B
"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" I thought to myself. Jeff was the last candidate (候選人) for president of the Students' Union. My best friend Tony came to me and said, "I'm sorry, Mike. I really thought you should be chosen."
Later that day, I happened to pass Jeff in the canteen. I offered him a polite "congratulations" and walked to my usual table. To my surprise, Jeff put his plate beside mine.
"I'm, er ... I'm just wondering if you would ... consider coming to work in my team," he said nervously. "You are really smart, and you would be a great manager."
"I don't think so," I replied, feeling unsure.
"Well, if you change your mind, we will meet tomorrow," he said before moving to another table.
All that night, I thought about the offer from Jeff. Maybe being part of the election (選舉) process would give me a chance to make important changes at our school. I decided to join them.
My first goal was to create a catchy (朗朗上口的) advertisement. Within a few days, we designed a poster with Jeff's pictures showing him in a number of activities. No one could walk through any hallway without passing Jeff's smiling face.
My next step was to find out which new activities students would like to have at our school. Many of them wanted a chess club and a volleyball team. With the information I had collected, Jeff met with the headmaster. The headmaster agreed to add these activities to our school programmes.
With my help, Jeff and our ideas were well received at school.
An eighth grader said, "It'll be like attending a new school with Jeff as the president."
Hearing these words, I found my heart filled with pride. I had wanted to become president of the Students' Union to make a difference. I achieved that and more by working as a member of Jeff's team. He became the most popular candidate and I was a large part of his success. The feeling that I have made a difference in other people's lives is the real prize. What a great feeling!
( )34. Why did Jeff come to the writer in the canteen?
A. Because he wanted to congratulate the writer.
B. Because he wanted to ask the writer to join his team.
C. Because he wanted to have lunch with the writer.
D. Because he wanted the writer to be president of the Student's Union.
( )35. Why did the writer want to join the Student's Union?
A. He wanted to make changes to his school.
B. He liked the feeling of being president of the Student's Union.
C. He wanted to help Jeff in the election.
D. All of his friends wanted him to be president of the Student's Union.
( )36. How did the students like their activities?
A. They were forced to attend.
B. They thought their ideas were useless.
C. They liked their activities a lot.
D. They wanted another person to be the president.
答案：34.B
解析：根據(jù)“I'm just wondering if you would ... consider coming to work in my team”可知，Jeff想邀請作者加入他的團隊。故選B。
35.A
解析：由“Maybe being part of the election process would give me a chance to make important changes at our school”可知，作者想加入學生會是為了給學校帶來改變。故選A。
36.C
解析：根據(jù)“An eighth grader said, 'It'll be like attending a new school with Jeff as the president.'”可知，學生們很喜歡這些活動。故選C。
C
Everyone has traits (特性) that make us who we are. We have physical traits, like red hair, long legs and funny-looking toes. We also have character traits including humour, warmth, creativity and so on.
Certain physical traits are fully inherited (遺傳), such as blue eyes and curly hair (卷發(fā)). About 25,000 to 35,000 genes are in a single cell in the human body. These genes carry the traits that are passed down genetically from parents to their children.
Many traits exist between inheritance and development—the interaction with environment. One example is body shape. It tends to be passed down from parents. But once a factor, environment begins to play an important role in how the body develops. Body shape is a trait that is a mixture of inheritance from parents and influence of environment.
So lots of our most important traits have been learnt, rather than inherited. For example, if you're really great at table tennis, it's not because your parents have passed down the skills in genes. It's because you have practised a lot and developed the skills yourself. If you have kids who turn out to be great at a lot of table tennis, it is because they put in the hours, learnt the skills, and memorized the moves that are necessary to play it well.
Of course, some of us have brains that are more advantageous (有優(yōu)勢的) to table tennis. Say you were born with a large and powerful part of the brain to control your hand-eye coordination (協(xié)調(diào)). That is inherited. What you do with it and how you choose to develop that advantage is up to you.
A person may love football very much. That will not turn into genetic material to be passed down to the next generation. However, if his children grow up in an environment with role models who are crazy about playing football or watching football games, they are more likely to be football fans!
( )37. What is a physical trait that is fully inherited according to the passage?
A. The eye colour. B. The special diet. C. The body shape. D. The body weight.
( )38. What does the underlined word "factor" in Paragraph 3 probably mean "______".
A. problem B. cause C. task D. purpose
( )39. According to the passage, the writer believes that ______.
A. character traits can hardly change during the lifetime
B. the skills of table tennis playing are passed down to kids
C. a kid's hand-eye coordination isn't related to inheritance
D. environment plays an important role in traits development
( )40. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. Why are traits important? B. How does environment influence traits?
C. Where do traits come from? D. What are physical and character traits?
答案：37.A
解析：根據(jù)“Certain physical traits are fully inherited, such as blue eyes and curly hair”可知，眼睛顏色是完全遺傳的身體特征。故選A。
38.B
解析：結(jié)合上下文，“factor”指影響體型發(fā)展的“因素”，與“cause”（原因，因素）意思相近。故選B。
39.D
解析：由“Many traits exist between inheritance and development—the interaction with environment”及“environment begins to play an important role”可知，作者認為環(huán)境在特質(zhì)發(fā)展中起重要作用。故選D。
40.C
解析：文章主要討論了特質(zhì)的來源——遺傳和環(huán)境的相互作用，“Where do traits come from?”最能概括主旨。故選C。
