It is one of the greatest mysteries of nature. In case you haven’t noticed, all living things follow very definite, individual rhythms, all as regular as a clock, but what makes them regular?
Though many scientists maintain that these rhythms are the result of some outside force like gravity or radiation or both, the results of most scientific researches agree with other scientists who believe that each living thing has its own built-in biological “time clock.”
Take the mystery of migration for example. Scientists can’t really explain why many species of birds migrate in the autumn even though the temperature is still summery. The birds just seem to snub the comfortable weather that they are having. When a certain time comes, they travel south by the thousand. In spring time, they migrate northwards even though there probably is snow still covering the ground when they finally arrive. Something said “go,” and they did.
Animals that hibernate (冬眠) are obeying individual time clocks, too. When their clock indicates the time to take a winter’s nap, they do, and nothing can stop them. At a certain time in the spring, they wake up and come out regardless of the weather outside.
Plants appear to have yearly rhythms, such as the sprouting of seeds, and they also have daily rhythms. Notice sometimes that plants raise their leaves in daylight and lower them at night.
If you live along the California coast, you can easily observe a demonstration of this mysterious clock functioning regularly. There, from February to September, the highest tides occur exactly every fourteen and four-fifths days, and during these high tides, but at no other time, small silvery fish called grunions surf-ride a wave to the beach. There the female deposits her eggs in the sand and the male fertilizes them; then both hitch a wave-ride back to the sea. Exactly fourteen and four-fifths days later, never before or after, the tiny eggs hatch, and the high tide carries the new babies out to sea.
72. According to the passage, the mysterious rhythms result from ______.
A. the influence of gravity on living species
B. the effect of radiation on living species
C. the influence of a mysterious outer force on living species
D. the internal mechanism inside the living species
73. The underlined word “snub” in the third paragraph probably means ______.
A. fight B. ignore C. symbolize D. criticize
74. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A. Hibernating animals are obeying an internal time clock.
B. The positioning of the leaves of some plants is due to the daily rhythms.
C. The internal clock functioning is demonstrated in the reproducing habits of grunions.
D. The yearly hibernation is more because of the weather influence than the biological functioning.
75. The passage is mainly about ______.
A. the rhythms of life
B. the reasons of mysterious hibernation
C. strange behaviors of species
D. the timing for different events in the world of species
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China．
When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now．
Still, her answer surprised me: “Green tea.”
As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea.．
I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses．
At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian．It was a strange country．
How things change! And how soon! Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”．And everyone is talking about China．The govemment of Indin has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done. A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment (投资)and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．
But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China．
No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US $15 billion for last year and US $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments．
No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian(中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year．
But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea． The reason why the writer’s mother asked for Chinese green tea is that________.
| A．she had a son working in China | B．she believed it had a curing effect |
| C．she enjoyed Chinese products | D．she was tired of Indian tea |
The underlined part “it’s a two-way street” in Paragraph 8 probably means _______.
| A．The exchanges between Indian and China benefit both． |
| B．China and India have different traffic rules． |
| C．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China． |
| D．Chinese produces are popular in both China and India． |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______．
| A．the author was concerned for his mother’s health |
| B．the author was in favor of drinking Chinese green tea |
| C．the author was surprised at China’s recent development |
| D．the author was curious about the growth of India’s IT industry |
Summer Holiday Fun 2010 !
The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!
Peterborough Museum
The Age of the Dinosaurs’ is the museum’s main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands—on exhibits! Watch out for monsters lurking (潜伏) around every ember! The museum is open from 10:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Saturday，and from 12:00pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.
Call 01733 864663 for details
Saxon Youth Club
School holiday fun：Young people aged 13—19 will be able to produce their own music, compete in spots activities, or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club, Saxon Community Centre, Norman Road. Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3：00pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday 12th August between 3:30pm and 6:30pm.
Call 01 353 720274 for details
Houghton Mill
Alice through the Looking Class—a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30, August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open at 5:30; performance 6:30pm--8:30pm. Tea room will be open until the end of the interval. Adult￡10. Child￡7. Family ￡20.
Booking advisable on 0845 4505157．
Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey
Farmland Gaines：From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches，come and join the Farmland Team．Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner！No need to book，just turn up between 12:00pm and 4:00pm on Thursday 19th August. Suitable for children aged four and above，each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price Tickets Cost￡7 per child.
For further information, call 01223 810080.If you are interested in cooking, you can go to_______. .
| A．Peterborough Museum | B．Houghton Mill |
| C．Saxon Youth Club | D．Farmland Museum |
You want to watch the new play with your parents, so it will cost you_________.
| A．￡7 | B．￡17 | C．￡27 | D．￡20 |
Which of the following activities needs parents’ company?
| A．Playing farmland games | B．Watching a new play． |
| C．Competing in spots activities． | D．Visiting the dinosaur exhibition |
If Tom comes to Peterborough for amusement on August 19, he will have _______activities to choose from for himself．
| A．one activity | B．two activities |
| C．three activities | D．four activities |
Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self-respect ? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized (分类) as “honor” help you create this life of good feelings．
Here’s an example to show how honorable actions create happiness.
Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item．If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk’s mistake, we would drive home with a sense of sneaky excitement．Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune．On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thanks us for our honesty．We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.
Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness ?
In the first case where we don’t tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen．Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief．In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect．We would also demonstrate that we cannot be trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends．We damage our own reputations by telling others.
In contrast bringing the error to the clerk’s attention causes different things to happen．Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable．Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased．Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.
There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions．Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions．Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence．And it’s easy to think and act honorably again when we’re happy．While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it’s started, it’s easy to continue．Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.According to the passage, the positive action in the example contributes to our________.
| A．self-respect | B．financial rewards |
| C．advertising ability | D．friendly relationship |
How will we feel if we let the clerk know her mistake ?
| A．We’ll be very excited | B．We’ll feel unfortunate |
| C．We’ll have a sense of honor | D．We’ll feel sorry for the clerk |
Which of the following can be the best title of this passage ?
| A．How to Live Truthfully |
| B．Importance of Peacefulness |
| C．Ways of Gaining Self-respect |
| D．Happiness through Honorable Actions |
How should one invest a sum of money in these days of inflation(通货膨胀)? Left in a bank it will hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate．Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock Market (股市)．Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past．Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique (古董) clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques．
I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life．“ The planet Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound．It has a face with twelve black marks and two hands．Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its young round people’s wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control．This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves.”
Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time．Certain men were very clever at measuring the time of day according to the beating of their own hearts．They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout the time．So it seems that the first clocks were human beings.
However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable ways of telling the time．They learned to use the shadows cast by the sun．They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour-glasses, and invented water-clocks．Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces, stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past.
Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible to find quite cheap ones for your own home．After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest in an antique clock and perhaps make a future profit ?According to the passage, collecting antique clocks___________.
| A．can hardly keep the value of your savings |
| B．will cost much of your savings |
| C．may increase your wealth |
| D．needs your bravery |
By quoting (引用) the remark (话) of a being from another planet, the author intends to ________________.
| A．suggest human beings are controlled by a clock |
| B．describes why clocks can rule the planet Earth |
| C．tell readers what clocks look like |
| D．compare clocks to human beings |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to measure the time ?
| A．Counting the beating of one’s own heart. |
| B．Making use of candles, sand and water. |
| C．Observing shadows cast by the sun. |
| D．Keeping all the slaves busy day and night. |
The underlinedphrase stately homes in paragraph 4 means ____.
| A．state-owned houses | B．houses in very good condition |
| C．grand houses open to the public | D．houses where statesmen meet regularly |
The purpose of the passage is ________________.
| A．to introduce the culture of antique clocks |
| B．to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks |
| C．to compare different ways to make a future profit |
| D．to explain convenient and reliable ways of telling time |
Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be a simple fact ? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit ?
If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant．The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake．The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk．The fourth, who had hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope．The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arm around one the elephant’s legs.
The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.
Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience．So if someone disagrees with you about a “simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.
To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a “simple fact”, try this simple experiment．Get three large bowls．Put ice water in one．Put hot water in the second．Put lukewarm water in the third．Now put your left hand in the ice water．Put your right hand in the hot water．After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water．Your right hand will tell you the water is cold．Your left hand will tell you it’s hot !What makes people think about simple facts differently ?
| A．The fact that simple facts differ from one another |
| B．The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact |
| C．The fact that people often disagree with one another |
| D．The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts |
The writer’s advice is _______________.
| A．We should never think about simple facts |
| B．We should never judge something with a one-sided view |
| C．We should not agree about simple facts |
| D．We must learn from the six blind men |
After reading the last paragraph, we may think of __________.
| A．Newton’s law | B．Galileo’s theory of falling objects |
| C．Einstein’s theory of relativity | D．Marx’s On Capital (资本) |