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The Cambridge ScienceFestival Curiosity Challenge Dare to Take the CuriosityChallenge! 【1】The Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) is pleased to inform you of the sixth annual Curiosity Challenge. The challenge invites, evendares school students between the ages of 5 and 14 to create artwork or a pieceof writing that shows their curiosity how it inspires them to explore theirworld. 【2】Students are being dared to draw a picture, writean article, take a photo or write a poem that shows what they are curiousabout. To enter the challenge, all artwork or pieces of writing should be sentto the Cambridge Science Festival, MIT Museum, 265 Mass Avenue, Cambridge 02139by Friday, February 8th. 【3】Students who enter the Curiosity Challenge and areselected as winners will be honored at a special ceremony during the CSF onSunday, April 21st. Guest speakers will also present prizes to the students.Winning entries will be published in a book. Student entries will be exhibitedand prizes will be given. Families of those who take part will be included incelebration and brunch will be served. 【4】Between March 10th and March 15th, each winnerwill be given the specifics of the closing ceremony and the Curiosity Challengecelebration. The program guidelines and other related information are availableat: http:// . 21. Who can takepart in the Curiosity Challenge? A. School students. B. Cambridge locals. C. CSF winners. D. MIT artists. 22. When will theprize-giving ceremony be held? A. On February 8th. B. On March 10th. C. On March 15th. D. On April 21st. 23. What type ofwriting is this text? A. An exhibition guide. B. An art show review. C. An announcement. D. An official report. 参考答案：ADC 剑桥科学节好奇心挑战赛 敢于接受好奇心挑战！ 【1】剑桥科学节(CSF)很高兴通知您第六届年度好奇心挑战赛的到来。该挑战赛邀请，甚至是激发5至14岁的学生去创作一件艺术作品或一篇文章来展现他们的好奇心，以及这种好奇心是如何激励他们去探索世界的。 【2】该賽事鼓励学生接受挑战，通过画一幅画、写一篇文章、拍一张照片或者写一首诗来表达他们所好奇的事物。要参加这个挑战賽，所有艺术作品或文章都需要在2月8日星期五之前发送到剑桥区Mass大街265MIT博物馆剑桥科学节，邮编是02139。 【3】参加好奇心挑战賽的获胜者将会在4月21日剑桥科学节的一个特殊仪式上接受表彰。嘉宾发言人也将为获胜者颁发奖品。获奖作品将成书出版。学生名单将被公示，奖品也将发放。参赛学生的家人也可以参与庆祝活动，并提供早午餐。 【4】在3月10日至3月15日期间，每位获奖者都将被通知好奇心挑战賽闭幕式和庆祝会的具体流程细节。活动规则和其他相关信息可以登录http://进行网上查询。 2014年新课标卷1阅读理解B原文及译文 【1】Passenger pigeons (旅鸽) once flew over muchof the United States in unbelievable numbers. Written accounts from the 18thand 19th centuries described flocks (群) so large that they darkened the sky forhours. 【2】It was calculated that when its population reachedits highest point ,they were more than 3 billion passenger pigeons—a numberequal to 24 to 40 percent of the total bird population in the United States,making it perhaps the most abundant bird in the world. Even as late as 1870when their numbers had already become smaller, a flock believed to be 1 milewide and 320 miles (about 515 kilometers) long was seen near Cincinnati. 【3】Sadly the abundance of passenger pigeons may have been their undoing. Where the birds were most abundant, people believed therewas an ever-lasting supply and killed them by the thousands. Commercial huntersattracted them to small clearings with grain, waited until pigeons had settledto feed, then threw large nets over them, taking hundreds at a time. The birdswere shipped to large cities and sold in restaurants. 【4】By the closing decades of the 19th century ,thehardwood forests where passenger pigeons nested had been damaged by Americans’needfor wood, which scattered (驱散) the flocks and forced the birds to go farthernorth, where cold temperatures and spring storms contributed to their decline.Soon the great flocks were gone, never to be seen again. 【5】In 1897, the state of Michigan passed a lawprohibiting the killing of passenger pigeons but by then, no sizable flocks hadbeen seen in the state for 10 years. The last confirmed wild pigeon in theUnited States was shot by a boy in Pike County, Ohio, in 1900. For a time, afew birds survived under human care. The last of them, known affectionately asMartha, died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden on September 1, 1914. 24. In the 18thand early 19th centuries, passenger pigeons _______. A. were the biggest bird in the world B. lived mainlyin the south of America C. did great harmto the natural environment D. were the largest bird population in the US 25. Theunderlined word “undoing” probably refers to the pigeons’ _______. A. escape B. ruin C.liberation D. evolution 26. What was themain reason for people to kill passenger pigeons? A. To seek pleasure. B. To save otherbirds. C. To make money. D. To protect crops. 27. What can we infer about the law passed in Michigan? A. It was ignored by the public. B. It was declared too late. C. It was unfair. D. It was strict. 参考答案：DBCB 【1】旅鸽曾经在美国大部分地区的上空飞翔过，其数量多得令人难以置信。据18和19世纪的资料记载，旅鸽的数量是如此的庞大，以至于它们能让天空变暗达数小时。【2】据估算，当旅鸽的数量达到最高峰时，其数量超过了30亿。这一数量占美国所有鸟类数量的24％到40％，可能是世界上数量最多的鸟类。即使到1870年，虽然它们的数量已然减少，但也有人在辛辛那提附近看到宽为1英里、长为320英里（大约515千米）的鸟群。 【3】不幸的是，旅鸽的数量之多可能就是它们灭亡的祸根。在它们的数量极为庞大的地区，人们认为旅鸽是源源不断的，于是它们被数以千计的猎杀。商业猎杀者用谷物把它们吸引到小的开阔地，一旦等到旅鸽走过去进食，便向它们撒下大网，一次可以捕捉几百只。这些鸟被船运到大城市，然后在餐厅出售。 【4】截止到19世纪最后的几十年间，由于美国对木材的需求，旅鸽巢居所在的硬木林遭到破坏。成群的旅鸽被驱散，被迫迁往较远的北方。那里寒冷的天气和春季的暴风雪导致它们的数量不断减少。不久大群的旅鸽消失了，再也看不到了。 【5】1897年，密歇根州通过了一项禁止猎杀旅鸽的法律。但是那时大规模旅鸽群体在那个州已经消失10年了。美国最后一只被确认的野生旅鸽于1900年在俄亥俄州派克县被一名男孩射杀。曾经一度有少量的旅鸽在人类的照顾下幸存下来。1914年9月1日，最后一只被爱称为玛莎的旅鸽在辛辛那提动园死去。 |
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