Young sunflowers turn and swing every day. New findings add to evidence that the plants are animal-like.
Harmer, a professor in the University of California at Davis’ Department of Plant Biology, carried out a series of experiments on sunflowers in the field, in pots outdoors and in indoor growth chambers.
By staking plants so that they could not move, Harmer showed that he could destroy their ability to track the sun. He also noticed that sunflowers prevented from moving were not as tough and leafy as those that were free to move. When plants were moved indoor with a settled overhead light, they continued to swing back and forth for a few days.
The indoor plants did start tracking the “sun” again when the apparent source of lighting was moved across the room. The plants could reliably track the movement and return at night when the artificial day was close to a 24-hour cycle, but not when it was closer to 30 hours.
When sunflowers track the sun, the east sides of their stems grew more rapidly than the west sides. At night, the west sides grew faster as the stem swung the other way. The team identified a number of genes that were expressed at higher levels on the sunward side of the plant during the day, or on the other side at night. A plant growth-regulating hormone, called auxin, appears to be a key driver.
The “dance” to the sun cycle obviously slows when the sunflower matures and its flowers open up. At that point, the plants stop moving during the day and settle down facing the sun in the east.
“Bees like warm flowers.” Harmer said, adding that the bees are cold-blooded, so landing on a warm flower saves them energy and perhaps feels really good.
“The morning warmth changes the flowers in a way to make them more appealing to insects, perhaps causing them to release more attractive scents earlier in the day.” he said. “We’re currently testing this idea.”
1. Why did Harmer do the experiment on sunflowers?| A．To see how sunflowers grow up. |
| B．To show what sunflowers’ genes are. |
| C．To study why sunflowers track the sun. |
| D．To check if sunflowers swing in cloudy days. |
| A．Tracking. | B．Fastening. |
| C．Preserving. | D．Presenting. |
| A．They won’t grow well. |
| B．They will grow faster than usual. |
| C．They won’t swing back though set free. |
| D．They will produce a number of new genes. |
| A．They would swing as usual. |
| B．They would move back and forth. |
| C．They would stop turning. |
| D．They would track the sun. |
| A．on cold sunflowers | B．in the circle of flowers |
| C．on warm sunflowers | D．on the mature sunflowers |
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【推荐1】From the moa in New Zealand to the dodo in Mauritius (both of these two flightless birds have died out), the arrival of humans has often spelled extinction for tasty but previously isolated animals. Many scientists had assumed that the woolly rhinos (长毛犀牛) suffered the same thing. But Love Dalén, a professor at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm. and Edana Lord, one of Dr Dalén's PhD students, are not so sure.
Until recently, information on the story of this great ice-age animal had been limited to the fossilized bones (骨骼化石). In the past couple of decades, however, scientists have learned to use a richer source of information： ancient genomes (基因组). By itself, DNA breaks down quickly, attacked by water and sunlight. But DNA covered in bones and teeth can survive longer, especially if those bones and teeth are themselves in permanent frozen land. It was this sort of DNA that enabled Dr Dalén and Ms Lord to investigate the woolly rhinos' disappearance.
Working with a team of colleagues, the researchers obtained DNA from 12 woolly rhino bones collected from permafrost in Siberia. Analyzing the genetic diversity of the bones, the researchers found that rather than declining as humans arrived, the population of rhinos remained stable from 29,000 years ago to 18,500 years ago, a few thousand years before they died out. Perhaps the people who met the animals found them distasteful. Or perhaps the rhinos were simply too dangerous to hunt with their simple weapons.
On the other hand, the animals' decline lines up suggestively with a rapid period of global warming that began around 14,700 years ago. The researchers argue that this was the more likely cause of the animals' disappearance. This time, it seems, it was Mother Nature who did it.
1. What probably caused the extinction of the moa and the dodo?| A．Human activity. | B．Geographical disasters. |
| C．Lack of food. | D．Climate change. |
| A．By testing DNA itself. |
| B．By collecting fossilized bones. |
| C．By analyzing ancient genomes. |
| D．By studying the permanent frozen land. |
| A．They disappeared quickly. |
| B．They decreased in numbers. |
| C．They were hunted as foo |
| D．They co-existed with humans long |
| A．Mother Nature Is Actually the Killer |
| B．What Killed Woolly Rhinos? |
| C．Woolly Rhino Bones Were Found in Siberia |
| D．What Happened to Woolly Rhinos? |
Any pet owner will tell you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels and blood pressure in people (half of them were pet owners) while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic (算术) or held a hand in ice water. People completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did it best. Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned most quickly to baseline heart rates. With pets in the room, people also made fewer math mistakes than when doing in front of other companions. It seems that people feel more relaxed around pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don’t judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog may also have an effect on your body weight. Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital spent a year studying two groups of fat people who were put on a diet-and-exercise program: one group with pet dogs, and the other without. On average，dog owners lost about 11 pounds，or 5% of their body weight; While those without dogs lost about 8 pounds. The pet owners, said researchers, got more exercise overall (mostly with their dogs) and found it worth doing.
1. What does the text mainly discuss?
| A．People’s opinions of keeping pets. |
| B．How pets help people calm down. |
| C．What pets bring to their owners. |
| D．Pets can help in medical research. |
| A．he has a pet companion |
| B．he has less stress of work |
| C．he often dose mental arithmetic |
| D．he is taken care of by his family |
| A．They are less nervous. |
| B．They are in higher spirits. |
| C．They become more patient. |
| D．They have lower blood pressure. |
| A．people with dogs did more exercise |
| B．dogs lost the same weight as people did |
| C．dogs liked exercise much more than people did |
| D．people without dogs found the program unhelpful |
【推荐3】In the winters of 2012 and 2013, National Geographic grantee (被批准人) Anders Angerbjorn and his Ph. D. student, Rasmus Erlandsson, studied an extremely threatened species, the Scandinavian arctic fox. The current population numbers are fewer than 150 individuals in mainland Europe so many of the young foxes are having difficulty finding a non-related partner. Other threats to the species include competition from the red fox for the rare small rodents (啮齿目动物) they both depend upon for food. Angerbjorn and Erlandsson monitored the arctic fox population in Vasterbotten and Norrbotten, Sweden, to identify the best areas for further conservation actions. This included tagging (贴标签于) the baby foxes, which proved to be a challenge.
“When catching arctic foxes it is easy to believe that the smaller ones are the easiest to handle. In some aspects it is true. Their teeth are smaller and the jaws less powerful. However, just as human children have a hard time keeping still, the really small cubs (幼兽) do too.”
“We handle the foxes in a bag while tagging, and the trick is to keep the animal still between your legs while kneeling. And here comes the tricky part. How do you keep a small, wild fox still? You cannot apply too much force. You really do not want to hurt it. Just as with small children the best tool is patience, but at the same time you want the handling to be as short as possible.”
“One particular cub had a technique I had never experienced before as it continuously tried to turn onto its back, for no obvious reason. I had to reach the ears, so I quickly turned the cub upright. The cub stayed still for a few seconds, and then began to roll onto its back again. The same thing happened over and over again! Finally, I got the tags in place, and after making measurements and taking some samples, I finally let it go.”
1. According to the text, the red fox ________.| A．looks like the arctic fox | B．is an endangered species |
| C．needs more conservation actions | D．competes with the arctic fox for food |
| A．Providing food for the arctic fox. |
| B．Checking the number of the arctic fox. |
| C．Building conservation areas for the arctic fox. |
| D．Helping the arctic fox find a non-related partner. |
| A．kids love the arctic fox | B．baby foxes can be dangerous |
| C．it is difficult to tag baby foxes | D．the smaller foxes are easier to handle |
| A．brave | B．patient | C．creative | D．strong |
【推荐1】Motion sickness is an uncomfortable feeling. The sickness it causes can strike people on an airplane, playing video games, or, commonly, when riding in a car. In a future where people may find themselves running around streets in self-driving vehicles, the problems could get worse.
We typically sense our physical position and movement in the world by relying on our eyes, the feeling we get in our body, and our inner ear. Motion sickness may develop when there's disagreement between what your eyes see and what your inner ear senses. If you're looking at your phone in a moving vehicle, your eyes see a stationary screen but your inner ear feels that you're moving. The result of that dissonance can cause sickness. The common-sense solution is to just stop looking at your phone, but some of the appeal of self-driving cars is that you could use the time to be productive or entertained by what's on a screen.
Researchers of a car-making company and a video game company have been studying ways to address these issues. And their solution uses an interesting medium: sound. The research had two goals: to explore if sound could help relieve motion sickness, and to help people trust self-driving cars more. They experimented with two different categories of sound: tips that tell passengers what's about to happen, and noises that alert passengers when the device has noticed something, like a pedestrian.
The most convincing experiment took place on a closed airport runway in Sweden, near Gothenburg, in August of last year. On that track, brave participants had to ride in the backseat of a car driven by a human and read from a tablet while the car navigated the course. With just 20 people, the study was small, but according to researchers, the presence of sound tips made people report that they felt less ill. Participants said the sounds helped prepare them physically, or adjust their bodies for what was about to happen.
1. When does motion sickness usually happen?| A．Sleeping during travels. | B．Closing eyes on vehicles. |
| C．Driving vehicles speedily. | D．Riding in moving vehicles. |
| A．Confusion. | B．Potentiality. | C．Randomness. | D．Disagreement. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Optimistic. | C．Concerned. | D．Dissatisfaction. |
| A．A study of motion sickness. | B．Self-driving vehicles. |
| C．A convincing experiment. | D．The cause and handling of motion sickness. |
【推荐2】Many curious children have lately asked “How do glasses help you see?” Actually, they asked this at a very good time because more and more people are needing to wear glasses and we don’t really know why.
Our eyes let us see because light enters each eye, and the eye then creates a message that goes to the brain. The eyeball itself doesn’t actually “see”—the brain sees. The eyeballs just take pictures, like two little cameras. To see properly, each eyeball needs to send the light that enters it into a very exact spot inside the eyeball, called the retina(视网膜). If the light falls onto the incorrect place, everything goes wrong.
Many people won’t need glasses and can see just fine. This is because their eyeballs are focusing light properly onto the retina. However, some people have eyeballs that are too long. They are called “shortsighted”. For these people, things far away can look blurry(模糊的). Other people have eyeballs that are too short. They are called “farsighted” and things close to them can look blurry. Both shortsighted and farsighted people need glasses to help them see clearly. They work by helping the eyeball to focus light onto the correct place, the retina. Only then can we see clearly.
Maybe you have a grandma or grandpa who wears whenever they are reading books or using their mobile phone. When people get older, they usually become a little bit farsighted because a part of their eye called the lens becomes stiff and doesn’t work properly.
More and more young people in the world are needing to wear glasses. we’re not sure why, but some scientists think that children who spend too much time inside are more likely to need glasses. Children who need glasses but don’t wear them don’t do as well as in school. Once you need glasses, you usually need them forever—your eyes won’t go back to normal on their own.
I hope that one day we can find out why people’s eyeballs become too long or too short and then we can stop people needing to wear glasses in the first place. Then people will never lose or forget their glasses ever again!
1. What is the author’s purpose for writing this article?| A．To give expert advice. |
| B．To tell an interesting story. |
| C．To present a research finding. |
| D．To answer children’s question. |
| A．Our brain is confused. |
| B．Our retina stops work. |
| C．We may lose our eyesight. |
| D．We are unable to see things clearly. |
| A．Their eyeballs are too long. |
| B．Their eyeballs are too short. |
| C．The lens of their eye works lazily. |
| D．The light falls exactly onto their retina. |
| A．What causes changes to people’s eyeballs. |
| B．What makes us lose our glasses quite often. |
| C．Why more and more young people have bad eyesight. |
| D．Why people with poor eyesight usually need glasses forever. |
【推荐3】Decoding Your Emotions
Almost all of us can remember a time when we were angry with a friend or anxious about going to a job interview. We experience such a wide range of emotions in everyday life, and these can influence the decisions we make — important decisions, such as whether we should quit a job, to the more trivial like what we’re going to have for dinner.
Emotions are controlled by many different chemicals, or neurotransmitters and electrical impulses.
Emotions have been studied as far back as the 4 century BC. The Greek philosopher Aristotle attempted to identify the number of core human cmotions. During the 1970s, psychologist Paul Ekman identified six basic emotions — happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust-these provide the basis for more complicated emotional experiences we have.
| A．Electrical impulses are sent along a nerve, which connect to many more nerves. |
| B．Emotions also decides the way we interact with our family, friends and colleagues and even ourselves. |
| C．In fact, the way we express our emotions can vary across cultures. |
| D．Based on the study, distinct cultural backgrounds’ contributing to different emotions has its reasons. |
| E．Ekman later expanded his list of basic emotions to include shame, guilt and relief. |
| F．Additionally, emotions have long-lasting impacts on our interpersonal relationships too |
【推荐1】To remind people of those Chinese poems and to promote cultural heritage, China Central Television (CCTV) has produced a TV show-Chinese Poetry Competition. The final of the hit show’s second season was shown on Feb7.
Wu Yishu, 16, who studies at the High School attached to Fudan University in Shanghai, came out on top. “I really admire her knowledge of poems”, said Huang Zijin, 16, a senior 2 student from Ningbo High School in Zhejiang province. “The first time I saw her wearing traditional Han clothing on TV, I was very impressed by her classical looks. She fulfills all my fantasies for classic Chinese women’s talents. What’s more, she always appears especially calm throughout the show, which is very unusual for her age. ”
“Learning poems isn’t about winning or losing. The power of poetry lies in shaping ơne’s view of life and developing one’s inner world,” said Li Bo, an expert at the Chinese Poetry Competition’s second season.
When it comes to teaching people about poetry, Li Dingguang, the show’s academic advisor, suggested that teachers should explain more about the beauty of the poetry from both the aesthetie (审美的) and emotional sides, and guide the student to lose themselves in the poems’ rhythmic and rhyming lines.
“Although the proportion (比例) of ancient Chinese poems in the textbooks of primary ant secondary schools has increased, many students still learn them for exams,” Li Dingguang told China. org. cn. “Therefore, it’s important to help students truly appreciate the artistry and fun of poetry.”
1. China Central Television (CCTV) HOSTS Chinese Poetry Competition aiming at_______.| A．enriching Chinese history and literature | B．learning poems from ancient people |
| C．giving people a chance to compete | D．spreading Chinese traditional culture |
| A．Her rich knowledge of poems | B．Her wearing traditional Han clothing |
| C．Her rich knowledge of poems and calmness | D．Her classical looks |
| A．To get good marks in examination | B．To help build up their inner world. |
| C．To win the Chinese Poetry Competition | D．To appreciate the beauty of rhythm and rhyme. |
| A．doubtful | B．supportive | C．critical | D．causal |
| A．Few Chinese learn poems just for exams. |
| B．Most Chinese learn poems just for exams. |
| C．Poems are now learned by more and more Chinese. |
| D．Not all the students are truly appreciating and learning poems. |
【推荐2】In America, when the eighth graders leave the middle school, they are often worried about moving to the high school. It is a hard time for them, but it can be an exciting one as well. To make it easier, students need to get familiar with their school.
Even though they’ve done this already in the middle school, it’s still important to find where their classrooms are. Most schools take students to the high school for a visit at the end of their eighth grade year. And, most schools also have a freshman (新生) speech for parents and students before the first year begins. Sometimes the main office will give away a map of the school. This can help students and parents to find different places in the school.
One way to know your high school more and make new friends is to join a club or play a sport. Schools often offer chances to join different clubs and sports. Fall activities begin in August before the first day of school. If you are not interested in sports, there are clubs for any interest, such as drama, dance, chess, photography, community service, etc. These clubs allow students from different grades. By joining an activity, students can find new friendships, not to mention improving their chances in future college applications (申请). The school office will have a list of activities offered at the school and information on how to join them.
What’s more, to have a great start to a high school year, students can write down some of their worries, and ask for help from teachers and school workers.
1. According to the text, most students feel ________ when entering the high school.| A．excited | B．nervous | C．lonely | D．disappointed |
| A．There are fewer students from higher grades in the school clubs. |
| B．The school clubs in high school only welcome sports fans. |
| C．Summer activities begin before school starts. |
| D．The school office can help new students join school clubs. |
| A．Before the eighth grade year starts. |
| B．Right after the high school year starts. |
| C．At the end of their eighth grade year. |
| D．At the beginning of the new term in the high school. |
| A．To tell the new students how to learn in high school. |
| B．To introduce new schools. |
| C．To give the teachers some advice. |
| D．To give advice to new high school students. |
【推荐3】In a normal world, getting on an airplane that circles in the air for a few hours before returning to the same airport would have been considered laughable. However, in the COVID-19 pandemic, when many international travels stopped, “flight to nowhere” or “scenic flights” were increasingly popular.
Taiwan's Taipei Songshan Airport was one of the first to offer this unique service. In June 2020, faced with an over 60 percent drop in passengers, the airport officials decided to offer consumers a virtual flight. People interested in the “pretend to go abroad” experience could sign up for a chance to win one of 90 daily tickets. Winners of the three half-day tours were treated to a full airport experience, including clearing immigration, checking in, and boarding the airplanes. Though the planes never took off, the idea was amazingly popular.
At the same time, Japan's First Airlines also offered travel-hungry tourists an affordable way to visit New York, Rome, and Paris — without leaving the ground. For only $60, passengers in their airline seats could enjoy a life-like virtual reality tour of one of the world-class cities while feasting on a destination-themed meal.
Qantas Airlines’ “flight to nowhere”, which was announced on September 22, 2020, and sold out within 10 minutes took air travellers on a scenic tour of Australia, flying over the Northern Territory, Queensland, and New South Wales. The seven-hour flight, which departed and returned to Sydney on October 10, 2020, cost between $787 to $3, 787 Australian dollars.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) dropped the idea of a “fight to nowhere” on September 29, 2020. Instead, the company held several fun activities that allowed passengers to experience the airline’s world-famous hospitality without leaving the ground.
Strange as the offerings may seem, they were a win-win for both customers who are longing to travel and airlines trying their best to keep afloat during these difficult times.
1. What can tourists do in Taiwan's virtual flight?| A．Have a full airport experience. | B．Have a half-day tour. |
| C．Pretend to check in. | D．Fly a virtual plane. |
| A．It costs the least money. | B．It attracts the most tourists. |
| C．The plane really flies into the air. | D．It offers three half-day tours. |
| A．Adventurous. | B．Successful. | C．Competitive. | D．Environmentally-friendly. |
| A．Win. | B．Explore. | C．Compete. | D．Survive. |
【推荐1】Starring Yi Yangqianxi and Lei Jiayin, new streaming series The Longest Day In Chang’an has been one of the biggest pleasant surprises for fans of TV dramas this summer. Its intense story and well-designed costumes and scenery have captured the attention of viewers, earning it high marks on review platforms.
The Chinese name of the drama is Chang’an 12 Shichen. Each episode covers half a shichen, or one hour of time, telling the story in “real time”. The show takes place during the Shangyuan Festival in Chang’an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty and what is now Xi’an. The story follows Zhang Xiaojing, who has been sentenced to death. Before his execution(死刑), he is appointed by Li Bi, the young chief of the intelligence department, to stop a group of foreign terrorists called the Wolves Squad and protect Chang’an.
One of the main attractions of the show has been its recreation and presentation of the ancient city of Chang’an. To give viewers the feeling that they are traveling in the city, the show’s director Cao Dun has been making use of single shot scenes that show off what the crowded market would have been like during the Lantern Festival in Chang’an. The cast(演员) has also been a major draw. They have been an irreplaceable part of the drama. These experienced actors are the foundation for the drama.
The drama takes license with history to introduce important plot elements, such as watch towers in the city that are manned by sharpshooters who can hit any target in their range. The production team even came up with a detailed secret communication system that these watch towers use to communicate with each other. Another innovation(革新) is the use on screen notes to explain terms that audiences would be unfamiliar with. Such as the term bu liang ren (Lit: not good person), which audiences may mistakenly think refers to a villain in the show. An explanation appears on screen to tell the audience that bu liang ren are specialists trained to catch bad guys. It’s really helpful.
1. Which of the following best describes the drama?| A．Humorous | B．Attractive. |
| C．Academic. | D．Boring. |
| A．He is a follower of Li Bi. |
| B．He has been excused for his crime. |
| C．He is chosen to defeat the terrorists. |
| D．He once served in the intelligence department. |
| A．make viewers feel personally on the scene. |
| B．let audiences have a good trip in Chang’an. |
| C．help audiences understand the history well. |
| D．show what the Lantern Festival is like. |
| A．Someone who is responsible for damage. |
| B．A person who acts against human principles. |
| C．A person who has particular skills to catch bad men. |
| D．Someone whose job is to protect people and their property. |
| A．The explanation for screen notes. |
| B．The innovation elements of the drama. |
| C．The audience’s assessments of the drama. |
| D．The introduction of the communication system. |
【推荐2】China became the first country to clone a monkey using non-reproductive cells, reducing the need to keep lab monkeys and paving the way for more accurate, effective, and affordable animal tests for new drugs.
By December of 2017, Chinese scientists had created two clone macaques named "Zhong Zhong" and "Hua Hua" by nuclear transferring of somatic cells -- any cell in the organism other than reproductive cells. This was the similar technology used to create the famous clone sheep Dolly in 1996.
Tetra, a rhesus monkey born in 1999, is the world’s first ever-cloned monkey, but it was done using a simpler method called embryo splitting, but it could only generate four cloned offspring at a time and cannot be genetically modified to suit experimental needs, said Pu Muming, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the director of Institute of Neuroscience, CAS. "Cloning a monkey using somatic cells has been a world-class challenge because it is a primate（灵长类）that shares its genetic makeup, therefore all of its complexity, with humans." Pu Muming said.
"For drug and other lab tests, scientists have to purchase monkeys from all over the world, which is costly, bad for the environment and produces inaccurate results because each monkey might have different genes, " Pu said. "By cloning monkeys using somatic cells, we can mass produce large numbers of genetically same offspring in a short time, and even change their genes to suit our needs," he added. "This can save time, cut down experiment costs, and produce more accurate results, leading to more effective medicine."
Sun Qiang, director of the non-human primate research facility at the institute, said most of the drug trials are currently done on lab mice. However, drugs that work on mice might not work or even have severe side effects on humans because the two species are so different. "Monkeys and Humans are both primates, so they are much closely related and testing on Monkeys is supposed to be as effective as testing on humans," he said. This is especially useful in testing drugs for neural diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, metabolic and immune system disease, and tumor, he added. "This achievement will help China lead the world research in an international science project related to neural（神经的）mapping of primate brains，”he said. However, bio labs from the United States, Japan, and European countries are also very able, and they will quickly catch up to China after the monkey cloning technology is made public, Sun added. " This means we have to innovate continuously and work extra harder this year to stay ahead," he said.
1. What is special about China's cloning monkey?| A．It transferred cells in the lab. | B．It creates two monkeys at a time. |
| C．It adopts a method of embryo splitting. | D．It uses non-reproductive cells. |
| A．To keep monkeys from being endangered. | B．To test new medicines on them. |
| C．To find the side effects of medicines. | D．To find a cure for mental diseases. |
| A．Cloning a monkey using somatic cells is easy. |
| B．Scientists have easy access to monkeys. |
| C．Using somatic cells is more expensive to clone. |
| D．Using somatic cells to clone monkeys makes it possible to produce more effective medicine. |
| A．they are determined to catch up to America |
| B．they try to avoid competition from other countries |
| C．they aren't satisfied with what they have achieved |
| D．they have to keep the monkey-cloning technology a secret |
【推荐3】Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to take control of Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, most of the Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
1. What does the underlined phrase “take control of” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．reach. | B．conquer. |
| C．challenge. | D．support. |
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are ail sung with instruments |
