One day, Mr. Arnold was teaching a lesson, and things were going as normally as ever. He was explaining the story of human being to his pupils. He told them that, in the beginning, men were nomads (游牧); they never stayed in the same place for very long. Instead, they would travel about, here and there, in search of food, wherever it was to be found. And when the food ran out, they would move off somewhere else.

He taught them about the invention of farming and keeping animals. This was an important discovery, because by learning to cultivate (耕作) the land, and care for animals, mankind would always have food steadily. It also meant that people could remain living in one place, and this made it easier to set about tasks that would take a long while to finish, like building towns, cities, and all that were in them. All the children were listening attracted by this story, until Lucy jumped up:

"And if that was so important and improved everything so much, why are we nomads all over again, Mr. Arnold?"

Mr. Arnold didn’t know what to say. Lucy was a very clever girl. He knew that she lived with her parents in a house, so she must know that her family were not nomads; so what did she mean?

"We have all become nomads again,” continued Lucy, " The other day, outside the city, they were cutting the forest down. A while ago a fisherman told me how they fish. It's the same with everyone: when there's no more forest left, the foresters go elsewhere, and when the fish run out, the fishermen move on. That's what the nomads did, isn't it?

The teacher nodded, thoughtfully. Really, Lucy was right. Mankind had turned into nomads. Instead of looking after the land in a way that we could be sure it would keep supplying our needs, we kept developing it until the land was bare. And then off we would go to the next place! The class spent the rest of the afternoon talking about what they could do to show how to be more civilized (文明的).

The next day everyone attended class wearing a green T-shirt, with a message that said "I am not a nomad!"

And, from then on, they set about showing that indeed they were not. Every time they knew they needed something, they made sure that they would get it using care and control. If they needed wood or paper, they would make sure that they got the recycled kind. They ordered their fish from fish farms, making sure that the fish they received were not too young and too small. They only used animals that were well cared for, and brought up on farms.

And so, from their little town, those children managed to give up being nomads again, just as prehistoric men had done, so many thousands of years ago.

1.Why would early humans travel about in the beginning?

A. To experience different lifestyles.

B. To go sightseeing in different places.

C. To find what they could to feed themselves.

D. To do more exercise to build themselves up.

2.From Paragraph 2, we can know that _______________.

A. people got tired of living in the same place

B. people gradually got used to living in cities

C. people spent a long time in learning to keep animals

D. people tended to settle down after learning farming and keeping animals

3.The teacher thought Lucy’s argument was ______

A. reasonable

B. unbelievable

C. puzzling

D. shocking

4.Which of the following agrees with the underline sentence "I am not a nomad" (Paragraph 7)?

A. People eat young fish for its delicious taste.

B. People use recycled materials as much as possible.

C. Fishermen move elsewhere when there is no fish left.

D. Foresters leave the place where there is no wood left.

5.The writer tries to make us believe that ______.

A. mankind has been progressing mainly through traveling about

B. it’s unwise for mankind to use the land in an uncontrolled way

C. it’s quite good for students to learn more about the history of mankind

D. teachers should encourage students to voice their own opinions bravely

Once there was a lovely vegetable field with a very big tree in it. Both of the vegetables and the tree made the garden look wonderful.

One day, the vegetables and the tree couldn't get on well with ______. The vegetables disliked the tree because they thought the tree didn't leave them enough ______ by covering them with its thick leaves while the tree thought that the vegetables drank nearly all the water before it could reach him.

The situation became worse and worse. One day the vegetables decided to ______ all the water in the ground so that the tree would dry up. The tree fought back by refusing to offer the vegetables shade(树荫). Soon they both began to dry up under the hot sun.

Neither of them expected that the gardener would stop ______ his vegetable field because he thought it was ______ to save the vegetables. When the gardener did that, the tree and the vegetables really felt how ______ they were. There seemed to be no way to solve the problem. Then a small pumpkin decided to do something to change the situation. The small pumpkin did all he could to grow ______ there was little water and it was too hot.

Finally, the gardener ______ the growing pumpkin among the dying vegetables. _____, he started to water the field again because he still wanted to make a(n) ____ to win the beautiful pumpkin. At the same time, the tree and the vegetables were saved. Since then, they realized that it was better to help each other than to fight, and they lived in harmony with other plants.

1.A. other plants B. the gardener C. each other D. the pumpkin

2.A. light B. water C. air D. wind

3.A. look up B. use up C. pick up D. put up

4.A. picking B. growing C. planting D. watering

5.A. hopeless B. important C. hopeful D. necessary

6.A. angry B. hungry C. thirsty D. comfortable

7.A. so B. though C. but D. and

8.A. watched B. knew C. harvested D. noticed

9.A. Therefore B. However C. Besides D. Also

10.A. decision B. idea C. effort D. chance

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