The first breath-taking pictures of the Earth taken from space showed it as a solid ball covered by brown land masses and blue-green oceans. We had never seen the Earth from that distance before. To us, it appeared as though the Earth had always looked that way and always would. Scientists now know, however, that the surface of the Earth is not as permanent as we had thought.
Scientists explain that the surface of our planet is always moving. Continents moves about the Earth like huge ships at sea. They float on pieces of the Earth’s outer skin. New outer skin is created as melted rock pushed up from below the ocean floor. Old outer skin is destroyed as it rolls down into the hot area and melts again.
Only since the 1960s have scientists really began to understand that the planet Earth is a great living machine. Some experts have said this new understanding is one of the most important revolutions in scientific thought. The revolution is based on the work of scientists who study the movement of the continents—a science called plate tectonics.
The modern story of plate tectonics begins with the German scientist Alfred Wegener. Before World War One, Wegener argued that the continents had moved and were still moving. He said the idea first occurred to him when he observed that the coastlines of South America and Africa could fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. He proposed that the two continents might have been one and then split apart.
Wegener was not the first person to wonder about the shape of the continents. About 500 years ago, explorers thought about it when they made the first maps of Americas. The explorers noted the east coast of North America and South America would fit almost exactly into the west coast of Europe and south Africa. What the explorers did not do, but Wegener did, was to investigate the idea that the continents move.What does the writer mainly tell us in the passage?
| A．The first breath-taking pictures of the Earth taken from space. |
| B．Human’s recognition of the earth’s surface. |
| C．The German scientist Alfred Wegener. |
| D．The early explorers’ discovery. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．We didn’t see the Earth from far away until we saw the picture taken in the space. |
| B．Our ancient thought that the surface of the earth is still. |
| C．Alfred Wegener was not the first person to investigate the idea that the continents move. |
| D．The coastline of India and Africa fit together. |
The last word of the third paragraph “tectonics” mean “________”.
| A．study of construction |
| B．study of architecture |
| C．earth surface |
| D．structural geology |
What did the explorers find?
| A．The coastlines of South America and Africa could fit together. |
| B．The coastlines of North America and Africa could fit together. |
| C．The east coastlines of North America and the west coast of Europe could fit together. |
| D．The coastlines of North America and India could fit together. |
Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ________.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process、 |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
according to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
If you want to live longer, you should ________.
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster |
| B．find out the reason for ageing |
| C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy |
| D．prevent your cells from being lost |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
In recent years many countries of the world have been faced with the problem of how to make their workers more productive. Some experts claim the answer is to make jobs more varied. But do more various jobs lead to greater productivity? There is evidence to suggest that while variety certainly makes the worker’s life more enjoyable, it does not actually make him work harder. As far as increasing productivity is concerned, then variety is not an important factor.
Other experts feel that giving the worker freedom to do his job in his own way is important, and there is no doubt that this is true. The problem is that this kind of freedom cannot easily be given in the modern factory with its complicated machinery which must be used in a fixed way. Thus while freedom of choice may be important, there is usually very little that can be done to create it.
Another very important consideration is how each worker contributes to the product he is making. In most factories the worker sees only one part of the product. Some car factories are now experimenting with having many small production lines rather than one large one, so that each worker contributes more to the production of the cars on his line. It would seem that not only is degree of the worker contribution an important factor, therefore, but it is also one we can do something about.
To what extent does more money lead to greater productivity? The workers themselves certainly think this is important. But perhaps they want more money only because the work they do is boring. Money just lets them enjoy their spare time more. A similar argument may explain demands for shorter working hours. Perhaps if we succeed in making their jobs more interesting, they will neither want more money, nor will shorter working hours be so important to them. Which of the following is the best way to make workers work harder according to the author?
| A．Increasing their pay. |
| B．Giving them more spare time. |
| C．Making the work itself meaningful. |
| D．Replacing large production lines with small ones. |
The reason why a worker cannot have freedom in doing the job in his own way is that _______.
| A．the machinery is so complex that it should be fixed |
| B．the production lines are too large in modern factories |
| C．the bosses can create very little freedom of choices for workers |
| D．the machines must be operated strictly according to instructions and rules |
For a worker on an assembly line in a car factory, the job is not enjoyable because _______.
| A．he can only make a part of a car |
| B．he does not know what he is doing |
| C．his life in spare time is more interesting |
| D．the importance of his job is not clear to him |
In the article, the word “productivity” means _______.
| A．the activity of producing something |
| B．the production volume in a time unit |
| C．the plan and the method of production |
| D．both the quantity and quality of a product |
The best title for this passage may be _______.
| A．Problems of Modern Workers |
| B．Making Jobs More Interesting |
| C．Pushing Workers to Produce More |
| D．How to Improve Labor Conditions |
Maggie was very glad that James was not a frequent visitor to the house. So far as the children were concerned, they had a mystery about him that stirred their imagination. He stirred Maggie’s anger, however, so that she often said to her husband, “It’s mercy that brother of yours doesn’t come oftener.”
In fact James came once a year, unexpectedly, around eight o’clock in the evening, and he stayed for six hours of close discussion with his brother. His arrival was a signal to the children that their bedtime would be delayed. Not that he ever spoke to them or played with them. He took no notice of them, as if he was unable to see children, at least until the time came for him to go. Instead, after his first greeting and a careless kiss, James took no notice of Maggie either, except to add, “You’ll be getting on with the supper, Maggie.” Such was his regard for her.
Maggie paid him back in her own way. She kept the children up, the four of them, to keep her company, she said, but of course they sang and made a noise and broke the endless sound of James’s voice. Very late, they dropped off to sleep in their chairs. Then, when James was about to go, Maggie woke them up and so more or less forced him to part with four shillings before he left. That gave her some satisfaction, for James, though rich, was mean. He always went home by the last train, just after two o’clock.
Maggie’s children secretly stared at their uncle. They could not forget that he had, in their mother’s words, “lost two wives and taken a third, ” They wondered about those two unfortunate lost ladies. They asked each other what their fate had been, and if neither could ever be found again. James never brought his third wife with him nor ever mentioned her. The children decided that he must be so frightened of losing her that he never allowed her outside the door. The underlined word “mercy” in the text most probably means _______.
| A．loss | B．wonder |
| C．lucky thing | D．terrible thing |
Maggie never prepared anything special for James because _______.
| A．he was a man difficult to please |
| B．she never knew when he was coming |
| C．she was too busy looking after her children |
| D．he never stayed long enough for a meal |
What do we know about James’ behavior?
| A．He was a kind man, with love for the family. |
| B．He was generous, especially towards his brother. |
| C．He was anxious to please the family, especially the kids. |
| D．He was rude to his sister-in-law. |
Maggie felt pleased when _______.
| A．she paid James the money that she owed him |
| B．James gave some money to the children |
| C．she had to wake James up to catch his train |
| D．James thanked her for the nice supper |
The children did not realize that two of James’ wives _______.
| A．had been dead | B．suffered from loss of memory |
| C．had run away from him | D．might appear again one day |
Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, “Mom, I can’t peel potatoes. I have only one hand.”
Mom never looked up from sewing. “You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes,” she told me. “And don’t ever use that as an excuse for anything again!”
In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel rod to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying.
That night I told Mom about it. She hugged me, and I saw her “we’ll see about that” look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars.
“Now, pull up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other elbow. Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung I reached. I’ll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open.
One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mom come into my room. “Mom,” I said, weeping, “none of the boys would dance with me.”
For a long time, I didn’t hear anything. Then she said, “Oh, honey, someday you’ll be beating those boys off with a bat.” Her voice was faint and cracking. I peeked out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf. She had never let me see her tears.Which of the following expressions can be used most suitably to describe Mom’s attitude when she made the child to peel potatoes?
| A．Cruel. | B．Serious. | C．Strict. | D．Cold. |
From the passage, we know monkey bars can help a child train ______.
| A．the skill to throw and catch things |
| B．the speed of one’s hand movement |
| C．the strength and skill to hang and sway |
| D．the bodily skill to rotate round a bar |
What does the sentence “I saw her ‘we’ll see about that’ look” imply?
| A．Mom believed every aim could be achieved if you stuck to it. |
| B．The race across monkey bars was not difficult enough for a child to give up. |
| C．Mom was determined to prove she herself was better than the teacher. |
| D．What the child had said brought Mom great attraction and curiosity. |
When the child looked down at the kids, they were standing with their mouths open because ______.
| A．they felt sorry for what they had done before |
| B．they were afraid the author might fall off and get hurt |
| C．they wanted to see what the author would do on the bars |
| D．they were astonished to find the author’s progress |
The most probable conclusion we can draw after reading the passage is ______.
| A．the last incident was sad enough to make Mom weep |
| B．the child’s experience reminded Mom of that of her own |
| C．Mom could solve any problem except the one in the last paragraph |
| D．in fact Mom suffered more in the process of the child’s growth |
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