阅读理解。 When punctuation (标点) began, it was mainly to help people read out lou
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阅读理解。 |
When punctuation (标点) began, it was mainly to help people read out loud. Until a few hundred years ago, not many people were taught to read, so there was a lot more reading out loud by the few people who could. To help those reading out loud in the old days, sign (符号) known as "points" were added to pages of writing. Punctuation comes from the Latin word punctus, meaning "point". These points told readers when to pause (暂停) or take a breath, and what to emphasize (加重). In Europe from the early centuries AD, these points were widely used although not everybody used the same points for the same thing. When printing was invented, printers had to be made more clearly about what to put where, so that everyone was doing the same thing. Since that point, all sorts of punctuation rules have been discov ered and invented. Speech marks ".." Speech marks or quotation marks are used to show that someone is speaking. The sort we have in English today began to be widely used during the 18 century. Before that readers simply understood from the way a sentence was written that someone was speaking although sometimes spoken words were underlined. Comma, colon: period (full stop). All three of these sorts of punctuation marks were given their Greek names by Aristophanes, a librarian who lived in Byzantium in the 2"d century BC. They were marks on the page, each with a message to the reader. Comma meant a short pause. Colon meant a medium (中等的) sized pause. Period meant a long pause. Exclamation mark! In the early days of punctuation, if you saw this sign, you were supposed to pause. Some people think the exclamation mark began as what the Creek word JO looked like if it was turned 90 degrees. This word means"Oh, gosh!" With the I on the top and the O under it, the sign as we know it today was developed. Question mark? In the middle age, a squiggle (圆弧) above a full stop was sometimes used to show the sentence was a question and that a person"s voice should go up at the end. By the 17" century it had turned into what we call a question mark. The shape may have come from the letter Q short for that Latin quaestio, meaning "question". Writers make choices about punctuation because they think differently about sentences and words. It"s part of the personality of their writing. Some writers hate punc- tuation, but others love punctuation. So whether you love or hate punctuation, the best advice may be to just enjoy it, play with it, think about it and use it. It belongs (属于) to the language and it belongs to you. |
1. When did punctuation begin to be widely used, according to the passage? |
A. In the 17th century. B. In the 2nd century BC. C. In the 18th century. D. In the early centuries AD. |
2. All punctuation rules were discovered and invented in order to ________. |
A. help people read out loud B. meet the need of printing C. guide the way of writing D. mention the spoken words |
3. Which of the following is true? |
A. A long pause comes after question mark. B. Speech marks were named by a librarian. C. Question mark comes from a Latin word. D. The shape of a word makes exclamation mark. |
4. What"s the problem about punctuation today? |
A. People have completely different ideas about it. B. Not many people are taught to use it correctly. C. It has different meanings to different people. D. Sometimes spoken words must be underlined. |
答案
1-4 DBDA |
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阅读理解。 |
Which country grows the most tea? The answer is India. It grows three times as much as China. Which country drinks the most tea? It"s neither China nor Japan. It"s Great Britain. In the wild, tea plants may be 30 feet tall. But a plant grown for market is pruned (修剪). Pruning keeps the plant only three or four feet tall. This is an easy height for tea picking. Only the two top leaves and bud of each new shoot are picked. So to make money, tea plantations must be huge. In general, there are two kinds of tea. Black tea and green tea. Black tea is fermented (发酵). In the process, the tea loses nearly all of its healthy qualities. Green tea is steamed (蒸炒) right after the leaves are picked. Green tea retains its healthy qualities. For example, it may prevent heart disease. How did we get tea bag? The answer: by accident. Tea merchants (商人) used to send samples in tin boxes. This was costly. One merchant thought of a cheaper way. He sent samples in small silk bags. Customers would cut open the bag. They would brew the leaves as usual. One customer put the bag into a pot. Then he just poured (倒) hot water over it. And the tea bag was born. Shen Nong was the first to drink tea. (Shen was a Chinese emperor. ) This was about 2737 B. C. Shen had bad digestion. So he drank several cups of hot water dai- ly. One day something happened. Leaves from a wild tea tree fell into the hot water pot. The next cup was poured. The water was now colored. Shen sipped it. He liked it. He drank it all. Shen was proud of his new drink. He served it to his guests. Word spread. People thought this way. Tea is good enough for the Emperor. So it must be good enough for the people. Tea became the drink of China. |
1. The best title for this passage should be ________. |
A. Black Tea B. Tea Plant C. About Tea D. Tea Bag |
2. One difference between green tea and black tea is that green tea ________. |
A. must be pruned B. has a better taste C. is fermented D. is much healthier |
3. What does the underlined word "retains" mean? |
A. Keeps. B. Makes. C. Produces. D. Loses. |
4. We can learn from this passage that ________. |
A. tea bag was invented by a merchant B. tea is better than any other drink C. tea is popular in many countries D. tea only grows in warm climates |
阅读理解。 |
Potato chips were really an accident. The popular food was invented in 1853 by George Crum, who was a cook at Moon Lake Restaurant, in Saratoga Springs, New York. A guest complained (抱怨) that the fried (炸) potatoes that Crum had cooked were too thick. Crum thought the guest was making trouble. In retum he cut potatoes paper thin and fried them. The guest loved what soon became known as "Saratoga Chips", and the new dish became the most popular in the restaurant. Other restaurants in the eastern United States borrowed the idea, but potato chips were not produced for home use until William Tappenden of Cleveland, Ohio, started the first potato-chip factory in Cleveland. Potatoes are made up of about 25% solids, mostly starches (淀粉) and sugar, and 75% water. But they are not always so. Marsha McNcil Sherman, Director of Fast Food Association in Los Angeles, explains: "Cenerally, more of the water can be found in the middle of the potato. Frying is a way to dry the potato. So, the edges of potatoes are fried faster than the middle." |
1. Where did potato chips first appear in the United States? |
A. In Cleveland. B. In Ohio. C. In New York. D. In Los Angeles. |
2. What can be found most in potatoes, according to the passage? |
A. Solids. B. Starches. C. Sugar. D. Water. |
3. Why are the edges of potatoes fried faster? |
A. Because they have less water. B. Because they are thinner. C. Because they have fewer solids. D. Because they are softer. |
阅读短文,根据其内容回答问题。 |
Many everyday American expressions are based on colors. Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red-hot about something unfair. When they are red-hot, they are very angry about something. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the 20th century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health. Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow and sad. Someone who is blue is very sad. The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green. Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy (妒忌). Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the backside of the paper money. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. Blackouts were coming during World War II. Officials would order all lights in a city turned off to make it difficult for enemy planes to find a target in the dark of night. |
1. Is red a hot color? _______________________________________________________________________ 2. When do people say they are in the pink? _______________________________________________________________________ 3. What color will people use when they feel sick, upset or envy someone else? _______________________________________________________________________ 4. What does the underlined phrase "red hot music" mean in English? _______________________________________________________________________ 5. What is the main idea of the passage? _______________________________________________________________________ |
阅读理解。 |
Baseball is America"s national sport. So it is not unusual that many popular expressions come from baseball. But first, let me explain a little about the game. Each baseball team has nine players. The pitcher of one team throws the ball to a batter from the other team. The batter attempts to hit the ball. If he misses, it is called a strike. If a batter gets three strikes, he loses his turn at bat and is called out. The batter also is out if he hits the ball in the air and an opposing player catches it. But if the batter hits the ball and it is not caught, the batter tries to run to one or more of the four bases on the field. The batter can run to all four bases if he hits the ball over the fence or out of the ballpark. Such a hit is called a homerun. Now, here are some common expressions from baseball. Someone who is "on the ball" is intelligent and able to do a good job. But a person who "threw a curve ball" did something unexpected. Someone who "steps up to the plate" is ready to do his or her job. A "pinch hitter" takes the place of someone else at a job or activity. Sometimes I have to give information quickly, without time to think it over. Then I would say something "right off the bat". If someone is doing an extremely good job and is very successful,you might say he or she is "batting one thousand." If I say I want to "touch base" with you, I will talk to you from time to time about something we plan to do. I might say I "touched all the bases" if I did what is necessa- ry to complete a job or activity. And if I "covered my bases" I was well prepared. However,someone who is "way off base" did something wrong or maybe even dishonest or immoral. A person with strange ideas might be described as "out in left field". Finally, when a situation changes completely, we say "that is a whole new ballgame." |
1. The writer"s purpose is _____. |
A. to explain the rules of a sport game-baseball B. to tell you more about America"s national sports C. to introduce some useful expressions from baseball D. to show the connection between expressions and sports |
2. The underlined sentence "The batter also is out" means _____. |
A. the batter will run to one of the four bases B. the batter will not continue the game C. the match will be over immediately D. the batter will change his position |
3. Which of the following expressions means that someone is able to do a good job? |
A. To be on the ball. B. To step up the plate. C. To throw a curve ball. D. To touch all the bases. |
任务型阅读。阅读短文,按各题的任务要求答题。 |
The Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) is the day to remember a Chinese national hero, (1)Qu Yuan, who threw himself into the river and died over 2,000 years ago. Old story has it that people, (2)______ (为了救屈原), beat drums to drive fish away, and threw rice dumplings (zong zi) into the river to keep the fish from eating his body. For thousands of years, people have spent the festival by eating zong zi and holding dragon boat races (3)on the fifth day of the fifth lunar (阴历的) month, (4)especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes. The dragon boat races (5) that many people want to save Qu"s body. Those races are the most exciting part of the festival, with very large crowds of people watching them. The special boats, more than 10 meters long, have colorful"dragon " heads mad tails (尾巴), and (6) boats carries a team of 20 or 22 players. Every year dragon boat races take place in southeast Asian countries and some western countries, including America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. |
1. 将1处的划线部分译成汉语。 ________________________________________________________________ 2. 将2处的汉语译成英语。 ________________________________________________________________ 3. 根据3和4处的划线内容在下面句子的空白处各填人一个适当的词。 The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, so we can also call it "The Double _____ Festival". Dragon boat races. are mostly held in South China because there are more _____ areas there. 4. 根据(5)和(6)处的音标写出其单词。 ________________________________________________________________ 5. 根据短文内容回答问题:What do you think of the future of the dragon boat race? ________________________________________________________________ |
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