The Royal Horticultural Society(RHS) finds that women gardeners’ voices speed up the growth of tomato plants much more than men’s.
In an experiment, the researchers found that tomato plants grew up to two inches taller if they were sung to by a female rather than a male.
The most effective voice came from Sarah Darwin, whose great-great grandfather was the botanist(植物學家) Charles Darwin, one of the founding fathers of the RHS.
She read a passage from the On the Origin of Species and beat nine other ‘voices’. Her plant grew nearly two inches taller than the best performing male and half an inch higher than her nearest competitor.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Manager at the RHS, said, “We predicted that the male voice would be more effective but it turned out that the ladies’ voice was far better than the gentlemen’s. We just don’t know why. It could be because they have a greater range of pitch(高音) and tone(音色) that affects the sound waves that hit the plant.The sound wave is on environmental effect just like rain or light.”
In the experiment, every plant was played a different voice through earphones connected to the plant pot, and the environmental conditions for all the plants remained the same throughout the experiment. To ensure that the results of the experiment were convincing, two plants were also left to grow in silence.
The results showed that women on average saw their plants grow an inch taller than their male counterparts(對手) and much more than the plants left in complete silence.
Miss Darwin said, “I’m not sure if it’s my sweet tones or the text that I read from On the Origin of Species that made the plant sit up and listen, but either way, I think it is an honor to have such a voice, and it is especially fitting for me, because for years I have been studying wild tomatoes at the Natural History Museum(NHM) in London.”
　60. How many tomato plants were chosen for this experiment?
　　  A. 9.　　　　   B. 10.            C. 11.　　  D.12.
　61. What can we learn about Sarah Darwin?
　　  A.She is very proud of her sweet voice..       
B. She is one of the founding fathers of the RHS.
　　  C. She has discovered why her voice benefits plants.
　　  D. She will work at the NHM in London after the experiment.
　62. Why were two plants left to grow in silence in the experiment?
　　  A. To make the results of the experiment trustworthy.
　　  B. To convince people that sound waves are better than rain and light.
　　  C. To help find out how many inches plants can grow with the help of voices.
　   D. To prove that the environmental conditions for the plants remained the same.
　63. What can be inferred from the passage?
　　  A. The text from On the Origin of Species can help plants grow..　　　　
　　  B. Sarah’s nearest competitor was also a woman..
　　  C.Men’s voices have a greater range of pitch and tone than women’s..
　　  D.Colin Crosbie predicted that women’s voices were better for the plant than men’s.

小題1:D
小題2:A
小題3:A
小題4:B
         
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空


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Liberal education is becoming the task of teachers. It is   36  not only to teach and learn knowledge, but also develop a person' s character. Its   37  is to teach each student to think for himself and make   38  decisions. Now liberal education has a great effect on the world. Much work has been done to   39  a better way of teaching.
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C. refused
C. reason
C. wild
C. find
C. classroom
C.      when
C.outside activities
C.      write
C.       no longer
C.          parents
C.      case 
C.       even 
C.      considered
C.       minds
C.       perform 
C.  use
C.       person
C.       hard
C.       about 
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D. reported
D. cause
D. wide
D. teach
D. playground
D. where
D.group discussions
D. review
D. once more
D. partners
D. truth
D. never
D. punished
D. classes
D. return
D. kind
D. master
D. proper
D. from
D. purpose
 
B. needed
B. aim 
B. wise
B. make 
B. school
B. before 
B. practice
B. use 
B. more or less
B. enemies 
B. fact
B. only
B. guided
B. eyes
B. make
B. matter 
B. request 
B. possible
B. against
B. goal
 
36. A. designed        　　　　　       

37. A. result                            
38. A. quick            　　　　　　　  
39. A. hold                              
40. A. class                              
41. A. after                              
42. A. playing                         
43. A. remember                           
44. A. for ever                          
45. A. strangers                            
46. A. idea                                 
47. A. also                                 
48. A. liked                               
49. A. doors                               
50. A. order                               
51. A. meaning                              
52. A. degree                              
53. A. easy                                
54. A. with                                 
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通讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后在各題所給的A，B，C，D四個選項中，選出一個最佳答案。
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In Mr. Allen’ class, which is a high school of the New Jersey, all the students have to “get married”. However, the wedding  21       sometimes become so noisy -- Even the two students getting married often begin to laugh -- that the loud laughter drowns out the  22       of the “minister”.
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21. A. conferences         B. competitions             C. ceremonies           D. celebrations
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23. A. possibility           B. responsibility            C. need                        D. benefit
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28. A. Until                  B. After                        C. If                               D. Because
29. A. acceptable           B. flexible                    C. valuable                   D. unbelievable
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