阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
A kind of insect gets its name for the body shape, which resembles a long stick. Such an amazing 1. (appear) helps it successfully hide from predators(捕食者) in the branches of trees. These creatures 2. (call) stick insects. Often called walking sticks, they live on every continent except Antarctica. They can be smaller than an inch or longer than 3. 18-inch ruler.
There are some other ways stick insects use to defend 4. (they). Some can hit attackers with their spiny legs. Others spray something in no time 5. burns an attacker’s eyes. And some just taste bad. The Peruvian stick insect is one of them. This stick insect is 6. (easy) to see because it has red, yellow, and black markings than others. These bright colors are a warning to predators, who know it discharges something with an unpleasant smell when 7. (attack).
Stick insects are mostly nocturnal, which means they are active at night, when they spend their time eating leaves. Darkness makes it harder for most predators 8. (discover) them. However, darkness doesn’t protect stick insects 9. one super set of insect hunters, insect-eating bats. These bats use echolocation(回声定位) to find yummy bug dinners. And stick insects are 10. (absolute) on the menu as something these bats want to eat!
I was busy that morning. I was already stressing about how I was going to ______ all my deadlines. I’m ______ to do things that I love, but my life is ______ with various writing deadlines. So when I ______ working part-time to our family business, things and schedule got ______ tight now.
When my son called to see if I could ______ my two-year-old grandson Nolan for a few hours, my first thought was, no way I could do that. My second thought was, no way I could not do that. Family comes ______, and I know that ______ with my sweet grandbaby will be worth it.
Nolan’s huge smile and sparkling eyes ______ my heart. We played with cars that had been his ______ when he was a little boy all the morning. Wearing Granddaddy’s hat, Nolan stood on a chair and helped me prepare ______, and then we had a picnic in the kitchen. I could tell he was getting ______, so I sat him on my lap. He put his head against my shoulder. There are no words to ______ the sweetness of that moment.
But I almost ______ all of that preciousness before that day ______ I thought that I didn’t have time. It made me realize something else. Sometimes in the business of my days一most of the time ______ things —it’s easy to forget to spend time with ______.
So this week, I’m ______ for the reminder to take time for what is precious to me. I don’t ever want to miss those ______ moments with my grandbaby any more. Even more, I don’t ever want to miss a minute when family is willing to ______ with me.
1.A.meet B.set C.push D.acquire
2.A.amazed B.admired C.blessed D.honored
3.A.strict B.occupied C.popular D.familiar
4.A.taught B.added C.wrote D.passed
5.A.extra B.sharply C.fairly D.barely
6.A.attend B.adopt C.choose D.support
7.A.last B.first C.best D.late
8.A.bargains B.problems C.quarrels D.moments
9.A.broke B.sank C.softened D.opened
10.A.granny’s B.brother’s C.mother’s D.daddy’s
11.A.breakfast B.dinner C.lunch D.supper
12.A.excited B.lonely C.hungry D.sleepy
13.A.describe B.experience C.develop D.instruct
14.A.wasted B.missed C.enjoyed D.appreciated
15.A.despite B.until C.when D.because
16.A.wasting B.playing C.reading D.writing
17.A.children B.books C.family D.work
18.A.cheerful B.successful C.grateful D.hopeful
19.A.priceless B.worthless C.careless D.aimless
20.A.hold out B.hang out C.work out D.figure out
Everyone knows conferences are great for interpersonal relationships. Conferences are all about meeting people and making friends. Of course, some of those new contacts may become customers for your company too, but don’t try to sell to them at the conference unless you really have to. 1..
The most difficult part of communication is always breaking the ice: 2.. We call it golden time. Actually, it can be incredibly tough to walk into a room full of people, all of whom seem to know each other and are involved in deep conversations. How on earth do you join in?
3.. It’s polite to introduce yourself and ask if you can join the group, but there’s nothing wrong with standing and listening for a few minutes first.
The worst thing to do is to walk around looking busy. This is like holding up a sign saying “Please don’t talk to me”. A much better solution, though, is to move slowly around the room, make eye contact with people, smile and say “ hello”. 4..
Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemies. 5.. However, when someone tries to engage us in conversation, we can’t wait to get away. If someone has made the effort to come up to you, they deserve at least five minutes of your time, no matter how boring that person seems. And if you’re lucky, perhaps more people will join your conversation group.
A.We feel bad when no one wants to talk to us.
B.The best thing to do is to try to get involved in one of the conversations.
C.Just be yourself, and allow any business partnerships to appear naturally.
D.Half the people in the group conversations are nervously trying to get involved.
E.The most important thing to remember is that most people are in the same position as you.
F.Starting a conversation with a stranger and keeping it going for the important five minutes.
G.That way, even if you’re too nervous to start a conversation, other people will understand it.
A black hole is created when a large star burns out. Like our sun, stars are unbelievably hot furnaces (熔炉) that burn their own matter as fuel. When most of the fuel is used up, the star begins to die.
The death of a star is not a quiet event. First, there is a huge explosion. As its outer layer is blasted off into space, the dying star shines as brightly as a billion suns.
After the explosion, gravity pulls in what’s left of the star. As the outside of the star sinks toward the center, the star gets smaller and smaller. The material the star is made of becomes tightly packed together. A star is so dense that a teaspoon of matter from it weighs billion of pounds.
The more the star shrinks, the stronger the gravity inside it becomes. Soon the star is very tiny, and the gravity pulling it in is unbelievably strong. In fact, the gravity is so strong that it even pulls light into the star! Since all the light is pulled in, none can flee. The star becomes black when there is no light. Then a black hole is born!
That’s what we know about black holes. What we don’t know is this: What happens inside a black hole after the star has been squeezed into a tiny ball? Does it keep getting smaller and smaller forever? Such a possibility is hard to imagine.
But if the black hole doesn’t keep shrinking, what happens to it? Some scientists think black holes are like doorways to another world. They say that as the star disappears from our universe, it goes into another universe. In other words, a black hole in our universe could turn into a “white hole” in a different universe. As the black hole swallows light, the white hole shines brightly — somewhere else. But where? A different place, perhaps, or a different time — many years in the past or future.
Could you travel through a black hole? Right now, no. Nothing we know of could go into a black hole without being crushed. So far the time being, black holes must remain a mystery.
Black holes are a mystery — but that hasn’t stopped scientists from dreaming about them. One scientist suggested that in the future we might make sure of the power of black holes. They would supply all of Earth’s energy needs, with plenty to spare. Another scientist wondered if a black hole could someday be used to swallow earthly waste — a sort of huge waste disposal in the sky!
1.What do we know about stars in the universe?
A.When a star begins to die, there’s no fuel left in it.
B.After the explosion, a star gets as small as a teaspoon.
C.A star explodes when it dies and then becomes smaller and smaller.
D.A star gets smaller and smaller because the outer layer of a star sinks toward the center.
2.Which of the following doesn’t help produce a black hole?
A.The dying star shines very brightly. B.The light can’t go out of the star.
C.The gravity inside the star is very strong. D.The star becomes very tiny and dense.
3.What can we know from the passage?
A.A star will blast and die when it lacks fuel to support its burning.
B.Man can never travel through a black hole but can make use of its power.
C.A black hole can swallow everything because it becomes smaller all the time.
D.Scientists have found that a black hole goes into another universe and becomes a white hole.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A.A New Scientific Discovery: Black Holes B.How Do Black Holes Come into Being?
C.What Are Black Holes? D.Travel Through A Black Hole
Apple lost its status as the world’s only trillion-dollar public company as shares slumped (下跌) following disappointing results.
The iPhone maker said that it would no longer tell how many iPhones, iPads and Macs it sells each quarter, claiming the figure was no longer relevant to investors. The announcement, combined with a forecast for the vital Christmas quarter, sent shares falling by more than 7 percent in after-hours trading, knocking over $70 billion off its value. If maintained, the drop means Apple’s value has fallen below the trillion-dollar mark for the first time since it reached the milestone in August.
Apple’s fall come despite it posting record profits and sales after it convinced consumers to buy more expensive versions of the iPhone in the three months to the end of September. During this period, it sold 46. 9 million iPhones, flat on the same period last year and below what analysts had expected. However, a huge increase in the price of each phone meant that iPhone revenues (收益) increased by 29 percent. On average, consumers now pay $793 for each iPhone, up from $618 a year ago.
Apple has successfully pushed its users into paying more for newer versions of its iPhone by adding new features and bigger screen sizes, even as sales growth has decreased. Revenues in the quarter increased by 20 percent to $62.9 billion, while profits were up 32 percent to $14.1 billion. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said sales had been disappointing in some emerging markets such as India, Turkey and Brazil.
Apple sold fewer Mac computers and iPads than a year ago, but said revenues from its software division had increased by 17 percent. Apple said it would continue to say how much revenue it makes from each of its product lines, which it claimed was a more relevant figure than unit sales.
1.What did the iPhone maker’s announcement cause?
A.It caused a stable market. B.It caused a drop in sales.
C.It caused weaker shares. D.It caused an increase in sales.
2.How were the sales of iPhones in the three months to the end of September last year?
A.They were better than this year. B.They were the same with this year.
C.They were not reported to the public. D.They were more terrible than this year.
3.Why did the revenues increase as the shares slumped?
A.The price was increased. B.People supported iPhones.
C.The sales were beyond expectation. D.The iPhone maker started a promotion.
4.What is the situation of the sales in some emerging markets?
A.It has a big market. B.The unit sales are good.
C.It is not very well received. D.It is uneven according to places.
No one is happy about missing his/her bus. When Thomas Daniel missed his school bus last week, he met Officer Lynema. Lynema was with the Grand Rapids Police Department in Michigan early in the morning. He said that he saw the 9-year-old boy running after a school bus. Lynema asked Thomas if he wanted a ride to school, which the young boy gratefully accepted (after his mother nodded).
On the way to school, Thomas invited Lynema to his birthday party that evening. The boy also said that he was afraid that none of his classmates would show up for the party because he was often bullied in school.
When Lynema attended the party later in the day, he was heartbroken. He discovered that he and Thomas’s brothers and sisters were the only people who had shown up for the party — and the young boy didn’t even have a cake. The next day, Lynema called together other police officers and returned to Thomas’ house to throw him a second birthday party.
After Thomas got back from school, he was astounded to come home and find presents, a Krispy Kreme donut cake and a band waiting to surprise him. Thomas later said that it was the “best birthday ever”.
The police department posted photos of the boy and his new friends in the hope that it would encourage other people to take action against bullying. “No kid should get bullied, and no kid should worry if anyone will come to his/her birthday party,” wrote the police department Internet page. “Next year, Thomas Daniel, make sure you invite us a little earlier. We wouldn’t want to miss it!”
1.What can we learn from the first paragraph ?
A.Thomas and Lynema met by accident. B.Thomas knew Lynema would help him.
C.Thomas actually disliked going to school. D.Thomas’ mom was worried about his safety.
2.Why was Lynema sad when he attended the party?
A.No other policemen came to the party. B.Thomas’ family was very poor and small.
C.There were only a few people in the party. D.Thomas didn’t invite classmates to his party.
3.What does the underlined word “astounded” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.frustrated B.awkward
C.astonished D.embarrassed
4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A.Lynema organized another birthday party for Thomas.
B.Thomas will probably have a good time on his birthday next year.
C.The police department called on people to fight against bullying through Internet.
D.Thomas invited Lynema to his birthday party because he was often bullied in school.
