Maggie’s Lesson

Jessica7/1

• Listening Practice

M.:Hi, mashal, how is your study of DNA coming

• W: Slow but sure,I know the definition, it carrys the blueprint for human life, but I got more to learn ,you are working on DNA ,right

• M;Yes, I have been studying the amount of DNA in fish and frogs,dig you know that some flogs have twice as much DNA as human being,and are you ready for this ,the African long fish has forty-two times as much

• W:No, I didn’t ,my research has been focused on human beings,forty-two more than human’s,why long fish has so much DNA than we do, Does it help them to produce more offspring

• M:No ,probably not,but I can’t really tell you for sure yet, we are still just collecting data, Doesn’t it seem strange that the amount of DNA in a relative simple organism like a fish is greater than that of a more complex organism such as human being?

• W:It does seen odd, but come to think to it ,in highly organism only a tiny percentage of DNA ,less than about five percents, is necessary to carry instruction for producing life, that means a lot of extra amount as well.

• M:The question is why,I saw one theory that says it is very likely some of extra DNA may selfishly reproduce and increase in number, totally indifferent the need of the organism that contains it

• W:You are saying that section of the molecular might act like parasite and live off the organism without contributing anything to it ,right ,I’ve heard about that theory too,but it is pretty controversial

• M:Well not for long I hope, which remind ,I had better get back to my fish ,I should have been the lab an hour ago

• M: So how was the singing competition last weekends

• W: You don’t want to know

• M: What do you mean, wasn’t it near the beach ,that should be fun

• W: It should be fine, we only came in second place, not only that ,but we weren’t nearly able to enjoy the beach either

• M;Hold on ,you are upset about finishing the second ,how many singing groups are competing

• W; About thirty, I know second place sounds OD, but that three years in a row we have been second ,and it is the same group that beat us three years in a row

• M: That too bad, but what about the beach ,I end up spend a lot time in the library ,I would love to at beach ,swimming in the ocean ,playing beach volleyball instead of being stuck in the library studying

• W: Well ,it wasn’t exactly like that, I had spent some time studying too, we really don’t have much free time ,we were scheduled almost the whole time, practicing , performancing or watching the competition

• M: So you were that busy,

• W: Yeah ,but you know the ocean water is still cold ,so I don’t think we really miss too much

• M: Well ,you gosh may have got plans to go back when the semester is over

• W: That is exactly what we have in our mind ,it should be a lot fun there when the weather warms up, and we don’t have to think about competing

• We’ve spent the last few weeks on the development of serious theaters in United States ,looking into the plays and play writers of the early 1900’s. Our next unit is on American musical theater. This type of theater developed from both serious and popular art forms, like opera, dance ,drama and from a form of entertainment called Vaudeville, which is where we will start today. Vaudevill shows originated in Europe and by the 1800’s become a popular form an entertainment show in America .they were basically a variety of shows ,featuring several live entertainer ,singer ,dancer, magician ,acrobat and trained animals, it is as many as ten acts that largely unrelated in theme or style.

• By the early 1900, vaudeville theater had sprang up in all large cities, in the large theater, there were usually two performances a day ,some theater would come to be four performances a day , but with the introduction of silent films ,live performance had to compete with movie theaters, and vaudeville attendance started to decline ,some vaudeville theater started to show some movies as well, movies were showing between vaudeville act, that kept people for coming to vaudeville for a while, but when talking films arrived ,vaudeville faced even stiffer competition ,and then with the great depression in the 1930’s when the Americans has less income to spend on entertainment and the growth of radio and around television programme, Vaudeville experienced a further decline, pretty much disappeared entirely by the end of the second world war

Reading Practice• 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, Moore 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?• (A) The influence of ice on the diet• (B) The development of refrigeration• (C) The transportation of goods to market• (D) Sources of ice in the nineteenth century• • 2. According to the passage , when did the word "icebox" become part of

the language of the United States?• (A) in 1803• (B) sometime before 1850• (C) during the civil war• (D) near the end of the nineteenth century• • 3. The phrase "forward-looking" in line 4 is closest in meaning to• (A) progressive• (B) popular• (C) thrifty• (D) well-established

• 4. The author mentions fish in line 4 because• (A) many fish dealers also sold ice• (B) fish was shipped in refrigerated freight cars• (C) fish dealers were among the early commercial users of ice• (D) fish was not part of the ordinary person's diet before the invention of the

icebox• • 5. The word "it" in line 5 refers to• (A) fresh meat• (B) the Civil War• (C) ice• (D) a refrigerator• • 6. According to the passage , which of the following was an obstacle to the

development of the icebox?• (A) Competition among the owners of refrigerated freight cars• (B) The lack of a network for the distribution of ice• (C) The use of insufficient insulation• (D) Inadequate understanding of physics

• 7. The word "rudimentary" in line 12 is closest in meaning to• (A) growing• (B) undeveloped• (C) necessary• (D) uninteresting• • 8. According to the information in the second paragraph, an ideal icebox would• (A) completely prevent ice from melting• (B) stop air from circulating• (C) allow ice to melt slowly• (D) use blankets to conserve ice• • 9. The author describes Thomas Moore as having been "on the right track" (lines

18-19) to indicate that• (A) the road to the market passed close to Moore's farm• (B) Moore was an honest merchant• (C) Moore was a prosperous farmer• (D) Moore's design was fairly successful

• 10. According to the passage , Moore's icebox allowed him to

• (A) charge more for his butter• (B) travel to market at night• (C) manufacture butter more quickly• (D) produce ice all year round• • 11. The "produce" mentioned in line 25 could include• (A) iceboxes• (B) butter• (C) ice• (D) markets

Coney Island