Talking plants might sound like characters in...

Talking plants might sound like characters in a fairy tale. But recent scientific studies have shown that plants communicate with each other and with other living things in a surprising number of ways. To understand them, scientists say, we just have to learn their language. Farmers are especially interested in what plants have to say.

“Plants are able to communicate with all sorts of organisms (有机体). They can communicate with giant bacteria, with other plants and with insects. They do this chemically，” said Cahill, an Ecology Professor of the University of Alberta in Canada.

Plant scientists are just beginning to understand this chemical “language”. Cahill says studies have shown, for example, that plants can evaluate (评估) conditions in their immediate environment and take appropriate actions.　 Plants have an ability, for example, to signal pain or discomfort caused by anything from temperature extremes to an insect attack. Jack Schultz, a professor of chemical ecology at the University of Missouri, says when a plant senses that it's being eaten, it cannot walk away from trouble; on the contrary, it will release a chemical vapor(蒸汽) that alerts other plants nearby.

“Their language is a chemical language, and it involves chemicals that move through the air that are easy to be changeable, and most of all are smells that we are familiar with，” Schultz explained.

“All plants responded to the attack by changing their chemistry to defend themselves，” Schultz recalled. “But we were quite surprised to find that nearby plants also changed their chemistry to defend themselves, even though they were not part of the experiment.”

Studies have also shown that plants under attack release pleasant chemicals. Those chemicals attract friendly insects that attack the pests eating the plant.

In the end, plants' ability to communicate their needs—and our ability to understand them—could help farmers reduce the use of poisonous chemicals, cut operating costs and limit damage to the environment.

1.The recent scientific studies have shown that plants can ______.

A．communicate with other living things in a chemical way

B．hardly react to any sudden change in temperature

C．use a very special chemica1 language which is familiar to us

D．respond to the attack by giving off poisonous chemicals

2.When being eaten by an insect, the plant will ________.

A．walk away from trouble

B．change its chemistry to kill the insect

C．release a chemical vapor to “ask” other plants for help

D．give off nice chemicals to attract friendly insects killing the pest

3.The underlined word “alert” most probably means “______”．

A．warn　　　 B．protect

C．threaten D．allow

4.Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Communication between Plants

B．A Chemical “Language”

C．Plants Can Talk

D．How Plants Protect Themselves

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Moscow city authorities have begun using comics（漫画） with characters from Russian fairy tales to explain to migrants（移民） how they should behave. They say a 100-page guide is needed to "keep a positive image" of the city and could help reduce "tensions" between natives and migrants. But critics have pointed out that foreign migrants and natives may be regarded as antagonists in the manual(手册).

Russians and migrants have repeatedly flooded in Moscow recently. Many migrants from ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, the Caucasus（高加索） and North Caucasus, arrive in Moscow every year, attracted by the capital’s job opportunities and relatively high salaries. A significant number of them work in the Russian capital illegally.

The new guide in Russian seeks to explain the "dos" and "don’ts" to migrants. They are urged not to cause trouble, by staring at women, or eating or talking loudly on the streets. They are also warned that the police may routinely（例行公事） stop them to check their documents.

In the manual, Russia’s famous "three warriors" are meant to represent the city’s law enforcement agencies（执法机关）, while Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (a historical character) is used for tours around Moscow.　　 Meanwhile, Vasilisa the Wise and The Snow Maiden test the reader on Russia’s language and history. A special section of the book explains the importance of following Moscow’s strict residency and employment rules, stressing that migrants could otherwise be deported(驱逐出境) or banned from entry.

The manual was written primarily for illegal migrants, Alexander Kalinin, who heads the group Support for Working Migrants in Moscow, told BBC Russian.

"We want to raise their level of law awareness," he added.

Migrant characters had initially(最初) been identified as representatives of different nationalities, but the book’s authors later decided to drop this idea so as "not to offend anyone", said Mr. Kalinin.

"The old conflict between Russian heroes and non-Slavic invaders is being revived," Yevgeny Varshaver, a migration expert told BBC Russian. He also suggested that the language used in the book would be "difficult" to understand for some migrants who were not native Russian speakers.

1.The underlined word "antagonists" in Paragraph 1 can probably be replaced by ""_____". ".

A. friends B. acquaintances

C. cooperators D. opponents

2.People from other countries come to Moscow "_____".

A. to find well-paid jobs B. to have a new lifestyle

C. to enjoy the fine climate D. to experience a new culture

3.The third paragraph is mainly about"_____".

A. consequences the migrants may suffer

B. the purpose of publishing the handbook

C. the measures to attract foreign migrants

D. characters and their functions in Russian fairytales

4.Which of the following would be the best title of the text?

A. Ways to help foreign migrants to settle in Russia

B. Characters from Russian fairy tales have new jobs

C. More and more foreign migrants to work in Moscow

D. Moscow fairy tale comics to help migrants behave

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

In fairy tales, it's usually the princess that needs protecting. At Google in Silicon Valley, the princess is the one defending the castle. Parisa Tabriz is a 31-year-old with perhaps the most unique job title in engineering- “Google Security Princess”. Her job is to hack into the most popular web browser（浏览器）on the planet, trying to find weaknesses in the system before the “black hats” do. To defeat Google's attackers, Tabriz must firstly think like them.

Tabriz's role has evolved dramatically in the eight years since she first started working at Google. Back then, the young graduate from Illinois University was one of 50 security engineers---today there are over 500.

Cybercrime（网络犯罪）has come a long way in the past decade - from the Nigerian Prince Scam to credit card theft. Tabriz's biggest concern now is the people who find bugs in Google's software, and sell the information to governments or criminals. To fight against this, the company has set up a Vulnerability Rewards Program, paying anywhere from $100 to $ 20, 000 for reported mistakes.

It's a world away from Tabriz's computer-free childhood home in Chicago. The daughter of an Iranian-American doctor father, and Polish-American nurse mother, Tabriz had little contact with computers until she started studying engineering at college. Gaze across a line-up of Google security staff today and you'll find women like Tabriz are few and far between（稀少的）--- though in the last few years she has hired more female tech geniuses. She admits there's an obvious gender disequilibrium in Silicon Valley.

Funnily enough, during training sessions Tabriz first asks new colleagues to hack into not a computer, but a vending machine. Tabriz's job is as much about technological know-how（专门知识）as understanding the psychology of attackers.

1.What can we learn about Tabriz from the passage?

A. She was the first female engineer at Google.

B. She must think differently so as to defeat the attackers.

C. Her job relates to not only technology but also psychology.

D. Her frequent contact with computers in childhood benefits her a lot.

2.Why has Google set up a Vulnerability Rewards Program?

A. To protect Google against cybercrime.

B. To monitor the normal operation of Google.

C. To help the government locate the cybercriminals.

D. To raise people's awareness of personal information safety.

3.What does the underlined word “disequilibrium” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A. Imbalance.　　 B. Preference.

C. Difference.　　 D. Discrimination.

4.Which of the following could be the best title of this passage?

A. What leads to cybercrime

B. The “Security Princess” who guards Google

C. Measures taken by Google to protect its users

D. How to become an excellent security engineer

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

In the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen's apple and falls victim to a curse（诅咒）;in Shakespeare's novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pellets（药丸）that contained mercury（水银）, believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.

Poison has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?

An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison.

The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars（毛毛虫）, frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren't much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered with a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.

"Poisons can be bad for some things," Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. "Yet they can also be good for others."

A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol.

The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances（物质）that we regularly ingest（摄入）-chili, coffee and chocolate-owe their special flavors or stimulating（提神的）effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects.

1.What does the underlined word "immortal" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. happy　　 B. not moral

C. living forever　　 D. sick

2.What is the main purpose of the exhibition The Power of Poison?

A. To give people more in-depth knowledge about poison.

B. To teach people how to handle poisonous animals.

C. To inform people about which animals are the most poisonous.

D. To show how poison has been used for medical treatment.

3.Which of the following statements about the Golden poison frog is TRUE according to the article?

A. Its skin can cut off the signaling power of your nerves.

B. It's about the size of a coin.

C. It's the most poisonous animal on display.

D. You can only see it in a rainforest setting of the museum.

4.The stimulating effects of coffee come from ________.

A. natural poison made by the plant

B. the substances that we regularly ingest

C. chemicals produced by poisonous insects

D. its special flavor

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A theme park featuring Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales will be built and open to public in Shanghai during the World Expo, which is ________ on May 1 next year in the city．

A．scheduling to start  B．scheduled to start   C．starting         D．to being started

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Imagine living in a city made of glass. No, this isn’t a fairy tale. If you could grab your diving gear and swim down 650 feet into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington State, you would witness the secret world of glass reefs.

The reef you’d be looking at is made up of glass sponges(海绵). But how can animals be made of glass? Well, glass is formed from a substance called silica. The sponges use the silica found in ocean waters to build glass structures that will give them shape and support. Be careful! Some of the fragile creatures are up to 200 years old.

When sponges die, new ones grow on top of the pile of old ones. Over centuries, a massive and complex reef takes shape. Some sponges look like wrinkled trumpets, while others look like overgrown cauliflower or mushrooms.

Dr. Paul Johnson, who discovered the Washington reef in 2007, also found other surprises such as bubbles of methane(甲烷) gas flowing out of the seafloor nearby. The methane feeds bacteria, and the bacteria feed the glass sponges.

“It’s a new ecosystem we know nothing about,” said Dr. Johnson.

The reef of yellow and orange glass sponges is crowded with crabs, shrimp, starfish, worms, snails, and rockfish. The glass reef is also a nursery for the babies of many of these creatures and was called a “kindergarten” by scientists.

Many animals that live in the reef hang around for a long time, just like the sponges. Rockfish, for example, live for more than 100 years. Scientists are just beginning to study all the species that call the reef home.

The Washington coast isn’t the only place where a living glass reef has been found. The first was discovered in Hecate Strait off the coast of British Columbia in 1991. Scientists all over the world were stunned to see it.

1.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Man-made cities under the sea     B. The world under the sea

C. Glass “cities” under the sea        D. Creatures under the sea

2.It can be learned that the glass reef _______.

A. is made up of a kind of materials called sponges

B. is a work of art made by some American scientists

C. is a new ecosystem people are not familiar with

D. was first discovered off the coast of Washington State

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The sponges must feel soft.

B. Silica comes from animals’ body fluid.

C. Methane is harmful to glass sponges.

D. Glass sponges depend on the bacteria for a living.

4.Why did scientists call the glass reef a “kindergarten”?

A. Because the babies of many sea creatures grow well there.

B. Because thousands of children visit it every year.

C. Because it is crowded with snails and rockfish, etc.

D. Because all the species call the reef home.

5.What does the underlined word “stunned” in the last paragraph mean?

A. Greatly surprised.       B. Extremely scared.

C. Highly satisfied.        D. Very pleased.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Swan Lake is a famous ballet in four acts, _____ on a German fairy tale.

A. basing             B. which is based     C. bases             D. to base

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

It sounds like the perfect end to a long, hard day at work. But sitting in front of the TV might make you feel worse _____ better.

A. other than　　　 B. less than

C. or rather　　　 D. rather than

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

60. The witch ________ the prince      a frog once in the fairy tales.

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

Although being famous might sound like a dream coming true, today’s stars, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature!

According to psychologist Christina Villareal, celebrities—famous people—worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the persons they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villareal says, “they feel separated and alone.”

The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C. , painters followed Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.

Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say soomething silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet　 to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.

If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is that there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous the are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.

Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.

1.It can be learned from the passage that stars today________.

A. can no longer have their privacy protected

B. are often misunderstood by the public

C. spend too much on their public appearance

D. care little about how they have come into fame

2.What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A. Great heroes of the past were generally admired.

B. The problem faced by celebrities has a long history.

C. Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids.

D. Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers.

3.What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?

A. Huge population of fans.　　 B. Inadequate social recognition.

C. Lack of favorable chances.　　 D. Availability of modern media.

4.What is the author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?

A. Sincere.　　 B. Skeptical.

C. Sympathetic.　　 D. Disapproving.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析