One of the most famous travelers in history was Marco Polo. At the age of 17, he left Italy with his father and uncle. It took them more than three years to cross the mountains of Asia. In the year 1275, they reached China. They stayed in China for almost 20 years and went to many places. They were very surprised at what they saw. China was a country far more advanced than Italy or any other countries in Europe.

After he returned to Italy, Marco Polo told many of his stories to a friend. His book, Description of the World, became the most popular book in Europe. People found it difficult to believe his stories of people, animals, places and things. They were so different from Europe at that time. These are a few of Marco's descriptions.

In one area of China, there were black stones. People dug them out of the mountains. They burned very slowly. People used them to cook and keep their homes warm.

The Chinese people were also very clean. In every town, there were many public baths. Everyone bathed at least three times a week. Rich families built baths in their homes and bathed every day.

China was one of the first countries to use paper money.

On one of his trips in the south of China, Marco Polo saw a strange animal which lived along the rivers. It looked like a large piece of wood and was more than ten feet long. In the front, it had two small legs. Its eyes were very large. Its mouth was big enough to eat a man and its teeth were long.

Most people believed Marco Polo's stories. But others told him that they did not believe his descriptions. He answered that he did not tell half of what he saw in his book.

1．According to the passage, Marco Polo ________.

A．came to China in the fourteenth century

B．lived in Asia before he came to China

C．left China in about 1285

D．was about 40 years old when he left China

2．The reason why Marco Polo's book became the most popular book in Europe may be________.

A．his book was very cheap so most people could afford it

B．the stories in the book were very interesting because European people never heard of them

C．many people wanted to know whether the stories in the book were true or not

D．the book was very easy to understand

3．The strange animal described in Marco Polo's book________.

A．had large eyes and lived in the mountains

B．had long legs and lived in the rivers

C．had very big mouth and lived along the rivers

D．had very long teeth and lived in the forests

4．Which of the following is NOT true?

A．In the thirteenth century, there were not many or even no baths in European towns.

B．Chinese people began to use coal to cook and give off heat in the thirteenth century.

C．Chinese people used paper money earlier than European people.

D．European people knew the animal that Marco Polo described in his book.

If the eyes are the romantic’s window into the soul, then the teeth are an anthropologist’s ( 人类学家 ) door to the stomach.

   In a study published last month in the journal Science, Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas and his partner, Matt Sponheimer of the University of Colorado, US, examined the teeth of our early human ancestors to find out what they were really eating.

   They already knew that different foods cause different marks on teeth. Some cause scratches, while others cause pits (坑).The carbon left on teeth by different foods is also different. Tropical grasses, for example, leave one kind of carbon, but trees leave another kind because they photosynthesized ( 光合作用 ) differently.

   Traditionally, scientists had looked at the size and shape of teeth and skulls ( 头骨 ) to figure out what early humans ate. Big flat teeth were taken to be signs that they ate nuts and seeds, while hard and sharp teeth seemed good for cutting meat and leaves. But this was proven wrong.

   The best example was the Paranthropus (傍人), one of our close cousins, some of which lived in eastern Africa. Scientists used to believe Paranthropus ate nuts and seeds because they had big crests(突起)on their skulls, suggesting they had large chewing muscles and big teeth. If this had been true, their teeth should have been covered with pits like the surface of the moon. They would also have had a particular type of carbon on their teeth that typically comes from tree products, such as nuts and seeds.

   However, when the two scientists studied the Paranthroupus, it turned out to have none of these characteristics. The teeth had a different kind of carbon, and were covered with scratches, not pits. This suggests they probably ate grass, not nuts and fruit stones. It was the exact opposite of what people had expected to find.

   Carbon “foodprints” give us a completely new and different insight into what different species ate and the different environments they lived in. If a certain species had the kind of carbon on its teeth that came from grasses, it probably lived in a tropical grassland, for example.

1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 probably means that _____.

A. anthropologists can study the structure of human stomachs by studying their teeth.

B. anthropologists can study the diet of early humans by studying their teeth

C. anthropologists can learn whether humans were healthy by looking at their teeth

D. anthropologists can get the most useful information about humans from their teeth

2.According to Paragraph 3 to 5, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Scratches on teeth are caused by eating nuts or seeds.

B. Pits on teeth are caused by eating grass or leaves.

C. Early humans with hard and sharp teeth ate meat and leaves.

D. Different foods leave different marks and carbon on teeth.

3.The example of the Paranthropus was mentioned in the article in order to _____.

A. tell readers that they are one of our close cousins living in eastern Africa

B. tell readers they had different eating habits from modern humans

C. prove that size and shape of skulls does not show accurately what early humans ate

D. tell readers that living environment makes a difference to skull structure

August was one of the nastiest months I can remember: torrential rain; a hailstorm or two; cold, bitter winds; and mists. But we are accustomed to such weather in England. Lord Byron used to say that an English summer begins on July 31 and ends on Aug. 1. He called 1816 "the year without a summer." He spent it gazing across Lake Geneva, watching the storms, with 18-year-old Mary Shelley. The lightening flickering across the lake inspired her Frankenstein, the tale of the man-made monster galvanized into life by electricity.
This summer's atrocious weather tempted me to tease a Green whom I know. "Well, what about your weather theory now?" (One of the characteristics of Greens is that they know no history.) He replied: "Yes, this weather is unprecedented. England has never had such an August before. It's global warming, of course." That's the Greens' stock response to anything weather-related. Too much sun? "Global warming." Too little sun? "Global warming." Drought? "Global warming." Floods? "Global warming." Freezing cold? "Global warming."
I wish the great philosopher Sir Karl Popper were alive to denounce the unscientific nature of global warming. He was a student when Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was first published and then successfully tested. Einstein said that for his theory to be valid it would have to pass three tests. "If," Einstein wrote to British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington, "it were proved that this effect does not exist in nature, then the whole theory would have to be abandoned."
The idea that human beings have changed and are changing the basic climate system of the Earth through their industrial activities and burning of fossil fuels--the essence of the Greens' theory of global warming--has not much basis in science. Global warming, like Marxism, is a political theory of actions, demanding compliance with its rules.
Those who buy in to global warming wish to drastically curb human economic and industrial activities, regardless of the consequences for people, especially the poor. If the theory's conclusions are accepted and agreed upon, the destructive results will be felt most severely in those states that adhere to the rule of law and will observe restrictions most faithfully. The global warming activists' target is the U.S. If America is driven to accept crippling restraints on its economy it will rapidly become unable to shoulder its burdens as the world's sole superpower and ultimate defender of human freedoms. We shall all suffer, however, as progress falters and then ceases and living standards decline.
【小题1】 The writer of the passage is probably _______.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.

However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon① in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices② and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man. Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spikane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.

When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental③. Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad.

Notes:

① sermon  v.  布道

② sacrifices  n.  牺牲

③ sentimental  adj.  感伤的

1. The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______.

  A. many people celebrate the day                B. only America celebrates the day

  C. America makes it an official day              D. all men are honored in America

2. At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______.

  A. Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday

  B. Sonora’s birthday was June 19

  C. it was decided by the president at that time

  D. her mother died on June 19

3. How many years has passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?

  A. 4     B. 10      C. 14     D. 24

4. According to the passage, on Father’s Day,  ______.

  A. people will wear the same flowers to honor their fathers

  B. only daughters wear red flowers to honor their fathers

  C. children must go home to honor their fathers

  D. fathers are often honored in different ways

5. According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______.

  A. was very kind to anyone

  B. did a lot for his daughter

  C. was the first father honored in 1924

  D. always help others by giving money

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children．On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special．

However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington．A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909．Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her．It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices（牺牲） and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man．Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spikane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910．

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day．Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died．

When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card．Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental（伤感的）．Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them．Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child need Dad．

1.The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______．

A．many people celebrate the day                           B．only America celebrates the day

C．America makes it an official day                D．all men are honored in America

2.At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______．

A．Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday

B．Sonora’s birthday was June 19

C．it was decided by the president at that time

D．her mother died on June 19

3.How many years has passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?

A．4                                          B．10                                        C．14                               D．24

4.According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______．

A．was very kind to anyone

B．was the first father honored in 1924

C．did a lot for his daughter

D．always help others by giving money