For as long as they can remember Jynne Martin and April Surgent had both dreamed of going to Antarctica. This winter, they each made it to the icy continent as guests of the National Science Foundation (NSF). But they didn’t go as scientists. Martin is a poet and Surgent is an artist. They went to Antarctica as participants in the NSF’s Artists and Writers program. The NSF is the government agency that funds scientific research in Antarctica. But it also makes it possible for artists, including filmmakers and musicians, to experience Antarctica and contribute their own points of view to our understanding of the continent.
The mixing of science and art in Antarctica isn’t new. Some of the earliest explorers brought along painters and photographers. Edward Wilson was a British painter, doctor, and bird expert who journeyed with Robert Falcon Scott on two separate Antarctic expeditions more than 100 years ago. Herbert Ponting was a photographer who also accompanied Scott on one of those expeditions. In hundreds of photos, Ponting captured the beauty of the continent and recorded the daily lives and heroic struggles of the explorers.
Today’s scientists write articles for scientific journals. Unlike the early explorers’ journals, scientific papers can now be very difficult for non-scientists to understand. Writers in Antarctica work to explain the research to the public. Peter Rejcek is editor, writer, and photographer for the Antarctic Sun, an online magazine devoted to news about the U.S. Antarctic Program. Rejcek began his career in the Antarctic in 2003 by spending a year at the South Pole. He has returned every year since, interviewing scientists about research at Palmer, McMurdo, and South Pole stations.
There are also scientists in Antarctica who work hard to explain their research to the public. Scientist Diane McKnight wrote The Lost Seal, a children’s book that explains the research she and others are doing in an unusual ice-free area in Antarctica called the Dry Valleys.
Antarctica is full of stories and wonders that are scientific, historical, and personal. People such as Martin, Surgent, Rejcek, and McKnight are devoted to bringing those stories to as many people as they can. “Some people are going to be scientists, some people are going to be journalists, some people are going to be artists, but we can all work together,” says Surgent, “to celebrate this extraordinary place.”
1.What do we know about the NSF?
A. It is a government agency.
B. It only funds scientists in Antarctica.
C. It encourages the understanding of human nature.
D. It enables the mixing of science and art for the first time.
2.Why didn’t some earliest explorers bring writers along?
A. Writers were not funded at that time.
B. Writing can’t capture the beauty of the continent.
C. Writers were not interested in popularizing science.
D. Early explorers’ journals can be easily understood by the public.
3.By mentioning Diane McKnight, the author may try to suggest that ______.
A. scientists should explain their research to children
B. writers are not necessary since scientists can tell stories as well
C. telling stories to children is more important than knowing the truth
D. no matter what role we play, we can work together to appreciate Antarctica
4.What would be the best title for this article?
A. Antarctica: A Land for All
B. The NSF: A Program for All
C. Antarctica: A Land of Beauty and Stories
D. The NSF: A Program for Artists and Scientists
Ocean animals have been getting bigger over the last half-billion years. Not a little bigger. Not even a lot bigger. They have mushroomed gigantically, scientists now conclude.
Their new finding lends support for something known as “Cope’s rule.” It holds that animals tend to evolve into species that are much larger than their distant ancestors. This hypothesis(假说)takes its name from the 19th century paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. While studying fossils(化石), he was the first to notice this trend.
Noel Heim is a paleontologist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. He also is a co-author of the new study. His team compared the body size of animals between the Cambrian Period and modern times. This was a span of 542 million years. The animals studied included species from more than 17,000 genera. They ranged from ancient trilobites, plesiosaurs (extinct reptiles with a long neck and flippers) and many less familiar creatures to today’s whales and clams.
Ocean animals today are an average of 150 times larger than they were during the Cambrian, Heim’s group reports. The smallest animals alive today — tiny crustaceans called ostracods — are only about one-tenth the size of the Cambrian’s tiniest animals. But today’s largest ocean animals — whales — are more than 100,000 times bigger than the biggest in the Cambrian.
“Classes of animals that were already big … tended to live longer,” Heim says. They also tended to change more than classes of animals that were small did.
The size gains in ocean animals are much larger than would be expected by chance, says Jonathan Payne. He’s a co-author who also works at Stanford.
The scientists don’t know what drives the trend. One possibility is an arms race(军备竞赛)between predators and prey. The idea here is that larger animals are less likely to become some other animals’ meal. Another possibility has to do with oxygen. Land animals evolved from species that started in the ocean. Some of these land animals eventually returned to the ocean. And they kept the ability to breathe oxygen-rich air. That may have made it easier for them to outgrow animals that had to filter(过滤)their oxygen out of the water.
1.What current animals may best illustrate “mushroomed” in paragraph one?
A. Plesiosaurs. B. Ostracods.
C. Whales. D. African Elephants.
2.What is the third paragraph mainly about?
A. The result of the study.
B. The participants of the study.
C. The significance of the study.
D. The targeted animals of the study.
3.The ocean animals’ change in size ______.
A. is determined by environment
B. cannot be predicted by any factor
C. is fully explained by the new study
D. relates to the size of their ancestors
4.In the last paragraph, the explanations for the trend suggest that ______.
A. bigger animals will never be eaten
B. land animal can get oxygen more easily
C. oxygen is important to all ocean animals
D. land animals can grow bigger than ocean animals
As I drive about the Sois in rural Thailand I catch little glimpses of things that barely register on the mind as the scenery flies by; strange things, beautiful things, sad things, interesting things. I wish I could hold on to these scenes; explore them in detail. I wish that I had the time to stop and investigate further as I’m driving by, but time is a commodity(商品)worth more than all the moneys in the world. I wish I had more.
I once had a guy wave to me as I passed him. He yelled out something, almost in greeting, as if he knew me. I wonder if we knew each other once, in another place, another time, and he recognized my soul as I drove by in the truck, and just had to yell a hello. I wish I had stopped and said hello too.
I saw two young girls, dressed in school uniforms. White blouses, blue skirts, books in hand. They were holding hands, talking, walking down the road, jostling(推，搡)each other with their shoulders and teasing each other as they strolled along. As I passed the one closest to the truck looked up. She was close enough to touch almost. Her smiling face, her clear eyes and golden smooth skin are there in my mind’s eye now. I can see her as if she were standing next to me. Once in a while her face just pops into my head. Why? Why is she still there? Sometimes I think maybe I’m a bit mad.
I stopped at a road stop on a corner one time. An old lady standing by the roadside walked over to the truck and put her hand on my arm and smiled at me. Her palm was so cool. It must have been a hundred degrees out that day. She said something in Thai and giggled(咯咯地笑) and walked away. Who was she? Why did she touch me? Why was her hand so cool? Why did I just sit there and let her touch me? I didn’t flinch(退缩)away. It was almost as if I knew her, and we were just saying a quick hello. Her cool touch almost seemed familiar; like my long dead grandmother’s soothing cool touch remembered from when I was just a little boy.
I need more time. I need to stop the truck more often, and just say hello. Things glimpsed along the road are often far more interesting and wonderful than that which seems to consume our daily lives. Slow down. Stop the truck. Get out, and say hello.
1.What kind of life does the writer normally lead?
A. Busy. B. Tiring. C. Meaningless. D. Boring.
2.The man in paragraph two yelled out because he ______.
A. had met the writer before
B. recognized the writer’s soul
C. wanted to show friendliness
D. mistook me as one of his friends
3.The writer describes the two school girls in great details to show ______.
A. his liking for them
B. that he was kind of crazy
C. his interest in observing people
D. the deep impression they left on him
4.Why does the author compare the old lady with his grandmother?
A. The old lady behaved like his grandmother.
B. He suggests the old lady had very cold hands.
C. He suggests the old lady’s touch was comforting.
D. The old lady reminded the writer of his entire childhood.
The first time my father and I ever went fishing became a family legend(传奇故事). We spent hours waiting for a bite. The sun was bursting with fire. We were hot, sticky, and mad that the fish refused to suck up our night crawlers(蚯蚓).
Being only seven years old, I observed that perhaps the worms were the problem. Maybe the night crawlers only moved at night, and now they were just lying there motionless on the hook. Dad ignored my assessment of the situation.
We began to pack up to leave. As we headed back to our truck, we heard tires spinning in the distance. Getting into our truck was tough. Having sat in the boiling sun for six hours, the seats were blistering. Naturally, I was wearing shorts.
I shifted from side to side in the seat so as not to cook my bottom. While driving out we saw a truck with a boat trailer and boat that was stuck in the mud. That explained the sound of spinning tires we’d heard.
Being a nice guy, my dad helped pull the man from the mud. In return, this fellow gave Dad some fish for being a Good Samaritan. As Dad climbed back into our truck with a brown bag full of fish, we waved goodbye to our newfound friend.
On the drive home, we agreed to take in the fish as if we had caught them. We were sure there was no way for Mom to know the difference. It was just a little white lie.
We arrived home hot, sweaty, and smelly, and went to clean up while Mom prepared the fish. We made a big deal out of the fact that we had already cleaned them and put them in the bag so as not to make a mess.
After showering, Dad and I met in the hall and exchanged conspiratorial grins(心照不宣的笑). Sitting down to freshly fried fish, we started eating happily and went on about how good something tasted that we had actually caught ourselves. Mother looked suitably impressed.
As we got up to do the dishes, Mom cleared her throat. “I just have one question of you two great fishermen,” she said. We looked at her expectantly, thinking we had another opportunity to delight her with our great fishing ability. With a tiny smile, Mom asked, “How was it again that you two managed to not only clean your fish, but also freeze them before you got home.”
1.Why didn’t the fish eat our night crawlers?
A. The weather was too hot.
B. The reason was not clear.
C. The fish were not hungry.
D. The fish only ate night crawlers alive.
2.Dad was called a Good Samaritan for______.
A. taking in the fish
B. helping a stranger
C. showing great strength
D. making friends with a stranger
3.Mom smiled at the end because she ______.
A. was amused by the little white lie
B. was satisfied with their fishing ability
C. was impressed that the fish were clean and frozen
D. was delighted that she did not need to deal with the mess
4.Why did the fishing become a family legend?
A. They caught a lot of fish.
B. They cooperated well in telling the lie.
C. They chose to benefit a stranger rather than themselves.
D. They make themselves a fool in front of the mother since they lied.
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I will never forget the night in 1946 when disaster and difficulty visited our home.
My brother, George, came home from football practice and fell ______ with temperature of 40C. After an ______, the doctor informed us that it was polio. Polio was well known in Webster Groves, Missouri, having killed and ______ many children there.
The doctor felt duty-bound(义不容辞的）to inform George of the ______ truth. “I hate to tell you this, son” he said, “but the polio is so bad that you will probably never ______ again without a limp(跛行), and your left arm will be useless.”
George had always ______ himself as a championship wrestler in his senior year after just missing it as a junior. ______ able to speak, George whispered: “Doctor...”
“Yes,” said the doctor ______the bed. “What is it, my boy?”
“Go to hell(见鬼去吧),” said George in a voice filled with ______.
The doctor seemed shocked, but you see, Mom and Dad ______ us that just like you would never like someone else come into your house with an axe and break up your furniture, you should never let a ______ thought come into your mind and break up your dreams.
The next day, the nurse walked into George’s room to find him lying flat on his _____ on the floor.
“What’s going on in here?” asked the ______ nurse.
“I’m walking.” George ______ replied.
Sometimes it would take George 20 minutes just to get out of the chair, but he ______ any offers of help. I remember seeing him lift a tennis ball with as much ______ as a healthy man would need to lift a 100-pound barbell.
I also remember seeing him, six months later, step out on the mat as captain of the ______ team. George’s return from the horrible effects of polio was written about in ______ all over the state of Missouri. No one had ever been known to ______ so quickly or so completely from this disease. He had been through hell and he came out of it with a ______ as strong as steel.
1.A. ill B. asleep C. senseless D. silent
2.A. assessment B. analysis C. examination D. investigation
3.A. seized B. disabled C. injured D. discouraged
4.A. terrible B. simple C. unpleasant D. scientific
5.A. stand B. wrestle C. practice D. walk
6.A. dressed B. defended C. pictured D. awarded
7.A. Barely B. Well C. Finally D. Not
8.A. making up B. staring at C. turning to D. leaning over
9.A. anxiety B. determination C. admiration D. pride
10.A. comforted B. warned C. taught D. reminded
11.A. positive B. pleasant C. damaging D. disturbing
12.A. face B. head C. side D. knees
13.A. curious B. shocked C. amused D. sensitive
14.A. briefly B. firmly C. gently D. calmly
15.A. considered B. accepted C. refused D. missed
16.A. effort B. enthusiasm C. time D. energy
17.A. football B. wrestling C. weightlifting D. tennis
18.A. essays B. books C. magazines D. newspapers
19.A. flee B. arise C. recover D. survive
20.A. feeling B. desire C. body D. soul
There has been a reduction in crime in our city this year; ________ last year, far fewer crimes were committed.
A. in return for B. in terms of
C. in addition to D. in comparison with
