题目内容
Their belief is proved by the fact that the death penalty prevents murder.
A. that B. which
C. what D. the fact that
D
The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, “city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar (祭坛) flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia.
It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians’ idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame(驯养的)rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn’t get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix!
Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites (虱) which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in resurrection.
Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains.
【小题1】 According to the passage, the phoenix _________ .
| A.is a handsome and eagle-like bird living in Arab |
| B.used to be seen when the Egyptians held religious activities |
| C.has never really existed in the world |
| D.is the king of all kinds of birds |
| A.the phoenix used to do so | B.they may get rid of the mites |
| C.they want to burn their feather | D.they can heat themselves |
| A.The ancient Egyptians worshiped the phoenix. |
| B.The scientists have discovered why birds are attracted by fire. |
| C.The modern people still favor the idea of the phoenix. |
| D.The mythical tales about the phoenix were based on facts. |
| A.living forever | B.offering warmth |
| C.coming back to life | D.staying healthy |
| A.Our company can protect you from being harmed by fire. |
| B.If your property is destroyed by fire, we will help you build it up again. |
| C.Our company will always be energetic and wealthy. |
| D.If needed, we will save you at the risk of losing lives. |
There have been big changes in the attitudes of most parents over the last few years. Physical punishment is banned in schools in most countries, and in many countries, there are moves to ban all physical punishment of children even at home. However, many parents still believe that they have the right to use some physical punishments to deal with certain misbehavior at certain ages.
It’s easy to find reasons to allow some physical punishments. One issue is that many parents find it very difficult to abandon physical punishment completely. Parents argue that this was the way they were brought up and that it didn’t do any harm to them. They believe that for the child’s sake they have the right to discipline the child in any way they consider fit, including using some physical punishments. The other one is that physical punishment can be quick and effective. There is not much point reasoning with a screaming child in the supermarket.
However, there are several reasons why we should stop using physical punishment. One point is that most parents are not trained to deal with misbehaving children. They don’t have enough resources or choices to handle the situation. As a result, they immediately react by hitting the child even if there are other solutions to the problem. Another point is that unless people are challenged or forced to change their belief, they may keep following negative habits. An example is seat belt use —now most people wear seat belts without thinking, while years ago the idea of using seat belts was strange to most people. In the same way, banning physical punishment will force people to change their habits.
In conclusion, parents have to change some of their belief and ideas about how children should be raised. It is possible to avoid the use of physical force, and doing so will help us move closer to the dream of removing violence from our society.
【小题1】According to the first paragraph, many parents think that ____________.
| A.they are free to use physical punishment on their children |
| B.most of the children behave badly in their daily life |
| C.they have changed their attitudes towards their children |
| D.physical punishment is effective to educate their children |
| A.they are disappointed with their children |
| B.they were brought up just in the same way |
| C.they don’t want to hurt their children badly |
| D.they don’t know what to do with their children |
| A.most people are used to wearing seat belts |
| B.it’s not difficult to change some negative habits |
| C.seat belts are really very necessary and useful |
| D.people won’t change their old habits unless forced |
| A.talk about a ban on using physical punishment |
| B.tell us we should educate our children in other ways |
| C.advise parents to give up using physical punishment |
| D.suggest physical punishment should be used at home |