If you want to learn anything at school, you need to listen to your teachers. Unfortunately, millions of kids can’t hear what their teachers are saying. And it’s not because these students are goofing off. Often, it’s the room’s fault. Building architecture and building design can create echo(回声)-filled classrooms that make hearing difficult.
Children with hearing impairments（损伤）suffer most from noisy classrooms. They sometimes can’t hear questions that other students ask in class. Compared with kids with healthy hearing, they have a harder time picking up new vocabulary words by hearing them in talking.
Even kids with normal hearing have a harder time in the classroom when there’s too much noise. Younger children in particular have trouble separating important sounds – like a teacher’s voice – from background noise. Kids with learning disabilities and speech impediments（障碍）and kids for whom English is a second language also have a harder time learning in noisy situations.
In recent years, scientists who study sound have been asking schools to reduce background noise, which may include loud air-conditioners and pipes. They’re also targeting outdoor noises, such as highway traffic. Noise reduction is a big deal. Why? Because quieter classrooms might make you smarter by letting you hear your lessons better.
“It’s so obvious that we should have quiet rooms that allow for access to the lesson,” says Dan Ostergren, a hearing scientist. “Sometimes it surprises me that we spend so much time discussing this topic. I just want to go. Why is this hard for anyone to grasp?”
【小题1】The underlined part “goofing off” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “     ”.

When an ant dies, other ants move the dead insect out. Sometimes, the dead ant get moved away very soon—within an hour of dying. This behavior is interesting to scientists, who wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.

One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist. Choe found that Argentine ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I’m dead—take me away.”

But there’s a twist to Choe’s discovery. Choe says that the living ants—not just the dead ones—have this death chemical. In other words, while an ant crawls around, perhaps in a picnic or home, it’s telling other ants that it’s dead.

What keeps ants from dragging away the living ants？Choe found that Argentine ants have two additional chemicals on their bodies, and these tell nearby ants something like, “Wait—I’m not dead yet.” So Choe’s research turned up two sets of chemical signals in ants: one says, “I’m dead,” and the other set says, “I’m not dead yet.”

Other scientists have tried to figure out how ants know when another ant is dead. If an ant is knocked unconscious, for example, other ants leave it alone until it wakes up. That means ants know that unmoving ants can still be alive.

Choe suspects that when an Argentine ant dies, the chemical that says “Wait-I’m not dead yet” quickly goes away. Once that chemical is gone, only the one that says “I’m dead” is left. “It’s because the dead ant no longer smells like a living ant that it gets carried to the graveyard, not because its body releases(释放) new unique chemicals after death,” said Choe. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they drag away the body.

Understanding this behavior may help scientists figure out how to stop Argentine ants from invading new places and causing problems. Choe would like to find a way to use the newly discovered chemicals to spread ant killer to Argentine ant nests.

The ants’ removal behavior is important to the overall health of the nest. “Being able to quickly remove dead individuals and other possible sources of disease is extremely important to all animals living in societies, including us,” says Choe. “Think about all the effort and money that we invest daily in waste management.”

1.The underlined word “twist” in Paragraph 3 means             .

A．an unexpected change                   B．a clear mistake

C．an important key                        D．a shocking conclusion

2.Ants judge whether another one is dead or not depending on            .

A．the sense of taste                       B．the sense of smell

C．the sense of touch                      D．the sense of sight

3.The result of the research can be used to            .

A．kill troublesome pests

B．solve the problem of endangered species

C．prevent further expansion of the ants’ territory

D．keep the balance of nature

4.Why is it important to remove dead individuals?

A．Because it is easier to manage the living.

B．Because it can save money to deal with the waste.

C．Because it can provide more space for the living.

D．Because it can keep the living from suffering disease.

5.What might be the best title of the text?

A．Dead or living? It is easy to judge

B．Pulling away the dead ants is a difficult task

C．Ant nests have great undertaking capacity

D．Leaving it alone or taking it away? Ants feel puzzled

     There are many different ways of seeing a town for the first time. One of them is to walk around it, guide-book   36   hand. Of course, we may   37   with our guide-books the history and   38   developments of a town and get to know them.   39   then, if we take out time and   40   in a town for a while, we may get to know it better. When we   41   it as a whole, we begin to have some   42   ,which even the best guide-books do not answer. Why is the town just   43   this, this shape, this plan, this size? Why do its streets   44    in this particular way, and not in any   45   why?

   Here even the best guide-book   46   us. One can’t find in it the information about how a town has developed to the   47   appearance. It may not describe the original (最初的)   48   of a town. However, one may get some idea of what I   49   look like by walking around the town. One can also imagine   50   the town was first planned and build. Then one can learn more about in what direction the town   51   to develop.

   What is the   52   of studying towns in the way? For me, it is   53   that one gets a greater depth of pleasure by visiting and seeing a town with one’s own eyes. A   54   visit to a town may help one better understand why it is attractive   55   just reading about it in a guide-book.

根据对话内容，从对话后所给的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）请把答案填在下面的方框内，否则不计分。）
---It’s so hard for me to learn English.Why is it so easy for you?
---I didn’t know you were having problems._1___But also, I really work at it.
---Well,I always do my homework and go to classes._2___
---Well, you might try reading newspapers. And you can talk with Americans when you get a chance.
---__3_____
---How about sitting next to an Amercian at lunch, or have you ever thought of asking someone over to your house for dinner?
---__4___But I’m a little shy to speak English.
---You won’t learn if you don’t try and speak.__5__They will give us a lot of help.

When an ant dies, other ants move the dead insect out. Sometimes, the dead ant get moved away very soon—within an hour of dying. This behavior is interesting to scientists, who wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist. Choe found that Argentine ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I’m dead—take me away.”
But there’s a twist to Choe’s discovery. Choe says that the living ants—not just the dead ones —have this death chemical. In other words, while an ant crawls around, perhaps in a picnic or home, it’s telling other ants that it’s dead.
What keeps ants from dragging away the living ants? Choe found that Argentine ants have two additional chemicals on their bodies, and these tell nearby ants something like, “Wait—I’m not dead yet.” So Choe’s research turned up two sets of chemical signals in ants: one says, “I’m dead,” and the other set says, “I’m not dead yet.”
Other scientists have tried to figure out how ants know when another ant is dead. If an ant is knocked unconscious, for example, other ants leave it alone until it wakes up. That means ants know that unmoving ants can still be alive.
Choe suspects that when an Argentine ant dies, the chemical that says “Wait- I’m not dead yet” quickly goes away. Once that chemical is gone, only the one that says “I’m dead” is left. “It’s because the dead ant no longer smells like a living ant that it gets carried to the graveyard, not because its body releases new unique chemicals after death,” said Choe. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they drag away the body.
Understanding this behavior may help scientists figure out how to stop Argentine ants from invading new places and causing problems. Choe would like to find a way to use the newly discovered chemicals to spread ant killer to Argentine ant nests.
The ants’ removal behavior is important to the overall health of the nest. “Being able to quickly remove dead individuals and other possible sources of disease is extremely important to all animals living in societies, including us,” says Choe. “Think about all the effort and money that we invest daily in waste management.”
51. The underlined word “twist” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
A. an unexpected change                              B. a clear mistake
C. an important key                                        D. a shocking conclusion
52. Ants judge whether another one is dead or not depending on ______.
A. the sense of taste                                      B. the sense of smell
C. the sense of touch                                               D. the sense of sight
53. The result of the research can be used to ______.
A. kill troublesome pests
B. solve the problem of endangered species
C. prevent further expansion of the ants’ territory
D. keep the balance of nature
54. Why is it important to remove dead individuals?
A. Because it is easier to manage the living.
B. Because it can save money to deal with the waste.
C. Because it can provide more space for the living.
D. Because it can keep the living from suffering disease.
55. What might be the best title of the text?
A. Dead or living? It is easy to judge
B. Pulling away the dead ants is a difficult task
C. Ant nests have great undertaking capacity
D. Leaving it alone or taking it away? Ants feel puzzled