Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture from food helps to store it, and that the easiest way to do this is to expose the food to sun and wind.
All foods including water — cabbage and other leaf vegetables contains as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean (瘦的) meat 75% and fish, anything from 80% to 60%, depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is controlled.
Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically. The conventional method of such dehydration (脱水) is to put food in chambers (室) through which hot air is blown at temperature of about ll0'C at entry to about 43'C at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.
Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated steel cylinder (圆筒), then put them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first process, the dried material comes off the roller (滚筒) as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively flakes (薄片). In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as small powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients (成分) are dried separately and then mixed.
Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans or
frozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons they
are invaluable to the climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storage
space. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook
them.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．the rattier fish contain as much water as the lean one |
| B．the rattier the fish is, the more water it may contain |
| C．a fatty fish holds less water than a lean one |
| D．the water content of fish has nothing to do with the content of their fat |
The underlined word "conventional" in Paragraph 3 can most probably be replaced by _________.
| A．particular | B．scientific | C．usual | D．special |
Which of the following statements is NOT true about drying food?
| A．The removal of water in food helps prevent it from going rotten. |
| B．The open-air method of drying food has been known for hundreds of years. |
| C．In the course of dehydration, the temperature of hot current coming from entry to exit is gradually going up. |
| D．The process of drying liquids is much more complex than that of drying solid food. |
The last paragraph mainly talks about __________.
| A．the reason why housewives like dried food |
| B．the general convenience of dried food |
| C．the methods of storing food |
| D．the advantages of dried, canned and frozen food |
“You are going abroad and will live there? Oh, wonderful! You are so lucky.”
Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But is it true all the time? Is your life in the new country always wonderful and exciting?
Specialists say that it isn’t that easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” (冲击) is the term specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. “There are three stages of culture shock,” say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers adapt to their surroundings and finally enjoy their life there.
Culture shock arises from many obvious factors. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation may be difficult to work out. Even the simplest things become headaches. Still worse, the language may be difficult.
Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their home countries and were successful in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new selfimage.
Culture shock leads to a feeling of disorientation (迷惘). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create and escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience are the long term solutions to the problem of culture shock.When people move to a new country, they ________.
| A．find their new life always wonderful and exciting. |
| B．dislike the new surroundings from the beginning. |
| C．quickly get accustomed to the new culture there. |
| D．will get used to the new life with certain difficulty. |
Based on the passage, which of the following results from culture shock?
| A．weather conditions and customs |
| B．public service and transportation |
| C．feeling homesick and disoriented |
| D．language communication issues |
According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, ________.
| A．the fewer difficulties you will meet with abroad |
| B．the more problems you may have to face abroad |
| C．the greater success you are likely to make abroad |
| D．the less homesick you will eventually feel abroad |
Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?
| A．Cultural shock affects and surprises those who live in a new culture. |
| B．A new culture makes everything difficult except the simplest things. |
| C．Since culture shock is painful, we can never get over it completely. |
| D．Escaping by staying inside does solve the problem of culture shock. |
Once, there was a woman who had so many problems, so many worries, so many troubles… that at times she felt she had more troubles than anyone else in the world!
She was depressed. She thought she could never overcome her troubles, so she decided to end her life. That night she went to sleep early and she planned to commit suicide the next morning. But that night she had a dream…
She found herself in a large cave, surrounded by gray bundles (包袱) of all shapes and sizes. Walking toward her was a woman with flowing long white hair.
“Who are you?” asked the dreamer, “and what is this place?”
“This is the cave of bundles of troubles and I am the keeper of the cave.”
“Bundles of troubles?”
“Yes,” the keeper explained, “each person who walks on the earth carries a bundle of troubles on their left shoulder.” The dreamer turned to look and there was a gray bundle on her left shoulder—it had been there all the time and she never noticed!
“If you wish,” the keeper continued,” you can take your bundle down and exchange it for another.”
“Really?” The woman lowered the bundle from her left shoulder. Oh, it felt so good to put it down. Then she picked up a beautiful bundle.
The keeper said, “Why don’t you open it and look inside?”
So the woman opened it and looked inside. “But these are the same troubles I brought here!”
The keeper of the cave smiled softly and nodded. “That’s usually what happens, but do not despair, for there is another bundle on your right shoulder that should help lighten your load.”
The woman turned and saw another bundle on her right shoulder. It had been there all the time and she never noticed! The woman took it down and opened it. Inside were her talents, her gifts, her hopes and opportunities. The woman felt her heart filled with joy and she looked up to thank the keeper of the cave, but she was gone; all were gone. And she found herself sitting up in her own bed with the morning sun streaming through the window, shining on her face.Why did the woman decide to end her life?
| A．Because there were two gray bundles on her shoulders. |
| B．Because she always had bad dreams at night. |
| C．Because the keeper of the cave told her to do so. |
| D．Because she felt she had too many troubles to overcome. |
According to the keeper of the cave, _____ .
| A．there were good things such as talents in beautiful bundles |
| B．each person carries a bundle on each shoulder |
| C．different bundles contain different troubles |
| D．it is impossible for people to take their bundles down from their shoulders |
What did the woman feel when she opened the bundle on her right shoulder?
| A．Delighted. | B．Moved. | C．Depressed. | D．Confused. |
The story of the woman is to show that _____ .
| A．dreaming a dream can save people’s life |
| B．the bundles on our shoulders can make us happy |
| C．attitude towards life plays an important role in people’s life |
| D．we must ignore the troubles in life |
What do you think happened to the woman when she woke up?
| A．She still felt depressed. |
| B．She committed suicide. |
| C．She looked for the keeper of the cave. |
| D．She didn’t want to end her life any more. |
I was walking down a dimly (昏暗) lit street late one evening when I heard coming from behind bushes. , I slowed down to listen and panicked when I realized that what I was hearing were the sounds of a struggle. Only yards from where I stood, a woman was being attacked.
Should I get ?
I was frightened for my own safety, and I hated for having suddenly decided to take a(n) route home that night. “What if I’m hurt too? Shouldn't I just run to the nearest phone and call the police? Although it felt like a century, my thought process had only seconds. But already the cries were growing .
I knew I had to act fast. “How could I walk away from this?” I asked myself.
“No”, I finally resolved (决心), I could not turn my on the fate of this unknown woman, it means my own life.
I am not a brave man, nor am I . I don't know where I found the moral (道德) courage and physical strength, but I had finally decided to help the girl, I became suddenly changed.
I ran behind the bushes and the attacker off the woman. Struggling, we fell to the ground, we fought for a few minutes until the man jumped up and escaped.
heavily, I got to my feet and the girl, who was sobbing behind a tree. In the darkness, I could certainly her trembling shock. Not wanting to frighten her any further, I at first spoke to her from a .
“It’s OK,” I said soothingly. “The man ran away. You’re safe now.”
There was a long pause and then I heard the words, uttered (说) in .
“Dad, is that you?”
And then, from behind the tree, my youngest daughter, Katherine.
God has a way of allowing us to be in the right place at the right time.
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Her frozen fingers touched the flame trying to feel alive. She could feel the warmth but it was a cold heat, as if the candle was rejecting her.
Her arms turned red because of the cold, her short sleeved shirt not giving her enough warmth. The winter air grabbed(抓住) at her arms, causing her pain, but she didn’t mind. She knew she should put her jacket on, it was winter in Connecticut, but that would be giving up. Up here, in this tree she felt safe.
She looked at the candle, surrounded by hardening wax(蜡). She placed her fingers gently on the warm green wax. This candle was a reminder of her life inside that house, a life she would have to return to eventually.
As a child, she had gotten this candle. She spent all she had on it. The beautiful crystal box （水晶盒）had caught her eye. Five whole nickels（五分币） had brought her that candle.
She gave it to her mother for Mother’s Day. Her mother had managed a smile and put it on a shelf. “It’s very pretty, honey! I will put it right here.” Since then that candle had never been moved, never been lighted, sitting dusty on a cluttered shelf that no one could see. Later on, her parents got divorced.
By now the candle was colder than the air and the darkness was complete. The snow on the ground made the night lighter and less satisfying than it had been before the first snowfall. She liked the darkness because she felt safe in it. From the glances of her friends who liked the girl she used to be. From the boys who could never figure out who she was. From her guidance counselor(顾问) whose endless worried looks never made her feel any better.
No one was outside at this time of night. She was alone in the world, just how she liked it. Just as she was about to lean back against the branch, she heard a sound.
She heard footsteps breaking the ice in the snow, heading toward her. He was making his way toward the white fence at the edge of the building, right against the road. Normally she would have ignored this person and stayed on her branch faraway from human contact, but this figure had something with him. He trudged(吃力地走) toward the white fence carrying a case. The figure reached the fence, opened the case and took out a shiny object.
She took her eyes off this figure only long enough to climb down the tree to get a better view of him. She reached the bottom and saw that the person had turned to face the street, sitting on the white fence that she and her friends once sat on. She stepped carefully on the ice, making her way toward him.
And then a beautiful sound of music came from the shiny object. She stopped and listened to it. She started walking towards the guy again. Just as she was about to step onto the snow banks, she slipped on the ice crashing to the ground. The figure turned around in surprise and a sudden recognition fell upon them both.The girl was hiding in the tree at deep night to ______.
| A．keep herself from the cold |
| B．wait for the boy to come |
| C．want to be left alone |
| D．seek safety from any hurt |
From the story, we can learn that ______.
| A．the girl suffered a lot in her life |
| B．the girl’s parents divorced because of her |
| C．teachers and friends treated the girl badly |
| D．the girl used to stay in the tree when feeling sad |
The underlined word “it” in the story refers to ______.
| A．leaning back against the branch |
| B．being alone in the world |
| C．not being disturbed at night |
| D．it being dark with snow around |
From the end of the story, it can be known that the girl _______.
| A．knew the person |
| B．knew what the object was |
| C．realized her wishes |
| D．would never feel alone any more |
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden change in pronunciation started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with people from around the world. This means that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Spelling and grammar became fixed and the dialect （方言）of London became the standard. In 1604, the first English dictionary was published.
The numbers of words in Early Modern English and Late Modern English differ. Late Modern English has a lot more words because of two main factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire covered one quarter of the earth’s surface, and the English language took in foreign words from many countries.
From around 1600, the English colonization(殖民地化)of North America resulted in the creation of American English. Some English pronunciation and words froze when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English. Some expressions that the British call “ Americanisms” are in fact original （原先的）British expressions that were preserved (保存) in the colonies but were lost in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English, with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English. French words and West African words also influenced American English.
Today, American English is the most influential(有影响力的). But there are many other kinds of English around the world, including Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English , Indian English and Caribbean English. They have differences.What can we know from Paragraph 1?
| A．The dialect of London became the standard in the year 1604. |
| B．Vowels were pronounced longer towards the end of Middle English |
| C．The first English dictionary was published in the early 17th century. |
| D．Many new words entered English because many people moved to Britain. |
From Paragraph 2, we know that the Industrial Revolution __________.
| A．required spelling and grammar to be fixed |
| B．required a greater number of English words |
| C．caused many old English words to be useless |
| D．led to the English colonization of North America. |
The underlined word “froze” in Paragraph 3 shows that some English words in America___________.
| A．became longer | B．greatly changed | C．a little changed | D．stayed as they were |
What will the paragraph following this passage most probably discuss?
| A．The development of Modern English |
| B．How the English vocabulary became larger |
| C．Differences among the different kinds of English |
| D．Differences between Middle English and Modern English |