Have you ever wondered when dogs first became...

Have you ever wondered when dogs first became “man’s best friend” and the world’s favourite pet? If you have then you’re not alone. When and where dogs first began living side-side with humans are questions that have stirred hot debate among scientists. There are a few hard facts that all agree on. These include that dogs were once wolves and they were the first animal to be domesticated(驯养) by humans. They came into lives some 15000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture.

Beyond that, there is little agreement. The earliest bones found that are unquestionable dogs and not wolves date from 14,000 years ago. However, 30,000-year-old skulls have been discovered in France and Belgium that are not pure wolf and some scientists think could be dogs.

With such puzzling evidence, many scientists are now turning to DNA to find out when and where dogs were first domesticated. In one research project, tens of thousands of blood samples have been taken from street dogs around the world. The plan is to compare them with those of wolves. It’s even possible to analyse DNA from ancient bones. Tiny pieces of the 30,000-year-old skulls mentioned earlier are currently being studied, and another DNA study has already shown that ancient dogs preserved in the Alaskan ice-fields evolved from Asian wolves, not American ones.

Indeed, the ancient DNA may turn out to be more informative than the DNA of living dogs. Because dogs have accompanied humans around the world for thousands of years, their current distribution may tell us very little of their origins. This is why different groups of scientists believe that dogs variously originated in eastern Asia, Mongolia, Siberia, Europe or Africa.

But why were the animals domesticated in the first place? The most recent theory is that dogs domesticated themselves, initially living in and around our ancient villages to eat any food thrown out. Today, this is a way of life still shared by three -quarters of a billion unowned dogs worldwide.

1. Which is the only statement generally agreed on by scientists studying dogs?

A. They originally were used as farm animal

B. They evolved from wolves found in Europe

C. They helped the development of agriculture

D. They were the first animal to be kept as pets

2. Why does the writer first mention the 30,000-year-old animals skulls?

A. To show that dogs were much larger in the past

B. To prove that dogs developed from Asian wolves

C. To suggest that dogs may have evolved much earlier

D. To argue that dogs were first kept in France and Belgium

3. How did scientists determine the origins of the ancient dogs found in Alaska?

A. By examine the animals’ DNA

B. By analyzing the age of their bones

C. By studying the shape of their skulls

D. By comparing them with modern dogs

4. Why did dogs start living with humans?

A. Because they were attracted by food

B. Because they were trapped by humans

C. Because they couldn’t survive in the wild

D. Because they were trained to protect villages

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why some people are able to have confidence to spare when it comes to taking risks such as starting their own business or taking a year off to travel without an enormous safety net? The answer is that they’ve 　　 the art of optimistic thinking. The good news is that 　　 some people are simply born to be optimistic, anyone can 　　 to take a more positive approach towards their life.

Optimists look for 　 outcomes. This doesn’t mean that optimists always jump into things carelessly and hope for 　 , rather that they do not let potential negative outcomes 　 the potential positive outcomes. By hoping so and having 　 that they can handle any negatives, optimists are 　 to take advantage of opportunities that come their way.

Optimists believe that their actions can make a 　 . They do not see their own efforts as being 　　 . They understand that they do have the power to make things happen and take steps to make their dreams a reality. 　 , pessimists have a difficult time believing that what they do will make any difference and find it 　 to make any changes or take any action towards achieving a goal. They find 　 why something that has worked for others will not work for them and believe that anything they do is certain to 　 . This makes it difficult for them to get out of situations that make them 　 , such as a dead-end job that makes them miserable.

Optimists do not internalize(使内在化)failure. When things don’t 　 for them, they don’t beat themselves up over it. They are able to accept failure as a part of life and try 　 with a positive attitude. They are often better able to learn from their 　 . When pessimists do take chances and fail, they have a hard time not 　 themselves and concluding that this is the way that it has to be. One 　 can leave them with a sense of being unworthy or completely at the mercy of others.

That’s why optimists become successful!

1.A. understood 　　　 B. mastered　　　　 C. studied 　　　 D. found

2.A. if 　　 　　　　　　 B. because 　 　　 C. unless 　 　　　 D. while

3.A. respond 　　　　 B. continue 　　 C. learn 　 　　　　 D. return

4.A. positive 　　　 B. possible　　　　 C. different 　　 D. particular

5.A. the worst 　　　　 B. the least　　　 C. the best 　　　 D. the most

6.A. overcome 　　　 　 B. overlook　　　　 C. overload 　　　 D. overtake

7.A. faith 　 　　　　　 B. work 　 　　　　 C. trouble 　　 D. control

8.A. eager　 　　　　　 B. unwilling 　　 C. ready 　 　　　　 D. likely

9.A. change 　　　　　 B. difference 　 C. fortune 　　 D. fame

10.A. endless 　　　　 B. precious　　　　 C.special 　　　　 D. meaningless

11.A. In fact　　　　 B. In general　　 C. In contrast 　 D. In short

12.A. rewarding 　　　 B. amazing　　　　 C.difficult　　　　 D. impossible

13.A. excuses 　　　　 B. causes　　　　　 C. explanations D. faults

14.A. end 　　 　　　　　 B. start 　　　　 C. fail 　 　　　　 D. fall

15.A. responsible 　　 B. unhappy　　　　 C. competitive D. unclear

16.A. run out 　　　　 B. make out　　　　 C. work out 　　　 D. look out

17.A. hard 　　 　　　　 B. out 　 　　　　　 C. again　 　　　　 D. instead

18.A. experience 　　 B. mistakes　　　　 C. friends 　　　　 D. faiths

19.A. blaming 　　　 　 B. protecting　　 C. identifying 　 D. presenting

20.A. case 　　 　　　　 B. defeat 　　　　 C. state 　　 　　　 D. example

高三英语完形填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

I have ever found such a case________the son refused to support his mother when she became too old to feed herself.

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why you sometimes take an almost immediate liking to a person you have just met? We often get the first impression of a people based on the color of a person’s skin or the manner in which he or she dressed. Meaning is conveyed not only by words or verbal languages but also by nonverbal communication systems, such as body behaviors.

Nonverbal communication is important because we use the actions of others to learn about their affective emotional states .Our emotions are reflected in our posture, face, and eyes—be it fear, joy, anger, or sadness—so we can express them without ever saying a word .For this reason, most of us rely heavily on what we learn through our eyes.

Nonverbal communication is significant in human interaction because it is usually responsible for the first impressions. More importantly, those first messages usually influence the perception(感知) of everything else that follows. Even how we select friends and sexual partners is grounded in first impressions with nonverbal communication.

Nonverbal communication is important because it is culture-related. It is based on different beliefs, religions, values and customs in different cultures. When, where, how, and to whom people display his or her specific nonverbal behaviors is greatly affected by culture and context. Culture determines what the appropriate nonverbal behavior is. For example, feelings of friendship exist everywhere but their expression varies. It may be appropriate in some countries for man to embrace each other and for women to hold hands; in other countries these displays of affection may be shocking. Each culture has its own specific interpretation on nonverbal communication. What is acceptable in one culture may be completely unacceptable in another. One culture may determine that snapping fingers to call a waiter is acceptable; another may consider this gesture rude.

1. What is the best title of the passage ?

2. We can know a person’s feeling through our eyes because_________.

3. Which of the following statements is not True ?

4.What can we conclude from the last paragraph ?

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

B

Have you ever wondered why you sometimes take an almost immediate liking to a person you have just met? We often get the first impression of a people based on the color of a person’s skin or the manner in which he or she dressed. Meaning is conveyed not only by words or verbal languages but also by nonverbal communication systems, such as body behaviors.

Nonverbal communication is important because we use the actions of others to learn about their affective emotional states .Our emotions are reflected in our posture, face, and eyes—be it fear, joy, anger, or sadness—so we can express them without ever saying a word .For this reason, most of us rely heavily on what we learn through our eyes.

Nonverbal communication is significant in human interaction because it is usually responsible for the first impressions. More importantly, those first messages usually influence the perception(感知) of everything else that follows. Even how we select friends and sexual partners is grounded in first impressions with nonverbal communication.

Nonverbal communication is important because it is culture-related. It is based on different beliefs, religions, values and customs in different cultures. When, where, how, and to whom people display his or her specific nonverbal behaviors is greatly affected by culture and context. Culture determines what the appropriate nonverbal behavior is. For example, feelings of friendship exist everywhere but their expression varies. It may be appropriate in some countries for man to embrace each other and for women to hold hands; in other countries these displays of affection may be shocking. Each culture has its own specific interpretation on nonverbal communication. What is acceptable in one culture may be completely unacceptable in another. One culture may determine that snapping fingers to call a waiter is acceptable; another may consider this gesture rude.

61. What is the best title of the passage?

A. Nonverbal communication and first impression

B. Nonverbal communication is culture-related

C. Nonverbal and verbal communication

D. The importance of nonverbal communication

62. We can know a person’s feeling through our eyes because_________.

A. we can see a person’s feeling on his face.

B. a person’s emotions can be reflected through eyes.

C. a person’s feeling can be reflected through his body languages

D. we can see a person’s feeling through his posture

63. Which of the following statements is not True?

A. Meaning can be conveyed both by words and body language.

B. We can use nonverbal communication to learn about a person’s emotional states.

C. We often get the first impression by what a person says.

D. The first impression can affect what we will do in the following.

64. How many reasons are mentioned in the text to show nonverbal communication is important?

A. 2            B. 3            C. 4              D.5

65. What can we conclude from the last paragraph?

A. we can use different ways to express friendship

B. each culture has its own specific interpretation on nonverbal communication

C. snapping fingers to call a waiter is acceptable

D. learning a country’s culture is very important.

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

Do you know what a ‘territory’ is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting（筑巢）season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

1.Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually________.

A. an expression of happiness    B. a way of warning

C. an expression of anger        D. a way of greeting

2.What does the underlined word “territory’’ mean?

A. A place where families of other species are not accepted

B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice

C. An area for which birds fight against each other

D. An area which a bird considers to be its own

3.Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A. Because they want to invite more friends

B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away

C. Because they want to find outsiders around

D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears

4.How does the writer explain bird’s singing?

A. By comparing birds with human beings

B. By reporting experiment results

C. By describing birds’ daily life

D. By telling a bird’s story

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing or whistle when you are happy.

Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However, they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.

Do you know what a “territory” is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claim (声称) as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species (物种) are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.

If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting(筑巢) season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.

Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.

You can see that birds have a language all their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.

1.Some scientists believe that most of the time birds’ singing is actually____.

A. an expression of happiness

B. a way of warning

C. an expression of anger

D. a way of greeting

2.What is a birds’ “territory”?

A. A place where families of other species are not accepted.

B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice.

C. An area for which a birds fight against each other.

D. An area which a bird considers to be its own.

3.Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?

A. Because they want to invite more friends.

B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.

C. Because they want to find outsiders around.

D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears.

4.How does the writer explain birds’ singing?

A. By comparing birds with human beings.

B. By reporting experiment results.

C. By describing birds’ daily life.

D. By telling a bird’s story

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever wondered why certain pop songs just make you feel so good?

Researchers studying the question found that the right combination of uncertainty and surprise is what gives listeners the most pleasure.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, involved an analysis of 80,000 chords( 和弦)in 745 pop songs from the US Billboard “Hot 100” chart between 1958 and 1991.

The researchers - from institutes in Germany, Norway, Denmark and the UK - used a machine-learning model to quantify the level of uncertainty and surprise of these chords, and then asked 39 adult volunteers to rate how pleasurable they found each series of chords.

Each song was stripped of its melody and lyrics(歌词)so that only chord progressions were left and the results couldn’t be influenced by other associations to the songs that listeners might have had.

They found two things: that participants got greater pleasure when they were relatively certain what would happen next but then were surprised by an unexpected chord progression. However, the same number of participants found it pleasant when they were uncertain as to what would follow, and then the subsequent chords were more familiar to them.

“It is fascinating that humans can get pleasure from a piece of music just by how sounds are ordered over time,” Vincent Cheung, the lead researcher on the paper from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany, said in a statement.

“Songs that we find pleasant are likely those which strike a good balance between knowing what is going to happen next and surprising us with something we did not expect. Understanding how music activates our pleasure system in the brain could explain why listening to music might help us feel better when we are feeling blue.”

Cheung told CNN that pleasure in music has a lot to do with what listeners expect. Previous studies had looked into the effects of surprise on pleasure, but he and his colleagues’ study also focused on the uncertainty of listeners’ predictions.

The findings may help improve artificial musical algorithms(算法)and could help composers write music or predict musical trends.

“The idea is that hopefully as a scientist analyzing these patterns of pleasure in humans, you can somehow work out where music can go next,” Peter Harrison, a researcher at Queen Mary University, London, who worked on the project, told CNN.

As part of the same experiment, the researchers also used brain imaging to locate the areas of the brain reflected in musical pleasure. They found the regions involved were the amygdala, the hippocampus and the auditory cortex, which process emotions, learning and memory, and sound, respectively.

Cheung added that another part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens - which processes reward expectations - was perhaps responsible for “directing our attention towards the music so that we will try to find out what will happen next.”

1.This passage mainly deals with _____.

A.how composers create pop music trends B.why popular music makes people happy

C.what kind of music makes people most happy D.which part of the brain produces happy music

2.The underlined words in Paragraph 5 have the closest meaning to _____.

A.reserved B.restored C.removed D.refreshed

3.We can learn from the passage that __________.

A.pleasure in music is connected with listeners’ expectations

B.findings of this study are of little help to music composing

C.the regions of the brain mentioned process music composing

D.only uncertainty followed by familiarity can bring about pleasure

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

To forgive may be wonderful, but no one ever said it was easy. When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your anger.

___1___ In­deed, research has shown that people who forgive report more energy, better appetite and better sleep patterns. “People who forgive show less anger and more hopefulness,” says Dr. Freder­ic Luskin, who wrote the book Forgive for Good.

So how do you start the healing? Try following these steps:

Calm yourself. Take a couple of breaths and think of some­thing that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love.

Don’t wait for an apology. ___2___ Luskin says, “They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way. So if you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting a very long time.” Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean coming to terms with the person who upsets you or forgiving his or her action after your quarrel.

___3___ Mentally going over your hurt gives power to the person who brought you pain. “Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.” Luskin says.

___4___ If you attach great importance to that person, you may realize that he or she was acting out of ignorance, fear and even love. To gain others’ stand, you may want to write a letter to yourself from your offender’s point of view.

___5___ Research has shown that people who forgive make a good show of more energy, better appetite and better sleeping patterns.

Don’t forget to forgive yourself. “For some people, forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge." Luskin says, “but it can rob you of your self-confidence if you don’t do it.”

A. Many times the person who hurt you may never think of apologizing.

B. Break away from the influence of your offender on you early.

C. But forgiveness is possible —and it can be surprisingly helpful to your physical and mental health.

D. Try to see things from the other person’s stand.

E. So it is difficult to forgive others and even yourself.

F. Recognize the benefits of forgiveness.

G. Forgiveness is not good of people.

高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析

Have you ever heard anyone say “It’s raining cats and dogs”? It means “It’s raining hard!”

But sometimes cats and dogs do drop from the sky! Here’s how it happens.

Not so long ago, a country far away had many large rats. The people there said, “ We need cats!” So cats were sent to them by airplane. But the country had many mountains. It was hard for an airplane to land. So the cats came down by parachute(降落伞). Did the cats like the ride? They didn’t say they didn’t! And today they are still catching rats!

In another country far away, there is snow the year around. People sometimes got lost in it.

“We need big dogs!” the people said, “The dogs could find people lost in the snow. The dogs could help bring them home. Where can we get big dogs?”

A man across the sea had big dogs to sell. “I will send dogs to you,” he said. “ I have some very big ones. They can find people lost in the snow.”He sent the dogs by airplane.

But the airplane did not land in the snow. The dogs came down by parachute ---- you guessed it !Did the dogs like the ride? They didn’t say they didn’t! And today they are well and happy.They find anyone who gets lost in the snow. Then they help him get home. Good dogs!Remember it, so you can say, “ Yes, it does rain cats and dogs sometimes. They came down by parachute!”

1.The underlined word “ it” In Paragraph  2  refers to __________.

A．the weather

B．the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

C．the saying “It’s raining hard.”

D．the fact that real cats and dogs drop from the sky.

2.Cats and dogs drop from the sky because ______.

A．there are many mountains in the country.

B. it snows the year around in the country.

C. was hard for a plane to land in the two countries.

D. coming down by parachute could save money.

3.The main purpose of the passage is to _________________.

A．tell the readers cats and dogs do drop from the sky

B．tell the readers of a new meaning about an old saying.

C．show cats and dogs are our good friends.

D．show parachute is an important

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析