Choose the most suitable word or phrase.
They didn't understand the matter;_______they didn't ask for help.




A.moreover
B.however
C.and
D.but

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
TREASURE SHIP
On a beach along the Skeleton Coast, the sand is filled with diamonds. But in April 2008, workers found something very different: a piece of lost history—a shipwreck and its treasure.
The story began when a worker from the nearby diamond mines found a piece of metal on the beach. It was a piece of copper. Soon, they found more copper and many gold coins. The workers then found that these came from the remains of a large ship. The shipwreck was the real treasure.
Archeologists studied the shipwreck. They thought the ship probably came from Portugal about 500 years before. However, it was difficult to find information about it. In 1775, many maps and books about the ships of the time were lost in a fire in Lisbon. "That left a big hole in our history,” says Portuguese archeologist Alexandre Monteiro.
Finally, Monteiro found out that a group of ships left Lisbon for India in 1533. One of them, the Bom Jesus, carried 300 people and a large amount of treasure. The Portuguese sailors planned to use the treasure to buy expensive Indian spices. Archeologists now believe the wreck might be the Bom Jesus. This is because many of the gold coins found were Spanish. Monteiro found an old letter in the Spanish royal archives. The letter said that Spain gave Portugal money for the trip. Two thousand Spanish coins were put on the Bom Jesus. This could explain why so many Spanish coins were found in a Portuguese shipwreck.
So what happened to the ship? The Bom Jesus probably got lost in a storm. Then it smashed into rocks near the coast and sank. There were few human bones found, so the sailors were probably able to get off the ship. But even if they swam onto the beach, they would have found themselves in a strange, distant land. They had no way to get home. They might as well have been on Mars. To this day, no one knows what happened to them.
Which sentence is closest in meaning to “The shipwreck was the real treasure”?




A.There were a lot of expensive items on the ship.
B.The shipwreck was a very important discovery.
C.The coins on the ship weren’t real, but it was an important ship.
D.The shipwreck contained a treasure, but it wasn’t real.

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
TRAINING GRIZZLIES
Russell Chadwick remembers the summer he turned 16. It was the summer he wrestled with grizzly bears!
It all started when Russell worked as an animal trainer at Wasatch Rocky Mountain Wildlife. Wasatch Wildlife is an animal-training center in Utah, in the U.S. At the center, Doug and Lynne Seus train animals to be actors.
Doug and Lynne asked Russell to help take care of two four-month-old grizzly bear cubs named Little Bart and Honey Bump. That's more difficult than it sounds. Baby bears are big!
Russell's job was to play with the bears. This teaches them to be comfortable with humans. Playing with the bears was fun, but Russell had to remember that bears are wild animals.
"One time, Honey Bump took a bite out of my back, and I had to wrestle her to the ground. But it also showed me how smart she is. She knew she had done something wrong and 'apologized' by putting her head in my lap."
Russell found that bears can understand more than just "sit" and "stay." For example, when Russell said "Peekaboo!" to one baby bear, he covered his eyes with his paws, just like a human child.
Russell didn't get much money for doing this job. But he enjoyed the experience. He also learned a lot from it. When you've wrestled with a grizzly bear, things like work and exams don't seem so difficult anymore!
The word “he” refers to_____.




A.Doug Seus
B.a baby bear
C.Russell Chadwick
D.Lynne Seus

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
THE MEANING OF DREAMS
Did you have any interesting dreams last night?
Our dreams come from a part of the brain that contains our thoughts and memories. A person can have up to six dreams a night, and each dream usually lasts from 10 to 40 minutes. Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. Most people dream in color, usually with sound. And we usually dream about ourselves and the people we know.
Why Do We Dream?
Alan Siegel is a scientist who studies dreams. "Dreams help us get in touch with our deeper feelings,” he says. "They can tell us a lot about ourselves, and can help us figure out problems.” Another scientist, Robert Stickgold, thinks dreams come from our memories. He believes we dream to remember, because memories are useful to the brain. Stickgold says the purpose of dreaming through these memories is to help us learn from the past.
Here are a few types of dreams and what people think they mean.
Dream 1: You Meet Someone While in Your Pajamas
Sometimes people dream that they meet someone they know while wearing their underwear (or nothing at all!). This dream may be the result of an embarrassing event in your life. Some people think we dream about embarrassing situations if our brains are trying to deal with an event in our own lives.
Dream 2: You're Flying
If you dream about flying, you are probably quite happy. This is a good period in your life. You may feel that other people see you as a leader.
Dream 3: You Didn't Study for a Test
This probably means you are worried about an important event coming in your life. If you're not prepared for the event, your dream may be telling you, "It's time to get to work!"
Another way to say “get in touch with” would be____.




A.talk to
B.dream about
C.find out and understand
D.to contact with

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
HOW WILL WE LIVE IN 2035?
Welcome to life in the future!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. You've just had an anti-aging treatment, so your face looks youthful. In 2035, many people your age could live to be 150, so at 60, you're not old at all.
Science has also found amazing ways to keep people healthy. There are nanotechnology treatments for many illnesses, including cancer. And if any part of your body is not healthy, you can "grow'' a new one in a laboratory.
As you get dressed, you say to your shirt, "Turn red." It becomes red. In 2035, “smart clothes" contain nanoparticles that carry electricity. So you can program clothes to change colors or patterns.
On the way to the kitchen, you want to call a friend. Your cell phone is by the window because the material it's made of takes in energy from the sun. But you don't need to pick up the phone. You can just touch your jacket sleeve to make the call.
These are just some examples of nanotechnology all around you. "Your whole body and surroundings [will] become part of the same network," says scientist Ampy Buchholz.
It's breakfast time. You reach for the milk, but a voice says, "Don't drink that!" Your fridge is reading a computer chip on the milk. Every item from the grocery has a chip. Your fridge knows the milk is old, and tells the store you need new milk.
Finally, it’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go, and soon you will be there.
So, will all these predictions come true? Perhaps the future is much closer than we think.
Which statement would Ampy Buchholz probably agree with?




A.Nanotechnology will become very common in the future.
B.Nano-sized particles may be dangerous to people’s health.
C.Life will be less interesting because everyone will look the same.
D.People won’t usually use smart phone.

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
THE ROBOTS ARE COMING!
The year is 2045. A goal is scored at the soccer World Cup. Not by a human player, but by a robot. A robot? Is that possible? Many scientists believe it is. In fact, there are already robots that can play soccer. Of course, today's robots don't just play sports. Today's scientists are working on robots with various skills. For example, it is very possible that robots will soon help take care of children or the elderly, or do dangerous jobs such as fighting fires.
When people started making robots, they were made to do just simple things, mainly in factories. Since then, however, robots have changed a lot. Early robots were operated by humans. Today's robots function on their own. Some can only move around a little, like robot vacuum cleaners, but others, such as Honda's ASIMO, can do much more. He can run, climb stairs, dance, and yes, even play soccer.
Then there are robots designed to be like humans. These robots have faces and can show emotions. Such robots can learn new things, and show us how they "feel.'' Actroid-DER—a social robot—looks so human, she sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable.
Animal-bots
Scientists aren't just building humanlike robots. They are also making robots that look and act like animals.
At NASA, scientists are making a robot snake. They think it's a good alternative to vehicles with wheels. These snake-bots can enter holes and move over rough ground. They might one day help scientists look for signs of life on Mars. Other animal robots include the frog-bot, which can jump over objects, and the sticky-bot, which can walk up walls. There's even a robot called Water Runner that can walk on water.
But can a robot soccer team ever operate all on their own, or play as well as a human team? Many robot scientists definitely think so. Among the robots of today are Honda's ASIMO (top left), the NASA snake-bot (bottom left), and Actroid-DER—the social robot (right). Anything is possible. One day, they may even be world champions!
What is the purpose of the second paragraph ?




A.to describe how the earliest robots were used in factories
B.to explain how today’s robots are different from early robots
C.to explain why early robots could not do things by themselves
D.to explain why early robots could only move around a little

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
THE MAMMOTH’S TALE
Imagine finding a body that had been lost for 40,000 years . . .
The strange animal in the ice looked like it was sleeping. Ten-year-old Kostia Khudi and his brother had never seen anything like it before. But they had heard stories of the mamont. It was an imaginary animal that lived in the ice-filled blackness of the Siberian underworld. Their father, a reindeer herder named Yuri Khudi, went to ask a friend for advice. But when he returned, the body had vanished.
Yuri soon found the animal's body leaning against a store in a nearby town. While he was away, his cousin had sold it to the store owner. Dogs had eaten part of the tail and ear, but it was still in "as close to perfect condition as you can imagine," says scientist Daniel Fisher. The police came to help. The body was taken by helicopter to a museum. The animal was a baby mammoth from the Ice Age. It was female, so the scientists named it after Yuri's wife.
From Siberia, the mammoth was sent to the Netherlands and Japan. Scientists there studied it more closely. Detailed studies of her teeth and tusks showed she was just one month old when she died. Ongoing research has also shown us the sequence of events that led to her death. Lyuba fell and died near a muddy river. The mud helped keep her body frozen until she was found, 40,000 years later. Scientists hope that further studies will help explain how mammoths, like Lyuba lived. They also want to know why mammoths became extinct.
The word “it” refers to the mammoth’s____.




A.ear
B.tail
C.tusk
D.body

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
A WARMING WORLD
One weekend in May 2010, the weather forecast for Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A., predicted 10 centimeters (4 inches) of rain. By Sunday, over 33 centimeters (13 inches) had fallen. Soon the city was flooded. On the roads, cars were covered by the rising water. "We've got buildings running into cars,” the news reported as a small building floated by. There were 11 deaths that weekend.
Changing Weather
The weather is changing. Over the last few years, heavy rains have caused floods in Brazil, Pakistan, and Thailand. Droughts have struck Russia and Australia. Heat waves have killed thousands in Europe, and all over the world, hurricanes and tornadoes strike more frequently and with greater force than ever before. In 2011 alone, losses caused by the weather cost the world 150 billion dollars.
Warmer and Wetter
As more wild weather events happen, a worried world is beginning to ask questions like: What is going on with the weather? And why? Many also want to know: Is this natural, or are we to blame?
The answer seems to be: a little of both. Wild weather is natural. But most scientists agree human activity has made the Earth warmer. This global warming makes heat waves more likely to occur. The higher temperatures also cause more water to enter the air. This causes heavier and more frequent rain. Some scientists also believe global warming makes hurricanes and other storms stronger.
This means we're likely to see more wild weather. "[But] we don't have to just stand there and take it," says scientist Michael Oppenheimer. He and other experts say we need to stop the Earth from getting warmer. We also need to be prepared, to do things that will help save lives.
Which of the following statements would Oppenheimer probably agree with?




A.It is too late to stop global warming.
B.Nothing we can do about the wild weather.
C.The most important thing, in preparing for wild weather, is to find ways to keep our things safe.
D.Stop global warming, and the weather will get better.

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
THE GREAT DOME OF FLORENCE
Brunelleschi and the Dome
In 1419, at the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy, a clockmaker named Filippo Brunelleschi started work on a very difficult project. He was building the dome of Florence's main cathedral, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. At 55 meters (180 feet) above ground, it would be the largest dome built since the Pantheon in Rome was finished 1,500 years before.
After most of the cathedral was built in 1296, many builders tried to complete the dome. But none could do it. No one knew what material to use. Many builders knew how to build concrete domes. However, the dome in Florence needed to be wider than any dome ever built. Also, tall buildings of the time relied on structures that supported the heavy stone from the outside. The cathedral didn't have these structures, so a concrete dome was too heavy. It would easily fall. So, the cathedral's roof was left unfinished for over a hundred years.
Filippo Brunelleschi promised to solve all these problems. He said he would build two domes, an inner dome made of stone, and an outer one made of light bricks. He would use lighter materials as he worked upwards, and would hold it all together with strong rings made of stone, wood, and iron.
Brunelleschi also had to find a way to lift the materials high into the air. What did he do? He invented a new machine to do the job.
Building the dome took 16 years. The crown at the top took another ten. Brunelleschi died a few years later, in 1446. He had done something no one else could. However, he left no pictures of his design. So—even today - experts don't fully understand how this amazing structure was built.
Why don’t we fully understand how the dome was built?




A.Brunelleschi didn’t leave any pictures of his design.
B.Some structures are completely covered in concrete.
C.The dome has been rebuilt many times over the years.
D.The dome took too long to complete.

Read the passage carefully, then choose the best answer for each question.
THE GREAT DOME OF FLORENCE
Brunelleschi and the Dome
In 1419, at the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy, a clockmaker named Filippo Brunelleschi started work on a very difficult project. He was building the dome of Florence's main cathedral, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. At 55 meters (180 feet) above ground, it would be the largest dome built since the Pantheon in Rome was finished 1,500 years before.
After most of the cathedral was built in 1296, many builders tried to complete the dome. But none could do it. No one knew what material to use. Many builders knew how to build concrete domes. However, the dome in Florence needed to be wider than any dome ever built. Also, tall buildings of the time relied on structures that supported the heavy stone from the outside. The cathedral didn't have these structures, so a concrete dome was too heavy. It would easily fall. So, the cathedral's roof was left unfinished for over a hundred years.
Filippo Brunelleschi promised to solve all these problems. He said he would build two domes, an inner dome made of stone, and an outer one made of light bricks. He would use lighter materials as he worked upwards, and would hold it all together with strong rings made of stone, wood, and iron.
Brunelleschi also had to find a way to lift the materials high into the air. What did he do? He invented a new machine to do the job.
Building the dome took 16 years. The crown at the top took another ten. Brunelleschi died a few years later, in 1446. He had done something no one else could. However, he left no pictures of his design. So—even today - experts don't fully understand how this amazing structure was built.
Which of the following is NOT given as a reason the dome was difficult to build?




A.No one had ever built a dome from concrete before.
B.No one had built such a wide dome before.
C.Many builders argued what material to use.
D.The cathedral didn’t have structures that could support a dome from the outside.