Plant scientists consider them as fruit. Most other people think of them as vegetables. Whatever you call tomatoes, there are many different kinds of this popular and healthy food.
There are two groups of the plants. Small tomato plants grow to about one meter. They can be planted rather close together. Some short kinds do not require special care and are often gotten crop by machines. Large tomato plants can grow over two meters tall. They also produce larger fruits.
People who grow only a few plants can place wire cages around each one. The cage can be made of wire fence material. The cage helps the plant grow taller and produce a better crop.
Tomatoes often need extra calcium (Ca), or the fruits may be ruined. Add lime to the soil can solve this problem. Dry lands may also ruin the fruits. Tomatoes need water regularly. The soil should never dry out completely. Dried grass or leaves placed around the plant can help hold water in the soil and stop the growth of unwanted plants.
Tomatoes are native to South America. The tomato is a member of the potato family. The leaves of the plant are poisonous, like the leaves of its relatives. Before the 18th century, people grew tomatoes only as pretty plants. They called the bright red fruit a “love apple”, but would not eat it.
【小题1】Which of the following is right about the small tomato plants?
A. They can grow to about 2 meters.    
B. They can’t be planted close together.
C. Some of them don’t require special care.
【小题2】People place wire cages around the plant in order to ___________.
A. protect the plant from being taken by others.
B. help the plant grow taller and produce a better crop
C. keep the plant from being eaten by animals
【小题3】The underlined word “ruin” probably means “___________”.
A. grow     B. destroy      C. stop    
【小题4】 People often give tomatoes extra calcium by ___________.
A. adding lime to the soil          B. watering the plant regularly
C. putting dried grass around the plant
【小题5】What can we learn from the passage?
A. Tomatoes are native to North America.
B. The leaves of the plant can also be eaten.
C. Americans began to eat tomatoes from the 18th century.

 

The Aborigines (澳洲土著) have lived in Australia for about 60,000 years. They painted pictures inside caves, and these are the rock paintings that have given us so much information about Aboriginal life. For example, some of the paintings that are about 10,000 years old show men with boomerangs. From this we know that the Aborigines started using boomerangs for hunting at that time. Other pictures show kangaroos, so we know that there were kangaroos at that time.

The Aborigines believed that spirits made people, animals and plants, and that these spirits still live in the earth. For Aborigines, no one can own the earth—the earth belongs to the spirits.

In 1700, there were many Aboriginal groups with a population of 750,000 all over Australia, and there were probably more than 240 different Aboriginal languages. The groups did not have a leader. Instead, things were decided by the older men in a group. People from different groups often travelled hundreds of miles to meet each other.

Aboriginal life changed when an English boat arrived in Australia in 1770. Many Aborigines were killed in the wars that they had with the English. More Europeans came, and they started taking land from the Aborigines. The Europeans also brought new illnesses that killed the Aborigines. The result is that today there are only about 300,000 Aborigines in Australia.

1.The Aborigines painted pictures       .

A. on animals’ fur          B. on the land     

C. on the tree              D. on the rock

2.What do you think the Aborigines used boomerangs to do?

   A. To paint.  B. To hunt.    C. To fight. D. To play.

3.The Aborigines thought        were the most important on the earth.

   A. people       B. animals   C. spirits      D. plants

4.In an Aboriginal group        decided things.

   A. the older men     B. the leader      

    C. the English          D. the Europeans

5.The number of the Aborigines is small today       .

   A. because their living condition was very bad

   B. because the English killed a lot of them in the wars

   C. because of the new illnesses the Europeans brought them

   D. because of the wars and the new illnesses

 

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