Every country has its traditional festivals. The Chinese New Year is now known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of spring. Though there are some sayings about its origin, all agree that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese means "year", was originally the name of a beast that started to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year. One story goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would take in a great many people at one time. People were very afraid. One day, an old man came to their help and said he would stop all this. He said to Nian, "I hear that you are very strong, but can you eat up all the beasts on earth instead of people who are too weak to be your enemies?" "Yes," Nian agreed with him and went to kill many of the beasts on earth. People were very happy because those beasts also did bad things to people and killed their farm animals from time to time. After that, the old man, who was a god, rode on the beast Nian and left. Nian was gone, and other beasts also went into forests; people began to enjoy their happy life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper-cuts on their windows and doors at each year's end to drive Nian away, because red is the color the beast felt most afraid of. From then on, every year at the beginning of spring, people prepare to "Guo Nian". The word "Guo Nian" means "go through the Nian safely". Putting up red paper-cuts to drive Nian away and making dumplings for a better new year are still an every-year doing by the Chinese people. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, they just feel the color and the food make the New Year very enjoyable. How did the old man stop Nian from eating people? A) By putting red paper-cuts on windows. B) By eating up beasts. C) By talking to him. D) By riding on him.
C
(Question)
Fish have different personalities which change as they experience life's highs and lows.according to British biologists. Researchers identified different"personalities" in their fish by observing the boldness or shyness of individuals,according to The Nature.Like people,some fish are very confident in the face of novelty or conflict;while others are silent and fear. The scientists selected particularly bold and shy rainbow trout,and tested whether they changed their outlook depending on what life threw at them.They arranged some fish to fight and others to watch to see how both the participants and observers responded to victories and defeats.Winning or losing a fight,or even watching fellow fish overcome the difficulties influenced the future behavior of the _ studied in the lab. The researchers made fish compete with much larger or smaller opponents.to ensure that they would win or lose their fights.These bold fish that won their fights tended to be even bolder when later presented with a novel food item;losing their fight caused them to be much more cautious. Fish also learn by watching others.Bold fish watching a shy fish exploring a mystery object were much more nervous when later given a novelty item for themselves. Predictably,shy fish that won a fight also gained more confidence,but surprisingly,shy fish that lost their fights also grew bolder when exploring strange new food,Sneddon said,adding that this could be due to what she calls a"desperado effect" . The new research suggests that animals can gradually adapt their personalities.The results echo the effects that life experience can have on human. What's the main idea of the text?' A) Fish have stress in the fierce fights. B) Fish care about winning or losing a fight. C) Fish have adaptable personalities. D) Fish can learn a lot by watching others.
(Answer)
C
Ques: Living in the desert is really hard! With less than 10 inches of rainfall a year, deserts are dry all year round. Lots of heat from the sun and a shortage of water are just a few of the challenges facing desert animals. Deserts are homes to many animals and plants. Few large animals have got used to life in the desert because their size makes it difficult to find shelter from the heat and they can't store water. In order to survive, desert animals have developed a number of ways to live in their special habitat. The most common way is staying under plants or rocks or digging underground in the heat of the day. And many desert animals stay in shelter during the day and hunt at night when it is cool. Some animals get the water they need from the insects, plants and seeds they eat, and do not need to drink. They do not have sweat glands and pass only small amount of waste water. Some animals develop their own ways of surviving in deserts. The Thorny Devil is a kind of lizard that lives in Australian desert areas. It has a body that channels raindrops directly into its mouth when it rains. Water-holding frogs spend most of the year underground in Australian desert areas, and develop a sort of cocoon that enables them to store water to keep them going through the dry times. When it rains, they come out to lay their eggs in ponds. The eggs hatch within days and develop quickly, before the water dries out. We can learn from the text that when it's rainy in Australian deserts, _ . A) the rainfall often reaches over 10 inches in total B) plants in the desert store the raindrops in their leaves C) the water-holding frogs lay their eggs in ponds D) the Thorny Devil makes great efforts to drink water
Ans: C
A great French writer says that we should help everyone as much as possible because we often need help ourselves. The small even can help the great. Then he tells a simple story. An ant is drinking at a small stream and falls in. She tries to reach the side but makes no progress at all. The poor ant, almost exhausted, is still doing her best when a bird sees her. Moved with pity the bird throws a blade of grass into the water. It supports the ant like a boat, and the ant reaches the bank. When she is having a rest in the grass, she sees a man walking along barefooted and carrying a gun in his hand. He wants to kill the bird nearby. When he raises his gun to fire, the ant bites him in the foot. So he stops to look down and the bird flies away quickly. It is an animal much weaker and smaller than herself that has saved her life. The French writer tells the story in order to show _ . A) how an ant saved a bird B) how brave the ant was C) how clever the ant was D) even the small can help the great
D