Being Planted
“106!” The cry of disappointment breaks the silence of the peaceful night.
In darkness, he stands still there, with tears dropping continuously from his eyes.
He is a 5th-year Ph.D. student majoring in biology. This is his 106th attempt to cultivate strawberries which could bear extreme climates. In his 105th experiment, he did all the pre-processes that he knew which could lead him closer to his goal. Every generation of the strawberry seemed to bring him closer to success, but every time the result was alike — failure, failure, failure. He has literally got used to it. But this time, he can hardly help feeling frustrated and angry.
“Who stole my experimental strawberry!”
Last night, when he got to the field, he was thrilled. Although most of the plants were obviously dying, one plant stood vigorously in the middle of the experimental field. The plant was labeled “Plant No. 106” . What a coincidence! In his 106th attempt, the 106th plant was finally mutating (变异) in its ideal way — the spark of hope, to him.
Last night, Plant No. 106’s fruit started to turn red. He was never so close to success. What he needed to do was to wait for several days to harvest that pink, shiny, attractive fruit.
But this night, the fruit disappears. So does his hope.
“3 years’ effort! 1096 days’ struggling! 13152 hours’ DNA editing and experiment. ALL GONE!” he murmurs to himself. He regrets that he didn’t get a small sample of the stolen strawberry last night.
Now he is using his fingers to dig the ground. He doesn’t know why he is doing so. He is well aware that the results of the past 106 attempts are all wasted because of the incident and his not taking the sample in time. He has no seeds left. At the present, he seems to have only 2 choices: to start from the very beginning, or to give up.
要求：
1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
He uses his finger to dig the soil of that inch of field which used to contain his hope.
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He is so excited that he bursts into tears.
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Children played in the yards along the block. I waved to them as I walked by, delivering mail at houses along the way. It was just an ordinary Thursday afternoon.
There were only about 700 people on my route. Over the years, I had gotten to know most of them, if not in person then by their mail. Mrs. Dorman at the end of my route got a package from the Home Shopping Network almost every day. She was an old lady, living alone and I liked being able to bring a little joy into her life with my delivery.
Some mailmen preferred routes where they drove a truck and slipped the mail into a collection of mailboxes without seeing anyone face to face. Not me. I wanted to be outside talking to people.
To be honest, there wasn’t much excitement on a local postal route like mine. Except a sudden rainstorm or a holiday, every day was pretty much the same. But I knew I provided an important service in my job. College acceptances, birthday presents, postcards from all corners of the world——they could all make someone’s day.
I dug in my bag for Mrs. Dorman’s mail——the Home Shopping Network package. She would be glad to get this, whatever it was. Mrs. Dorman often waited for me at the door and we always had a nice talk.
Mrs. Dorman wasn’t at the door today, but I heard the TV going inside, so I knew she was home. Probably watching her shopping shows, I thought. I bent down to put her package by the door.
I froze. What was that? Something like a weak cry. I leaned closer to the door. Maybe the sound came from the TV? “Mrs. Dorman?” I called. No answer. And then the same weak cry. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. So I pressed my ear against it.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式作答。
This time I clearly heard the words, “Help me!”
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“What had happened that day?” I asked Mrs. Dorman after she came back home from the hospital.
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Sigrid finished milking the cow and stepped out of the barn into the cold air. It was almost summer, but icebergs still filled the narrow sea. She set the bucket down, only to find that the milk reached merely halfway to the top. If we don't get more food soon, she thought anxiously, we will have to eat the cow. And then what will we do?
Grandfather used to tell her that when their Norse ancestors first came to Greenland, the fields were rich with grass. But in recent years, the climate has been getting colder and the summers shorter. When her grandfather was a little boy, there were as many as fifteen cows in the family's barn. Now there is just one. And the family has barely enough hay to feed it.
A gust of wind sending a chill down her spine, Sigrid stuffed her hands into the pockets to warm them. Her fingers felt her most prized possession, a piece of red cloth she'd had since she was a small girl. She took the cloth out of her pocket and let it unfold. It was barely longer than her arm. But its brilliant colour was bright against the stark(荒凉的) landscape. The cloth had once been part of a dress—in happier, more prosperous times. Nobody dresses like that anymore.
With ice-filled seas, ships no longer arrive with foods and goods to trade. All of a sudden, movement on the water caught Sigrid's eye. A light boat moved silently between the icebergs. An Inuk boy, about Sigrid's age, was looking her way, staring at the red cloth fluttering(飘动) in the breeze. A hunting weapon was tied to the front of his boat. And dragging behind it was a large fish. Sigrid knew there had been fights between the Inuit and the Norse. But the boy had a kind face and did not reach for his weapon.
注意:
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
She couldn't help but wonder what to do.
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The boy put the cloth into his pocket and returned to his boat.
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4 . There are breathing robots versed in “thousands of years of Buddhist breathing techniques” that claim to soothe you to sleep. Then there are weighted blankets that press around 10% of your body weight down as you take a nap. And there are apps, such as supermodel Natalia Vodianova's Loona, designed to create a "sleepscape" by combining visual and aural storytelling with relaxation-based activities such as colouring in. These are just some of the products at the heart of the “sleep aid revolution”.
Sleep occupies almost as much of the national conversation as weather—how much, when, how deep it is—and we are more than prepared to spend our money on more, and better, shut-eye.
In the past 12 months, sales of sleep-related products have soared. At John Lewis, silk pillowcase sales have increased by 533%. At weighted blankets company Mela, sales are up by 250%, while at Holland & Barrett sales of products in the sleep and relaxation category have grown by over 30% year-on-year.“ sleep” is the third most common unique search term for visitors to Neal's Yard Remedies' site.
But there are some dissenting voices. "The sleep-aid industry steps in, with claims that we're not sleeping because it's time for a new mattress, and offers us products to enable sleep," says Darian Leader, author of Why Can't We Sleep? “However," he points out, “what we are seeing is a depoliticizing of sleep - ignore the socio-economic burdens and internal pain that people face and see lack of sleep as a separate problem with a 'separate solution'."
The growing interest isn't limited to those suffering from diagnosable sleep issues—sleep has become a pillar of the wellness market and tracking it has become another symptom of the rise of the quantified self, a movement that sees people tracking their every step.
Sleep expert Dr. Neil Stanley distrusts the market: “It is a trick to scare everybody because nobody's going to make any money if you just go around saying 'it's common sense, you know how to sleep' .”
While rebutting any scientific evidence for many of the products, he admits that anything—a silk pillowcase, camomile tea, yoga or listening to Pink Floyd really loudly - could, in theory, help.
But, he says, many are overlooking the simple things. "You need three things for a good night's sleep: a bedroom that's comfortable, a relaxed body and a quiet mind ... you need to make space in your life for sleep.”
1. What does the underlined word “dissenting” probably mean?| A．Approving | B．Opposed | C．Indifferent | D．Pessimistic |
| A．A sleep problem is mainly caused by lack of a good mattress. |
| B．Social and psychological factors should be taken into account. |
| C．Social and psychological factors are more important than the physical setting. |
| D．Manufacturers trick people into buying those sleep-related products. |
| A．Sleep-related products meet a mixed reception among customers. |
| B．Only people with sleep problems need sleep-related products. |
| C．There is a trend that more people monitor their sleep situation. |
| D．Darian and Dr. Neil hold contradictory opinions towards sleep-related products. |
| A．To give a warning. | B．to provide a comment. | C．To express a concern. | D．To make a suggestion. |
