C
Paris has the Eiffel Tower; New York has the Statue of Liberty; and Brussels, the Manneken
Piss.
Think of the Belgian capital and, if anything, you think of the small peeing (撒尿) boy ____ a 60-meter-high bronze figure standing on a block, supplying a constant stream of water to the basin under him.
Some might laugh. But for Jacques Stroobants, the statue is up there with the best of them.
“I’m proud of him. People come from all around the world to see him,” says 60-year-old Stroobants with a fatherly glance at the little boy.
As the most famous landmark of Brussels, Manneken Piss has a very special place in the heart of Belgians.
The original Manneken Piss dates back to 1388, but the statue tourists see today dates from 1619 when the city built a second one after the original was destroyed.
Many stories go round Manneken Piss. Nobody knows why he was made. One story is that he saved Brussels by putting out the flames of a deadly fire with his well-aimed piss. But the most believable story is that the boy, the son of a wealthy man, was kidnapped. The father had a statue built in honor of the way his son was found-peeing against a tree.
Perhaps best-known for his naked beauty, the “peeing boy” has also been clothed in some of the finest clothes money can buy.
Stroobants has been changing his clothes for the last 29 years. On average, he has clothes on 300 days a year. And on special days, he pees beer.
A few of the ways he’s been dressed are; a football player, Mozart and an army general. Now, he has more than 600 pieces of clothes.
There is no strict charge for those wishing to provide clothes for the little boy. But certain conditions must be met.
“The clothes cannot include either advertising or political message,” said Stroobants, because they would cheapen the national treasure.
But Manneken Piss is still something local people can make money from ___ by selling all kinds of souvenirs.
72. Which of the following is NOT true about Maneken Piss?
A. It has a history of more than 600 years. B. It stands in Brussels.
C. It is best known for the clothes he wears. D. It is 60 meters high.
73. The Manneken Piss has a special place in the heart of Belgians because .
A. it’s good-looking with water running constantly
B. it brings joys to people who see it
C. it helps people make beer
D. it’s a symbol of the city.
74. We can learn from the passage that .
A. for most of the year, the boy is naked
B. Stroobants is probably in charge of taking care of the statue
C. people can provide any clothes for Manneken Piss
D. people make money by advertising Manneken Piss
75．Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. Tourists cannot provide clothes for the peeing boy.
B. The Manneken Piss has attracted many visitors.
C. The peeing boy is the national treasure of Belgium.
D. Local people make money by selling souvenirs.
Born in America in 1898, William was an extraordinary boy, gifted with an amazing IQ between 250 and 300．The genius went to a grammar school when he was only 6 years old and graduated just within 7 months．At the age of 11, he became the youngest student of the Harvard University．He graduated with high scores at the age of 16 and entered Harvard Law School at 18．
Gifted with an amazing IQ between 220 and 230, Terence Tao makes it to this list of the people with the highest IQ in the world．Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1975, this genius first displayed his incredible intelligence at a mere age of 2, when he managed to solve basic arithmetic questions on his own．At the age of 16, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees at the Flinders University．He has been considered as ''Mr．Fix it " by Charles Fefferman, who is a professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, and many other mathematicians want to interest him in their problems．
This 31-year-old Japanese-American astrophysicist lands him third in this list．At the age of 12, Christopher Hirata already worked on college-level courses, around the time most of us were just in the 7th grade．At the age of 13, this gifted kid became the youngest American to have ever won the gold medal in the International physics Olympiad．
At the age of 16, he was already working with NASA on its project to conquer planet Mars．After he was awarded the Ph．D．at Princeton University, he went back to California Institute of Technology．
The next person with very high IQ is Albert Einstein．With an IQ between 160 and 190, Albert Einstein is the genius behind the theory of relativity, which has had great impact on the world of science．He possessed such an amazing ability that after his death, researchers were eager to preserve and make research on his brain in search for clues to his exceptional brilliance, which to this day, has remained a mystery．About William, which of the following is true?
| A．His IQ reached between 220 and 230． |
| B．At the age of 16, he graduated from a grammar school． |
| C．At the age of 6, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees． |
| D．At the age of 11, he became the youngest student at the Harvard University． |
How many people with remarkable IQ are mentioned in the passage?
| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
Who once worked on the project to conquer planet Mars?
| A．William | B．Terence Tao |
| C．Christopher Hirata | D．Albert Einstein |
From the passage we can know that______．
| A．when William graduated from the Harvard University, he got the highest scores |
| B．at the age of 2, Terence solved basic arithmetic questions on his own |
| C．Christopher Hirata is a Japanese |
| D．researchers have found out why Albert Einstein was so brilliant |
Endless playing of songs like All I want for Christmas in shops during the festive season doesn’t just drive us mad —the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned．
While repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers’ spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact．
“Background music, or “Muzak”, can be used by marketers to impose cultures ---such as the commercialization of Christmas--- onto consumers and influence their behaviour,” experts said．
Dr．Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said, “Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy．In other words, this is an attempt to control your shopping habits in a way that you might hardly be aware of．”
“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears．”
Dr．Bradshaw and Prof Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour．
It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time examining the shelves, for example．
Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers．
“A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways,” Dr．Bradshaw said．
Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honor of the Seattle-based company which began producing its soft-sounding melodies in the 1930s．According to Dr．Bradshaw, in what ways does Christmas music influence customers?
①their mood
②their income
③their sense of time
④ the sort of products they buy
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ | C．②③④ | D．①②④ |
Shopkeepers slow down the rhythm of music in shops to ___________．
| A．let customers spend more time shopping |
| B．make customers and sales assistants relaxed |
| C．let customers enjoy the beautiful music |
| D．help customers find what they really want |
What kind of music is now often adapted to influence customers in shops?
| A．Classical music | B．Popular modern songs． |
| C．Folk songs． | D．Jazz music． |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Music makes happy Christmas |
| B．Christmas “Muzak” |
| C．How to make Christmas music? |
| D．Christmas music makes us spend more |
When policy experts debate climate change solutions, they often talk about "a price on carbon." They are arguing about whether companies should pay when they put carbon pollution in the air. Proponents say that it's simple economics -- if it's free to pollute, you'll get a lot of pollution. Opponents claim it will raise the cost of energy that's produced from high carbon sources, like coal. But here's the secret that most people seem to be missing: There already is a price on carbon, and it's paid by the taxpayers.
Carbon pollution, like every other form of pollution, has an impact on the environment. Throwing waste into a river will cause the fish to die and the people who drink the water to get sick. And when you produce carbon pollution, you get climate change -- sea level rise, stronger storms, severe droughts, damage to agriculture, and more.
All of those impacts cost money. Insurance rates go up when storms get more destructive. Taxes increase when cities have to rebuild bridges and roads. Military budgets go up when droughts and population changes cause conflicts. Not to mention impacts on agriculture and health care costs.
In other words, the price on carbon is what we all pay when there is no market force to limit the pollution that causes climate change. So the debate is really about who will pay that price -- the companies who are making a profit from the fossil fuels, or the taxpayers who pick up the cost now?
Right now, we have private profit and public cost. It's just like if we allowed every business to throw its garbage in the street because it's too expensive to have it moved away properly. Does it add a little bit to your dinner check to require that restaurants dispose of their trash properly? Sure. But it would be more expensive for you if the city had to clean the streets of their garbage every day. So just like we put a "price on garbage" we need a "price on carbon pollution."
Now, a "price on carbon pollution" can mean a lot of things. You could tax companies based on the amount of carbon pollution they produce, and return the money to taxpayers. You could put a limit on how much they can produce, thereby requiring them to invest in ways to conduct business in a less polluting way.What do the policy experts argue about carbon pollution?
| A．Whether the companies should pay for it. |
| B．Whether taxpayers could get profit from it. |
| C．Who have the ability to change it. |
| D．How much should be paid for it. |
What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2 ?
| A．Some other forms of pollution |
| B．The effects of carbon pollution |
| C．The signs of carbon pollution |
| D．The way to reduce carbon pollution |
The author referred to restaurants in the passage mainly to________.
| A．prove every business doesn’t perform its duty. |
| B．warn readers to protect the environment around. |
| C．explain the damage of no policy on carbon pollution. |
| D．show some restaurants throw away their trash randomly. |
According to the passage, what does the “price on carbon pollution” means?
| A．Telling the taxpayers to refuse to pay taxes on carbon pollution |
| B．Making the government invest to reduce carbon pollution |
| C．Increasing prices of the products from companies. |
| D．Taxing companies on carbon pollution they produce. |
New research has shown that loneliness may affect ants to a greater extent than many other living creatures.
It has long been known that loneliness can lead to a shorter life. In humans, it has even been found to be a driver of high blood pressure, sleep disorder, and depression that’s independent of factors like age, race, gender, weight and economic status.
However, loneliness has never been identified as a factor that can cut human lifespan by more than a small part of the average. Ants, on the other hand, appear to be far more sensitive to this stress, with loneliness leading to a surprising 91 percent reduction in lifespan.
That’s at least according to a study that details how “lonely” ants only live up to six days on average. Ants living in a community, on the other hand, were found to live up to about 66 days.
In a series of experiments where ants were picked from their colonies (群体) and separated, they were found to continuously walk without rest,consuming far more energy than they could ever.
The reason for the behavior is that an isolated ant is simple trying to get back to its colony at all costs, and doesn’t know what to do without its nest mates. After all, many entomologists (昆虫学家) would argue that an ant colony is far more a single living entity (实体) than its members.
If you were to take a single part from a clock, it would simply move aimlessly as well, running without a purpose. However, while there is a difference between aimlessness and loneliness, the researchers found that the latter affects lonely ants more directly.
The study indicated that ants can’t even eat alone, as they normally collect some of the food they gather in the field in a specialized organ called a crop.This crop is normally shared with other ants back at a nest,but as for a single ant, it simply just sits there, undigested and useless.How does loneliness influence a person?
| A．It can make him very tired of himself. |
| B．It can leave him in conflict with others. |
| C．It can lead to him being very independent. |
| D．It can cause him to suffer from poor health |
What can be learned from the experiments?
| A．Most ants can live about 6 days on average. |
| B．Lonely ants can become very restless. |
| C．Human beings are similar to ants in some way. |
| D．Lonely ants seem to be violent and impatient. |
Why does an isolated ant walk non-stop?
| A．It attempts to return to its colony. |
| B．It wants to attract other ants to form a colony. |
| C．It hopes to make signals to its mates. |
| D．It has to find more food to survive. |
The author mentioned a clock in the passage_________.
| A．to show ants have a biological clock in the head. |
| B．to prove ants are a well-regulated community. |
| C．to stress ants are really highly social animals. |
| D．to compare aimlessness with loneliness. |
Kids love animals, so children’s magazines about wildlife are a great way to plant a love of reading in young kids. If your kids love animals, check out these magazines.
National Geographic Kids
National Geographic Kids brings animals, nature, science, and fun to the little learners. Its animal stories develop pre-reading and reading skills. They also answer questions about kids’ favorite creatures. Features about different cultures bring the world to your child and inspire a sense of understanding. Interactive experiments introduce simple science, and fun puzzles and games teach logic, counting, and so much more! It is for children aged from 6 to 14.
Click
Click opens up a universe of wonder by introducing kids aged 3-7 to the world around them. Click is about science, nature, and the environment. From the publishers of Ladybug, Click is written so that children will love the challenge of new learning.
Wild Animal Baby
It helps a child develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. This sturdy (结实的), board format magazine is designed especially for babies and toddlers between the ages of 12 months and 3 years. Each issue (期) is filled with rhymes, stories and lovable baby animals. Wild Animal Baby is a fun, interactive reading experience for children and parents alike.
Zootles
It was created for children aged 2 to 6 years old. Each issue includes a featured animal, numbers, and phoneme (音素) sounds. Counting and sound recognition games are built into the content, along with read-aloud stories, poems and more! This magazine is so much fun that little kids won’t realize how much they are learning.What do we know about National Geographic Kids?
a. It is mainly aimed at adults.
b. Its paper is heavier and of good quality.
c. It tells children about different cultures in the world.
d. It helps improve children’s pre-reading and reading skills.
| A．ac | B．bd | C．cd | D．ad |
A mother would most probably choose _____ for her one-year-old baby.
| A．Zootles | B．Wild Animal Baby |
| C．National Geographic Kids | D．Click |
We know that the magazine Zootles _______.
| A．tells about science, nature and the environment |
| B．involves many adventurous stories |
| C．mainly tells kids how to pronounce words |
| D．tells about a featured animal in each issue |
What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?
| A．To encourage kids to read more books. |
| B．To introduce his / her favorite books to readers. |
| C．To recommend several children’s magazines about animals. |
| D．To tell parents several ways of entertaining and educating kids. |
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