A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石)，mammoths and mastodons the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.
There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.
Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950 all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”
1.One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of ________.
A. the Asian elephant B. the forest elephant
C. the savanna elephant D. the mastodon elephant
2.The underlined word “divergence” in paragraph 4means “________”
A. evolution B. exhibition C. separation D. examination
3.The researcher’s conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s ____________
A. DNA B. height C. weight D. population
4.What were Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?
A. The conversation of African elephants.
B. The purpose of studying African elephants
C. The way to divide African elephants into two units
D. The reason for the distinction of African elephants
5.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Naturalist’s Belief about Elephants.
B. Amazing Experiment about Elephants
C. An Unexpected Finding about Elephants
D. A Long scientific Debate about Elephants
To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.
Common sense is not all that common.
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular misquotes（戏谑的引语）are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for having made a mistake. They naturally look for someone else who could be responsible for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this：“To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）.” This saying mirrors an ideal：people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite—find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a mark of great maturity.
Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything . People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary（直接推论）to that：if a good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?
1.According to the passage, which of following seems the most human?
A. To search for truth.
B. To achieve one’s ideal.
C. To make fun of others’ mistakes．
D. To criticize others for one’s own error.
2.Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?
A. A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company.
B. A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.
C. A company’s next move follows a good plan.
D. A lawyer acts on fine judgments.
3.What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?
A. Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy.
B. Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.
C. A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty.
D. Bitter truth is better than a good excuse.
4.What would be the best title for his passage?
A. A Mirror of Human Nature
B. To Blame or to Forgive
C. A Mark of Maturity
D. Truth or Excuse
Elixir
Written by Eric Walter
Twelve-year-old Roth becomes a friend of Dr. Banting and his Assistant,
Mr. Best, who are in search of a cure for diabetes(糖尿病). She finds herself torn between her sympathy for the animals being experimented on and her friendship with Banting and Best.
George Washington Carver
Written by Elizabeth Macleod
Meet the “Peanut（花生）specialist”, George Washington Carver, the inventor
and professor who made over 325 products out of peanuts. Through his agricultural research, he also greatly improved the lives of countless black farmers in the southern United States. See also Macleod’s Albert Einstein：A Life of Genius.
The Inuit Thought of it：Amazing Arctic Innovations
Written by Alootook Ipellie & David MacDonald
Explore more than 40 ideas necessary to Inuit survival. From ideas familiar to us today to inventive concepts that shaped their lives, celebrate the creativity of a remarkably intelligent people. Also see other book：the Chinese thought of it by Tingxing Ye and A Native American Thought of it by Rocky Landon and David MacDonald.
Made in Canada：101 Amazing Achievements
Written by Bev Spencer
What things do we use daily that have a Canadian connection? Here
are 101common things that were invented in Canada or by a Canadian,
including the Blackberry, alkaline（碱）batteries the Blue Box recycling program.
Newton and the Time Machine
Written by Michael McGowan
Ten-year-old boy Newton has invented a time machine to see dinosaurs up
close. But it disappears on a test run with his two huge friends, Ki ng Herbert and Queen Certrude in it! Can he save them before time runs out?
1.Which of the following best describes Roth’s feeling in Book 1?
A. Painful B. Curious C. Frightened D. Disappointed.
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Animals are mentioned in Book 1 and Book 5.
B. Book 3 introduces 40 inventive concepts.
C. Alkaline batteries were invented by Dr. Banting.
D. George Washington Carver was a black farmer in the US.
3.In Book 5, King Herbert and Queen Certrude are_______.
A. Newton’s human friends
B. the names of the time machine
C. two dinosaurs
D. the inventors of the time machine
One evening in February 2007, a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote road in Wales. She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path. That’s when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train. Her Renault Clio was parked across a railway line. Seconds later, she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometer down the railway tracks.
Ceely’s near miss made the news because she blamed it on the GPS. She had never driven the route before. It was dark and raining heavily. Ceely was relying on her GPS, but it made no mention of the crossing. “I put my complete trust in the device（设备）and it led me right into the path of a speeding train,” she told the BBC.
Who is to blame here? Rick Stevenson, who tells Ceely’s story in his book When Machines Fail Us, points the finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital（数码）devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it’s not just GPS devices：Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless keyboards.
The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. Perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the GPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.
It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an account of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors.
The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be a way for a wiser use of technology.
If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long.
1.The phrase “near miss” (Paragraph 2) can best be replaced by______.
A. close hit B. heavy loss C. narrow escape D. big mistake
2.Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?
A. Modern technology is what we can’t live without.
B. Digital technology often falls short of our expectation.
C. Digital devices are more reliable than they used to be.
D. GPS error is not the only cause for Ceely’s accident.
3.In the writer’s opinion, Stevenson’s argument is _______.
A. one-sided B. reasonable C. puzzling D. well-based
4.What is the real concern of the writer of this article?
A. The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.
B. The relationship between human and technology.
C. The shortcomings of digital devices we use.
D. The human unawareness of technical problems.
Howling is a behavior commonly observed among a wolf pack（群）. As pack animals, wolves work together to hunt and rely on howling as an important means of communication among each other. There are different explanations of a wolf’s howl and it appears that there may be more to discover.
One theory is that wolves howl to bond（结合）better together. It’s almost as if howling together helps the pack stay together, perhaps something similar to people feeling a sense of involvement with each other when singing a song together. But this theory may be wrong, explains Fred H. Harrington, a professor who studies wolf behavior. Indeed, there have been times when wolves have been seen one moment howling in a chorus, and the next, quarreling among each other. It appears that usually the lowest-ranking members of the pack may actually be “punished” for joining in the chorus at times. So is howling a way to strengthen a social bond or just a way to reconfirm status among its members? —Why do wolves howl for sure?
What is clear, however, is that howling is often used among packmates to locate each other. Hunting grounds are distant and it happens that wolves may separate from one another at times. When this happens, howling appears to be an excellent means of gathering.
Howling, interestingly, is a contagious behavior. When one wolf starts to howl, very likely others will follow. This is often seen to occur in the morning, as if wolves were doing some sort of “roll call” where wolves all howl together to report their presence.
1.What is the possible similarity between wolves’ howling together and human’s singing in chorus?
A. The act of calling each other.
B. The sense of achievement.
C. The act of hunting for something.
D. The sense of belonging to a group.
2.Why does Harrington think the “social bond” theory may be wrong?
A. Wolves separate from each other after howling.
B. Wolves tend to protect their hunting grounds.
C. Wolves sometimes have quarrels after howling together.
D. Wolves of low rank are encouraged to join in the chorus.
3.Researchers are sure that wolves often howl to______.
A. show their ranks
B. find their companions
C. report the missing ones
D. express their loneliness
4.“Howling…is a contagious behaviour” (in the last paragraph) means______.
A. howling is a signal for hunting
B. howling is a way of communication
C. howling often occurs in the morning
D. howling spreads from one to another
Many of us spend a great deal of time and energy trying to prove that we are right and others are wrong. Many people believe that it’s their job to others how their positions, statements, and points of view are , and that in doing so, the person they are correcting is going to somehow it, or at least learn something. Wrong!
Think about it. Have you ever been by someone and said to him, “Thank you so much for showing me that I’m wrong and you’re right.”? Or, has anyone you know ever you when you corrected them, or made yourself “right” at their ? Of course not. The truth is, all of us to be corrected. We all want our positions to be and understood by others. Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest of the human heart. And those who learn to are the most loved and respected. Those who are in the of correcting others are often hated and .
A wonderful way for becoming more peaceful and loving is to practise others the joy of being right—give them the glory. correcting. When someone says, “I really feel it’s important to…”, rather than jumping and saying, “No, it’s more important to…”, simply let it go and allow their statement to . The people in your life will become less defensive and more . They will appreciate you more than you could ever have . You’ll discover the joy of joining in and witnessing other people’s , which is far more rewarding than a battle of egos (自我). Starting today, let others be “ ”.
1.A. show B. ask C. prove D. teach
2.A. unimportant B. unbelievable C. incorrect D. imperfect
3.A. consider B. appreciate C. understand D. refuse
4.A. fooled B. helped C. Taught D. corrected
5.A. thanked B. rewarded C. cared D. accepted
6.A. side B. price C. expense D. cost
7.A. like B. hate C. prefer D. afford
8.A. admired B. received C. realized D. respected
9.A. shortcomings B. advantages C. desires D. wishes
10.A. talk B. praise C. help D. listen
11.A. habit B. form C. position D. purpose
12.A. punished B. avoided C. left D. scolded
13.A. letting B. lending C. allowing D. owing
14.A. Stop B. Continue C. Practise D. Try
15.A. out B. up C. in D. off
16.A. last B. go C. work D. stand
17.A. helpful B. loving C. careful D. popular
18.A. dreamed B. wanted C. asked D. demanded
19.A. sufferings B. worries C. success D. happiness
20.A. happy B. right C. sorry D. proud
