题目内容
Why does night fall but never break and day break but never fall?
Why are people who ride motorcycles called bikers and people who ride bikes called cyclists?
In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway?
In what other language do they call the third hand on the clock the second hand?
Let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible; but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
According to the passage ______.
A. sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things
B. there should be egg in an eggplant
C. pineapples are the apples on the pine tree
D. boxing rings should be round
Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
A. A wise man and a wise guy.
B. Overlook and oversee.
C. Quite a lot and quite a few.
D. Hot as hell and cold as hell.
The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “______”.
A. blow B. roll up C. get hurt D. finish
Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
A. clever B. crazy C. lazy D. dull
【小题1】A【小题1】C【小题1】D【小题1】A
解析:
略
Last spring, members of Alaska’s Troop 34, based in Fairbanks, trudged (跋涉) out into the snowy wilderness to take part in their state’s Take a Kid Trapping program. In many parts of the state, beavers （海狸）are pests and need to be controlled.
The 10－to－12－year－old girls found out where beavers lived, set traps, and skinned the two animals they caught. The girls hope to catch ten more beavers so that the entire troop can make mittens and hats with the fur. They also want to cook beaver meat.
Troop leaders and members say the Scouts are doing a good deed by helping control the state’s beaver population. But animal－rights activists say trapping is cruel. They want the Girl Scouts to stop in their tracks.
Beavers aren’t only causing a problem in Alaska. Residents in Sampson County, N.C., have turned to a local committee to help them battle the growing beaver population there.
County landowners are frustrated after the county spent more than $ 50,000 in eight years trying to reduce the beaver population through a government program. The joint state and federal program included paying money to trappers for every beaver carcass they trapped.
Many local residents say that the program didn’t work because there were too few trappers. That’s why the county set up its own committee to investigate other ways to control the area’s beaver population.
The county will rely on its own beaver－trapping program. It has hired a trapper to set traps in various areas. The county will pay $10 for every beaver carcass.
Why do many people say that beavers are a nuisance? For beavers to survive, they need lots of water. Water provides the large rodent （啮齿动物）with a place to hide from meat – eating animals. Beavers also store food underwater for the winter. When there’s not enough water in a particular area, beavers get busy building dams.
Beaver dams can cause major flooding and damage to the surrounding countryside as the animals cut down trees to use in their construction projects. Beavers build canals to transport heavy objects.
【小题1】What is Alaska’s Troop 34?
| A．A team of the Boy Scouts. | B．An army. |
| C．A team of the Girl Scouts. | D．A sports team. |
| A．To fulfill their task. |
| B．To sell them for money. |
| C．To get enough fur. |
| D．To exchange them for mittens and hats. |
| A．Sampson County has to find a new way to control the beaver population there. |
| B．The government program in Sampson County has proved to be a success. |
| C．The local government has controlled the number of beavers in the County. |
| D．More and more trappers now start to set traps in Sampson County. |
| A．cause damage to dams |
| B．block up canals with heavy objects. |
| C．do great harm to construction projects. |
| D．badly damage the environment and cause floods. |
