At the beginning of the 20th century there were more than a million lions worldwide. Today there are less than 30,000 in the wild. The remaining lions are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, hunting and activities to protect farms and cattle.

For generations, Masai tribesmen on the large African plains in southeastern Kenya have hunted lions — to protect their farms and cattle. Today they celebrate the lions’ life.

Noah is an elder in the Masai community. “We have decided as a community of the Masai to lay down our spears, and there will be no more killing of lions in our community.” He is part of a group of Masai visiting the United States promoting (推广) the Predator Compensation Program.

Conservation International’s Frank Hawkins explains, “The Masai have been living with wildlife for many generations and it has been a conflicting ( 有冲突的) relationship in many ways. They compete with the animals for food as lions eat their cattle. We’re trying to find ways in which the wildlife will become something useful to them.” They had the Predator Compensation Fund founded in 2003. After much discussion, a group of Masai farmers agreed to protect lions. In turn, if lions or other predators kill their cattle, the Masai owner will be paid market value for the dead animals from the fund.

One man said that in the past, when a lion killed cattle, they killed it immediately. And now, after the start of the program, the Masai see the lion population growing. Since 2003, only four lions have been killed here.

1.What is the aim of the Predator Compensation Program?

A．To protect people in the wild.              B．To protect Masai’s farms.

C．To protect lions only.                     D．To protect the wildlife.

2.According to the passage, why haven’t Masai tribesmen killed many lions since 2003?

A．Because lions don’t eat their cattle any more.

B．Because they will be fined if they kill lions there.

C．Because the fund will pay for dead animals killed by lions

D．Because there are less than 30,000 lions in the wild now.

3.What do you think of the Masai ?

A．Wise.            B．Mean.            C．Generous.         D．Stupid.

There was once a boy who was very rich and clever but nothing could make him feel happy. He had almost everything a boy could ever want, so he was only _36_in the most rare things. One day his parents bought him a very strange _37_. When the boy went to see his reflection (映像) in it, he looked very_38_. He tried smiling, _39_his reflection continued with its sad expression.
_40_, the boy went off to buy sweets and lots of toys. He came home as happy as he could be, but he _41_looked sad in that mirror.
“What a(n) _42_mirror! It’s the first time I’ve seen a mirror that didn’t _43_properly!”
That afternoon he went out to buy some toys and on his way he saw a little girl who was _44_. The boy went over to see what had __45_to her. The little girl said that she couldn’t find her parents. Together the two children set off _46_them. As the little girl wouldn’t stop crying, the boy spent all of his money buying her sweets to _47_her up. After much walking, they _48_her parents who were looking for her, very worried.
Then the boy said _49_to the family. When seeing the time, he _50_to head for home, without toys and without _51_. In his room, to his great surprise, he found a(n)  _52_face in the mirror. And so he understood the _53_of that mirror. The mirror could only reflect the _54_feelings of its owner. He felt really happy at having _55_that little girl.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意， 然后从各题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

In 1883, a creative engineer, John Roebling, was inspired to build a splendid bridge connecting New York with Long Island. However, experts throughout the world thought that this was  16 .Even so, Roebling could not  17  the idea in his mind. After much discussion, he  18   convince his son Washington, an up-and-coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built. They hired their  19  and began to build their dream bridge.

Only a few months  20  the project was underway a tragic on-site accident killed John Roebling and  21  injured his son, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to move or  22 . Surely now the project would have to be  23 . Though Washington Roebling lay in his hospital bed, he was not  24  and his mind remained as  25  as it was before the accident. Suddenly an idea  26  him. All he could move was one finger, so he  27  the arm of his wife with that finger,  28  to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. For 13 years Washington tapped out his  29  with one finger until the bridge was  30  completed.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of never-say-die attitude that  31  a terrible physical disability and achieves an impossible  32 . Often when we face difficulties in our daily lives, our problems seem very small  33  what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that even the most  34  dream can be realized with  35  no matter what the chances are.

1.A. impossible            B. unnecessary    C. hard                  D. excellent

2.A. recognize                 B. accept                C. ignore               D. believe 

3.A. attempted to     B. sought to            C. failed to             D. managed to 

4.A. family                  B. crew                   C. class                   D. team         

5.A. since                          B. before                C. after                  D. when   

6.A. severely               B. slightly                 C. poorly                 D. hardly

7.A. work                         B. say                      C. eat                      D. talk 

8.A. continued                 B. abandoned                  C. interrupted       D. accomplished  

9.A. defeated                 B. hurt                     C. frightened         D. destroyed  

10.A. sharp                     B. broad                  C. noble                  D. advanced        

11.A. beat                         B. occurred            C. happened                   D. hit  

12.A. waved                     B. felt                      C. touched           D. held 

13.A. appealing               B. speaking            C. indicating          D. advising

14.A. orders                        B. instructions      C. suggestions      D. movements

15.A. quickly                  B. partly                  C. eventually           D. slowly  

16.A. overcomes       B. acquires        C. fights         D. removes

17.A. award            B. fortune        C. status                 D. goal  

18.A. combined with    B. separated from C. compared to      D. concerned about 

19.A. primary         B. distant          C. lifelong        D. good     

20.A. determination    B. knowledge      C. confidence      D. strength

The Mona Lisa, one of the world’s most famous paintings, has been recreated with 3,604 cups of coffee—and 564 pints of milk. The different colors were created by adding no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee.
The recreated Mona Lisa measured 20 feet long and 13 feet wide. It took a team of eight people three hours to complete the work. It was created for The Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia, and seen by 130,000 people who attended the one-day coffee-lovers event.
Elaine Kelly, one of the organizers from the Sydney Harbor Foreshore Authority, was delighted with the result. She said, “Each coffee cup was filled with varying amounts of milk to create the different shades(色度) of the painting. We wanted to create an element of surprise and a sense of fun in the way we communicated with the public.”
“Once we had the idea of creating an image(像) out of coffee cups we searched for something iconic（有代表性的）to reproduce(复制).And after some time we chose the most iconic painting in history. The Mona Lisa has been reproduced so many times in so many different mediums but, as far as we know, never out of coffee,” Kelly continued. “Besides, the idea is practical.”
“It was fantastic. It really looked like the famous painting—the Mona Lisa. It was wonderful,” said one visitor.
After much planning it was great to see it coming together so well and the 130,000 people who attended the event certainly enjoyed it and were deeply attracted by it,” said Kelly.
1.How were the different colors of the recreated Moma Lisa created?
A.By adding different amounts of black coffee to each cup of milk.
B.By adding different amounts of milk to each cup of black coffee.
C.By using paints of different colors
D.By using different kinds of coffee
2.How large is the recreated Mona Lisa?
A. 20 square feet               B. 260 square feet
C. 564 square feet              D. 3,604 square feet
3.The people who saw the recreated Mona Lisa are all_______ lovers.
A.Mona Lisa      B.milk     C.coffee     D.painting
4.The event organizers chose to recreate the Mona Lisa for the following reasons EXCEPT that _________ .
A. the Mona Lisa is a very iconic painting in history
B. the Mona Lisa has never been reproduced out of coffee
C. the idea can be actually carried out
D. it is very easy to do so

THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels of the 19th century. One of them is Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte.

The Bronte family had three girls and a boy. Charlotte was born in 1816, Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. The children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated.  Branwell showed a great interest in drawing.  The girls took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes. The girls were determined to earn money for Branwell's art education.

As children, the girls had all written many stories.  Charlotte alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey.  After much difficulty, Anne and Emily found a publisher (出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte's book. ( It was not published until 1859. ) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her work. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of her book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis (肺结核) as her sisters had.

1.What did the Bronte sisters want to do for Branwell Bronte?

A. Help him write stories.

B. Help him get trained in art.

C. Teach him how to draw well.

D. Teach him how to educate himself.

2.We know from the text that

A. Jane Eyre was published in 1847

B. Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all

C. the Bronte sisters received good education

D. the father helped his daughters with their writing

3.The underlined words "the other two" in Paragraph 4 refer to ________.

A. Shirley and Villette

B. The Professor and Agnes Grey

C. Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights

D. The Professor and Wuthering Heights

4.What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

A. Their novels interested few publishers.

B. None of them lived longer than 40 years.

C. Emily was the least successful of the three.

D. None of them had more than two books published.