1 . Recently whenever I turned on my computer or my mobile phone, news about the great effect of Hurricane Harvey（哈维飓风）on thousands of people caught my eye. I saw many unfortunate events. However, there was also lots of bright news that showed the goodness of mankind. As a reporter, I reported many human-interest stories when doing my job, That’s why the story about the guys in the bakery（面包店）caught my eye.
When the workers at a Mexican bakery chain in Houston were trapped inside the building for two days, they didn't sit there feeling sorry for themselves. They used their time wisely after flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. While waiting for the eventual rescue that came on Monday morning, the four workers decided to make as many loaves of bread as possible for people around the neighborhood. They talked to their manager about their plan over the phone and the manager agreed.
The flood water rose in the street outside. They took advantage of their emergency power supply to bake bread. They used more than 4,200 pounds of flour（面粉）to create hundreds of loaves and sheets of sweet bread. Although the water kept rising, they continued baking to help more people. By the time the manager managed to get to them, they had made so much bread that they took the loaves to lots of emergency centers across the city for people affected by the floods.
The store manager, Brian Alvarado, told The Independent, “They've done more than they should have done. And what they had done has lit a light for people. I feel lucky to have them work in the bakery.”
Whenever a disaster occurs, nobody should feelforlorn. Instead, we should stay hopeful and take positive action to save ourselves and help others. Our acts of kindness will make a big difference to the people in the world as well as the world itself.
1. Why did the story in the bakery draw the author’s attention?| A．It was helpful in choosing a good job. |
| B．It made him/her interested in baking. |
| C．It could bring him/her much money. |
| D．It showed the goodness of mankind. |
| A．They tried to get people out of water. |
| B．They set up emergency centers to help. |
| C．They offered to make bread for people. |
| D．They let homeless people live in the bakery. |
| A．He found them lucky. | B．He was proud of them. |
| C．They were experienced. | D．They were shy but brave. |
| A．Hopeless. | B．Confident. | C．Serious. | D．Angry. |
2 . Genetic modification (基因改良) dates back to ancient times, when humans influenced genetics by selectively breeding organisms (培育生物) according to an article by Gabriel Rangel, a public health scientist at Harvard University. When repeated over several generations, this process leads to great changes in the organisms.
Dogs were likely the first animals to be purposefully genetically modified, with the beginnings of that effort dating back about 32,000 years, according to Rangel. Wild wolves joined our hunter-gatherer ancestors in East Asia, where the aggressive canines were kept in the household and bred to become docile and easier to get along with. Over thousands of years, people bred dogs with different desired character and physical characteristics, eventually leading to the wide variety of dogs we see today.
The earliest known genetically modified plant is wheat. This valuable crop is thought to have originated in the Middle East and northern Africa in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, according to a 2015 article published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine. Ancient farmers selectively bred wheat grasses beginning around 9000 B. C. to create improved varieties with larger grains and hardier seeds. By 800 B.C., the cultivation (培养) of improved wheat had spread across Europe and Asia. The continued selective cultivation of wheat resulted in the thousands of varieties that are grown today.
Corn has also experienced some of greatest genetic changes over the past few thousand years. The main crop was changed from a plant known as teosinte, a wild grass with tiny ears and only a few seeds. Over time, farmers selectively bred the teosinte grasses to create corn with large ears bursting with seeds.
Beyond those crops, many of the fruit and vegetables we eat today, including bananas, apples and tomatoes, have experienced several generations of selective raising, according to Rangel.
In 1973, researchers also modified bacteria to be used as drugs. In 1982, human insulin (胰岛素) made from genetically engineered bacteria, became the first genetically engineered human drugs approved by the FDA.
1. What does the word “docile” in paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．Gentle. | B．Loyal. | C．Smart. | D．Ambitious. |
| A．Through selective cultivation. | B．By editing its genes constantly. |
| C．Through mixture with teosinte. | D．By planting it in large numbers. |
| A．It is rarely seen in daily life. | B．It was quite difficult to accept. |
| C．It is hardly influenced by humans. | D．It played a role in medical field. |
| A．Health. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Science. | D．Agriculture. |
