The Royal Horticultural Society(RHS) finds that women gardeners’ voices speed up the growth of tomato plants much more than men’s.

In an experiment, the researchers found that tomato plants grew up to two inches taller if they were sung to by a female rather than a male.

The most effective voice came from Sarah Darwin, whose great-great grandfather was the botanist(植物学家) Charles Darwin, one of the founding fathers of the RHS.

She read a passage from the On the Origin of Species and beat nine other ‘voices’. Her plant grew nearly two inches taller than the best performing male and half an inch higher than her nearest competitor.

Colin Crosbie, Garden Manager at the RHS, said, “We predicted that the male voice would be more effective but it turned out that the ladies’ voice was far better than the gentlemen’s. We just don’t know why. It could be because they have a greater range of pitch(高音) and tone(音色) that affects the sound waves that hit the plant.The sound wave is on environmental effect just like rain or light.”

In the experiment, every plant was played a different voice through earphones connected to the plant pot, and the environmental conditions for all the plants remained the same throughout the experiment. To ensure that the results of the experiment were convincing, two plants were also left to grow in silence.

The results showed that women on average saw their plants grow an inch taller than their male counterparts(对手) and much more than the plants left in complete silence.

Miss Darwin said, “I’m not sure if it’s my sweet tones or the text that I read from On the Origin of Species that made the plant sit up and listen, but either way, I think it is an honor to have such a voice, and it is especially fitting for me, because for years I have been studying wild tomatoes at the Natural History Museum(NHM) in London.”

 60. How many tomato plants were chosen for this experiment?

    A. 9.       B. 10.            C. 11.    D.12.

 61. What can we learn about Sarah Darwin?

    A.She is very proud of her sweet voice..       

B. She is one of the founding fathers of the RHS.

    C. She has discovered why her voice benefits plants.

    D. She will work at the NHM in London after the experiment.

 62. Why were two plants left to grow in silence in the experiment?

    A. To make the results of the experiment trustworthy.

    B. To convince people that sound waves are better than rain and light.

    C. To help find out how many inches plants can grow with the help of voices.

     D. To prove that the environmental conditions for the plants remained the same.

 63. What can be inferred from the passage?

    A. The text from On the Origin of Species can help plants grow..    

    B. Sarah’s nearest competitor was also a woman..

    C.Men’s voices have a greater range of pitch and tone than women’s..

    D.Colin Crosbie predicted that women’s voices were better for the plant than men’s.

第三部分:阅读理解(共20题;每小题1.5分,满分30分)

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项中,选出最佳选项。

From age eight to eleven, I attended a small school in Bath, England. It was a small school of four classes with about twenty-five children in each class according to age. For the most part, one teacher had to teach all subjects to the children in the class. However, sometimes the headmaster, Mr. Ronald Broaches, would come in and spend an hour or so, teaching some subjects in which he was especially interested. He was a large man with a very happy nature. He had a sense of humor and would delight in telling the children small stories that would make us laugh. He was a very fair man and had a great influence on many of the children. In my own case, I found that he took great interest in me and he quickly found that I enjoyed puzzles. He would often stop me as I was going to class and take a piece of paper out of his pocket, often with a puzzle already on it. The puzzles were usually mathematical or logical. As time went on, they slowly got more difficult, but I loved them. Not only that, they made me interested in math and problem solving that stays with me to this day. They also served to show me that intellectual activity was rewarding when the correct answers were found, but perhaps more importantly it was great fun. To this day, I can remember Mr. Broaches’ cheerful cry of “Well done!” whenever I got a problem right. The simple communication with a man whom I loved greatly has had a deep influence on my life. I shall forever be thankful that our paths crossed. Mr. Broaches died just two weeks after I had won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Unluckily, I had no chance to speak to him before he died. I learnt later that he had heard of my success and I will always hope that he knew the deep influence he had made on my life.

56. There were ________ children in each class when Richard was in     the school in Bath, England.

   A. 4          B. 8        C. 11              D. 25

57. From the text, we can learn that ___________.

   A. the puzzles made the students laugh

   B. the students were afraid of the headmaster

   C. the puzzles made Richard enjoy math

   D. the headmaster never taught in the school

58. The writer felt sorry because __________.

   A. Mr. Broaches had passed away before he won the Nobel Prize

   B. he didn’t express his thanks before Mr. Broaches died

   C. he couldn’t find Mr. Broaches after he grew up

   D. Mr. Broaches didn’t know his success

59. What is the best title(标题)for the text ?

   A. The Story of Mr. Broaches.

   B. The Story of Richard J. Roberts.

   C. My Early School Life.

   D. An Important Teacher in My Life.

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