The third paragraph passage mainly discusses ______.A．what lichens look likeB．where lichen

All of the following are mentioned as being a part of the lichen EXCEPT ______.

A．a fungus

B．algae

C．a beetle

D．bacteria

Often modestly colored, and seemingly two-dimensional as they cling to whatever surface they find, they grow in background - as though designed to be ignored. Yet they hold a special fascination for botanists, partly because they present mysteries still to be solved and partly because they do so many things so well.

No casual observer 'of a lichen would ever suspect that it was a composite of interacting life forms. This seemingly uncomplicated lichen is actually composed of a fungus and a colony of algae (or blue-green algae, which some scientists now consider to be bacteria). A few species even include all three of these diverse forms of life. A complete lichen is strikingly different from its separated partners in both appearance and biochemistry-many produce unique compounds which cannot be made by the component organisms alone.

Lichens grow in almost every natural habitat imaginable, from deserts to tropical rain forests-even on the backs of certain beetles in New Guinea, and i0side rocks (along with algae ) in the otherwise barren dry valleys of Antarctica.

Many species can tolerate extreme heat, cold. or dryness. Very few, however, can survive heavy air pollution, and many live only where the air is very clean. The disappearance of lichens from an area gives warning of a threatened environment.

The author states that lichens grow "as though designed to be ignored" because they are ______.

A．not totally understood by botanists

B．troublesome to collect for the purposes of study

C．uncomplicated in their internal structure

D．not easily noticed by observers

What prediction does the groundhog supposedly make?

A．If he sees his shadow, it will soon be spring.

B．If he sees his shadow, spring will arrive in six weeks.

C．If he does not see his shadow, spring will arrive in six weeks.

D．If he does not see his shadow, all the snow will disappear immediately.

Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Animals have a certain instinct which helps them predict the seasons.

B．According to the legend, the groundhog leaves his burrow on February 2.

C．Groups of people in Pennsylvania wait for the groundhog's predictions.

D．After his long period of hibernation, the groundhog looks very thin.

that question is not certain, but a group of people get together every February 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to watch Punxsutawney "Pete" leave his burrow. What "Pete" does next, many believe, will indicate whether spring is just around the comer or a long way off, You see, in Pennsylvania on this date there is usually a great deal of snow on the ground, and the little animal has been hibernating during the long, cold winter. He gorged himself during the autumn months and then went into his burrow for a long sleep, his body fat helping keep him alive. But as he emerges on February 2, he looks very thin. If the sun is shining brightly and he sees his shadow, according to legend, it scares him back into his home where he will stay another six weeks. Should it be cloudy and gray, the little animal will supposedly wander While many believe in the groundhog's predictions, it is unwise to accept them as factual.

According to this reading, why do people gather every year to observe the groundhog?

A．He's cute and playful, and children love to watch him.

B．He's looking for food and the people want to help him find it in the snow.

C．Many people believe him to be a harbinger of spring.

D．The people want to be sure he is alive after such a long winter.

The best title for the passage is ______.

A．China jails U.S.-based dissident

B．Yang Jianli has already been imprisoned in Beijing

C．China arrests a U.S.-based spy

D．Yang Jianli has been indicted wrongly by Beijing

1 BEIJING, China (CNN Thursday, May 13, 2004) - A Beijing court has sentenced a U.S.-based Chinese dissident to five years in prison after convicting him of espionage and illegal border crossing, his lawyer said.

2 yang Jianli has already been imprisoned in Beijing for more than two years.

3 He will not receive credit for time served, according to his U.S.-based attorney Jared Genser. Yang, a Chinese scholar living in the Boston area with permanent U.S. residency, was arrested in April 2002 on charges of using a friend's passport to enter China and traveling with a fake identity card for a week to observe labor unrest in northeastern China.

4 Genser said the spying charge was related to a small foundation that Yang ran from his home from 1992 to 1993.

5 The Chinese government charged that he received $400 in funding from a person in Taiwan who had ties a political party there.

6 The court has five days to deliver the verdict personally to Yang or a family member, and Yang will have another 10 days to appeal.

7 He was indicted last July in Beijing after spending more than a year in jail, and a secretive three-hour trial was held a month later.

8 No verdict was released after the brief trial and no observers were allowed in the courtroom because the case reportedly involved state secrets, Yang's attorney, Mo Shaoping, said at the time.

9 U.S. embassy officials had sought to attend the trial without success, Mo said.

10 According to Genser, a verdict in the case was due by December of last year - the deadline under Chinese law. In March, Yang staged a three-day protest from prison because of the delay.

11 Yang operates the Boston-based Foundation for China in the 21st Century and has been blacklisted by Chinese authorities since 1989 for his participation in pro-democracy demonstrations.

12 The U.S. Senate last summer condemned Yang's lengthy detention and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

The author's attitude towards Beijing court is ______.

A．objective

B．appreciative

C．critical

D．sarcastic

The word "slums" was invented to describe ______.

A．bad housing

B．poverty

C．unemployment

D．wealth

Before 1900 very large numbers of men were ______.

A．always without work

B．never without work

C．often without work

D．rarely without work

In 1900 life was better for ______.

A．everyone in the world

B．most people in Europe

C．only the rich

D．non-Europeans