Niagara is an Indian word which means "roaring water". Indeed, the roar of the falling water of Niagara can be heard (1) a distance of 5 kms. Imagine (2) of water flowing over a cliff 90 feet high and you will get an idea of that terrible noise. And (3) tremendous power the Niagara River has! It moves big rocks about and throws them into the boiling water below. (4) ago an old ship without single person on board was put in mid-stream. It sailed down the river (5) a toy boat with great speed. Having reached the fall, the ship dropped into the boiling water, never (6) again. There were some people who wanted to become famous (7) swimming across the most dangerous part of the Niagara River. One of them was Captain Webb who said that he would try to swim cross the Niagara, which (8) crowds of people. On the evening of July 1st, 1893, Captain Webb came up to the river and (9) a plunge. His having jumped into the water (10) many people with horror. Soon, he appeared in the middle of the river. A loud shout went up from the crowd, but a moment later there was (11) silence. The man had disappeared under the water. Thousands of eyes (12) on the river, but the man was drowned. In 1902, a certain Miss Taylor decided to go over the falls in a barrel. There were different kinds of pillows inside the barrel to prevent her from (13) . Having examined the barrel carefully, Miss Taylor got in. The barrel was closed and then (14) into the water. Having reached the falls, it overturned and was shot down by the terrible (15) of the water. When the barrel was finally caught and opened, Miss Taylor came out alive (16) with a frightened look in her eyes. Once a crowd of visitors saw a rope (17) over from one bank of the river to the other. Then they saw a man (18) the rope. The man was an actor, Blondin (19) . He managed to cross Niagara Falls on a tight rope. The people on the bank were surprised at his (20) it so well. Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.4()
A. Sometimes
B. Many times
C. Much time
D. Some time
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The Amazon River basin boasts the largest river system on Earth and harbors an ecosystem that is tremendously complex. Early travelers from renaissance Europe were overwhelmed by their first encounters. In 1531, Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Incan empire, removing the emperor from his throne and taking for Spain the Incan imperial treasures. A decade later his younger brother ventured east from the high plateau of the Andes Mountains in pursuit of the famous cities of gold and spices thought to be hidden in the jungle forest. Going down the river the expedition soon exhausted its supplies and a small group was sent ahead to search for food. Eight months later, this group emerged at the mouth of the Amazon, having made what would prove to be the first descent of the length of the river.A missionary who accompanied the group sent a remarkable account of their adventures to the Pope, including mention of the great signal drums that sounded from village to village far in advance of their arrival, warning of the coming of the European strangers. His manuscript records seeing innumerable settlements along the river—on one day they passed more than twenty villages in succession, and some of these are said to have stretched for six miles or more. Such reports have intrigued scientists ever since, for they describe dense populations and large federations of tribes which, if verified, would be entirely at odds with modern stereotypes of hidden, thinly scattered tribes scratching out an uncertain existence.Beginning in the late seventeenth-century, the successors to the first explorers recorded and collected many of the everyday objects fashioned from wood and other organic materials that usually rot in a tropical climate. Such collections housed in European museums preserve a "window" into cultures that were soon to experience huge changes brought about by foreign diseases and cruel abuse at the hands of Europeans.Population collapse and movement along the principal rivers of the Amazon system have contributed to a veil of misunderstanding that has long covered the cultural achievements of tropical forest societies. Diffuse bands hunting deep in the forest interior eventually came to be seen as the typical tropical forest adaptation. So much so that when archaeological studies began in earnest at the mouth of the Amazon in the 1950’s, scientists argued that the sophisticated culture they were discovering could not have originated in the Amazon Basin itself, but must have been derived from more advanced cultures elsewhere. They imagined the tropical forest to be an "imitation paradise" unable to support much beyond a simple hunting-and-gathering way of life. This mistaken idea has exerted a persistent influence ever since. "This mistaken idea" (Line 10, Para. 4) refers to ()
A. the sophisticated culture in the Amazon Basin
B. the view that Amazon culture derived from other cultures elsewhere
C. an "imitation paradise"
D. a simple hunting-and-gathering way of life
Although many factors affect human health during periods in space, weightlessness is the dominant and single most important one. The direct and indirect effects of weightlessness lead to a series of related responses. Ultimately, the whole body, from bones to brain, kidneys to bowels, reacts.When space travelers grasp the wall of their spacecraft and jerk their bodies back and forth, they say it feels as though they are stationary and the spacecraft is moving. The reason is based in our reliance on gravity to perceive our surroundings.The continuous and universal nature of gravity removes it from our daily notice, but our bodies never forget. Whether we realize it or not, we have evolved a large number of silent, automatic reactions to cope with the constant stress of living in a downward-pulling world. Only when we decrease or increase the effective force of gravity on our bodies do our minds perceive it.Our senses provide accurate information about the location of our center of mass and the relative positions of our body parts. Our brains integrate signals from our eyes and ears with other information from the organs in our inner ear, from our muscles and joints, and from our senses of touch and pressure.The apparatus of the inner ear is partitioned into two distinct components: circular, fluid-filled tubes that sense the angle of the head, and two bags filled with calcium crystals embedded in a thick fluid, which respond to linear movement. The movement of the calcium crystals sends a signal to the brain to tell us the direction of gravity. This is not the only cue the brain receives. Nerves in the muscles, joints, and skin—particularly the slain on the bottom of the feet—respond to the weight of limb segments and other body parts.Removing gravity transforms these signals. The inner ear no longer perceives a downward tendency when the head moves. The limbs no longer have weight, so muscles are no longer required to contract and relax in the usual way to maintain posture and bring about movement. Nerves that respond to touch and pressure in the feet and ankles no longer signal the direction of down. These and other changes contribute to orientation illusions, such as a feeling that the body or the spacecraft spontaneously changes direction. In 1961 a Russian astronaut reported vivid sensations of being upside down; one space shuttle specialist in astronomy said, "When the main engines cut off, I immediately felt as though we had inverted 180 degrees." Such illusions can recur even after some time in space. The function of apparatus of the inner ear is()
A. to partition into two distinct components
B. to respond to linear movement
C. to send a signal to the brain to tell us the direction of gravity
D. to respond to the weight of limb segments and other body parts
下面的短文有5处空白,短文后有6个句子,其中5个取自短文,请根据短文内容将其分别放回原有位置,以恢复文章原貌。 Sleeping Giant Right now, an eruption is brewing (酝酿) in Yellowstone National Park (黄石国家公园). Sometime during the next two hours, the park’s most famous geyser(间歇泉), Old Faithful, will begin gurgling (潺潺地流) boiling water and steam. (46) Old Faithful is not only a spectacular sight; it’s also a constant reminder that Yellowstone sits on one of the largest volcanoes in the world. If you have never heard of Yellowstone’s volcano, you are not alone. (47) Yet it has erupted three times during the last 2 million pears. And one of those eruptions spewed (喷涌) enough volcanic ash and other debris to blanket half the United States. Yellowstone’s volcano is sometimes called a "super volcano", or extremely large and explosive calderas(破火山口)volcano. (48) This super volcano formed over a hot spot, an extremely hot area in Earth’s mantle(地幔). John Valley, a volcano professor, said that as the crust moves across a hot spot, the hot spot melts a section of the plate moving over it, forming "one volcano after another". The Yellowstone hot spot melts thick continental(大陆的) crust, which may cause catastrophic (灾难性的) eruptions. According to experts, the eruptions that created each of the three calderas in and around Yellowstone National Park were larger than any other volcanic eruption in recorded history. The most recent eruption, which happened 640,000 years ago, produced at least 1, 000 cubic kilometers of ash and debris and blanketed most of the western half of the United States. (49) Geological evidence shows Yellowstone has blown its stack every 700,000 years or so. "If nature were truly that regular and reliable, we would be due for another eruption soon," said Valley. "However, these processes are subject to variability(可变性的), so we don’t really know when the next eruption will happen. " (50) It is the volcanic energy that powers the geysers and hot springs, creates the mountains and canyons(峡谷) and generates the unique ecosystems that support Yellowstone’s diverse wildlife. A. Three calderas make up more than a third of Yellowstone National Park. B. The first Yellowstone eruption, 2 million years ago, released more than double that amount of ash and debris. C. The volcano is so inconspicuous (不显眼的) that few people know it exists. D. Then, an enormous fountain will shoot high into the air. E. While the active geologist processes at Yellowstone do pose some risk to the public, they also make it a unique treasure. F. Yellowstone National park at trams the interest of geologists the world over.
下面的对文后有2项测试任务:(1)第23~26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第1~4段每段选择1个最佳标题;(2)第27~30题要求从所给的6个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。 Science Fiction 1. Among the most popular books being written today are those that are usually classified(分类) as science fiction. Hundreds of titles are published every year and are read by all kinds of people. Furthermore, some of the most successful films of recent years have been based on science fiction stories. 2. It is often thought that science fiction is a fairly new development in literature, but its ancestors (先驱)can be found in books written hundreds of years ago. These books were often concerned with the presentation of some forms of ideal society, a theme that is still often found in modern stories. 3. Most of the classics of science fiction, however, have been written within the last hundred years. Books by writers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, to mention just two well-known authors, have been translated into many languages. 4. Modern science fiction writers don’t write about men from Mars(火星) or space adventure stories. They are more interested in predicting the results of technical developments on society and the human mind ; or in imagining future worlds that are a reflection of the world that we live in now. Because of this their writing has obvious political undertones (涵义). 5. In an age where science fact frequently overtakes (超过)science fiction, the writers may find it difficult to keep ahead of scientific advances. Those who are sufficiently clear-sighted to see the way we are going, however, may provide a valuable lesson on how to deal with the problems which society will inevitably face as it tries to master its new technology. A. Fairly New Development B. Classics of Science Fiction C. Difficulty in Keeping ahead of Scientific Advances D. Origins of Science Fiction E. Themes of Modern Science Fiction Paragraph 4______