TheUSgovernmenthasstartedawebs-优题课

These days, it's easy to fly across oceans for vacation. Centuries ago, however, crossing the open seas required thorough and accurate planning, handmade boats, and courage. Scientists and historians have long been looking for clues to explain who crossed which oceans first. When it comes to the trip between Polynesia (玻利尼西亚中太平洋群岛) and South America, chickens may have been among the first ocean voyagers, according to new evidence.
After studying an ancient chicken bone, anthropologists (人类学家) from the University of Auckland in New Zealand now say that people and chickens traveled from Polynesia to what is now Chile (智利) by about 620 years ago. By then, the Inca people were already living in South America, but the Polynesians would have been the first to get there by sea. Previous theories claimed that European explorers and their chickens sailed to South America first -- but those voyagers didn't arrive until about a century later.
In 2002, archaeologists dug up 50 chicken bones from a site in Chile called El Arenal. The team from New Zealand analyzed one to these bones. According to their calculations, the bone is about 650 years old.
The researchers also compared the genetic material, or DNA, from the South American chicken bone with DNA from 11 chicken bones that had been found on the Polynesian islands of Tonga and American Samoa. These islands are 6,000 miles west of Chile. The bones found on the Polynesian islands are been 600 and 2,000 years old.
Results of the comparisons showed that the chicken bones from both the Polynesian and South American sites had part of DNA in common. The researchers found the same part of DNA in feathers of two living chickens in Chile that belong to a modem breed that lays blue eggs. That DNA evidence suggests a close relationship among the chickens.
"However, the weight of scientific evidence is now behind the hypothesis (假设) that it was seafaring ( 航海) Polynesians who sailed from the islands to South America and returned," says archaeologist Patrick V. Kirch of the University of California, Berkeley.

What is the passage mainly about?

A．It was difficult for ancient people to travel between Polynesia and South America.

B．The first people who lived in Chile and Polynesia.

C．Valuable chicken bones have been found in Chile.

D．Chickens -- the first to travel between Polynesia and South America.

When did the first European explorers reach South America?

A．About 520 years ago.	B．About 2.000 years ago.
C．About 600 years ago.	D．About 620 years ago.

People found that chickens were among the first to travel from Polynesia to South America by _____.

A．comparing the colors of eggs laid by chickens from the two places

B．comparing the DNA of chicken bones dug up on the Polynesian islands and that of the chicken bones from South America

C．studying some previous theories

D．asking the natives of South America

What do we learn from the passage?

A．European explorers and their chickens were the first to sail to South America.

B．Chickens in South America have the same ancestors as those in Polynesia.

C．In ancient times, a 6,000-mile channel separated Polynesia from South America.

D．Before the Polynesians arrived in South America, the Inca people had lived there. '

I’m seventeen. I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter and you put things in their bags for them and carried things to their cars. It was hard work.
While working, you wear a plate with your name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said, “Mr. Castle, how are you?” We talked about this and that. As he left, he said, “It was nice talking to you, Brett.” I felt great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh no. He didn’t remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put “Irving” down on my name plate. If he’d have said, “Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?” I’d have been ready for him. There’s nothing personal here.
The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was: You couldn’t accept tips. Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction is to take a quarter and give it to me. I’d say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” They’d get angry. When you give someone a tip, you’re sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hands and you expect them to say, “Oh, thanks a lot.” When you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t,” they feel a little put down. They say, “No one will know.” And they put it in your pocket. You say, “I really can’t.” It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store’s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good. I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some people’s ideas. One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away. I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something.
I had decided that one year was enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.

What can be the best title for this text?

A．How Hard Life is for Box Boys

B．Getting along with Customers

C．Why I Gave up My Job

D．The Art of Taking Tips

From the second paragraph, we can infer that ________.

A．the writer didn’t like the impersonal part of his job

B．with a name plate, people can easily start talking

C．Mr. Castle mistook Irving for Brett

D．Irving was the writer’s real name

The box boy refused to accept tips because ________.

A．customers only gave small tips

B．some customers had strange ideas about tipping

C．the store forbade the box boys to take tips

D．he didn’t want to fight with the customers

The underlined phrase “put down” in the third paragraph probably means ________.

A．misunderstood

B．defeated

C．hateful

D．hurt

When did you last see a polar bear? On a trip to a zoo, perhaps? If you had attended a winter activity in New York a few years ago, you would have seen a whole polar bear club. These "Polar Bears" are people who meet frequently in the winter to swim in freezing cold water. That day, the air temperature was 3℃, and the water temperature was a bit higher. The members of the Polar Bear Club at Coney Island, New York are usually about the age of 60. Members must satisfy two requirements. First, they must get along well with everyone else in the group. This is very important because there are so many different kinds of people in the club. Polar Bears must also agree to swim outdoors at least twice a month from November through February.
　　Doctors do not agree about the medical effects of cold-water swimming. Some are worried about the dangers of a condition in which the body's temperature drops so low that finally the heart stops. Other doctors, however, point out that there is more danger of a heart attack during summer swimming because the difference between the air temperature and water temperature is much greater in summer than in winter.
The Polar Bears themselves are satisfied with the benefits (or advantages) of cold-water swimming. They say that their favorite form of exercise is very good for the circulatory system（循环系统）because it forces the blood to move fast to keep the body warm. Cold-water swimmers usually turn bright red after a few minutes in the water. A person who turns blue probably has a very poor circulatory system and should not try cold-water swimming.
　　The main benefits (or advantages) of cold-water swimming are probably mental. The Polar Bears love to swim year-round; they find it fun and relaxing. As one 70-year-old woman says. "When I go into the water, I pour my troubles into the ocean and let them float away."
The members of the Polar Bear Club must meet the following requirements except that
__________.

A．they must reach the age of 60

B．they should be easy to make friends with

C．they must swim outdoors at least 8 times in the four cold months

D．they must agree to swim outdoors from November through February

According to the passage, some doctors believe it is true that __________.

A．you are healthy if cold-water swimming turns your skin color blue

B．cold-water swimming causes more heart attacks in summer than in winter

C．cold-water swimming can make the body temperature dangerously high

D．Polar Bears are bears swimming in freezing water

The Polar Bears like to swim all the year round, for __________.

A．they can remain young	B．it is an easy way to keep the body warm in winter
C．they find it enjoyable and interesting	D．they might meet fewer troubles in life

The passage is mainly about __________.

A．a group of cold-water swimming lovers

B．the polar bears' life

C．doctors' ideas about cold-water swimming

D．the requirements of the Polar Bear Club

I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt’s house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving and never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism（乐观）, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times.”
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers（移民局官员）, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule: Almost all common troubles go away at last! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.
How did the author get to know America?

A．From radio programs	B．From books and pictures
C．From her mother	D．From her relatives

For the first two years in New York, the author __________.

A．often lost her way

B．did not think about her future

C．studied in three different schools

D．got on well with her stepfather

What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 4?

A．She worked as a translator.

B．She attended a lot of job interviews.

C．She paid telephone bills for her family.

D．She helped her family with her English.

The author believes that __________.

A．her future will be free from troubles

B．it is difficult to learn to become patient

C．there are more good things than bad things

D．good things will happen if one keeps trying

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road.
“Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads,” the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots, an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.
“Eco-passages” may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. “These eco-passages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents,” said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.
But do animals actually use the eco-passages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway. This showed that the lions used the passage.
Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals as different as salamanders（火蜥蜴）and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.
The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal overpass!
The writer uses the example of “ocelots” to show that __________.

A．wild animals have become more dangerous

B．the driving condition has improved greatly

C．an increasing number of animals are killed in road accidents

D．the measure for protecting wildlife fails to work

From the story, we know an eco-passage is __________.

A．an underground path for cars

B．a fence built for the safety of the area

C．a bridge for animals to get over a river

D．a path for animals to cross the road

When the writer says that “animals seem to be catching on” (Para. 6), he means __________.

A．animals begin to realize the dangers on the road

B．animals are crossing the road in groups

C．animals are increasing in number

D．animals begin to learn to use eco-passages

The best title for the passage is __________.

A．Special bridges help animals cross the road

B．Endangered animals increase because of roadkill

C．Animals fail to cross the road

D．Take steps to protect animals in danger

A．important for the society	B．the most potential buyers
C．easily influenced by ads	D．easily affected by poor products