人教版（新课程标准）高中英语必修4 Unit 1同步练习二

The World's Largest Insect

    This giant insect can be used as a toy.

    A child ties one end of a string to a stick and the other end around the "neck" of an insect. Holding the stick, the child lets the insect go. With a loud whirring sound, the insect takes off, pulling the string in a large curve over the child's head. The child laughs as the stick jumps around.

    The child is African, and the toy is the African Goliath beetle, the largest insect in the world.

    The Goliath is a true insect because it has six legs and a body that is divided into three parts. Like all beetles, it has two pairs of wings. The front pair are thick and stiff and protect the back pair, which are soft. It is these soft back wings that make the beetle fly forward. They also cause the loud whirring sound the beetle makes when it flies. To steer, the beetle twists and turns its legs the same way you steer a bike by turning its front wheel.

    African children often use the Goliath beetle as a toy. Although it is over 15 centimeters long, it is quite harmless.

    Chinese high school students have the longest study hours compared to their peers (同龄人) in Japan, the US and the Republic of Korea, a survey conducted by the four countries said.

    The survey, released by the China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC) on Monday, was jointly conducted with institutions in the four countries in September—October of 2008. It covers nearly 4, 000 students in senior high schools and vocational high schools in the four countries.

    About 78.3 percent of Chinese students said they spend more than eight hours at school and 56.7 percent said they study at least two more hours each day at home. By contrast, only 24.7 percent of their peers in the US, 20.5 percent in Japan and 15.4 percent in Korea study more than two hours after school.

    Around 60 percent of all students surveyed said their burden for studies was the heaviest; however, the Japanese felt their burden was the worst with respondents (应答者) reaching 79.2 percent.

    Among the five biggest headaches for young people in the four countries were: over—scheduling ranked first, followed by a boring leisure life, unsatisfied appearance, little time for exercise and making friends, and no spare money.

    "Moderate (适度的) study pressure can better drive students to develop, however, too much will squeeze (挤) their development space, and can even cause harm to their physical and psychological health," the survey said.

    "Balancing their studies and all-round development is a very important task," it said.

    The world we live in gets more mechanized every year. Some countries which were mainly agricultural a hundred years ago have now become industrial. New factories and towns have been built on good agricultural land. There are now fewer farms to serve a much greater population, so these farms must be more efficient in order to produce as much food as possible. There is no place in the modern agricultural world for the inefficient farmer. Unfortunately, many of the picturesque aspects of farming are disappearing in the search for efficiency. The more tractors are used, the fewer horses are needed. Everyone agrees that horses are far more pleasant to look at than tractors. But they are less efficient. Cows are usually milked by machinery nowadays, and even pigs are fed automatically. There is not much art or poetry on the modern farm, and the old traditional idea of a farm as a slow, peaceful, romantic place is totally wrong nowadays.

    The modern farmer has to be a mechanic, a scientist, an accountant and a gambler. The more mechanized farming becomes, the more expert the farmer has to be. He must understand what machinery is necessary for his kind of farm, and he must know how to use it efficiently. He must also understand the new technical advances in agriculture, and how to use chemical and synthetic products to improve his crops. The more workers a farmer employs, the more he must know about the problems of wages and taxes. As in any other industry, most modern farmers find it necessary to employ office staff to deal with these. But although he has more modern equipments and far more scientific aids than his grandfather had, the farmer is still dependent upon the weather. As he can never be sure what the weather will do, he must be prepared to take risks, and face the possibility of losing everything.

    Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days, but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.

    If I have learned anything in my 16 years, it is that communication is very important, both when you disagree and when you get along. With any relationship, you need to let other person know how you are feeling. If you are not able to communicate, you drift apart. When you are mad at your parents, or anyone else, not talking to them doesn't solve anything.

    Communication begins with the concerns (关心) of another. It means that you can't just come home from school, go up to your room and ignore (不理睬) everyone. Even if you just say "Hi", and see how their day was for five minutes, it is better than nothing.

    If you looked up the word "communication" in a dictionary, it would say "the exchange of ideas, the conveyance (表达) of information, correspondence (通信), means of communication: a letter or a message". To maintain (保持) a good relationship, you must keep communication strong. Let people know how you feel, even if it's just by writing a note.

    When dealing with parents, you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent. If you are trying to make them see something as you see it, tell them that you'll listen to what they have to say, but ask them politely to listen to you. Yelling or walking away only makes the situation worse.

    This is an example: one night, Sophie went to a street party with her friends. She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks, but she didn't feel she could just ask to go home. That would be rude. After all, they had been nice enough to take her along with them. Needless to say, she was late getting home. Her parents were mad at first, not when Sophie explained why she was late, they weren't as mad and let the incident go. Communication is the key factor here. If Sophie's parents had not been willing to listen, Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.

    Communication isn't a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie's, telling the other person how you feel-listening is the key factor to communication.

    Question: I have recently got a senior position within my company. One of my new tasks is to make monthly progress reports on my department in front of other senior officials. During my first meeting, I presented and then opened the floor to questions.

    My first reaction was to answer defensively. Later, I realized that I shouldn't feel that way. But how can I keep cool and effectively answer questions in this type of settings?

    Answer: Congratulations on your new position! Presenting in front of your peers (同事) is a hard task in itself, and it becomes much more difficult when a question-and-answer period is required. Question-and-answer periods are a great way to clarify the message and strengthen key points.

    When a person is asking a question, show interest and a desire to understand the question by listening and asking for clarification.

    Buy time

    When facing a hard question, most people can't give an answer immediately. Buy time by repeating the question in your own words. These techniques allow you to quickly organize your thoughts as well as to make sure you will be correctly answering the question.

    Suggest a private meeting

    A one-on-one meeting is a calmer setting than speaking in front of your peers.

    In 1957, Jane Goodall first met the famous anthropologist (人类学者) Dr Louis Leakey, who later played an important role in her life. With the 1 of gaining insight into humans' evolutionary (进化的) past, Dr Leakey 2 a pioneering long-term field study on 3 chimps. Even though Jane had no formal 4, her patience and determination to understand animals 5 him to choose her for the study. 6 it was unusual for a woman to work in the forest of Africa, going there 7 the fulfillment (实现) of her childhood dream. In the summer of 1960 she 8 in Tanzania (坦桑尼亚) on Lake Tanganyika's eastern shore. This marked the 9 of the longest continuous field study of animals in their 10 habitat (栖息地). Five years 11, she earned a doctor's degree at Cambridge University and then 12 to Tanzania to found the Gombe Stream Research Center. And in 1977, to provide on—going 13 for chimp research, Dr Goodall 14 The Jane Goodall Institute.

    Today, she 15 most of her time traveling around the world, giving lectures on her 16 at Gombe and speaking to school groups about Roots && Shoots, her environmental education and humanitarian program for the 17.

    "Chimps have given me so 18. The long hours spent with them in the 19 have enriched my life beyond measure. What I have learned from them has shaped my 20 of human behavior, of our place in nature."

    One day Mary was busy working in her office in London she received an E-mail from her friend Joan .In Joan's e-mail, she persuaded Mary (look) for a flat in London for her. As she had (little) money at her command than before, the flat had to be cheap, but it had to be modern, with elevators, gas lines. It had to be in the (east) part of London, with petrol and subway stations nearby. Though Mary found difficult to find such a flat, she still went from one block to another, looking for a flat would meet Joan's requirements. Having tried too many times, Mary met her boss and politely asked him advice. It was the first time that she (talk) with his boss about her personal problems. It happened that the boss just had such a flat for rent, so they quickly reached agreement. But to her surprise, when she e-mailed Joan, telling her the good news, Joan said that she had changed mind—she was not returning to London.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：①每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

②只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Mrs Brown was walking near a playground. She was a hurry to visit her four grandchildren. She missed him very much, because she had seen them for quite a long time. She was walking while suddenly she saw a ball coming in her direction. She was already in her seventy. Should she kick the hall to send it back and should she just go past leaving the ball where it was? Finally with greatly care she gave it a kick. The hall went straight out the goal. How wonderful it was! And she happened to have helped won the match. And all her four grandchildren were on team of the winners.

提示：①于丹在中央电视台的电视讲座让人们了解了博大精深的中国古代文化；

②她的语言风趣、幽默，深受很多人的喜欢；

③受父亲的影响，她从小就很喜欢中国文学；

④她不仅讲课生动、有趣，而且还是一名出版了许多书的作家。

注意：①可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

②词数：100左右。