Ancient man attempted to change the weather by using magic. While experience taught him this was impossible, __1__ he tried to forecast weather conditions. Even earlier in __2__ 1000 B.C.there were weather seers in Babylon----and priests clever enough to denounce as frauds those predicted __3__ the weather a year in the advance. Some forecasters used __4__ methods that seemed to take no connection with the actual __5__ factors controlled the weather. Chickens and other animals __6__ were sacrificed and their intestines poked to find signs indicating rain and drought. Somewhat more scientific were __7__ predictions based on vegetation:\"Onion's skin very thin ,mild weather coming in. Onion's skin thick and tough, coming weather is cold and rough.\" Insects and animals were also __8__ favorite weather clues: \"Before the glowworm lights his __9__ lamp , then the air is always damp .\" \"If spiders their cobwebs forsake , the weather will for certain break .\" \"If frogs remained in pools , the weather will be fine . If they were seen on rocks, __10__ rain and cold were due.\" It's difficult to say whether this rhyme should be taken seriously : \" Hark , I hear the asses bray . Me thinks we'll have some rain today .\"
2. 改错练习
Transport can be a major expense for many companies,especially when cars have to be provided for both managerial and sale staff. __1__ As a result, it's important to keep a close eye at the many costs __2__ associated with company cars and how these different costs compare.
The moment a new car is driven away from the showroom,its value will drop as much as 12 percent. This is what is __3__ known as depreciation and is the largest single cost to the buyer of a new vehicle. Depreciation is the highest in the __4__ first two years of a vehicle's life: at the end of that period a car could be worth just the third of its brand new price. __5__ Although the rate of depreciation decreases as time goes by, it remains a major cost factor, as around 85 percent of company vehicles are brought brandly new. __6__ However, it is important to know that some cars depreciate much more than others——regardless of price. This is often __7__to do with rarity and prestige value. The more common the car, the more quickly, in general, it loses vaule. Exported __8__ models, which are restricted in number, can hold their value better than those are produced domestically and widely available. __9__ In the same way, depreciation on a new model of a particular make may be low for the first few years after their launch. __10__ This happened when diesel cars were first introduced. They depreciated more slowly when they were rarely seen; now that they are relatively common, this is no longer true.
3. 改错练习
DDT, the most powerful pesticide the world had ever known,exposed nature’s vulnerability. Unlike most pesticides, which effect- __1__ tiveness is limited to destroy one or two types of insects, DDT is __2__ capable of killing hundreds of different kinds at once. Developed in 1939, it first distinguished itself during the World War II, cleaning __3__ South Pacific islands of malaria-caused insects for U.S. troops, while __4__in Europe being used as an effective de-lousing power. Its inventor was awarded by the Nobel Prize. __5__ When DDT became available for civilian use in 1945, there were only a few people who expressed the second thought about this __6__ new miracle compound. One was nature writer Edwin Way Teale,who warned, ―A spray as discriminate as DDT can upset the economy __7__ of nature of all insects are good, but if they are killed, things __8__ go out of kilter right away.‖ Another was Rachel Carson, who wrote to the Reader’s Digest to propose an article about series of __9__ tests on DDT being conducted not far from which she lived in Maryland. __10__
4. 改错练习
You stare at waterfall for a minute or two, then shift your gaze to its surrounding. What you now see appears to drift upward. You __1__ are board a train in a busy station when suddenly another train next __2__ to your starts moving forward. __3__ For a fraction of a second you feel that your train has lurched backward. These optical illusions occur because the brain is constantly matching its model of reality to signals from the body’s sensors and interpret what must be happening – that your train __4__ might have moved, not the other; that downward motion is now __5__ normal, so a change from it must be perceived as upward motion.
The sensors that make this magic are two kinds. __6__ Each eye contains about 120 million rods, which provide somewhat blurry black and white vision. These are the windows of night vision; once adapted to the dark, they can detect a candle burnt __7__ ten miles away. Colorful vision in each eye comes from six to seven __8__ million structures called cones. Under ideal conditions, every cone can ―see‖ the entire rainbow spectrum of visible colors, but one type of cone is most sensitive to red, another to green, the third to __9__ blue.
By monitoring how many wavelength of light affects the different cones, a connected ganglion cell can determine its ―color‖ and relay that data brainwork. Rods and cones send their messages pulsing an __10__ average 20 to 25 times per second along the optic nerve.
5. 改错练习
Humankind’s future safety and longevity of life on Earth largely depend on the environment which we live. Keeping the air we __1__ breathe free of pollution is a major priority towards making this earth a safe place. Other areas of concern are water, land, the ozone layer, and the preservation of flora and fauna of the planet. Every country has ecological issues to deal. In South America, __2__ the rain forests are rapidly disappearing as people burn and cut down trees to make for farmland. Many Middle-Eastern and Asian countries __3__ have a battle to fight with air, water, and land pollution. Lakes and swamps are spread with debris. __4__ Mass chemical spraying is used to kill pests on trees and plants. Abundant __5__ use of water in countries as China has caused major water shortage. __6__ Rivers become polluted by factories and the populations that live on their banks. Global warming is considered a major factor caused __7__ the droughts in eastern China, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and northern Kenya.
The reduction of the ozone layer is blamed for the global warming trends in variant countries of this globe, and the spread of disease like skin __8__ cancer. Societies at large need to pay attention to the existing problems in order to get of the imminent danger of famine, drought and diseases __9__ that rise from the damage that pollution causes. __10__
6. 改错练习
The growth of the world’s population and its pressure to resources __1__ threaten to change the quality of life as we know it. It takes __2__ 100,000 years of human existence for the world to reach its 1997population of 5.85 billion people. The increase of 80 million people in 1996 alone is the equivalent of a new U.S population every 3.4years or new Canadian population every 138 days. The UN population Fund predicts that by the year 2050, the world population have __3__ exploded to 10 billion people. This would double in less than a century the already bulging population who existed when it reached __4__ 5 billion in 1987. The chemicals we spew into the air also
cause disease.
For example, they attack the Earth’s ozone layer, which helps shield the Earth away the Sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays. It is well established __5__ that the ozone layer has thinned considerably during recent
decades.Concomitantly, the rate of new cases of the dead skin cancer, __6__ melanoma, has grown dramatically from 1,168 of each 100,000 __7__ Americans to 3,650. This 213 percent increase means that 40,300 Americans diagnosed with melanoma in 1997 and 3,650 died of the __8__ disease. There are some scientists who believe that pollution is even threatening the ability of humans to produce. Chemicals which are __9__ used to make pesticides, plastic, and other products are finding their ways into the human food chain through fish and even through __10__ breast milk.
7. 改错练习
Act natural! Don’t be nervous! Well, that’s easier said than done when you’re standing in front of a group of people and delivering what, at that point in time, feels like the most important public appearance you’ve ever made. Have you dressed right? Is your hair __1__ all in place? Can you see you sweating? __2__ Have you heard Winston Churchill? What about Dr. Martin Luther __3__ King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln? What do all these people have in common? They are famous people who made famous speeches. John F. Kennedy, in his presidential inaugural address said: ―Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.‖ We always admire people who are eloquent as that, and __4__ we all wish we could be so eloquent ourselves. Have you ever drew special attention to other people speaking __5__ in the public? __6__ What are qualities that a person needs in order to make a great __7__ speech? There is an old Chinese saying that went, ―A man is good __8__ because of his mouth, and a horse is good because of its legs.‖
Humans has the ability to communicate through speech, and in speech __9__ We have a special opportunity to make impact. Sometimes, it’s a __10__ lasting one.
8. 改错练习
Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economical causes: it is not due simply to the bad __1__ influence of this or that individual writers. But an effect can become __2__ a cause, reinforce the original cause and producing the same effect __3__ in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take drink __4__ because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the most __5__ completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the sloven of our language __6__ makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is irreversible. Modern English, especially written English, __7__ is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and think clearly is a __8__ necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concerning __9__ of professional writers. I will come back to this present, and I hope __10__ that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer.
9. 改错练习
Changes in climate that had already taken place are manifested __1__ from the decrease in extent and thickness of
Arctic sea ice, perma- __2__ frost thawing, coastal erosion, changes in ice sheets and ice shelves, altered distribution and abundance of species. __3__ Nowadays snows melt earlier in the springtime. Lakes, rivers and bogs freeze much more later in the autumn. Reindeer herding __4__ becomes more difficult so the ice is weak and may give way. __5__ Nowadays winters are much colder than they used to be. __6__ Occasionally during winter time it rains. We never expected this;we could not be ready for this. It is very strange. The cycle of the yearly calendar has been disturbed greatly. Warming over northern land areas has been very greater than elsewhere in the world. The __7__ changes are due to human modification of the concentration of greenhouse gases during the 20th century, leading quite directly to the projections the Artic will warm by several times as much during the __8__ 21st century as it did during the 20th century. The amplified warming in Arctic, in turn, directly contributes to overall global warming, as __9__ well as cause changes that create impacts over the rest of the globe. __10__
10. 改错练习
Dinosaurs, saber-tooth tigers and the dodo bird are famous examples __1__ of animals that have become extinct. In case of the dinosaurs, it __2__ seems likely that a catastrophic event alters the global climate __3__ enough to lead to their disappearance. More recent extinctions and near-extinctions-such as the blue whales, tiger, panda, and __4__ North American bison—have been the direct result of human activity. By the early 1990s, species were becoming extinct at a rate of three per hour, or 27,000 every day – a figure quoted by the American biologist Edward O.Wilson of Harvard University, based on his most conservative estimates. This rate of extinctions carries with it some terrible consequences. Each plant that becomes extinct,for example, may take with it as much as 30 insects and animals __5__ that depend on it for food. Habitat loss is one of the most important causes of extinction. For rising populations in many countries __6__ lead to the clearing of more land, habitats such as raining forest __7__ and grasslands disappear.
In the East Africa, once renowned for its wildlife, few wild animals __8__ remain living outside the boundaries of national parks and game __9__ reserves. In other parts of the world, coastal ecosystems are clearing __10__ for development. Wetland areas are drying out as a result of water extraction to support farming and tourism. Bird species are among the worst affected by the loss of wetlands.
11. 改错练习
Not too many decades ago it seemed ―obvious‖ both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people’s natural relations, loosed their responsibilities __1__ to kins (亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place __2__ for superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. __3__ However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the ―obvious‖ is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you if you are a resident of a smaller community. __4__ But, for the most part, this fact has a few significant consequences. __5__ It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.
Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationship do not differ between more and less urban __6__ people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than do big __7__ city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Or are residents of large communities
__8__ any likely to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation __9__ than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust for strangers. __10__
12. 改错练习
There are three main groups of oils: animal, vegetable and mineral.
Great numbers of animal oil come from whales, those enormous __1__ creatures of the sea which are the largest remaining animals in the world. To protect the whale from the cold of the Arctic seas, nature has provided it with a thick cover of fat called blubber. When the __2__ whale is killed, the blubber is stripped off and boiled down, either board the ship or on shore. It produces a great quantity of oil which __3__ can be made into food for human consumption. A few other creatures yield oil, and none so much as the whale. The livers of the cod and __4__ the halibut, two kinds of fish, yield nourishing oil.
Both cod liver oil and halibut liver oil are given to sick children and other invalids who need certain vitamins. These oils may be
bought at any chemist. Vegetable oil has been known from antiquity. __5__ No household can not get on without it, for it is used in cooking. To __6__ the ordinary man, one kind of oil may be as important as another. But when the politician or the engineer refers to oil, one almost always __7__ means mineral oil, the oil that drives tanks, aeroplanes and warships,motor-cars and diesel locomotives; the oil that is used to lubricate all kinds of machineries. This is the oil that has changed the life __8__ of the common men. To it we owe the existence of the motor-car, __9__ which has replaced the private horse-drawing carriage. __10__
13. 改错练习
What is corporate culture? At its most basic, it’s described like __1__ the personality of an organization, or simply as ―how things are done around here.‖ It guides what employees think, act, and feel. __2__ Corporate culture is a wide term used to define the unique personality __3__ or character of a particular company or organization, and include __4__ such elements as core values and beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior. Corporate culture can be expressed in the company’s mission statement and other communications, in the architectural style or interior decoration, by what people wear to work, by how people address to each other, and in the titles given to various __5__ employees. How do you uncover the corporate culture of a potential employer? The truth is that you will never really know the corporate culture after you have worked at the company for a number of months, __6__ but you can get close to it through research and observation. Understanding culture is a two-step process, starting with the research before __7__ the interview and ending with observation at the interview. The bottom line is that you are going to spend a lot of time on the work environment- __8__ and to be happy, successful, and productive, you will want to be ina place where you fit for the culture, a place where you can have __9__ voice, be respected, and have opportunities for growth. __10__
14. 改错练习
A history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handling, it may become a driving force. When __1__ the United States entered just such a glowing period after the end of the Second World War, it had a market eight times larger than any other competitor, given its industries unparalleled economies of
scale. Its __2__ scientists were the world’s best, its workers the most skilled. America and Americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the Europeans and Asians whose economies that the war had destroyed. __3__ It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grew richer. Just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful. By the mid-1980s Americans found __4__ themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competition. Some __5__ huge American industries, such as consumer electronic, had shrunk __6__ or vanished in the face of foreign competition. Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market and America’s machine-tool industry was on the rope. For a while it looked as __7__ though the making of semiconductors, which America had sat at the __8__ heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.
All of this caused a crisis of confidence. Americans stopped talking prosperity for grant. They began to believe that their way of doing __9__ business was failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. The mid-1980 brought one inquiry after __10__ another into the causes of America’s industrial decline. Their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about growing competition from overseas.
15. 改错练习
The Seattle Times Company is one newspaper firm that has recognized the need for change and done something about it. In the newspaper industry, papers must reflect the diversity of the communities for which they provide information. It must __1__ reflect that diversity with their news coverage or risk losing their readers’ interest and their advertisers’ support. Operating within Seattle, which has 20 percents racial minorities, the __2__ paper has put into place polices and procedures for hiring and maintain a diverse workforce. The underlying reason for __3__ the change is that for information to be fair, appropriate, and ubjective, it should be reported by the same kind of population __4__ that reads it.
A diversity committee composed of reporters, editors, and photographers meets regularly to evaluate The Seattle Times’ __5__ content and to educate the rest of the newsroom staff about diversity issues. In an addition, the paper instituted a content __6__ audit that evaluates the frequency and manner of representation of woman and people of color in photographs. Early audits __7__ showed that minorities were pictured far too infrequently and were pictured with a disproportionate number of negative articles.
The audit results from improvement in the frequency of __8__ majority, representation and their portrayal in neutral or positive __9__ situations. And, with a result, The Seattle Times has improved __10__ as a newspaper. The diversity training and content audits helped
The Seattle Times Company to win the Personal Journal Optima’s Award for excellence in managing change.
16. 改错练习
The violence within a society is controlled through institutionsof law. The most developed a legal system becomes, the more __1__ societies takes responsibility for the discovery, control, and punishment __2__ of violent acts. In most tribal societies the only means to dealing with __3__ an act of violence is revenge. Each family group may have the responsibility for personal carrying out judgment and punishment __4__ upon the person who did the offense. __5__ But in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes personalized and diffused. The society assumes the responsibility for __6__ protecting individuals from violence. In cases where he cannot be __7__ protected, the society is responsible for committing punishment. __8__ In a state controlling legal system,
individuals are removed __9__ from the circle of revenge motivated by acts of violence, and the __10__ state assumes responsibility for their protection.
17. 改错练习
In department stores and closets all over the world, they are waiting. Their outward appearance seems rather appealing since __1__ they come in a variety of styles, textures, and colors.
And they are ultimately the biggest deception that exists in the __2__ fashionable industry today. What are they? They are high heels __3__ --woman’s worst enemy ( whether she knows it or not). High heel __4__ shoes are the downfall of modern society. Fashion myths have led women to believe that they are more beautiful or
sophisticating __5__ for wearing heels, but in reality, heels succeed on posing short as __6__ as well as long term hardships. Women should fight the high hell industry by refusing to use or purchase them in order to save the world of unnecessary physical and psychological suffering. __7__ For the sake of fairness, it must be noted that there is a positive side to high heels. First, heels are excellent for aerating lawns.
Anyone who has ever worn heels on grass know what I am talking __8__ about. A simple trip around the yard on a pair of those babies __9__ eliminates all needs to call for a lawn care specialist, and provides __10__ the perfect-sized holes to give any lawn oxygen without all those messy chunks of dirt lying around.
18. 改错练习
Our obsession with thinness is also fueled by health concerns.It is true that in this country we have more overweighted people __1__ than ever before, and that, in many cases, being over weight correlates an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. __2__ These diseases, therefore, may have as much to do with our __3__ way of life and our high-fat diets as with excessive weight. And __4__ the associate risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more __5__ about a dietary problem—too much fat and a lack of fiber than a __6__ weight problem.The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough or eat well. Exercise is necessary __7__ for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet
without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases.We should surely stop paying so much attention on weight. __8__ Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardy if those who __9__ get(or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be purely vainglory. __10__
19. 改错练习
In the United States there are, strict speaking, no national __1__ holiday, for each state must, through legislative enactment or __2__ executive proclamation, appoint the day which each holiday is __3__ celebrated. Congress and the president may establish legal holidays for the District of Columbia and for federal employees throughout the states and territories; and by long custom, days that receive nationwide observation, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor __4__ Day, Independent Day, and New Year’s Day, are uniformly set __5__ apart by all states as legal, or public holidays. In 1968, federal __6__ legislation established Columbia Day as a legal holiday for the
District of Columbia and for the federal government beginning at __7__ 1971. The law also provided begun in 1971 federal employees __8__ would be granted three-days weekends by observing Washington’s __9__ Birthday
on the third Monday in February, Memorial Day on the last Monday in May, Columbus Day on the second Monday in October, and Veteran Day on the forth Monday on October. By 1971, most of the states also adopted the new dates. __10__
20. 改错练习
Eye behavior can give subtle messages which people pick up in their daily life. It tells more than words can. Meeting or failing to meet another person's eyes produce a particular effect.When two Americans __1__ look searchingly at each other's eye, emotions are __2__
heightened and the relationship becomes closer. However, Americans are careful about where and when to __3__ meet other's eye. In our normal conversation, each eye-contract lasts only a few seconds before one or both individuals look away, because the longer meeting of the eyes is rare, and, after it happens, can generate __4__ a special kind of human-to-human awareness. For instance,by simple using his eyes, a man can make a woman aware of him comfortably or uncomfortably; a long and steady gaze from a policeman or judge intimidates accused. __5__ In the U.S., proper street behavior requires a nice balance of attention and inattention. You are supposed to look at a passer-by just enough to show that you are being aware of his presence. If you look too little, __6__ you appear haughty; too much, inquisitive. Much eye behavior is such subtle that our reaction to it is __7__ largely instinctive. Besides, the codes of eye behavior vary dramatically from one culture to other. In the __8__ Middle East, it is impolite to look at the other person all the time during a conversation; in England, the polite listener fixes the speaker with an inattentive __9__ stare and blinks eye occasionally as a sign of interest and attention. In America, eye behavior functions as a kind of conversational traffic signal control the __10__ talking pace and time, and to indicate a change of topic.
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