Some people make you feel comfortable when they are around. You spend an hour with them and feel as if you have known them half your life. 1 ．

Here are several skills that good talkers have. If you follow the skills, they’ll help you put people at their ease, and make friends with them quickly.

First of all, good talkers ask questions. 2 ． One well-known businesswoman says, “At business lunches, I always ask people what they did that morning. It’s a common question, but it will get things going.” From there you can move on to other matters—sometimes to really personal questions. 3 ．

Second, once good talkers have asked questions, they listen to the answers. This point seems clear, but it isn’t. Your questions should have a point and help to tell what sort of person you are talking to. And to find out, you really have to listen carefully and attentively. 4 ． If someone sticks to one topic, you can take it as a fact that he’s really interested in it. Real listening also means not just listening to words, but to tones of voice. If the voice sounds dull, then, it’s time for you to change the subject.

Finally, good talkers know well how to deal with the occasion of parting. If you’re saying good-bye, you may give him a firm handshake and say, “I’ve really enjoyed meeting you.” 5 ． Let people know what you feel, and they may walk away feeling as if they’ve known you half their life.

A ． You can become a popular person.

B ． It’s polite to listen to others with a smile.

C ． These people have something in common.

D ． Real listening at least means some things.

E.If you want to see that person again, don’t keep it a secret.

F.And how he answers will let you know how far you can go.

G.Almost anyone, no matter how shy he is, will answer a question.

Are you curious about mysterious creatures? We are going to tell you about some here.

Okapi

If giraffes and zebras could produce a next generation, their babies would look like an okapi. This strange-looking creature has striped legs like a zebra and the face of a giraffe. Its neck is much shorter than a giraffe, but like its cousin, it has an extremely long tongue, which can be up to 12 inches long. The okapi can use its tongue to wash its own eyelids and ears. Before 1901, Okapis were known only to the people living in the Congo rainforest.

Loch Ness Monster

The locals near Loch Ness in northwestern Scotland refer to the mysterious creature as "Nessie". Nessie is said to be a large animal with a long neck that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. Similar creatures have been reported in other lakes around the world. But whether it is real remains unknown.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

By the mid-1990s, the ivory- billed woodpecker was widely believed to have died out due to deforestation( 砍伐森林 ) and hunting. It was rediscovered in 2004, when a bird lover reported seeing one alive in the woods of Arkansas, America. Researchers later got a video of the bird.

King Cheetah

Starting in 1926, people in Zimbabwe began to see a cheetah with unusual markings. This cheetah has large spots like a leopard( 美洲豹 ) and black stripes down its back. People called the creature "king cheetah". It is a leopard-cheetah hybrid ( 混合 ).

1 ． Which of the following is TRUE about the okapi?

A ． It is produced by a giraffe and a zebra.

B ． It was not widely known until the twentieth century.

C ． Its neck is much shorter than that of a zebra.

D ． It was first found in 1901.

2 ． What can we learn from the passage?

A ． People still don’t know why the king cheetah has strange markings.

B ． The giraffe has a short tongue.

C ． Nessie is a kind of dinosaur.

D ． The decrease in forests has had a great effect on the ivory-billed woodpecker.

3 ． Where can one most probably find this passage?

A ． In a nature magazine. B ． In a travel guide.

C ． In a book of fairy tales. D ． In an advertisement.

The human population of Sri Lanka is now believed to be over 20 million. As a result, large areas of trees are being turned into farmland, highways are being built over centuries-old elephant migration routes, and elephants are being driven out of their habitats. This change causes turmoil , resulting in an increased number of uncontrollable events between elephants and humans.

The good news is that there is one place called the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) in Udawalawe National Park, the main purpose of which is to protect and care for baby elephants that are found injured or living without their mothers in the wild. A day at the ETH begins early in the morning when the baby elephants are given their first feeding of milk. During the course of the day, each baby will drink an average of 13 gallons of milk. Older elephants are fed mostly coconut leaves as well as other native plants. Then the elephants are set free to wander in the park, eating growing grass and forming a herd.

The ETH spends almost $125,000 each year on powdered milk for these baby animals. To help pay for food and medical supplies, the ETH has a foster （领养） parent program. Anyone, even schoolchildren, can help a lot by giving money to care for a baby elephant. While some foster parents are too far away to visit the baby elephant being cared for at the ETH, local schoolchildren play an important part in the program. Foster parents can name their elephants, take photographs of them, and even help send them back into the wild.

Now visitors are not encouraged to get close to the elephants. The goal of the ETH is for the elephants to return to the wild in the end. It usually takes three years for a baby elephant to be sent back into its natural habitat. The elephants are often set free together with other animals with whom they have close relationships. This program helps them return to the wild as members of a herd that will communicate with each other and take care of each other.

1 ． What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A ． A condition of harmony. B ． A phenomenon of pollution.

C ． A state of disorder. D ． A feeling of confusion.

2 ． According to the passage, the elephants at the ETH ________.

A ． are taken care of by different means B ． don’t get along well with other animals

C ． mainly live on coconut leaves D ． are fed separately all the time

3 ． As a foster parent at the ETH, you can ________.

A ． take photos with the elephant B ． give the elephant you care for a name

C ． take the elephant home for better care D ． visit Udawalawe National Park free of charge

4 ． The last paragraph mainly deals with ________ at the ETH.

A ． the process of raising a young elephant B ． the life of the baby elephants

C ． the future of the elephants D ． the requirements for being a foster parent

My basketball coach at Princeton used to say, "On the court, you can tell who is selfish."

When my sister Michelle brought Barack Obama home to meet the family, she said to me, "I want you to take him out to play, to see what type of guy he is when he’s not around me." So I invited Barack to play basketball with a few friends of mine.

I was very nervous although I had already met Barack a few times. I was thinking this guy seemed like a good guy. We played a hard five-on-five. He was thin but not weak. He played extremely left-handed. He dealt with everything perfectly. He wasn’t the best guy out there or the worst guy. I liked the fact that he was confident but wasn’t proud. Barack was very team-oriented ( 有团队精神的 ), very unselfish. He played as if he was one of us —he wasn’t trying to be president of Harvard Law Review. But the best part about it was that when we were on the same team, he did not pass me the ball each time. He wasn’t trying to suck up to my sister through me. I was glad to give my sister the good news, "Your boy is straight."

He isn’t selfish, which is the greatest praise you can give both a player and a leader. America has got a guy who is running a government in an efficient ( 有效率的 ) manner. That’s the same guy I got to know playing basketball when he was visiting my family.

1 ． Why does the author begin the passage with his coach’s words?

A ． He wants to remember and thank his coach.

B ． He wants to show that he is a basketball player.

C ． He wants to tell his sister about the words.

D ． He wants to use the words to test a person.

2 ． Why did Michelle ask the author to take Barack to play basketball?

A ． To see whether he was confident.

B ． To see whether he was good at sports.

C ． To see whether he was selfish or not.

D ． To see whether he could get along with others.

3 ． During the basketball game, Barack ________.

A ． played best all the time B ． was strong enough to play

C ． was not confident D ． wanted to be the team leader

4 ． The underlined phrase in the third paragraph can be replaced by "________".

A ． please B ． know about C ． help D ． look for

Most of the new diseases we humans have faced in the past several decades have come from animals. The more we come into contact with wild animals, the more we risk a so-called disease “spillover” from animals to humans.

“As people move and wildlife move in response to a changing environment, humans and wildlife and animals will come in contact more regularly,” said Jeanne Fair from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Fair argues that by shifting animal habitats, climate change will also make the opportunities for disease spillover more frequent. “Everything is sort of shifting and will shift into the future as the environment changes through climate change,” Fair said.

Scientists, including climatologists and epidemiologists ( 流行病学家 ) on Fair’s team at Los Alamos, are beginning to model how changes to the climate will impact the spread of infectious diseases. It’s early days for this kind of research, but previous studies suggest that extreme weather has already played a role in at least one outbreak. Scientists say drought and deforestation have combined to force bats out of rain forests and into orchards ( 果园 ) in Malaysia to find food. Those bats, a common disease reservoir, then passed the Nipah virus through pigs to humans for the first time in the late 1990s.

“We’re going by the past data to really predict what’s going to happen in the future,” Fair said, “And so, anytime you increase that wildlife-human interface, that’s sort of an emerging disease hot spot. And so, that’s just increasing as we go forward.”

Jeffrey Shaman, head of the climate and health program at Columbia University’s public health school, argues we don’t yet know whether climate change will cause a net increase in infectious disease rates globally. For example, mosquitoes carry disease that affects millions of people across the world every year. As their habitats expand in some parts of the world, they might contract diseases elsewhere. Shaman says what we know for certain about climate change is that it will make it harder to predict where disease outbreaks will pop up.

1 ． How does climate change affect the spread of disease according to Fair?

A ． By breaking animals’habits. B ． By increasing animals’varieties.

C ． By promoting animals’breeding. D ． By changing animals’living environment.

2 ． What is the example of bats for in paragraph 3?

A ． Explaining the influence of Nipah virus.

B ． Proving the harm of bats to human beings.

C ． Showing the effects of climate change on disease.

D ． Presenting scientists’early study about the cause of disease.

3 ． What can we infer from Fair’s words in paragraph 4?

A ． Humans should give up studying animals.

B ． Frequent contact with animals can cause disease outbreaks.

C ． Disease hot spots will disappear if animals die out.

D ． Past data can solve the problems in the future.

4 ． What could be the best title for the text?

A ． Climate Change and Disease Spillover

B ． Animals’Interaction with Humans

C ． Early Studies about Extreme Weather

D ． Scientists’Prediction for Disease Outbreaks