There at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, my l4-year-old son, John, and I noticed the coat. While the other coats drooped (低垂), this one looked as if it were 41 itself up. The coat was beautifully made, with a Fifth Avenue label and an 42 price of $28, which was popular just then with 43 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. John tried it on and the 44 was perfect.
John 45 the coat to school the next day and came home with a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said, 46 folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a 47 came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and 48 discussion replaced fierce argument. He became more mannerly and 49 , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger brother his tapes and lecture him 50 his behavior. When I mentioned this 51 to his teacher and wondered what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It 52 be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned 53 but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran 54 a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly, 55 John’s new height, appreciating the cut of his coat and holding out his hand, one gentleman to another.
John and I both know we should never 56 a person’s clothes for the real person within them. 57 , there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for 58 what is on the inside with what is on the outside.
For John, it is a time when it is as easy to try on different 59 to life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape 60 all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.
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Not until I ________ to work ____ how much time I had wasted.
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A．did begin; didn't I realize |
B．began; I realized |
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C．did begin; I realized |
D．began; did I realize |
–--I play high-temperature Yoga in the gym every Sunday.
---- Good habit, but the air in the gym is bad ________.
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A．to be breathed |
B．to breathe |
C．breathing |
D．being breathed |
___________ his poem, he didn’t dare to submit it to the professor.
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A．Not having polished |
B．Having not polished |
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C．Not polished |
D．Not being polished |
Plants can’t communicate by moving or making sounds, as most animals do. Instead, plants produce volatile compounds (挥发性化合物) —— chemicals that easily change from a liquid to a gas. A flower’s sweet smell, for example, comes from such volatile compounds to attract insects such as bugs and bees.
Plants can also discover volatile compounds produced by other plants. A tree under attack by hungry insets, for instance, may give off these chemicals in order to let other trees know about the attack. In response, the other trees may send off their chemicals to keep the bugs away —— or even chemicals that will attract the bugs’ natural enemies.
Now scientists have created a quick way to understand what plants are saying: a chemical sensor (传感器) called an “electronic nose”. The “e-nose” can tell such compounds as plants make. When plants are attacked, scientists say, the e-nose could help quickly decide whether plants are being eaten by insects. But today, the only way to spot such insects is to inspect individual plants by observing them. This is a challenging task for managers of greenhouses, including those that can house thousands of plants. The research team is working with an e-nose that can recognize volatile compounds. Inside the device, 13 sensors chemically react with volatile compounds based on the interactions (相互作用), and then the e-nose will give off electronic signals that the scientists can analyze by using computer software.
To test the e-nose, the team presented it with healthy leaves from cucumber, pepper and tomato plants, all being common greenhouse crops. Then scientists collected samples of the air around damaged leaves from each type of crop. These plants had been damaged either by insects or by scientists who made holes in the leaves with a hole punch (打孔器).
The e-nose, it turns out, can identify healthy cucumber, pepper and tomato plants based on the volatile compounds they produce. It could also identify tomato leaves that had been damaged. But even more impressive, the device could tell which type of damage —— by insects or with a hole punch —— had been done to the tomato leaves.
With some fine-tuning (微调), a device like the e-nose can one day be used in greenhouses to quickly spot harmful bugs, the researchers say. A device like this can also be used to identify fruits that are perfectly ripe and ready to pick and eat, says Natalia Dudareva, a biochemist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, India, who studies smells of flowers and plants. Hopefully, scientists believe, the device can bring large benefits to greenhouse managers in the near future.
1.We learn from the text that plants communicate with each other by ______.
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A．making some sounds |
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B．waving their leaves |
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C．producing some chemicals |
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D．sending out electronic signals |
2.What did the scientists do to find out if the e-nose worked?
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A．They fixed 13 sensors inside the device. |
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B．They presented it with all common crops. |
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C．They collected different damaged leaves. |
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D．They do tests on damaged and healthy leaves. |
3.According to the writer, the most amazing thing about the e-nose is that it can ______.
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A．pick out ripe fruits quite expertly |
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B．spot the insects in a very quick way |
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C．tell different damages to leaves |
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D．recognize unhealthy tomato leaves |
4.We can infer from the last paragraph that the e-nose ______.
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A．is unable to tell the smell of flowers |
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B．is not yet tested in greenhouses |
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C．is designed by scientists at Purdue |
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D．is helpful in killing harmful insects |
When I was seven, my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices (装置) tell the time — which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists (手腕); sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.
But while these wise people have realized that they don’t need them, others — including some distinguished ones of our time — are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £ 250.000 for a piece.
This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days, all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Yes, you may say expensive watches will come with some extra functions — but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea to test its function of waterproof, or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole by using its compass? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead, the Swiss re-invented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man —— usually a famous star, wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.
Watches are classified as “investment items” (投资项目) now. A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £ 350, 000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from 15, 000 to 30, 000 plus in a year. But, to some wealthy people, a watch is more than an investment. It’s a valuable toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up — they’ve been rising for fifteen years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £ 350, 000 treasured object will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Times.
1.The sales of watches to young people have fallen because ______.
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A．they have other devices to tell the time |
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B．they think watches are too expensive |
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C．they have little sense of time now |
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D．they prefer to wear an iPod on their wrists |
2.It seems ridiculous to the writer that ______.
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A．some people often dive 300 metres deep into the sea |
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B．expensive clothes sell much better than cheap ones |
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C．cheap cars usually don’t run as fast as expensive ones |
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D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell |
3.What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?
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A．It targets rich people as its potential customers. |
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B．It seems hard for the industry to beat its competitors. |
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C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising. |
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D．It is easy for the industry to re-invent cheap watches. |
4.Which would be the best title for the passage?
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A．Timex Being better than Rolex |
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B．My Expensive Childhood Timex |
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C．Super-level Watches? Not for Me! |
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D．Watches — a Valuable Collection |
