In terrestrial environments， gravity places special demands on the cardiovascular systems of animals。 Gravitational pressure can cause blood to pool in the lower regions of the body， making it difficult to circulate blood to critical organs such as the br这次漂亮的小编为您带来了英语阅读考试美文【优秀7篇】，如果对您有一些参考与帮助，请分享给最好的朋友。
Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick II in the thirteenth century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed.
Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than grammar.
Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern “toy-bear.” And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyze, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways.
But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling (咿呀学语), grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”。 But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.
Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
On Nov.18th,1908,three men went up in a balloon(气球).They started early in London. The headman was Augusta Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland. They had a big balloon and they were ready for a long way.
Soon they heard the sea. They were carrying the usual rope(绳子),and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon. At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box. This could hold water, or it could be empty. So they were able to change its weight(重量).It was for use over the sea. They were also carrying some bags of sand.
After the sun rose, the balloon went higher. It went up to 3,000 metres, and the air was very cold. The water in the balloon became ice. Snow fell past the men's basket, and they could see more snow on the ground. The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard. They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy. The work was slow and they were still falling, so they had to drop some whole bags of sand. One of them fell on an icy lake and made a black hole in the ice
At last they pulled the box into the basket. It was still snowing; so they climbed to get away from the snow. They rose to 5,100 metres! Everything became icy. They were so cold that they decided to land. They came down in Poland heavily but safely. They had travelled 1,797 kilometers from London!
21. Three men flew in balloon ________.
A. for nearly 1,800 kilometers B. to another city
C. to visit Poland D. more than a century ago
22. The metal box was used for ________.
A. carrying the bags of sand‘ ’ B. keeping drinking-water
C. carrying ropes of the basket D. changing weight
23. When the balloon went up higher, ________.
A. the temperature of the balloon began to fall B. They saw the sun go down
C. They made a hole in the basket with their knives
D. They could see a black hole on the ground
24. The balloon landed ________.
A. in London B. on the sea C. on a lake D. in a foreign country
25. Which of the following is NOT true?________
A. The three men started their journey before the sun rose.
B. The balloon began to go up when they threw bags of sand out of the basket.
C. When they pulled the box into the basket, the balloon began to climb up.
D. The three men had to land because they felt cold.
答案：21.A 22.D 23.A 24.D 25.B
Surtsey was born in 1963.Scientists saw the birth of this island. It began at 7.30 a.m. on 14th November. A fishing boat was near Iceland. The boat moved under the captain's(船长)feet. He noticed a strange smell. He saw some black smoke. A volcano(火山)was breaking out. Red-hot rocks, fire and smoke were rushing up from the bottom(底部)of the sea. The island grew quickly. It was 10 meters high the next day and 60 meters high on 18th November. Scientists flew there to watch. It was exciting. Smoke and fire were still rushing up. Pieces of red-hot rock were flying into the air and falling into the sea. The sea was boiling and there was a strange light in the sky. Surtsey grew and grew. Then it stopped in June 1967.It was 175 meters high and 2 kilometers long. And life was already coming to Surtsey. Plants grew. Birds came. Some scientists built a house. They want to learn about this young island. A new island is like a new world.
16. Surtsey is ______.
A. an island not far from Iceland B. a new volcano
C. a fishing boat D. a place in Iceland
17. Scientists flew there ______.
A. to watch the birth of the island B. to save the fishing boat
C. to learn about the island D. to build a house
18. When did scientist fly there to watch?
A. Before the volcano broke out. B. As soon as the volcano broke out.
C. About four days after the volcano broke out. D. After the volcano stopped rushing up.
19. Put the following sentences in correct order.
a. The captain found the boat was moving. b. A new island appeared in the sea.
c. Fire, smoke and rocks were seen rushing up. d. A fishing boat was near Iceland.
e. The island grew quickly.
A. d-a-c-b-e B. a-b-c-d-e C .a-b-e-c-d D. b-e-d-a-c
20. The best title of this article is ________.
A. A new island B. The birth of an island
C. A new world D. Scientists discovered Surtsey
答案：16.A 17.A 18.C 19.A 20.B
There are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too.
Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.
In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.
The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there.
Itzhak Perlman was born in Israel. But his music has made him a citizen ofthe world. He has played in 26 every large city. He has won fifteen GrammyAwards and four Emmys. Perlman suffered a terrible disease which hurt his 27 atfour. Today he uses a wheelchair or walks with crutches(拐杖). But none of the se28 him from playing the violin. As a young child，he took his first lessons atthe Music Academy of Tel Aviv. Very quickly，his 29 talent was recognized. At theage of thirteen he went to the United States to 30 on television. His playingled him to the Juilliard School in New York.
His music is full of power and strength. It can be 31 or joyful，loud orsoft. But people say it is not the music 32 that makes his playing soparticular. They say he is able to show the joy he 33 in playing，and thefeelings that great music can express.
Anyone who has attended(出席)his performance will tell you it is exciting towatch him play. His face changes 34 the music from his violin changes. He smilesand closes his eyes when the music is light and happy. He often 35 dark when themusic seems dark and frightening.
Itzhak Perlman has received many honours，and continues to receive honoursfor his music.
The greatest recent changes have ,been in the lives of women ,During the twentieth century there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties ,and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old ,By the time the youngest was fifteen ,the mother would have been id her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years ,during which custom ,chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work, Today women marry younger and have fewer children Usually a woman ‘s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty－five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty Even while she has the care of children ,her work is lightened by household appliances （家用电器）and convenience foods.
This important change in women’s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’ s economic position Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full－time job However ,when they married ,they usually left work at once and never returned to it ,Today the school－leaving age is sixteen ,many girls stay at school after that age ,and though women tend to marry younger ,more married women stay at work at leas until shortly before their first child is born Very many more after wads ,return to full or part-time work Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage ,with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more e-qually in providing the money and running the home ,according to the abilities and inter-est of each them.