Marley is a businessman. His business is freezing people. He works for a company in California called Trans Time. Trans Time freezes people after they die. Why does Trans Time freeze people? Doctors today can cure many diseases, but they cannot cure all diseases. People still get sick and die. Maybe in the future doctors will have medicine for all diseases. Some people think so. They want Trans Time to freeze their bodies after they die. Maybe 100 or 200, or 300 years later, Trans Time doctors will bring the people back to life. The doctors will cure their diseases, and the people will be alive and healthy again.
People often ask the scientists at the Trans Time, “How will Trans Time bring dead people back to life?” They say, “We can freeze a healthy animal and bring it back to life. We think that someday it will be possible with human.” When they say “someday”, they mean years from now — maybe 100 or 200 years. How can Trans Time keep people frozen for 200 years?
After a person dies, workers at Trans Time cool the body with ice and chemicals. When the body is very cold, workers put the body into a capsule (密封舱). They fill the capsule with liquid nitrogen (液氮). The temperature in it is 196 degrees centigrade below zero. Every two weeks workers add more liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen keeps the bodies frozen.
Trans Time charges $21,000 to freeze a body and $59,000 to keep a body frozen. That’s $80,000 all together. It is a lot of money. But some people think that $80,000 is a fair price. It’s a fair price for a chance to live again, isn’t it?
1.What kind of people does Trans Time serve? (No more than 2 words)
2.How much should one pay together, if he wants his body to be cooled and kept by Trans Time?
(No more than 2 words)
3.Why do people want to be frozen? (No more than 9 words)
4.What is the main idea of Paragraph 3? (No more than 6 words)
It’s easy to see how the sawfish got its name. These frightful creatures can grow to be more than 6 meters long. Their bodies are flat and winged, like underwater airplanes. And their noses are shaped like chainsaws.
Sawfish are food hunters of the sea. When a sawfish is hungry, it waves its sharp-toothed snout（口鼻部）through a group of fish. Then, it lifts its nose and uses its mouth to draw the injured victims.
Hardy（适应力强的）population of sawfish thrived in warm waters along coastlines around the world for thousands of years. Over the past 200 years, however, human actions have severely endangered sawfish. Threats include fishing nets that trap the huge animals, often by mistake.
Some people collect sawfish’s snouts as prizes: One snout recently sold for nearly $ 1,600 online. In some Asian cultures, the toothy snouts are used in ceremonies to drive evil and disease away. And sawfish are also delicious. A growing demand in Asia for the fish’s fins for a pricey soup has contributed to the fish’s loves. Compared with other fish, sawfish give birth late in life and at slow rates, which makes it hard for them to recover from overfishing.
New efforts now aim to restore sawfish population. Beginning next month, an international agreement will provide protection for all seven of the world’s sawfish species. Scientists are hoping that it’s not too late to save the sawfish.
Until 1998, “this fish had never been formally studied in the United States,” says Tonya Wiley of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. “We didn’t know such basic things as where they live, what habitat they use, how often they breed, how many young they have — even what age sawfish are when they begin breeding.”
Through historical studies and field research, scientists have become aware of how much the fish’s numbers have decreased. Today, there may be 90 percent fewer sawfish than there used to be. Wiley estimates that only 3,000 to 6,000 sawfish remain in US waters.
Sawfish
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Descriptions |
Size |
1.__________ |
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2. __________ |
Body: Flat and winged |
Nose: Like a chainsaw |
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3. __________ of hunting for food |
Attacking fish with 4.__________ |
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Drawing the injured victims with its mouth |
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5. __________ Sawfish’s disappearance |
6. __________ |
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Sawfish’s snout relates business |
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Its 7. __________ and slowly which makes it hard to recover from overfishing |
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8.__________ |
Only 10 % sawfish left |
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3,000 to 6,000 remain in US waters |
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Efforts |
9.__________ |
Measure |
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Restoring sawfish population |
10. __________ all seven of the world’s sawfish species |
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I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can evoke（唤起） an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken”, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions（认识）of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal（内在的）language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.
1.By saying “Language is the tool of my trade”, the author means that ______.
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A．she uses English in foreign trade |
B．she is fascinated by languages |
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C．she works as a translator |
D．she is a writer by profession |
2.The author used to think of her mother’s English as ______.
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A．impolite |
B．amusing |
C．imperfect |
D．practical |
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?
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A．Americans do not understand broken English. |
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B．The author’s mother was not respected sometimes. |
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C．The author’ mother had positive influence on her. |
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D．Broken English always reflects imperfect thoughts. |
4.The author gradually realizes her mother’s English is ______.
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A．well structured |
B．in the old style |
C．easy to translate |
D．rich in meaning |
5.What is the passage mainly about?
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A．The changes of the author’s attitude to her mother’s English. |
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B．The limitation of the author’s perception of her mother. |
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C．The author’s misunderstanding of “limited” English. |
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D．The author’s experiences of using broken English. |
In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally（通常）see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve（神）tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation and the expression for emotions（情感). In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by a smaller nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain are.
1.Which of the following is best to outline（概括）the article?
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A．Research on the Brain |
B．Differences between Men and Women |
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C．People’s Different Brains |
D．Who Are Better, Boys or Girls |
2.______ men and women think differently.
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A．Sex makes |
B．The different brains make |
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C．The different experiences make |
D．The influences of society make |
3.According to the article, girls are generally better than boys at ______ in your school.
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A．Mathematics |
B．Physics |
C．English |
D．Chemistry |
4.Which of the following is true?
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A．The left side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls. |
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B．The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys. |
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C．Men are better than women in all things. |
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D．The area in girls used for language skills develops better. |
5.In men and women the number of nerves connecting the halves of brain _______.
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A．is the same |
B．is different |
C．is zero |
D．can’t be found out |
A proverb is a short, well-known saying that conveys 1.______ common truth or belief. Marty proverbs give advice about how to live.
For example, my daughter is very short. She would like to be 2.______. But I tell her that good things come in small packages. Some valuable things are very small, like diamonds and other jewels. But I also tell my children that all 3.______ glitters is not gold. Don't be fooled by appearances. 4.______ may look valuable, but may not really be valuable. Sometimes I tell my children to cooperate to solve a problem. After all, two heads are better than 5.______. Two people working together can get better results. But another proverb says too many cooks spoil the broth (��). 6. ______ too many people try to do something, then the job will not be done well.
Finally, I always like the proverb: You can catch more flies with honey than 7.______ vinegar. Honey is sweet while vinegar is not. In other words, you can win people to your side more easily with gentle persuasion 8.______ by hostile actions.
I grew up poor---living in the housing projects (住房) with six brothers, three sisters, a varying assortment (各式各样东西的混合) of foster kids (养子), my father, and a wonderful mother, Scarlette Hunley. We had little money and few worldly goods, but plenty of love and attention. I was 36 and energetic. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, he could still 37 a dream.
My dream was 38 . By the time I was sixteen, I could crush a baseball, and hit anything that moved on the baseball field. I was also 39 : My high school coach Jarvis, who not only believed in me, but taught me how to believe in myself. He 40 me the difference between having a dream and showing conviction (信念). One particular incident with Coach Jarvis changed my life forever.
It was the summer between my junior and senior years, and a friend 41 me for a summer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket—cash for dates with girls, certainly, money for a new bike and new clothes, and the start of savings for a 42 for my mother. The prospect of a summer job was attractive and interesting, and I wanted to jump at the opportunity. Then I realized I would have to 43 summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn’t be playing.
When I told Coach Jarvis, he was 44 as I expected him to be. “You have your whole life to work，” he said. “Your 45 days are limited. You can’t afford to waste them.”
I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the words that would explain to him why my dream of buying my mom a house and having money in my pocket was worth facing his 46 to me.
“How much are you going to make at this job, son?” He demanded. “3.5 dollars an hour.” I replied. “Well,” he asked, “Is $3.5 an hour the price of a dream?”
That question, the plainness of it, laid bare for me the difference between wanting something right now and having a goal. I dedicated myself to sports that summer and with the year I was hired by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play baseball, and was 47 a $20,000 contract. I signed with the Denver Broncos in 1998 for $1.7 million, and bought my mother the house of my dreams.
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