题目内容

A few minutes ago, walking back from lunch, I started to cross the street when I heard the sound of a coin dropping. It wasn"t much but, as I turned, my eyes caught the heads of several other people turning, too. A woman dropped what appeared to be a dime.The tinkling sound of a coin dropping on pavement is an attention-getter. It can be nothing more than a penny. Whatever the coin is, no one ignores the sound of it. It got me thinking about sounds again.We are besieged by so many sounds that attract the most attention. People in New York City seldom turn to look when a fire engine, a police car or an ambulance comes screaming along the street.When I"m in New York, I"m a New Yorker. I don"t turn either. Like the natives, I hardly hear a siren there.At home in my little town in Connecticut, it"s different. The distant ringing of a police car brings me to my feet if I"m in bed.It"s the quietest sounds that have the most effect on us, not the loudest. In the middle of the night, I can hear a dripping tap a hundred yards away though three closed doors. I"ve been hearing little creaking noises and sounds which my imagination turns into footsteps in the middle of the night for twenty-five years in our house. How come I never hear the sounds in the daytimeI"m quite clear in my mind what the good sounds are and what the bad sounds are.I"ve turned against whistling, for instance. I used to think of it as the mark of a happy worker but lately I"ve been associating the whistler with a nervous person making compulsive noises.The tapping, tapping, tapping of my typewriter as the keys hit the paper is a lovely sound to me. I often like the sound of what I write better than the looks of it. How does the writer feel about sounds in general

A. They make him feel at home
B. He thinks they should be ignored
C. He believes they are part of our lives
D. He prefers silence to loud noises

查看答案
更多问题

What if our society uses new-found technologies of "genetic engineering" to interfere with the biological nature of human beings Might that not be disastrousWhat about cloning, for instanceCloning is a term originally used in connection with nonsexual reproduction of plants and very simple animals. Now it is coming into use in connection with higher animals, since biologists are finding ways of starting with an individual cell of a grown animal and inducing it to multiply in the same way in the future.But is cloning a safe thing to unleash on society Might it not be used for destructive purposes For instance, might not some ruling group decide to clone their submissive, downtrodden peasantry, and thus produce endless hordes of semi-robots who will slave to keep a few in luxury and who may even serve as endless ranks of soldiers designed to conquer the rest of the worldA dreadful thought, but an unnecessary fear. For one thing, there is no need to clone for the purpose. The ordinary method of reproduction produces all the human beings that are needed and as rapidly as is needed. Right now, the ordinary method is producing so many people as to put civilization in danger of imminent destruction. What more can cloning doSecondly, unskilled semi-robots cannot be successfully pitted against the skilled users of machine, either on farms, in factories or in armies. Any nation depending on downtrodden masses will find itself an easy mark for exploitation by a less populous but more skilled and versatile society. This has happened in the past often enough.But even if we forget about self-hordes, what about the cloning of a relatively few individuals There are rich people who could afford the expense, or politicians who could have the influence for it, or the gifted who could undergo it by popular demand. There can be two of a particular banker or governor or scientist—or three—or a thousand. Might this not create a kind of privileged caste, who would reproduce themselves in greater and greater numbers, and who would gradually take over the worldBefore we grow concerned about this, we must ask whether there will really be any great demand for cloning. Would you want to be cloned The new individual that is formed by your cell will have your genes and therefore your appearance and, possibly, talents, but he will not be you. The clone will be, at best, merely your identical twin. Identical twins share the same genetic pattern, but they each have their own individuality and are separate persons.Cloning is not a pathway to immortality, then, because your consciousness does not survive in your clone, any more than it would in your identical twin if you had one.In fact, your clone would be far less than your identical twin. What shapes and forms a personality is not genes alone, but all the environment to which it is exposed. Identical twins grow up in identical surroundings, in the same family, and under each other"s influence. A clone of yourself, perhaps thirty or forty years younger would grow up in a different world altogether and would be shaped by influences that would be sure to make him less and less like you as he grows older.He may even earn your jealousy. After all, you are old and he is young. You may once have been poor and struggled to become well-to-do, but he will be well-to-do from the start. The mere fact that you won"t be able to view him as a child, but as another competing and better-advantaged you, may accentuate the jealousy.No! Imagine that, after some initial experiments, the demand for cloning will be virtually nonexistent. The word "hordes" used in the passage means ______.

A. swarms of fish
B. large groups of people
C. mountain ranges
D. large fields of grain

The first farm animal Jack ever 1 from a stockyard was a lamb 2 Hilda. aam Sanctuary, 180 acres of vegan heaven in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. 3 , Jack was living in a school bus near a tofu factory in Pennsylvania and 4 hot dogs 5 support his animal 6 operation. Now, more than a thousand animals once 7 for the slaughterhouse live here and on another Farm Sanctuary property in California. Farm Sanctuary has a $ 5.7 million budget, fed 8 part by a donor club named 9 his 10 Hilda. Supporters can 11 or a Farm Sanctuary MasterCard. As Farm Sanctuary has grown, 12 too has its influence. Soon, due in part 13 the organization"s work, veal calves and pregnant pigs in Arizona 14 be kept in cages so. tight they can"t 15 . Eggs from cage-free hens have become so popular that there is a national shortage. A law in Chicago 16 the sale of foie gras.All of these developments reflect the maturation and sophistication of Jack and others in a network of animal activists who have more control 17 America"s dinner table than 18 before. The gap 19 animal lovers and animal lovers who love to eat them is exactly 20 Jack, a man who eats noodles with margarine, soy sauce and brewer"s yeast would like to close.

A. only
B. therefore
C. but
D. so

What if our society uses new-found technologies of "genetic engineering" to interfere with the biological nature of human beings Might that not be disastrousWhat about cloning, for instanceCloning is a term originally used in connection with nonsexual reproduction of plants and very simple animals. Now it is coming into use in connection with higher animals, since biologists are finding ways of starting with an individual cell of a grown animal and inducing it to multiply in the same way in the future.But is cloning a safe thing to unleash on society Might it not be used for destructive purposes For instance, might not some ruling group decide to clone their submissive, downtrodden peasantry, and thus produce endless hordes of semi-robots who will slave to keep a few in luxury and who may even serve as endless ranks of soldiers designed to conquer the rest of the worldA dreadful thought, but an unnecessary fear. For one thing, there is no need to clone for the purpose. The ordinary method of reproduction produces all the human beings that are needed and as rapidly as is needed. Right now, the ordinary method is producing so many people as to put civilization in danger of imminent destruction. What more can cloning doSecondly, unskilled semi-robots cannot be successfully pitted against the skilled users of machine, either on farms, in factories or in armies. Any nation depending on downtrodden masses will find itself an easy mark for exploitation by a less populous but more skilled and versatile society. This has happened in the past often enough.But even if we forget about self-hordes, what about the cloning of a relatively few individuals There are rich people who could afford the expense, or politicians who could have the influence for it, or the gifted who could undergo it by popular demand. There can be two of a particular banker or governor or scientist—or three—or a thousand. Might this not create a kind of privileged caste, who would reproduce themselves in greater and greater numbers, and who would gradually take over the worldBefore we grow concerned about this, we must ask whether there will really be any great demand for cloning. Would you want to be cloned The new individual that is formed by your cell will have your genes and therefore your appearance and, possibly, talents, but he will not be you. The clone will be, at best, merely your identical twin. Identical twins share the same genetic pattern, but they each have their own individuality and are separate persons.Cloning is not a pathway to immortality, then, because your consciousness does not survive in your clone, any more than it would in your identical twin if you had one.In fact, your clone would be far less than your identical twin. What shapes and forms a personality is not genes alone, but all the environment to which it is exposed. Identical twins grow up in identical surroundings, in the same family, and under each other"s influence. A clone of yourself, perhaps thirty or forty years younger would grow up in a different world altogether and would be shaped by influences that would be sure to make him less and less like you as he grows older.He may even earn your jealousy. After all, you are old and he is young. You may once have been poor and struggled to become well-to-do, but he will be well-to-do from the start. The mere fact that you won"t be able to view him as a child, but as another competing and better-advantaged you, may accentuate the jealousy.No! Imagine that, after some initial experiments, the demand for cloning will be virtually nonexistent. To hold the reader"s interest, the author ______.

A. used quotations by famous people
B. asks frequent questions
C. presents many research statistics
D. tells many amusing stories

The first farm animal Jack ever 1 from a stockyard was a lamb 2 Hilda. aam Sanctuary, 180 acres of vegan heaven in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. 3 , Jack was living in a school bus near a tofu factory in Pennsylvania and 4 hot dogs 5 support his animal 6 operation. Now, more than a thousand animals once 7 for the slaughterhouse live here and on another Farm Sanctuary property in California. Farm Sanctuary has a $ 5.7 million budget, fed 8 part by a donor club named 9 his 10 Hilda. Supporters can 11 or a Farm Sanctuary MasterCard. As Farm Sanctuary has grown, 12 too has its influence. Soon, due in part 13 the organization"s work, veal calves and pregnant pigs in Arizona 14 be kept in cages so. tight they can"t 15 . Eggs from cage-free hens have become so popular that there is a national shortage. A law in Chicago 16 the sale of foie gras.All of these developments reflect the maturation and sophistication of Jack and others in a network of animal activists who have more control 17 America"s dinner table than 18 before. The gap 19 animal lovers and animal lovers who love to eat them is exactly 20 Jack, a man who eats noodles with margarine, soy sauce and brewer"s yeast would like to close.

A. over
B. on
C. about
D. by

答案查题题库