阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。
B
Tears are nature's way making us feel comfortable. When our eyes are made uncomfortable by some small pieces of pollution, or when we are cutting onions, or when we are exhausted and “red-eyes” from overwork and late hours, tears from in our eyes to clean and refresh them.
Tears are also a sign of strong emotion. We cry when we are sad and we cry when we are happy.
And tears seem to be uniqueness(唯一)of human. We know that animals also experience emotion—fear, pleasure, loneliness—but they do not shed(流)tears. From this we can conclude that tears are closely related to the emotional and biological makeup of the human species.
Biologically speaking, tears are actually drops of saline fluid, which is a little bit salty, produced by a gland(腺)in the body. Because salt is an important component, tears may actually constitute the most conclusive evidence that the human animals are the end product of a long evolutionary(进化的)process that began in the sea.
And it is clear that, in addition to(除了)the emotional benefits, the shedding of tears has a specific biological function as well. Through tears, we can eliminate from our body certain chemicals which build up in response to stress and cerate a chemical imbalance in the body. Crying actually makes us feel better by correcting that imbalance and making us feel good again. And thus the emotional and the biological functions of tears merge(合并)into one and make us even more “human” than we would otherwise be.According to the passage, human beings may have originated in________.
| A．the sea |
| B．the salt |
| C．chemicals |
| D．animals |
Which of the following is NOT a function of tears?
| A．Biological. |
| B．Emotional. |
| C．Political. |
| D．Chemical. |
According to the article, which of the following is unique to humans?
| A．The feeling of loneliness. |
| B．The state of feeling good. |
| C．The ability to shed tears. |
| D．The feeling of fear. |
The word “eliminate” probably means________.
| A．add |
| B．produce |
| C．replace |
| D．remove |
It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.
I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, and my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!
Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.
Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another
couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun.
Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ll start using it myself! “I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means.
| A．it was a firm arrangement |
| B．it was an uncertain arrangement |
| C．the arrangement should be written as a diary |
| D．he prefers a pencil to a pen |
A website address can be easily found if it has been______.
| A．emailed | B．messaged | C．favorited | D．texted |
Which of the following has not been used as a verb, yet?
| A．message | B．page | C．email | D．mobile |
The best title for this passage is____.
| A．New Verbs from Nouns |
| B．The Development of the English language |
| C．New Technology and New words |
| D．Technology and Language. |
A few years ago, I had the opportunity to play the character of Ronald McDonald for the McDonald's Corporation.
One day each month，we visited hospitals bringing a little happiness to the children there. But there were two rules placed on me during a visit. First, I could not go anywhere in the hospital without permission. And second, I could not physically touch anyone within the hospital. They did not want me to carry germs(细菌)from one patient to another. Breaking either of these rules, I was told, I could lose my job. One day, as I was heading down a hallway and on my way home, I heard a little voice coming through a halfopened door，“Ronald，Ronald.”
I stepped in and saw a boy，about five years old, lying in his dad's arms, Mom with a nurse on the other side. I knew by the feeling in the room that the situation was grave. I asked his name. He told me it was Billy and that I did a few simple magic tricks for him. As I stepped back to say goodbye, he asked me “Ronald, would you hold me？”
At such a simple request, my heart was screaming, “Yes！”But my mind was screaming louder. “No！You are going to lose your job！”
“Hold me” was such a simple request, and yet I searched for any reasonable excuses that allowed me to leave, but none. It took me a moment to realize that in this situation, losing my job may not be the disaster I feared. Then, I picked up this little boy. He was so weak and so scared. We laughed and cried for 45 minutes. With tears in my eyes, I left them. Less than 48 hours later, I received a phone call from Billy's mom that Billy had passed away. She and her husband simply wanted to thank me for making a difference in their little boy's life.
Billy's mom told me shortly after I left the room. Billy looked at her and said, “Momma, I don't care any more if I see Santa this year because I was held by Ronald McDonald.”
For the record, McDonald's Corporation did find it out, but, given the situation，permitted me to go on with my job. I continued as Ronald for another year before leaving the corporation to share the story of Billy and how important it is to take risks.The underlined word “grave” in Paragraph 3 means “________”.
| A．weak | B．serious | C．interesting | D．exciting |
When Billy asked the author to hold him, at first the author ________.
| A．was unwilling to do so | B．was glad to do so |
| C．hesitated to do so | D．hurried to do so |
What lesson did the author draw from his experience?
| A．To amuse others is enjoyable. | B．To take risks is important. |
| C．To break rules is necessary. | D．To be fired is not fearful. |
We learn from the story that ________.
| A．the author left the corporation because he broke the rules |
| B．the author left the corporation because he didn't like the rules |
| C．the boy was quite happy with the experience with the author |
| D．the boy was quite happy with Santa at Christmas |
Because plants cannot move or talk, most people believe that they have no feelings and that they cannot receive signals from outside. However, this may not be completely true.
People who studied plants have found out that plants carry a small electrical charge (电荷). It is possible to measure this charge with a small piece of equipment called “galvanometer”. The galvanometer is placed on a leaf off the plant, and it records any changes in the electrical field of the leaf. Humans have a similar field which can change when we are shocked or frightened.
A man called Backster used a galvanometer for his studies of plants and was very surprised at his results. He found that if he had two or more plants in a room and he began to destroy one of them － perhaps by pulling off its leaves or by pulling it out of its pot － then the galvanometer on the leaves of the other plants showed a change in the electrical field. It seemed as if the plants were signalling a feeling of shock. This happened not only when Backster started to destroy plants, but also when he destroyed other living things such as insects (昆虫).
Backster said that the plants also knew if someone had destroyed a living thing some distance away, because they signalled when a man who had just cut down a tree entered the room.
Another scientist, named Sauvin, achieved similar results to Backster’s. He kept galvanometers fixed to his plants all the time and checked regularly to see what the plants were doing. If he was out of the office, he telephoned to find out about the signals the plants were sending. In this way, he found that the plants were sending out signals at the exact times when he felt strong pleasure or pain. In fact, Sauvin could cause a change in the electrical field of his plants over a distance of a few miles simply by thinking about them.Backster was surprised at the results of his studies because _____.
| A．he destroyed an insect |
| B．he destroyed a plant by pulling off its leaves |
| C．he found that plants could express feelings of shock |
| D．he found that plants could move and speak after all |
The plants sent out signals _____.
| A．only when Backster Started to destroy plants |
| B．when Backster destroyed plants or other living things |
| C．only when he destroyed things such as insects |
| D．only when Backster placed the galvanometer on the leaves of the plants |
The scientist called Sauvin _____.
| A．did not agree with Backster’s ideas |
| B．did not get the same sort of results as Backster did |
| C．got different results from Backster’s |
| D．found out some of the same things that Backster did |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The electrical charge plants carry may shock or frighten us. |
| B．A tree will signal when it has been cut down. |
| C．Sauvin could make his plants send out signals some distance away. |
| D．Plants have feelings because they can receive signals without moving. |
Advertising is a highly developed twentieth-century industry. The development of radio, television, cinema, magazines and newspapers has gone hand in hand with the development of advertising. Why is advertising so popular? Is it a waste of money? It has been proved again and again that repeated advertising increases product sales. Since it increases production, the price can be reduced. Therefore advertising, instead of making a product more expensive, makes it cheaper.
Advertising is now a scientific business. Once managers would say jokingly, " I know that half of what I spend on advertising is wasted, but I don't know which half." Now, all parts of an advertising program are properly measured and researched.
What makes a good advertisement? There have been major changes in advertising in the past sixty years. People read advertisements partly for information and partly for pleasure. Today's advertisements often start with a question, or a puzzle, with the purpose of attracting the reader's attention. Of course, most advertisements contain information. But this is usually contained in a text that is interesting and often funny. Humor is very important. Sometimes advertisements tell a story, or the story may be continued over a number of advertisements. However, there is a danger in this. It is possible that the reader or viewer will remember the advertisement but not the name of the product.The purpose of advertising is ____.
| A．to increase product sales |
| B．to make a product much better |
| C．to spend more money |
| D．to reduce the production |
Which of the following can be used in place of the underlined phrase "hand in hand" ?
| A．Here and there. | B．Again and again. |
| C．As usual. | D．At the same time. |
What is meant by what managers said in the second paragraph?
| A．A11 the money on advertising was wasted. |
| B．Not all the advertisements were well designed. |
| C．A11 the managers knew about advertising then. |
| D．Managers spent no money on advertising. |
What does the writer think of advertising?
| A．Useless. | B．Unnecessary. | C．Important. | D．Wasteful. |
Cara Lang is 13. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, in the U. S. Last Thursday, she didn't go to school. She went to work with her father instead. Every year, on the fourth Thursday in April, millions of young girls go work. This is Take Our Daughters to Work Day. The girls are between the ages of 9 and 15. They spend the day at work with an adult, usually a mother, father, aunt, or uncle. They go to offices, police stations, laboratories, and other places where their parents or other family members work. Next year, the day will include sons, too.
The Ms. Foundation, an organization for women, started the program about ten years ago. In the U.S., many women work outside the home. The Ms. Foundation wanted girls to find out about many different kinds of jobs. Then, when the girls grow up, they can choose a job they like.
Cara's father is a film director. Cara says, “It was very exciting for me to go to the studio with my dad. I saw a lot of people doing different jobs.” Many businesses have special activities for girls on this day. Last year, Cara went to work with her aunt at the University of Massachusetts. In the engineering department, the girls learned to build a bridge with toothpicks and Candy. In the chemistry department, they learned to use scales. They learned about many other kinds of jobs, too.
Right now, Cara does not know what job she will have when she grows up. But because of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, she knows she has many choices.What is Cara's father?
| A．An engineer. | B．An official. | C．A moviemaker. | D．A professor. |
According to the passage, Take our Daughters to work Day is ______.
| A．on every Thursday in Apri |
| B．a holiday for girls of all ages |
| C．a day for girls to know about jobs |
| D．a day for girls to get a job easily |
On this special day, Cara has done all the following EXCEPT that ____.
| A．she learned to use scales |
| B．she worked as an actress |
| C．she went to work with her aunt |
| D．she used toothpicks and Candy to build a bridge |
What is probably the best title for the passage?
| A．Cara Lang, a Fortunate Girl |
| B．Take Our Daughters to Work Day |
| C．Children's Day and Work Day |
| D．Ms. Foundation, an Organization for Women |