For most of us, the rain that falls on our roof runs off into the ground or the sewer(下水道) system. But if you want to save a little water and reuse it on your lawns or plants --- or even use it for laundry, dishes, or other needs --- collecting rainwater from your gutter’s downspouts(檐槽的水落管) is a no-brainer.
According to John C. Davis, writing in E / The Environmental Magazine, just about any homeowner can collect rainwater, given that the roof and gutters do most of the work. And since an inch of rain falling on a 2,000-square-foot roof produces some 1,200 gallons of water, you can harvest enough to water your lawn or garden.
Plants and grass actually do better when fed rainwater instead of tap water, which is usually treated with substances that can hold back plant growth. Using rainwater can also extend the life of pipes, since the salts added to tap water may gradually damage the pipes. However, homeowners should set up a water purification system if they do plan to use rainwater for inside needs.
Rainwater harvesting can also be good for the local community, as it reduces the erosion, flooding, and pollution associated with heavy rainfall, and reduces dependence on public water supplies. So some states fund rainwater collection systems in their local communities.
Many varieties of rain barrel(桶) systems, starting at just $100, are available for home use. A typical setup is simply a rain barrel positioned under a gutter’s downspout. Skillful homeowners can make their own water harvesting systems, but buying one is a lot easier. Most garden centres offer a range of choices as well as tips.
小題1:The underlined word “no-brainer” in Para. 1 probably means something that ______.

A．is hard to deal with	B．is very easy
C．is of no real value	D．deserves more attention

小題2:From Paragraphs 3 and 4, we can learn _______.

A．how to set up a water harvesting system	B．how a rain barrel system works
C．some advice on saving tap water	D．the benefits of using rainwater

小題3:What is the topic of the passage ?

A．Basic gardening skills.	B．Water-saving techniques.
C．Wastewater treatment systems.	D．Roof rainwater collection.

We like to think our intelligence is self-made; it happens inside our heads, the product of our inner thoughts alone. But the rise of Google, Wikipedia and other online tools has made many people question the impact of these technologies on our brains. Is typing in “Who has played James Bond in the movies?” the same as our knowledge about the names like Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig? Can we say we know the answer as long as we know how to rapidly get the information on Google?
Here the question is about how we define intelligence itself. The answer appears to be interesting, because the evidence from psychological studies suggests that much of our intelligence comes from how we coordinate ourselves with other people and our environment.
An influential theory among psychologists is that we're cognitive misers(認(rèn)知吝嗇者). This is the idea that we are unwilling to do mental work unless we have to. We try to avoid thinking things fully when a short cut is available. If you've ever voted for the presidential candidate(總統(tǒng)候選人) with the most honest smile, or chosen a restaurant based on how many people are already sitting in there, then you are a cognitive miser. The theory explains why we'd much rather type a zip code into Google Maps than memorize and recall the location of a place – it's so much easier to do so.
Research shows that people don't tend to rely on their memories for things they can easily access. Buildings can somehow disappear from pictures we're looking at, or the people we're talking to can be changed with someone else, and often we won't notice – a phenomenon called “change blindness”. This isn't an example of human stupidity – far from it, in fact – this is an example of mental efficiency. The mind relies on the world as a better record than memory.
Philosophers have suggested that thinking is really happening in the environment as much as it is happening in our brains. The philosopher Andy Clark called humans "natural born cyborgs(電子人)", those naturally capable of absorbing and combining new tools, ideas and abilities. In Clark's view, the route to a solution is not the issue – having the right tools really does mean you know the answers, just as much as already knowing the answer.
Rather than being forced to rely on our own resources for everything, we can share our knowledge. Technology keeps track of things for us so we don't have to, while large systems of knowledge serve the needs of society as a whole. I don't know how a computer works, or how to grow vegetables, but that knowledge is out there and I can get to benefit. The internet provides even more potential to share this knowledge. Wikipedia is one of the best examples – an increasingly large database of knowledge from which everyone can benefit.
So as well as having a physical environment – like the rooms or buildings we live or work in – we also have a mental environment, which means that when I ask you where your mind is, you shouldn’t point toward the centre of your forehead. As research shows, our minds are made up just as much by the people and tools around us as they are by the brain cells inside our skull.
小題1:Why did the writer raise the questions in Paragraph 1?

A．To find out who has played James Bond in the movies.

B．To introduce the topic to be discussed in the passage.

C．To show that he knows the answer to the questions.

D．To attract readers’ attention by mentioning James Bond.

小題2:What is the writer’s attitude towards the rise of technologies like Google and Wikipedia?

A．Supportive

B．Objective

C．Indifferent

D．Neutral

小題3: Which of the following might the philosopher Andy Clark agree with?

A．Intelligence is something that is made by one’s brain itself.

B．Intelligence is something that only happens inside one’s head.

C．Intelligence is the product of one’s inner thoughts alone.

D．Intelligence is a mixture of the environment, people and one’s brain cells.

小題4:It is true about the phenomenon called “change blindness” that human beings____.

A．a(chǎn)re stupid not to notice the changes

B．a(chǎn)re efficient in mental work

C．a(chǎn)re blind to changes around them

D．rely on memory when dealing with things

小題5:According to the text, how do technologies like Google, Wikipedia affect us?

A．They make us much more intelligent.

B．They make us lazier and more stupid.

C．They have little to do with our intelligence.

D．They have a negative effect on our intelligence.

Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of Frederick in the 13th century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the babies died before the first year. But clearly there was more than language deprivation (剝奪，喪失). What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly. There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.
Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.
Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”.
But speech has to be developed, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal (非語(yǔ)言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.
小題1:Frederick’s experiment was extreme because _________.

A．he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak

B．he wanted his nurses to say another language

C．he was unkind to the nurses

D．he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies

小題2:The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that _________.

A．they do not listen carefully to their mothers

B．their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak

C．their brain has to absorb too much language at once

D．their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them

小題3:In paragraph 3, by “critical times” the author means _________.

A．difficult periods in the child’s life

B．moments when the child becomes critical towards its mother

C．important stages in the child’s development

D．times when mothers often neglect their children

小題4:If a child starts to speak later than others, he will _________ in future.

A．have a high IQ	B．be less intelligent
C．not necessarily be backward	D．be insensitive to verbal signals

小題5:If the mother seldom responds to her child’s signals, _________.

A．the child will be able to speak properly

B．the child will continue to give out signals

C．the child will invent a language of own

D．the child will make little effort to speak

Even if we have an extremely healthy diet and lifestyle, the human body is programmed to wear out at a maximum of about 120 years, and usually less. We all have a biological clock inside us which determines the moment when our organs cease to function properly. This is because our cells have stopped renewing themselves and our body can no longer repair itself. This is also the moment when we are more likely to begin to suffer from the diseases of old age such as arthritis and Alzheimer’s. However, rapid advances in DNA research are beginning to throw light on the secrets of the ageing process. By the end of this century we could literally have the power of life over death.
Although it has long been accepted that humans have a fixed lifespan, it is also a fact that certain other organisms, such as reptiles and amphibians, appear to live indefinitely. The only reason we do not see 500-year-old alligators is because in the wild their lives are always in danger, from man, from pollution and from other animals. When they are kept in zoos they do not seem to age at all after they are fully grown. The same is true of some species of fish, which grow indefinitely and show no signs of ageing. The existence of animals with no fixed lifespan seems to indicate that an age gene really does exist. It is this gene which scientists are searching for, which may delay or repair damage to the body caused by ageing.
Another new area of research involves the oxidation（氧化） theory, which says that ageing is caused by the same process that makes iron rust. In controlled experiments, the lifespans of certain animals were shown to be lengthened with anti-oxidants; for example, the lifespan of mice can be increased by 30%. Antioxidants are already being used in face creams and other cosmetics, and they are likely to play an important part in keeping people physically young.
Perhaps the most immediate advance we are likely to see in the battle to halt（停止）the ageing process will be organ replacement. By the year 2020 it is likely that we will be replacing injured bones or even organs like livers and kidneys with ones “grown” in laboratories. By 2050 perhaps every organ in the body, except the brain, will have become commercially available. Recent experiments also show that it may one day be possible to “grow” new organs inside our body to replace worn-out ones, something which lizards and alligators already do.
Suddenly immortality（不死，不朽） seems within reach. We can begin to imagine a future where we are born, we grow to maturity, but we never grow old and die. But do we really want to live forever?
小題1: When all humans reach a certain age,         .

A．they suffer the effects of their diet and lifestyle

B．the organs stop to perform appropriately

C．their cells continue to renew themselves

D．they develop arthritis and Alzheimer’s

小題2: The purpose of showing the case of alligators is to prove         .

A．a(chǎn)lligators are in danger in the wild because of the threat from man, pollution and other animals

B．it is widely accepted that humans have a fixed lifespan

C．there exists an age gene which may control ageing

D．the age gene damages the body

小題3:The underlined phrase “live indefinitely” in Paragraph 2 probably mean         .

A．live for a period of time without a fixed end

B．live without a clear aim

C．live in an uncertain way

D．live without being fully grown

小題4:It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that         .

A．by 2050 we might have most of our worn-out organs replaced with new ones commercially

B．never can the ageing process be avoided

C．livers and kidneys are sure to be grown in laboratories by the year 2020

D．lizards and alligators grow new organs inside their body to replace worn-out ones

小題5: What is the main topic of this passage?

A．DNA researches show how our cells renew themselves.

B．Anti-oxidants are likely to play an important part in keeping people young.

C．How our biological clock works?

D．Eternal（永恒的） youth: new developments in anti-ageing research.

小題6:By saying “But do we really want to live forever”, the author may probably mean         .

A．a(chǎn) future where we are born, we grow to maturity, but we never grow old and die is on its way

B．he is uncertain whether we can live forever

C．it remains to be seen whether immortality is a blessing or a curse

D．immortality is no longer a dream

Trying to make a big decision while you’re also preparing for a scary presentation? You might want to hold off on that. Feeling stressed changes how people weigh risk and reward. However, an article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests stressed people pay more attention to the positive sides of a possible outcome.
It’s a bit surprising that stress makes people focus on the way things could go right, says Mara Mather of the University of Southern California. She co-wrote the review paper with Nichole R.Lighthall. “This is sort of not what people would think, ” Mather says. “Stress is usually associated with negative experiences, so you’d think, maybe I’m going to be more focused on the negative outcomes.”
But researchers have found that when people are under stress, they start paying more attention to positive information and discounting negative information. “Stress seems to help people learn from positive feedback and impairs（削弱）their learning from negative feedback, ” Mather says.
When people under stress are making a difficult decision, they may pay more attention to the good sides of the alternatives they’re considering and less to the problems. So someone who’s deciding whether to take a new job and is feeling stressed by the decision might focus on the increase in salary more than the longer commute（上下班往返）.
The increased focus on the positives also helps explain why stress plays a role in addictions. People under stress have a harder time controlling their urges. “The compulsion to get that reward comes stronger and they’re less able to resist it,” Mather says. A person who’s under stress might think only about the good feelings they’ll get from a drug, while the downsides shrink into the distance.
Stress also increases the differences in how men and women think about risk. When men are under stress, they become even more willing to take risks; when women are stressed, they get more conservative(保守的). Previous research backs this up — men usually react to difficulties while trying to fight them or escape them; women try to find friends and improve their relationships.
小題1:By saying “You might want to hold off on that” in the first paragraph, the writer suggests that      .

A．you might want to delay making your big decision

B．you should save the presentation for later

C．you should avoid taking risks

D．you might benefit from the stress

小題2:From the article, we can conclude that stress       .

A．often leads people to take more risks

B．often leads people to make balanced decisions

C．makes people think more of negative results

D．makes people ignore the negative side of problems

小題3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A．Stress is helpful in getting rid of addictions.

B．People who are addicted to drugs are easily stressed.

C．When women are stressed, they do not tend to take risks.

D．When men are stressed, they are more likely to develop an addiction.

小題4:What is the central theme of the article?

A．Stress can affect decision-making.

B．Stress increases our desire to get rewards.

C．We should think more about the upside of problems.

D．There is a link between stress and negative experiences.

Imagine when you are sailing an ocean for the first time, you see a big fish swimming near your ship. You might be scared, and worried about whether it will turn over your ship for a meal. In fact, it is not a fish at all, but a gentle giant whale.
Whales are not fishes but mammals (哺乳動(dòng)物). Their body temperature stays the same, and does not change with the temperature of their environment. They breathe air, so they have to come out of the water to get oxygen. Thus, they cannot afford to fall into a sleeping state for too long, since they need to be awake in order to breathe. It is thought that only half of their brains sleep at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep. Females give birth to the young. They have hair. Although they are not covered in hair or fur like many mammals, whales have some bristles (胡子), usually on their heads.
Whales are highly social animals with complex languages and intelligence. They communicate with each other using romantic sounds, called “whale songs”. Being so large and powerful, these sounds are also loud.
Whales are endangered as a result of whaling (捕鯨) from the eleventh century to the twentieth. It has attracted the attention of environmentalists and some measures (措施) have been taken to protect whales.
小題1:How many aspects show that whales are mammals?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

小題2:We can infer from the second paragraph that ____.

A．whales can breathe in the water

B．if a whale sleeps too long, it will get drowned

C．in order to breathe, whales never sleep

D．whales give birth to the young on the land

小題3: How do whales communicate with each other?

A．By body language.	B．By speaking languages.
C．By making song-like sounds.	D．By giving off a smell.

小題4:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Whales are cold-blooded mammals like fishes.

B．Whales are hunted for food by people.

C．Whales are very harmful to human beings.

D．Whales are in danger because of being killed by people.

How could we have thought so wrongly of as banana peel that it always hits the garbage? Utility of anything seems to be in the eyes of the beholder. The banana peel hasn't been an exception.
What most of us looked at as waste was converted to a thing of utility by Prithwis Mukhopadlyay, a 14-year-old prodigy. This Bengali boy, nourished in the US, Lake Junior High in Woodbury, Minnesota, has come up with an idea to convert banana peels to biogas.(生物氣).
It's well known that almost any organic waste can be converted to biogas. But why biogas from banana peel has hit the news is because it produced five times as much biogas as manure(糞), a commonly used source for producing biogas, in the experiments Prithwis conducted.  
He filled two airtight containers, one with manure and the other with banana peels. Then he mixed each content with water and connected them to empty jars via pipes to collect the gas produced. He placed a heater next to each jar and measured the gas collected for 60 days. His studies proved that banana peels produced five times more biogas than manure.
This project titled 'Comparison analysis: Eco-friendly source of energy for the future,' earned him a spot in Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. This weekend, the young whiz is to showcase his research work along with 40 other finalists at Washington. "Initially, I thought of doing a project that would reduce global warming. Things changed after I visited a biogas plant in a village in India during my summer vacations. It was an amazing experience," Prithwis says.
小題1:Why could Prithwis's finding receive the attention of the media?

A．Because he is a prodigy.

B．Because he is of Bengali descent.

C．Because he used an extremely rare organic waste to produce biogas.

D．Because his research proved that banana peels can produce more biogas.

小題2:Where did Prithwis derive his inspiration  from?
A.Lake Junior High.   B Discovery Channel.
C.  India.            D.His laboratory at home.
小題3:This article probably appeared in a _________ magazine.

A．gourmet

B．science

C．computer

D．fashion

I will tell you the truth about plastic bags－the positive and the negative sides and provide a solution to this problem. Whether it is a shopping bag, a food bag or a trash bag, they are all made of plastic bags. Grocery store owners are very generous in using plastic bags. They place the fruit in one bag and drop the box of milk in another. Ever wonder why?
The positive side of plastic bags
Grocery stores, shopping centres, and restaurants are not thrifty in using and giving out plastic bags because they cost no more than a cent each, while a paper bag costs four cents. Plastic bags are produced so cheaply and massively（大量地）that they are used by 80% of store owners. In addition, they are light and very easy to carry and store.
The production of plastic bags has increased greatly over the last 20 years and producers of plastic bags are making large profits. However, the negative side of plastic bags is becoming well-known. More people are now getting worried that the earth is becoming a victim of the plastic bag success story.
The negative side of plastic bags
While production and consumption（消費(fèi)）of plastic bags is good for business, it is not so for our Mother Earth. They have resulted in an increase in the amount of litter found floating in water or in the streets where we live.
Plastic storage bags, after usage, usually go to landfills（垃圾填埋地）as trash bags. They make the oceans poison sea animals. They give off toxins（毒素）when burned. They simply pollute the ground, air and water.
That is the true cost of plastic bags, and it looks like it is more than a cent. These are very alarming concerns and proper action needs to be taken.
小題1:According to Paragraph 3, plastic bag producers ________.

A．a(chǎn)re now worried that the earth will become a victim of plastic bags

B．don’t think they have done enough to popularize plastic bags

C．have not realized the harm of plastic bags

D．have succeeded in popularizing the use of plastic bags

小題2:From the last three paragraphs, we learn that         .

A．plastic bags harm the earth severely

B．most plastic bags are not made use of

C．the prices of plastic bags are reasonable

D．plastic bags are the leading polluter on the earth

小題3:What will the writer most probably talk about in the following paragraph?

A．How plastic bags are produced.

B．How plastic bags are used.

C．How to popularize the use of paper bags.

D．How to solve the problems caused by plastic bags.

Farmers can produce more by planting several different crops in the same field.But their success depends on which crops they plant together and how they mix (混合) them in the filed.In the past, the only way the farmers could learn which crops grow best together is to plant them and wait for the results.Now, however, a computer can give them answers.A new computer program written by Dr John Vanderwell of Michigan University can tell a farmer which plants grow well together and which do not.It can tell him how to plant the different crops; if he should plant each in a separate row, or mix the crops in the same row.It can tell the farmer how changes in planting each of the crops will affect the production of all of them.And it can tell him which plants can help reduce losses (損失) from diseases.
小題1:Which of the following best gives the main idea of the passage?

A．Computer helps find the best program for mixing plants.

B．Computer helps produce more crops.

C．Computer helps protect against insects and diseases.

D．Computer helps grow different plants.

小題2:According to the passage, to get the best result, one needs to choose carefully ________.

A．the kinds of crops to be planted together

B．the way for different crops to be mixed

C．both A and B

D．either A or B

小題3:It seems the new computer program can NOT tell us ________.

A．whether we should grow cotton and tomato together

B．how we should plant cotton and tomato together

C．what will happen if we grow potato, instead of tomato, together with cotton

D．how we can grow rice in the tomato field

小題4:The new computer program seems most useful in saving us ________.

A．man power

B．seeds

C．time

D．land

小題5:Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Computers can tell farmers how many plants can grow together.

B．With the help of computers farmers don't have to do a lot of work.

C．With the help of computers farmers can get better results.

D．The change of one plant may cause a change in production.

Honey from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious.
Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals looking for honey have a strange and unexpected helper - a little bird called a honey guide.
The honey guide does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax in the beehives (蜂房). The little bird cannot reach this wax, which is deep inside the bees' nest. So, when it finds a suitable nest, it looks for someone to help it. The honey guide gives a loud cry that attracts the attention of both passing animals and people. Once it has their attention, it flies through the forest, waiting from time to time for the curious animal or person as it leads them to the nest. When they finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax, always fall to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.
Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very determined in its efforts to get it. The birds seem to be able to smell wax from a long distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.
小題1:Why is it difficult to find a wild bees' nest?

A．It's small in size.	B．It's hard to recognize.
C．It's covered with wax.	D．It's hidden in trees.

小題2:What do the words "the follower" in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．A bee.

B．A honey seeker.

C．A bird.

D．A beekeeper.

小題3:The honey guide is special in the way ________.

A．it goes to church	B．it gets its food
C．it sings in the forest	D．it reaches into bees' nests

小題4:What can be the best title for the text?

A．Wild Bees	B．Wax and Honey
C．Beekeeping in Africa	D．Honey-Lover's Helper