The young man always talks a lot ___________ he knew everything, which, of course, makes others unhappy.

A. once              B. even though        C. though            D. as though

 

You know that pearls grow inside oysters(牡蛎), but would you ever think to look for diamonds inside an ostrich(鸵鸟)? Well, a hunter once shot an ostrich and discovered, to his great surprise, that the big bird had swallowed a bunch of diamonds. How could such a strange thing happen?
Like many other birds, the ostrich swallows small stones that stay inside its “gizzard”. The gizzard is a bird’s second stomach. It is where the food is ground up. The small stones help to grind up the food so it can be digested. The small stones do the chewing because birds don’t have teeth. In that case of the ostrich with the diamonds, the bird simply had expensive taste in rocks. It used the diamonds to digest its dinner.
Diamonds and stones aren’t all that an ostrich will swallow. If there are no stones around, it will eat just about anything. Sadly for ostriches in zoos, this can be a fatal habit. The tendency to swallow anything it sees has caused the death of many an ostrich. Cruel or careless people often throw things into the bird’s living space. They throw keys, coins, and even large objects such as horseshoes. The ostrich swallows them without hesitation. Coins can be the worst. Inside the ostrich they wear down to a razor-sharp edge. They will cut open the bird’s gizzard from the inside. When one young zoo ostrich died, 484 coins weighing more than eight pounds were found in its gizzard.
【小题1】
Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

A．Birds often eat strange and funny things.

B．Ostriches will swallow anything to help them digest food.

C．One ostrich died with 484 coins in its gizzard.

D．Ostriches are often hurt by cruel or careless people.

【小题2】
The ostrich is not smart enough to ______.

A．digest its own food	B．eat only diamonds
C．avoid eating harmful objects	D．escape from the zoo

【小题3】
The sentence “the small stones do the chewing” makes rocks seem as though they were ______.

A．important	B．alive
C．dangerous	D．uncomfortable

【小题4】
he word “fatal” in the third paragraph is another word for “______”.

A．foolish

B．careless

C．deadly

D．cruel

Your chair is your enemy. That is the conclusion of several recent studies. Among people who sit in front of the television for more than three hours each day, those who exercise are as fat as those who don’t.

       So what’s wrong with sitting? The answer seems to have two parts. The first is that sitting is one of the most passive things you can do. Compared to sitting, standing in one place is hard work. To stand, you have to tense your leg muscles, and engage the muscles of your back and shoulders; while standing, you often shift from leg to leg. All of this burns energy.

       You may think you have no choice about how much you sit. But this isn’t true. Suppose you sleep for eight hours each day, and exercise for one. That still leaves 15 hours of activities. Even if you exercise, most of the energy you burn will be burnt during these 15 hours, so weight gain is often the cumulative(累积的) effect of a series of small decisions: Do you take the stairs or the elevator? Do you walk to the corner store, or drive?

       But it looks as though there’s a more sinister aspect to sitting. Some evidence suggests that when you spend long periods sitting, your body actually does things that are bad for you.

       Lipoprotein lipase(蛋白脂酶) is a molecule that plays a central role in how the body processes fats. Low levels of lipoprotein lipase are associated with a variety of health problems. Studies in rats show that leg muscles only produce this molecule when they are actively being moved. The result is that when you sit, an important part of your metabolism(新陈代谢) slows down. You may also have a higher risk of suffering from diabetes(糖尿病).

       Some people have advanced radical solutions to the sitting syndrome(综合症): replace your sit-down desk with a stand-up desk, or watch television in a rocking chair. But whatever you choose, know this. The data is clear; look out for your chair.

What would be the best title of this passage?

       A．Become an Athlete to Be Healthy.

       B．Choose a Better Chair for You.

       C．How to Speed Up Your Metabolism.

       D．Stand Up While You Read This.

Paragraphs 2 and 3 tell us that          .

       A．taking too much exercise harms people’s health

       B．sitting a lot reduces the benefits of taking exercise

       C．people needn’t depend on exercise to keep healthy

       D．healthy people are those who sit less and stand more

Which of the following is the best advice on how to control our weight?

       A．Exercising at least an hour a day.

       B．Standing as long as possible.

       C．Using our energy actively in daily life.

       D．watching TV in a rocking chair.

The author mentions lipoprotein lipase mainly to           .

       A．show that it plays a big part in keeping us healthy

       B．tell us that it isn’t produced while we are sitting

       C．suggest that we should take less exercise to be healthy

       D．prove sitting for long is bad for our body

 He was allowed to go swimming _______ he kept near the other boys.

A. on condition that         B. as far as                          C. even if                          D. as though

 

     When Lew Alcindor was 13, and obviously still growing, a group of schools began offering him scholarships（奖学金）. The Alcindors decided to send their only child to Power Memorial Academy, a small school on Manhattan’s West Side.

     At Power. Alcindor came under the control of Coach Jack Donohue, a strict young man who already gained his fame as one of the best coaches in the city. Donohue brought Alcindor along slowly. As a first-year student, the boy was not able to do much but wave his long skinny arms and shoot a basket now and then. But by the second year, when he was 15 years old and nearly 7 feet tall, Alcindor was quick and skillful enough to make the high school All American team and to lead Power to an undefeated season.

     From then on be simply got better. Some rival coaches（对方教练）used to take their teams quickly away from the floor before Power warmed up so that their players would not see him any sooner than they had to. Wearing size 16D shoes and sucking a lollipop（棒棒糖）, Alcindor would loosen up by starting his leaping lay-ups（擦板球）. Then he would casually shoot the ball with either hand, to the delight of the fans.

      When reporters and photographers began to follow Alcindor closely, Donohue protected his boy firmly. He simply ordered Lew to talk to no member of the press, and this suited Lew fine. He was not comfortable talking to grownups, perhaps because he towered over them. Discouraged photographers began following him in secret as though he were an easily-frightened giraffe. “People want you not for yourself,” Donohue warned him, “but because you’re a basketball player. Don’t forget that.”

57. Many schools offered Alcindor scholarships because_______.

A. he was young                                       B. he was hardworking

C. he was tall for his age                           D. he was skillful at playing basketball

58. Which of the following best describes Donohue as a young coach?

A. serious, popular and slow               B. tall, skillful and successful

C. kind, powerful and undefeated        D. well-known, strict and experienced

59. Why did some rival coaches take their teams away from the floor before Power warmed up?

A. Their teams refused to play Power. B. Their teams feared to see Alcindor.

C. Their teams would lose courage.      D. Their teams would lose interest.

60. What does the last paragraph mainly discuss?

A. How Donohue protected Alcindor from the press.

B. How Alcindor disliked meeting reporters.      

C. Why the press followed Alcindor closely.        D. Why the public wanted Alcindor badly.