Their beautiful call suggests the arrival of spring,but the routes taken by cuckoos during their annual migration have remained a mystery.Now,though,scientists from the British Trust for Omithology(BTO)have revealed the details of their remarkable 10,000-mile journey,with the help of tracking devices. Five male birds were caught in Norfolk last May and fitted with satellite-tagged "backpacks'' before being released.The scientists then monitored their progress over 12 months as they flew to Africa in the autumn,and returned in the spring. The project was carried out to discover why every year fewer of the birds return to Britain.Between 1995 and 2010,the population of cuckoos spending sumnler here fell by almost half,and the number is continuing to decline.Previously,the lack of information about the cuckoos'long migration has hamoered the understanding of how to help conserve the birds. Earlier this year,it was reported that cuckoos arrived in the UK much earlier than normal.Their call was recorded by ornithologists as early as February,a month ahead of their usual arrival. Like all migrating animals,cuckoos respond to the changing seasons.They depend on lush plants to provide the fruit and food for insects that they feed on.This reliance on seasonal patternsmeans that a changing climate could make an already challenging journey impossible for them. When do cuckoos usually arrive in Britain? A) In January. B) InFebruary. C) InMarch. D) In April.
C
Smart phones that react to your moods and televisions that can tell it's you who's watching are in your future as Intel Corporation's top technology expert sets his sights on context-aware computing. Chief technology officer Justin Rattner showed how personal devices will one day offer advice. "How can we change the relationship so we think of these devices not as devices but as assistants or even companions?" he asked. Handheld devices could combine already common geographic location technology with data from microphones, cameras, heart and body monitors and even brain scans to offer their owners advice that today only a friend or relative could give. "Imagine a device that uses a variety of sensors to determine what you are doing at an instant, from being asleep in your bed to being out for a run with a friend, " Rattner said, "Future devices will constantly learn about who you are, how you live, work and play.'' Rattner also demonstrated a television remote control that figures out who is holding it based on how it is held, and then learns the viewer's entertainment preferences. As the world leader for decades in microchips for servers and desktop computers, Intel is hurrying to catch up in the profitable market for smart phones like Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's Blackberry. Telephones with e-mail, global positioning and media players are pointing the way to a future where ever more functions are packed into ever smaller mobile devices. The smart phone industry, including technology giants like LG and Samsung, is likely to sell 270 million phones this year and grow 25 percent in 2011, according to market research company IDC. "I think you can expect to see features that support context-aware computing starting to appear in Intel products in the near future," Rattner said. But analysts say Intel faces an uphill battle getting its microchips into new phones as Nvidia, Marvell and Qualcomm have already made headway with cheap, lower-power processors based on designs by ARM Holdings. Rattner... The future smart phones can do all of the following except _ . A) giving responses to the moods of the owners B) giving proposals like assistants or companions C) offering advice to their owners' friends or relatives D) telling the phone holders or carriers where they are
C
Q: Children don't come with an instruction manual ,but now their grades in school do! Finally,parents can stop worrying about what their child's next school year will bring and get a glimpse of what's coming. Education.com,an easy-to-use,one-stop online destination with over 4,000 articles,that helps parents and educators take an ever more active role in their children's education,unveiled Grade Specific Cheat Sheets for grades pre-school through grade 5.From academic expectations,developmental milestones,and typical social issues,to fun learning activities that literally bring it all home,parents can now find it all in one place. "As the school year approaches,parents struggle to find time to adequately prepare themselves and their children for what's ahead," said Ron Fortune,CEO of Education.com."Every grade is different.Whether it's helping parents understand what their third grader should be reading or how they should be talking to their teen about peer pressure,our goal is to provide parents with a grade and developmental stage-specific user manual that helps parents find authoritative information as quickly as possible." The start of a new grade means many new questions.Now,a parent with a child about to embark on a new school year can go to Education.com's new Grade Specific Cheat Sheets and find age-specific information and content including what their child should be learning in math,reading,writing,and science,as well as physical and language milestones.Parents can find over forty articles per grade,on everything from peer relationships to self-esteem,how gender affects development,to ideas for using goldfish crackers for math practice or making a homemade fossil. Education.com's new Grade Specific Cheat Sheets provide parents with articles and content from trusted sources such as teachers,child psychologists,parents,and guidance counselors. The role of Education.com is _ . A) passive B) big C) small D) active
A: D
Q: More than 10,000 people were made homeless in Ternang when the Sungai Mas overflowed its banks yesterday after six days of continuous heavy rain. The wooden bridge across the river has been washed away. The town is cut off by flood waters. At the fifth mile, Jalan Tengkn, the water is two meters deep. It is closed to all traffic. Flooding first happened at mid-afternoon yesterday along the river banks. People trying to get to higher ground were just in time to escape the destroying of the flood. Most of the flood victims had to leave all their things behind. The National Flood Relief Center was reported to give its help and by early evening the whole town was moved out, helped by the army, police, Red Cross Society and volunteers . The flood victims are now housed in different simple relief centers in the nearby town of Ternang. "Everything possible is being done to help the unlucky people," a government spokesman said, "In fact, money, food and clothing have begun to come in from public organizations and helpful people. A Disaster Relief Fund will be started as soon as possible." According to the latest reports it is still raining heavily at Ternang. The whole town is expected to be wholly covered by the water. So far no deaths have been reported. From the passage we know that _ . A) though the town was flooded, you could still go there by bus B) the flood hasn't brought a large loss to the town as nobody died in the flood C) as soon as the water flowed over the banks, people began to go to higher lands D) the government and the whole society are taking great care of the flood victims
A: D