C
At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that “The people were very attentive.” John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . .”
A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri’s Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered “fire scars” on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree’s cambium (形成層). Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure (低氣壓) helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. “The record fits pretty close,” says Guyette. “We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there.”
Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, “Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes.” Others gave different answers. One stated that a “flaming star” had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution nearly as influential as the war for independence from the English.
New Englanders would not soon forget that dark day; it lived on in folklore, poems, and sermons for generations.
66. New Englanders crowded into churches because they were frightened by_____.
A. the pink color of the sun       B. the darkened sky at daytime
C. the Last Judgment on Friday    D. the American War of Independence
67. What can we infer about the event in New England on May 19, 1780?
A. Prayers remained silent and attentive.    B. Night birds no longer came out to sing.
C. People’s ears became sharper than usual.  D. Midday meals were served by candlelight.
68. According to the researchers, the origin of the event was_________.
A. an east wind    B. a severe drought   C. some burning fuel   D. low barometric pressure
69. What can we know about the debates after the dark day?
A. They focused on causes of the event.
B. They swept throughout the Western world.
C. They were organized by scientific institutions.
D. They improved Americans’ ability to communicate.
70. What can be the best title for the text?
A. New England’s dark day.      B. Voices of angry prediction.
C. There is no smoke without fire.  D. Tree rings and scientific discovery.


66-70 BDBAA      

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科目:高中英語 來源:黑龍江省哈爾濱市第六中學2010屆高三上學期期末考試 題型:閱讀理解


Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
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A. how language was reflected
B. whether they could express the same idea
C. whether they could describe what they had seen
D. how the structure of language changed
69. After watching the gestures of speakers of the three different languages, Dr. Kita concluded that _____.
A. Japanese and Turkish people couldn’t express the meaning of “swing”
B. English was obviously better than Japanese and Turkish
C.no word in Japanese and Turkish could express some ideas of English
D. every language had its own special way to describe things
70. What is mainly discussed in the text?
A. Differences between languages.
B. Differences between gestures.
C. How people use different gestures to express the same event.
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A
At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that “The people were very attentive.” John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . .”
A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri’s Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered “fire scars” on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree’s cambium (形成層). Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure (低氣壓) helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. “The record fits pretty close,” says Guyette. “We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there.”
Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, “Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes.” Others gave different answers. One stated that a “flaming star” had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution nearly as influential as the war for independence from the English.
New Englanders would not soon forget that dark day; it lived on in folklore, poems, and sermons for generations.
56. New Englanders crowded into churches because they were frightened by         .
A. the pink color of the sun      B. the darkened sky at daytime
C. the Last Judgment on Friday    D. the American War of Independence
57. What can we infer about the event in New England on May 19, 1780?
A. Prayers remained silent and attentive.
B. Night birds no longer came out to sing.
C. People’s ears became sharper than usual.
D. Midday meals were served by candlelight.
58. According to the researchers, the origin of the event was         .
A. an east wind                B. a severe drought
C. some burning fuel            D. low barometric pressure
59. What can we know about the debates after the dark day?
A. They focused on causes of the event.
B. They swept throughout the Western world.
C. They were organized by scientific institutions.
D. They improved Americans’ ability to communicate.
60. What can be the best title for the text?
A. New England’s dark day.  B. Voices of angry prediction.
C. There is no smoke without fire.       D. Tree rings and scientific discovery.

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Researchers used a cartoon cat Sylvester to study how language was reflected (反映) in the gestures people made. Dr. Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol’s Department of Experimental Psychology (心理學), showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described the actions they had seen. He found speakers of the three different languages used different gestures to describe the same event, which appeared to reflect the way the structure of their languages expressed that event. For example, when describing a scene where the cat swings on a rope, the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory (弧形軌跡)  and the Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing the motion but not the arc.

Dr. Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no proper verb to express the English meaning “to swing”. While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the idea of movement with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.

Dr. Kita said, “My research suggests that speakers of different languages cause different spatial (空間的) images of the same event in a way that matches the expressive possibilities of their own languages. In other words, language influences (影響) spatial thinking at the moment of speaking.”

68. Researchers watched the gestures the people made because they wanted to know _____.

A. how language was reflected

B. whether they could express the same idea

C. whether they could describe what they had seen

D. how the structure of language changed

69. After watching the gestures of speakers of the three different languages, Dr. Kita concluded that _____.

A. Japanese and Turkish people couldn’t express the meaning of “swing”

B. English was obviously better than Japanese and Turkish

C.no word in Japanese and Turkish could express some ideas of English

D. every language had its own special way to describe things

70. What is mainly discussed in the text?

A. Differences between languages.

B. Differences between gestures.

C. How people use different gestures to express the same event.

D. That language influences the way people think.

 

查看答案和解析>>

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