Scientists have many theories about how the u...

Scientists have many theories about how the universe_____.

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists have many theories about how the universe ___ into being.

A. came      B. was coming  C. had come   D. would come

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists have been studying how people use money for long. Now they’re finding some theories may apply to one group of monkeys.

Researchers recently taught six monkeys hos to use money. They gave the monkeys small metal disks (圆片) that could be used like cash and showed them some yummy apple pieces. The monkeys soon figured out that if tyey gave one of the disks to a scientist, they’d receive a piece of apple in return.

If you think that is all the monkeys can figure out, you are wrong. Two researchers, Jake and Allison, acted as apple sellers in the experiments. The monkeys were tested one at a time and had 12 disks to spend in each experiment. Jake always showed the monkeys on apple piece, while Allison always showed two pieces. But that’s not necessarily what they gave the monkeys. The number of apple pieces given for a disk was determined at random.

Experiment One: Allison showed two pieces of apples but gave both piece only half the time. The other half, she took one piece away and gave the monkey just the remaining piece. Jake, on the other hand, always gave exactly what he showed: one piece for each disk. The monkeys chose to trade more with Allison.

Experiment Two: Allison continued to sometimes gave two pieces and sometimes one piece. But now, half the time, Jake gave the one apple piece he was showing, and half the time he added a bonus. Guess what? The monkeys chose to trade more with Jake.

In the first experiment, the monkeys correctly figured out that if they traded with Allison, they’d end up with more treats. In the second one, when a monkey received two pieces from Jake, it seemed like a gain. When Allison gave the monkey only one piece instead of the two she showed, it seemed like a loss. The monkeys preferred trading with Jake because they’d rather take a chance of seeming to win than seeming to lose.

We also sometimes make silly business decisions just to avoid the feeling that we’re getting less, even when we’re not. Would you have made the same choices?

1.What conclusion might experts draw from the first experiment?

A. People are smarter in terms of finance.

B. It’s easy to teach monkeys how to trade.

C. Business theories can apply to all monkeys.

D. The monkeys show certain business sense.

2.What does “a bonus” in paragraph 5 refer to?

A. A coin.　　 B. A chance.

C. A metal disk.　　 D. An apple piece.

3.Why did the monkeys choose to trade more with Jake in the second experiment?

A. Because they didn’t like the feeling of losing.

B. Because they get more apple pieces from Jake.

C. Because Jake always gave them two apple pieces.

D. Because the apple pieces from Jake were yummy.

4.What could be the best title for the passage?

A. Disk for Apple: Who to Trade with?

B. Shopping for Bargain: Same of different?

C. Moneky’s Business Sense: Smart or Silly?

D. People’s Business Decision: Lose or Gain?

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

US scientists say they have poured cold water on the theory that washing hands with hot water kills more germs (细菌) than unheated water. The small study of 20 people found using water at 15℃ (59F) left hands as clean as water heated to 38℃ (100F).

National Health Service (NHS) recommends that people wash their hands in either cold or warm water. In this study, scientists at Rutgers University — New Brunswick wanted to find out if popular assumptions about the benefits of warm or hot water and official guidance on hot water — given to the food industry in the US — held true. They asked 20 people to wash their hands 20 times each with water that was 15℃ (59F), 26℃ (79F) or 38 degrees (100F). Volunteers were also asked to experiment with varying amounts of soap. Before they started the tests, their hands were covered in harmless bugs. Researchers say there was no difference in the amount of bugs removed as the temperature of the water or the amount of soap changed.

Prof Donald Schaffner said, “People need to feel comfortable when they are washing their hands but as far as effectiveness goes, this study shows us that the temperature of the water used did not matter.”

However, the researchers accept their study is small and say more extensive work is needed to determine the best ways to remove harmful bacteria.

In the UK, NHS experts say people can use cold or hot water to wash their hands. They say hands should be washed for at least 20 seconds and stress the importance of using enough soap to cover the whole surface of the hands. Their guidance focuses on rubbing hands together in various ways to make sure each surface of each hand is clean.

1.What does the underlined phrase “poured cold water” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Proved.

B. Contradicted.

C. Created.

D. Accepted.

2.After they washed their hands with either hot or cold water, _______.

A. volunteers all didn't feel very comfortable

B. volunteers all talked about American food industry

C. volunteers still had much germ on their hands

D. volunteers nearly had the same amount of germ removed

3.How do researchers feel about their study?

A. It is popular.

B. It is convincing.

C. It is incomplete.

D. It is abstract.

4.Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A. Using Cold Water Instead of Hot Water

B. How to Use Cold Water to Wash Hands

C. It’s Better to Wash Hands in Cold Water

D. Washing Hands in Cold Water as Good as in Hot Water

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never found the time? Far too many.

This is life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal(排演)and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.

We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for real life to come along were in fact real life.

In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English: “Have a nice day”. They speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day .

How often do we say to ourselves  “I’ll take up horse-riding( or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position,” only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.

When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be completely abnormal(反常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area? I wanted to know.

Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.

1. The first paragraph of the passage tells us that ___________.

A. we always try to find some time to write a book

B. we always make plans but seldom fulfill them

C. we always enjoy many of life's best moments

D. we always do what we really want to do

2. The underlined phrase "turn his back on"  most probably means________.

A. leave for        B. return to         C. give up         D. rely on

3. The man left his first job partly because he was _________ .

A. in an abnormal mental state         B. under too much pressure

C. not well paid                    D. not respected

4. What is probably the best title for the passage?

A. Provide Homes For Our Family     B. Take Up Horse-riding

C. Value This Very Day              D. Stay Alive

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved (演化) from ceremony. The argument for this view goes as follows.

In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world --- even the seasonal changes --- as unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then kept and repeated until they hardened into fixed ceremonies. Eventually stories arose which explained the mysteries of the ceremonies. As time passed some ceremonies were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, remained and provided material for art and drama.

Those who believe that drama evolved out of ceremony also argue that those ceremonies contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the "acting area" and the "auditorium ". In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the performing of ceremonies, religious leaders usually took that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often acted other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and imitated the desired effect --- success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, etc. as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.

Another theory traces(追溯) the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view, tales (about the hunt, war, etc) are gradually developed, at first through the use of action and dialogue, and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.

1.Which is the best title of the passage?

A. Religious activities in ancient Greece.

B. The ceremonies in ancient Greece.

C. Drama theories.

D. The origin of Greek Drama.

2.According to the passage, drama_______________.

A. was played in memory of ancient Greek ceremonies

B. was a form of ceremony played by ancient Greeks to control unknown powers

C. evolved out of ancient Greek ceremonies with time passing by

D. is one of the measures Ancient Greeks took to view natural forces

3.In tracing the beginning of drama, which of the following is not mentioned?

A. Planting.     B. Religious ceremonies.     C. Gymnastic.       D. Storytelling.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists, psychologists and English academics at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of the classical writers like Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a great effect on the mind, catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self-examination.

Using a special machine, they monitored the brain activity of 30 volunteers as they read works by William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot and others.

In the first part of the research, the brain activity of 30 volunteers was monitored as they read passages from Shakespeare’s plays, including King Lear, Othello, Coriolanus and Macbeth, and again as they read the text rewritten in a simpler form or modern language.

While reading the common texts, normal levels of electrical activity were shown in their brains. When they read the works of Shakespeare, however, the levels of activity jumped because of his use of words which were unfamiliar to them. The result of the test showed that the more challenging passages cause a greater degree of electrical activity in the brain than the common ones.

Scientists went on to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and recorded how it lit up as the readers came across unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentences in the classical works. As a result, this lightening up process of the mind lasted longer than that when volunteers read common texts, encouraging further reading.

The research also found that reading poetry especially increases activity in the right hemisphere(半球) of the brain, an area connected with “autobiographical memory”, driving the readers to think carefully about their own experiences based on what they have read. The academics said this meant the classical works of literature are more useful than self-help books.

Philip Davis, an English professor who has worked on the study in the university’s magnetic resonance center, announced this week: “Classical literature acts like a rocket-booster（火箭加速器） to the brain, which provides extra power for the brain. You may never imagine how powerful it is. The research shows such kind of literature can create new thoughts and connections in the young and the old.”

1.The underlined word “trigger” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “______”.

A.depends on B.picks up

C.sets off D.changes into

2.Which of the following is NOT true about reading classical literature?

A.It makes readers’ brain more active than reading common texts.

B.It makes readers’ electrical activity of brain return to normal.

C.It’s helpful for readers to come up with new ideas.

D.It’s an activity that is suitable for people of all ages.

3.From the research, we can learn that ______.

A.the readers prefer Shakespeare’s works to the other writers’ works

B.the words of classical works make it hard for volunteers to read further

C.reading classical works produces a good and long-lasting effect on the mind

D.poetry increases left-brain activity more than other literary forms

4.What does the author mainly tell us in this passage?

A.Shakespeare’s plays deserve to be read.

B.Common books are unpopular anymore.

C.Poetry is best for developing people’s brain.

D.Classical works help the brain develop better.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed new artificial intelligence software to recognize the faces of chimpanzees in the wild. The new software will allow researchers to significantly cut back on time and resources spent analyzing video footage.

“For species like chimpanzees, which have complex social lives and live for many years, recording their behavior from short-term field research can only tell us so much.” says Dan Schofield, researcher and DPhil student at Oxford University’s Primate Models Lab. “By using the power of machine learning to unlock large video footage, it makes it feasible to measure behavior over the long term. Observing how the social lives of a group change over several generations become possible as well.”

The computer model was trained using over 10 million images from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute (PRI) video footage of wild chimpanzees in West Africa. The new software is the first to recognize individuals in a wide range of poses, performing with high accuracy in difficult conditions such as low lighting, poor image quality and movement blur (模糊).

“Access to this large video footage has allowed us to use cutting edge deep neural networks to train models at a scale that was previously not possible.” says Arsha Nagrani, co-author of the study and DPhil student in University of Oxford. “Additionally, our method differs from previous primate face recognition software in that it can be applied to raw video footage with limited manual intervention (人工干预) or pre-processing, saving hours of time and resources.”

The technology has potential for many uses, such as monitoring species for protection. Although the current application focused on chimpanzees, the software provided could be applied to other species, and help drive the adoption of artificial intelligence systems to solve a range of problems in the wildlife sciences.

“All our software is available open-source for the research community.” says Nagrani. “We hope that this will help researchers across other parts of the world apply the same cutting-edge techniques to their unique animal data sets. As a computer vision researcher, it is extremely satisfying to see these methods applied to solve real, challenging biodiversity (生物多样性) problems.”

“With an increasing biodiversity crisis and many of the world’s ecosystems under threat, the ability to closely monitor different species and populations using systems will be important for protection efforts, as well as animal behavior research.” adds Schofield. “Interdisciplinary cooperation like this have huge potential to make an impact, by finding solutions for old problems, and asking biological questions which were previously not available on a large scale.”

1.What’s the function of the new artificial intelligence software?

A.Analyzing video footage in difficult conditions.

B.Recognizing the faces of chimpanzees in the wild.

C.Cutting edge deep neural networks to train models at a scale.

D.Saving hours of time and resources without manual intervention.

2.What does the underlined word “feasible” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A.possible B.important

C.natural D.official

3.From the passage, we know that the artificial intelligence software could ________.

A.recognize individuals but not clearly

B.save time and resources only

C.help to protect different species

D.hardly solve biodiversity problems

4.What is the main purpose of the passage?

A.To introduce a new software.

B.To explain a measure.

C.To assess a project.

D.To describe a procedure.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Scientists at Harvard University have recycled a kidney(‘肾)-in a rat. The researchers removed a kidney from a dead rat. Later, the renewed kidney was put into a living rat. It wasn't perfect. It did, however, show signs of working like a kidney should.

"It's really beautiful work," Edward Ross, a kidney researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville, told Science News. He didn't work on the new study.

Kidneys are bean-shaped and act like guards in the body. They clean the blood by removing waste and extra water. Every day, an adult's kidneys filter(过滤) enough blood to fill a bathtub half full. Along the way, they produce eight cups of urine(尿) from that waste and water. When a person's kidneys fail, all of that waste stays in the body. Such patients can quickly become very sick and die, unless they are regularly connected to a machine that filters their blood.

At any given time, about 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a replacement kidney. But healthy donated kidneys are difficult to get. Either a living person must donate one, or a kidney must be removed from someone who just died and earlier had agreed to the donation. In either case, people receiving new kidneys face the risk that their bodies will reject the donated ones.

But there may be another option.　 Researchers use knowledge of living things to grow or improve tissue that can aid human health. Harald Ott's team at Harvard started with a "used" kidney.

Scientists added kidney cells from rats and blood vessel cells from people to the matrix（母体）. These cells attached themselves and began to multiply. Before long, they formed new kidney tissue.

The scientists placed this renewed kidney into another rat. There it produced a small amount of urine. This experiment shows that the lab-grown kidney can do at least some of the work performed by a healthy kidney.

The results are a promising first step toward helping people with serious kidney problems. "This is still very early, but they've come a long way," Ross said.

1.What can we infer from Paragraph l?

A. Biology is a new and helpful science.

B. It's hard to put the rebuilt kidney into the rat.

C. Kidneys are very important to our life.

D. A used kidney may be recycled for new life.

2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A. The relationship between kidneys and health.

B. The difficulty of curing serious kidney diseases.

C. The function and importance of kidneys.

D. The methods of curing kidneys diseases.

3.For what purpose does the author use the figure 100,000 in Paragraph 4?

A. To stress used kidneys are hard to get.

B. To show the great need for healthy kidneys.

C. To explain many American people get kidney diseases.

D. To call on people to donate kidneys.

4.Which of the following is true according to the text?

A. The scientists are satisfied with the result of the experiment.

B. Ross is a kidney expert who is involved in the experiment.

C. The function of the renewed kidney is the same as a healthy kidney.

D. The renewed kidney produced a great deal of urine.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

The scientific research on how to protect the rare animals is ________. Many scientists are working hard to find new way to raise the animals by man.

A. in danger                        B. in control                  C. in order                     D. in progress

高二英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析