I grew up in a traditional peanut butter and jelly(果冻) household.Sandwiches were made on bread and cut neatly(整齐地)into pieces.
When I was around ten or eleven, I was at my best friend’s house during lunch time.We dug through the kitchen searching for the best offerings.I really want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I said.She set out the peanut butter and the jelly and opened the bread box only to find it empty.I think we have hot dog buns(面包), she suggested.I felt frightened.Hot dog buns? Those were for hot dogs.“Jill”, she said, “they are bread.The same bread that you would usually have, they are just in a different shape.I’m not suggesting you eat an actual hot dog with your peanut butter and jelly.” But, I wasn’t sure.This was the girl who mixed her playschool people with her Barbie dolls and put her Lego’s in my doll house.Something was wrong with that way of thinking.I turned down the sandwich, so she made one for herself, saying just how delicious it was while I sat, hungry, counting down until dinner time.
Thirty years later, we were out of bread for Ben’s daily peanut butter and jelly sandwich one day.I suddenly remembered that day and offered him with a peanut butter and jelly on a hot dog roll.He ate the entire thing quickly.
From that day on, I’ve made almost all his sandwiches on hot dog buns.It’s neater with no messy jelly drips from the sides and it’s easier.Besides, it’s just more fun than a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich.The purpose of the first paragraph is to ______ .
A.teach how to keep peanut butter well |
B.tell the author was brought up in a careful way |
C.introduce the correct way of making sandwiches |
D.show she was used to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches |
The author refused her friend’s hot dog buns because ______ .
A.they were for dogs |
B.she wasn’t hungry at all |
C.she couldn’t accept the idea |
D.her friend wasn’t a good cook |
Compared with(和……比较)peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sandwiches on hot dog buns ______ .
A.need less jelly | B.save much trouble |
C.taste more delicious | D.seem less fun to make |
How does Jill feel about refusing her friend’s sandwich?
A.Proud. | B.Satisfied. |
C.Regretful. | D.Angry. |
(2013·江苏,C)
If a diver surfaces too quickly, he may suffer the bends. Nitrogen(氮) dissolved (溶解)in his blood is suddenly liberated by the reduction of pressure. The consequence, if the bubbles (气泡)accumulate in a joint, is sharp pain and a bent body—thus the name. If the bubbles form in his lungs or his brain, the consequence can be death.
Other airbreathing animals also suffer this decompression(减压)sickness if they surface too fast: whales, for example. And so, long ago, did ichthy osaurs (鱿). That these ancient sea animals got the bends can be seen from their bones. If bubbles of nitrogen form inside the bone they can cut off its blood supply. This kills the cells in the bone, and consequently weakens it, sometimes to the point of collapse. Fossil(化石)bones that have caved in on themselves are thus a sign that the animal once had the bends.
Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a study of ichthyosaur bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150 million years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world's naturalhistory museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
When he started, he assumed that signs of the bends would be rarer in younger fossils, reflecting their gradual evolution of measures to deal with decompression. Instead, he was astonished to discover the opposite. More than 15% of Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosayurs had suffered the bends before they died, but not a single Triassic specimen(标本)showed evidence of that sort of injury.
If ichthyosaurs did evolve an antidecompression means, they clearly did so quickly—and, most strangely, they lost it afterwards. But that is not what Dr Rothschild thinks happened. He suspects it was evolution in other animals that caused the change.
Whales that suffer the bends often do so because they have surfaced to escape a predator (捕食动物)such as a large shark. One of the features of Jurassic oceans was an abundance of large sharks and crocodiles, both of which were fond of ichthyosaur lunches. Triassic oceans, by contrast, were mercifully sharkand crocodilefree. In the Triassic, then, ichthyosaurs were top of the food chain. In the Jurassic and Cretaceous, they were prey(猎物)as well as predator—and often had to make a speedy exit as a result.Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends?
A.A twisted body. |
B.A gradual decrease in blood supply. |
C.A sudden release of nitrogen in blood. |
D.A drop in blood pressure. |
The purpose of Rothschild's study is to see ________.
A.how often ichthyosaurs caught the bends |
B.how ichthyosaurs adapted to decompression |
C.why ichthyosaurs bent their bodies |
D.when ichthyosaurs broke their bones |
Rothschild's finding stated in Paragraph 4 ________.
A.confirmed his assumption |
B.speeded up his research process |
C.disagreed with his assumption |
D.changed his research objectives |
Rothschild might have concluded that ichthyosaurs ________.
A.failed to evolve an antidecompression means |
B.gradually developed measures against the bends |
C.died out because of large sharks and crocodiles |
D.evolved an antidecompression means but soon lost it |
(2013·全国Ⅱ,A)
Doctors are known to be terrible pilots. They don't listen because they already know it all. I was lucky: I became a pilot in 1970, almost ten years before I graduated from medical school. I didn't realize then, but becoming a pilot makes me a better surgeon. I loved flying. As I flew bigger, faster planes, and in worse weather, I learned about crew resource management (机组资源管理), or CRM, a new idea to make flying safer. It means that crew members should listen and speak up for a good result, regardless of positions.
I first read about CRM in 1980. Not long after that, an attending doctor and I were flying in bad weather. The controller had us turn too late to get our landing ready. The attending doctor was flying; I was safety pilot. He was so busy because of the bad turn, he had forgotten to put the landing gear (起落架) down. He was a better pilot—and my boss—so it felt unusual to speak up. But I had to: Our lives were in danger. I put aside my uneasiness and said, “We need to put the landing gear down now!” That was my first real lesson in the power of CRM, and I've used it in the operating room ever since.
CRM requires that the pilot/surgeon encourage others to speak up. It further requires that when opinions are from the opposite, the doctor doesn't overreact, which might prevent fellow doctors from voicing opinions again. So when I'm in the operating room, I ask for ideas and help from others. Sometimes they're not willing to speak up. But I hope that if I continue to encourage them, someday someone will keep me from“landing_gear_up”.What dose the author say about doctors in general?
A.They like flying by themselves. |
B.They are unwilling to take advice. |
C.They pretend to be good pilots. |
D.They are quick learners of CRM. |
The author deepened his understanding of the power of CRM when ________.
A.he saved the plane by speaking up |
B.he was in charge of a flying task |
C.his boss landed the plane too late |
D.his boss operated on a patient |
In the last paragraph “landing gear up” probably means ________.
A.following flying requirements |
B.overreacting to different opinions |
C.listening to what fellow doctors say |
D.making a mistake that may cost lives |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.CRM: A New Way to Make Flying Safe. |
B.Flying Makes Me a Better Doctor. |
C.The Making of a Good Pilot. |
D.A PilotTurned Doctor. |
(2013·江西,D)
One might expect that the evergrowing demands of the tourist trade would bring nothing but good for the countries that receive the holidaymakers. Indeed, a rosy picture is painted for the longterm future of the holiday industry. Every month sees the building of a new hotel somewhere. And every month another rockbound Pacific island is advertised as the ‘last paradise (天堂) on earth’.
However, the scale and speed of this growth seem set to destroy the very things tourists want to enjoy. In those countries where there was a rush to make quick money out of seaside holidays, overcrowded beaches and the concrete jungles of endless hotels have begun to lose their appeal.
Those countries with little experience of tourism can suffer most. In recent years, Nepal set out to attract foreign visitors to fund developments in health and education. Its forests, full of wildlife and rare flowers, were offered to tourists as one more untouched paradise. In fact, the nature all too soon felt the effects of thousands of holidaymakers traveling through the forest land. Ancient tracks became major routes for the walkers, with the consequent exploitation of precious trees and plants.
Not only can the environment of a country suffer from the sudden growth of tourism. The people as well rapidly feel its effects. Farmland makes way for hotels, roads and airports; the old way of life goes. The onetime farmer is now the servant of some multinational organization; he is no longer his own master. Once it was his back that bore the pain; now it is his smile that is exploited. No doubt he wonders whether he wasn't happier in his village working his own land.
Thankfully, the tourist industry is waking up to the responsibilities it has towards those countries that receive its customers. The protection of wildlife and the creation of national parks go hand in hand with tourist development and in fact obtain financial support from tourist companies. At the same time, tourists are being encouraged to respect not only the countryside they visit but also its people.
The way tourism is handled in the next ten years will decide its fate and that of the countries we all want to visit. Their needs and problems are more important than those of the tourist companies. Increased understanding in planning worldwide tourism can preserve the market for these companies. If not, in a few years' time the very things that attract tourists now may well have been destroyed.What does the author indicate in the last sentence of Paragraph 1?
A.The Pacific island is a paradise. |
B.The Pacific island is worth visiting. |
C.The advertisement is not convincing. |
D.The advertisement is not impressive. |
The example of Nepal is used to suggest ________.
A.its natural resources are untouched |
B.its forests are exploited for farmland |
C.it develops well in health and education |
D.it suffers from the heavy flow of tourists |
What can we learn about the farmers from Paragraph 4?
A.They are happy to work their own lands. |
B.They have to please the tourists for a living. |
C.They have to struggle for their independence. |
D.They are proud of working in multinational organizations. |
Which of the following determines the future of tourism?
A.The number of tourists. |
B.The improvement of services. |
C.The promotion of new products. |
D.The management of tourism. |
The author's attitude towards the development of the tourist industry is ________.
A.optimistic | B.doubtful |
C.objective | D.negative |
Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can't make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue(疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we could find it full of fatigue toxins(霉素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of efforts as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情感的) attitudes. One of England's most outstanding scientists, J. A. Hadfield, says,“The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares,“One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
A.Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer's blood. |
B.Albert Einstein didn't feel worn out after a day's work. |
C.The brain could work for many hours without fatigue. |
D.A mental worker's blood was filled with fatigue toxins. |
According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?
A.Challenging mental work. | B.Unpleasant emotions. |
C.Endless tasks. | D.Physical labor. |
What's the author's attitude towards the scientists' ideas?
A.He agrees with them. |
B.He doubts them. |
C.He argues against them. |
D.He hesitates to accept them. |
We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to ________.
A.have some good food |
B.enjoy their work |
C.exercise regularly |
D.discover fatigue toxins |
(2013·安徽,C)
When 19yearold Sophia Giorgi said she was thinking of volunteering to help the MakeAWish Foundation (基金会),nobody understood what she was talking about. But Sophia knew just how important MakeAWish could be because this special organization had helped to make a dream come true for one of her best friends. We were interested in finding out more, so we went along to meet Sophia and listen to what she had to say.
Sophia told us that MakeAWish is a worldwide organization that started in the United States in 1980. “It's a charity (慈善机构)that helps children who have got very serious illnesses. MakeAWish helps children feel happy even though they are sick, by making their wishes and dreams come true,” Sophia explained.
We asked Sophia how MakeAWish had first started. She said it had all begun with a very sick young boy called Chris, who had been dreaming for a long time of becoming a policeman. Sophia said lots of people had wanted to find a way to make Chris's dream come true,so with everybody's help, Chris, only seven years old at the time, had been a “policeman” for a day. “When people saw how delighted Chris was when his dream came true, they decided to try and help other sick children too, and that was the beginning of MakeAWish,”explained Sophia.
Sophia also told us the Foundation tries to give children and their families a special, happy time. A MakeAWish volunteer visits the families and asks the children whatever they would wish for if they could have anything in the world. Sophia said the volunteers were important because they were the ones who helped to make the wishes come true. They do this either by providing things that were necessary, or by raising money or helping out in what way they can.Sophia found out about MakeAWish because her best friend had ________.
A.benefited from it | B.volunteered to help it |
C.dreamed about it | D.told the author about it |
According to Sophia, MakeAWish ________.
A.is an international charity |
B.was understood by nobody at first |
C.raises money for very poor families |
D.started by drawing the interest of the public |
What is said about Chris in Paragraph 3?
A.He has been a policeman since he was seven. |
B.He gave people the idea of starting MakeAWish. |
C.He wanted people to help make his dream come true. |
D.He was the first child MakeAWish helped after it had been set up. |
Which of the following is true about MakeAWish volunteers?
A.They are important for making wishes come true. |
B.They try to help children get over their illnesses. |
C.They visit sick children to make them feel special. |
D.They provide what is necessary to make MakeAWish popular. |