题目内容
What’s the Matter with Kids Today?
Dear Michelle,
Why can’t my daughter manage her life better? She is 17 and a top student, but she seems to be wasting her life away with a boyfriend who is holding her back. He uses up every waking minute of her precious time and smooth-talk(对花言巧语) her as well.
His goal is to get her to agree to go to the college of his choice, not her choice, and because his grades are lower, his choices will be limited.
I want to save her, but she pushes me away and shuts me out. She has only brought us pride and joy, and now this! Help!
A worried mother
Dear Mother of a 17-year-old girl,
“Hmm…. What’s the matter with kids today?” Remember that song from Bye Bye Birdie?
Well, if you do not, let me fill you in about teenagers and their life-management skills. Do not expect too much too soon because at the young age of 17, life-management is not within their reach, nor should it be. Both the conditions and the skills for life-management result from life experience, and if management goes before experience there would be little of it.
Your daughter is a top student for good reasons. She is smart and studies with intelligence and you have given her good values.
When the time comes for her to choose her college, and she visits the ones that were designed for students at the top of their game, she will most probably break away from her boyfriend’s influence.
Few top students would change their life path just because of puppy love(早恋).
That being said, there might be some childish wisdom in what she is doing after all.
Perhaps she is choosing to worry you, her parents, for the reason that she does not know herself. Being such a good girl and being always a source of joy might have become a bit too much for her.
Let your daughter have her own private moment of 11th grade rebellion. It’s not unreasonable for her to break from perfection.
Michelle
56. From the mother’s letter we know that the 17-year-old girl ____.
A. is staying with the boy day and night B. wants to stay with the boy at college
C. is falling behind in her studies D. does not like to talk with her mother
57. According to Michelle, a 17-year-old girl is too young to ____.
A. fall in love B. have life-management skills
C. fail life-management problems D. experience anything
58. Michelle seems to believe the 17-year-old girl will finally ____.
A. come up with the right decision B. be persuaded by her boyfriend
C. take her mother’s advice D. make her boyfriend follow her choice
59. By saying “childish wisdom”, Michelle means the girl might be trying to show her parents that she _____.
A. has become tired of studying hard B. can’t be always obeying them
C. likes her boyfriend very much D. is always perfect
For photographers lacking training, experience and even the ability to click a shutter button, they produce remarkable pictures.Under the sea, deep in the woods and high in the sky, furry, feathery and leathery-skinned creatures are opening up vistas(远景)by taking cameras where no human can go.
This is the world of animal-borne imagine celebrated last month at a conference sponsored(supported) by the National Geographic Society for the 20th anniversary of its Crittercam, the device that started it all.
Since its debut(首次公开露面)in 1987 on the back of a turtle, the Crittercam and similar devices developed by others have grown smaller and more powerful.
“It’s more than just a camera now,” said Greg Marshall, the marine biologist and now filmmaker who invented the Crittercam.“We are now including more instruments to gather more data while at the same time reducing everything in size.”
The idea of attaching video cameras to animals came to Mr.Marshall in 1986 on a dive off Belize when a shark apporached him.When the animal quickly turned away, he noticed a shark with a sucker fish on its belly.He came up with the idea that putting a camera in place of the sucker fish would allow people to witness the shark’s behavior without disturbing it.
Crittercams have been attached to sharks, sea lions and other marine animals, and, more recently, to land animals.
Birds are a new addition, Mr.Marshall said.Dr.Christian Rutz of Oxford recently reported on tiny cameras called feathercams that monitor the crows in the South Pacific.It has discovered that crows are smarter than anyone knew they not only use twigs(嫩枝)and grass stems as tools to root out food, but they also save their favorite tools to use again.
Tracey L.Rogers, director of the Australian Marine Mammal Research Center in Sydney, said crittercam was a powerful tool in her work with leopard seals(豹斑海豹)in Antarctica.“In studying animals,” Dr.Rogers said at the meeting, “you want to see how our animal models align(与……一致)with reality.With a camera, you actually see what they do.You don’t have to guess.”
【小题1】What’s the text mainly about?
A.The advantages of crittercam. |
B.The development of Crittercams in the past 20 years. |
C.How crittercam was invented. |
D.How crittercam works. |
A.The sight of sucker fish clinging to a shark on a dive. |
B.The thought of how to photograph animals better. |
C.Noticing a shark eating a sucker fish on a dive. |
D.Seeing a shark with a camera on its belly on a dive. |
A.can clear up all your doubts about animals |
B.is the most powerful tool in studying animals |
C.enabled her to observe the crows in the South Pacific closely |
D.helped a lot with her research on leopard seals in Antarctica |
A.the size is becoming smaller |
B.more instruments are involved to gather more data |
C.they allow researchers to see where and how animals live |
D.they are able to be applied to smaller animals such as birds |
Researchers in Britain are driving the environmental movement to a new level. A team from the University of Warwick has built what it calls the world’s first completely environmentally friendly Formula Three racing car.
The car is made mainly of renewable materials, like plants and vegetables. The structure around the car is made from natural plant fibers and potatoes. The steering wheel(方向盘) is made from root vegetables like carrots. The engine uses bio-fuel made from vegetable oil and waste chocolate.
The new racing car is extremely fast. The car has a top speed of two hundred fifteen kilometers an hour. And it can go from zero to ninety-five kilometers an hour in just two and a half seconds. The racing car meets all of the Formula Three racing requirements except for its biodiesel(生物柴油) engine.
Automobile racing is one of the most widely watched sports in the world. But it is also considered one of the least friendly sports to the environment. Racing cars burn a lot of fuel, and create a lot of air pollution. In recent years, the racing industry has taken steps to protect the environment. More racing companies are now producing cars that use less energy. These cars produce less pollution than cars that depend on traditional fuel, like gasoline.
Last month, the new racing car was set to run in its first competitive race at the Formula Three Championship Final at Brands Hatch. It would have been the first biodiesel-powered car to race at Formula Three. Current Formula Three rules let only gasoline-powered car to compete. Officials needed permission from all of the Formula Three racers for the biodiesel-powered car to compete. They were unable to contact one of the drivers, so the new racing car didn’t appear in the event. In test runs, the new racing car was the fifth fastest among the Formula Three race cars. Supporters are hoping to have the fuel problem solved in time to compete in the next season.
【小题1】. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?
A.What materials the new racing car is made of. |
B.Why researchers built the new racing car. |
C.The characteristics of the new racing car. |
D.The process of the new racing car being designed. |
requirements.
A.speed | B.appearance | C.weight | D.engine |
A.the new racing car is the first environmentally friendly car |
B.automobile racing could be forbidden in the near future |
C.many people like to watch automobile racing |
D.the new racing car will be allowed to compete in the next season of Formula Three racing |
A.burn more fuel | B.go more quickly |
C.produce less pollution | D.cost less money |
A.Because the new racing car still needs testing. |
B.Because officials needed each racer’s permission but failed to contact one. |
C.Because there’re some technical problems to be solved. |
D.Because few drivers think it is fast enough. |