游客
题文

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
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
知识点: 故事类阅读
登录免费查看答案和解析
相关试题

Before birth, babies can tell the difference between loud sounds and voices. They can even distinguish their mother's voice from that of a female stranger. But when it comes to embryonic learning(胎教), birds could rule the roost. As recently reported in The Auk: Ornithological Adrances, some mother birds may teach their young to sing even before they hatch(孵化). New-born chicks can then imitate their mom's call within a few days of entering the world.

This educational method was first z observed in 2012 by Sonia Kieindorfer,a biologist at Flinders University in South Australia,and her colleagues. Femake Australian superb fairy wrens were found to repeat one sound over and over again while hatching their errs, when the errs were hatched, the baby birds made the similar chirp to their mothers-around that served as their regular "feed me!" call.

To find out if the special quality was more widespread in birds, the researchers sought the red-backed fairy wren, another species of Australian songbird. First they collected sound data from 67 nests in four sites in Queensland before and after hatching. Then they identified begging calls by analyzing the order and number of notes. A computer analysis blindly compared calls produced by mothers and chicks, ranking them by similarity.

It turns out that baby red-backed fairy wrens also emerge chirping like their moms. And the more frequently mothers had called to their errs, the more similar were the babies' begging calls. In addition, the team set up a separate experiment that suggested that the baby birds that most closely imitated their mom's voice were rewarded with the most food.

This observation hints that effective embryonic learning could signal neurological(神经系统的) strengths of children to parents. An evolutionary inference can then be drawn." As a parent, do you invest in quality children, or do you invest in children that are in need?" Kleindorfer asks." Our results suggest that they might be going for quality."

58.The underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 means" ".

A.

be the worst

B.

be the best

C.

be the as bad

D.

be just as good

59.What are Kleindorfer's findings based on?

A.

Similarities between the calls moms and chicks.

B.

The observation of fairy wrens across Australia.

C.

The data collected from Queensland's locals.

D.

Controlled experiments on wrens and other birds.

60.Embryonic learning helps mother birds to identify the baby birds which .

A.

can receive quality signals

B.

are in need of training

C.

fit the environment better

D.

make the loudest call

CHRONOLOGICA

--The Unbelievable Years that Defined History

DID YOU KNOW…

  • In 105AD paper was invented in China?

When Columbus discovered the New World?

The British Museum opened in 1759?

CHRONOLOGICA is a fascinating journey through time, from the foundation of Rome to the creation of the internet. Along the way are tales of kings and queens, hot air balloons…and monkeys in space.

Travel through 100 of the most unbelievable years in world history and learn why being a Roman Emperor wasn't always as good as it sounds, how the Hundred Years' War didn't actually last for 100 years and why Spencer Perceval holds a rather unfortunate record.


CHRONOLOGICA is an informative and entertaining tour into history, beautifully illustrated and full of unbelievable facts. While CHRONOLOGICA tells the stories of famous people in history such as Thomas Edison and Alexander the Great, this book also gives ab account of the lives of lesser-known individuals including the explorer Mungo Park and sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

This complete but brief historical collection is certain to entertain readers young and old,and guaranteed to present even the biggest history lover with something new!

56.What is CHRONOLOGICA according to the next?

A.

A biography.

B.

A travel guide.

C.

A history book.

D.

A science fiction.

57.How does the writer recommend CHRONOLOGICA to readers?

A.

By giving details of its collection.

B.

By introducing some of its contents.

C.

By telling stories at the beginning.

D.

By comparing it with other books.

Hollywood's theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics(控制论), put it this way "If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose which we really desire."

A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.

The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrating the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.

Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams-yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just "switch them off" as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, "Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine." However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.

67.Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may .

A.

run out of human control

B.

satisfy human's real desires

C.

command armies of killer robots

D.

work faster than a mathematician

68.Machines with specific purposes are associated with living things partly because they might be able to .

A.

prevent themselves from being destroyed

B.

B achieve their original goals independently

C.

do anything successfully with given orders

D.

beat humans in international chess matches

69.According to some researchers, we can use firewalls to .

A.

help super intelligent machines work better

B.

be secure against evil human beings

C.

keep machines from being harmed

D.

avoid robot's affecting the world

70.What does the author think of the safety problem of super intelligent machines?

A.It will disappear with the development of AI.

B.It will get worse with human interference.

C.It will be solved but with difficulty.

Measles(麻疹), which once killed 450 children each year and disabled even more, was nearly wiped out in the United States 14 years ago by the universal use of the MMR vaccine(疫苗). But the disease is making a comeback, caused by a growing anti-vaccine movement and misinformation that is spreading quickly. Already this year, 115 measles cases have been reported in the USA, compared with 189 for all of last year.

The numbers might sound small, but they are the leading edge of a dangerous trend. When vaccination rates are very high, as they still are in the nation as a whole, everyone is protected. This is called "herd immunity", which protects the people who get hurt easily, including those who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons, babies too young to get vaccinated and people on whom the vaccine doesn't work.

But herd immunity works only when nearly the whole herd joins in. When some refuse vaccination and seek a free ride, immunity breaks down and everyone is in even bigger danger.

That's exactly what is happening in small neighborhoods around the country from Orange County, California, where 22 measles cases were reported this month, to Brooklyn, N.Y., where a 17-year-old caused an outbreak last year.

The resistance to vaccine has continued for decades, and it is driven by a real but very small risk. Those who refuse to take that risk selfishly make others suffer.

Making things worse are state laws that make it too easy to opt out(决定不参加) of what are supposed to be required vaccines for all children entering kindergarten. Seventeen states allow parents to get an exemption(豁免), sometimes just by signing a paper saying they personally object to a vaccine.

Now, several states are moving to tighten laws by adding new regulations for opting out. But no one does enough to limit exemptions.

Parents ought to be able to opt out only for limited medical or religious reasons. But personal opinions? Not good enough. Everyone enjoys the life-saving benefits vaccines provide, but they'll exist only as long as everyone shares in the risks.

63.The first two paragraphs suggest that ____________.

A.

a small number of measles cases can start a dangerous trend

B.

the outbreak of measles attracts the public attention

C.

anti-vaccine movement has its medical reasons

D.

information about measles spreads quickly

64.Herd immunity works well when ____________.

A.

exemptions are allowed

B.

several vaccines are used together

C.

the whole neighborhood is involved in

D.

new regulations are added to the state laws

65.What is the main reason for the comeback of measles?

A.

The overuse of vaccine.

B.

The lack of medical care.

C.

The features of measles itself.

D.

The vaccine opt-outs of some people.

66.What is the purpose of the passage?

A.

To introduce the idea of exemption.

B.

To discuss methods to cure measles.

C.

To stress the importance of vaccination.

D.

To appeal for equal rights in medical treatment.

Inspiring young minds!

TOKNOW Magazine is a big hit in the world of children's publishing, bringing a unique combination of challenging ideas and good fun to young fans every month.

Sounds too good to be true?

Take a look online-evidence shows that thousands of teachers and parents know a good thing when they see it and recommend TOKNOW to their friends.

Happy Birthday All Year!

What could be more fun than a gift that keeps coming through the letterbox every month? The first magazine with your gift message will arrive in time for the special day.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Annual Subscription

Europe £55 Rest of World £65

Annual Subscription with Gift Pack

Includes a Mammoth Map, a passport Puzzle Booklet, and Subscription

Europe £60 Rest of World £70

Refund Policy-the subscription can be cancelled within 28 days and you can get your money back.

59. Why is TOKNOW a special magazine?

A.

It entertains young parents.

B.

It provides serious sdvertisements.

C.

It publishes popular science fictions.

D.

It combines fun with complex concepts.

60. What does TOKNOW offer its readers?

A.

Online courses.

B.

Articles on new topics.

C.

Lectures on a balanced life.

D.

Reports on scientific discoveries.

61. How much should you pay if you make a 12-mouth subscription to TOKNOW with gift pack from China?

A.

£55.

B.

£60.

C.

£65.

D.

£70.

62. Subscribers of TOKNOW would get .

A.

free birthday presents

B.

full refund within 28 days

C.

membership of the TOKNOW club

D.

chances to meet the experts in person

Copyright ©2020-2025 优题课 youtike.com 版权所有

粤ICP备20024846号