Looking back on my childhood, I am convinced that naturalists are born and not made. Although we were brought up in the same way, my brothers and sisters soon abandoned their pressed flowers and insects. Unlike them, I had no ear for music and languages. I was not an early reader and I could not do mental math.
Before World War I we spent out summer holidays in Hungary. I have only the dim(模糊的)memory of the house we lived in, of my room and my toys, Nor do I recall clearly the large family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who gathered next door. But I do have a crystal clear memory of dogs, the farm animals, the local birds and above all, the insects.
I am a naturalist, not a scientist. I have a strong love of the natural world, and my enthusiasm has led me into various investigations. I love discussing my favorite topics and enjoy burning the midnight oil reading about other people’s observations and discoveries. Then something happens that brings these observations together in my conscious mind. Suddenly you fancy you see the answer to the riddle. Because it all seems to fit together. This has resulted in my publishing 300 papers and books, which some may light honor, with the title of scientific research.
But curiosity, a keen eye ,a good memory and enjoyment of the animal and plant world do not make a scientist: one of the outstanding and essential qualities required is self-discipline, a quality I lack, A scientist can be made a naturalist. If you can combine the two, you get the best of both worlds.According to the author, a born naturalist should first of all be
| A．full of ambition | B．self-disciplined |
| C．full of enthusiasm | D．knowledgeable |
The first paragraph tells us that the author
| A．lost his hearing when he was a child |
| B．didn’t like his brothers and sisters |
| C．was interested in flowers and insects in his childhood |
| D．was born to a naturalist’s family |
The author says that his a naturalist rather than a scientist probably because he thinks he
| A．just reads about other people’s observations and discoveries |
| B．lacks some of the qualities required of scientist |
| C．has a great deal of trouble doing mental arithmetic |
| D．comes up with solutions in most natural ways. |
The author can’t remember his clearly because
| A．He didn’t live very long with them |
| B．He was too young when he lived with them |
| C．The family was extremely large |
| D．He was fully occupied with observing nature |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The author believes that a born naturalist cannot be a scientist |
| B．The author read a lot of books about the natural world and oil industry |
| C．The author’s brothers and sisters were good at music and languages |
| D．The author spent a lot of time working on riddles. |
A student was one day taking a walk with his teacher. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying in the path. They were a poor farmer’s, who was working in the nearby field.
The student turned to the teacher, saying:“we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those trees, and wait to see what he will do”
“My young friend,” answered the teacher, “we should never make fun of the poor. Why not put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch?” The student did so and they both hid themselves behind the trees. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
After putting on his coat, he put his foot into one of his shoes, and felt something hard. Then he bent down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Surprised, he looked at the coin, turned it around and looked at it again. He then looked around, but no person was seen. He put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe. His surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
He couldn’t control his feelings and fell to his knees, looked up to the sky and expressed his thanks. Then he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without food. He said the help would save them from dying.
The student there deeply moved, and his eyes filled tears.“ Now,” said the teacher, “are you not much happier than if you had hidden the shoes?”When the student saw the shoes, he wanted to____.
| A．steal them | B．find their owner |
| C．play a joke on the owner | D．give the owner some money |
According to the passage, the teacher is______.
| A．quiet and honest | B．kind and friendly |
| C．patient and clever | D．strict and careful |
When the farmer saw the second coin, he___.
| A．was very excited and grateful |
| B．was worried and looked up at the sky |
| C．was surprised and decided to find the owner |
| D．spoke of his difficulties and asked for more help |
At the end of the story, the student____.
| A．was very proud of himself | B．was very pleased with his life |
| C．felt very sorry about his first idea | D．felt sad for not taking his teacher’s advice |
Sometimes people add to what they say even when they don’t talk. Gestures are the “silent language” of every culture. We point a finger or move another part of the body to show what we want to say．It is important to know the body language of every country or we may be misunderstood.
In the United States，people greet each other with a handshake in a formal introduction．The handshake must be firm．If the handshake is weak，it is a sign of weakness or unfriendliness．Friends may place a hand on the other’s arm or shoulder．Some people，usually women，greet a friend with a hug（拥抱）．
Space is important to Americans．When two people talk to each other，they usually stand about two and a half feet away and at an angle，so they are not facing each other directly．Americans get uncomfortable when a person stands too close．They will move back to have their space．If Americans touch another person by accident，they say “Pardon me” or “Excuse me”．
Americans like to look at the other person in the eyes when they are talking．If you don’t do so，it means you are bored，hiding something，or are not interested．But when you stare at someone，it is not polite．
For Americans，thumbs-up means yes，very good，or well done．Thumbs-down means the opposite．To call a waiter，raise one hand to head level or above．To show you want the check，make a movement with your hands as if you are signing a piece of paper．It is all right to point at things but not at people with the hand and index finger（食指）．Americans shake their index finger at children when they scold them and pat them on the head when they admire them．
Learning a culture’s body language is sometimes confusing（使糊涂的）．If you don’t know what to do，the safest thing to do is to smile．From the first paragraph we can learn that ________．
| A．gestures don’t mean anything while talking |
| B．gestures can help us to express ourselves |
| C．we can learn a language well without body language |
| D．only American people can use gestures |
If you are introduced to a stranger from the USA，you should _______．
| A．greet him with a hug |
| B．place a hand on his shoulder |
| C．shake his hand firmly |
| D．shake his hand weakly |
In the United States，people often ________．
| A．show their friendship by touching each other |
| B．show their friendship by glancing at each other |
| C．say “Pardon me” to each other when they are talking |
| D．get uncomfortable when you stand close to them |
If you talk with an American friend，it’s polite to ________．
| A．look up and down at your friend |
| B．look at the other person in the eyes |
| C．hide your opinion |
| D．look at your watch now and then |
Throughout history, people have been interested in knowing how language first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. However, we do know a lot about languages, the languages of today and also the languages of earlier times. There are probably about three thousand languages in the world today. Chinese is the language with the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by many millions of people. On the other hand, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.
There are several important families of languages in the world. For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family called Indo-European. The original (最初的) language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ago. Many of the present day languages of Europe and India are modern forms of the language of 4,500 years ago.
Languages are always changing. The English of today is very different from the English of 500 years ago. In time some even die out completely. About 1,000 years ago English was a little -known relative of German spoken on one of the borders（边界）of Europe.
If a language has a lot of speakers or if it is very old, there may be differences in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is, the language may have several dialects. Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of speakers. The differences between the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China cannot understand speakers from other parts.The first paragraph mainly tells us that_______.
| A．most people in the world speak Chinese |
| B．there are thousands of languages in the world today |
| C．man has much knowledge about languages |
| D．some people know several languages |
Many European and Indian languages ______.
| A．will soon die out completely |
| B．were once a relative of English |
| C．are the same as before |
| D．come from the same family |
____ seems to have changed a lot
| A．Chinese | B．English | C．Spanish | D．German |
The best title of this passage is .
| A．English | B．Changes of English |
| C．Chinese | D．Knowledge of Language |
Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services.People use money to buy food, furniture,books,bicycles and hundreds of other things they need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.
Most of the money today is made of metal(金属) or paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells.
Shells were not the only things used as money. In China , cloth and knives were used. In the Phillipine Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Elephant tusks,monkey tails and salt were used as money in parts of Africa.
The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the centre.People strung(串联)them together and carried them from place to place.
Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. The first coins in England were made of tin(锡).Sweden and Russia used copper(铜)to make their money. Later some countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money. The first paper money looked more like note from one person to another than the paper money used today.
Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.The main use of money is that _________.
| A．people use it to buy things to eat |
| B．people accept money only in exchange for clothes |
| C．people accept money in exchange for goods and service |
| D．people will accept money for giving our goods to others |
What did the first Chinese metal coins look like?
| A．They had square hole in the centre. |
| B．They were just like shells. |
| C．They were round like the moon. |
| D．They were round with a square hole in the centre. |
Who thought of a way to use paper money first?
| A．The Chinese | B．The Russian |
| C．The Sweden | D．The English men |
The best title of this passage should be ________.
| A．The Chinese money | B．The history of money |
| C．Some things about money | D．What is money |
Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.
In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.
Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War Ⅱ. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?
Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家)，encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.The kings of France and England in the 16th century closed bath houses because .
| A．they lived healthily in a dirty environment |
| B．they thought bath houses were to dirty to stay in |
| C．they believed disease could be spread in public baths |
| D．they considered bathing as the cause of skin disease |
Which of the following best describes Henry IV’s attitude to bathing?________.
| A．Afraid | B．Curious | C．Approving | D．Uninterested |
The underlined sentence in paragraph one is closest in meaning to __________.
| A．Attitudes to dirt are different in different times |
| B．Nothing is fixed for the attitudes to dirt |
| C．Attitudes to dirt never change |
| D．There isn’t anything fixed for attitudes to dirt |
How does the passage mainly develop?____________.
| A．By providing examples | B．By making comparisons |
| C．By following the order of time | D．By following the order of importance |
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?___________.
| A．To stress the role of dirt |
| B．To introduce the history of dirt |
| C．To call attention to the danger of dirt |
| D．To present the change of views on dirt |
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