Before the 1500’s, the western plains of North America were dominated by farmers. One group, the Mandans, (31) in the upper Missouri River country, primarily in present-day North Dakota. They had large villages of houses (32) close together. The (33) arrangement enabled the Mandans to protect themselves more easily (34) the attacks of others who might seek to (35) some of the food these highly capable farmers stored from one year to the next. The women had primary responsibility for the fields. They had to exercise (36) skill to produce the desired results, (37) their northern location meant fleeting growing seasons. Winter often lingered; autumn could (38) by severe frost. For good measure, during the spring and summer, drought, heat, hail, grasshoppers, and other (39) might await the wary grower. Under (40) conditions, Mandan women had to grow maize capable of weathering (41) They began (42) it appeared feasible to do so in the spring. Harvesting proceeded in (43) stages. In August the Mandans picked a small amount of the crop (44) it had matured fully. This green corn was boiled, dried, and shelled, with some of the maize (45) for immediate consumption and the reststored in (46) bags. Later in the fall, the people picked the rest of the corn. They saved the best of the harvest for seeds or for trade, (47) the remainder eaten right away or stored for later use in underground reserves. With appropriate (48) of the extra food, the Mandans protected themselves (49) the disaster of crop failure and accompanying (50) .
A. hunger
B. flood
C. insect pest
D. natural disaster
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Before the 1500’s, the western plains of North America were dominated by farmers. One group, the Mandans, (31) in the upper Missouri River country, primarily in present-day North Dakota. They had large villages of houses (32) close together. The (33) arrangement enabled the Mandans to protect themselves more easily (34) the attacks of others who might seek to (35) some of the food these highly capable farmers stored from one year to the next. The women had primary responsibility for the fields. They had to exercise (36) skill to produce the desired results, (37) their northern location meant fleeting growing seasons. Winter often lingered; autumn could (38) by severe frost. For good measure, during the spring and summer, drought, heat, hail, grasshoppers, and other (39) might await the wary grower. Under (40) conditions, Mandan women had to grow maize capable of weathering (41) They began (42) it appeared feasible to do so in the spring. Harvesting proceeded in (43) stages. In August the Mandans picked a small amount of the crop (44) it had matured fully. This green corn was boiled, dried, and shelled, with some of the maize (45) for immediate consumption and the reststored in (46) bags. Later in the fall, the people picked the rest of the corn. They saved the best of the harvest for seeds or for trade, (47) the remainder eaten right away or stored for later use in underground reserves. With appropriate (48) of the extra food, the Mandans protected themselves (49) the disaster of crop failure and accompanying (50) .
A. to B. from C. with D. of
Before the 1500’s, the western plains of North America were dominated by farmers. One group, the Mandans, (31) in the upper Missouri River country, primarily in present-day North Dakota. They had large villages of houses (32) close together. The (33) arrangement enabled the Mandans to protect themselves more easily (34) the attacks of others who might seek to (35) some of the food these highly capable farmers stored from one year to the next. The women had primary responsibility for the fields. They had to exercise (36) skill to produce the desired results, (37) their northern location meant fleeting growing seasons. Winter often lingered; autumn could (38) by severe frost. For good measure, during the spring and summer, drought, heat, hail, grasshoppers, and other (39) might await the wary grower. Under (40) conditions, Mandan women had to grow maize capable of weathering (41) They began (42) it appeared feasible to do so in the spring. Harvesting proceeded in (43) stages. In August the Mandans picked a small amount of the crop (44) it had matured fully. This green corn was boiled, dried, and shelled, with some of the maize (45) for immediate consumption and the reststored in (46) bags. Later in the fall, the people picked the rest of the corn. They saved the best of the harvest for seeds or for trade, (47) the remainder eaten right away or stored for later use in underground reserves. With appropriate (48) of the extra food, the Mandans protected themselves (49) the disaster of crop failure and accompanying (50) .
A. saving
B. banking
C. keeping
D. withholding
Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick II in the thirteenth century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent. The purpose of Frederick II’s experiment was ______. A. to prove that children are born with the ability to speak B. to discover what language a child would speak without hearing any human speech C. to find out what role careful nursing would play in teaching a child to speak D. to prove that a child could be damaged without learning a language
All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected.
B. Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed.
C. Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1, 000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than grammar.
D. Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern "toy-bear". And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyze, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways.
E. But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
Pageants (露天演出) are usually conceived on a fairly large scale, often under the auspices of some local or civic authority or at any rate in connection with local groups of some kind. This sometimes means that there is an allocation of funds available for the purpose of mounting the production, though unfortunately this will usually be found to be on the meagre side and much ingenuity will have to be used to stretch it so that all performers can be adequately clothed. Most pageants have a historical flavor as they usually come about through the celebration of the anniversary of some event of historic importance, or the life or death of some local worthy. Research among archives and books in the public library will probably prove very useful and produce some workable ideas which will give the production an especially local flavor. From the first economy will have to be practised because there are usually a great number of people to dress. Leading characters can be considered individually in the same way as when designing for a play; but the main body of the performers will need to be planned in groups and the massed effect must be always borne in mind. Many pageants take place in daylight in the open air. This is an entirely different problem from designing costumes which are going to be looked at under artificial lighting; for one thing, scenes viewed in the daylight are subject to many more distractions. No longer is everything around cut out by the surrounding darkness, but instead it is very easy to be aware of disturbing movement in the audience or behind the performers. Very theatrically conceived clothes do not always look their best when seen in a daylight setting of trees, verdant lawns and old ivy-covered walls; the same goes for costumes being worn in front of the mellow colors of stately homes. The location needs to be studied and then a decision can be made as to what kinds of colors and textures will harmonize best with the surroundings and conditions and then to carry this out as far as possible on the funds available. If money is available to dress the performers without recourse to their own help in the provision of items, it is best to arrange for all the cutting and pinning together of the costumes to be done by one or two experienced people than to be given out to the groups and individuals for completion. When there is little or no money at all, the garments need to be reduced to the basic necessities. Cloaks and shawls become invaluable, sheets and large bath towels and bath sheets are admirable for draping. Unwanted curtains and bedspreads can be cut to make tunics, robes and skirts. These are particularly valuable if they are of heavy fabrics, such as velvet or chenille. Colors should be massed together so that there are contrasting groups of dark and light, this will be found to help the visual result substantially. Crowds of people gathered together in a jumble of colors will be found to look quite purposeless and will lack dramatic impact. Which of the following is true about pageants
A. Pageants seldom take place in the afternoon or evening.
B. Pageants are often supported by local or civic authorities.
C. Many pageants get abundantly funded by local companies.
D. Most pageants are based on events of historical importance.