Passage Two
One thing the tour books don't tell you about London is that 2,000 of its residents are foxes. As native as the royal family, they fled the city about centuries ago after developers and pollution moved in. But now that the environment is cleaner, the foxes have come home, one of the many wild animals that have moved into urban areas around the world.
"The number and variety of wild animals in urban areas is increasing," says Gomer Jones, president of the National Institute for Urban Wildlife, in Columbia, Maryland. A survey of the wildlife in New York's Central Park last year tallied the species of mammals, including muskrats, shrews and flying squirrels. A similar survey conducted in the 1890s counted only five species. One of the country’s largest populations of raccoons now lives in Washington D.C., and moose are regularly seen wandering into Maine towns. Peregrine falcons dive from the window ledges of buildings in the largest U.S. cities to prey on pigeons.
Several changes have brought wild animals to the asphalt jungles – and, vice verse. Foremost is that air and water quality in many cities has improved as a result of the 1970s pollution-control efforts. Meanwhile, rural areas have been built up, leaving many animals on the edges of suburbia. In addition, conservationists have created urban wildlife refuges .
The Greater London Council last year spent￡750,000 to buy land and build 10 permanent wildlife refuges in the city. Over 1,000 volunteers have donated money and cleared rubble from derelict lots. As a result, pheasants now strut in the East End and badgers scuttle across lawns near the center of town. A colony of rare house martins nests on a window ledge beside Harrods, and one evening last year a fox was seen on Westminster Bridge looking up at Big Ben.
For peregrine falcons, cities are actually safer than rural cliff dwellings. By 1970 the birds were extinct east of the Mississippi because the DDT had made their eggs too thin to support life That year, scientist Tom Cade of Cornell University began raising the birds for release in cities, for cities afforded abundant food.
Cities can attract wild animals without turning them harmful. The trick is to create habitats where they can be self-sufficient but still be seen and appreciated. Such habitats can even be functional. In San Francisco, the local government is testing different kinds of rainwater control basins to see not only which ones retain the cleanest water but which will attract the most birds.
6. The first paragraph suggests that ________.
A. environment is crucial for wildlife
B. tour books are not always a reliable source of information
C. London is a city of fox
D. foxes are highly adaptable to environment
7. Which of the following is NOT a reason that wildlife is returning to the cities?
A. Food is plentiful in the cities.
B. Wildlife is appreciated in the cities.
C. Wildlife refuges have been built in the cities.
D. Air and water quality has improved in the cities.
8. The underlined word “tallied” in Para.2 means ________.
A. distinguished B. described C. counted D. excluded
9. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
A. Londoners are putting more and more wild animals into their zoos.
B. Londoners are happy to see wild animals return to their cities.
C. Londoners are trying to move wild animals back to the countryside.
D. Londoners have welcomed the wild birds, but found foxes a problem.
10. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Wildlife returning to London.
B. Foxes returning to London
C. Wild animals living in zoo.
D. A survey of wildlife in New York.
Passage Three
Evidence suggests that an important stimulus behind the rise of early civilizations was the development of settled agriculture, which unleashed a series of changes in the organization of human communities that culminated in the rise of large ancient empires.
The exact time and place that crops were first cultivated successfully is uncertain. Many prehistorians believe that farming may have emerged in dependently in several different areas of the world when small communities, driven by increasing population and a decline in available food resources, began to plant seeds in the ground in an effort to guarantee their survival. The first farmers, who may have lived as long as 10,000 years ago, undoubtedly used simple techniques and still relied primarily on other forms of food production, such as hunting, foraging, or pastoralism. The real breakthrough took place when farmers began to cultivate crops along the flood plains of river systems. The advantage was that crops grown in such areas were not as dependent on rainfall and therefore produced a more reliable harvest. An additional benefit was the sediment carried by the river waters deposited nutrients in the soil, thus enabling the farmer to cultivate a single plot of ground for many years without moving to a new location. Thus, the first truly sedentary (that is, nonmigratory) societies were born. As time went on, such communities gradually learned how to direct the flow of water to enhance the productive capacity of the land, while the introduction of the iron plow eventually led to the cultivation of heavy soil not previously susceptible to agriculture.
The spread of this river valley agriculture in various parts of Asia and Africa was the decisive factor in the rise of the first civilizations. The increase in food production in these regions led to a significant growth in population, while efforts to control the flow of water to maximize the irrigation of cultivated areas and to protect the local inhabitants from hostile forces outside the community provoked the first steps toward cooperative activities on a large scale. The need to oversee the entire process brought about the emergence of an elite that was eventually transformed into a government.
The first clear steps in the rise of the first civilizations took place in the fourth and third millennia B.C. in Mesopotamia, northern Africa, India, and China. How the first governments took shape in these areas is not certain, but anthropologists studying the evolution of human communities in various parts of the world have discovered that one common stage in the process is the emergence of what are called “big men” within a single village or a collection of villages. By means of their military prowess, dominant personalities, or political talents, these people gradually emerge as the leaders of that community. In time, the “big men” become formal symbols of authority and pass on that authority to others within their own family. As the communities continue to grow in size and material wealth, the “big men” assume hereditary status, and their allies and family members are transformed into a hereditary monarchy.
The appearance of these sedentary societies had a major impact on the social organizations, religious beliefs, and way of life of the peoples living within their boundaries. With the increase in population and the development of centralized authority came the emergence of the cities. While some of these urban centers were identified with a particular economic function, such as proximity to gold or iron deposits or a strategic location on a major trade route, others served primarily as administrative centers or the site of temples for the official cult or other ritual observances. Within these cities, new forms of livelihood appeared to satisfy the growing need for social services and consumer goods. Some people became artisans or merchants, while others became warriors, scholars, or priests. In some cases, the physical division within the first cities reflected the strict hierarchical character of the society as a whole, with a royal palace surrounded by an imposing wall and separate from the remainder of the urban population. In other instances, such as the Indus River Valley, the cities lacked a royal precinct and the ostentatious palaces that marked their contemporaries elsewhere.
11. The phrase “culminated in “ in the passage (Para. 1) is closest in meaning to ________.
A. reached a high point with
B. logically followed from.
C. partly contributed to.
D. marked
12. According to Para. 2, which of the following statements is true of early farmers?
A. They used farming to supplement other food sources.
B. They were driven out of small communities.
C. They were victims of flooding
D. They farmed several plots land at once.
13. According to Para.3, which of the following is NOT a reason why governments first arose among agricultural communities?
A. A significant increase in population.
B. The desire to control water resources for irrigation.
C. The need for protection from outside forces.
D. The demand for organized communication with other communities.
14. According to Para.4, what is not known about the rise of the first civilizations?
A. Where the first steps toward civilization took place.
B. Who was allowed to replace “big men” after the “big men” died.
C. Why some individuals became recognized as leaders.
D. How governments emerged.
15. Para.5 suggests that which of the following was a consequence of the emergence of cities?
A. The decentralization of authority.
B. An increase in religious activity.
C. The emergence of service-and production-related jobs.
D. A decreased reliance on mineral resources.
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