When the weather gets cold, we can put on more clothes, stay next to a fireplace, turn on the air conditioner or simply travel to a warmer city to spend the winter – people have many different ways of coping with the cold.
But things are not as easy for plants. Unlike humans, plants can’t move to escape the cold or generate heat to keep themselves warm. So how do they manage to survive the freezing winter?
It turns out that plants have their own strategies too, said a study published on Dec 22 in the journal Nature.
According to researcher Amy Zanne of George Washington University, US, the cold is a big challenge for plants. Their living tissues can be damaged when they freeze. “It’s like a plant’s equivalent to frostbite (冻疮),” Zanne told Science Daily. Also, the process of freezing and thawing (解冻) can cause air bubbles to form in the plant’s water transport system. “If enough of these air bubbles come together as water thaws they can block the flow of water from the roots to the leaves and kill the plant,” she explained.
To live through cold weather, plants have developed three traits, according to the study. Some plants, such as oak trees, avoid freezing damage by dropping their leaves before the winter chill sets in – effectively shutting off the flow of water between roots and leaves – and growing new leaves and water transport cells when the warm spring returns.
Other plants, pine trees for example, protect themselves by narrowing their water transport cells, which makes it easier for cells to travel among air bubbles.
The third strategy is also the most extreme – some plants die on the ground in winter and start growing as new plants from seeds when conditions get warmer.
However, the study also found that these smart strategies were developed very slowly – over millions of years of evolution. This leads scientists to worry that plants may not be able to deal with human-caused climate change, which has only started occurring over the past few decades.
Scientists are hoping that this study can help people find possible ways to save plants from the threat of climate change.
1.What is the article mainly about?
A.Why plants are not afraid of the winter chill.
B.The ways that plants survive cold weather.
C.Changes in plants’ water transport system in winter.
D.How plants evolve to keep up with climate change.
2.According to the article, if a plant freezes in the winter, ______.
A.it produces more living tissues to stay alive
B.its leaves quickly fall out and its roots begin to die
C.its water transport cells are narrowed
D.its water transport system could be blocked
3.How do oak trees usually survive the cold winters?
A.By dropping their leaves before winter.
B.By narrowing their water transport cells.
C.By widening their water transport cells.
D.By dropping seeds on the ground so that the new trees can grow in the spring.
4.What are scientists worried about when it comes to plants according to the article?
A.Plants may not be able to adapt to the increasingly cold climate.
B.Human activities might have a great impact on the pace of plants’ evolution.
C.Plants may not be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to human-caused climate change.
D.The strategies plants develop are not good enough to protect them against cold.
Next time you raise an eyebrow at the views of your friend, brother, sister or colleague, remember they could be helping to make you smarter. New research shows that intelligence is not fixed but can be improved throughout adulthood by family members, bright mates and intellectually challenging careers. The study challenges the commonly held belief that intelligence is fixed by the age of about 18.
Scientific consensus (共识) suggests intelligence is controlled by genes, with environmental factors such as schooling and nutrition playing a part up to this age. After this point, IQ scores become steady. But James Flynn, professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, argues that people can “upgrade” their intelligence throughout their lives. He believes intellectual stimulation (刺激)from other people is important as the “brain seems to be rather like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger it gets”. However, the opposite is also true—so people who share a home or workplace with the intellectually challenged risk seeing their IQ levels nosedive as a result.
Professor Flynn analyzed US intelligence tests from the last 65 years and created new IQ “age tables”. He found a bright ten-year-old with brothers and sisters of average intelligence will suffer a five to ten point IQ disadvantage compared to a similar child with equally bright brothers and sisters. However, children with a low IQ could gain six to eight points by having brighter brothers and sisters and special educational treatment to help pull them up.
Professor Flynn concluded that although genetics and early life experiences determine about 80% of intelligence, the remaining 20% is linked to lifestyle. This means people can raise their IQ, or allow it to fall, by ten points or more. He suggests the best way to improve IQ levels is to socialize with bright friends, and find an intellectually challenging job.
1.What do people commonly believe?
A.People1 s IQ levels fall as they get older and older.
B.It’s wise for people to share family members’ views.
C.The intelligence changes no more during adulthood.
D.Doing challenging deeds is good for one’s intelligence.
2.The underlined word “nosedive” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.
A.vary B.fall C.change D.develop
3.Which of the following can help improve one’s intelligence according to Professor Flynn?
A.Staying with smart people. B.Making many friends.
C.Doing exercise every day. D.Learning from parents.
4.The purpose of the text is to ________.
A.persuade B.advertise C.entertain D.inform
Regarded as one of the English language’s most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy (哲学). Although Keats didn’t receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower middle-class family, the young John didn’t attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family’s friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father’s death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother’s passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitled O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized (批评) by a magazine. However, the negative response didn’t stop his love of rhythm (韵律).
John Keats’ next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy’s hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Endymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based (叙事体的) and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the “knowledge” associated with his poems. His next work was Hyperion that would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.
1.John Keats’ attitude towards life changed because of .
A.his early education from school B.the deaths of his parents
C.Edmund Spenser’s poetry D.the criticism of a magazine
2.What is the common thing between John Keats and his mother?
A.They read many books. B.They had a bad childhood.
C.They died of the same disease. D.They showed strong interest in poetry.
3.While trying to achieve his dream of becoming a poet first, John Keats was .
A.determined B.experienced
C.knowledgeable D.impatient
4.What do we know from the passage?
A.Keats received little education at school.
B.Endymion was about a real love story.
C.In 1816 Keats spent two months writing a poem.
D.Keats once had a chance of becoming a doctor.
The World 's Greatest Bookstores
Getting lost in a great bookstore can take you on travels around the world. Put a bookmark beside the names of these booksellers for your next trip.
Atlantis Books, Santorini, Greece
Atlantis books is on the sun-washed islands of Santorini. It was started by university friends with little more than a cat, a dog, and an Idea brought by a bottle of wine. Today, Atlantis takes up the basement of a big house, offering everything bestsellers to books on Greek history and culture.
Barter Books, Northumberland, Northeast England
The store is in Ainwick, a Victorian railway station that dates back to 1887, and model railway sits overhead. Pull up a chair to the working fireplace to eat a cookie and have a cup of coffee, or search the shelves for a wide variety of titles.
Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France
From its home by the Seine River, Shakespeare and Company often has a line of customers and tourists waiting to get in, eager to search its collection of rare books new reads and self-published titles. When you enter this English-speaking store which opened during the 1950syou get a sense of stepping back in time
Ealite Taipei, China
Of all the stores in the Eslite chain, the 24-hour Eslite Dunnan branch is the most popular. With more than 250,000 books to choose from, the store draws tourists and locals who stay for hours, reading books (as if they are in a library), listening to music or watching dance performances and films.
1.How was Atlantis books build up?
A.It was a student’s graduation project.
B.It began during a chat among friends.
C.It was set up by a famous university.
D.It was a collection of the big house’s owner.
2.Where is the Barter Books?
A.By a river B.On a street
C.In a basement D.Under a railroad
3.Which bookstore provides entertainments besides reading?
A.Eslite B.Barter Books
C.Atlantis Books D.Shakespeare and Company
假如你是校汉服(Han costume)俱乐部主席李华。近期俱乐部将举办一场有外国交换生参加的汉服设计大赛.你将代表主办方在开幕式上发言。请根据以下要点写一篇发言稿：
1. 大赛目的；
2. 大赛规则；
3. 对选手的祝福。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文,请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误,每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(∕)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及修改均仅限一词.
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last summer I decided to get my first job. This was possible one of the hardest tasks.
For me, it was another step moved from a dependent child to a fairly independent adult. 1 bad never hold a job before because of my parents wanted me to focus on school. So I had never worked the day in my life. At first, it is extremely tough. I sent applications hoping to get my first couple of choice. Yet I got neither calls or emails. Luckily halfway through the third week, I finally got a call. It was not my first choice, but we could not say no. And after the interview, I was more than ready start working the following Monday.
