The ostrich, the largest bird in the world at present, lives in the drier regions of Africa outside the actual deserts. Because of its very long, powerful legs and the floating effect of its extended wings, it is able to run at great speed over considerable distances. The female ostrich normally produces about twenty eggs every rainy season. When the female ostrich begins to lay her eggs, however, she does not begin in her own nest. Instead she goes off in search of the nests of neighboring females and lays two or three eggs in each of them. By the time she has laid eight or nine eggs, she returns and lays the rest in her own nest. Because of the size of the eggs, the female ostrich cannot lay more than one every two days, so it takes her three weeks to finish laying in her own nest. During that period, she spends a lot of time away from her nest looking tot food. And while she is off her nest, other females visit it to lay their eggs amongst hers. By the time she is ready to sit on the eggs to hatch them, there could be up to thirty eggs in her nest, over half of which are not her own. The female ostrich can comfortably cover only about twenty eggs when she is sitting on the nest so before settling down she pushes the surplus ten or so eggs out of the nest. The rejected eggs, however, never include any of her own. Each female is remarkably consistent in the size and shape of the eggs she produces, so it is not difficult for her to distinguish her own from those of strangers. Of all the eggs laid by ostriches, only a very small number hatch into young birds. There are times when nests are left unprotected, for there are too few males to sit on all the nests at night. Thus there are ample opportunities for their natural enemies to raid the nests and eat the eggs. In fact, nearly 80% of the nests are destroyed. But even if a particular female's nest suffers this fate, there is a good chance that one or two of her eggs will be hatched in the nest of one of her neighbors.
1. The ostrich is known to us as the largest bird in the human history.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
B
[解析] 题干要求判断鸵鸟是否是已知的人类历史上最大的鸟。第一段第一句话提到“The ostrich, the largest bird in the world at present”,意思是“鸵鸟是目前世界上最大的鸟”,而不是人类历史上,所以题干表述是错误的。
2. With the help of its long legs and extended wings, ostrich can run very fast.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
A
[解析] 题干要求判断借助长腿和伸展的双翼鸵鸟是否跑得很快。第一段第二句话讲到了鸵鸟的一些特点,比如“its very long, powerful legs”和“the floating effect of its extended wings”,这些都使得鸵鸟奔跑速度很快,所以题千表述是正确的。
3. The female ostrich often lay all its eggs in the neighboring nests.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
B
[解析] 题干要求判断母鸵鸟是否常常把自己所有的卵产在临近的巢里。文中第二段讲到了鸵鸟产卵的情况,母鸵鸟每个雨季会产大概二十枚卵,但是并非都在自己的巢穴里,“she goes off in search of the nests of neighboring females and lays two or three eggs in each of them”,到最后才把“eight or nine eggs”产在自己的巢穴里。所以题干表述是错误的。
4. The male ostrich would help its mate to hatch their eggs.
5. The size of the eggs is so large that the female ostrich can only lay at most one egg every two days.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
A
[解析] 题干要求判断是否因为卵太大了所以母鸵鸟每两天最多只能产一枚卵。文中第三段第一句话提到“Because of the size of the eggs, the female ostrich cannot lay more than one every two days”,所以题干表述是正确的。
6. When the female ostrich lays eggs in its own nest, she will never leave there in order to protect her eggs.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
B
[解析] 题干要求判断母鸵鸟在巢里产卵时是否不会离开巢里以保护她的卵。第三段提到母鸵鸟在产卵期间,“she spends a lot of time away from her nest looking for food”,即母鸵鸟会离开巢穴寻找食物,所以题干表述是错误的。
7. The ostrich can only cover about twenty eggs at the same time.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
A
[解析] 题干要求判断鸵鸟是否每次只能覆盖20枚左右的卵。第四段第一句话提到“The female ostrich can comfortably cover only about twenty eggs when she is sitting on the nest”,意思是“母鸵鸟在巢穴里可以覆盖大约20枚卵”,所以题干表述是正确的。
8. The female ostrich can' t distinguish her own eggs from others so that she often pushes some of her own eggs out of the nest.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
B
[解析] 题干要求判断母鸵鸟是否不能区分自己产的卵和别的鸵鸟产的卵,所以常常把自己的卵推出巢穴。第四段最后一句话讲到“it is not difficult for her to distinguish her own from those of strangers”,即“区分是否是自己产的卵对母鸵鸟来说并不难”,所以“The rejected eggs, however, never include any of her own”,即“推出去的卵都不会是自己产的”,所以题干表述是错误的。
9. At night, the male ostrich don' t protect their nests because they should go out for food.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
C
[解析] 题干要求判断夜里公鸵鸟是否因为外出觅食而不保护他们的巢穴。最后一段里提到了在孵化小鸵鸟期间,“there are too few males to sit on all the nests at night”,所以有些天敌“raid the nests and eat the eggs”,但是并没有提到公鸵鸟不在是因为要外出觅食,因此无法判断题干是否正确。
10. Although the eggs are often raid by their natural enemies, yet one or two of her eggs will be hatched in its neighbor's nests.
A.True
B.False
C.Not Given
A B C
A
[解析] 题干要求判断虽然鸵鸟的天敌常常洗劫他们产的卵,但是一到两个卵是否会在他们邻居的巢穴中得到孵化。最后一段讲到虽然有些天敌“raid the nests and eat the eggs”,但是“one or two of her eggs will be hatched in the nest of one of her neighbors”,所以题干表述是正确的。
Modern inventions have speeded up people's lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircrafts cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts(吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks. All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about. However,what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world. There was a time when some people's lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
1. The new products become more and more time-saving because ______.
A.our love of speed seems never-ending
B.time is limited
C.the prices are increasingly high
D.the manufactures boast a lot
A B C D
A
[考点] 事实细节题。
[解析] 文章一开头就提到现代发明加速了人们的生活。换句话说就是现代发明令人们做事情越来越省时。文章第一段第一句作为结果加以叙述,第二句进行举例说明,再陈述其原因:Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending。因此可知正确答案为A。
2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?
A.Painful wrists and fingers result from computer itself.
B.Mobile phones won't do any harm to our bodies.
C.New inventions such as computers or mobile phones have potential dangers.
① Working out a timetable will not turn you into a perfectly efficient person, but having a plan and sticking to it for a few weeks can help you to form better study habits and actually to save time, so that in the end you have more free time than before. Here is a way to plan your time which is flexible and practical. ② Make out a master timetable for the term,marking your fixed commitments only: classes, society meetings, sport, etc. Make it clear and attractive, as you will have to look at it for a long time. ③ Draw up a weekly work program based on your present work assignments and study commitments:take a blank postcard or file card and divide it up,and then list: a. Your work assignments and study commitments for the week; b. estimated amount of time needed for each of these; c. dates when the work is due or when it is to be done,include routine reading and revising as well as setting work. Put it in a prominent, or noticeable place in your room, or carry it with you. A good time to prepare this might be Sunday evening as you plan the week ahead. ④ Make a daily "shopping list" of things you have to do next day and when you will do them. Use a small card which can be put into a pocket where it is easily found. The best time to prepare this is before going to bed. Include everything you have to do next day, not just work but posting a friend's birthday card,going to the laundry,etc. ⑤ Having prepared your cards and planned out your work, stick to your program. Cross out each item as you deal with it. If you give study hours top priority, the remaining hours will be really free.
1. Paragraph ①______ A. Making a Weekly Work Program B. Making a Card C. Planning Your Time D. Other Ways to Plan Your Time E. Making a Timetable for the Term F. Sticking to Your Plan
6. Having a time plan and sticking to it can help you to form better study habits and to ______. A. save time B. put into a pocket C. a daily "shopping list" D. top priority E. present work assignments F. your master timetable for the term
You don't need millions to be happy. At the Happiness Institute in Australia, a couple of hundred dollars may help you achieve the goal. Since the institute opened its doors this year, men and women of all ages have been paying A $200 an hour (US $140) for lessons in how to feel great. 1 "You can actually increase your happiness levels. That's what we teach," said Timothy Sharp. He is the founder of this Happiness Institute. It also offers group sessions (团体课程) from A $30 a person. "We take people from zero and try to put a positive in their happiness bank account. You don't have to settle just for OKness. 2 You can have a lot more," Sharp said. 3 As much as 85% comes from elements such as attitude,life control and relationships. "If you're not a natural (理想人员) in any of these areas you can learn to get a lot better at them," Sharp said. The Happiness Institute is part of what US economist Paul Zane Pilzer calls the "Wellness Revolution". In his book of the same name, Pilzer says the next trillion-dollar industry after cars and information technology will be in preventative businesses. 4 According to a research, while most of us are significantly better off (富裕的) financially than our parents and grandparents, our happiness levels haven't changed to reflect that. 5 A. Experts say that only about 15% of happiness comes from income, assets and other financial factors. B. It's no more OK than having a zero bank balance. C. Companies are spending as much as A $6,000 on half-day happiness workshops for their staff. D. Studies show that once the basic needs of shelter and food are met, additional wealth adds very little to happiness. E. There's no greater happiness than that of succeeding in one's career. F. They aims to help people find peace, health and happiness.
[解析] 空格位于第三段的段首,考生可以根据空格后的内容来判断应填句子。空格后“As much as 85% comes from elements such as attitude, life control and relationships”非常关键,通过分析不难看出,85%后面省略了一个名词或代词,省略的内容应该在应填句子中出现。A选项符合上下文语境,为应填句子。
4.
F
[解析] 空格前提到,美国经济学家Paul Zane Pilzer认为,继汽车和信息技术后的下一个亿万产业将是预防性产业。而在剩余选项中只有F选项“They aims to help people find peace, health and Happiness”中的主语They与前面的preventative businesses相呼应,进一步解释preventative businesses的作用,因此F选项在结构和内容上符合题意,为应填句子。
5.
D
[解析] 最后一段论述了一项研究结果:尽管我们比自己的父辈或祖父辈富裕了很多,但我们的幸福水平却没有那么大的提高,这表明财富和幸福并不存在必然的关系。通过分析剩余的两个选项,不难发现D选项中的“additional wealth adds very little to happiness”这一信息符合上下文语境,为应填句子。
What accounts for the great outburst of major 1 in early America—breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine? Among the many shaping factors, I would 2 out the country's excellent elementary schools ;a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of 3 premiums to inventors;and above all the American genius for nonverbal, "spatial" thinking about things technological. Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics, especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some 4 of geometry and trigonometry. Acute foreign observers related American 5 and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in 1853 reported, "With a mind prepared by thorough school 6 , the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman." A further stimulus to invention came from the "premium" system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals, cash prizes and other incentives. In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to 7 their faith in the beneficence of technological advance. Given this optimistic 8 to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out, "A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be 9 to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process... The designer and the inventor... are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist." This nonverbal "spatial" thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert Fulton once wrote, "The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc. , like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea." When all these shaping forces—schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking—interacted with one another on the rich U. S. mainland, they produced that American characteristic, emulation. Today that word implies 10 imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence. A. inventions B. discipline C. giving D. reduced E. adaptiveness F. approach G. outnumber H. single I. thought J. aspects K. mere L. renew
1.
A
[解析] 此处需要名词。major inventions主要的发明。
2.
H
[解析] 此处为固定搭配。single out挑出。
3.
C
[解析] 此处需要现在分词。giving premiums to inventors给发明者提供酬金。
4.
J
[解析] 此处需要名词。in some aspects在某些方面。
5.
E
[解析] 此处需要名词。adaptiveness and inventiveness适应性和发明才能。
6.
B
[解析] 此处需要名词。school discipline学校纪律。
7.
L
[解析] 此处需要动词。前面提到新机器,所以这里用renew。renew their faith更新他们的信念。
8.
F
[解析] 此处需要名词。optimistic approach乐观的方法、途径。
9.
D
[解析] 此处需要动词的过去分词。be reduced to简化为……
10.
K
[解析] 此处需要形容词。word implies mere imitation这个词暗指的仅仅是模仿。
Eating habits change from generation to generation. Before scientists learned about vitamins and other constituents of food, such as proteins and carbohydrates (碳水化合物), people believed in eating large quantities of food and were not concerned so much about a 1 (balance) diet. A hearty eighteenth century meal could consist of as many as twenty courses and would 2 ( probable) knock out many of us today! The Romans were famous for their 3 (enormously) feasts and insatiable appetites. In the year 2020 people's eating habits may be just as 4 (surprise) but in a very different sort of way. With a world-wide 5 (grow) in population, food 6 (produce) will become exclusively 7 (machine) and scientific. There may well be an end to food as we know it today. Meals, as we know them may become a thing of the past. Food constituents and vitamins may be taken in the form of capsules (胶囊), tablets and pills. The thought of these highly 8 (artificiality) food constituents replacing present day foods may not be very 9 (attraction), but they may be the answer to food 10 (short) and world famine.
[范文]
Dear Sir,
I am writing this letter to recommend my student Wang Gang. He is seeking the position of marketing clerk of your company. He says you are satisfied with his presentation at the interview and require a teacher's recommendation about his academic performance in the college.
As his English teacher. I think Mr. Wang is well qualified for the position as a marketing clerk. In college, he always ranks among the top five in his class, has passed CET-6 and obtained a certificate of intermediate computer skills. Mr. Wang is a hard-working, selfless, and open-minded young man. He is awarded the scholarship every year. Therefore, I believe he is a good candidate worthy of your consideration.