When people lose legs after accidents or illnesses, emergency care and artificial limbs(假肢)often allow them to walk again. Newts (蝾螈) in the same situation, on the other hand, can grow limbs back on their own! Scientists have known for a long time that certain animals can re-grow limbs, but they haven’t quite figured out how these creatures do it.
Researchers have now come up with some new ideas. Their work may give people the ability to re-grow lost limbs. The researchers started with two simple experiments:when you cut a newt’s leg at the ankle, only the foot grows back;when you cut off a leg at the very end, the whole leg grows back. In both cases, the re-growth begins with stem cells. Stem cells can develop into nearly any type of cell in the body.
How do a newt’s stem cells know when to grow only a foot and when to re-grow a whole leg?
This question relates to another mystery. In newt’s, a cut-off leg will grow back only if the nerve bundle(神经束)in it also grows back , but if something prevents the nerve bundle from growing, the stem cells at the wound won’t re-grow a new leg.
In its study, a British team focused on a protein called n-AG. When the team prevented nerves in a limb from growing, but added the n-AG protein to stem cells in the limb, the limb still re-grew. That protein seems to guide limb re-growth. People have proteins that are similar to n-AG. Further research into these materials may someday help human limbs recover by themselves.
40. In the experiments, the researchers cut off a newt’s foot or leg to find out _____.
A. what stem cells were B. whether they would grow back
C. how long it would take to re-grow D. how they would re-grow
41. A newt will re-grow its leg if _____.
A. its ankle was cut off but the nerve bundle was good
B. its leg was cut off and the nerve bundle stopped growing
C. its leg was cut off and the nerve bundle could grow back
D. its ankle and the nerve bundle were cut off
42. What do the underlined words “these materials” refer to?
A. Nerve bundles and proteins. B. Proteins similar to n-AG.
C. Stem cells and proteins. D. Stem cells and nerve bundles.
43. The first sentence of the passage _____.
A. acts as a lead–in B. shows where researchers got their new ideas
C. states the author’s opinion D. describes the result of researchers’ studies
How Many Lies Do the Children Tell You?
Mothers who feel their children don' t appreciate them can add another grievance to the list: half the time, their children are lying to them. A study designed to expose the truth about lying shows that undergraduates lie to their mothers in 46% of their conversations. Still, mums should feel better than total strangers, who are told lies an astonishing 77 % of the time.
Bella Depaulo and a team of psychologists from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, asked 77 undergraduates to keep a record of all their conversations for a week, and write down whether they lied at any time. DePaulo named lying broadly, as "when you intentionally try to mislead someone", so she would catch the smallest of lies.
The students told an average of two lies a day. They said they had been studying when they had been out drinking. One told his parents that a textbook cost $50 rather than $20 so that they would send him extra money. Female students constantly told their plain-looking roommates that they were pretty. "They are everyday lies," says DePaulo.
DePaulo and her colleagues conclude that people tend to tell fewer lies to those they feel closest to. College students lied to their best friends 28% of the time but lied to acquaintances 48% of the time. In close relationships, people were more likely to tell "kind-hearted" lies, designed to protect feelings, rather than self-serving lies.
Romantic(浪漫的)partners lie somewhere between close friends and acquaintances. Students lied to romantic partners about a third of the time. DePaulo thinks that unmarried lovers can expect less honesty than best friends because of the insecurity that comes with romance.
Mothers can take heart from one other finding. They may have been lied to, but at least their children talked to them. The students were recorded telling few lies to their fathers because they had little interaction with them. What is the meaning of the underlined word "grievance" in Paragraph 1?
A.opinion. | B.complaint. | C.belief. | D.difficulty. |
According to the passage, college students felt closest to ______ .
A.mothers | B.best friends | C.acquaintances | D.romantic partners |
Female students lied to their roommates to.
A.get money from them | B.offer them the services |
C.gain more security | D.make them happy |
What is the purpose of this article?
A.To present a fact. | B.To argue an idea. |
C.To tell a story. | D.To explain a theory. |
Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water or mud. As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn't sure what to do. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate's sake (缘故), even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety seemed admirable. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.Why did the writer change his direction while walking down a path?
A.To get close to a butterfly. | B.To look over the bad situation. |
C.To escape a sudden attack. | D.To avoid getting his shoes dirty. |
What made the man feel funny?
A.Making the attacker pause. | B.Being attacked by a butterfly. |
C.Being stepped on by his mate. | D.Discovering the energetic butterfly. |
From this experience the man learned.
A.what he should do when faced with trouble |
B.people should show sympathy to the weak |
C.how he should deal with attacks |
D.people should protect butterflies |
Which of the following words can best describe the butterfly?
A.Careless. | B.Amusing. | C.Courageous. | D.Aggressive. |
No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.
Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong. These days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well. They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money. Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener. The response to this competition was tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory. One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds. A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole of his car. All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed. The largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this would win the prize. But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2,400 pounds. It had been baked by a college student who had used over 1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients. It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry. The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought th
e biscuit from the student for $24,000.
.
. Why have advertisers made a close study of human weakness?
A.They thought it was very interesting to do so. |
B.They wanted to persuade the customers to buy their products. |
C.They thought it was their duty. |
D.They wanted to research how much people spend buying their products. |
.
. Why do advertisers offer free samples and other things to people?
A.They use them to attract people’s attention. |
B.Their advertisements have little effect on customers. |
C.Different means are being used to cheat people. |
D.They produce too many products that can’t be sold out. |
.
From the last paragraph, we know that the factory failed to expect _______.
A.how many people would take an interest in the competition |
B.how many ingredients are needed to bake a large biscuit |
C.it was possible to bake a biscuit as large as the student’s |
D.the payment wouldn’t be as high as $ 24,000 |
When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.
When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and "too serious" about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say, " Let's start with a train whistle today." We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend, he was in despair and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other's dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think, " Yes, I must tell.." We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist, who will only fill up the healing silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.
.
. In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.
A.become serious about her study |
B.go to her friend's house regularly |
C.learn from her classmates at school |
D.share poems and stories with her friend |
.
. In Paragraph 3, "We gave London to each other" probably means ______.
A.our exploration of London was a memorable gift to![]() |
B.we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London |
C.our unpleasant feeling about London disappeared |
D.we parted with each other in London |
.
. According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend _______.
A.call each other regularly |
B.have similar personalities |
C.enjoy writing to each other |
D.dream of meeting each other |
.
. In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ______.
A.seek professional help |
B.be left alone |
C.stay with her best friend |
D.break the silence |
.
. What is the best title for the passage?
A.Unforgettable Experiences |
B.Remarkable Imagination |
C.Lifelong Friendship |
D.Noble Companions |
Princeton University
Location
The University is in Princeton, New Jersey. It is an hour's train ride south of New York City and an hour's train ride north of Philadelphia.
Students
There are 4,600 undergraduates (本科生). There are also 1,900 graduate students, but Princeton is unusual among universities in having a student body made up largely of undergraduates.
Faculty
Princeton has about 700 full-time faculty members (教员). There are another 300 or so part -time and visiting faculty. All faculty members at Princeton are expected to teach and research.
Degrees
Princeton offers two undergraduate degrees: the bachelor (学士) of arts (A.B.) degree and the bachelor of science in engineering (B.S.E.) degree.
Academic Year
An academic year runs from September to late May and lasts two terms (fall and spring). A normal course load is four or five courses per term, although many students take extra courses.
Residences
Princeton provides housing for all undergraduate students. Freshmen and second-year students are required to spend their first two years in one of five colleges. Each college has its own dining hall, common rooms and computer centers.
Fees and Expenses (Academic Year 2004-2005)
Tuition (学费): $29,910
Room and board: $ 8,387
Other expenses (books, telephone, etc.): $ 3,083
Total: $ 41,380.
How many kinds of faculty members are there in Princeton University?
A.One. | B.Two. | C.Three. | D.Four. |
.
In Princeton University, an undergraduate will pay at least ________ for the Academic Year 2004-2005 besides tuition.
A.$ 41,380 | B.$ 52,850 | C.$11,470 | D.$ 8, 387 |
.
In what way is Princeton University different from other American universities according to the text?
A.It has five colleges. |
B.Its students are mainly undergraduates. |
C.It provides housing for all undergraduate students. |
D.All the faculty members at Princeton are expected to teach and research. |
.
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.Princeton offers two undergraduate degrees. |
B.An academic year lasts about nine months in Pri![]() |
C.Undergraduates should spend their first two years in one of five colleges. |
D.It's about an hour's train ride from Princeton University to the north of New York Cit![]() |