题目内容

Do you want to know something about the history of weather? Don't look at the sky. Don't look for old weather reports. Looking at tree rings is more important. Correct weather reports date back only one century, but some trees can provide an exact record of the weather even further back.

It is natural that a tree would grow best in a climate with plenty of sunlight and rainfall. It is also expected that little sunlight or rainfall would limit the growth of a tree. The change from a favorable to an unfavorable climate can be determined by reading the pattern of rings in a tree trunk. To find out the weather of ten years ago, count the rings of a tree trunk from the outside to the inside. If the tenth ring is far from the other rings, then it is certain that plenty of sunny and rainy weather occurred. If the rings are close together, then the climate was bad for the tree.

Studying tree rings is important not only for the history of weather, but also for the history of man. In a region of New Mexico you can find only sand--no trees and no people. However, many centuries ago a large population lived there. They left suddenly. Why?

A scientist studied patterns of dead tree rings which had grown there. He decided that the people had to leave because they had cut down all the trees. Trees were necessary to make fires and buildings. So, after the people destroyed the trees, they had to move.

In this instance studying tree rings uncovered an exciting fact about the history of man.

1.It is understood that in a favorable climate____________.

A.tree rings grow close together

B.tree rings grow far apart

C.trees in New Mexico will grow big and tall

D.people can cut down most of the trees in New Mexico

2.Why did ancient people usually live where there were plenty of trees?

A.Trees provided them with shades.

B.Trees indicated plenty of sunlight and rainfall.

C.Trees were materials for cooking and building houses.

D.Trees provided them with fruit and food.

3.Scientists are interested in studying tree rings because they can tell__________.

A.a lot about what happened in history.

B.whether a particular tree was healthy or not.

C.whether people took good care of the trees or not.

D.how old the trees were.

4.By studying the dead tree rings in Mexico the scientist found out____________.

A.where the people had to go

B.what the people had to eat

C.how the people left

D.why the people had to leave

5.The people had to leave the region of New Mexico because__________.

A.they had cut down all the trees

B.there were many trees there

C.they had no water

D.bad weather stopped the growth of trees

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When I was a boy, every holiday that I had seemed wonderful. My parents took me by train or by car to a hotel by the _______. All day, I seem to remember, I _______ on the sands with strange _______ children. We made houses and gardens, and _______ the tide(潮汐) destroy them. When the tide went out, we _______ over the rocks and looked down at the fish in the rock-pools.

In those days the sun seemed to shine always brightly and the water was always warm. Sometimes we _______ beach and walked in the country, exploring(搜寻) broken houses and dark woods and climbing trees. There were _______ in one’s pockets or good places where one could _______ ice creams. Each day seemed a life-time.

Although I am now thirty-five years old, my idea of a good _______ is much the same as it was. I ________ like the sun and warm sand and the sound of waves beating the rocks. I no longer wish to ________ any sand house or sand garden, and I dislike sweets. __________, I love the sea and often feel sand running through my fingers.

Sometimes I wonder what my ideal(理想的) holiday will be like when I am ________. All I want to do then, perhaps, will be to lie in bed, reading books about ________ who make houses and gardens with sands, who watch the incoming tide, who make themselves __________ on too many ice creams.

1.A.sea B.lake C.mountain D.river

2.A.played B.slept C.sat D.stood

3.A.moving B.excited C.anxious D.nervous

4.A.made B.brought C.watched D.heard

5.A.collected B.jumped C.turned D.climbed

6.A.left B.came to C.stood by D.played by

7.A.sweets B.sand C.ice-creams D.money

8.A.make B.sell C.buy D.offer

9.A.house B.holiday C.garden D.tide

10.A.hardly B.almost C.still D.perhaps

11.A.destroy B.fix C.use D.build

12.A.But B.However C.Otherwise D.Besides

13.A.strong B.weak C.young D.old

14.A.children B.boys C.girls D.grown-ups

15.A.happy B.tired C.sad D.sick

“What’s the name of the supermarket? I can’t remember right now.” Have you ever heard your grandparents ask questions like this sometimes? Usually, we think that older people’s memory becomes had because their brains get weak. But now a team of scientists at the University of Tubingen in Germany has a new idea. “The human brain works slower in old age,” says Michael Ramscar, the team’s lead scientist, “only because it has stored more information over time.” The findings are based on a series of computer tests related to learning and memory.

Scientists had the computers read a certain amount of words and learn new things each day. When the computer “read” a small amount of data(数据),its performance on cognitive(认知)tests was similar to that of a young adult . But if the computer took in larger amounts of data, its performance was similar to that of an older adult. Often it was slower, but not because its processing ability had dropped. Rather, increased “experience” had caused the computer’s database to grow, giving it more data to process-which takes more time. This is similar to how old people process information.

Imagine that one person knows just two people’s birthdays and can get them right each time he or she is asked. Another person knows the birthdays of 2,000 people , but can only match the right person to the right birthday 9 times out of 10. Can you say the first person has a better memory than the second person?

“The larger the library you have in your head , the longer it usually takes to find a particular word,” Benedict Carey, a science reporter for The New York Times, wrote in an article about the study.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

1.Why is the poor memory of elderly people mentioned at the beginning?

A.To lead in the discussion of memory. B.To describe the way elderly people live.

C.To express his or her care about the elderly. D.To draw the public attention to elderly people

2.How did the scientists prove (论证)the new idea?

A.By telling stories. B.By doing experiments.

C.Be making surveys. D.By listing others’ opinions.

3.What does the underlined word “it” refer to?

A.The data. B.The brain. C.The computer. D.The information.

4.The example in Paragraph 3 shows ___________.

A.Memorizing birthdays is easy B.the first person has a better memory

C.Who has a better memory is uncertain D.the second person can memorize 10% birthdays

5.What does the text mainly tell us ?

A.How computers process data. B.How to improve the memory.

C.Old people can remember things easily. D.Much information makes the brain slower.

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