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Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.
Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns(角) had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds. A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.
Green is also the color used to describe the powerful feeling, jealousy(嫉妒). The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play “Othello”. It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay rise and she does not.
1.Greenhorn now refers to ____.
A. a person who is new in a job B. a new solider
C. a young horse D. None of above
2.A person who has a green thumb is a person ____.
A. who is good at growing plants B. whose thumbs are in green color
C. whose garden is greener than others’ D. who is younger than his neighbors
3.The author is actually talking about ____.
A. colors B. language C. politics D. agriculture
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Natural ways of keeping time
In ancient times, people had to use the sun and the moon to tell time. They got up when the sun came up and worked in the fields until the sun went down.
Man-made things
The sand clock is made of two glass balls joined by a narrow neck. The top ball was filled with sand. The sand slowly moved through the neck into the bottom ball. People knew how much time had passed when all the sand had fallen to the bottom ball.
People also made the water clock. They made a small hole near the bottom of a pot. Then they filled the pot with water. Markings inside the pot showed how much time passed as the water dripped (滴) out of the hole.
Nature’s Clocks in Living Things
◆Animals’ Body Clock
Animals do not need clocks to know time. They have a way of telling time by their bodies. Birds know when to fly to warmer places before winter. Some animals know when to keep more food for the cold winter months. Some fish know when it is time to move up the river and lay eggs.
◆Plants have their own clocks
Plants also have their own clocks to keep time. Plants know when to open flowers or when to drop their leaves.
◆The Body Clock in Human Beings
People also have their own body clocks. When we get used to our lives, our body clocks can be very accurate (准确的). It can tell us when it is time to wake up. It can also tell us when to eat or to go to sleep.
1.How could an ancient farmer know when to go back home in the daytime?
A. By looking at the moon. B. By looking at the stars.
C. By looking at the sun. D. By feeling whether tired or not.
2. How many kinds of living things with nature’s clocks are mentioned here?
A. 2. B. 3. C. 5 D. 6.
3.From the passage, we know what man-made things have in common is that_______.
A. both of them have a hole. B. both of them are designed with glass balls.
C. both of them can be used only once. D. both of them tell time in the same way
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Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned.
The scientists’ study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of “leisure noise,” saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels---with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism（批评）.
“There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality,” the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.
“Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time,” it said. More and more young people were exposed to the great threat(威胁)that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.
Commission experts said that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.
If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels(分贝), they would already be beyond EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.
The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.
Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.
"I am worried that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing ," she said in the statement.
1.Which of the following can be the best title of the article?
A. Youngsters across Europe: suffer permanent hearing loss.
B. MP3 players: sell best but do harm to youngsters
C. The scientists’ study: requested by the EU
D. EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!
2. This passage is most likely to be taken from a _________.
A. textbook B. medical report
C. teen magazine D. governmental newspaper
3.The underlined part in the forth paragraph most probably means________.
A. were uncovered B. felt C. realized D. were faced with
4.From the passage we know that________.
A. besides the high sound levels, scientists also criticized loud mobile phones.
B. if one listened for 5 hours more a week at 100 decibels, he would risk permanent hearing loss.
C. it is only the level of the sound that can do damage to hearing.
D. the scientists said there were 5-10 percent of MP3 listeners risking hearing loss around the world.
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