I went to a group activity

I went to a group activity, “Sensitivity Sunday” which was to make us more 36 the

problems faced by disabled people. We were asked to “ 37 a disability” for several hours on

Sunday. Some members, 38 , chose to use wheelchairs. Others wore sound-blocking

carplugs(耳塞)or bilndfolds(眼罩).

Just sitting in the wheelchair was a 39 experience. I had never considered before how

39 it would be to use one. As soon as I sat down, my 41 made the chair began to roll.

Its wheels were not 42 . Then I wondered where to put my 43 . It took me quite a

while to get the metal footrest into 44 . I took my first uneasy look at what was to be my

only means of 45 for several hours. For disabled people, “adoping a wheelchair” is not a

temporary(临时的) 46 .

I tried to find a 47 position and thought it might be restful, 48 kind of nice to be

49 around for a while. Looking around, I 50 I would have to handle the thing myself!

My hands started to ache as I 51 the heavy metal wheels. I came to know that controlling

the 52 of the wheelchair was not going to be a(an) 53 task.

My wheelchair experment was soon 54 . It made a deep impression on me. A few hours

of “disability” gave me only a taste of the 55 , both physical and mental, that disabled

people must overcome.

36. s about

37.

B. interested in

t

ely

g

d

ed

C. aware of

usual

D. careful with

e

me

ng

ng

d

s

tion

ainment

D. comfortable

D. even

38. d

39. ng ying

40. ient

41.

42.

43.

44.

d

45. ion ication

ion

B. safe

B. just

ortation

ment

C. starting

C. still

46. ation

47. e

48. A. yet

49.

50. ed

51. A. lifted

52. A. path

53. A. easy

54. A. forgotten

55. A. weaknesses

B. pushed

B. suggested

B. turned

B. position

B. heavy

B. repeated

B. challenges

C. driven

C. agreed

C. pressed

C. direction

C. major

C. conducted

C. anxieties

D. guided

D. admitted

D. seized

D. way

D. extra

D. finished

D. illnesses

No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the

discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the

concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one

specific job.

Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with

farming. He planted seeds, tended her fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time,

he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn’t make the bricks for his house, cut his trees

into boards, make the plows(犁), or any of the other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he

got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.

Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about

farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr.

Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good

plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.

How did Mr. Plowright let people knew what he was doing? Why, he advertising, of course.

First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign

may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to

the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his

really good plows.

Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago.

Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into

stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.

A medium , in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say

that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio ,

or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the

human voice and may be some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people’s

attention.

A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a

man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt,

shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest

form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described

the goods, explained where they came from , and praised their quality. His job was, in other words,

not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today’s world.

41. What probably led to the start of advertising?

A. The discovery.

B. The specialization of labor.

D. The development of farming techniques. C. The appearance of new jobs.

42. To advertise his plows, Mr. Plowright____ _.

A. praised his plows in public

B. placed a sigh outside the shop

D. showed his products to the customers C. hung an arrow pointing to the shop

writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to____ _.

A. explain the origin of advertising

C. expose problems in advertising

B. predict the future of advertising

D. provide suggestions for advertising

44. In ancient Egypt, a crier was probably someone who____ _.

A. owned a ship B. had the loudest voice

D. functioned like today’s TV or radio commercial C. ran a shop selling goods to farmers

45. The last two paragraphs are mainly about____ _.

A. the history of advertising

B. the benefits of advertising

D. the basic design of advertising C. the early forms of advertising

Below is a selection from a popular science book.

If blood is red, why are veins(静脉)blue?

Actually, veins are not blue at all. They are more of a clear, yellowish colour. Although blood

looks red when it’s outside the body, when it’s sitting in a vein near the surface of the skin, it’s

more of a dark reddish purple colour. At the right depth, these blood-filled veins reflect less red

light than the surrounding skin, making them look blue by comparison.

Which works harder, your heart or your brain?

That kind of depends on whether you’re busy thinking or busy exercising. Your heart works

up to three times harder during exercise, and shifts enough blood over a lifetime to fill a

supertanker. But in the long run, your brain probably tips it, because even when you’re sitting still

your brain is using twice as much energy as your heart, and it takes four to five times as much

blood to feed it.

Why do teeth fall out, and why don’t they grow back in grown-ups?

Baby (or “milk”) teeth do not last long; they fall out to make room bigger, stronger adult

teeth later on. Adult teeth fall out when they become damaged, decayed and infected by bacteria.

Once this second set of teeth has grown in, you’re done. When they’re gone, they’re gone. This is

because nature figures you’re set for life, and what controls regrowth of your teeth switches off.

Do old people shrink as they age?

Yes and no. Many people do get shorter as they age. But, when they do, it isn’t because

they’re shrinking all over. They simple lose height as their spine (脊柱) becomes shorter and more

curved due to disuse and the effects of gravity (重力). Many (but not all) men and women do lose

height as they get older. Men lose an average of 3~4 cm in height as they age, while women may

lose 5 cm or more. If you live to be 200 years old, would you keep shrinking till you were, like 60

cm tall, like a little boy again? No, because old people don’t really shrink! It is not that they are

growing backwards-- their legs, arms and backbones getting shorter. When they do get shorter, it’s

because the spine has shortened a little. Or, more often, become more bent and curved.

Why does spinning make you dizzy (眩晕的)？

Because your brain gets confused between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling. The

brain senses that you’re spinning using special gravity-and-motion-sensing organs in your inner

ear, which work together with your eyes to keep your vision and balance stable. But, when you

suddenly stop spinning the system goes out of control and your brain thinks you’re moving while

you’re not!

Where do feelings and emotions come from?

Mostly from an ancient part of the brain called the limbic system. All mammals have this brain

area-- from mice to dogs, cats, and humans. So all mammals feel basic emotions like fear, pain

and pleasure. But since human feelings also involve other, newer bits of the brain, we feel more

complex emotions than any other mammal on the planet.

If exercise wears you out, how can it be good for you?

Because our bodies adapt to everything we do to them. And as far as your body is concerned,

it’s “use it, lose it!” It’s not that exercise makes you healthy; it’s more that a lack of exercise

leaves your body weak and easily affected by disease.

46. What is the color of blood in a vein near the surface of the skin?

A. Blue. B. Light yellow. C. Red. D. Dark reddish purple.

47. Why do some old people look a little shrunken as they age?

A. Because their spine is in active use.

B. Because they are more easily affects by gravity.

C. Because they keep growing backwards.

D. Because their spine becomes more bent.

48. Which of the following statements about our brain is true?

A. In the long run, our brain probably works harder than our heart.

B. When our brain senses the spinning, we will feel dizzy.

C. The brains of the other mammals are as complex as those of humans.

D. Our feelings and emotion come from the most developed area in our brain.

49. What is the main purpose of the selection?

A. To give advice on how to stay healthy.

B. To provide information about our body.

C. To challenge new finding in medical research.

D. To report the latest discoveries in medical science.