题目内容
____ the 1990s, the number of antelopes had fallen to about 50,000.
| A．During | B．Since | C．By | D．Over |
C
解析试题分析：考查时态与介词的连用。本题的根据是后面句中的时态had fallen，在四个选项中只有by可以和完成时连用，by到…时为止；与完成时连用，如果后面是现在的时间，就使用现在完成时，如果后面是过去的时间，就使用过去完成时，如果后面是将来的时间，就使用将来完成时。句意：到20世纪90年代，羚羊的数量下降到5万只。故C项正确。
考点：考查时态和介词的连用
点评：介词by到…时为止；与完成时连用，如果后面是现在的时间，就使用现在完成时，如果后面是过去的时间，就使用过去完成时，如果后面是将来的时间，就使用将来完成时。
_______ by thick bamboo and high forest, the ancient city hadn’t been discovered until the 1990s.
| A．Surrounding | B．Surround |
| C．Surrounded | D．Having surrounded |
Chicken feathers are useful, and not just to a chicken. Some go into pillows, coats and other products. But countless chicken feathers go to waste.
In the United States, billions of chickens are produced yearly. Most of their feathers are thrown away.
But instead of being buried in land, some feathers could find a future in plastics（塑料）.
One of the products they have developed is a flowerpot（花盆）. It may look like other flowerpots. But the container breaks down in the earth within one to five years. And as it breaks down, it naturally becomes nutrient（营养物） in the soil.
The environmentally friendly flowerpot is the work of two researchers. Walter Schmidt is with the Agricultural Research Service, part of the United States Agriculture Department. Masud Huda is with the Horticultural Research Institute, a private（私人） organization（组织）.
Walter Schmidt has been working to find uses for chicken feathers since the 1990s. Progress in 2002 showed that plastic made from feathers could be formed like other plastics.
He says feathers are much stronger and last（持续） longer than another plant material. "Feathers are stronger. By design, feathers are also more durable（耐用的）. And the other part about it is if feathers were twice as heavy, or half as strong, then birds couldn't fly."
He points out that traditional flowerpots made from other plastics can last much longer. But he wonders if there is really a need. He says most flowerpots are never re-used.
"Why would you want a plastic that you use for a year to last for two hundred years? It makes no sense. You want to match the product with the use." said Walter Schmidt.
Walter Schmidt and Masud Huda are now adding another chicken product to their flowerpots -- chicken waste. The waste will add more nutrients to the soil as the pot breaks down. The scientists say they hope their flowerpot will be on the market in a year or two.
【小题1】What do people mainly deal with feathers?
| A．Feathers are used to make pillows, coats and other products. |
| B．Most feathers are paid no attention to. |
| C．Most feathers are used as nutrient |
| D．Most feathers are used to make flowerpots |
| A．They won’t last long. | B．They can’t break |
| C．They are environmentally friendly | D．They can be reused |
| A．Too heavy | B．Too old |
| C．Never re-used | D．lasting longer but unnecessary |
| A．Chicken and its feathers | B．How to deal with feathers |
| C．feathers made into flowerpot | D．New flowerpots |
The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad (一度时髦的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” — and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer — which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet — adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and the UK — that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version of The Independent newspaper was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of The Independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, former head of the Language Center at King’s College London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBCMagazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now associated with portability (轻便).” Adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western world is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBCMagazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the trend unavoidably disappeared.
【小题1】People use iPlayer to _________.
| A．listen to music | B．make a call |
| C．watch TV programs online | D．read newspapers |
| A．young readers | B．old readers |
| C．fashionable women | D．engineers |
| A．portable | B．environmentally friendly |
| C．advanced | D．recyclable |
| A．“i” products are often of high quality |
| B．iTeddy is a living bear |
| C．the letter “b” replaces the letter “i” to name the products |
| D．the popularity of “i” products may not last long |