You know that pearls grow inside oysters(牡蛎), but would you ever think to look for diamonds inside an ostrich(鸵鸟)? Well, a hunter once shot an ostrich and discovered, to his great surprise, that the big bird had swallowed a bunch of diamonds. How could such a strange thing happen?
Like many other birds, the ostrich swallows small stones that stay inside its “gizzard”. The gizzard is a bird’s second stomach. It is where the food is ground up. The small stones help to grind up the food so it can be digested. The small stones do the chewing because birds don’t have teeth. In that case of the ostrich with the diamonds, the bird simply had expensive taste in rocks. It used the diamonds to digest its dinner.
Diamonds and stones aren’t all that an ostrich will swallow. If there are no stones around, it will eat just about anything. Sadly for ostriches in zoos, this can be a fatal habit. The tendency to swallow anything it sees has caused the death of many an ostrich. Cruel or careless people often throw things into the bird’s living space. They throw keys, coins, and even large objects such as horseshoes. The ostrich swallows them without hesitation. Coins can be the worst. Inside the ostrich they wear down to a razor-sharp edge. They will cut open the bird’s gizzard from the inside. When one young zoo ostrich died, 484 coins weighing more than eight pounds were found in its gizzard.
1.
Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
A. Birds often eat strange and funny things.
B. Ostriches will swallow anything to help them digest food.
C. One ostrich died with 484 coins in its gizzard.
D. Ostriches are often hurt by cruel or careless people.
2.
The ostrich is not smart enough to ______.
A. digest its own food B. eat only diamonds
C. avoid eating harmful objects D. escape from the zoo
3.
The sentence “the small stones do the chewing” makes rocks seem as though they were ______.
A. important B. alive
C. dangerous D. uncomfortable
4.
he word “fatal” in the third paragraph is another word for “______”.
A. foolish B. careless C. deadly D. cruel
Throughout the history of the arts, the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change—to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
Landscape(风景) is another unchanging element of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17th-century Dutch painters to the 19th-century romanticists and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie, one of the new American realists, continued this practice. Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees. In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotion, and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography(摄影术) to help both the eye and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.
Besides, all art begs the age-old question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the Cro-Magnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is a necessary struggle for artists of all periods.
Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present, Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.
1.
Leslie's paintings are extraordinary because_______ .
A. they are close in style to works in ancient times
B. they look like works by 19th-century painters
C. they draw attention to common things in life
D. they depend heavily on color photography
2.
What is the author's opinion of artistic reality?
A. It will not be found in future works of art.
B. It does not have a long-lasting standard.
C. It is expressed in a fixed artistic form.
D. It is lacking in modern works of art.
3.
What does the author suggest about the arts in the last paragraph?
A. They express people's curiosity about the past.
B. They make people interested in everyday experience.
C. They are considered important for variety in form.
D. They are regarded as a mirror of the human situation.
When I was quite young, I discovered that somewhere inside the telephone lived an amazing person - "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know.
One day while my mother was out, I hit my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there was no one home to give me any sympathy. I walked around the house, finally arriving at the telephone! Quickly, I called “Information Please" and told her what happened. She told me to open the icebox and hold a little piece of ice to my finger.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. When my pet bird died, I told
"Information Please" the sad story. She tried to comfort me, she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow I felt better. Another day I was on the telephone, “How do you spell ‘grateful’? ". All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was 9, we moved to Boston.
A few years later, on my way to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an
hour or so between planes. Without thinking, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information, please."
Surprisingly, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn't planned on
this but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell ‘grateful’?"
There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have
healed by now." I laughed. "So it's really still you," I said, "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time." I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and asked if I could call her again. "Please do," she said, "Just ask for Sally."
Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered me. I was told that Sally
passed away five weeks before.
Before I could hang up she told me that Sally left a message for me—“Tell him I still say
there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean.” I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
Never underestimate the impression you may make on others. Whose life have you touched
today?
1.
What does “Information, Please” refer to in the passage?
A. An amazing girl.
B. A special kind of telephone.
C. A communication system.
D. A service that helps telephone users.
2.
What happened to the little boy one day when he was at home alone?
A. He was amused by the telephone.
B. He hurt his finger with a hammer.
C. He found an amazing telephone.
D. He got a piece of ice from an icebox.
3.
What did “Information, Please” give the little boy whenever he was in trouble?
A. Information and conversation.
B. Good memories and happiness.
C. Sympathy and information.
D. Friendship and cheers.
4.
When did the author get in touch with “Information, Please” again after he moved to
Boston?
A. When he was in trouble on his way to college.
B. When his plane stopped in Seattle for half an hour.
C. When he went back to Seattle to visit his sister.
D. Three months later after he moved to Boston.
We would probably all be amazed if we watched a videotape of ourselves performing basically unconscious acts as we go about the business of the day. These unconscious acts consist of all the little personal habits that we don’t even think about, but definitely should. These are some of the things that present an image of who we are to others, and if we are careless in performing them, this image may well be other than we would like it to be.
Parents who insist that their children practice good manners and habits at home are doing them a great service, for these habits then become lifelong and the natural way they do things. It proves true that their unconscious actions will reflect a well-mannered person.
People who, for example, eat with both arms on the table at home will likely do so when out. Those who are lazy and slow in private will certainly be so in public. Children who are permitted to be disrespectful to their parents will follow suit with other adults, and will, most likely, become adults who are disrespectful of others. This is an area where the saying “practice makes perfect” may be applied.
There is an article about the actress, Audrey Hepburn, known for her beautiful carriage and posture. According to her biographer, her grandmother tied her neck to the back of her chair, at table, so that she would not drop down suddenly over her food, but rather would learn to put only small amounts of food on her spoon or fork and bring them to her mouth. This is a rather extreme “at home” method for the development of erect (直立的) posture, but it does illustrate the effectiveness of practicing good habits so that, when in public, they are instinctive.
1.
Which of the following expresses the main idea of the passage?
A. Parents should be responsible for their children’s good habits.
B. The actress is well known for her beautiful posture.
C. We should always be aware of our manners.
D. Without good manners, one can never be perfect.
2.
Those who eat with both arms on the table at home ______.
A. will probably have the same habit when they have meals in the restaurant
B. will probably change the habit when eating out with their relatives
C. will feel embarrassed when having meals with so many strangers in public
D. will always put their arms on the table no matter where they eat
3.
The meaning of “practice makes perfect” in the third paragraph is ______.
A. the more practice one has, the better job he will do
B. the more perfect one is, the more practice he needs
C. if one has enough practice, he will become perfect
D. perfect makes a person practice more
4.
Which of the following are NOT true?
A. If we are not careful about our unconscious acts, the images of ourselves presented to others will be quite undesirable.
B. The good habits formed in one’s childhood will benefit him throughout his life.
C. If parents do not care about the disrespectful attitude adopted by their children towards themselves, their children might be disrespectful of others.
D. It is unlikely that a well-mannered person will not embarrass himself in public.
In order to separate loving parents from their freshman sons, Morehouse College in Atlanta has held a/an __36___"Parting Ceremony."
When University of Minnesota freshmen __37___ at the end of this month, parental separation will be a little trickier: mothers and fathers will be ___38__ to a reception elsewhere ___39__ students can meet their roommates and talk about dorm room space -- __40__ adult breaking in.
In the latest wave in which superinvolved parents __41___ their children to college, universities are __42__ activities ___43__ to speed the separation. In the age of MSN and twice-daily texts home, ___44__ colleges are urging "sticky parents" to leave sooner so students can __45__ independence.
Grinnell College here, like others, has found it __46__ to make it clear when parents __47__ say goodbye. After computer printers and bags had been carried to dorm rooms, everyone gathered in the gymnasium, students on one side, __48__ on the other.
Shortly __49__, mothers and fathers were urged to leave campus.
Moving their students in usually takes a few hours. Moving on? Most deans can tell __50__ of parents who hang around campus for days. At Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. "We recognize it's a __51__ day for families," Beverly Low, the dean (院长) of first-year students said. Still, during various parent meetings on Colgate's move-in day, Ms. Low and other officials __52__ tell the parents __53__ that "activities for the class of freshmen begin at 4 on time, so parents should leave before 4." she said.
Formal departure ceremonies are unusual __54__ growing in popularity, said Joyce Holl, head of the National Orientation Directors Association. A more common method is for colleges to limit the hour for last hugs.__55___, the parents of Princeton freshmen learn from the move-in schedule, "the rest events are intended for students only."
1.A formal B informal C casual D grand
2.A move out B move in C move around D graduate
3.A sent B driven C invited D called on
4.A so B but C still D yet
5.A with B as C where D without
6.A rescue B deliver C travel D release
7.A running out B taking out C carrying out D picking out
8.A wanted B meant C devoted D prepared
9.A in which B which C how D where
10.A form B create C increase D develop
11.A necessary B unimportant C useless D difficult
12.A will B need C must D would
13.A teachers B police C professors D parents
14.A before B after C later D passed
15.A news B comments C stories D shadows
16.A little B huge C long D large
17.A plan to B take to C ask to D carry to
18.A rudely B directly C conveniently D hardly
19.A and B but C however D so
20.A For the time being B For a long time C For example D For a change
Mary _______ with Jenny, and they are studying at the same middle school.
A. comes to terms B. is on close terms
C. is on the good terms D. makes terms
