As PhD research goes, Brian Wisenden might be...

As PhD research goes, Brian Wisenden might be envied: watching baby fish swimming swiftly through the clear waters in the Costa Rican tropical dry forest. By recording their growth and numbers, he hoped to look at their risks of being eaten. Instead, he witnessed something strange. Many groups were increasing in numbers. In these groups, some were smaller than others, suggesting they weren’t siblings (兄弟姐妹). Wisenden had accidentally discovered that the fish, called convict cichlids, adopt each other’s babies. Why would they do that, he wondered?

In the human world, we think of adoption as a selfless act. But in nature, its presence is puzzling. Taking on the burden of bringing up babies with no genetic link would seem to reduce an animal’s chance of survival or at least provide no gain. Yet, adoption is surprisingly common in the natural world.

Take the eastern grey kangaroo. Between 2008 and 2013, Wisenden followed the fates of 326 baby kangaroos in the Wilsons Promontory National Park in Victoria and recorded 11 cases of pouch (育儿袋) swapping. The circumstances behind some of these adoptions aren’t known, but four were straight swaps and another four occurred after a mother had lost her own baby. How come? Before independence, baby kangaroos go through a period inside and outside their mothers pouch. Following out-of-pouch attempts, mothers normally sniff their young before allowing them back in, but Wisendens team suspect that during an emergency they may omit the sniff test, allowing a weak baby to quickly climb in before fleeing from danger.

Some of nature’s adoptions are, actually, driven by young. In burrower bugs (土蝽), for example, females lay a nest of eggs close to those of unrelated bugs. Mother bugs tend their developing eggs before they hatch, and then feed 出fir babies nuts from weedy mint plants. Finding nuts is a competitive business，so not every mother bug gets her fair share. And if the delivery rate isn’t up to standard, clever young may abandon their mothers to join a better-fed group.

The consequences of adoption following mistaken identity can be horrible. The true babies of adopting mothers were abandoned. Bui it can have remarkable benefits, not just for adoptees but also for adoptive parents.

1.What can we learn about Wisenden’s research about baby fish?

A. It was beyond his expectations.

B. It put many rare species at risk.

C. It showed a genetic similarity in fish.

D. It found a new way to protect forests.

2.What does the underlined word “omit” mean in the passage?

A. Confirm.　　 B. Repeat.

C. Adopt.　　 D. Skip.

3.Why would some burrower hugs abandon their mothers?

A. To live in warmer nests.　　 B. To reproduce.

C. To seek for better parenting.　　 D. To adapt to competition earlier.

4.What may the author most probably talk about next?

A. The causes of accidental adoption.　　 B. The processes of accidental adoption.

C. The drawbacks of accidental adoption.　　 D. The advantages of accidental adoption.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

As PhD research goes, Brian Wisenden was enviable, watching baby fish swimming swiftly through the clear waters in the Costa Rican tropical dry forest. By recording their growth and numbers, he hoped to look at their risks of being eaten. Instead, he witnessed something odd. Many groups were increasing in numbers. In these groups, some were smaller than others, suggesting they weren’t siblings (兄弟姐妹). Wisenden had accidentally discovered that the fish, called convict cichlids, adopt each other’s babies. Why would they do that, he wondered?

In the human world, we think of adoption as a selfless act. But in nature, its presence is puzzling. Taking on the burden of bringing up babies with no genetic link would seem to reduce an animal’s chances of survival or at least provide no gain. Yet, adoption is surprisingly common in the world.

Take the eastern grey kangaroo. Between 2008 and 2013, Wisenden followed the fates of 326 baby kangaroos in the National Park in Victoria and recorded 11 cases of pouch swapping. The circumstances behind some of these adoptions aren’t known, but four were straight swaps and another four occurred after a mother had lost her own baby.

How come? Before independence, baby kangaroos go through a period inside and outside their mother’s pouch. Following out-of-pouch forays, mothers normally sniff their young before allowing them back in, but Wisenden’s team suspect that during an emergency they may skip the sniff test, allowing a vulnerable baby to quickly climb in before fleeing from danger. Once inside the wrong pouch, the young may fake the mother’s odor, making them smell confusingly like her own progeny. So, poor baby recognition is the prime cause of “accidental” adoption.

Some of nature’s adoptions are, actually, driven by young looking for better prospects. In burrower bugs, for example, females lay a nest of eggs close to those of unrelated bugs. Mother bugs tend their developing eggs before they hatch, then feed their babies nuts from weedy mint plants. Finding nuts is a competitive business, so not every mother bug gets her fair share. And if the delivery rate isn’t up to scratch, clever young may abandon their mothers to join a better-fed group. That’s similar to behavior in several species of gull whose babies, if poorly fed, may leave home in search of better parents.

The consequences of adoption following mistaken identity can be dire. The true babies of adopting mothers were abandoned. But it can have remarkable benefits, not just for adoptees but also for adoptive parents.

1.It can be inferred from the passage that Wisenden’s findings are 　　　　 .

A.too weird to be witnessed B.out of his own expectations

C.envied by his peer co-researchers D.a sound proof of his research object

2.Which is NOT the reason for adoption in the animal kingdom?

A.Baby animals’ looking for better parenting.

B.Parents’ failure to recognize their own babies.

C.Selfless adoption commonly seen in animal world.

D.Parents, inability to provide enough food.

3.The underlined word “vulnerable” in the fourth paragraph means 　　　　 .

A.weak and easily attacked B.naughty and easily hurt

C.independent and well-fed D.fragile and poorly raised

4.What will the author most probably talk about next?

A.The benefits for baby animals. B.The benefits for adopters.

C.The consequences of adoption. D.The consequences of wrong identity.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The secret of staying slim could be as simple as keeping your mind on your meals. Research suggests that 1 ourselves from distractions and concentrating completely on the food that is in front of us, helps us stay in 2 . Such ‘mindful eating’ ensures that the 3 is in tune with (协调) the body, enabling it to ‘hear’ the chemical 4 that tell it that we are full。

Digestion 5  a complex series of signals between the gut (肠道)and the nervous system and it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to tell that the body has eaten enough. This means that if someone eats too 6 , the signals will come slowly, leading to 7 .

Scientists say that distractions make it8 for us to remember what we have eaten. This absent-mindedness stops us from feeling 9  – and sends us reaching for some snacks later on. It is thought that our memory of what we have eaten plays a key role in 10  appetite. This means that distractions stop us from remembering the detail of what we have eaten – leaving us feeling 11 .

Advocates of mindful eating 12 chewing food slowly and taking note of its color, smell and flavor. Before 13  dieters should ask themselves if they are really hungry---and if not, distract themselves by going for a walk or reading. Done14 , mindful eating may not only leave you 15 , but also make you enjoy mealtimes.

1.A. feeling      B. protecting      C. freeing        D. saving

2.A. shape       B. health         C. touch          D. business

3.A. appetite     B. speed         C. emotion        D. mind

4.A. orders      B. sounds        C. desires          D. messages

5.A. discovers    B. involves      C. sends           D. holds

6.A. quickly     B. slowly        C. gradually        D. suddenly

7.A. imbalance   B. damage       C. overeating       D. failure

8.A. clearer      B. easier         C. sharper         D. harder

9.A. full         B. great         C. comfortable      D. delicious

10.A. building     B. losing        C. controlling       D. improving

11.A. upset       B. eager         C. hungry          D. desperate

12.A. mind       B. advise        C. avoid            D. consider

13.A. snacking    B. running       C. writing           D. cooking

14.A. quietly     B. strongly       C. properly          D. poorly

15.A. slim        B. fat           C. strong            D. calm

高三英语完型填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

There might be as many as 10 million species of complex life on this planet today —— a huge number. But add up all of the complex species that ever lived and some biologists think the grand total would be about five billion. The estimate leads to an astonishing conclusion: a staggering 99% of species are not around any more. They have been driven to extinction.

More species are joining the ranks of the extinct every year. Many scientists believe we are living through an episode of remarkably rapid extinction, on a scale that has been seen only five times in the last half a billion years.

They call this current episode the sixth mass extinction —— a large, global decline in a wide variety of species over a relatively short period of time. And they tend to agree that humans are the main cause.

Over-hunting, overfishing, and human-driven habitat loss are pushing many species to the brink. In fact, we have changed the planet so much that some geologists are now suggesting that we have entered a new phase in Earth’s history; an epoch they call the ＂Anthropocene＂. By 2100, it is expected that humans will have caused the extinction of up to half of the world’s current species.

Because we are living through this extinction, it is relatively easy for us to study the driving forces behind it. But how do we determine what caused other mass die-offs that happened long ago? To do so we have to look at what archaeologists, palaeontologists, geologists and other scientists have concluded from the evidence they have gathered.

The trouble is, those scientists do not always agree with one another —— even about the most recent extinction event. As well as the five-or six- mass extinctions, there have also been many smaller extinctions.

One of these mini extinction events happened towards the end of the Pleistocene, a few tens of thousands of years ago. It is sometimes called the ＂megafaunal＂ extinction because many of the species it claimed were particularly large animals, weighing more than 97lb (44kg). However, its cause remains a debate amongst scientists.

1.What can we learn about the sixth mass extinction？

A. Humans are the main cause of it.

B. It means a global decline over a long time.

C. It occurred towards the end of the Pleistocene.

D. Scientists still disagree about the cause of it.

2.What can be inferred from the text about species？

A. 99% of species will not be around any more by 2100.

B. By the 22nd century, there will probably be about five million on this planet.

C. About eight years later we will enter what is called the ＂Anthropocene＂.

D. It is not easy for us to figure out causes behind the＂Anthropocene＂.

3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word in the last paragraph ?

A. Land animals.　　 B. Marine life.

C. Huge animals.　　 D. Flesh-eating creatures.

高三英语完形填空困难题查看答案及解析

People have come to understand _____ prevents so many Americans from  being as happy as one might expect.

A．that it is why       B．what does it that    C．why it does that     D．what it is that

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

When I try to understand ____ that prevents so many Americans from being as happy as one might expect, it seems to me that there are two causes.

A．why does it        B．what does it        C．what it is          D．why it is

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

I sometimes wonder if old Finchley has the right personality to be a research scientist. He keeps asking when he’ll be coming back. After all, it was his own fault. Nobody tries out what has just been invented on themselves any more but Finchley. Well, he must have pumped about a thousand c. c. s into himself before I noticed he was clearly becoming smaller.

It was funny watching him, because his clothes remained the same in size. They simply piled up around him so that he looked like a small boy in his father’s clothes. But he kept getting smaller and smaller. As my colleague Dawson and I watched him, he disappeared! All we could see was Finchley’s clothes on the floor. They looked so strange, because the lab coat was on top, shirt and trousers inside and, I suppose, underclothes inside again. It gave me a strange feeling, and I think Dawson was a bit shaken, too.

Dawson was sitting on his chair in front of a microscope he’d been using to examine a family of mites(螨虫). He looked through the scope kind of absently again, and was nearly scared to lose awareness when he found old Finchley waving back from the other end.

It seems as if Finchley had taken a free ride on a dust mite and landed on the land of the mite family. Of course, we didn’t know till Finchley told us later. But anyhow, as I said, Dawson nearly passed out. He jumped off his chair and pointed at the microscope, to shocked to speak.

1.Finchley disappeared because ________.

A. he took something poisonous

B. he was changed into a dust mite

C. his father’s clothes totally covered him up

D. what he and his colleagues invented resulted in his disappearace

2. It frightened Dawson to see Finchley _______.

A. got into his scope by accident          B. was waving through his telescope

C. suddenly got lost in his clothes        D. gradually disappeared in the lab

3. It can be inferred that Finchley, Dawson and the writer have possibly invented _____.

A. some kind of medicine               B. a new powerful microscope

C. a machine to make people small          D. a new way to make a culture of mite

4. It can probably be concluded that Finchley ________.

A. passed out there and then               B. is not fit to be a scientist

C. is a devoted scientist                  D. will remain tiny all the time

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

I just don’t understand _______ that prevents so many Americans from being as happy as one might expect.

A. why it does　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. what it does

C. what it is　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. why it is

高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析

Are you a procrastinator（拖拉者）? It’s a common problem. And it can be harmful, as previous research has shown that people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower well-being, reported the Association for Psychological Science in the US. But a new study has found a way to deal with this problem: Be more connected to your future self.

Psychologists think that each person believes that they are really two people: “Present Me” and “Future Me”. “People act as if they prefer their current selves’ needs and desires to those of their future selves,” wrote psychologists Neil Lewis and Daphna Oyserman.

Oyserman and Lewis decided to try to find a way to make “Present Me” imagine exactly how “Future Me” would feel the night before a big paper was due, though “Present Me” hadn’t started yet. They made “Present Me” think about a far-off event as a number of days away, not months or years.

Thinking about events in this way meant that something like a friend’s wedding seemed 16.3 days sooner when considered in days rather than months and 11.4 months sooner when considered in months rather than years.

The researchers also tried to find out whether people would take action sooner if they were told a certain event was happening in X days rather than years.　 For example, participants imagined they had a newborn child, and that the child would need to go to college in either 18 years or 6,570 days. The researchers found those in the “days” condition planned to start saving four times sooner than those in the “years” condition.

So if you think of your life in days instead of years, you may get things done quicker.

1.What did Oyserman and Lewis intend to do through their study?

A. To work on a solution to test if someone is a procrastinator.

B. To find out whether human beings usually have two different characters.

C. To discover procrastinators are more likely to have a lower sense of well-being.

D. To prove it’s helpful to connect our current selves more with future selves.

2.The underlined part “this way” in Paragraph 4 refers to “_________”.

A. setting up tough deadlines

B. following schedules strictly

C. counting in smaller units of time

D. imagining how your future self will feel

3.What helps prevent people from procrastinating?

A. Comparing their future selves with present selves.

B. Considering their current selves’ needs and desires.

C. Thinking about far-off events in days rather than years.

D. Marking important events on a calendar as a reminder.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. A way to get things done in time.

B. The harmful effects of procrastination.

C. The reason to overlook future needs and desires.

D. The way to reduce stress and improve happiness.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

I try to understand __________ that prevents so many Chinese from being as happy as one might expect．

A．why is it                                            B．what is it

C．why it is                                            D．what it is

高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析