Talking plants might sound like characters in a fairy tale. But recent scientific studies have shown that plants communicate with each other and with other living things in a surprising number of ways. To understand them, scientists say, we just have to learn their language. Farmers are especially interested in what plants have to say.
“Plants are able to communicate with all sorts of organisms (有机体). They can communicate with giant bacteria, with other plants and with insects. They do this chemically，” said Cahill, an Ecology Professor of the University of Alberta in Canada.
Plant scientists are just beginning to understand this chemical “language”. Cahill says studies have shown, for example, that plants can evaluate (评估) conditions in their immediate environment and take appropriate actions. Plants have an ability, for example, to signal pain or discomfort caused by anything from temperature extremes to an insect attack. Jack Schultz, a professor of chemical ecology at the University of Missouri, says when a plant senses that it's being eaten, it cannot walk away from trouble; on the contrary, it will release a chemical vapor(蒸汽) that alerts other plants nearby.
“Their language is a chemical language, and it involves chemicals that move through the air that are easy to be changeable, and most of all are smells that we are familiar with，” Schultz explained.
“All plants responded to the attack by changing their chemistry to defend themselves，” Schultz recalled. “But we were quite surprised to find that nearby plants also changed their chemistry to defend themselves, even though they were not part of the experiment.”
Studies have also shown that plants under attack release pleasant chemicals. Those chemicals attract friendly insects that attack the pests eating the plant.
In the end, plants' ability to communicate their needs—and our ability to understand them—could help farmers reduce the use of poisonous chemicals, cut operating costs and limit damage to the environment.The recent scientific studies have shown that plants can ______.
| A．communicate with other living things in a chemical way |
| B．hardly react to any sudden change in temperature |
| C．use a very special chemica1 language which is familiar to us |
| D．respond to the attack by giving off poisonous chemicals |
When being eaten by an insect, the plant will ________.
| A．walk away from trouble |
| B．change its chemistry to kill the insect |
| C．release a chemical vapor to “ask” other plants for help |
| D．give off nice chemicals to attract friendly insects killing the pest |
The underlined word “alert” most probably means “______”．
| A．warn | B．protect |
| C．threaten | D．allow |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Communication between Plants |
| B．A Chemical “Language” |
| C．Plants Can Talk |
| D．How Plants Protect Themselves |
Uganda is a country in East Africa and,as in many such countries,a high percentage of the population,about 80 percent,are village-dwellers living in huts,which are often no bigger than a garage. The walls of the huts are made of mud,which is held together by reeds and sticks,and the roofs of the older ones are thatched（覆盖）with grass,although an increasing number of newer village houses have roofs made from corrugated（波纹形的）iron.
Several generations of the same family live together in the huts,which are usually divided into two sections by a curtain. The inner section,the one furthest from the open door of the hut,is where everyone sleeps and food is prepared and served in the outer part. If the family owns chickens or goats,they are kept in a small room attached to the main house.
Food is usually prepared on open fires although some people prefer to cook inside. However,this is quite dangerous and also means that the walls of the hut are stained by smoke and the atmosphere is acrid. The family sit in a circle on mats while they eat.
Newer village houses are almost always made of corrugated iron and are bigger,with one or two separate bedrooms and the kitchen in a smaller building beside the main house. But,old or new,the houses are not powered by electricity,and all homes are lit by paraffin（石蜡）candles called “tadobba”.
Nor is there any running water in the houses. Some villages have their own well,but in many cases,collecting water involves a long and arduous walk to a river or spring,carrying plastic containers or pots made of clay.
Children are the ones who have to fetch water,and they have to do this early in the morning before they go to school,or in the evening when they come home. They often have to climb high hills or walk through valleys with narrow paths through dense vegetation. It is no surprise that they grow up muscular and fit after such daily exercise,walking for several kilometres carrying such heavy weights.Most Ugandans live .
| A．with their whole family in large mud houses in the countryside |
| B．in towns in small houses made of mud and iron |
| C．in villages in small houses made of wet earth,grass and wood |
| D．With their parents and children as well as their chickens and goats |
Where is food usually prepared?
| A．In the kitchen. |
| B．On the floor in the middle of the house. |
| C．On fires in front of the hut. |
| D．In a small room attached to the main house. |
How are the old and new houses the same?
| A．Both of them have roofs made of corrugated iron. |
| B．Neither of them have a garage or kitchen. |
| C．Neither of them have electricity,lights or running water. |
| D．Both of them have water inside but no electric light. |
The majority of Ugandan children have to .
| A．go to a well or a river and often carry it for a long distance |
| B．do a lot of work cooking and carrying water |
| C．collect water on the way home from school |
| D．get water out of their own well |
Edward Sims was born in 1892. He was the fifth child and only son of Herbert and Dora Sims. Herbert was a blacksmith(铁匠), and had a thriving trade making horseshoes. He was determined that his first-born son would follow him into the blacksmith. For this reason, Edward had to leave school at the age of 12,and worked with his father.
However, Edward was not cut out to be a blacksmith. Although he has an athletic body, he didn't have strong arms like his father, and he felt dizzy in the heat of the smithy. When he tried to find alternative employment, he found it difficult because he had never learnt to read or write.
One day, he went for an interview at a solictior’s office. The job was a runner, taking documents from the office to other offices in the city. The solicitor was pleased to see that Edward was physically fit, but when he discovered that the young man couldn't read or write, he decided against employing him. "How can you deliver documents to other offices," he asked, "if you can't read the addresses on them?"
Bitterly disappointed, Edward left the building and went to wait for a tram to take him back to the suburb where his father’s smithy was. Next to the bus stop, a man was selling newspapers from a stand .
"Excuse me, son?" he said. "Would you look after my stand for a moment?"
For the next 20 minutes, Edward sold newspapers, lots of them. When the man came back, he was so delighted with his new assistant's honesty, that he offered him a job. Edward took it immediately.
In the next few months, the two men progressed from working on newspaper stands to selling newspapers, tobacco,confectionery（糖果点心）and other goods in a shop. Then they opened a second shop, and a third. Eventually, they had a chain of 25 shops in three cities.
Edward became very rich, so he employed a tutor to teach him to read and write. The tutor was amazed at what Edward had achieved. "Imagine what you could do if you’d been able to read and write when you were younger!" he said.
“Yes!” said Edward. “I could have run myself to exhaustion delivering documents for a solicitor!”What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Success of illiterate newsboy |
| B．Local blacksmith becomes famous |
| C．The thriving trade of the blacksmith |
| D．Reading and writing-the road to success |
What can you infer from the underlined expression “not cut out to be” in the second paragraph?
| A．Edward Sims did not like being a blacksmith. |
| B．Edward Sims did not like working with his father. |
| C．Edward Sims was not strong enough and it made him feel ill. |
| D．Edward Sims was good at it but wanted to do another job. |
When Edward applied for the job as a runner for a solicitor, .
| A．the solicitor turned him down because he wasn’t intelligent enough |
| B．the solicitor offered him the job because he was so fit |
| C．the solicitor gave him the job but told him he had to learn to read |
| D．the solicitor didn’t offer him the job because he couldn’t read |
Which of the following is NOT ture about Edward Sims?
| A．He was such a good salesman that he went on to own 25 newsagent shops with another man. |
| B．The newspaperman liked him so much he gave him a job. |
| C．He ran himself into exhaustion delivering papers. |
| D．He learnt to read and write. |
Welcome to this Website on the British Isles. Over the coming months it will be expanded to allow you to find information on all aspects of life in the British Isles. The British Isles is visited by millions of people each year, many returning time and again.
Wales: Wales is full of fascinating places to visit and stay. The castles of Beaumaris, Conwy, Harlech and Caernarfon are officially listed as world heritage sites and provide an insight into the troubled past of this great land. The national park of Snowdonia is stunning and provides walkers and climbers with many opportunities to challenge their limits. South Wales also has interesting places to visit: Pembrokeshire is especially inviting for tourists.
England: We all know about the attractions lf London but England has a lot more to offer outside of the city. The “English Riviers”, Torquay, is blessed with good weather and is a major tourist attraction. This is a great place to stay and explore the local seaside resorts.
Windsor castle is a great place to visit and the town and surrounding areas are beautiful. Warwick castle in the centre of England is world famous and holds regular evens (同额赌注) to show how life was like in the time it was built.
Scotland: A great place to visit, Scotland still has many places that are relatively uninhabited(杳无人迹的) and are great for getting away from it all. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles and the numerous lakes provide great fishing. In parts you can still hear Gaelic spoken and we all know about the Scottish expertise in making Whisky! You can also visit the ski resorts of Aviemore in the Cairngorms. Glasgow, the capital is now recognized as a centre of culture as well as being a great shopping centre.The highest mountain in the British Isles is in ________.
| A．Wales | B．England | C．Scotland | D．Chester |
A mountain-climber will probably visit ________.
| A．Wales and England | B．Wales and Scotland |
| C．England and Wales | D．Pembrokeshire and Torquay |
Which of the following is NOT true about England?
| A．Windsor castle is in the center of England. |
| B．London is the capital city. |
| C．You can enjoy good weather in Torquay. |
| D．There are more than one castles. |
Where are you likely to get such information?
| A．A TV program on tourism. | B．A newspaper. |
| C．A geography book. | D．The Internet. |
Throughout the world, boys and girls prefer to play with different types of toys. Boys typically like to play with cars and trucks, while girls typically choose to play with dolls. Why is this? A traditional sociological explanation is that boys and girls are socialized and encouraged to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers, and the “society”. Growing scientific evidence suggests, however, that boys’ and girls’ toy preferences may have a biological origin.
In 2002, Gerianne M. Alexander of Texas A&M University and Melissa Hines of City University in London surprised the scientific world by showing that monkeys showed the same sex typical toy preferences as humans. In the study, Alexander and Hines gave two masculine toys (a ball and a police car), two feminine toys (a soft doll and a cooking pot), and two neutral toys (a picture book and a stuffed dog) to 44 male and 44 female monkeys. They then assessed the monkeys’ preference for each toy by measuring how much time they spent with each. Their data showed that male monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the masculine toys, and the female monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the feminine toys. The two sexes did not differ in their preference for the neutral toys.
If children’ s toy preferences were largely formed by gender socialization, as traditional sociologists’ claim, in which their parents give “gender appropriate” toys to boys and girls, how can these male and female monkeys have the same preferences as boys and girls？They were never socialized by humans, and they had never seen these toys before in their lives.Traditional sociologists believe boys’ and girls’ toy preferences ________
| A．are passed down from their parents |
| B．are largely formed in later life |
| C．have nothing to do with gender socialization |
| D．have a biological origin |
The study by Alexander and Hines shows that monkeys________
| A．also have a sex typical toy preference |
| B．also play toys as humans do |
| C．have no toy preferences |
| D．like to play different toys at different time |
Alexander and Hines carried out the study to ________
| A．find more evidence for traditional sociology |
| B．test the intelligence of monkeys |
| C．test whether monkeys like to play toys |
| D．find out why boys and girls prefer different toys |
According to the study, if given a stuffed dog, _______
| A．only the male monkeys showed interest |
| B．the female monkeys showed more interest |
| C．the male and female monkeys showed the same interest |
| D．neither the male nor the female monkeys showed any interest |
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's greatest art museums. Millions of people have entered its doors to see paintings by the world's fine artists. But if these priceless masterpieces are to be preserved, the Gallery must protect them carefully. The Gallery's 135-man guard force has successfully prevented them from being stolen, but protecting the paintings from nature is a greater problem.
In past times, the owners of paintings did not protect them from damaging changes in humidity (湿度) and temperature. As a result, the life of these paintings were shortened. In the National Gallery, however, humidity and temperature are carefully controlled. The building is air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter. The air-conditioning and heating system are so important to the life of the painting that the Gallery has two of each system. If one should fail, the extra one can take over.
Light is another enemy of paintings. Ultraviolet rays (紫外线) in light cause paintings to fade (褪色). Long ago, paintings often hung in dark churches and palaces. A coat of varnish (清漆) was a protection from the weak light. But when museums took over the care of many paintings, they were often hung in brighter light than before. Soon they were in danger of fading. The damaging effects of light were increased when the museums removed the varnish coating, yellowed with age.
To protect its paintings, the National Gallery put a special kind of glass in its skylights. This glass allows visible lights to enter the building but it keeps out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Gallery has also developed new and better varnishes which help to keep paintings from fading. Thanks to these new precautions, many of the world's greatest paintings are being well protected for future generations to enjoy.The text mainly tells us about ______.
| A．the guard force in the National Gallery |
| B．protecting great paintings from nature |
| C．priceless paintings of past times |
| D．the air-conditioning and heating systems in the National Gallery |
The underlined word "precautions" in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．decorations |
| B．problems |
| C．suggestions |
| D．applications |
From the text we can infer that_______.
| A．great artists painted in dark churches and palaces |
| B．you can touch these paintings while you are in the National Gallery |
| C．the care of the world's greatest paintings is both a big responsibility and a great challenge |
| D．the guard force in the Gallery has not done a good job |