( 1 )
Daniel Mendoza rose to fame swiftly after a boxing—match when he was only fourteen years old. This attracted the attention of Richard Humphries, ___1__ was then the most eminent(闻名的) boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil was quick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned ___2__ him. The two men quarreled bitterly and ___3__ was clear that the argument could only be settled by a fight. ___4__ A match was held at Stilton where both men fought for an hour. The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but ___5__ was defeated. Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on a later occasion ___6__ he lost for a second time. It was not until his third match in 1790 ___7__ he finally beat Humphries and became Champion of England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly ___8__ (succeed) Academy and even Lord Byron became on of his pupils. He earned enormous sums of money and ___9__ (pay) as much as￡100 for a single appearance. Despite this, he was so extravagant that he was always in debt. After he was defeated by a boxer ___10__ (call) Gentleman Jackson, he was quickly forgotten. He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.
( 2 )
Experts in psychology believe that for many people, money is an important symbol of strength and influence. Husbands who complain about their wives’ spending habits may be afraid that they are losing power in their ___1__ (marry). Wives, on the other hand, may waste huge amounts of money ___2__ they are angry at their husbands. In addition, many people consider money ___3__ symbol of love. They spend it on their family and friends ___4__ (express) love, or they buy themselves expensive presents because they need love.
People can be addicted ___5__ different things—for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. They are compulsive in their addictions. That is, they must satisfy these needs to feel ___6__ (comfort). In the same way, according to psychologists, compulsive(强迫性的) ___7__ (spend) must spend money. For those___8__ buy on credit, charge accounts are even ___9__ exciting than money. In other words, these people feel that with credit, they can do anything. ___10__ pleasure in spending enormous amounts is actually greater than the pleasure that they get from the things they buy.
( 3 )
Many families in the United States have a larger income now than ever before, but people are finding it difficult to make ends meet anyway. Almost everyone is wondering, “What happens to all my money? I never seem to have anything ___1__ (leave) to put away.”
___2__ isn’t a dollar worth as much as it used to be? One dollar is always worth___3__ same amount, that is, 100 cents. ___4_ the value of a dollar is how much it can buy. The value of money ___5__ (depend) on the cost of living. Economists say that the cost of living is the money that a family must pay for the ___6__ (necessary) of life such as food, housing or rent, clothes, and medical expenses. For many years now, the cost of living has increased ___7__(great), so the value of the dollar has decreased. When a dollar has a ___8__ value, you can’t buy as many things ___9__ it.
No one fully understands why the cost of living keeps ___10__(increase), but economists believe that workers and producers can make prices go up.
( 4 )
Rodney Mace, 35, is married with two young children, and is a part-time teacher of architectural history. “I am ___1__ (constant) surprised by other people’s surprise, ___2__ they come the house and see me cleaning a floor or hanging out the washing. Their eyes open wide at the sight of it! Much of the comment comes form men, ___3_ I am even more surprised at the number of women who comment too.”
His wife Jane, ___4__ Oxford graduate in modern languages, has a demanding full-time job. She is ___5__ (direct) of the Cambridge House literacy scheme(扫盲计划) for adults in South London. ___6__ working week involves several evenings and Saturdays, and at these times her husband is ___7__ sole charge of home and family. Apart from this, they share household jobs and employ a child-minder for the afternoons. This ___8__ (able) him to teach two days a week and to do ___9__ he considers his principal work: writing. He has written several books and spends much of his time in the British Museum Reading Room, ___10__ (cycle) there from his home in Brixton.
( 5 )
When Father(神父) Tomas de Berlanga set out upon his dangerous voyage to the New World, early in the 16th century, he carried with ___1__ not only his Books of the Gospel, but also some roots of the rare and ___2__ (high) valued banana plant. With this sweet golden fruit he hoped ___3__ (win) the friendship, and thus to make converts(转变人心), of even the most savage(野蛮的) of Indians. He could not have guessed then that his few roots would spread ___4__ American tropical forest lands until bananas, growing wild, would be as common as the great swamp(沼泽) plants. And he could not have imagined that a day would come ___5__ white men would clear away thousands of acres of those forests to make room for banana plantations.
___6__ is thought by scientists and historians that the banana first grew in southern Asia, and that through many centuries it spread to the east and west __ 7__ now it is found growing in nearly all tropical regions. It does not grow on a tree, ___8__ is commonly supposed, but on a plant, perhaps ___9__ largest plant in existence without a ___10__ (wood) stem. Only one bunch of bananas grows on each plant, but this bunch often weighs 100 pounds or more.
( 6 )
Bananas are always cut while green, even when they are not to be shipped, for if allowed to ripen on the plant they burst and spoil before they can be picked.
The largest banana-growing country is Brazil. It produces as much as 5 million tons ___1__ year. ___2__ leading producers are Ecuador(厄瓜多尔), India, Venezuela(委内瑞拉), Honduras(洪都拉斯), Pakistan, Colombia, Panama, the Dominican Republic(多米尼加共和国), and Thailand. The United States imports ___3__ (many) bananas than any other country in the world—about 1,800,000 tons a year. Some bananas ___4__ (grow) in the warmer regions of the United States. Ecuador is the world’s largest ___5__ (export).
The remarkable food value of bananas has only been recognized within the last few years. ___6__ they are completely ripe or cooked, few foods are more digestible, and it has been discovered that they are also of great value in ___7__ (treat) certain diseases. Some near relatives of the banana, ___8__ fruits can’t be eaten, are cultivated ___9__ their useful fiber. Other members of the family are grown for their ___10__ (beautiful) and shade.
( 7 )
Visitors to Britain are sometimes surprised to learn that newspapers there have such a large circulation(发行量). The “Daily Mirror” and the “Daily Express” ___1__ sell about four million copies every day. British families ___2__ (general) buy a newspaper every morning and two or three on Sundays.
Besides the ___3__ (nation) papers, there is, however, another branch of the British press which ___4__ (sell) almost as many copies. Local newspapers have ___5__ weekly circulation of 13 million. Almost every town and country area has one. Nearly all of them hold their own financially ___6__ many of them are very profitable (赚钱的).
These papers are written almost entirely for readers ___7__ (interest) in local events — births, weddings, deaths, council (地方议会) meetings and sports. ___8 _ (edit) prefer to depend on people ___9__ know the district well. A great deal of local news is regularly supplied ___10__ clubs and churches in the neighbourhood and it does not get out of date as quickly as national news.
( 8 )
Francis Bacon, one of the most important philosophers(哲人) of England, was born in London and educated at Cambridge University. ___1__ he was only 15, he went to France to work for the English ambassador (大使) . Two years later he went back to England to study law. ___2__ the age of 23 he was chosen to parliament (议会). His ideas about __3__ scientists should study things in nature help to bring the modern way of ___4__ (think), called the scientific method.
One of the Bacon’s best known books was ___5__ essays. Each essay was a short piece of writing in ___6__ he tried to give a lesson by discussing sides of a subject such as studying, conversation, friends ___7__ healthy living. In many of his books, Bacon explained how scientists should study things as they really existed in nature and then tried to figure ___8__ what caused a particular thing to be as it was. Later, by doing experiments, the ___9__ (science) could see that any one cause would always have the same result. This method, which is called inductive reasoning, ___10__(use) by all the scientists today, but it was new in Bacon’s time.
( 9 )
Einstein was born in 1879 in Germany. As a child, he was slow ___1__ (learn) to talk. As a pupil, he was backward. ___2__ when he was fourteen years old, he became clever. He ___3__ (teach) himself maths from textbooks. He studied hard because he wanted to be a ___4__ (physic).
In 1901, Einstein began teaching. In 1902 he continued his studies at the University of Zurich. Several years later, he formulated(系统地阐述) his famous Theory of Relativity(相对论).To most people the law of relativity is ___5__ (difficulty) to explain. But once Einstein explained ___6__ very well to a group of young students. He said,“___7__ you sit with a good girl for two hours, you think it is only a minute. But when you sit ___8__ a hot stove for a minute, you think it’s two hours. That is relativity."
___9__ Hitler came into power in Germany, Einstein went to America. In 1940 Einstein became ___10__ American citizen. In 1955, Einstein’s life ended at the age of seventy-six.
( 10)
Atomic(原子的) energy is a great discovery of the present century, and many people have played a part in its development. Albert Einstein told the world about ___1__ basic idea in his famous Theory of Relativity in 1905. As he and ___2__ scientists began to discover more about the atom, they learned that a great amount of energy could be released(释放) by splitting(分裂) ___3__ atom. ___4__, it was also necessary that this energy be controlled. ___5__ it were not, it would be very dangerous.
Now atomic energy is used___6__ (move) ships, and it may also prove ___7__(use) for spaceships. In fact, this new source of power has so many uses that it is almost ___ 8__ (possible) to imagine all the great changes it will bring ___9__ our lives.
Some scientists say the world needn't be afraid of a possible ___10__ (short) of coal, oil, natural gas or other sources of fuel for the future. They say that if these were used up, there would be enough of this type of energy to last forever.
( 11)
Albert Einstein was probably the most famous scientist of the twentieth century. He changed ___1__ (science) thinking in the modern world. He is generally considered ___2__ the greatest physicist who ever lived. What's more, he devoted a lot of his time and energy to ___3__ (work) for human rights and progress.
In 1933, ___4__ Einstein was visiting England and the United States, the Nazi government of Germany took all his things away, ___5__ (include) his position and his citizenship. Einstein then settled ___6__ in the United States. In 1939, Einstein, ___7__ loved peace—afraid of a world in which only Hitler would had an atomic bomb(原子弹)—___8__ (try) hard to persuade President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a famous letter to have the United States start uranium research. That Germany, after all, had no bomb, ___9__ that the first bomb would fall on Japan, could not have been expected. After the war, Einstein never stopped working for peace and reducing ___10__ number of soldiers in the world.
( 12)
The famous British inventor George Stephenson was born in 1781 and died in 1848. One of _ 1__ most important inventions was the train. He made his first train ___1__ he was forty-four years old. When he was experimenting with the steam engine on the train, he met ___1__ troubles from the government, the newspapers and the gentlemen in the country. They said that the ___1__ (noisy) and the smoke would kill cows, horses and sheep, ___1__ the engine would burst or that the hot coals from it would set fire to their houses. At that time, most people believed ___1__ they said.
George Stephenson told the people that the train could go on small rails, could pull carriages full of goods and passengers ___1__ there was no great danger tothem. It was a very difficult matter for him ___1__(make) them believe. ___1__, after some time, he was able to do it; and the first train that was driven by Stephenson himself proved what he had said.
The first day when the people along the way ___1__(hear) the noises of the train in the distance and saw it running to them, they ran back home as quickly as they could and quickly their doors tightly, for they thought it a genius(妖怪).
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