April 21st in 2006 was the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. She is one of the most famous women in the world. Here are some interesting stories about the Queen. Queen Elizabeth IIis the fortieth monarch  since 1066. She has been the queen of Great Britain for 54 years. During her 54-year reign , she has made over 250 official visit to 129 different countries, including China in 1986. She has also hosted more than 90 formal dinners for those important people from foreign leaders. When she visits foreign countries or hosts formal dinners, the Queen often receives presents from foreign leaders. Some unusual presents include animals like jaguars and sloths from Brazil, and black beavers from Canada. The Queen is a great animal lover and she is known for her love of dogs. So far, the Queen has had more than 30 dogs. She is also really fond of horses and good at feeding horses. Her horses have won major races several times. The Queen usually sends a telegram  of congratulations to her people who are 100 years old on their hundredth birthday. Perhaps she will send herself on in twenty years. It's not impossible, since all her family members have enjoyed a long life. The Queen's mother died in 2002 at the age of 101. According to the passage, we can guess that jaguars and sloths are two kinds of  _  . A) plants B) animals C) trees D) flowers
B

Legend has it that sometime toward the end of the Civil War (1861 - 1865) a government train carrying oxen was caught in a snowstorm and had to be abandoned. The driver returned the next spring to see what had become of his cargo. Instead of the skeletons he had expected to find, he saw his oxen, living, fat, and healthy. How had they survived?     The answer lay in a resource that unknowing Americans had trampled   underfoot in their haste to cross the "Great American Desert" to reach lands that sometimes proved barren. In the eastern parts of the United States, the preferred grass for forage   was a cultivated plant. It grew well with enough rain, then when cut and stored it would cure and become nourishing hay for winter feed. But in the dry grazing lands of the west, that familiar blue joint grass was often killed by drought. To raise cattle out there seemed risky or even hopeless.      Who could imagine a fairy-tale grass that required no rain and somehow made it possible for cattle to feed themselves all winter? But the surprising western wild grasses did just that. They had wonderfully convenient features that made them superior to the cultivated eastern grasses. Variously known as buffalo grass, not only were they immune to drought, but they were actually preserved by the lack of summer and autumn rains. They were not juicy like the cultivated eastern grasses, but had short, hard stems. And they did not need to be cured in a barn, but dried right where they grew on the ground. When they dried in this way, they remained naturally sweet and nourishing through the winter. Cattle left outdoors to fend for themselves thrived on this hay. And the cattle themselves helped plant the fresh grass year after year, for they trampled the natural seeds firmly into the soil to be watered by the melting snows of winter and the occasional rains of spring. The dry summer air cured them much as storing in a barn cured the cultivated grasses. What does the passage mainly discuss? A) Western migration after the Civil War. B) The raising of cattle. C) The climate of the westernprefix = st1 /United States. D) A type of wild vegetation.
D

WASHINGTON--Tofu and Soyaburgers may be coming to American school lunch menus.What will the kids say? "Terrible," said Greg Dudzinski,17,of Ripon High School in Wisconsin,as he toured the US capital. "The regular hamburgers are bad enough,so soyaburgers would be a lot worse," offered Zach Richey,13,of Scottsboro Junior High in Alabama,another tourist. But the United States government--hoping to reduce the amount of fat that children are eating--has approved the use of soy as a meat substitute in meals for schools and day-care centers. Not all kids dislike the change Mariel Spano,17,of Sandy Creek High School in New York,also visiting the capital,said she likes soyaburgers:"There's less fat,and they're better for you.They taste the same,and they're just as good." The government tried to make soy a meat substitute nearly 20 years ago-but later dropped the idea.At the time,the plan was intended as a cost-cutting move .US Agriculture Department officials say their purpose now is only to make meals healthier. Schools are likely to increase the amount of soy that is mixed with hamburgers and other foods already on their menus,and they will also be looking to food companies to develop new soy products that children will like "I can't see putting tofu on a student's plate as being acceptable.I can see taking a product that's familiar to the students and adding a large amount of soy to it and having it be acceptable," said Jill Benza,director of food services for the Mesa,Arizona schools. We may learn from the text that_. A) soyaburgers taste better than hamburgers B) hamburgers are healthier than soyaburgers C) soyaburgers cost less than hamburgers D) hamburgers cost less than soyaburgers
C

Research on the human brain has been attracting the attention of more and more scientists in recent years. One of the latest research topics is how to change the human brain or combine the computer and the human brain, i.e., to transplant   a chip into human brain. This innovation   may make everyone's dream come true. If we compare a human brain to a hard disc, what the scientists do is to enlarge the capacity   of the hard disc. There are some difficulties in such transplant experiments, but scientists never give up. Experiments were started on animals. In 1996, a transplant experiment performed at the Defense and Military Physiology Research Institute in the U.S. turned a bear into a dolphin. The dolphin was named Ted, and the bear was named Tallin. Using the most advanced technology, deep and detailed studies were made of the swimming action memory area in Ted's brain by the scientists. They got a lot of useful information. The information was saved into a button-sized chip, which was then transplanted into the action memory area in Tallin's brain. The information saved on the chip was released by means of electric power. Recently, another memory transplant was performed at the Motor Nerve Research Institute of the University of California. The transplant was performed from a dog named "Genius" to a dog named "Idiot". "Genius" could understand and follow up to 100 gestures and orders made by its master. It was a real genius. "Idiot" was the younger brother of "Genius". It had no contact with people at all since its birth. It became an animal with nothing in its brain, without any memory.  _ When the two dogs woke up, "Idiot" had all the abilities "Genius" possessed. It could follow every gesture and order given by its master. But "Genius" gave no response to its master, and in fact did not recognize him at all. The scientists did the two experiments to   _  . A) see if animals can be taught some special skills B) see if animals can share some common knowledge C) learn if it's safe to do such transplant experiments D) make preparative research on changing the human brain
