Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they've been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe, and so did people, who —as they multiplied and organized —pat pressure on competitors at the top of the food chain. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that split from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former domain.
India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile (1,450-square-kilometer) sanctuary. It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest —and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will slink through the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid —lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Gir's lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. It's odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold —too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions prowl the periphery of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. That's one reason India is creating a second sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural disasters. In 1994 canine distemper killed more than a third of Africa's Serengeti lions —thousand animals —a fate that could easily befall Gir's cats. These lions, saved by a prince at the turn of the 20th century, are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals. "If you do a DNA fingerprint, Asiatic lions actually look like identical twins," says Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist who has studied them. Yet the perils are hidden, and you wouldn't suspect them by watching these lords of the forest. The lions exude vitality, and no small measure of charm.
Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when it's time to eat, meals in Git are not necessarily frenzied affairs. For a mother and cub sharing a deer, or a young male relishing an antelope, there's no need to fight for a cut of the kill. Prey animals are generally smaller in Gir than they are in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well. The lions themselves aren't as big as African lions, and they have shorter manes and a long fold of skin on their undersides that many lions in Africa don't have.
What impressed the author most when he went to watch the lions in the Gir Forest?
A.The lions were on the brink of extinction.
B.They were suffering from a fatal disease.
C.They allowed him to see their vitality and charm at close quarters.
D.Mother lion and her cub shared a deer.
第1题:
Most of the people who appear most often and most gloriously in the history books are great conquerors and generals and soldiers, whereas the people who really helped civilization forward are often never mentioned at all. We do not know who first set a broken leg, or launched a seaworthy boat, or calculated the【31】of the year, or manured a field; but we know【32】about the killers and destroyers. People think a great deal of them, so【33】so that on all the highest pillars in the great cities of the world you will find the figure of a conqueror or a general or a soldier. And I think most people believe that the greatest countries are【34】that have beaten in battle the greatest number of other countries and ruled over them as conquerors. It is just possible they are,【35】they are not the most civilized. Animals fight; so do savages; hence to be good at fighting is to be good in the way in【36】an animal or a savage is good, but it is not to be civilized. Even being good at getting other people to fight for you and【37】them how to do it most efficiently — this, after all, is【38】conquerors and generals have done -- is not being civilized. People fight to settle quarrels. Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of settling their disputes other【39】by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of other side, and then【40】that that side which has killed most has won.
(31)
A.number
B.length
C.depth
D.width
第2题:
Interviewer-------- Why is English so important?
David------- Well, English is so important primarily because so many people speak it and use it, so it has now become the lingua franca in the world in a way that we’ve never seen before. We’ve never had a world language of this kind before. So people are learning it not just to be able tocommunicate with native speakers, but also with speakers of other language around world.
Interviewer-------And why has it become that dominant language?
David------I think the reason for that is actually very complicated, although in the twentieth century, we can just see that it’s the rise of the US military and consumer power. I mean the technology, all the big developments in technology largely came from the US. So all of these developments actually were produced within the English language, and people had to learn English in order to understand them, or to benefit from them. The Internet is only one example of that kind. Once a language has got into that position of dominance, it’s actually very different to shift it. So we could be seeing the emergence of other big languages in the world becoming more important than they have been, like Spanish, but it’s unlikely that they’re going to shift the English from its position of dominance.
36. English is important, according to David, __________________________. A). because it has become a world language B). because so many people speak and use it C). because a lot of people are learning it D). because it is the lingua franca
37. English has become the dominant language in the world________________________. A). because it has always been the way B). for a reason that is very complicated C). only in the 20th century D). for no reasons
38. English became the dominant language in the 20th century_________________________. A). in the USA
B). because of the increase in American consumer power
C). because developments in technology came mainly from USA. D). all over the world.
39. People had to learn English______________________.
A). because developments in technology were made by English speakers B). because they needed to understand the new developments in technology C). to use the Internet
D). to speak with native Americans
40. David thinks that__________________________.
A). it will be easy for another language to become dominant B). English will not always be the dominant language
C). it will not be easy for another language to become dominant D). English will be the dominant language
第3题:
根据下列材料请回答 26~30 题:
B
Today there are policemen everywhere, but in 1700, London had no policemen at all. A few old men used to protect the city streets at night and they were not paid.
About 300 years ago, London was starting to get bigger and more and more people began to live there. The city was very dirty and many people were poor. There were so many thieves who stole money in the streets that people stayed in their homes as much as possible.
In 1750, Henry Fielding started to pay a group of people to stop thieves. They were like policemen and were called "Bow Street Runners" because they worked near Bow Street.
Fifty years later, there were 120 "Bow Street Runners", but London had become very big and needed more policemen. So in 1829, the first Metropolitan (or London)Police Force was started with 3,000 officers. Most of the men worked on foot, but a few rode horses. Until 1920 all the police in London were men.
Today. the London police are quite well paid and for the few police officers who still ride horses, the pay is even better than for the others.
第 26 题 In 1700, the men who protected the streets were paid __________.
A. a few
B. nothing
C. a little
D. a lot
第4题:
第5题:
第6题:
A、now and then
B、off and on
C、for and cons
D、up and down
第7题:
So carelessly did he drive that he almost killed himself.()
第8题:
Why are the lions in the Git Forest especially vulnerable to disease?
A.They are physically weaker than the African lions.
B.They are small in size.
C.They do not have enough to eat.
D.They have descended from a dozen or so ancestors.
第9题:
第10题: