When William Erasmus Darvin was born in December 1839, his father Charles Darwin began to carefully record observations of his firstborn in a notebook. Now housed at Cambridge University Library, it reads more like a research paper.
Today we know a good deal about Darwin’s theories. We know far less about how his private life—particularly his family—contributed to his work. But his notebook shows another side of the founding father of evolution: Darwin as a family man.
Darwin’s son William was born a year after the scientist first met London Zoo’s first orangutan(猩猩), Jenny. “The orangutan for Darwin was like a window into the origins of mankind,” says John van Wyhe, director of Darwin Online.
At this time, Darwin was already forming ideas about where humans came from, but he had never met one of our close ape(猿) relatives to test these theories. His meeting with Jenny helped build up his idea that we shared a common ancestor(祖先) with apes. He was already looking for a “real relationship between humans and apes”, says van Wyhe. When he saw Jenny’s facial expressions and noticed her social behavior, he knew his ideas were right.
What stood out to him was how human-like some of her behavior was, which he wrote about in a letter to his sister Susan: “The keeper showed her an apple, but would not give it to her, whereupon she threw herself on her back, kicked and cried, just like a naughty child.”
When his son was born soon after, it meant that he could see first-hand how a human child developed, and consider the relationship between humans and animals. “The notebook shows Darwin as a good-humoured though curious father who is playing with his young baby like he is another ape,” says van Wyhe.
His observations about both his family and Jenny the ape went on to influence his 1871 book. The Descen of Man and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872.
根据短文内容，请用完整句子回答下列问题。
1. What did Darwin do after his first child was born?
2. What idea did Darwin hold before meeting Jenny?
3. What did Darwin think of ape, Jenny?
4. What does the text mainly want to tell us?
5. What can you learn from Darwin?
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【推荐1】Tyler is a 9-year-old boy from Southern California. Now he has become the youngest person in recorded history to reach the top of Argentina’s Aconcagua mountain, which is 6.962 meters high. “You can really see the world’s atmosphere up there. All the clouds are under you, and it’s really cold,” he said. “It doesn’t look like a kid’s drawing of a mountain. It’s probably as big as a house at the top.”
Only 30 percent of the 7,000 people are allowed to climb Aconcagua each year. No one under 14 is usually allowed, so the family had to make sure that Tyler could safely finish the task. “Any kid can really do this. All they have to do is try and set a goal.” said Tyler, who worked out twice a day for a year and a half to prepare for the climb. He also held donation (捐赠) activities, not only for the climbing cost but to raise money for medical research.
“Most people think we as parents are pushing Tyler to do this, while it’s completely the opposite. I wouldn’t climb it if I didn’t have to, but my wife makes me do it to keep watch on him,” his father said. Tyler had already climbed the 5,895-meter Mt. Kilimanjaro at the age of 8. He decided to reach all the highest mountains on the seven continents (洲).
根据短文内容，回答下列问题。
1. Where is Tyler from?
2. How old is the youngest person reaching the top of Aconcagua until now?
3. What does the top of the mountain look like in Tyler’s eyes?
4. Does Tyler’s father like climbing mountains? Why did he go climbing with his son?
5. What was Tyler’s dream?
As an eco-minimalist(生态极简主义者), Su Yige has lived an environmentally friendly lifestyle for the past three years while studying in Canada.
She takes her own bag when she goes shopping and uses second-hand things as often as possible. As she has attended online classes at home in Toronto for the past year, Su hasn’t used any napkins and avoids almost all paper products unless she has to use a public toilet while she is away from home. Diligence and thrift(勤俭节约) are long-time Chinese tradition. Su’s family is a good example of this. Although they have little formal(正规的) “green” knowledge, her parents still lead a very environmentally friendly life.
For example, the family has used the same hairdryer for years, and Su remembers many of her mother’s clothes from more than ten years ago. “As long as something can still be used, mother will not replace it with a new one,” she said.
Seeing some young Chinese leading extravagant (奢侈的) lives, she came up with an idea to introduce the thrifty life of Chinese people. Soon she created an environmental video blog.
Through her video blog, Su soon found that she was not alone in living such a lifestyle. In the beginning, very few people watched the videos she put on bilibili. However, over the past year, many of the 23 videos she uploaded(上传) have been watched about 20, 000 times.
1. What lifestyle has Su Yige lived during the past three years?2. Where did Su Yige study in the past three years?
3. How long has Su Yige’s mother had some of her clothes?
4. Why did Su Yige create an environmental video blog?
5. Are Su Yige’s videos popular now?
A set of photos of a boy carrying his tennis rackets in a bamboo basket has gone viral (走红).
The 14-year-old boy, Wang Fa, is a member of the Va ethnic group (佤族) from Yunnan. After winning the under-14 title (冠军) at the ASICS Tennis Junior Tour in Guangzhou, a tennis lover from Yunnan gave him the bamboo basket as a gift and the photos were taken.
“We always carry bamboo baskets when we work in the fields. This is a typical farming tool of the Va ethnic group. I carried my rackets in this basket to honor my hometown,” Wang said after the match.
Before tennis, Wang was just a farm boy from a village. But in 2016, he was chosen by a local club as one of the first 10 local children to learn to play professional tennis. “I was nervous at the beginning because the outside world was so different from my home,” he said, adding that tennis has helped him make more friends and get a better education.
Over the past seven years, Wang, along with other players at the Yunnan Wild Elephants Tennis Club, has trained hard to improve his skills and physical strength (体力). The children would get up at 6:30 am and practice for more than six hours a day. Every day, they needed to swing a racket more than 7,000 times and run 9 kilometers.
“If it were not for tennis, I would still be helping out my family with farmwork back home,” Wang said.
Wang’s parents didn’t want him to learn tennis at first because they couldn’t afford it. But the tennis club offered to teach him for free.
“For me, winning the ASICS Tennis Junior Tour title is just the beginning of my hopeful future,” Wang said. “I will try to get to the top place on the professional stage.”
根据文章内容，回答下列问题。
1. Who gave Wang Fa the bamboo basket in the photos?
2. Why was Wang Fa nervous when he was chosen by the local club?
3. How many hours would the children practice a day?
4. Did Wang’s parents support his tennis dream at first?
5. What does Wang Fa think of his future?
【推荐1】Langston Hughes was a famous poet and writer in the early 1930s. He became famous and was known as “the voice of black people” . The subject of all this writing was about the lives of African Americans. Born in Joplin, Missouri,his family eventually moved to Ohio. He began writing poetry in eighth grade.Upon graduation from high school,he was voted the class poet.
By the age of 18,Langston saw his first poem published.The title of the poem was “the negro speaker of rivers”.for a short while,he attended Columbia University. He decided to make a trip to Africa. He boarded a ship and traveled to many countries in Africa and Europe . he would later go on to get a college degree.
One of his favourite things to do was to listen to jazz and blues music . this influence of music began to appear in his writing.he moved to Harlrm,where he was editor.he gave a great part of his life to writing and speaking .
He wrote over 16 poetry books ,two novels,and 20 plays.he also wrote children’s poetry,musicals,operas,biographies,radios and television scripts,and dozens of magazine articles.he was able to influence many people with his writing.
1. Langston Hughes was an African,wasn’t he ?2. When did Langston publish his first poem?
3. How did Langston travel to Africa and Europe?
4. What were some of Langston Hughes’s interests?
5. What job did Langston have when he lived in Harlem.
6. What makes Langston Hughes “the voice of black people” ？（list 2 reasons）
Today more and more students like going shopping on the Internet. Do you have any ideas about it? Here are four girls’ ideas.
Sandy, twelve
I like new skirts and jeans. At the weekend I usually go to the shops on the Internet. When I see my favourite things, I can pay for them by my credit card (信用卡).
Kitty, thirteen
I think it is very easy and cheap to buy things on the Internet. I only need to stay at home and choose the things I like. I can get them quickly without going out It doesn’t take too much time.
Wendy, eleven
I’m not good at computers. I never do the shopping on the Internet. I don’t think it is interesting. When I want something, I ask my parents to buy it for me in the shopping mall.
Shirley, twelve
Shopping on the Internet is not good. I can only see some pictures about the things. I don’t believe the notes near the pictures.
根据短文内容，补全所缺信息。（每空一词）
| Name | Age | Ideas about shopping on the Internet |
| Sandy | 12 | At the weekend she usually goes shopping on the Internet. She |
| Kitty | 13 | She thinks it is very easy and |
| Wendy | 11 | She |
| Shirley | 12 | She thinks shopping on the Internet is not good. She doesn’t believe the notes |
Sandy and her cousin have a toy shop and they have had this shop for five years. However, it is not like most toy shops. They don’t sell new toys. They only sell old toys here. You might think to yourself, “Who wants old toys?” Well, many people want them for different reasons.
Yesterday, a lady came to their shop. She wanted to find a doll she had when she was small. She would like to share the same toy with her little daughter. Luckily, she found the doll in the shop. She was so excited!” I have looked for this doll for a long time,” she said. Like this lady, many people look for old toys because they want to ________.
Sandy and her cousin love their shop. They listen to people talking about their happy memories. When people find their favourite old toys in the shop, Sandy and her cousin always feel satisfied.
注：每题答案不超过6个单词1. Who is the owner of the toy shop?
2. When was the shop started?
3. What toys are sold in the shop?
4. How did the lady feel at the toy shop yesterday?
5. Please finish the last sentence in Paragraph 2.
