In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Jonses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1. Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they _______.| A．want to be as rich as their neighbors | B．want to be happy |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich | D．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York city |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbors |
| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbor’s name | D．not a good name |
| A．impossible | B．interesting | C．correct | D．good |
| A．Objective | B．Positive | C．Negative | D．Supportive |
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【推荐1】Fashion always influences people, Isabella Springmuhl Tejada from Guatemala, one of the first professional fashion designer with Down syndrome, is proving that fashion goes beyond normal limits.
Tejada who discovered her hobby in childhood said, “I think that fashion design is in my blood.” After all, her grandmother had a studio where she produced Guatemalan-style clothing. And, when she was young, Tejada’s mother gave her fashion magazines to read. Tejada spent hours of her childhood reading the magazines and designing paper dresses for her dolls. By the time she reached high school, Tejada had decided to enter the world.
After being refused by several fashion schools because of her Down syndrome, Tejada found her own path. She signed up for a clothing-making course, where she began to make clothing for “worry dolls”, finger-sized traditional Guatemalan dolls. And she created life-sized dolls and dressed them in the colorful clothes that she’s now famous for. This-design experience greatly helped Tejada. She fell in love with traditional Guatemalan patterns and colors. She explained, “I’m lucky to work with traditional cloth, inspired by our culture and representing our country.”
Tejada also pioneered fashion design for people with Down syndrome. She said, “It is difficult for people like me to find suitable clothes. We can be shorter or weaker. That’s why I decided to design clothes that would be perfect for people with Down syndrome.”
Tejada has created her brand, Down to Xjabelle. The new brand took off right away. It made it all the way to London Fashion Week. And the great designer has plans for the future as well. Tejada said, “I want people all over the world to know my designs and to know that people with Down syndrome can do what they set out to do. I want to be able to live on my own.”
1. What awakened Tejada’s love for fashion design?| A．Her visit to a design school. | B．Her family’s strong influence. |
| C．Her efforts to fight her disease. | D．Her work experience in a famous company. |
| A．It proved her ability to run a business. |
| B．It inspired her to learn about different cultures. |
| C．It strengthened her wish to travel around the world. |
| D．It increased her interest in traditional design styles. |
| A．She won’t let her disability limit her. |
| B．Her illness has been successfully cured. |
| C．Her brand is facing serious competition. |
| D．She can’t please normal customers with her design ideas. |
| A．A special designer turns her dream into reality. |
| B．Fashion is closely connected with daily life. |
| C．Learn the value of traditional culture. |
| D．Develop a hobby from an early age. |
【推荐2】When I arrived at the mountaintop observatory, I was bursting with excitement. I was about to finish my junior year studying astrophysics (天体物理). I finally felt like an astronomer. Unfortunately, as I sat alone, staring at a computer screen instead of the night sky, pressing a combination of buttons over and over to control the telescope and get back data, I had to admit: This wasn’t what I had imagined.
I had wanted to be an astronomer ever since my father gave me the DVD box set of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage when I was a teenager. Watching Carl Sagan talk about the heavens, I thought I had found my calling. But after my experience at the observatory, I had to face a new truth: the astronomer’s life wasn’t for me. Then where was my future, if not in astronomy?
I recalled a quantum (量子) physics class I had taken and thought that field might fit the bill. My academic adviser was skeptical (怀疑的). I can’t blame him; I was throwing away a ton of original astronomical data to start from scratch in a new field. But I took on the challenge. I put together a proposal I was eager to pursue, and to my joy and relief, my adviser approved it.
Being able to shape and control quantum phenomena inspired me in a way astronomy did not. I also persuaded a friend to work with me. As we talked through the project, explaining complex topics to each other and reflecting on the big picture of what we wanted to achieve, an idea dawned: I had been drawn to Cosmos not because of the subject, but because of the finesse (技巧) with which Sagan explained mind-blowing concepts. That was the spark of inspiration I wanted to follow. I began to try out my communication skills, working with high school physics students and tutoring in the college physics room. I got a real charge out of these experiences!
Now, in addition to conducting research in quantum engineering, I lecture at universities, run a summer school, and work with educators.
1. How did the author finally find his observatory experience?| A．Exciting. | B．Rewarding. | C．Disappointing. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Because it didn’t suit the author. |
| B．Because the author didn’t put forward his proposal. |
| C．Because the author threw away his original astronomical data. |
| D．Because it meant making a fresh start in an unfamiliar domain. |
| A．It was stimulated by quantum phenomena. |
| B．It required communication skills in research. |
| C．It was inspired by how the speaker got his ideas across. |
| D．It helped him achieve his full potential as an astronomer. |
| A．Aim high, shoot low. | B．Never give up on a dream. |
| C．Kill two birds with one stone. | D．Stay open to new possibilities. |
【推荐3】An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son.
Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) perched on the tree near their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this on the tree?” The son replied, “It is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son the second time,"What is this?"
The son said, “I have just now told you. It is a crow!”
After a little while, the old father asked his son the third time,"What is this?"
“It's a crow, a crow, a crow!" said the son loudly.
A little while later, the father again asked his son the fourth time,"What is this?" This time the son shouted at his father,"Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? IT IS A CROW! Are you not able to understand this?" A little later, the father went to his room and came back with an old diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:
“Today my 3-year-old son was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow was sitting on the tree. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel angry. I rather love my innocent (天真无邪的) child."
1. What does the underlined word “perched”mean in the second paragraph?| A．Knocked. | B．Struggled. | C．Landed. | D．Died. |
| A．He was too old to remember anything. |
| B．He really wanted to make his son happy. |
| C．He really couldn't understand what his son said. |
| D．He wanted to see how patient his son would be. |
| A．38 years old. | B．45 years old. | C．80 years old. | D．35 years old. |
| A．A Crow | B．Father's Love | C．An Old Diary | D．An Old Man |
【推荐1】Language and communication issues may be the greatest wall for breaking into the Chinese market. The ability to speak and understand Chinese is necessary to business success. But in addition to having an ability to translate English into Chinese, the ability to translate Chinese into English is also priceless. It can help improve advertising and marketing efforts and assist in business-to-business efforts.
The Chinese economy is red hot. It has been growing by 10 percent per year since the 1980’s and continues to develop into the new time. But what many American companies have learned is that you have to speak Chinese in order to get into the Chinese marketplace. There are other barriers of course, as in any emerging economy, but the basics of being able to speak Chinese or at least having marketing information translated into Chinese are a big difficulty to overcome.
The other barriers may fall once you have the ability to translate English into Chinese, but unless you do, it will remain a major barrier to your business success in China.
Other barriers to successful investment and marketing in the Chinese economy are also tied to the ability to translate English into Chinese. They include any advertising of goods and services to the Chinese market as well as marketing initiatives to the Chinese business-to-business marketplace. Another ability issue involving language is that someone in the organization will also have to be able to read, understand and translate Chinese information and materials into English.
It is not easy to break into the Chinese market without good English-to-Chinese translation and Chinese-to-English translation services, but if you get the language and two-way communication matter right, your chances of success in the hottest market on earth will become much better.
1. According to Paragraph 1, the ability to ________ is as important as the ability to speak and understand Chinese.| A．speak very good English in China |
| B．translate Chinese into English |
| C．improve advertising and marketing efforts |
| D．assist in business-to-business efforts |
| A．speaking Chinese is not a big difficulty for them |
| B．there is only a language barrier to entering the Chinese market |
| C．they will easily achieve success in the Chinese market |
| D．to break into the Chinese market, you must speak Chinese |
| A．know more about Chinese language and culture |
| B．can improve advertising and marketing efforts |
| C．get Chinese and two-way communication right |
| D．have a good Chinese-to-English translation service |
| A．Master Chinese to enter the Chinese market |
| B．English-to-Chinese translation is valuable |
| C．What disappoints American companies |
| D．China is the hottest market in the world |
【推荐2】The Greek historian Herodotus reported over 2,000 years ago on a misguided experiment in which two children were prevented from hearing human speech so that a king could discover the true, unlearned language of human beings.
Scientists now know that human language requires social learning and interaction with other people, a property shared with multiple animal languages. But why should humans and other animals need to learn a language instead of being born with this knowledge?
Given that the ways honeybees communicate are quite complex, we decided to study how they learn to communicate to answer this language question.
Bees possess one of the most complicated examples of nonhuman communication. They can tell each other where to find resources such as food, water, or nest sites with a physical “waggle (摇摆) dance”, by circling around in a figure eight pattern centered around a waggle run. This dance conveys the direction, distance and quality of a resource to the bee’s nestmates.
Bees begin to dance only as they get older. Could they be learning from practiced teachers?
We thus created isolated experimental colonies of bees (蜂群) that could not observe other waggle dances before they themselves danced. Like the ancient experiment described by Herodotus, these bees could not observe the dance language because they were all the same age and had no older, experienced bees to follow. In contrast, our control colonies contained bees of all ages, so younger bees could follow the older, experienced dancers.
We recorded the first dances of the bees. The bees that could not follow the dances of experienced bees produced dances with significantly more directional, distance and disorder crrors than the dances of control bees.
We then tested the same bees later, when they were experienced dancers. Bees who had lacked teachers now produced significantly fewer errors, possibly because they had more practice or had learned by eventually following other dancers. The dances of the control bees remained just as good as their first dances.
Complex communication is often difficult to produce even when individuals are born with some knowledge of the correct signals. Bees are born with some knowledge of how to dance, but they have to learn how to dance even better by following experienced bees.
1. Why does the author say the experiment on the two children is a misguided experiment?| A．Language learning is a social activity. | B．Language learning has changed greatly. |
| C．Children are born with human speech. | D．Children develop differently in language. |
| A．Old bees could not produce waggle dances. | B．Old bees could not observe waggle dances. |
| C．Young bees were separated from older ones. | D．Young bees could follow experienced bees. |
| A．They had little practice in waggle dances. |
| B．They had learned waggle dances without teachers. |
| C．They were experienced in teaching waggle dances. |
| D．They had learned waggle dances before their first dances. |
| A．A guide to complex communication. |
| B．An answer to why language should be learned. |
| C．An example of nonhuman communication. |
| D．A proof that bees are born with some knowledge. |
【推荐3】When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation. I suggested that they should stay at “bed and breakfast” houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
“We didn’t stay at “bed and breakfast” houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However, to my surprise, the coffeepot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you.”
1. The writer’s friends in Spain wanted to get advice about ________.| A．the chance of learning English | B．the way of going to England |
| C．the traffic rules in England | D．finding places to stay in England |
| A．it would be convenient for them to have dinner |
| B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels |
| C．they would be able to practise their English |
| D．there would be no problem about finding accommodation there |
| A．they misunderstood the signs outside the door |
| B．there were no such “bed and breakfast” houses in England |
| C．they found there were no free rooms there |
| D．people there were away on holiday |
| A．fall into a hole |
| B．have to take a different road |
| C．find that the road is stopped by lots of people |
| D．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself |
| A．he doesn’t want any more coffee |
| B．he wants to show his amazement |
| C．he just wants to show his politeness |
| D．he wants to have some more coffee |
【推荐1】I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing.
The woman looked down, shook her head and said, “Not so good. My husband just lost his job and my son is up to his old tricks again. The truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the holidays.”
Then she gave the shop owner the food stamps(食品券).
My heart ached. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. Should I offer to pay for her groceries, ask for her husband’s resume?
As I walked into the parking lot, I spotted the woman returning her shopping cart. I remembered something in my purse that I thought could help her. It wasn’t a handful of cash or an offer of a job for her husband, but maybe it would make her life better.
My heart pounded as I approached the woman.
“Excuse me,” I said, my voice trembling a bit,“I couldn’t help overhearing what you said to the cashier. It sounds like you’re going through a really hard time right now. I’m so sorry. I’d like to give you something.”
I handed her the small card from my purse.
When the woman read the card’s only two words, she began to cry. And through her tears, she said, “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
I was a little startled by her reply. Having never done anything like this before, I didn’t know what kind of reaction I might receive. All I could think to say was, “Oh my. Would it be OK to give you a hug?”
After that, I walked back to my car and began to cry too.
The words on the card?
“You Matter.”
A few weeks earlier, a colleague gave me a similar card as encouragement for a project I was working on. When I read the card, I felt a warm glow spread inside of me. Deeply touched, I came home and ordered my own box of You Matter cards and started sharing them.
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the first three paragraphs?| A．The woman’s family mainly depends on her son. |
| B．The cashier helped the woman by giving her some food for free. |
| C．The woman and her family were having a tough lime |
| D．The author wondered why the cashier was familiar with the woman. |
| A．it greatly encouraged her |
| B．she could use it to buy food |
| C．it could solve her present problem |
| D．it could land her husband a job |
| A．interested |
| B．grateful |
| C．ashamed |
| D．astonished |
| A．smart |
| B．kind-hearted |
| C．knowledgeable |
| D．confident |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项 （A 、B 、C 和 D ）中，选出最佳选项。
Most people have heard of Shakespeare and probably know something of the plays that he wrote. However, not everybody knows much about the life of this remarkable man, except perhaps that he was born in the market town of Stratford upon Avon and that he married a woman called Anne Hathaway. We know nothing of his school life. We do not know, for example, how long it lasted, but we presume that he attended the local grammar school, where the principal subject taught was Latin.
Nothing certain is known for what he did between the time he left school and his departure for London. According to a local legend, he was beaten and even put in prison for stealing rabbits and deer from the estate of a neighboring landowner, Sir Thomas Lucy. It is said that because of this he was forced to run away from his native place. A different legend says that he was apprenticed to a Stratford butcher, but did not like the life and for this reason decided to leave Stratford.
Whatever caused him to leave the town of his birth, the world can be grateful that he did so. What is certain is that he set his foot on the road to fame when he arrived in London. It is said that at first he had no money or friends there, but that he earned a little by taking care of the horses of the gentlemen who attended the plays at the theatre. In time, as he became a familiar figure to the actors in the theatre, they stopped and spoke to him. They found his conversation so brilliant that finally he was invited to join their company.
1. In the early life of Shakespeare, he________.
| A．attended a public school |
| B．lived in London |
| C．studied Latin |
| D．was put in prison for stealing cattle |
| A．Because he did not want to go to school. |
| B．Because he left for London to become famous. |
| C．Because he had stolen deer and was beaten. |
| D．No one knows for certain. |
| A．Because he wrote many world-famous plays after leaving his hometown. |
| B．Because he became a good rider in London. |
| C．Because he was an actor at last. |
| D．Because he travelled all over the world. |
| A．on time |
| B．sometimes |
| C．some time later |
| D．some time |
【推荐3】“Can we look at the school supplies while we’re here?” my daughter, Julia, asked during a trip to the store. My favorite school-supply item is the daily planner because I struggle with organization. I always dream that the perfect planner will somehow cure me of my delay and turn my life into a paradise (乐园) of order and productivity.
The list of habits I wanted to develop was long. Exercising regularly. Drinking more water. Clearing a junk drawer or closet each week. Reading more books and watching less TV. Delaying less on work deadlines. Spending more time with each of my kids and reaching out to family and friends more often. Making special meals, and doing other things to make my loved ones feel loved.
Over the next few days, I was able to check off several items on my habit tracker. I was pleased with the progress, but I hadn’t done much with the habits intended to improve my relationships with others. I tried to put more focus on those habits.
One morning, I opened my planner and realized that it was Julia’s. The first task was “Write in my gratitude journal.” The second one was “Do something nice for someone else.” Julia was a busy college student. How did she find time to keep a journal and do random acts of kindness? When I asked her about it, she said, “Those two habits go together. Writing in my gratitude journal makes me want to do nice things for other people.”
“What a wonderful thing to do!” I said, “I love that your gratitude fuels your acts of kindness.” I took a plain notebook and wrote, “I’m thankful for...” I prepared my husband’s favorite dinner, sent an encouraging text to a friend, and baked another batch of cookies for Julia to share with her friends.
1. Why does the author like the planner most?| A．She often used it while being a teacher. |
| B．She wants to keep her life organized. |
| C．She is a person of doing things in order. |
| D．She tends to focus on working effectively. |
| A．The various arrangements the author had a day. |
| B．The constant changes the author made in life. |
| C．The good habits the author wanted to develop. |
| D．The different things the author delayed doing. |
| A．Doing more exercise every day. | B．Completing her tasks in time. |
| C．Keeping a balanced diet for her health. | D．Building more close bonds with others. |
| A．Gratitude can fuel kindness. | B．Love is endless in a family. |
| C．Blessing comes from nowhere. | D．Generosity is actually a virtue. |
【推荐1】The transatlantic car carrier, Oceanbird, is being designed by Wallenius Marine, a Swedish shipbuilder,with support from the Swedish government.
With a capacity(容量) of 7,000 vehicles, the 650 foot-long vessel will have a similar size to ordinary car carriers, but it will look totally different. The ship will have five “wing sails”, with each being 260 feet tall. These sails are capable of turning 360 degrees, and it can be shortened to 195 feet in order to pass under bridges or withstand rough weather.
Although the general theory of wing sails is not new, designing the Oceanbird’s sails has been a challenge, says Mikael Razola, the research project manager for Oceanbird. “That’s because these are the tallest sails that have ever been constructed. The top of the sails will be more than 100 meters above the water surface. At such a height, the wind direction and speed change a lot,” says Razola.
To better understand the atmospheric conditions(大气条件) at this height, Wallenius put sensors on top of its existing vessels to gather data of wind. “All of this information has helped us make the most of the power available in the wind and design an efficient wing vessel,” says Razola.
With its special sails, Oceanbird will outperform conventional car carriers in the aspect of exhaust emission. Nowadays, the shipping industry is under pressure to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. According to the International Maritime Organization, the UN body that regulates global shipping, shipping accounted for 2. 89% of global manmade greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. And in the same year, this organization introduced a mandatory( 强 制 的 ) 50% reduction of total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Oceanbird is designed to exceed(超过) the target---Wallenious said the ship would emit 90% less CO2 than other car carriers.
With a stop speed of about 10 knots, Oceanbird will be slower than standard car carriers, which can travel at 17 knots. It will take around 12 days, instead of the standard seven to cross the Atlantic. “This long journey will require some scheduling changes as well as acceptance from carmakers,” said Razola. “But the response so far has been very positive. ”
Researchers in Wallenious have built a 7-meter model of Oceanbird which will sail in Stockholm’s archipelago to gather data that will help finalize the ship’s design. “It will take around three years to launch the full-size version. Our ambition is to see Oceanbird sailing in 2024,” Razola said.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The design of Oceanbird. |
| B．The capacity of Oceanbird. |
| C．The operating method of wing sails. |
| D．The sailing conditions for car carriers. |
| A．The lack of financial support. | B．The lack of previous theories. |
| C．The wind conditions at different heights. | D．The tough weather on the Atlantic Ocean. |
| A．Increase the sailing speed. |
| B．Arrange a scientific sailing schedule. |
| C．Handle the conflicts between carmakers. |
| D．Use standard ships instead of Oceanbird |
| A．Giant and inconvenient. |
| B．Low-cost but inefficient. |
| C．High-capacity and high-speed. |
| D．Well-designed and environment-friendly. |
【推荐2】A new device (设备) called Orion is helping those who are blind to see. It does this in a new way by helping them experience the world around them.
Jason Esterhuizen lost his eyesight after a car accident. He never thought he would be able to see light or movement again. But now with the movement of a switch (开关), his world suddenly grew brighter.
He says, “I still can’t put it into words. I mean from being able to see absolutely nothing, it’s completely black, to all of a sudden seeing little flickers (闪烁) of light move around.” It is not full or normal sight, but Esterhuizen can move about in the world around him.
The new technology uses several parts. One is a small device placed in the brain. The other parts are a video camera on sunglasses and a processing device that can be carried in a person’s clothes. When the user points the camera, a signal goes to the processor (处理器) and then back to the glasses. The glasses then are in wireless communication with the device in the brain. The information causes a pattern to develop in the part of the brain. The pattern helps users sense or see movement and shapes of light. And it all happens in seconds.
Esterhuizen is one of just two people in the U.S. testing this technology. He says that “I can tell someone moving across the room, walking past me or walking away from me, or it’s a light against the wall. It is just amazing to have some form of functional vision again.” He adds that now he can do everyday activities around his home that he once could not. It is easier to walk outside.
The researchers believe that one day this technology could help people who have lost their vision because of illnesses like diabetes. It may also help those with poor vision or who were born blind.
1. Which of the following caused Esterhuizen to go blind ?| A．An illness. | B．A car accident. |
| C．A brain damage. | D．A genetic problem. |
| A．They are put in the brain. |
| B．They are carried in the user’s clothes. |
| C．They are mainly used to protect a person’s eyes. |
| D．They communicate wirelessly with a small device. |
| A．He fully regains his sight. |
| B．He always do daily activities freely. |
| C．He feels delighted to see the world again. |
| D．He is the only one to test this technology. |
| A．Orion makes homes brighter. |
| B．Orion functions as normal eyes. |
| C．A new equipment helps the blind see. |
| D．A new technology happens in seconds. |
【推荐3】There are hundreds of grape varieties in Japan, but only one can sell for several hundred dollars per grape. The Ruby Roman was cultivated in Japan’ s Ishikawa Prefecture and is considered one of the world’ s most expensive fruits.
The story of Ruby Roman began in 1995, when Ishikawa grape farmers appealed to the government to create a large red grape variety. 400 experimental vines（葡萄树）were planted into a test field. Two years later; they started bearing fruit. However, out of the 400 vines, only 4 turned out to be red grapes, and only one of them was considered large enough to meet the farmers’ expectations. Over the next 14 years, researchers constantly improved its size, taste, color and ease of planting, and today Ruby Roman is considered a “treasure of Ishikawa”.
In 2008, soon after making its commercial debut（首秀）, the Ruby Roman grape variety made international headlines after a 700-gram bunch sold for 10,000 yen（$910）, or $26 per grape. Eight years later, a 26-grape bunch sold for 1.1 million yen（$11,000）, or roughly $370 per grape.
While the Ruby Roman name is used to describe a type of grapes, every bunch must meet very strict standards. For example, every grape in the bunch must weigh at least 20 grams and have a sugar content of at least 18 percent. There is also a Premium class of Ruby Roman grapes—each grape must weigh over 30 grams, and the whole bunch must be at least 700 grams heavy.
Most bunches of Ruby Roman grapes are sold through auctions（拍卖）, but Premium Ruby Rose are extremely difficult to find. For example, in 2010, only six bunches of grapes were certified Premium, and in 2011 no bunches qualified for it.
And if you’ re wondering how the Ruby Roman name came to be, it was apparently voted by local residents（居民）out of 639 different names.
1. The underlined word“cultivated”in the first paragraph can be best replaced by”_________”.| A．discovered | B．preserved |
| C．developed | D．promoted |
| A．is widely planted in Japan | B．does not come easily |
| C．used to be a treasure of Ishikawa | D．is more productive than expected |
| A．To explain how large Ruby Roman grapes are. |
| B．To tell how profitable planting Ruby Roman is. |
| C．To prove how popular Ruby Roman is globally. |
| D．To show how expensive Ruby Roman grapes are. |
| A．It’s named after its birthplace. |
| B．It isn’t available in abundance. |
| C．It doesn’t refer to only one grape variety. |
| D．Its price has nothing to do with its color. |
