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The history of writing instruments, with which humans have recorded and conveyed thoughts and feelings, is the history of civilization itself. This is how we know about our ancestors and their life.
The handy sharpened-stone was adapted into the first writing instrument. Around 24, 000 BC, cavemen started drawing pictures with the stone onto the walls of their caves. 1. Walls at the Apollo site in Namibia are believed to be the oldest rock paintings to date.
Before paper came along, people used clay or wax tablets on which they wrote with sharp objects such as metal sticks or bones. Around 6000 years ago, the Egyptians invented the first paper-like material called papyrus (纸莎草纸). The word “paper” actually comes from the word “papyrus.”
2. Bones or metal sticks were no longer useful as the papyrus could not be scratched. So the Egyptians created a reed(芦苇)-pen for the papyrus. 3. And thus, ancient Egyptians transformed bamboo stems (茎) into an early form of fountain pen.
Another writing instrument that remained active in history for long period was the quill (鹅毛) pen. Introduced around 700 AD, the quill was a pen made from a bird feather. Goose feathers were most common. 4. For making fine line drawings, crow feathers were the best.
When writers had better inks and paper and handwriting had developed into both an art form and an everyday occurrence, man’s inventive nature once again turned to improving the writing instrument. 5.
A.Then something was needed to write upon the papyrus.
B.The papyrus became the most popular material at that time.
C.Swan feathers were of high quality, being rare and most expensive.
D.Bamboo stems were better and much more expensive than goose feathers.
E.These were mostly the stems of grass, especially from the bamboo plant.
F.This led to the development of the modern fountain pen in the 19th century.
G.These drawings showed events in daily life like the planting of crops or hunting victories.
高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
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Historians and archaeologists have defined periods of human history for centuries by the technologies or materials that made the greatest impact on society. This includes the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. But what age are we in now? That question can be answered with one word for some researchers. Plastics.
“Plastic has redefined our material culture and the artifacts we leave behind. It will be found in stratified(分层的) layers in our trash deposits(沉积层). ” That’s according to John Marston, an archaeologist.
The wide variety of synthetic polymers(合成聚合物) would not exist if it weren’t for human action. About six billion tons of plastics have been made and spread around the planet. They have been spread from forests to oceans ever since the first plastic polymers were invented.
Plastics are one of the most significant changes that humans have made to the Earth’s makeup. Most plastics don’t easily degrade. This only adds to the problem. Recycling isn’t an adequate solution. Not all types of plastic are easily recyclable. And there are only a few recycling plants that can process all varieties of plastic.
According to Debra Winter, writer for The Atlantic, this means that many of the materials thrown into recycling bins can cross the planet several times before they are processed. They are made into rugs, sweaters, or they are used to make other bottles. Millions of tons of plastics are recycled every year, but millions more end up in landfills or the ocean. The problem has reached the point where it’s possible that in just a few decades there might be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fishes.
“Plastics have a supposed lifespan of over 500 years, so it’s safe to say that every plastic bottle you have used exists somewhere on this planet, in some form or another，” Winter writes.
The damage may already be done. It may be too late for human populations worldwide to change their plastic using ways. So the Plastic Age might soon take its place next to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the history of human civilization.
1.Why do people call our age the Plastic Age?
A.Because plastics are not naturally made.
B.Because humans create plastics.
C.Because plastics influence the world greatly.
D.Because historians and archaeologists think so.
2.According to the passage, how are most plastics dealt with currently?
A.They are recycled.
B.They are degraded.
C.They are thrown away.
D.They are made into bottles.
3.What is the author’s attitude to the Plastic Age?
A.Negative. B.Ambiguous.
C.Favorable. D.Unconcerned.
4.What is the main idea of this passage?
A.Plastics have ruined our environment.
B.We must stop using plastics altogether.
C.Human beings are in the Plastic Age.
D.Plastics are significant to human development.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The role that women have been ________ in human history is of great importance.
A．coming B．doing C．playing D．making
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The bacteria which inhabit (栖居于) human beings, particularly the guts (肠道) of those beings, have been found in recent years to be important for fighting off diseases. That something similar happens in other animal species is doubtless true as well. But work by Seon-Woo Lee at Dong-A University and Jihyun Kim at Yonsei University, both in South Korea, suggests that it is not only animals that benefit from such bacterial protection. Their study, just published in Nature Biotechnology, shows that plants do, too.
Crop plants of the nightshade family, such as potatoes and tomatoes, are not immune to a soil bacterium called Ralstonia solanacearum. This enters their roots and spreads through their water-transport systems, causing them to wilt (枯萎). Infection is usually deadly; the disease costs potato farmers alone $1bn a year. A variety of tomato called Hawaii 7996, however, does not suffer from such bacterial wilt. Dr Lee and Dr Kim wondered if the explanation for this exceptionalism lay with other bacteria in the soil.
To test that idea, they grew crops of Hawaii 7996 and a second tomato variety called Moneymaker. Once the plants were established, the researchers analyzed bacteria in the soil around the plants’ roots and found systematic differences that depended on which tomato variety was growing. This observation made their explanation reasonable and likely to be true.
They then transplanted some of their Moneymaker plants into soil that had previously supported Hawaii 7996s, and some of the Hawaiian plants into soil that had been home to Moneymakers. As controls, they similarly uprooted (拔起) individuals of both varieties and replanted them in soil once occupied by the same variety. That done, they exposed all of their plants to R. solanacearum and monitored them over the course of 14 days.
They found the disease progressed almost 30% more slowly in Moneymaker plants grown in “Hawaiian” soil than it did in those Moneymakers that had been replanted into their own soil. In contrast, it progressed rapidly in the normally resistant Hawaiian variety when this was transferred into Moneymaker soil.
Further study revealed that credit for this disease resistance went to a single type of soil bacterium, called TRM1. Dr Lee and Dr Kim therefore cultivated (培育) this bug in their laboratory and used it to treat soil into which Moneymaker plants were then planted. When these were infected with R. solanacearum they proved more resistant than others that had been planted into untreated soil as controls.
These findings suggest to Dr Lee and Dr Kim that the roots of Hawaii 7996 are releasing compounds (化合物) which encourage the growth of TRM1. What those compounds are has yet to be determined. The two researchers’ work, however, seems to suggest something constructive.
1.The author mentions the bacteria inhabiting human beings to introduce ___________.
A. the benefits of bacteria to humans B. the effects of bacteria on plants
C. the efforts to fight off diseases D. the reasons for plant diseases
2.What are the two researchers’ findings based on?
A. Comprehensive analyses of how plants are infected.
B. Careful observation of the transplanting process.
C. Controlled experiments on the uprooted individuals of both varieties.
D. Comparison of the progress of the disease in different conditions.
3.According to the study, why are some plants immune to infection?
A. They have better water-transport systems.
B. They are protected by some other bacteria.
C. They are genetically different from others.
D. They have resistance to bacteria when transferred.
4.The two researchers’ work indicates that _____________.
A. new ways will be found to deal with bacterial wilt
B. causes of some plant diseases have been discovered
C. a new chapter of agricultural science and technology has started
D. the composition of the compounds released has been identified
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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The advantage human beings have to the sun is worth discussing.
A．take of
B．play with
C．have on
D．do with
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
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Newton is known as a gifted scientist with very human weaknesses who stood at the point in history _______ magic ended and science began.
A．that
B．when
C．where
D．which
高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析
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The rise of the Internet has been one of the most transformative developments in human history, comparable in impact to the invention of the printing press and the telegraph. Over two billion people worldwide now have access to vastly more information than ever before, and can communicate with each other instantly, often using Web-connected mobile devices they carry everywhere. But the Internet’s tremendous impact has only just begun.
“Mass adoption of the Internet is driving one of the most exciting social, cultural, and political transformations in history, and unlike earlier periods of change, this time the effects are fully global,” Schmidt and Cohen write in their new book The New Digital Age.
Perhaps the most profound changes will come when the five billion people worldwide who currently lack Internet access get online. The authors do an excellent job of examining the implications of the Internet revolution for individuals, governments, and institutions like the news media. But if the book has one major shortcoming, it’s that authors don’t spend enough time applying a critical eye to the role of Internet businesses in these sweeping changes.
In their book, the authors provide the most authoritative volume to date that describes — and more importantly predicts — how the Internet will shape our lives in the coming decades. They paint a picture of a world in which individuals, companies, institutions, and governments must deal with two realities, one physical, and one virtual.
At the core of the book is the idea that “technology is neutral, but people aren’t.” By using this concept as a starting point, the authors aim to move beyond the now familiar optimist vs. pessimist dichotomy (对立观点) that has characterized many recent debates about whether the rise of the Internet will ultimately be good or bad for society. In an interview with TIME earlier this week, Cohen said although he and his co-author are optimistic about many aspects of the Internet, they’re also realistic about the risks and dangers that lie ahead when the next five billion people come online, particularly with respect to personal privacy and state surveillance(监视).
【题文1】 In what way is the rise of the Internet similar to the invention of the printing press and the telegraph?
A. It transforms human history.
B. It revolutionizes people's thinking.
C. It is adopted by all human beings.
D. It makes daily communication easy.
【题文2】 In what respect is the book The New Digital Age considered inadequate?
A. It lacks an objective evaluation of the role of Internet businesses
B. It fails to look into the social implications of the Internet.
C. It fails to recognize the impact of the Internet technology.
D. It does not address the technical aspects of Internet communication.
1.What will the future be like when everybody gets online?
A. People don’t have to travel to see the world.
B. People will have equal access to information.
C. People will be living in two different realities.
D. People don’t have to communicate face to face.
2.What does the passage say about the authors of The New Digital Age?
A. They leave many questions unanswered concerning the Internet.
B. They don’t take sides in analyzing the effects of the Internet.
C. They have explored the unknown territories of the virtual world.
D. They are optimistic about the future of the Internet revolution.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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An oral history is a piece of writing based on an interview with a person who has lived through a significant period in history or experienced a historical event. His or her memories provide a personal view of the past.
The first goal of all oral histories is to record stories about a specific subject. That subject may be a historical event like the D-Day invasion. It may be a period of history like the Depression, or a social or cultural trend, such as child labor. The first step in an oral history project, therefore, is to select a subject that interests you and is of historical significance.
Before attempting to identify people to interview for your project, you must first gather background information about the subject. The Library of Congress, which houses thousands of oral histories, provides these tips for researching your subject.
Before entering the library or logging onto the internet, decide on key words to use in your search. Use detailed search words. For example, search for rock and roll of the ’60s instead of the more general term music.
Look through newspaper and magazine articles and Internet Web sites to identify documents that are related to your subject. Make copies of those that will help you plan your interview questions and discard all others.
Discuss what you’ve read about your subject surprised you? What aspect of your subject would you like to know more about? Asking questions like these will help you to focus your subject and to identify the voice or voices you need to interview.
Oral histories are as much about self as they are about subject. One goal of an oral history interview is to find out what happened. A second and equally important goal is to discover how people reacted to or were affected by what happened. The person you select to interview, therefore, should have had some experience with the subject – either as a participant or a witness.
Once you have identified one or more people to interview, begin preparing your questions. The best questions are open-ended, encouraging the speaker to respond with more than a mere “Yes” or “No.” For example, an interviewer might have asked Clarence Hughart this question about his D-Day experience: Were you scared? That question, however, would probably not have elicited the sort of dramatic storytelling that Hughart provided.
Make a list of ten possible interview questions. The first two or three should be fairly general, asking the interviewee to talk about his or her childhood, perhaps. These kinds of questions put people at ease. Save more sensitive questions until the interview has been underway for five, 10, or 15 minutes or more.
After the interview come the final steps: writing a summary of the interview and then shaping it into a finished piece of writing.
Deciding what you want to learn more about.
Selecting either a participant or a __(9) .
Making a list of possible interview questions.
(10) with general questions and save more sensitive ones for later.
高三英语任务型阅读简单题查看答案及解析
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Botany （植物学） , the study of plants, occupies a particular position in the history of human knowledge．For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest （模糊的）） of insights．It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient．This is logical．Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants．They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people not only for food but also for clothing, tools, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes．Tribes living today in the jungle of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each．To them, botany has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all．
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become, the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge grows．Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple．When nor Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer fields the next season—the first, great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken．Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture: cultivated crops．From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild, and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience with plants in the wild would begin to fade away．
1.What does the writer mean when he says "This is logical" in the first paragraph?
A．Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed．
B．It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants．
C．There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor's knowledge of plant．
D．It is reasonable to assume our ancestors behave much like people in pre-industrial societies．
2.According to the passage, general knowledge of botany begun to fade away because ____．
A．people no longer value plants as a useful resource
B．direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased
C．botany is not recognized as a special branch of science
D．research is unable to keep up with the increasing number of plants
3.We learn that the first great step toward the practice of agriculture is____．
A．the changing diets of early humans
B．the development of a system of names for plants
C．the invention of agricultural implements （工具） and machinery
D．the discovery of certain grasses that could be harvested and replanted
4.Human would depend on the controlled production of a few plants for living with
A．the knowledge of plants
B．the discovery of certain grasses
C．the development of machinery
D．the appearance of agriculture
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The Internet, as we know, is probably one of the greatest inventions of human history. Never before has the access to the collection of the world’s knowledge ever been more available. 1. Some people look to make use of the information you are providing to the Internet. Everything you do online leaves a small footprint.
There are a couple of steps you can take to make your adventures online a little safer and more secure. Let’s take a look at them.
Cover your tracks.
Whenever you visit a website, a small file is marked in your browser(浏览器), which is called a “cookie”. 2. This enables the webserver to know if you have been there before and it can tailor the presentation to your personal tastes. They are also how Facebook knows to serve you ads based on stuff you looked at on Amazon.
So what’s the harm in the cookie? Well, hackers can use the information stored in your cookies to edit a browsing history or with less secure cookies, take your passwords for some sites. If you want to protect yourself from your information being available to sites then you can turn off the generation of cookies in your browser. 3.
4.
The major browsers, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari are all built to be secure from snooping(窥探), but the people who write the code for the browsers are human and they make mistakes. 5. These are usually addressed very quickly, but it is important that you make sure your browser is up to date. Just like your operating system, new security patches are being applied all the time, you need to make sure you have them. Turning on automatic updates is something I highly recommend.
A.Use the latest browsers.
B.Change browsers frequently.
C.This will help protect you online.
D.That’s how the cookie works on our computer.
E.This great invention and resource is not without its dangers.
F.It is common for a security problem to pop up with a browser.
G.These cookies store information about who you are and what you looked at.
高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
