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    In an article some Chinese scholars are described as being “tantalized by the mysterious dragon bone hieroglyphics.” Tantalized is one of many English words that have their origins in myths and legends of the past (in this case, Greek and Roman ones). The meaning of the verb tantalize is a very particular one: “to promise or show something desirable to a person and then take it away; to tease by arousing hope.’’ Many (but not all) English dictionaries give you a brief indication of a word’s origins in brackets before or after the explanation of the meaning. For tantalize the following explanation is given: [> Tantalus]. This means that you should look up the name Tantalus to find out the word’s origins, and if you do, you will find out that in Greek mythology, Tantalus was a king who was punished in the lower world with eternal hunger and thirst; he was put up to his chin in water that always moved away when he tried to drink it and with fruit on branches above him placed just a little bit out of his reach. Can you see why his name was changed into a verb meaning “to tease or torment by arousing desire”?    Another example is the word “siren”, familiar to us as the mechanical device that makes such an alarming sound when police cars, ambulances, or fire engines approach. This word also has its origins in Greek mythology. The traveler Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) made his men plug their ears so that they wouldn’t hear the dangerous voices of the sirens, creatures who were half bird and half woman and who lured sailors to their deaths on sharp rocks. So the word came to be associated both with a loud sound and with danger!    When someone speaks of a “jovial mood” or a “herculean efforts”, he or she is using wordswith origins in mythology. Look these words up to find their meaning and relationship to myths.     Many common words, such as the names for the days of the week and the months of the year, also come from mythology. Wednesday derives from the ancient Norse king of the gods, Woden, and Thursday was originally Thor’s day, in honor of Thor, the god of thunder. As a matter of fact, all the planets, except the one we live on, bear names that come from Roman mythology, including the planet that is farthest away from the sun and for that reason was called after the Roman god of the dead. This god has also given his name to one of the chemical elements. Several other elements have names that come from mythology, too.    It seems that myths and legends live on in the English language.1. The purpose of the first sentence in Paragraph 1 is (  ).2. We learn from the passage, all English dictionaries include(  ) .3. The example of tantalize is to show(  ) .4. According to the passage, which of the following does NOT have origins in myth or legends?5. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?

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    By the mid-nineteenth century, the term “icebox” had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern refrigerator, had been invented.    Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling.     Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.    But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, more explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.1. What does the passage mainly discuss?2. According to the passage, which of the following was an obstacle to the development of the icebox?3. The word “rudimentary” (Line 3, Para. 2) is closest in meaning to(  ).4. According to the information in the second paragraph, an ideal icebox would(  ).5. The author describes Thomas Moore as having been “on the right track” (Lines 1-2, Para. 3) to indicate that(  ).

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    For several days I saw little of Mr. Rochester. In the morning he seemed much occupied with business, and in the afternoon gentlemen from the neighborhood called and sometimes stayed to dine with him. When his foot was well enough, he rode out a great deal.    During this time, all my knowledge of him was limited to occasional meetings about the house, when he would sometimes pass me coldly, and sometimes bow and smile. His changes of manner did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with the cause of them.    One evening, several days later, I was invited to talk to Mr. Rochester after dinner. He was sitting in his armchair, and looked not quite so severe, and much less gloomy. There was a smile on his lips, and his eyes were bright, probably with wine. As I was looking at him, he suddenly turned, and asked me, “Do you think I'm handsome, Miss Eyre?”    The answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I realized it: “No, sir.”    “Ah, you really are unusual! You are a quiet serious little person, but you can be almost rude.”    “Sir, I’m sorry. I should have said that beauty doesn’t matter, or something like that.”    “No, you shouldn’t! I see, you criticize my appearance, and then you stab me in the back! You have honesty and feeling. There are not many girls like you. But perhaps I go too fast. Perhaps you have awful faults to counterbalance your few good points.”I thought to myself that he might have too. He seemed to read my mind, and said quickly, “Yes, you’re right. I have plenty of faults. I went the wrong way when I was twenty-one, and have never found the right path again. I might have been very different. I might have been as good as you, and perhaps wiser. I am not a bad man, take my word for it, but I have done wrong. It wasn’t my character, but circumstances which were to blame. Why do I tell you all this? Because you’re the sort of person people tell their problems and secrets to, because you’re sympathetic and give them hope.”    It seemed he had quite a lot to talk to me. He didn’t seem to like to finish the talk quickly, as was the case for the first time.    “Don’t be afraid of me, Miss Eyre,” he continued. “You don’t relax or laugh very much, perhaps because of the effect Lowood School has had on you. But in time you will be more natural with me, and laugh, and speak freely. You’re like a bird in a cage. When you get out of the cage, you’ll fly very high. Good night.”1. At the beginning, Miss Eyre’s impressions of Mr. Rochester were all EXCEPT(  ).2. In “all my knowledge of him was limited to occasional meetings about the house...” (the 2nd paragraph), the word “about” means(  ) .3. Why did Mr. Rochester say “...and then you stab me in the back!” (the 7th paragraph)?4. From what Mr. Rochester told Miss Eyre, we can conclude that he wanted to(  ) . 5. At the end of the passage, Mr. Rochester sounded(  ) .  

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