When milk arrived on the doorstep
When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn’t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note----“Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery”----and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn’t freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, I saw an old milk box in the countryside. I took it home and planted it on the back porch (门廊). Every so often my son’s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
【小题1】Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer____.

A.to show his magical power
B.to pay for the delivery
C.to satisfy his curiosity
D.to please his mother
【小题2】What does “this” in the third paragraph refer to?
A.The milkman’s magic power
B.The milkman’s kindness to me
C.The note to change an order
D.The home delivery service
【小题3】What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy’s house?
A.He wanted to have tea there.
B.He was a respectable person.
C.He was treated as a family member.
D.He was fully trusted by the family.
【小题4】Why does home milk delivery no longer exist?
A.Nobody wants to be a milkman now.
B.It has been driven out of the market.
C.Its service is getting poor.
D.It is forbidden by law.
【小题5】Why did the author bring back home an old milk box?
A.He missed the good old days.
B.He wanted to tell interesting stories.
C.He missed it for his milk bottles.
D.He planted flowers in it.


Botany, the study of plants, occupies a special position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest (含糊的) of insight. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must extremely ancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things, even for other plants. They have always been enormously important to the welfare of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, eyes, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognized accurately hundreds of plants and know many properties of each. To them, botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of knowledge at all.
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer productions the next season, the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture; cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the built up knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and close relationship with plants in the wild would begin fade away.
1. Which of the following statements about early humans is expressed in the passage?
A. They probably had extensive knowledge of plants.    
B. They thought there was no need to cultivate crops.     
C. They did not enjoy the study of botany.      
D. They placed great importance on the ownership of property.
2. What does the comment “This is logical.” In the first paragraph mean?
A. There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor’s knowledge of plants.           
B. It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants.
C. It is reasonable to assume that our ancestors behaved very much like people in pre-industrial societies.       
D. Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed.
3. According to the passage, why has general knowledge of botany begun to fade?
A. People no longer value plants as a useful resource.       
B. Botany is not recognized as a special branch of science.
C. Research is unable to keep up with the increasing numbers of plants.
D. Direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased.
4. In the second paragraph, what is the author’s purpose in mentioning “ a rose, an apple, or an orchid”?
A. To make the passage more poetic.
B. To give an example of plant that are attractive.
C. To give botanical examples that all readers will recognize.
D. To explain the variety of botanical life.
5. According to the passage, what was the first great step toward the practice of agriculture?
A. The invention of agricultural tools and machinery.       
B. The development of a system of names for plants.
C. The discovery of grasses that could be harvested and replanted.         
D. The changing diets of early humans.   

Botany (植物学) , the study of plants, occupies a particular position in the history of human knowledge.For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest (模糊的)) of insights.It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient.This is logical.Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants.They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food but also for clothing, tools, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes.Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each.To them, botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all.

Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge grows.Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple.When nor Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer fields the next season—the first, great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken.Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture: cultivated crops.From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild, and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.

1.What does the writer mean when he says "This is logical" in the first paragraph?

    A.Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed.

    B.It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants.

    C.There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor's knowledge of plant.

    D.It is reasonable to assume our ancestors behave much like people in pre-industrial societies.

2.According to the passage, general knowledge of botany begun to fade away because ____.

    A.people no longer value plants as a useful resource

    B.direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased

    C.botany is not recognized as a special branch of science

    D.research is unable to keep up with the increasing number of plants

3.We learn that the first great step toward the practice of agriculture is____.

    A.the changing diets of early humans

    B.the development of a system of names for plants

    C.the invention of agricultural implements (工具) and machinery

    D.the discovery of certain grasses that could be harvested and replanted

4.Human would depend on the controlled production of a few plants for living with

    A.the knowledge of plants                     

B.the discovery of certain grasses

    C.the development of machinery           

D.the appearance of agriculture

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网