B. Read the following passage and fill in the blanks with proper words.

How Do Animals Spend the Winter

Winter is here. The weather gets colder and days get (1) s__________ People live in warm houses and wear overcoats outside. But what happens to the animals?

Some animals travel to warm places, such as butterflies, whales and many fish. So do some birds. Birds can fly a very long (2) d__________. For example, the Arctic tern (北极燕鸥) lives (3) c__________ to the North Pole in summer. In autumn, it flies to the Southern Hemisphere (南半球)! Each spring it returns (4) n__________ again. How do they know when to travel? Scientists are still studying this. Some animals make changes in their behavior or bodies. To keep warm, many animals grow (5) t__________ hair in autumn. Others gather a lot of food in the autumn for them to eat in winter.

Some animals hibernate for part or all the winter. This is a very (6) d__________ sleep. The animal’s body temperature drops, and its heartbeat slows down. For example, the heart rate of a hibernating woodchuck (美洲旱獭) slows from 80 to 4 beats each minute, and its temperature drops from 37 degrees Celsius to as (7) 1__________ as 3 degrees Celsius. If its temperature falls too low, it will wake up a little and shiver (抖动) to get a little warmer. 1. s__________ 2. d__________ 3. c__________ 4. n__________ 5. t__________ 6. d__________ 7. 1__________

美言金句 冬天来了，动物们是怎样过冬的呢？

Winter has come. How will animals spend the winter?

C. Answer the following questions according to the above passage. 1. Where does the Arctic tern live in the spring?

______________________________________________________________ 2. What is ―hibernation‖?

______________________________________________________________ 3. How do the animals know when to travel?

______________________________________________________________

Text 9 鸟巢种种

A. Warming up exercise: Fill in the blanks with a proper word and its part of speech. 1. P__________ can catch the beautiful moments of our life and make them last forever.

2. Cai Mingcao told the press conference (新闻发布会) in Beijing that he would not

p__________ for the bronze sculptures (兽首) auctioned (拍卖) in Paris.

3. Great progress has been made in transport facilities (交通设施) in Xinjiang. Desert highways

cross Taklamakan Desert (塔克拉玛干大沙漠), the l__________ desert in China. 1. P__________ 2. p__________ 3. 1__________

B. Read the following passage and fill in the blanks with proper words.

Birds’ Nests

Did you know that there is a kind of bird that can sew (纺织)? This bird, called the tailor bird, uses its mouth as a needle. It sews leaves together in the shape of a cup. Then it adds a layer of straw (一层草) to the inside of the cup and ____1____ its eggs there.

Each bird species builds its own ___2___ kind of nest. The most common materials used for nests are grasses, branches and feathers. A bird must weave these materials into a nest. Just imagine building a ___3___ without cement (水泥) or nails to hold it together!

Another bird is called the weaver bird. The weaver bird builds a nest that looks like a basket. The nest’s shape is like a pear with a hole in the middle. The hole is the ___4___ of the nest. A third bird is called the oven bird (火炉鸟). The oven bird makes the nest that is very ___5___. The nest is made of mud. The oven bird forms the mud into the shape of an oven, and then lets it ___6___ in the sun. The sun bakes the mud, making it very hard.

Not all birds make their homes in branches. Some birds build their nests on the ground, while others bury their eggs under the ground. And some birds don’t build their nests at all. So, when you look for nests and eggs in the branches of trees and bushes, remember that some nests may be right ___7___. 1. A) lies B) lays C) eats D) puts 2. A) special B) beautiful C) ugly D) color 3. A) nest B) house C) sitting-room D) kitchen 4. A) gate B) door C) entrance D) room 5. A) solid B) soft C) weak D) powerful 6. A) liquid B) special C) wet D) dry 7. A) over your head B) in branches C) under your feet D) in the sky

美言金句 鸟有个温馨的家——鸟巢。它在这个家里生儿育女，繁衍后代。你知道鸟巢是由什么建成的吗？

Birds have warm homes — birds’ nests, where they give birth to and rear children. Do you know what materials are used to make birds’ nests?

C. Answer the following questions according to the above passage. 1. What does the nest built by a tailor bird look like?

______________________________________________________________ 2. Why is there a hole in the weaver bird’s nest?

______________________________________________________________ 3. Do all the birds build their nests? How do you know?

______________________________________________________________

Text 10 死海会消亡吗？

A. Warming up exercise: Fill in the blanks with a proper word and its part of speech. 1. Rural (农村的) China today is not what it u__________ to be.

2. American children spend n__________ four hours a day watching TV shows, videos and

DVDs.

3. By May 21, 2009, Japan h__________ confirmed hundreds of influenza (流感) A/H1N1 cases

B. Read the following passage and fill in the blanks with proper words.

Dead Sea Is Dying

and shuttered (关闭) thousands of schools to slow the spread of the virus. 1. u__________ 2. n__________ 3. h__________

The Dead Sea, the lowest point on the earth’s surface, is getting smaller and smaller. Some think the sea is dying.

The dead sea has fallen over 20 meters in the past 100 years and is now (1) 1__________ about one meter each year.

As the water level has fallen, it has caused thousands of sinkholes to open up on land. A seaside resort (胜地) had to be (2) c__________ after a 3-metre hole opened up under someone’s feet. Some holes are even (3) d__________.

With no clear (4) s__________ to the problem, scientists and tourist businesses are worried. ―Every time I come here, the beach is further and further away. One day there will only be a pool left,‖ says a scientist of an environmental group in Middle East.

Some scientists think the Dead Sea will not disappear entirely because it is (5) f__________ by underground water sources and winter rainfall. They believe that if nothing is done, the water level will (6) d__________ by as much as 100 meters more — almost a third of its present depth.

The Dead Sea is a (7) t__________ attraction. Visitors believe its water and mud are good for the skin. They always cover themselves with mud and then lie on the soft sand, enjoying the sunshine.

1. 1__________ 2. c__________ 3. d__________ 4. s__________ 5. f__________ 6. d__________ 7. t__________

美言金句 死海位于约旦和以色列交界，是世界上海拔最低（-422米）的湖泊。死海一部分注入叙利亚境内的东非峡谷，西侧有约旦山脉，东侧有Moab山脉。气候炎热，含盐量是一般海水的8.6倍，其过高的含盐量使得水生植物及鱼类不能生存，沿岸草木也很少，故有―死海‖之称，沿湖已建为游览地。

The Dead Sea is a salt lake in Jordan to the east and Israel to the west. Its surface and shores are 422 metres below sea level, the lowest place on earth. The Dead Sea is located in the Judean Desert area, a part of the Syrian-East Africa Rift Valley, flanked by the Judean mountains to the west and the Moab mountains to the east. The weather is extremely hot. It is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where aquatic lives and fish cannot live, the plants along the banks cannot flourish, either, hence it’s named the Dead Sea.

C. Answer the following questions according to the above passage. 1. Why do the scientists and tourist businesses feel worried?

______________________________________________________________ 2. How deep is the Dead Sea at present?

______________________________________________________________

3. Besides the Dead Sea is dying, what else have you learned about it from the passage? ______________________________________________________________