“This Friday we’ll have the yearly Egg Drop Challenge, ” said our science teacher, Mr. baker. “You can work alone or with a partner. ”
My friend, Cassie, and I smiled at each other. We always worked on projects _____.
The______of the challenge was simple---to build a protective container to keep an egg from breaking when _____the stadium wall.
I made my sandwich that afternoon while waiting for Cassie.____the butter-cream gave me an idea.
“I have a brilliant design for our______container!” I said when Cassie arrived. “We can _____the egg with some butter-cream. ”
“Why not put the egg in a basket with a parachute (降落伞)_____?” Cassie rolled her eyes. “The parachute is better than that stupid idea. ”
I couldn’t believe it. Of course, we’d had our little _____in the past, but she’d never called any of my ideas “______” before.
“Then I’ll build mine and you build yours!”
____words had been out, our friendship was challenged.
When Friday finally arrived, I had to____Cassie’s Egg Force One looked pretty good. ______, my Egg--cellent Egg Cream didn’t look quite scientific. We kids carried our containers up three stadium steps and dropped them over the side wall. Those whose eggs broke were out; those whose eggs survived ____three more steps and dropped them again. This would go on till the last egg broke.
After four rounds, only Cassie and I were ____. I let go of my box. I heard someone say “ew” after seconds. Had my egg broken? I raced down the ____. The side walk was dotted with egg shells from those_____drops. Finally I found my little Egg--cellent Egg Cream.
“That looks like egg drop soup, Laura,” Cassie said. She was holding her Egg Force One. My_______raced. Had she won? I looked at her basket. _____.
“My egg bounced(弹起) _____, ”she explained, pointing to a broken shell.
“A tie, ”Mr. Baker said.
Cassie looked at me, and her glare _____. I laughed. She smiled…
1.A. patiently B. silently C. together D. alone
2.A. function B. goal C. reason D. result
3.A. rolled down B. pushed against C. thrown at D. dropped over
4.A. Spreading B. Boiling C. Baking D. Holding
5.A. butter B. sandwich C. cream D. egg
6.A. protect B. replace C. carry D. mix
7.A. followed B. covered C. attached D. supported
8.A. ideas B. fights C. worries D. challenges
9.A. wrong B. stupid C. brilliant D. scientific
10.A. Since B. While C. But D. And
11.A. explain B. deny C. admit D. prove
12.A. Therefore B. Anyway C. Otherwise D. Besides
13.A. paced down B. turned around C. walked up D. went back
14.A. left B. wanted C. chosen D. discovered
15.A. steps B. way C. wall D. sidewalk
16.A. intended B. unexpected C. failed D. desired
17.A. eyes B. hands C. feet D. heart
18.A. Lost B. Dirty C. Broken D. Empty
19.A. around B. out C. in D. down
20.A. returned B. remained C. increased D. softened
Culture means any human behavior that is learned in human society. All of the meaningful parts of a culture are passed on to different generations through tradition or social learning. 1.Culture exists in agricultural as well as industrialized societies.
Culture is necessary for the survival and existence of human beings as human beings. Practically everything humans know, think, value, feel, and do is learned through taking part in a sociocultural system. 2. Here is one of the cases of children growing up apart from human society. In the province of Midnapore in India, the director of a children’s home was told by local villagers that there were “ghosts” in the forest. Upon looking into the case, the director found that two children, one about eight years old and the other about six years old, appeared to have been living with a group of wolves in the forest. 3. In his diary, the director describes his first view of Kamala (as the older child was named) and Amala (the name given to the younger child):
Kamala was a terrible-looking being, the head, a big ball of something covering the shoulders. 4.Their eyes were bright and sharp, unlike human eyes. They were very fond of raw meat and raw milk. Gradually, as they got stronger, they began going on all fours, and afterwards began to run on all fours, just like squirrels.
Children learn human language in the same way they learn other kinds of human behavior--by taking part in a cultural community. 5..
A. From this viewpoint, all human groups have a culture.
B. These children were the ghosts described by the local people.
C. This statement is well supported by some well-written cases.
D. Human beings can only develop human abilities by the local people.
E. Culture refers only to the high art and classical music of a particular society.
F. Close at its heels there came another terrible creature exactly like the first, but smaller in size.
G. They learn a certain human languages as well as certain kinds of human behavior through their membership in a certain cultural community.
Smoking is harmful. But as soon as you quit the habit, everything will be OK, right? Wrong.
New research has found that even if you give up smoking, the damage it has done to your genes will stay there for a much longer time. In the research, a team of US scientists studied the blood of 16,000 people. Among them, some were smokers, some used to smoke, and the rest were non-smokers. Scientists compared their genes and found that more than 7,000 genes of smokers had changed--a number that is one-third of known human genes.
According to NBC News, both heart disease and cancer are caused by genetic changes. Some people may have had the changes when they were born, but most people get them in their day-to-day lives while doing things like smoking.
When you stop smoking, a lot of these genes will return to normal within five years.
This means your body is trying to heal (治愈) itself of the harmful effects of smoking. But the changes in some of the genes stay for longer. They can stay for as long as 30 years, It’s almost like leaving a footprint on wet cement (水泥)----it will always be there, even when you’ve walked away and when the cement becomes dry.
Although the study results may make people unhappy, there is a bright side: the findings could help scientists invent medicine to treat genetic damage caused by smoking or find ways to tell which people have heart disease or cancer risks.
1.The function of Paragraph 1 is to_________ .
A. introduce the topic of the passage B. give an example
C. make an argument D. show the main idea of the passage
2.Most genetic changes happen because of___________ .
A. people’s condition at birth B. environmental pollution
C. people’s bad living habit D. heart disease and cancer
3.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refers to__________ .
A. the footprint B. the cement
C. the harmful effect D. the genetic change
4.Which of the following statements is true?
A. The findings are the fruit of more than three years’ research.
B. The findings have prevented more people from starting smoking
C. The findings offer evidence that a damaged gene can heal itself.
D. The findings help to find cures for genetic damage caused by smoking.
Crossing your legs is an extremely common habit; most people don't even notice that they're doing it when they sit down. While you may find it comfortable to sit with one knee crossed over the other, it might be causing health problems that you are not aware of.
A study published in Blood Pressure Monitoring stated that sitting with your legs crossed can increase your blood pressure. The reason for this is that the blood in your legs has to work against gravity to be pumped back to your heart and that crossing one leg over the other increases resistance(阻力), making it even harder for the blood to circulate. This causes your body to increase your blood pressure to push the blood back to the heart. You won't feel any immediate effects, but repeated, drawn-out increases in blood pressure can cause long-term health problems. So, planning to sit for a long period of time? Don't keep your legs crossed.
Crossing your legs at the knee can also cause pressure on the major nerve in your leg that passes just below your knee and along the outside of your leg, explains Richard Graves, a medical expert. This pressure can cause numbness and temporary paralysis (麻痹) of some of the muscles in your foot and leg, preventing you from being able to raise your ankle—what we know as that “pins and needles” sensation. While the feeling of discomfort may only last a minute or two, repeatedly crossing your legs until they feel numb can cause permanent nerve damage.
So next time you sit down, try to get yourself in the habit of sitting with both of your feet on the floor. Not only will it help your posture and stability, but it will also save your health in the long run.
1.What can we learn about crossing one's legs?
A. It is a very bad social habit.
B. It is usually practiced on purpose.
C. It can do harm to people's health.
D. It can make others feel uncomfortable.
2.According to the study, sitting with your legs crossed can______.
A. affect your blood pressure
B. resist gravity effectively
C. lead to heart attacks easily
D. improve the function of legs
3.In the third paragraph "pins and needles" probably means______.
A. slight sharp pains
B. being a little nervous
C. serious muscle injuries
D. being highly flexible
4.What is the main purpose of the text?
A. To compare common habits.
B. To give readers some advice.
C. To evaluate effects of an experiment.
D. To introduce research methods.
The family of a 6-year-old adopted Chinese girl who badly needs a bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植) believes they have found a match in China.
Kailee Wells suffers from a serious aplastic anemia (再生障碍性贫血), which prevents bone marrow from producing new blood cells. She has taken courses of treatment but has shown little sign of recovery.
The best help for such patients is a transplant of healthy marrow or blood cells from a suitable donor. Certain tissue of the patient and the donor must match.
Kailee’s mother, Linda Wells, made her second trip to China earlier this month to find a donor. Her husband, Owen Wells, said that his wife believed doctors there had found a match.
“For these last 22 months, we’ve been living in fear that Kailee would take a turn for the worse and there would be nothing we could do about it,” he said. “Now we have something we can use and save our little girl. We are just about ready to start jumping up and down and rejoicing.”
Wells said a Chinese girl who is about a year old has a blood sample that matches Kailee’s perfectly. The next step, he said, would be to make sure the sample is safely harvested and protected for transplant, the details of which have yet to be worked out.
Linda Wells first traveled to China in February to try to locate the girl’s birth mother, who is likely to be a match. But she found no relatives and decided to try again this month.
“This gives us so much encouragement because now we found what we thought we would never be able to find for Kailee,” Owen Wells said. “We’re going to continue our blood donor drive to try to continue to help as many people as we possibly can. We’re just so happy.”
1.What do we know about Kailee Wells?
A. She was adopted by a Chinese family.
B. She has a one-year-old sister in China.
C. She was recovering from aplastic anemia.
D. She is unable to produce new blood cells.
2.The underlined word “rejoicing” in Paragraph 5 can be best replaced by “_____”.
A. waving B. moving
C. cheering D. crying
3.What can we infer from the text?
A. Linda Wells has found the girl’s birth mother.
B. Owen and Linda tried every means to cure Kailee.
C. Doctors have worked out plans to protect the sample.
D. Owen and Linda visited China twice to find a perfect match.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. Long and deep friendship between two families. B. Faith leads to hope.
C. Match found for a bone marrow transplant. D. The journey to China.
Are you interested in higher education in the United States? The following advice might help you.
● College, University or Institute
College and universities offer undergraduate degrees in arts and sciences. And both can help prepare young people to earn a living. But many colleges don't offer graduate studies. Universities are generally bigger, offer more programs and do more research. An institute of technology can offer a wide choice of programs and activities. Seventy-five percent of freshmen go there with a strong interest and involvement in the arts.
● The Application Process
International admissions officers advise students to apply to at least three schools. You may be able to apply online and pay the application charge with a credit card, or by mail. You should study the websites of schools to find information about how and when to apply, how much it will cost and whether any financial aid is available.
● Get a Student Card
If you request a visa for the first time, you will have to go to an American embassy or consulate(领事馆). You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have been accepted. A consular official will also take your picture and your fingerprints. You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education.
● Financial Aid
American schools provide aid, like scholarships, fellowships, to almost half of foreign graduate students, but only ten percent of undergraduates. But grants, which, unlike a loan, does not have to be paid.
1.It can be inferred from the passage that American colleges and universities .
A. have their own origins in institutes of technology
B. have both similarities and differences
C. can offer a wide choice of programs and activities
D. provide about seventy-five percent students with art courses
2.To apply for a vise for the first time, you'll have to do the following things EXCEPT .
A. paying an American embassy or consulate some money
B. taking your picture and your fingerprints
C. showing a government form given by the American school admitting you
D. providing evidence that you have enough money to pay for your education
3.The purpose of the passage is .
A. to make some money B. to provide foreign students with a guide
C. to improve education quality D. to attract foreign visitors to America
