One of the most popular activities enjoyed by Americans is spending time in forests and walking along paths through the country.This activity,called hiking,has led to the creation of paths throughout the United States.
One of the longest is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.The trail is the first completed part of the National Trails System.The trails system was established by Congress and the president in 1968.The Appalachian Trail is more than 3,400 kilometers long.It starts in the northeastern state of Maine and ends in the southeastern state of Georgia.The trail goes through 14 states.They are Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Massachusetts,Connecticut,New York,New Jersey,Pennsylvania,Maryland,West Virginia,Virginia,Tennessee,North Carolina,and Georgia.
The path takes walkers through the Appalachian Mountains.They extend from the Canadian province of Quebec to the southern American state of Alabama.
The Appalachian Mountains are among the oldest on Earth.They first began forming about one thousand million years ago.During the millions of years since then,the mountains were changed and reformed by the forces of water and wind.Ice also changed the mountains,making many of them smaller and digging valleys and lakes among them.Many different kinds of trees grow along the trail.And many different kinds of animals live in the forests along the trail.
Lands along the trail are protected by the federal government and by state governments.Some parts are not protected by the government directly.Instead,they are protected by legal agreements with private owners willing to permit people to walk across their property.
Walkers on the Appalachian Trail pass through some of the great valley systems of the mountains.They can look down into these beautiful valleys and see farms and forests stretching across the land for many kilometers.Farmland in the valleys is rich and productive.And some of the great events in American history took place in the valleys.For example,one of the great battles of the American Civil War was fought in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.The Appalachian Trail________.
A.is more than four thousand three hundred kilometers long |
B.starts in the northern state of Maine |
C.goes through more than fourteen states |
D.ends in the southeastern state of Georgia |
The Appalachian Mountains________.
A.are the first completed part of the National Trails System |
B.began forming one million years ago |
C.were changed by natural forces like water,wind and ice |
D.were around by valleys and rivers and famous for its scenery |
The lands along the trail________.
A.are protected entirely by either the federal government or state governments |
B.are mainly protected by legal agreements with private owners |
C.can be visited by travelers freely only under the permission of owners |
D.are protected by both the federal government and state governments |
What is mainly described in the last paragraph?
A.The Appalachian Mountains have some great valley systems. |
B.Farms and grasslands stretch across the valleys for many kilometers. |
C.One of the American independence battles was fought in the Shenandoah Valley. |
D.Lakes in the Appalachian Mountains are one of the most beautiful sights. |
How to look good in a photo?
What should you do if you want to have a nice photo taken? Whether it’s work or fun, the most important thing is lighting. If you get bad lighting, you will look bad, too. Know where the light is. You don’t want it below you or above you, you want it to shine directly at you.
The key thing is no shadow. If you are being photographed outside, do it in the morning, or wait till the 2 o’clock shadow has passed. Also don’t let pictures in the magazines stress you out — all the pictures are taken by great photographers. And all the faces have had pimples(粉刺)taken out by computers.
Tip your head and learn what angles (角度) work with your face; everyone is different. So you have to learn what suits you. You can practice in Photo Booth as long as it is your turn, to learn what angles suit your face. Tip your neck to make it look longer, make eye contact with the camera. No one can look bad if they smile.
For long legs, point one leg into center of the frame and get the photographer to shoot looking up your body.
For just leg shots, lie upside down and raise legs in the air for the best angle. And your legs will look thinner and be in better shape.
Keep shoulders back.
Always have mouth slightly open, enough to put a penny between your lips, as this will make your lips look fuller.
Lower your eyes and then look up just as shutter(快门)is clicked for full eyes.
Delete any evidence of a less than perfect photogenic moment, everyone has off days.If you want to look good in a photo, the light should be ______.
A.below you | B.above you |
C.directly at you | D.right behind you |
According to the passage, we should consider all EXCEPT ______.
A.light | B.shadow |
C.angles | D.photographers |
What advice does the author give on taking photos?
A.Raise your legs as high as possible. |
B.Keep your eyes down. |
C.Position your shoulders straight. |
D.Put a penny between lips. |
Growing up in Philadelphia, Lieberman started cooking with his stay-at-home dad when he was seven. His food-loving family had two kitchens, and he quickly learned what was the best way to bake his cakes. Lieberman improved his kitchen skills greatly during a year abroad before college, learning from a cook in Italy and studying local specialties(地方特色菜)in Germany, Spain and France. At Yale, he was known for throwing dinner parties, single-handedly frying and baking while mixing drinks for dozens of friends. Just for fun, he and some friends decided to tape a show named Campus Cuisine about his cooking. Lieberman was a real college student showing his classmates how to do things like making drinks out of dining-hall fruit. That helped the show become very popular among the students. They would stop Lieberman after classes to ask for his advice on cooking. Tapes of the show were passed around, with which his name went beyond the school and finally to the Food Network.
Food Network producer Flay hopes the young cook will find a place on the network television. He says Lieberman’s charisma is key. “Food TV isn’t about food anymore,” says Flay. “It’s about your personality(个性)and finding a way to keep people’s eyeballs on your show.”
But Lieberman isn’t putting all his eggs in one basket. After taping the first season of the new show, Lieberman was back in his own small kitchen preparing sandwiches. An airline company was looking for someone to come up with a tasteful, inexpensive and easy-to-make menu to serve on its flights, and Lieberman got the job. We can learn from the text that Lieberman’s family ______.
A.have relatives in Europe |
B.love cooking at home |
C.often hold parties |
D.own a restaurant |
The Food Network got to know Lieberman ______.
A.at one of his parties |
B.from his teachers |
C.through his taped show |
D.on a television program |
What does the underlined word “charisma” in the 2nd paragraph refer to?
A.A natural ability to attract others. |
B.A way to show one’s achievement. |
C.Lieberman’s after-class interest. |
D.Lieberman’s fine cooking skill. |
Why did the airline company give Lieberman the job?
A.He could prepare meals in a small kitchen. |
B.He was famous for his shows on Food TV. |
C.He was good at using eggs to make sandwiches. |
D.He could cook cheap, delicious and simple meals. |
Our “Mommy and Me” time began two years ago. My next-door neighbor and fellow mother, Christie, and I were out in our front yards, watching seven children of age 6 and under ride their bikes up and down. “I wish I could take one of my children out alone,” said Christie.
Then we worked out a plan: When Christie takes one of her children out, I’ll watch her other three. And when she watches two of mine, I’ll take someone out.
The children were extremely quick to accept the idea of “Mommy and Me” time. Christie’s daughter, McKenzie, went first. When she returned, the other children showered her with tons of questions. McKenzie was smiling broadly. Christie looked refreshed and happy. “She’s like a different child when there’s no one else around,” Christie shared with me quickly. With her mother all to herself, McKenzie didn’t have to make an effort to gain attention.
Just as Christie had noticed changes in McKenzie, I also discovered something different in each of my children during our alone times. For example, I am always surprised when my daughter, who is seldom close to me, holds my hand frequently. My stuttering(口吃的)son, Tom, doesn’t stutter once during our activities since he doesn’t have to struggle for a chance to speak. And the other son, Sam, who’s always a follower when around other children shines as a leader during our times together.
The “Mommy and Me” time allows us to be simply alone and away with each child — talking, sharing, and laughing, which has been the biggest gain. Every child deserves(应得到)to be an only child at least once in a while. What is the text mainly about?
A.The experience of the only child being with mother. |
B.The advantage of spending time with one child at a time. |
C.The happy life of two families. |
D.The basic needs of children. |
Right after McKenzie came back, the other children were ______.
A.happy | B.curious | C.regretful | D.friendly |
What is one of the changes the author finds in her children?
A.The daughter acts like a leader. |
B.Sam holds her hand more often. |
C.The boys become better followers. |
D.Tom has less difficulty in speaking. |
The author seems to believe that ______.
A.having brothers and sisters is fun |
B.it’s tiring to look after three children |
C.every child needs parents’ full attention |
D.parents should watch others’ children |
【原创】Humans are well-equipped for life on Earth. But in space, it is different. Low or zero gravity changes how the blood flows and causes motion sickness, muscle loss and tiredness. Weightlessness can also cause bone loss. But scientists are experimenting with little worms to better understand how space travel affects astronauts.
The millimeter-long worm is called C. elegans. The see-through worm is often used in medical studies because its life is only about two weeks long. Seventy percent of its DNA is the same as human DNA.
Sabanayagam is a scientist, who built a micro-gravity simulator to test how C. elegans would perform in the actual zero gravity of space.
Scientists put the worms into the simiulator full of water. After a week they take out the worms. They look for changes in the worms' epigenome,which are chemical markers that tell the DNA in the cells how to perform. The epigenome can be changed by the environment. And those changes pass from one generation of worms to the next.
"When the worms are in a liquid environment, some epigenomic marks remain even when we take the animal out of the liquid environment and put it back into normal ground conditions. So its offspring keeps this epigenomic memory of the parents' liquid environment or microgravity environment."
The information the scientists have gathered suggests that the epigenomic marks appear during the early part of a worm’s life.
Mr. Sabanayagam says he thinks scientists can find genes in the human similar to those in the worms that responded to microgravity and scientists could possibly observe those genes closely when astronauts travel in space.
Sabanayagam expects C. elegans to visit the International Space Station within two years. He says he hopes information gathered from the worm studies can be used to develop simple, low-cost and quick tests to measure an astronaut's health.What does the underlined word” zero gravity” mean?
A.Seasickness | B.Muscle loss |
C.Weightlessness | D.Tiredness. |
From the passage we can know C. elegans _____.
A. has exactly the same DNA as human
B. is harmful to human
C. is often used in agricultural research
D. has a short life periodWhy do scientists experiment with C. elegans?
A. Because it has strong life power in water.
B. Because they want to find how space travel affects astronauts
C. Because the worm will be taken into space.
D. Because they want to find what its DNA like.What is Sabanayagam’s attitude toward the result of the experiment?
A.Hopeful and satisfied. |
B.Doubtful and unsure. |
C.Sad and disappointed. |
D.Surprised and unbelievable. |
Which section of a newspaper can you find the passage?
A.Education. | B.Science. |
C.Advertisement. | D.Entertainment. |
A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the victory of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people. Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.
Accountability isn’t hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.
Of the many values that hold civilization together --- honesty, kindness, and so on --- accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law --- and, ultimately, no society.
My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.
Fortunately there are still communities --- smaller towns, usually --- where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that declare: “In this family certain things are not tolerated --- they simply are not done!”
Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you annoy him.
The main cause of this breakdown is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged (被剥夺基本社会权利的) upbringing, by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home.
I don’t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything. We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it..What the wise man said suggests that it’s __________.
A.unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil |
B.certain that evil will be widespread if good men do nothing about it |
C.only natural for good men to defeat evil |
D.desirable for good men to keep away from evil |
According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime, ________.
A.society is to be held responsible |
B.modern civilization is responsible for it |
C.the criminal himself should bear the blame |
D.the standards of living should be improved |
Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have ________.
A.less self-discipline |
B.better sense of discipline |
C.more respect to each other |
D.less effective government |
The writer is sorry to have noticed that ________.
A.people in large cities tend to excuse criminals |
B.people in small towns still stick to old discipline and standards. |
C.today’s society lacks sympathy for people in difficulty |
D.people in disadvantaged circumstances are engaged in criminal activities |
The key point of the passage is that ________.
A.stricter discipline should be maintained in schools and families |
B.more good examples should be set for people to follow |
C.more attention should be paid to people’s behavior |
D.more people should accept the value of accountability |