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Passage One

    I first encountered Charlie on Cat Street in Hong Kong. I was browsing for antiques when I heard a terrible screech and turned to see an evil-eyed opium peddler squatting on the curb beside a balding, scruffy, white cockatoo. 

    Manacled to a wooden perch, the bird was surrounded by children who were taunting him with sticks. The children laughed when the half-crazed creature snapped back with his hooked beak, flared his saffron crest and cursed in Chinese. I was overcome with admiration. This little creature was a fighter.

    I wanted to rescue him but could not bear the thought of keeping a bird in a cage. As I started to walk away, the cockatoo looked at me imploringly and said, "Okay, okay, okay."

    I was hooked. How did he know I spoke English? After some haggling, I bought him—and a whole new dimension came into my life.

    At home, I removed his shackle. He was grateful and, doglike, began following me around the apartment. He couldn't fly because the peddler had cut his flight feathers, so he waddled like a duck and used his beak and claws to hoist himself up our potted trees.

    In the wild, baby cockatoos learn survival from their parents and other members of the flock.

    They pick up alarm and comfort signals and social communication. Now, in captivity, Charlie began imitating the only flock he knew, my family.

    Charlie had a remarkably quick mind and long memory and was soon calling us by name. He cried out when we left him, so to reassure him, we all shouted back, just as his cockatoo flock would have done.

    Every day he picked up new words. His first phrase was "Hello Charlie" and then "Hello" to anyone in range, then "Shut the door," which soon became "Robin" (daughter No. 4), "go back and shut the door."

    His most frequent word was "Why?" Often when I spoke to the children, Charlie would ask "Why?" just as they did. It drove me crazy. I finally shouted back, "Because I'm your mother!" That became his next phrase.

    Before long we could see the results of our love and care. Charlie's feathers grew back thick and glossy. He developed an arrogant glint in his eye and established himself as top of the pecking order with our four cats who, to my amazement, restrained their killer instincts even when Charlie filched their food.

(401 words)

1. The author decided to bring Charlie home _______. ( D )

(a) when she heard him crying out loudly

(b) when she first saw him and his evil-looking owner

(c) because she was impressed by his persevering spirit of fighting

(d) after the bird said "okay" to her

2. All of the following show Charlie's cleverness EXCEPT that ______. ( A )

(a) he had his feathers cut and waddled like a duck

(b) he was able to name every member of the author's family soon

(c) he was a facile learner and possessed a strong memory

(d) he could enlarge his vocabulary every day and use what he had learned

3. After Charlie became one of the author's family members, the author __________. ( A )

(a) found the bird gave her life enjoyment and vitality

(b) was uneasy about the bird's cleverness when chatting with friends

(c) was very annoyed by the bird's improper use of newly learned words

(d) trained the bird and tried to let him forget the wild cockatoo's life environment

4. All of the following are true EXCEPT that ________. ( D )

(a) the wild cockatoos learn to live from their parents and other fellow birds

(b) the wild cockatoos can make alarm and comfort signals and social communication

(c) The wild cockatoos comfort each other by crying out

(d) The wild cockatoos can't imitate man's behaviors

5. Under the family's love and care, Charlie ________. ( A )

(a) resumed his thick and glossy feathers

(b) made the four cats very angry when he stole their food

(c) became very arrogant and regarded himself as the top of the family

(d) quarreled with the children with his new words   

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Passage Two

    Local inhabitants have always feared the gorillas. In 1861 British explorer John Speke was warned that the volcano slopes were inhabited by manlike monsters. The mountain gorillas were unknown to western scientists until 1902, when a German explorer shot two. Over the next 25 years hunters killed or captured more than 50 of the rare primates. By the 1960's, with the human populations of Rwanda and Zaire exploding, much of the gorillas' highland habitat had been taken, leaving 450 of the apes squeezed into the Virungas. By 1981 there were just 254 left.

    Their unlikely savior was American primatologist Dian Fossey, author of Gorillas in the Mist. Setting up a research center in Rwanda in 1967, Fossey trained a crew of trackers to monitor the gorillas and lead her to them each day. She soon alerted the world to their threatened extinction.

    Among her recruits was Fidele Nshogoza. Over a shared pot of pombe—banana beer—Nshogoza, now 47, told me of his first encounter with the gorillas. He came across more than a dozen sprawled in an alpine meadow, looking just like a family on a picnic. Nshogoza watched as the brawny patriarch lay on his belly, resting his chin on blockbuster arms. "Le grand chef," Nshogoza whispered in awe. "The chieftain."

    Gathered about the leader were his six wives, typically less than half his size. An imp-faced youngster clambered onto the silverback's shoulders, pulling his hair in fun. The father let the infant yank away. The silverback has the power of several men, Nshogoza thought, but is so gentle with his family. The great ape was not the monster of native legend.

(275 words)

    6. The Western scientists did not know mountain gorillas until ________. ( C )

(a) local inhabitants told them

(b) the British explorer John Speke warned them against the manlike monsters

(c) a German explorer shot two of them

(d) Rwanda and Zaire took much of the gorillas' highland habitat

7. American primatologist Dian Fossey did all the following EXCEPT that ______. ( D )

(a) she wrote the book Gorillas in the Mist

(b) she established a research center in Rwanda in 1967

(c) she trained a crew of trackers to monitor the gorillas each day

(d) she was the first person to disclose the gorillas' threatened extinction

8. Fidele Nshogoza _______. ( D )

(a) was a famous Rwanda explorer

(b) worked as a gorilla research center's director

(c) regarded the great ape as the monster of native legend

(d) was Dian Fossey's assistant and team member

9. " Le grand chef " means _______. ( B )

(a) the great cook

(b) the top leader

(c) the terrible man-eating gorilla

(d) the manlike monster

10. Nshogoza's impression upon the leader gorilla was that _________. ( C )

(a) he was both a powerful leader and an absolute master of his kind

(b) he was the monster of native legend

(c) he had many wives and treated his family gently

(d) he was a merciless fighter and could kill several men   

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Passage Three

    George VanHorn had no warning that the king cobra would strike. He saw a blur—then the 12-foot snake latched onto his left forearm.

VanHorn flailed as the cobra began its deadly "walk" up his arm. It pulled out its left fang, swiveled its head and stuck the 3/8-inch fang back in farther up. Then it did the same with its right fang. With each step it sent another dose of deadly neurotoxin pulsing through VanHorn's body.

    Finally VanHorn shook his arm hard enough to fling the snake to the ground. But then he did not move. He felt no pain, no fear. Maybe 51 was not too young to die. For about two seconds he thought about lying down and waited for the convulsions. Death would come in five minutes. It would be easier than the battle he'd have to fight to survive this attack, if survival was still an option.

    Then VanHorn chose to live.

    VanHorn's obsession had begun at age five when he saw his first snake in Miami, where he lived. Soon he was keeping snakes under his bed. At age 11 he broke into the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, and the curator found him stuffing snakes into a sack—for practice. In secondary school he sold venom to University of Miami researchers; he milked the snakes in his grandmother's basement.

    VanHorn got a biology degree, then built Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, Florida, in 1972. He amassed exotic snakes, sold their venom to medical-research labs, and opened the center to tourists.

    Like snake handlers everywhere, he didn't wear gloves—he needed a sensitive touch. For someone who milked up to 90 snakes a day, he had a good safety record: fewer than ten bites in 23 years.

    A king cobra had bitten him in 1977. Quick treatment with a cobra antidote cured him. But that exposure and years of handling the venom had left him with an intense allergy that, if he was bitten again, could trigger a potentially fatal reaction called anaphylactic shock.

(338 words)

11. When the king cobra attacked George VanHorn, ______. ( B )

(a) he had been aware of the danger and defended himself

(b) he had not expected such a sudden attack but kept calm to deal with it

(c) he felt numb but soon regained his vitality

(d) he was unconscious

12. According to the passage, George VanHorn _____.  ( D )

(a) felt disgusted at the sight of snakes and hated to touch them

(b) wanted to study snakes and set up a research center

(c) had to raise snakes for commercial reasons

(d) liked snakes even when he was a child and later he became a snake handler

13. VanHorn did not wear gloves and in this way, he _______.( C )

(a) faced more danger while handling snakes

(b) showed his bravery and won admiration

(c) could get a sensitive touch

(d) could milk snakes more easily and played with them for fun

14. As a successful snake handler, VanHorn could boast his _______.( D )

(a) biology degree

(b) own serpentarium

(c) big collection of exotic snakes

(d) good safety record

15. After a king cobra bit VanHorn in 1977, _______. ( B )

(a) he was fully recovered

(b) a lethal allergy was left in his body

(c) an anaphylactic shock was triggered by the bite which harmed his health greatly

(d) he was seriously wounded and gave up handling snakes   

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