TEM-4 Exercise 9_TEM4指导
passage 4
questions 12 to 15 are based on the following passage:
before the mid-1860’s, the impact of the railroads in the united states was limited, in the sense that the tracks ended at this missouri river, approximately the center of the country. at the point the trains turned their freight, mail, and passengers over to steamboats, wagons, and stagecoaches. this meant that wagon freighting, stage-coaching, and steam-boating did not come to an end when the first train appeared; rather they became supplements or feeders. each new "end-of-track" became a center for animal drawn or waterborne transportation. the major effect of the railroad was to shorten the distance that had to be covered by the older, slower, and more costly means. wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s and into the 1890’s. although over constantly shrinking routes, and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the west wherever the rails had not yet been laid. the beginning of a major change was foreshadowed in the later 1860’s, when the union pacific railroad at last began to build westward from the central plains city of omaha to meet the central pacific railroad advancing eastward from california through the formidable barrier of the sierra nevada. although president abraham lincoln signed the original pacific railroad bill in 1862 and a revised, financially much more generous version in 1864, little construction was completed until 1865 on the central pacific and 1866 on the union pacific. the primary reason was skepticism that a railroad built through so challenging and thinly settled a stretch of desert, mountain, and semiarid plain could pay a profit. in the words of an economist, this was a case of "premature enterprise", where not only the cost of construction but also the very high risk deterred private investment. in discussing the pacific railroad bill, the chair of the congressional committee bluntly stated that without government subsidy no one would undertake so unpromising a venture; yet it was a national necessity to link east and west together.
12. the author refers to the impact of railroads before the late 1860’s as "limited" because ______.
a. the track did not take the direct route from one city to the next
b. passengers and freight had to transfer to other modes of transportation to reach western destinations
c. passengers preferred stagecoaches
d. railroad travel was quite expensive
13. what can be inferred about coaches and wagon freighters as the railroad expanded?
a. they developed competing routes.
b. their drivers refused to work for the railroads.
c. they began to specialize in private investment.
d. there were insufficient numbers of trained people to operate them.
14. why does the author mention the sierra nevada in line 17?
a. to argue that a more direct route to the west could have been taken.
b. to identify a historically significant mountain range in the west.
c. to point out the location of a serious train accident.
d. to give an example of an obstacle faced by the central pacific.
15. the word "subsidy" in line 27 is closest in meaning to ______.
a. persuasion
b. financing
c. explanation
d. penalty passage 5
questions 16 to 19 are based on the following passage:
certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. all living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. what else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets?
for some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. it is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. common in cool water on both atlantic and pacific shores, it has the ability to suck up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present.
sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish brown to sand color and nearly white. one form even has vivid purple tentacles. usually the creatures are cucumber shaped -- bhence their name -- and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combined with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents.
although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. if it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence.
but the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into water. it also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. the sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attacked or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.
16. according to the passage, why is the&n
bsp;shape of sea cucumbers important?
a. it helps them to digest their food.
b. it helps them to protect themselves from danger.
c. it makes it easier for them to move through the mud.
d. it makes them attractive to fish.
17. the fourth paragraph of the passage primarily discusses ______.
a. the reproduction of sea cucumbers
b. the food sources of sea cucumbers
c. the eating habits of sea cucumbers
d. threats to sea cucumbers’ existence
18. what can be inferred about the defense mechanisms of the sea cucumber?
a. they are very sensitive to surrounding stimuli.
b. they are almost useless.
c. they require group cooperation.
d. they are similar to those of most sea creatures.
19. which of the following would not cause a sea cucumber to release its internal organs into the water?
a. a touch.
b. food.
c. unusually warm water.
d. pollution.
passage 6
questions 20 to 21 are based on the following passage:
human beings have used tools for a very long time. in some parts of the world you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. they made these tools by hitting one stone against another. in this way, they broke off pieces from one of the stones. these chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. people used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat eating animals, such as lions and tigers. tools helped people to get food more easily.
working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. the human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and machines. the stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind.
since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. this is the silicon chip -- a little chip of silicon crystal. it is smaller than a finger nail, but it can store more than a million "bits" of information. it is an electronic brain.
every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. they are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways.
in the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. machines will do everything for us. they will even talk and play games with us. people will have plenty of spare time. but what will they do with it?
human beings used stone chips for more than two million
;years, but human life changed very little in that time. we have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. what will life be like twenty years from now? what will the world be like two million years from now?
20. the stone chip is thought to be the most important tool because it ______.
a. was one of the first tools
b. developed human capabilities
c. led to the invention of machines
d. was crucial to the development of mankind
21. at the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is ______.
a. disastrous
b. unpredictable
c. exciting
d. colorful
12. b
13. d
14. d
15. b
16. b
17. c
18. a
19. b
20. d
21.
questions 12 to 15 are based on the following passage:
before the mid-1860’s, the impact of the railroads in the united states was limited, in the sense that the tracks ended at this missouri river, approximately the center of the country. at the point the trains turned their freight, mail, and passengers over to steamboats, wagons, and stagecoaches. this meant that wagon freighting, stage-coaching, and steam-boating did not come to an end when the first train appeared; rather they became supplements or feeders. each new "end-of-track" became a center for animal drawn or waterborne transportation. the major effect of the railroad was to shorten the distance that had to be covered by the older, slower, and more costly means. wagon freighters continued operating throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s and into the 1890’s. although over constantly shrinking routes, and coaches and wagons continued to crisscross the west wherever the rails had not yet been laid. the beginning of a major change was foreshadowed in the later 1860’s, when the union pacific railroad at last began to build westward from the central plains city of omaha to meet the central pacific railroad advancing eastward from california through the formidable barrier of the sierra nevada. although president abraham lincoln signed the original pacific railroad bill in 1862 and a revised, financially much more generous version in 1864, little construction was completed until 1865 on the central pacific and 1866 on the union pacific. the primary reason was skepticism that a railroad built through so challenging and thinly settled a stretch of desert, mountain, and semiarid plain could pay a profit. in the words of an economist, this was a case of "premature enterprise", where not only the cost of construction but also the very high risk deterred private investment. in discussing the pacific railroad bill, the chair of the congressional committee bluntly stated that without government subsidy no one would undertake so unpromising a venture; yet it was a national necessity to link east and west together.
12. the author refers to the impact of railroads before the late 1860’s as "limited" because ______.
a. the track did not take the direct route from one city to the next
b. passengers and freight had to transfer to other modes of transportation to reach western destinations
c. passengers preferred stagecoaches
d. railroad travel was quite expensive
13. what can be inferred about coaches and wagon freighters as the railroad expanded?
a. they developed competing routes.
b. their drivers refused to work for the railroads.
c. they began to specialize in private investment.
d. there were insufficient numbers of trained people to operate them.
14. why does the author mention the sierra nevada in line 17?
a. to argue that a more direct route to the west could have been taken.
b. to identify a historically significant mountain range in the west.
c. to point out the location of a serious train accident.
d. to give an example of an obstacle faced by the central pacific.
15. the word "subsidy" in line 27 is closest in meaning to ______.
a. persuasion
b. financing
c. explanation
d. penalty passage 5
questions 16 to 19 are based on the following passage:
certainly no creature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. all living creature, especially human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea cucumber seems unusual. what else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible by gourmets?
for some fifty million years, despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of mud. it is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud flats. common in cool water on both atlantic and pacific shores, it has the ability to suck up mud or sand and digest whatever nutrients are present.
sea cucumbers come in a variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish brown to sand color and nearly white. one form even has vivid purple tentacles. usually the creatures are cucumber shaped -- bhence their name -- and because they are typically rock inhabitants, this shape, combined with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents.
although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. if it were not for this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would probably starve themselves out of existence.
but the most spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. its major enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs into water. it also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. the sea cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attacked or even touched; it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.
16. according to the passage, why is the&n
bsp;shape of sea cucumbers important?
a. it helps them to digest their food.
b. it helps them to protect themselves from danger.
c. it makes it easier for them to move through the mud.
d. it makes them attractive to fish.
17. the fourth paragraph of the passage primarily discusses ______.
a. the reproduction of sea cucumbers
b. the food sources of sea cucumbers
c. the eating habits of sea cucumbers
d. threats to sea cucumbers’ existence
18. what can be inferred about the defense mechanisms of the sea cucumber?
a. they are very sensitive to surrounding stimuli.
b. they are almost useless.
c. they require group cooperation.
d. they are similar to those of most sea creatures.
19. which of the following would not cause a sea cucumber to release its internal organs into the water?
a. a touch.
b. food.
c. unusually warm water.
d. pollution.
passage 6
questions 20 to 21 are based on the following passage:
human beings have used tools for a very long time. in some parts of the world you can still find tools that people used more than two million years ago. they made these tools by hitting one stone against another. in this way, they broke off pieces from one of the stones. these chips of stone were usually sharp on one side. people used them for cutting meat and skin from dead animals, and also for making other tools out of wood. human beings needed to use tools because they did not have sharp teeth like other meat eating animals, such as lions and tigers. tools helped people to get food more easily.
working with tools also helped to develop human intelligence. the human brain grew bigger, and human beings began to invent more and more tools and machines. the stone chip was one of the first tools that people used, and perhaps it is the most important. some scientists say that it was the key to success of mankind.
since 1960 a new kind of tool has appeared. this is the silicon chip -- a little chip of silicon crystal. it is smaller than a finger nail, but it can store more than a million "bits" of information. it is an electronic brain.
every year these chips get cleverer, but their size gets smaller, and their cost gets less. they are used in watches, calculators and intelligent machines that we can use in many ways.
in the future we will not need to work with tools in the old way. machines will do everything for us. they will even talk and play games with us. people will have plenty of spare time. but what will they do with it?
human beings used stone chips for more than two million
;years, but human life changed very little in that time. we have used silicon chips for only a few years, but life is changing faster every day. what will life be like twenty years from now? what will the world be like two million years from now?
20. the stone chip is thought to be the most important tool because it ______.
a. was one of the first tools
b. developed human capabilities
c. led to the invention of machines
d. was crucial to the development of mankind
21. at the end of the passage the author seems to suggest that life in future is ______.
a. disastrous
b. unpredictable
c. exciting
d. colorful
12. b
13. d
14. d
15. b
16. b
17. c
18. a
19. b
20. d
21.