on the wall was the secret of happiness．The man gazed at his reflection in the mirror and laughed.
5. Happiness is a choice that we can make．Don’t spend the rest of your life searching the world for happiness then．Just look in the mirror and laugh．Just let the happiness flow from your heart, mind, and soul until it fills your life and the lives of all those around you．
A．It is time that we all realized that we were the secret of our own happiness.
B．He immediately sold all that he owned and set out to find this hidden temple.
C．There once was a very wealthy and successful man.
D．He climbed them with legs shaking with expectation and slowly opened the door.
E．But he knew that something was missing in his life.
F．No one found the secret of happiness at last.
G．It was difficult to find the temple in Nepal.
高一英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析
He could feel tears ___________ behind his eyes and wanted nothing more than for Father to realize just how awful a place Out-With really was and agree that it was time to leave.
A. fading B. welling up
C. dismissing D. leaking
高一英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
He _____ more than 5,000 English words when he entered the university at the age of 15.
A. has learned B. would have learned
C. learned D. had learned
高一英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Mr. More has more money than Mr. Little. But he doesn’t enjoy_____.
A. he B. him C. his D. himself
高一英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
He came all the way to China for learning it better _______ for making money.
A．other than B．more than C．better than D．rather than
高一英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
After John’s first wife died, he gets married again. His second wife was more younger than he was and they often quarreled. John once came home lately after work, his wife said to him that he had waited for two hours. She was too angry that she gave him a push, which made him fall down the stairs so he is old and weak. When Steven, one of John’s neighbor, heard the noise, he was eager to know which was happening. He came John’s front door and knocked. “What’s happened?” he asked. “My coat fell down the stairs,” John answered. When the neighbor said a coat wouldn’t make so many noise, John answered, “Of course it would if I was inside it!”
高一英语短文改错中等难度题查看答案及解析
He is ______ a teacher to me, and he is also my friend.
A. more than B. less than
C. not more than D. no more than
高一英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
His entire money________no more than one hundred dollars when he arrived in America in 2000.
A. added to B. added up to C. was added up to D. raised to
高一英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
He accepts the idea ______ successful people spend a lot more time reading than watching TV, and he has decided to read for an hour every day from now on.
A. that B. why
C. how D. which
高一英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析