短文三则

陈传光

A

In Peru （秘鲁）， one researcher was very surprised to find that there were 43 species （种类） of ants living on one big tree.

A single ant group can have over 5 million busy members. There are soldiers and workers， males and the queen in it. A queens job is to lay eggs—may lay 100 million eggs a day！ Although she is called a “queen”， she is very busy with her work every day. “Honey ants” are usually busy storing their food in their living “storage tanks”.

Actually， all kinds of ants have their own “language”. Each group member has a task. They usually work together to feed the group and keep the group safe and healthy.

Many groups of animals depend on leaders. Even groups of wild horses or wolves need leaders and so do ants. Ants have their own complex（复杂的） group organizations. All ants can do very well in team work.

One researcher paid much attention to ants for long. Once he found an ant wanted to climb a high wall with a large coin. After sixty-nine times， the ant still could not succeed. But the seventieth time the ant got to the top of the wall in the end. What an effort！

Humans should learn from ants. If a thing is worth doing， we should try again and again until we achieve it. Even an ant wasnt afraid of failure. Why cant we face any challenges？

1. According to the passage， a queens job is to .

A. collect honey B. lay eggs

C. store food D. keep the group safe

2. Ants have their own way of .

A. laying eggs

B. teaching workers

C. communicating with each other

D. storing food

3. Ants need their own like wild horses and wolves.

A. leaders B. tasks

C. language D. organizations

4. Which is NOT true according to the passage？

A. The queen is busy every day.

B. Ants usually work together.

C. Ants may do bad team work.

D. Ants arent afraid of failure.

5. The passage mainly talks about .

A. ants B. wild horses

C. wolves D. humans

B

In our daily life， music can bring us not only wonderful entertainment but also happiness when we are tired or sad. Many people have the habit of listening to music when they are free.

In general， students mustnt listen to music while they are in class or doing lessons. But one English school allows students to enjoy music or even to have the TV on while they are studying. The school finds its helpful to improve the students school grades.

A recent research says， at Millfield School， about 20% of the students do best in their lessons with background（背景） music， and 10% are excellent when they are allowed to finish their school work with short walks around the room， while up to 80% of the students can concentrate on their studies better if they are allowed to play with a small thing in their hands.

According to the research， Millfield School has used a very new way to deal with students. It encourages students to discover which learning styles suit them fine， and then allow students to do their homework with background music or even lying down. Some parents didnt believe at first， but theyre accepting the new way now. They allow their kids to do homework with music or the television on.

“I prefer to work on the floor with music on，” said Sam， a 13-year-old girl. “At first my parents didnt agree， but my teacher asked them to look at my homework. When they saw it， they agreed at last.”

1. The English school finds that music in class can .

A. bring students great happiness

B. bring wonderful entertainment

C. help students get good grades

D. help students form good habit

2. We can learn from the research that .

A. some students study best while enjoying music

B. few students do well in lessons while walking

C. students pay no attention to studies while playing

D. background music must be bad for many students

3. In Millfield School students can .

A. choose their own favorite learning styles

B. choose their favorite background music

C. ask parents to stop music while studying

D. sleep in bed while doing their homework

4. From Sams words， we can infer that .

A. she was good at playing background music at home

B. she did well in lessons with background music

C. her parents disliked their daughters background music

D. her parents didnt believe what the teacher said

5. The writer mainly tells us .

A. why people like enjoying music

B. music can not be helpful to anyone

C. music can be helpful to students

D. school students like enjoying music

C

In the ancient times， there was a storyteller. He got very tired of telling old fictional（虚构的） stories， so he left his house to look for true stories.

According to his plan， he finally reached a village and rented a small house there. After several months， the storyteller couldnt find any true stories. So he decided to stop his search. The next day， while sitting in the house， he suddenly heard a voice—a woman was shouting abuse（辱骂） at someone. The voice was coming from behind the big wall behind his house. He tried to hear what she was saying. Although the storyteller didnt like what he heard， he was happy to get his story. Each day， he added what the woman said to his story. Though he couldnt see in real life the character of his story， he started hating this terrible woman.

It was time to finish the story. Before finishing it， the storyteller wanted to see the character， so he climbed up the wall. To his great surprise， he saw a woman was shouting into a mirror. Suddenly， the woman stopped and said to herself， “It is time to rest now. I hope this stage play will be a success.”

The storyteller was surprised at how different the reality was from what he thought. In the end， he decided to go back as soon as possible to change the ending of his story.

1. The storyteller left his home because he .

A. felt uncomfortable at home

B. wanted to give up his job

C. wanted to learn from others

D. wanted to search true stories

2. The storyteller wrote down his story by .

A. seeing the ladys experiences

B. listening to the ladys tapes

C. listening to the ladys voice

D. watching the ladys shows

3. From the passage we can learn that .

A. the lady was a very terrible woman

B. the lady didnt shout abuse at anyone

C. the storyteller liked the ladys voice

D. the storyteller was sad to get the story

4. We can guess that the lady was probably .

A. an actress B. a housewife

C. a teacher D. a doctor

5. We can infer that the storyteller .

A. was happy with the true story

B. was very sorry to meet the lady

C. might make the lady lose her job

D. must be unhappy with his story

Key

A：1—5 BCACA B：1—5 CAABC

C：1—5 DCBAD