I teach geography at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. The young man then asked me why I always seemed to be so cheerful. "I choose to be cheerful." I said. Then I told them a story. In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died and wouldn't start again. So I left my car there and marched down the road to the college. As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the office asked me what had happened. "This is my lucky day." I replied, smiling. "Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?" She was puzzled. "What do you mean?" "My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway but it didn't." I replied, "Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance from here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class." The secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class. So ended my story. I scanned the sixty faces in my class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe _ In fact, it had all started with a student's observation that I was cheerful. An Indian wise man once said, "Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." I suppose it must be so. By saying "it wasn't the story at all", the author means that _ . A) His story is not convincing B) He shouldn't have told the story C) His attitude to life has inspired the students D) His story is not as interesting as expected
C
Harriet Tubman was an AfricanAmerican woman who fought against slavery. She was born in 1820. She helped many people escape from slavery through the Underground Railroad. It was an organized effort to help slaves from the southern states to areas that banned slavery. Slaves could be sold freely. Families were often separated. Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman in 1844, yet she remained a slave. In 1849, the farmer who owned her died. Then she ran to the home of a white woman who had offered to help her. This woman told her how to reach another home where she could hide. Harriet Tubman went from place to place in this way. This was how the Underground Railroad operated. Finally,she went into the northern state of Pennsylvania. During the next ten years,she led an expanded Underground Railroad,and helped 300 slaves escape. Harriet Tubman found another way to fight against slavery during the Civil War. She went into the southern states to spy for the North. After the Civil War,Harriet Tubman settled in New York State. She gave speeches to raise money for better education for black Americans, worked for women's rights and sought help for older adults who had been slaves. Harriet Tubman died in 1913.By that time, she had been recognized as an American heroine . What does the passage mainly tell us? A) The Underground Railroad. B) The history of American slavery. C) Harriet's hard life and bravery. D) Harriet's fight against slavery.
D
Q: Organic food, once considered something that only health fanatics desired, is now a regular feature at most supermarkets. And that has created a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, you have a conventionally grown apple. On the other, you have one that's organic. Both apples are firm, shiny and red. Both provide vitamins and fiber, and both are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol. Conventionally grown food generally costs less, but is organic food a better choice? The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and sold food products are now being debated on a large scale. Supporters of organic foods -- a term whose meaning varies greatly --are frequently telling the world that such products are safer and more nutritious than others. The growing interest of consumers in the safety and nutritional quality of daily foods is a welcome development. However, much of this interest has been aroused by sweeping claims that the conventional food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs. Almost daily, the public is surrounded by claims for "no-aging" diets, new vitamins and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are superior to man-made ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than those treated with insect spray and the like. Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, large amounts of written material about the benefits of organic foods makes it difficult for people to separate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting of organically grown foods prevents or cures disease or provides other benefits to health have become widely advertised and form the basis for people's opinion. One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better... What is the author's attitude towards the claims of organic foods? A) Doubtful. B) Enthusiastic. C) Supportive. D) Uninterested.
A: A
Most people have heard the sound of bees among flowers. Bees live almost everywhere in the world except in the Arctic areas. Many kinds of agriculture depend on these small, social insects. Without bees, fruit and nut growers as well as many other farmers would not have a crop. There are more than 20,000 kinds of bees. But only honey bees make enough honey for people to use. Honeybees are highly-organized social insects. They work together in a group, called a colony . Each colony lives in a hive . It contains one queen bee -- she lays all the eggs from which the members of the colony come. Each colony has only a few hundred males, called drones. The majority of all bees in a colony are workers, which are all females. Bees even have a special stomach, called a honey stomach, which is used to store sweet fluid that the bees gather from flowers. Bees also have long hairs on their body and legs. These hairs capture pollen as bees go from flower to flower. Some of the pollen is taken back to the hive. Some, however, is passed to the next flower. This is how many plants are fertilized. Pollen is the reproductive material of plants. Many important agricultural crops depend on bees for fertilization. Inside their hives, bees store sweet liquid from flowers and pollen as well. They may even gather sweet liquid from some other kinds of insects. These kinds of sweet liquid are also stored in the hive. Bees make honey through a process. They add liquid from their own mouths to sweet liquid into simple sugar. As the honey is stored, it dries. It becomes thicker and darker. Although bees are often thought of as honey makers, they provide a surprising number of products. Also, their greatest economic value is in fertilizing crops-not in making honey. The word "fertilize" in the sentence "This is how many plants are fertilized" probably means " _ ". A) to make plants strong and productive B) to make soil rich for plants C) to start the development of young flowers D) to introduce pollen into plants
D