We’ve talked about snails (蜗牛) and their slow move. But much of the time snails don’t move at all. They’re in their shells (壳) —sleeping .

Hot sun will dry out a snail’s body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into its shell and closes the opening with a thin cover .Then it goes to sleep. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So whenever it rains, it goes inside its shell house and goes to sleep. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It can take a short sleep. Or it can sleep for days at a time. And it spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.

In spring the snail wakes up .Its body, about three inches long, comes out of from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. It can’t see very well. Its eyes, at the ends of the top feelers (触角)are very weak . But its sense of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to the new greens. Then the snail’s little mouth goes to work.

A snail’s mouth is no longer than the point of a pin(针). Yet it has 256,000 teeth! The teeth are so small that you can’t see them. But they do their work. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out. And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.

Mostly, a snail looks for food at night. But on cloudy days it eats in the daytime. It eats all day long. A snail can go on eating for hours and never feel full.

1.A snail ______________.

A. doesn’t move B. has thousands of feet at all

C. sleeps much of the time D. moves more slowly in the daytime

2.In the sentence “A snail draws its body into its shell” the word “draw” means ____________.

A. to make with a pen B. to keep away from

C. to pull D. to move to end

3.From the story we know ______________.

A. the snail’s shell is very thin B. a snail can’t see well

C. the snail’s nose is quite short D. the snail’s body changes in different seasons

4.A snail goes to sleep when ______________.

A. it feels hungry B. it is put in a paper box

C. spring is coming D. it rains heavily

5.Which of the following is not true?

A. The snail’s teeth can’t be worn out.

B. In winter the snail doesn’t eat or move

C. A snail doesn’t like living under the sun

D. The snail’s strong sense of smell helps to find things far away.

Simple things that are super complex

● Defining (定义) the word “the” is really difficult.

The word “the” is one of the most common words in the English language and most of us have probably never stopped to think about how strange of a word it actually is. A dictionary lists more than twenty different ways the word can be used in a sentence correctly, which makes an exact definition of the word much more difficult to explain.

● There’s no theory (理论) accepted by everyone on how bikes work.

Bicycles have existed (存在) for over 100 years, and scientists have been discussing about how exactly they work, or more specifically, how they stay upright, almost since they were first invented. But there’s no exact answer to it. And because bicycle dynamics (动态) isn’t exactly an area of science into which researchers like to spend time, it’s highly impossible that we’ll know for sure anytime soon.

● Yawning (打哈欠)

Yawning is a puzzling phenomenon (现象). Even that act of talking about it is simple enough to make some people do it. There is really no other bodily function quite like it. In fact, there is no theory for we yawn, which is agreed upon by everyone. As for why yawning is contagious (传染), no one knows that either.

阅读以上信息,用恰当的词完成下面的表格,每空一词。

The word “the”

● It is one of the most words in English language, most of us 1. on thinking about the word.

● There are 2. twenty different ways of its usage in the dictionary, it is still difficult to make an exact definition of this word.

Bicycle

● Bicycle have existed for over 100 years and have been 3. how exactly they work.

● Researchers don’t like to spend time on how bicycles and 4. react to each other.

Yawning

● It’s a puzzling phenomenon which is simple enough to make some people do while talking about it.

● No other bodily function is like yawning.

● No one knows the 5. — why yawning is contagious.

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