Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy.  After all，you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However，they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.
Do you know what a 'territory' is? A territory is an area that an animal，usually the male，claims(聲稱)as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same kind are welcome. Your garden and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten(威脅)you，you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so，you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time，especially at nesting(筑巢)season. So he is screaming all the time，whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird's song，and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs..
You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.
【小題1】 Some scientists believe that most of the time bird's singing is actually _______.

A．a(chǎn)way of warning	B．a(chǎn)n expression of happiness
C．a(chǎn)n expression of anger	D．a(chǎn)way of greeting

【小題2】What is a bird's "territory"?.

A．A place where families of other kinds are not accepted.

B．A place where a bird may shut at the top of its voice

C．An area for which birds fight against each other.

D．An area which a bird considers to be its own.

【小題3】 Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A．Because they want to invite more friends.

B．Because they want to find outsiders around.

C．Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.

D．Because their singing helps remove their fears.

【小題4】How does the writer explain bird's singing?

A．By comparing birds with human beings.	B．By reporting experiment results.
C．By describing birds' daily life.	D．By telling a bird's story.

To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, school is very different.

Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want. There are no teachers, only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!”says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day… they will lose all taste of learning.” At Sudbury Valley School, you will find children talking, reading, painting, cooking, working on computers, studying French, playing the piano, climbing trees, or just running around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!
The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote (投票)each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school money, and even which staff they want and do not want anymore.
When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.
【小題1】What's special about the school?

A．There is nobody but students there.

B．All the students are of the same age.

C．There are no classes for the students.

D．There are no rules in the school.

【小題2】What do the students do in the school?

A．They learn everything there from the staff members.

B．They grow up there without learning anything.

C．They spend all the time with their parents.

D．They do whatever they are interested in.

【小題3】The school seems to believe that children________.

A．learn best when they are doing what they want

B．a(chǎn)re too young to learn anything by themselves

C．can look after themselves without any help

D．can't go to college without any hard work

【小題4】The last paragraph wants to tell us that_         .

A．the writer doesn't like the idea of the school

B．the school is quite successful in its work

C．most of the parents don't believe in the school

D．younger students learn better there than older ones

【小題5】The underlined word career in the last paragraph most probably means_.
A. family   B. money    C. lifestyle   d. job

To Give up or Not to Give up as Class Monitor??
Dear Brad, ?
In about 3 months, I will take a very important test. If I pass the test with good grades, I can get to the 10th grade and choose a good school to study in. Now I am trying my best to achieve this. At the same time, I’m the monitor in my class, which means I should do lots of things for my class. ① I am so busy with my school-work and duties as monitor that I don’t have enough time to keep a balance between them . Gradually I become lazy. ②The other day, my head teacher told me that she was disappointed in my poor performance as class monitor . Her words really discouraged me. ?
What should I do now, to give up or not to give up as class monitor? I must do my best in school because how well I do will influence where I go after this school year is over and it can affect the rest of my life. Being class monitor is also a valuable learning experience because my teacher trusts me to be a good leader. ③ I don’t want to go to my parents for suggestions, for they will get worried about me . Can you tell me how to choose??
Yours, ?
Gates?
【小題1】根據(jù)①處內(nèi)容，完成下面的句子。（每空一詞）?
I am    busy with my school-work and duties as monitor      have enough time to keep a balance between them. ?
【小題2】根據(jù)②處內(nèi)容，完成下面的句子。（每空一詞）?
The other day, my head teacher said to me, “             disappointed in your poor performance as class monitor.”?
【小題3】將③處翻譯成漢語(yǔ)。?

To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, school is very different.
Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want. There are no teachers, only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!”says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day… they will lose all taste of learning.” At Sudbury Valley School, you will find children talking, reading, painting, cooking, working on computers, studying French, playing the piano, climbing trees, or just running around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!
The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote (投票)each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school money, and even which staff they want and do not want anymore.
When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.
【小題1】What's special about the school?

A．There is nobody but students there.

B．All the students are of the same age.

C．There are no classes for the students.

D．There are no rules in the school.

【小題2】What do the students do in the school?

A．They learn everything there from the staff members.

B．They grow up there without learning anything.

C．They spend all the time with their parents.

D．They do whatever they are interested in.

【小題3】The school seems to believe that children________.

A．learn best when they are doing what they want

B．a(chǎn)re too young to learn anything by themselves

C．can look after themselves without any help

D．can't go to college without any hard work

【小題4】The last paragraph wants to tell us that_         .

A．the writer doesn't like the idea of the school

B．the school is quite successful in its work

C．most of the parents don't believe in the school

D．younger students learn better there than older ones

【小題5】The underlined word career in the last paragraph most probably means_.
A. family   B. money    C. lifestyle   d. job

Where in the world can you take an hour’s train ride, and pass a forest, a London street, a scene from the Wild West, and a burning building that never burns down? There’s only one place, and that’s Hollywood, in California. The scenes you see from the tourist train are film sets（布景） in the Universal Studios, one of the oldest and largest movie companies(公司) in the USA.
A visit to Universal Studios brings back memories of great days of Hollywood, the films and the stars. But they are only memories. Hollywood isn’t quite the same as it used to be. Costs have gone up and confidence has gone down. Movie-makers are afraid to spend their money on expensive new ideas. Instead, they repeat old ones.
The film industry is changing fast. Teenagers still go out to the movies. The theatre is a good place to meet friends away from home. But older people mostly stay home to watch series, like Dynasty have become as important to Hollywood as expensive movies. These “soap opera”, as they are called, show rich, powerful families living in beautiful homes and wearing beautiful clothes. But the actors and actresses are nearly all middle-aged, like many of the people who watch them.
Though it is soap operas that are keeping the film-makers of Hollywood in Business, big films are still being made in America. But more and more of them are made outside Hollywood. New York is the most important new center, but there are many others as well. Movie-makers have realized that they don’t need Hollywood any more. Modern cameras and real houses instead of expensively made copies in a studio. Other states, especially Florida and Texas, are working hard to take the film business away from California. They are offering better working conditions and lower cost.
But Hollywood is fighting back. The state of California is trying hard to keep its best-known industry.
【小題1】From the passage, we know Universal Studios is ______.

A．a(chǎn) very large park	B．a(chǎn) busy London street
C．a(chǎn) famous movie company	D．a(chǎn)n old Hollywood movie

【小題2】The movie industry in California isn’t as successful as before because ______.

A．young people don’t go to movie theatres any more

B．there is strong competition from other states

C．its movie companies are in neeed of young stars

D．the state hasn’t put a development plan into action

【小題3】Which of the following seems to be a threat（威脅）to Hollywood？

A．The use of modern cameras and other equipment

B．The interest of middle-aged film stars

C．The making of TV series like Dynasty

D．The expensively made copies of scenes