[B]
The world’s oldest known wild bird, an albatross (信天翁) named Wisdom, has returned to her nesting place in the Midway Atoll. The 68-year-old bird has just laid another egg.The Midway Atoll is made of two small islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is an important place for albatrosses, and an important place for scientists who want to study them. One of the ways scientists can study birds is by banding (给……戴环志) them. Putting a small numbered band on the leg of a bird, helps scientists tell which bird is which. This makes it easier to keep track of what happens among the birds. Over 250,000 albatrosses have been banded on Midway since 1936.
Wisdom was first banded by scientist Chandler Robbins in 1956, along with thousands of other albatrosses. At the time, she was at least 5 years old. Wisdom carried Robbins’ band around the world for many years. Then, surprisingly, the scientist and the bird were reunited in 2002, when Robbins returned to Midway to research albatrosses again. He rebanded Wisdom and, checking the band records, discovered he had been the first one to put a band on her — 46 years before.
Wisdom was using the same nesting place. Adult albatrosses spend a lot of their lives flying over the sea, resting from time to time on the water to eat. But they return to the same nesting place every year. When albatrosses choose a partner, they remain partners for life. But Wisdom has been alive so long that she has had a few partners.
Wisdom is not just old, she is also active. Because it takes so much time and energy for parent albatrosses to raise a chick — it takes about seven months until it can fly — many albatrosses lay eggs every other year. But Wisdom has laid an egg every single year since 2006. Because Wisdom has been laying eggs for so long, she could have her chicks and the chicks of her chicks all around her. There may soon be one more to add to the list.
5. What does the author want to do in Paragraph 2?
A. Use an example to support the topic.
B. Offer some background information.
C. Give an explanation for what happened.
D. Attract the readers’ interest in the topic.
6. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?
A. How albatrosses are banded.
B. How biologists study albatrosses.
C. The life of Wisdom since she was banded.
D. The connection between Wisdom and a scientist.
7. What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. Wisdom.
B. Wisdom’s chick.
C. A baby albatross.
D. A parent albatross.
8. How is Wisdom different from ordinary albatrosses?
A. She lays an egg every year.
B. She uses different nesting spots.
C. She changes partners very often.
D. She has been banded several times.
B篇
本文是说明文。文章主要介绍了一只世界上已知最长寿的信天翁——Wisdom。
5. B。写作目的题。作者在第二段首先简单介绍了Midway Atoll，说明该地是信天翁的重要栖息地，同时也是科学家研究信天翁的重要地点；接着作者介绍了科学家研究信天翁的一种手段——给它们佩戴环志，以了解它们的行踪。这部分内容为第一段中Wisdom的产卵地Midway Atoll和第三段中Wisdom佩戴环志提供了背景信息。
6. D。段落大意题。第三段主要讲述了Wisdom被科学家Chandler Robbins佩戴环志的故事。这位科学家在Wisdom大约五岁时给她戴上了环志，令人意想不到的是，46年后，他偶然间为Wisdom戴上了另一个环志，并认出了这位多年前的“故人”。
7. C。篇章结构题。划线单词所在句句意：信天翁抚养幼鸟要花费大量的时间和精力，它（信天翁幼鸟）需要经历七个月时间的成长才能飞翔，所以，许多信天翁都是隔年产卵。
8. A。细节理解题。由最后一段中的many albatrosses lay eggs ... every single year since 2006可知，许多信天翁隔年产卵，但Wisdom自2006年以来每年都产卵。
