A few minutes ago , walking back from lunch , I started to cross the street when I heard the sound of a coin dropping . It wasn't much but , as I turned , my eyes caught the heads of several other people turning too . A woman had dropped what appeared to be a dime . The tinkling sound of a coin dropping on sidewalk is an attention-getter . It can be nothing more than a penny . Whatever the coin is , no one ignores the sound of it . It got me thinking about sounds again . We are surrounded by so many sounds that attract the most attention . People in prefix = st1 /New York Cityseldom turn to look when a fire engine, a police car or an ambulance comes screaming along the street . When I'm in New York, I'm a New Yorker . I don't turn either . Like the natives . I hardly hear a siren there . At home in my little town in Connecticut, it's different . The distant loud noise of a police car , an emergency vehicle or a fire siren brings me to my feet if I'm seated and brings me to the window if I'm in bed . It's the quietest sounds that have most effect on us , not the loudest . In the middle of the night , I can hear a dripping tap a hundred yards away through three closed doors . I've been hearing little creaking noises and sounds which my imagination turns into footsteps in the middle of the night for twenty-five years in our house . How come I never hear those sounds in the daytime ? I'm quite clear in my mind what the good sounds are and what the bad sounds are . I've turned against whistling , for instance . I used to think of it as the mark of a happy worker but lately I've been connecting the whistler with a nervous person making noises . The tapping , tapping ,tapping of my typewriter as the keys hit the paper is a lovely sound to me . I often like the sound of what I write better than the looks of it . What kind of sound does he find pleasant ? A) Tapping of his typewriter . B) Clinking sound of keys . C) Tinkling sound of a coin dropping . D) Creaking sounds .
A
A whale that became stranded in the River Thames in Central London has died after attempts to save its life failed. The whole nation had been hoping for a more successful outcome to the attempted rescue, updates of which were shown on TV news programmes throughout the day and night. The five- meter long bottle-nosed whale, which probably weighted about four tones, was first spotted in the river on Friday. There had been reports that a pod of whales had swum into the Thames Estuary earlier in the week, which caused terror among naturalists, as this kind of whale only thrives in much deeper water. It was the first sighting of the endangered species in the Thames since records began nearly a century ago. There was no more news of the pod, which suggests that most of them turned back and swam out to sea. However, one whale clearly became separated from this group. Incredibly, the first person to raise the alarm was a man who saw the giant mammal from the train he was on when it crossed the river. Almost immediately, a rescue attempt was mounted and further attempts to move the whale began on Saturday morning. After unsuccessfully attempting to gently encourage it to swim downstream of its own accord towards the Thames Estuary and eventually the sea, rescuers decided to move it onto the barge . The rescue operation involved winching the whale onto an inflatable raft which had been placed on the barge. 3,000 onlookers watched as the whale was treated with extreme care by the rescuers and applauded when the transfer operation was complete. The barge then set off with the intention of freeing the whale in deeper water. Sadly, it began to convulse during the journey and died. Earlier in the day, naturalist and TV presenter Terry Nuktins had warned that attempts to move the large mammal were misguided and that the proximity of the rescuers to the whale was potentially disastrous. He said that the whale would have been terrified by the people around it and it wouldn't have been used to the sight of boats and the noise... This passage is most probably taken from_. A) a newspaper B) a biology textbook C) a guide book to saving animals' lives D) a travel journal
A
Q: Until I was twelve years old, I thought everyone in the world knew about the grinnies, if I thought about the term at all -- which is unlikely. After all, everyone in my family used the word quite naturally, and we understood each other. So far as I knew, it was a word like any other word -- like bath, orchocolate, orhomework. But it was my homework which led to my discovery thatgrinnieswas a word not known outside my family. My last report card had said that I was a "C" student in English, and my parents, both teachers, decided that no child of theirs would be just an average student of anything. So nightly I spelled words aloud and answered questions about the fine points of grammar. I wrote and rewrote and rewrote every composition until I convinced my mother that I could make no more improvements. And the hard work paid off. One day the teacher returned compositions, and there it was -- a big fat, bright red "A" on the top of my paper. Naturally, I was delighted, but I didn't know I was attracting attention until the teacher spoke sharply, "Helen, what are you doing?" Called suddenly out of my happy thoughts, I said "Oh, I've got the grinnies!" The teacher and my classmates burst into laughter, and then I understood that grinnies were used inside my family. Other people were not so lucky. And it is really lucky to have the grinnies, an uncontrollable, natural state of great pleasure. Grinnies are shown on the outside by sparkling eyes and a wide, wide smile -- not just any smile, but one that shows the teeth and stretches the mouth to its limits. A person experiencing the grinnies appears to be all mouth. On the inside grinnies are characterized by a feeling of joyful anxiety. Grinnies usually last just a few seconds, but they can come and go. Sometimes, when life seems just perfect, I have occasional attacks of the grinnies for a whole day. The term originated in my mother's family. Her younger sister, Rose, who had deep dimples , often expressed her pleasure with such a grin that the dimples appeared... According to the writer, the word "grinnies" originates from _ . A) her mother B) her aunt C) her brother D) her father
A: B
Q: One thing we love about soup is that it's easy to make and it only needs a few simple ingredients .Here are four of our favorite, simple homemade soups.Enjoy! Which of the following is TRUE? A) Chicken soup is good if you catch a cold. B) Canned beans are cheaper than dried beans. C) It's difficult to make French onion soup. D) You cannot put meat in garden vegetable soup.
A: A