There are two ways to look at this question --- 1. relating to eggs in general or to the chicken egg specifically. Either way, the answer is the same: the egg came before the chicken. 2. the case of eggs in general, animals such as dinosaurs were laying eggs long before the modern chicken came into existence, 3. (mean) that in this sense, the egg predated (早于) the chicken by thousands of years. As for the chicken egg specifically , according to NPR’s Robert Krulwich, the modern chicken 4. (hatch 孵化) from an egg, meaning the egg came first.
The key to understanding the answer, and indeed the question itself, is to understand what the question is getting at. The dilemma is to understand 5. a chicken-like bird transformed into 6. is known as a modern chicken after being hatched or whether two chicken-like birds 7. (lay) and fertilized an egg that then hatched a fully formed chicken. In this case, the latter option is the most realistic, therefore answering the question of which came first. 8. (essential), a bird that was similar to a hen and another bird that is similar to 9. rooster combined their genetic material, leading to a gene mutation (突变) that resulted in the chicken that is 10. (good) known and loved today.
During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be_______him. I hated the place. I had never _______been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack alone. The heat was_______-almost 125 0F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌). _______a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the every air I breathed, were_______ with sand, sand, sand!
I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was _______ and coming back home. I said I couldn’t stand it one minute longer. I _______be in prison! My father answered my _______with just two lines-two lines that will always sing in my_______- two lines that completely changed my life:
Two men looked out from prison bars
One saw the mud, the other saw the stars
I read those two lines________ I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present ________; I would look for the stars.
I made friends with the natives, and their ________ amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had ________to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and________for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the desert had been an ocean________
What brought about this________ change in me? The desert hadn’t changed, ________ I had. I had changed my ________. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing________of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered I had looked out of my self-created prison and________ the stars.
1.A. off B. behind C. near D. beyond
2.A. already B. before C. then D. still
3.A. unbearable B. incomprehensible C. inflexible D. uncontrollable
4.A. Only B. Many C. Not D. Such
5.A. covered B. charged C. buried D. filled
6.A. giving up B. keeping up C. catching up D. getting up
7.A. ought to B. might well C. would rather D. had better
8.A. complaints B. calls C. questions D. requests
9.A. imagination B. memory C. consideration D. comparison
10.A. now and then B. by and by C. up and down D. over and over
11.A. company B. occupation C. situation D. relationship
12.A. movement B. guidance C. reaction D. purpose
13.A. happened B. failed C. managed D. refused
14.A. asked B. hunted C. waited D. headed
15.A. floor B. surface C. rock D. level
16.A. challenging B. astonishing C. puzzling D. exciting
17.A. as B. or C. for D. but
18.A. principle B. attitude C. identity D. standard
19.A. vacation B. operation C. adventure D. affair
20.A. found B. counted C. sought D. reached
There are many expressions with the word “dog”.
1. They take their dogs for walks, give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, lead a dog’s life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence.
When we say we live in a dog-eat-dog world, 2. A person has to work hard like a dog to be successful. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.
Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. 3. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new skills and will not change the way they do things.
Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as junkyard dogs living in places where people throw away things they do not want. Junkyard dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. 4.
Dog expressions are also used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. 5. But we do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
A. We could say his bark is worse than his bite.
B. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs.
C. But there are many difficulties on the road to success.
D. People love dogs and treat them well.
E. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills.
F. Dogs are loyal to people.
G. A rainstorm may cool the weather.
Up to 90% of school leavers in major Asian cities are suffering from myopia — short-sightedness, a study suggests. Researchers say the “extraordinary rise” in the problem is being caused by students working very hard in school and missing out on outdoor light.
Eye experts say that you are short-sighted if your vision is blurred(模糊的) beyond 2m. It is often caused by an elongation (拉伸) of the eyeball that happens when people are young. According to the research, the problem is being caused by a combination of factors — a commitment to education and lack of outdoor light.
Professor Morgan who led this study argues that many children in South East Asia spend long hours studying at school and doing their homework. This in itself puts pressure on the eyes, but exposure to between two and three hours of daylight helps maintain healthy eyes.
Cultural factors also seem to play a part. Across many parts of South East Asian children often have a lunchtime nap. According to Professor Morgan they are missing out on natural light to prevent short-sightedness.
A big concern is the numbers of the students suffering from “high” myopia. One in five of these students could experience severe visual impairment(障碍) and even blindness. These people are at considerable risk-sometimes people are not told about it and are just given more powerful glasses-they need to be warned about the risk and given some self-testing measures so they can get to an ophthalmologist and get some help.
For decades, researchers believed there was a strong genetic component to the condition. But this study strongly suggests an alternative view. “Any type of simple genetic explanation just doesn’t fit with that speed of change; gene pools just don’t change in two generations. Whether it’s a purely environmental effect or an environmental effect playing a sensitive genome, it really doesn't matter, the thing that’s changed is not the gene pool—it's the environment.”
1.As is mentioned above, which factor mainly results in students' myopia in South East Asia?
A. Lack of research into the problem. B. Genetic faults of the people.
C. Elongation of the eyeball. D. The shortage of outdoor light.
2.Which of the following statements do you think Professor Morgan agrees with?
A. A lunchtime nap is helpful in reducing myopia.
B. Glasses keep myopia from getting even worse.
C. It's necessary to treat myopia with an operation.
D. It's of vital importance to reduce educational pressure.
3.What's the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. Short-sightedness has nothing to do with changes in gene pools.
B. Gene remains the main cause of the long-standing problem.
C. An environmental effect playing a sensitive genome counts.
D. The environment is to blame for the extraordinary rise in myopia.
4.What's the best way to take care of your eyes according to the passage?
A. Look at the sun from time to time. B. Do eyes exercise regularly.
C. Spend more time in the open air. D. Equip the classroom with better lights.
I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence(吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased(已故的)woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens that leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds. The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believe that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.
1.The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because ______.
A. he was an official from the community B. he had great pity for the deceased
C. he was minister of the local church D. he wanted to comfort the two families
2.People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _____.
A. they believe that they were responsible
B. they didn’t know things often turn in the opposite direction
C. they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow
D. they had neglected the natural course of events
3.According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that_____.
A. there is an explanation for everything in the world
B. everything in the world is predetermined
C. we have to be sensible in order to understand the world
D. the world can be explained in different ways
4.What’s the idea of the passage?
A. Every story should have a happy ending.
B. Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.
C. In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.
D. Life and death is an unsolved mystery.
I am sorry that I haven’t written this letter before now. It has taken me three years to gather the courage. I have started it so many times in my head, but was afraid that you would think it disrespectful of me to write to you. It does seem strange writing to someone I have never met, but part of me feels that I know you very, very well.
We read your file one morning in September. We knew the contents would be difficult. Later that afternoon, we received the call from our social worker to tell us that you had passed away. Suddenly, we knew what we had to do.
There was never any doubt. All I remember was an a desire to protect this little boy, to give him the love and care he deserved. And really that was that; as far as we were concerned, David was now our son. There were further meetings, questions, paperwork, decisions, arrangements and preparations. Then, two months later, we met him for the first time. I hope the fact that I call him “our son” does not offend you. Sarah, you will always be his birth mother. But I make no apology in referring to him as our son.
For the past three years, we have loved and cared for David. We have dealt with his anger, his confusion and his anxieties. David was taken away from you soon after his second birthday. I cannot imagine the pain that must have caused you. We know that you really wanted to be a good mother to David, but you could not cope when his father left.
It is tragic that your life ended so early. I don’t know how I will explain all these things to David as he grows up, or how he will explain his story and what happened to him during his early years. I hope that it does not cast a shadow over his life as his understanding deepens. I hope you can find comfort in the fact that, from all this pain, Sarah, you have given us the most wonderful gift – an amazing little boy who is completely fearless.
It is so unfair that you did not receive the love and the warmth in your childhood that David now takes for granted. And although you never chose to hand your beautiful baby over, I can only feel gratitude towards you for this wonderful little boy who has made our lives complete.
1.What is the best title for the text?
A. A strong woman’s miserable experience B. A letter to the mother of my adopted son
C. A loving and caring mother's advice D. A heartbroken mother’s diary
2.How old is David when this text is written?
A. 3. B. 4. C. 5. D. 6.
3.What's the author's purpose of writing this text?
A. To express her gratitude. B. To send her best wishes.
C. To make an apology. D. To express a complaint.
4.What can be inferred about Sara from the text?
A. Sara died of cancer. B. Sara divorced with her husband.
C. Sara and I knew each other very well. D. Sara fell into trouble as a single mum.
