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。
Today we know Antarctica as an extreme environment 1. (contain ) ice and snow. But new research provides evidence that the area was very different in the past, 2. was found inside a piece of Earth sediment (沉淀物) gathered by researchers 3. under the seafloor off the coast of Antarctica.
In the sediment, they 4. (find) forest soil estimated to be about 90 million years old and this would have been in the Cretaceous Period, when dinosaurs were the main land 5. (animal). Johann Klages, who was the lead writer of a study on the findings 6. (publish) in the journal Nature, said the sediment collection was from 7. depth of about 30 meters below the ocean floor. Klages said an examination showed that the material formed on land, not in the ocean.
The Earth has experienced in the past and is 8. (current ) undergoing today. The researchers said that the rainforest environment in Antarctica was especially surprising, because each year the area 9. (experience) a four-month polar night when there is no sunlight to fuel plant life. Klages said no ice sheets were present during the time, but 10. (season) snowfall was likely.
My daughter, now 20, is studying to be an opera singer. She’s already _________ her way into the world’s best conservatories (音乐学院) and studios. _________, some people disagree on her choice. They are _________ fond of telling her, “Ohhh，that’s a really _________ career. It’s almost _________ to make a living. Not many people _________ it.”
A few months ago, I was with her when a neighbour asked what she was _________ in. My daughter answered and got the usual _________ , not contrary to her expectations. She listened _________ to the prediction of her __________ and financial ruin, then said, “Well, if opera doesn’t __________, I’ll do something else.”
I was so proud of my __________. Truth told, I was even more proud of myself, her mid-life-career-changing mom. I was also on-my-knees __________ to my mother. Because of her example, I’d given my child the gift of __________ herself-and not in a silly usual way, like, adaptability and industry. Even at her tender age, with her frankly very privileged upbringing, she understands that circumstances can change and that __________ can, too.
1.A.beaten B.earned C.eaten D.lost
2.A.Furthermore B.Therefore C.However D.Thus
3.A.strangely B.excitedly C.sadly D.randomly
4.A.excellent B.boring C.admirable D.hard
5.A.necessary B.dishonorable C.impossible D.important
6.A.make B.hit C.find D.put
7.A.taking B.calling C.majoring D.joining
8.A.award B.encouragement C.judgment D.response
9.A.rudely B.politely C.impatiently D.carefully
10.A.danger B.failure C.success D.luck
11.A.figure out B.pick out C.work out D.pick out
12.A.neighbor B.mother C.teacher D.daughter
13.A.similar B.indifferent C.grateful D.familiar
14.A.adapting to B.believing in C.giving up D.learning from
15.A.power B.theory C.memory D.dreams
School Spirit Week can be held any time throughout the year in America. It is a special time when youthful exuberance (活力) is allowed full expression.
1.There are spirit band sessions, spirit assemblies and spirit teams that have one primary goal. That goal is to promote school tradition and encourage students to recognize their school as an important part of their life.2.Some schools will use it as a kick-off for a charity (慈善) event such as collecting food for the local food bank.
A Spirit Week program can include many types of supporting activities. At most events, students like to wear identifying clothing or articles that show they are a unified group and support their school. Spirit week agendas often encourage students to wear fun and modern clothes.3.Monday might be funny hat day, followed by Tuesday's Hawaiian shirt day and Wednesday's silly T-shirt day. Thursday could be pajama day, rounded off with Friday's school colors day.4.Students decorate the walls, halls and classrooms with banners, posters and other adornments. Spirit Week posters and banners can reflect the theme of the week, the pride in the school, or show any other creative support of the school.
Parents love this special week as much as students and teachers do because parents have a great interest in the success of their children.5.
A.Spirit Weeks often have a central theme.
B.Spirit Week is about having loads of fun at school.
C.They can wear a different one for each day of the week.
D.The kids aren't the only ones dressed up for Spirit Week.
E.It makes them very happy to see the kids enthused about school activities.
F.It is also a time to recognize athletic teams competing during that season.
G.The main purpose of Spirit Week is to get the kids supportive of the school.
Teens and preteens who start the school day really early tend to weigh slightly more than those who start later. That’s the finding of a new study of nearly 30, 000 Canadians between the ages of 10 and 18. These data are the latest evidence that starting school too early can harm health.
“We know from earlier studies that when school starts too early, kids can’t get the sleep they need,” says Genevieve Gariepy. She works at Mcgill University in Montreal, Canada. Getting too little sleep can put kids at risk for a number of problems. Sleepy teens are more likely to be overweight, to have trouble concentrating and to struggle in school. They also are at higher risk of feeling depressed, using alcohol or drugs and getting in car accidents.
As an epidemiologist (流行病学家), Gariepy is interested in patterns of disease. She studies teen obesity，or extreme overweight. In this study，she wanted to know how earlier school start times might be linked to weight.
“Overweight and obesity in adolescents is a big problem in North America,” she says. The number of overweight kids has grown over the past 30 years. About one in three U. S. and Canadian teens are now overweight or obese. Kids who don’t sleep enough may be at higher risk. So Gariepy decided to find more about the impact of school start times.
Her team collected start times of 362 Canadian schools and found that among “6 to 10” graders, those who started school earlier tended to be slightly heavier for their height. Every 10-minute delay in school start time was linked, on average, to a slightly lower weight among students who were the same sex, age and height. But it’s not clear that changing school start time would help heavier kids lose weight. To know for sure, researchers would want to compare the same kids before and after changing to a later school start time.
1.What is the function of the first paragraph?
A.To introduce the main topic.
B.To show concern for teenagers
C.To show the importance of the study.
D.To offer advice on school starting time.
2.What does Gariepy want to find out in her research?
A.How to rid adolescents of being overweight.
B.The links between school start times and teen obesity.
C.Why more and more students are becoming obese.
D.The most suitable sleep time for school students.
3.What can we infer about the study of Gariepy and her team?
A.A 10-minute delay is enough. B.Schools may value its conclusion.
C.Its conclusion is reliable. D.More work remains to be done
4.What can be a suitable title of this text?
A.Experts Worry about the Health of Adolescents.
B.Overweight Becomes Common among teenagers.
C.Study Links Weight to School Starting Time.
D.Students Tend to Sleep Less Than Before.
The universe is expanding faster than it used to, meaning it’s about a billion years younger than we thought, a new study by a Nobel Prize winner says.
At issue is a number called the Hubble constant, a calculation for how fast the universe is expanding. Some scientists call it the most important number in cosmology, the study of the origin and development of the universe.
Using NASAS Hubble Space Telescope, lohns Hopkings University astronomer Adam Riess concluded in this week’s Astrophysical Journal that the figure is 9% higher than the previous calculation, which was based on studying leftovers from the Big Bang.
The trouble is， Riess and others think both calculations are correct. Confused? That’s OK, so are the experts. They find the conflict so confusing that they are talking about coming up with “new physics”, incorporating (合作) perhaps some yet-to-be-discovered particle or other cosmic (宇宙) “fudge factors” like dark energy or dark matter
“Its looking more and more like were going to need something new to explain this,” said Reiss, who won the 2011 Nobel in physics.
NASA astrophysicist John Mather, another Nobel winner, said this leaves two obvious options, “1. We’re making mistakes we can’t find yet. 2. Nature has something we can’t find yet.”
Even with the discovery, life continues on Earth the way it always has. But to astrophysicists trying to get a handle on our place in this expanding universe, this is a cosmic concern. In fact, the universe is really mystical (神秘的). Scientists have done lots of study about it but there is still much they haven’t discovered.
1.What is the finding of the new study?
A.The earth is younger than expected.
B.Many universal problems are rising.
C.The universe is growing faster than before.
D.The finding is based on past scientists’ calculations.
2.What does the underlined word “it” refer to in Paragraph 2?
A.The Hubble constant. B.The faster expanding universe.
C.The development of the universe. D.The scientific research on the universe.
3.How do the experts respond to the conflict of the finding in Paragraph 4?
A.They want to raise a new theory.
B.They want to explore dark matter.
C.They want to further calculate the finding.
D.They want to mix together both calculations.
4.What can we infer from John Mather’s words?
A.We cannot find anything useful.
B.Astronomers are making many mistakes.
C.We need to learn about the universe.
D.We cannot find something new from nature.
The beloved childrens author Tomie depaola, who was born in Connecticut on September15, 1934 and whose imaginative and warm-hearted works crossed generations and continents died Monday at age 85. His death was announced, without details, on social media by his assistant. Bob Hechtel.
Depaola’s works covered many areas of his imagination, from a magical tale centered on a kind and caring Calabrian grandmother--strega Nona, which won the Caldecott Honor Award in 1976--to retelling the inspiring Comanche story of The Legend of the Bluebonnet. In 2000 he won a Newbery Honor for his book 26 Fairmount Avenue, which described his early childhood. Quiet, published in 1980s, is one of his bestselling books. By dePaola’s own count, he worked on some 270 books--the first in 1965, and the most recent published last year.
In 2011, he won a lifetime prize, the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, which praised his “considerable and lasting contribution to literature for children.” In all, nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
Along with his work as an author, dePaola taught art and theater at various colleges in California, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. For many years, he made his home in New London. N H.
In 1998, dePaola told a radio reporter that he hoped to recognize children for all their natural abilities. “As a grown-up,” he said, “I want to give children the credit for everything I can: their courage, their humor, their love, their intellectual abilities, their abilities to be fair, their abilities to be unfair. But I do wish that we grown-ups would give children lots of credit for these temporary kinds of qualities that they have.”
1.Which of the following best describes all dePaola’s works?
A.Inspiring. B.Magic.
C.Adventurous. D.Imaginative
2.Which of the following books reflects dePaola’s own life?
A.Quiet. B.Strega Nona.
C.26 Fairmount Avenue. D.The Legend of the Bluebonnet.
3.What did dePaola think children needed?
A.Adults approval. B.Various abilities.
C.Major improvement. D.Superior qualities.
4.What’s the purpose of writing the text?
A.To announce bad news. B.To praise a great artist.
C.To introduce some books. D.To mourn a distinguished man.
