题目内容
Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.
The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, did you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way around. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the monring and sets at night.
Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.
Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of the lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(间隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they were to the actual spark(闪光).
46. Accodring to the author, in the area of the Central Valley____.
A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning.
B. it is usually dry in April
C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders.
D. parents are not interested in thunder an lightning.
47. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because_______.
A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood.
B. we are taken in by our sense of vision.
C. it is a common natural sight.
D. it is a truth proved by science.
48. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?
A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.
B. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.
C. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.
D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.
49. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s) _____.
A. cloud B. lightning strikes C. lightning flashes D. thunderstorms
50. It can be concluded from the passage that _______.
A. we should not believe what we see or hear.
B. things moving downward are more noticeable.
C. people sometimes may have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena.
D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena.
Think back to this time last year. What was on your mind?
Most likely, you were thinking about finals or the holidays, although in this city I’ve noticed that thinking about the holiday is a fancy way of saying how much stuff will I get.
Now reflect on your thoughts for this holiday season. Most people are still thinking about the holidays, but I say that with a grain of salt. Everybody with a functioning brain and the ability to communicate knows that this holioday season comes with a pretty large price tag: the debt of all the hardships, both domestic and foreign, that we’ve faced over the past 12months.
Let’s face it: some of us will get everything we want over the holidays. But there are others whose parents have lost their jobs or who have lost jobs themselves because of the current economic situation. As much as we try to ignore it, there is still economic unrest in the blue and gold suburb.
In this situation, we have three options. One: We ignore the situation, like we seem to do for every bad thing that happens around us, because by God, it’s the American Way! Two: We recognize that our economy is shot, feel bad about it and spend our time wishing for the good old days. Three: We recognize that our economy is shot, but instead of moping, reflect on every good thing that we have going for us. Now, which option sounds best to you?
I spent a week this summer working in and around New York City with the city’s homeless population. Or so I thought. Although a lot of the people I served were in fact homeless, a significant number of them had a job or a home or both. The truth of the importance of this situation is that they and thousands of others across the country can’t afford even the most basic things of life, even while working two jobs. Yet no one that I met complained about their hardships. Instead, they took whatever I happened to give them(which was, more often than enough, not enough) and were genuinely grateful for what they had.
Wrap your heads around that statement for a second. These people worked their butts off to stay alive with minimal results, yet were overjoyed by a flimsy(脆弱的) paper plate with donated green beans on it. Although I am ashamed to admit it( both as a girthy figure and an affluent citizen), I have taken for granted most of my meals, let alone green beans, and I know for a fact that I am not alone.
64. 【小题1】According to the passage when people think about holidays they care much for ____.
| A．where to spend their holidays | B．how to spend their holidays |
| C．what they can get for their holidays | D．who they should go to visit |
| A．began to go bad. | B．began to improve | C．was still serious | D．was favorable for middle class. |
| A．to be thankful in time of hardship. | B．to spend their holidays in a wise way |
| C．to think little about their holidays | D．to help the country to sail through the crisis |
| A．a homeless child | B．an old professor | C．a famous scientist | D．a young student |
B. in complete silenceLife gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter where you live—in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aero planes, transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc. are almost everywhere.We seem to be getting used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.
Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very frightening experience for human beings. However, some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to their eardrums(耳鼓).The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.
One recent report about noise and concentration(专心) suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration, what really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example) may even help people to concentrate.
【小题1】The best title for this passage is __________.
| A．Noisy Life | B．Background Noise | C．Disturbed Concentration | D．Changeable Noise |
| A．doesn’t matter much | B．has become worse everywhere |
| C．has become better in big cities | D．has become better in villages |
| A．music played in the concert | B．a kind of noise coming into your ears |
| C．music helps people to concentrate | D．music played while people are working |
| A．while they are in completely silence | B．while they are dancing violently |
| C．while they are listening to pop music | D．while they are listening to soft music |
| A．any kind of noise | B．great changes in level of noise |
| C．background noise | D．various background music |