阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
In some countries in western Europe, life has become difficult for many villages, and some 1.(disappear). There are a number of 2.(reason) for this. Firstly, young people from villages usually want to live somewhere 3.(lively) and they often move to the towns and do not return. Secondly, as there are often very few jobs in the countryside, people would like to move to the cities to find work, leaving their villages 4.(abandon). Sometimes villages remain 5. people from the cities have bought a “second home” in the village, 6. they come and stay at weekends. As 7. result, the price of homes goes up and people from the area can not afford 8.(buy) a house there. Another problem is that 9. is becoming more and more difficult for farmers to make money from their farms. So they sell their land and find another job.
All these things mean that many villages in western Europe are fighting to survive. We can only hope that they will remain. The countryside would be a sadder and uglier place 10. them.
The Millers ran a grocery store(食品杂货店) in our community. One day I was there buying some early potatoes _______ I noticed a small boy, hungrily looking at a basket of freshly _______ green peas. I _______ the conversation between Mr. Miller and the _______ looking boy. “Hello, Barry, how are you today?”
“Fine, thank you, Mr. Miller. I’m just _______ the peas. They look good.”
“Would you like to take some home?”
“No, sir. I’ve got _______ to pay for them with. All I get is my marble(弹珠) here.”
“I can see that. Hmm, the only thing is that this one is blue and I like red. Do you have a red one at home?”
“Not _______ but almost. ”
“Take this sack of peas home with you and let me look at that red marble _______ you come back.”
Mrs. Miller who had been standing nearby, came over to help me and told me, “There are _______other boys like Barry in our community, and they are very________. My husband just loves to ________ with them for peas or whatever. When they come back with their ________ marbles, he decides he doesn’t like red ________ and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one.”
Several years later, Mr. Miller died. At the ________ I saw three young men. Each young man placed his own ________ hand over the cold pale hand in the coffin, ________ their eyes.
“Those three young men were the boys. They ________ the things my husband ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when my husband could not ________ his mind about color or size, they came to pay their debt,” said Mrs. Miller.
With loving gentleness, Mrs. Miller________ the lifeless fingers of her husband. ________ underneath were three shining red marbles.
1.A.while B.when C.as D.so
2.A.bought B.brought C.taken D.picked
3.A.listened B.saw C.overheard D.watched
4.A.thirsty B.hungry C.dirty D.happy
5.A.feeling B.enjoying C.admiring D.smelling
6.A.nothing B.everything C.something D.anything
7.A.exactly B.correctly C.perhaps D.particularly
8.A.every time B.last time C.all time D.next time
9.A.three B.two C.four D.many
10.A.fortunate B.rich C.poor D.lovely
11.A.talk B.sell C.trade D.bargain
12.A.red B.blue C.orange D.colored
13.A.all at once B.in all C.after all D.above all
14.A.ceremony B.funeral C.grocery D.community
15.A.strong B.gentle C.relaxed D.warm
16.A.covering B.wiping C.opening D.closing
17.A.appreciated B.respected C.remembered D.liked
18.A.make B.keep C.tell D.change
19.A.moved B.touched C.lifted D.approached
20.A.Resting B.Holding C.Appearing D.Placing
Life can be so difficult these days. It is the time that you all should admit you need help in organizing your lives. Here are some tips that will help you.
Write everything down and do not rely on your memory. 1. If you want to remember things, put them in writing, or in a digital notebook. Keeping your to-do lists and other information written somewhere allows you to look back at them anytime, even when you have hit your head and forgotten your own name.
2. Try this experiment before buying one thing, throw out something old or something you do not use. Or, if you are a really pack rat, just throw out one old thing a day until you can not find any more items to throw.
Recycle and donate. Is your closet full of unopened bags and clothes that still have their tags on? Is your bookshelf full of unread books? Chances are that if you have not read, worn, or used whatever they are, then you are probably not going to use them at all. 3.
Create daily, weekly and monthly timetables for cleaning. Organize your cleaning timetable. 4. Distribute tasks evenly, so for example, dish washing could be done daily; while vacuuming could be done weekly and cleaning the windows done monthly.
Whichever of these tasks you decide to do, remember that you can not completely organize your life in one go. 5. Just decide to get organized now, and then take baby steps. Soon enough, you will be making a habit out of it all.
A.Practice putting things away immediately.
B.Throw one thing before buying something.
C.It is a long and never-ending process, so be patient.
D.Give them to a charity or sell on the Internet.
E.It is extremely exhausting to clean everything all at once.
F.To keep up with tasks, you need to work with your family.
G.We all agree most of us have a tough time remembering things.
Camels are well known for their ability to survive the hot and dry conditions of the desert，but a study suggests they once grew well in colder climates. Scientists have found fossilized（化石） parts of a leg bone belonging to a giant camel that lived in the forests of Canada's High Arctic about 3.5million years ago.
The research is published in the journal Nature Communication. Dr. Mike Buckley, an author of the paper from the university of Manchester, said, "What's special about this story is that this is the northernmost evidence of camels. "The area was warmer than today 3.5 million years ago, but the ancient giant camels would have had to face long and bitter winter, with temperatures below freezing. There would have been snowstorms and about six months of darkness.
While scientists have known for some time that camels existed in North America, with the earliest creatures dating to about 45 million years ago, they were astonished to find a species at such a latitude（纬度).
Over the course of three investigations, which began in 2006，researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature collected 30 pieces of the leg bone from Ellesmere Island in Canada.
Their size suggested that the animal was about 30% larger than today's camels, measuring about 2.7m from foot to shoulder. Despite its size, the researchers believe it would have been similar in appearance, although it probably had a thicker coat to stay warm.
To investigate further, the team took the protein found in the bone from the fossils and modern animals. Dr. Buckley said, "The results tell us that it is a direct ancestor of modern camels. "
He said the findings provided a new insight into the evolution of this animal. "It suggests that many of the adaptations(适应) that we currently think of, in terms of camels being adapted to warm desert-like environments, could have actually originated through adaptation to quite the opposite cold, bitter environments. Camels 'humps（峰）which store fat could help get through an Arctic six-month winter. Their large eyes would have helped them to see in the low light，and their wide，flat feet would have been just as useful for walking on snow as they are on sand，"he explained.
1.What surprised the scientists when they found the giant camel fossils? ___
A.Their size. B.Their shape.
C.Their place. D.Their number.
2.According to the text, the ancient giant camels___.
A.could date to about 45million years ago
B.struggled to survive in severe conditions
C.were the first ancestors of modern camels
D.lived in an environment without light
3.Compared with modern camels, the ancient giant camels___.
A.were much taller
B.had more humps
C.were slightly stronger
D.had thinner coat
4.We can infer from what Dr. Buckley said that___.
A.giant camels had special adaptations for polar life
B.cold environments prevented giant camels developing
C.the cause of the extinction of giant camels remains unknown
D.the hard climates forced giant camels to adapt to warm environments
Each Indian（印第安人）was supposed to keep his birth name until he was old enough to earn one for himself．But his playmates（游戏伙伴）would always give him a name of their own．No matter what his parents called him, his childhood friends would use the name they had chosen．Often it was not pleasing, such as Bow Legs or Bad Boy．But sometimes a name fit so well that the youngster found it difficult to shake it off．If he could not earn a better one from a war later, he could be stuck with a name like Bow Legs for the rest of his life.
The Indian earned his real name when he was old enough for his first fight against the enemy．His life name depended on how he acted during this first battle．When he returned from the war, the whole tribe would gather and observe the ceremony in which he would be given his name by the chief．If he had done well, he would get a good name．Otherwise he might be called Crazy Wolf or Man-Afraid-Of-a-Horse．So an Indian’s name told his record or described the kind of man he was.
A man was given many chances to improve his name, however．If in a later battle he was brave in fighting against the enemy, he was given a better name．Some of our great fighters had as many as twelve names—all good and each better than the last.
An Indian’s names belonged to him for the rest of his life．No one else could use them．Even he himself could not give them away because names were assigned by the tribe, not the family．So no man could pass on his name unless the chief and the tribe asked him to do so.
Sometimes an Indian would be asked to give his name to a son who had performed a noticeable deed．I know of only three of four times when this happened．It is the rarest honor for a person—the honor of assuming（承担） his father’s name.
1.An Indian could be given the second name by__________.
A.his father B.the enemy
C.the chief of the tribe D.his childhood friends
2.The greatest honor an Indian could earn was____________.
A.a victory in his first battle against the enemy
B.a name given by the chief
C.a ceremony to get his real name
D.the right to use his father’s name
3.If an Indian had more than ten names, it meant that____________.
A.many people in the tribe liked him B.he was a great fighter
C.he had a lot of friends D.he had fought in fewer than ten battles
4.Which of the following statements is not true according to the passage?
A.The names given by the playmates of an Indian were usually not pleasant
B.The life name of an Indian was earned in battle
C.An Indian could throw away his birth name when he was old enough to earn one for himself.
D.The Indians themselves were not allowed to give their names away.
Jim was a young man in his early twenties who was studying to be a carpenter. He was a good worker, honest and worthy of trust, so his boss was pleased with him. As he was such a likable man and easy to deal with, he was popular with his workmates, too. They also made fun of him a great deal but he never got angry with them and would only laugh.
But Jim’s one great shortcoming was that he could never tell a lie, no matter how hard he tried, not even a little one. In fact, he was so honest and shy that he would blush even when he was telling the truth. He used to stand in front of the mirror and practise lying while looking himself in the eyes at the same time. But as soon as he saw his face starting to go red he had to look away.
One morning, however, he didn’t feel like going to work because he had been to a party the night before and it hadn’t ended till the early hours of the morning. And so far the first time in his life he decided to take the day off. He rang his boss, pretending to be a woman. “I’m afraid Jim can’t come to work today. He isn’t feeling very well.”
Poor Jim was thankful that his boss couldn’t see him just at that moment because his hands were trembling(发抖) and his face was bright red.
“Thank you for letting me know,” said Mr. Woods, his boss, and then just as he was about to hang up, he said, “just a moment, madam, who’s speaking.”
“Oh!” he stammered (口吃的说), and going all out for making a voice like a woman, he cried in a voice: “This is my landlady speaking!”
1.According to the passage we know that Jim was a ___.
A.skillful worker
B.skillful carpenter
C.researcher studying how to be a carpenter
D.being-trained carpenter
2.What does the underlined word “blush” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A.stammer B.look away
C.go red D.feel hot
3.Why did Jim try to practise lying?
A.To avoid being laughed at by his workmates.
B.To overcome his shortcoming.
C.To get his boss pleased with him.
D.To get ready for asking for leave.
4.At the end of the story poor Jim let the cat ____.
A.out of the bag B.out of the house
C.into the bag D.into the house
