Dinosaurs ruled the planet for millions of years, and they are generally believed to have gone extinct.But the reality is that modern versions of dinosaurs are all around us. Scientists have been exploring similarities between birds and dinosaurs; and new research shows that these two types of animals are directly linked.
The connections between birds and dinosaurs are explored in a new museum exhibit called Dinosaurs Among Us at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
According to Mark Norell, the director of the exhibit and an expert at the museum, it is based on new scientific evidence collected over the last two decades. "I think this is really going to shake up the way people think of dinosaurs “ Norell told reporters.” One could argue that we still live in the age of dinosaurs."
The exhibit includes ancient fossils and lifelike models of dinosaurs of all sizes to show the evolution of dinosaurs into birds. It examines several properties that are shared between the two species, including feathers, complex brains, the shapes. And sizes of eggs, and the ability to fly. Birds today make nests, lay eggs and tend to babies.    Fossil research shows that some dinosaurs also made nests and laid eggs. Also，birds have hollow（中空的）bones, which don’t weigh much and allow birds to take more air into their lungs. These adaptations help with flight. Some dinosaurs had these properties as well. In addition, the exhibit shows that there are many similarities between the legs, claws; and feet of dinosaurs and birds.
Norell noted that the research behind this exhibit is the result of advanced scientific, techniques; and new technologies. For example researchers used a scanning (扫描) process called computed tomography (CT) to look inside the brains of extinct dinosaurs. It combines with many X-rays to produce a 3D image. "Modern technology tells us more than we thought
we could ever know about the connections between dinosaurs and birds," Norell said.
【小题1】What' s the main idea of this text?

A．Experts .have discovered many dinosaurs' fossils.

B．A new museum has opened for visitors to New York City.

C．Research has been done on the lifestyles of birds and dinosaurs.

D．An exhibit shows the connections between birds and dinosaurs.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “properties” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Advantages.	B．Characters.
C．Changes.	D．Activities.

【小题3】One of the similarities that dinosaurs and birds share lies in________

A．their lungs	B．their light bones
C．the shapes of their nests	D．the number of their eggs

【小题4】What did Mark Norell try to show by mentioning CT?

A．The importance of the research.

B．What connects dinosaurs and birds.

C．The application of modern technology.

D．How dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.

   The sea is home to billions of plants and animals. Many live only near the sunlit surface. Oceanographers sort marine (海洋的) living beings by dividing them into two main groups: plants and animals.

There are two general types of plants found in the ocean, those having roots that grow in the ocean bottom and those not having roots which simply float around with water. The rooted plants in the ocean are only found in shallow waters because there is not enough sunlight to maintain photosynthesis (光合作用) in deeper waters. Since sunlight does not pass more than a few hundred feet into the ocean, most of the ocean is unable to support rooted plants.

The most plants in the ocean are known as phytoplankton (浮游植物群落) . These are usually single-celled, small floating plants that float throughout the surface waters of the ocean. To grow, phytoplankton need nutrients from the sea water and lots of sunlight.

Marine animals are divided into three groups: zooplankton, nekton, and benthos. Zooplankton are floating animals and are usually small; however, they can grow to fairly large size. The jellyfish and the Portuguese man-of-war are examples of larger types of zooplankton which are unable to move themselves effectively.

Nekton are the free swimmers and probably the largest part of familiar animals found in the ocean belong to this class. Common fishes, octopuses, whales, eels and squid are all examples of nekton.

The third type of sea animals spends their entire life on the bottom of the ocean. This group of marine animals is called benthos. Some of these creatures, such as lobsters and snails, may be able to move about on the bottom but their lifestyle is so closely linked with the ocean floor that they are unable to survive away from this environment.

【小题1】What does the text mainly introduce?

A．Marine plants and marine animals.	B．Two types of sea plants.
C．Three kinds of sea animals.	D．Small and big animals in the ocean.

【小题2】Why can’t we find the rooted plants in deep waters of the ocean?

A．Because there are too many rocks at the bottom of the ocean.

B．Because the rooted plants can’t stand the coldness of the ocean.

C．Because there is not enough sunlight for them in deep waters.

D．Because the rooted plants need more sunlight than plants which have no roots.

【小题3】One of the characteristics of zooplankton is that __________ .

A．they are small and never grow to large size

B．some of the zooplankton can’t swim quickly

C．they can swim freely in deep waters of the ocean

D．they need more sunlight than other animals in the ocean

【小题4】According to the last paragraph, we can conclude that __________ .

A．benthos live on the surface of the ocean water

B．some of the benthos can’t live without the ocean floor

C．benthos spend most of their time swimming in the ocean

D．benthos can move about in the middle of the sea water

短文改错
When the soldiers are being attacked, they are worrying. Then a good idea occurs on to an officer. He writes a short message on a piece of paper and rolls it up. After attached it to a pigeon's leg, he makes the pigeon loose. The pigeon immediately flies into the air and disappeared in the dark.
Why does an officer choose a pigeon to send an important message? Pigeons have a wonderful sense of direction and can find its way home over long distances. That's why pigeons have used since ancient times to carry news. However, it was in war which people found their greatest use. During both World War I and World War Ⅱ, pigeons were employed by armies to carry messages to or from the front lines, saving the lives of many soldier.

语法填空

Last year I 【小题1】 (work) in Nepal for three months. When I had a few days off，I decided 【小题2】 (go) into the jungle (丛林) . I asked a Nepalese guide，Kamal Rai to go with me.

We started our trip at six in the morning with two elephants 【小题3】 (carry) our things. It was hot, but Kamal made me wear shoes and trousers to protect me 【小题4】 snakes. In the jungle there was a lot of wildlife, but we were trying to find tigers. We climbed onto the elephants' backs to see better. However, 【小题5】 is unusual to find tigers in the afternoon because they sleep in the daytime.

Then, in the 【小题6】 (distant), we saw a tiger, and Kamal told me to be very quiet. We moved nearer and found a dead deer, 【小题7】 was the tiger's lunch! Suddenly, I started to feel very 【小题8】 (frighten), then a huge tiger jumped out suddenly. It caught Kamal's leg between its teeth, but I managed to pull Kamal away. One of our 【小题9】 (elephant) ran at the tiger and made it go back into the grass, so we 【小题10】 (quick) ran away.  That night it was impossible to sleep!

   Just like humans, birds rely on sound to communicate, too. Often, birds recognize their mates or young by sound rather than sight. Hungry young birds use begging calls to let their mothers know it is feeding time, and warning calls are other sounds given out frequently by the adults. In addition to all these regular calls, some male birds develop beautiful songs intended（打算）to attract the females.

A new study carried out by an American university shows that songbirds practice their songs even in their sleep. The research team discovered that the electrical brain activity of the birds that were asleep was similar to the brain activity produced when the birds were awake and singing. Clearly the bird stores a song after hearing it, then practices it later in its sleep. Scientists now believe the birds dream of songs to help them master the fine art of singing and that sleep plays a key role in the learning process！

It is commonly known that many songbirds learn to sing by listening to adult birds of the same species. If taught the song of an adult of another bird species, the chick grows up singing the new song and passes on the foreign song to its chicks. For instance, researchers carried out an experiment in which a male bullfinch（红腹灰雀）was raised by a female canary（金丝雀）. The bullfinch soon learned the canary's songs and when it was later mated to a female bullfinch, Mr. Bullfinch taught his children the canary's songs.

Early last year, a British survey of London's songbirds showed that the city's birds are losing their melodies. Birds could hardly hear one another over the traffic noise；as a result they had difficulty in learning songs and communicating with potential mates. And instead of copying the sweet notes of the adults, chicks were copying sounds, which they heard most often—namely car horns（喇叭）and mobile phones！

【小题1】What can we learn according to Paragraph 2？

A．Sleep helps songbirds master new songs.

B．Songbirds can even hear songs in their dreams.

C．The study was carried out by Australian scientists.

D．The brain activity of songbirds would stop in their sleep.

【小题2】Why does Mr. Bullfinch teach his children the canary's songs？

A．Because he wants to help them learn a foreign language.

B．Because he can't sing bulfinches' songs.

C．Because he wants to make them get along well with other birds.

D．Because the canary's songs are more attractive.

【小题3】What's the problem of the city's birds according to the passage？

A．They have lost their voices.

B．They are losing their habitats.

C．They are bothered by the city's noises.

D．They tend to refuse to learn songs from adults.

【小题4】What conclusion can we draw from the passage？

A．The city's birds can learn more songs.

B．All birds learn foreign songs during their life.

C．It may be difficult for the city's birds to find their mates.

D．Young birds can tell the difference between songs and noises.