—Alice, you have won the first place!
—Pardon? I ______ I would fail the exam this time.
A. think B. thought C. have thought D. am thinking
Microsoft ended support for Windows XP after April 8, which _______a major operating system for some Chinese computer users, and advised users to upgrade to Windows 8.1.
A. remained B. remains C. is remaining D. is remained
The CCTV show Chinese Characters Dictation Competition has taken the country by storm, which is partly designed to arouse people’s _______ in the Chinese language.
A. response B. enthusiasm C. significance D. consequence
请根据下面的漫画，结合你自己的切身体会，以"How to face the college entrance examinations"为题，用英语写一篇短评。
要求：1) 着重描述漫画所表达的现象以及你的看法，可适当发挥想象，不要做简单描述；
2) 词数150左右；
3) 参考词汇：补脑汁 tonics
阅读下列短文并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词，每空格1词（共10个小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
Zebras have their own bug repellent(驱虫剂)?
Eww bugs! They are so annoying! We humans are lucky that we can apply repellents to avoid nasty bites. But what’s an animal to do? They have no choice but to spend their days shooing them off with their tails, unless, of course, they are zebras, who apparently have their own automatic repellent--- their striped skin!
Scientists had originally thought that the reason why the animal had developed the black and white lines was to help protect itself from predators in the African savannah, because the stripes make it difficult to single out one zebra that is traveling with a herd.While that may be true, the theory has never been tested or proven. Now the experts have another---that the stripes have evolved to repel the annoying horse flies that not only feed off their blood, but also, transmit dangerous germs into the bodies of these innocent animals.
The study was performed by a team of Swedish scientists. One of the clues that got them thinking along these lines was the fact that darker horses got bitten more often than light-colored or white ones.
The fact that zebras are born black and only develop strips as they grow older made the scientists theorize that the stripes may be something the animals have developed to make themselves less attractive to flies.
To test if this may be the case, they painted some boards at a horse-infested horse farm in Budapest with patterns of black and white stripes of varying widths and applied a layer of glue on them. What they noticed was that the places where the black and white stripes were at their narrowest (similar to what zebras have) attracted the fewest flies. They achieved similar results when they painted horses with black and white zebra-like stripes.
While the research are not sure why this may be the case, they believe it may be something to do with the way insects operate---horseflies are attracted to horizontally polarized light（偏振光）; since white does not reflect it, white horses are luckier than black ones. But zebras seem to be the luckiest of all. When the researchers measured the polarized light reflected from real zebra skins, they found that it matched light patterns that were the least attractive to horseflies.
While this theory does make logical sense, nobody is 100 percent sure that it is really true, given that it has never been tested on a real zebra. If it is true, it does raise the question of why a horse, a close relative of the zebra has failed to develop stripes. The researchers believe that this could be because there are more horseflies in Africa, where zebras reside, then anywhere else in the world.
Title | Zebras have their own bug repellent? | |
Reasons for zebras developing their strips | Original belief | With the black and white lines, one zebra is difficult to single out while traveling with a herd, thus ___1.___ it from its enemies. |
New theory | Zebras, residing in Africa where there are most horseflies in the world ,have developed strips to avoid being___2.____ . | |
A study | Researchers | A team of scientists from ___3.____ |
____4.____ | To test if strips are developed to make zebras less attractive to flies. | |
Clues | *White or light-colored horses are less __5.___ to get bitten than dark ones. *Zebras develop strips as they grow older though born black . | |
Method | *Some boards at a horse farm are painted with patterns of black and white stripes variously ___6.___ , a layer of glue applied on them *Measured the polarized light reflected from real zebra skins | |
_____7.___ | *The places where the black and white stripes were similar to the ___8.___zebras have attracted the fewest flies *Strips of zebras matched light patterns that were the least attractive to horseflies | |
Principle of zebras’ black and white strips repelling the flies | Horizontally polarized light, which white does not reflect, ____9.___ to horseflies.
| |
Conclusion | ____10.___tested on real zebras, the theory isn’t definitely true. | |
About this time every year, I get very nostalgic(怀旧的). Walking through my neighborhood on a fall afternoon reminds me of a time not too long ago when sounds of children filled the air, children playing games on a hill, and throwing leaves around in the street below. I was one of those children, carefree and happy. I live on a street that is only one block long. I have lived on the same street for sixteen years. I love my street. One side has six houses on it, and the other has only two houses, with a small hill in the middle and a huge cottonwood tree on one end. When I think of home, I think of my street. Only I see it as it was before. Unfortunately things change. One day, not long ago, I looked around and saw how different everything has become. Life on my street will never be the same because neighbors are quickly grown old, friends are growing up and leaving, and the city is planning to destroy my precious hill and sell the property to contractors.
It is hard for me to accept that many of my wonderful neighbors are growing old and won’t be around much longer. I have fond memories of the couple across the street, who sat together on their porch swing almost every evening, the widow next door who yelled at my brother and me for being too loud, and the crazy old man in a black suit who drove an old car. In contrast to those people, the people I see today are very old neighbors who have seen better days. The man in the black suit says he wants to die, and another neighbor just sold his house and moved into a nursing home. The lady who used to yell at us is too tired to bother any more, and the couple across the street rarely go out to their front porch these days. It is difficult to watch these precious people as they near the end of their lives because at once I thought they would live forever.
The “comings and goings” of the younger generation of my street are now mostly “goings” as friends and peers move on. Once upon a time, my life and the lives of my peers revolved around home. The boundary of our world was the gutter at the end of the street. We got pleasure from playing night games or from a breathtaking ride on a tricycle. Things are different now, as my friends become adults and move on. Children who rode tricycles now drive cars. The kids who once played with me now have new interests and values as they go their separate ways. Some have gone away to college like me, a few got married, two went into the army, and one went to prison. Watching all these people grow up and go away makes me long for the good old days.
Perhaps the biggest change on my street is the fact that the city is going to turn my precious hill into several lots for now homes. For sixteen years, the view out of my kitchen window has been a view of that hill. The hill was a fundamental part of my childhood life; it was the hub of social activity for the children of my street. We spent hours there building forts, sledding, and playing tag. The view out of my kitchen window now is very different; it is one of tractors and dump trucks tearing up the hill. When the hill goes, the neighborhood will not be the same. It is a piece of my childhood. It is a visual reminder of being a kid. Without the hill, my street will be just another pea in the pod.
There was a time when my street was my world, and I thought my world would never change. But something happened. People grow up, and people grow old. Places changes, and with the change comes the heartache of knowing I can never go back to the times I loved. In a year or so, I will be gone just like many of my neighbors. I will always look back to my years as a child, but the place I remember will not be the silent street whose peace is interrupted by the sounds of construction. It will be the happy, noisy, somewhat strange, but wonderful street I knew as a child.
1.The writer finds it hard to accept the fact that _____________.
A. many of his good neighbors are growing old
B. the lady next door who used to yell at him and his brother is now a widow
C. the life of his neighbors has become very boring
D. the man in his black suit even wanted to end his own life
2.The biggest change on the writer's street is _____________.
A. removing the hill to make way for residential development
B. the building of new homes behind his kitchen window
C. the fact that there are much fewer people around than in the past
D. the change in his childhood friends' attitude towards their neighborhood
3.What does the writer mean by saying “my street will be another pea in the pod”?
A. his street will be very noisy and dirty
B. his street will soon be crowded with people
C. his street will have some new attractions
D. his street will be no different from any other street
4.Which could be a good title for the passage?
A. The Past of My Street will Live Forever
B. Unforgettable People and Things of My Street
C. Memory Street Isn’t What It Used to Be
D. The Big Changes of My Street
