Question

    There are purple clothes, purple handbags, purple bicycles, purple furniture, even purple computers! So purple is one of the most_____ colors today. But in the past, purple was a very expensive and unusual color. Let's take a look at the rich_____ of the color purple.

Some scientists believe that the first plants to appear on Earth over 500 million years ago _____ looked purple, not green. Plants today are green because they use green chlorophyll(叶绿素)to produce energy. _____ these early plants probably used something called retinal, which is a dark purple color.

During the time of the Roman Empire(37BC—476AD), it was very difficult to make purple dye(染料). The dye came from sea snails(海螺). But 10, 000 dead sea snails_____ you just one gram(克) of purple dye...as well as a very bad smell! This _____ purple dye was called Tyrian purple, and it was the preferred _____ of emperors.

In 16th­century England, purple was only _____ the king's family members. Queen Elizabeth I's clothes were purple, but ordinary people were not allowed to _____ the color.

In 1856, William Perkin, an 18­year­old science student, noticed something strange while doing an experiment. The chemicals(化学药品) he used to clean his instruments______ with the chemicals he used in his experiment and produced a bright purple color. This discovery led Perkin to start a company using this chemical mixture to make purple dye. The dye was much cheaper than sea­snail dye. Thanks to Perkin, now anyone can afford to wear purple clothes.

1.A.peaceful B.popular C.exciting D.serious

2.A.history B.style C.research D.product

3.A.gradually B.especially C.exactly D.probably

4.A.And B.So C.But D.Or

5.A.got B.passed C.wasted D.cost

6.A.basic B.harmful C.special D.perfect

7.A.color B.smell C.plant D.animal

8.A.for B.in C.as D.with

9.A.wear B.sell C.change D.make

10.A.compared B.mixed C.collected D.kept

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.C

5.A

6.C

7.A

8.A

9.A

10.B

【解析】

【主旨大意】本文是一篇说明文。主要介绍了紫色是现在最流行的颜色之一，但是在过去，紫色是非常昂贵和不同寻常的颜色，文中详细介绍了紫色的历史。