15000 bài tập tách từ đề thi thử môn Tiếng Anh có đáp án (Phần 70)

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          The principle of use and disuse states that those parts of organisms’ bodies that are used grown larger. Those parts that are not tend to wither away. It is an observed fact that when you exercise particular muscles, they grow. Those that are never used dimish. By examining a man’s body, we can tell which muscles he uses and which he doesn’t. We may even be able to guess his profession or his reaction. Enthusiasts of the “body-building” cult make use of the principle of use and disuse to “build” their bodies, almost like a piece of sculpture, into whatever unnatural shape is demanded by fashion in this peculiar minority culture. Muscles are not the only parts of the body that respond to use in this kind of way. Walk barefoot and you acquire harder skin on your soles. It is easy to tell a famer from a bank teller by looking at their hands alone. The famer’s hands are horny, hardened by long exposure to rough work. The teller’s hands are relatively soft.

          The principle of use and disuse enables animals to become better at the job of surviving in their world, progressively better during their lifetime as result of living in that world. Humans, through direct exposure to sunlight, or lack of it, develop a skin color which equips them better to survive in the particular local conditions.

          Too much sunlight is dangerous. Enthusiastic sunbathers with very fair skins are susceptible to skin cancer. Too little sunlight, on the other hand, leads to vitamin-D deficiency and rickets. The brown pigment melanin which is synthesized under the influence of sunlight, makes a screen to protect the underlying tissues from the harmful effects of further sunlight. If a suntanned person moves to a less sunny climate, the melanin disappears, and the body is able to benefit from what little sun there is. This can be represented as an instance of the principle of use and disuse: skin goes brown when it is “used”, and fades to white when it is not.

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ENGLISH SEVENTH MEETING “SAN ANDREAS FAULT”

The San Andreas Fault line is a fracture at the congruence of two major plates of the Earth’s crust, one of which support most of the North American continent, and the other of which underlies the coast of California and part of the ocean floor or the Pacific Ocean. The fault originates about six hundred miles south of the Gulf of California, runs north in an irregular line along the western coast to San Francisco, and continues north for about two hundred more miles before angling off into the ocean. In places, the trace of the fault is marked by a trench, or, in geological terms, a rift, and a small ponds dot the landscape. Its western side always move north in relation to its eastern side. The total net slip along the San Andreas Fault and the length of time it has active are matters of conjecture, but it has been estimated that, during the past fifteen million years, coastal California along the San Andreas Fault has moved about 190 miles in a northwesterly direction with respect to the North American plate. Although the movement along the fault averages only a few inches a year, it is intermittent and variable. Some segments of the fault do not have move at all for long periods of time, building up tremendous pressure that must be released. For this reason, tremors are not unusual along the San Andreas Fault, some of which are classified as major earthquakes. Also for this reason, small tremors are interpreted as safe, since they are understood to be pressure that releases without causing much damage.

          It is worth nothing that the San Andreas Fault passes uncomfortable close to several major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, in addition, the San Andreas Fault has created smaller fault systems, many of which underlie the smaller towns and cities along the California coast. For this reason, Californians have long anticipated the recurrence of what they refer to as “the Big One”, a chain reaction of destructive earthquakes that would measure near 8 on the Richter scale, similar in intensity to those that occurred in 1857 and 1906. Such a quake world wreak devastating effects on the life and property in the region. Unfortunately, as pressure continues to build along the fault, the likelihood of such an earthquake increases substantially.

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          Animals have an intuitive awareness of quantities. They know without analysis the difference between a number of objects and a smaller number. In his book "The Natural History of Selboure" (1786), the naturalist Gilbert White tells how he surreptitiously removed one egg a day from a plover's nest, and how the mother laid another egg each day to make up for the missing one. He noted that other species of birds ignore the absence of a single egg but abandon their nest if more than one egg has been removed. It has also been noted by naturalists that a certain type of wasp always provides five - never four, never six - caterpillars for each of their eggs so that their young have something to eat when the eggs hatch. Research has also shown that both mice and pigeons can be taught to distinguish between odd and even numbers of food pieces.

          These and similar accounts have led some people to infer that creatures other than humans can actually count. They also point to dogs that have been taught to respond to numerical questions with the correct number of banks, or to horses that seem to solve arithmetic problems by stomping their hooves the proper number of times.

          Animals respond to quantities only when they are connected to survival as a species - as in the case of the eggs - or survival as individuals - as in the case of food. There is no transfer to other situations of from concrete reality to the abstract notion of numbers. Animals can "count" only when the objects are present and only when the numbers involved are small - not more than seven or eight. In lab experiments, animals trained to "count" one kind of object were unable to count any other type. The object, not the numbers, are what interest them. Animals' admittedly remarkable achievements simply do not amount to evidence of counting, nor do they reveal more than innate instincts, refined by the genes of successive generations, or the results of clever, careful conditioning by trainers.

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          American music, in most of its various forms, can be traced back to the music of the earliest African-Americans. Even though these Americans came here under the worst of circumstances, they still brought with them traditions, and developed new traditions of their own, that have grown into what is recognized around the world today as American music.

          Musicians, like other artists, are usually quick to give credit where credit is due. Just as a writer quotes his sources, a musician credits those musicians who inspired him. In the case of the early African-Americans, that is not always easy. Many of the slaves who brought musical traditions from Africa will never be known by name. No one wrote their history. Many of the slaves who sang work songs in the fields will never be known by name. No one wrote their history either.

However, there is a lot that we do know.

          The first well-recognized form of African-American music was spirituals. Spirituals are religious songs. They are songs that tell a story or express emotions. Spirituals have a strong rhythm. They are often sung by a group, sometimes with a leader who sings a line or two alone and a chorus that sings the refrain. Spirituals originated in the Southern United States. Spirituals sung by slaves often expressed the hope for freedom that was so important in their lives. Well know spirituals include "Go Down Moses", "Deep River" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot".

          After slavery ended, spirituals began to spread to other parts of the United States. Harry Thacker Burleigh was one of the first singers to perform spirituals on stage in a concert. Marian Anderson, well known for her classical singing, helped spirituals to gain a wider audience too. Spirituals influenced the development of another well-known form of American music - the blues.

          The blues were a more individual style of music than spirituals. Blues were often sung solo, and sometimes they were accompanied by guitar music. As the name suggests, the blues were often about sadness and facing troubles. However, the blues could also be funny, positive, and even defiant. One blues singer, loved for her strong, beautiful voice, was Bessie Smith. Another early blues musician was W.C.Handy. Handy was not only a musician, he also wrote music, promoted concerts, and published blues songs.

          During the time that the blues were spreading across the country, another style of music was also quickly gaining in popularity. Ragtime was energetic music with a complicated, syncopated beat. Often played on the piano, ragtime was the latest and most sophisticated in American popular music. The best-known ragtime musician was probably Scott Joplin, who wrote many hit ragtime pieces for the piano including "Maple Leaf Rag".

          Eventually, elements from all of these forms of music and more came back together. In their own kind of melting pot, African rhythms, slave work songs, spirituals, blues, ragtime, and other influences recombined to form the beginnings of that truly American art form - jazz. In the late 1800's jazz was just beginning, but not long after the turn of the century, it would be the most popular American music. It would go on from there to worldwide popularity. Jazz would branch out into many forms, and it would influence future styles of American music.

          Many musicians today credit earlier musicians such as Scott Joplin or Bessie Smith with inspiring their music. It's a shame that they can't also name the earliest African-Americans who really began the traditions that led to the American music of today.

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Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as “silent”, the film has never been, in the full sense of the word,silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.

As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces. Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown (if, indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry.

To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In 1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such indications of mood as “pleasant”, “sad”, “lively”. The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged the musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next.

Certain films had music especially composed for them. The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D.W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.

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According to airline industry statistics, almost 90 percent of airline accidents are survivable or partially survivable. But passengers can increase their chaneces of survival by learning and following certain tips. Experts say that you should rad and listen to safety instrucstion before take-off and ask questions if you have uncertainties. You should fasten your seat belt low on your hips and as tightly as possible. Of course, you should also know how the release mechanism of your blet operates. During takeoffs and landings, you are advised to keep your feet flat on the floor. Before take-off, you should locate the nearest exit and an alternative exit and count the row of seats beween you and the exits so that you can reach them in the dark if necessary. In the event that you are forewarned of a possible accident, you should put your hands on your ankles and keep your head down until the plane comes to a complete stop. If smoke is present in the cabin, you should keep your head low and cover your face whit napkins, towels, or clothing. If possible, wet these for added protection against smoke inhalation. To evacuate as quickly as possible, follow crew commands and do not take personal belongings with you. Do not jump on escape slides before they are fully infated , and when you jump, do so with your arms and legs extended in front of you. When you get to the ground, you should move away from the plane as quickly as possible, and smoke near the wreckage.

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Fish that live on the sea bottom benefit by being flat and hugging the contours. There are two very differcent types of flatfish and they have evolved in very separate ways. The skates ad rays, relatives of the rharks, have become flat in what might be called the obivious way. Their bodies have grown out sideways to form grat “wings”. They look as though they have been flattened but have remained symmetrical and “the right way up”. Conversely, fish such sas plaice, sole, and halibut have become flat in a different way. There are bony fish which have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical direction; they are much “taller” than they are wide. They use their whole, vertically flattened bodies as swimming surfaces, which undulat through the water as they move. Therefore, when their ancestors migrate to the seabed, they lay on one side than on their bellies. However, this raises the problem that one eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless – In evolution this problem was soleved by the lower eye “moving” around the other side. We see this process off moving around enacted in the development of every young bony flatfish. It starts life swimming near the surface, and is symmetrical and vertically flattened, but then the skull starts to grow in a strange asymmetrical twisted fashion,, so that one eye, for instance the left, moves over the top of the head upwards, an old Picasso – like vision. Incidentally, some species of 20 flatfish settle on the right side, others on left, and others on either side.

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          In the last third of the nineteenth century a new housing form was quietly being developed. In 1869 the Stuyvesant, considered New York’s first apartment house was built on East Eighteenth Street. The building was financed by the developer Rutherfurd Stuyvesant and designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Each man had lived in Paris, and each understood the economics and social potential of this Parisian housing form. But the Stuyvesant was at best a limited success. In spite of Hunt’s inviting façade, the living space was awkwardly arranged. Those who could afford them were quite content to remain in the more sumptuous, single-family homes, leaving the Stuyvesant to newly married couples and bachelors.

          The fundamental problem with the Stuyvesant and the other early apartment buildings that quickly followed, in the 1870’s and early 1880’s was that they were confined to the typical New York building lot. That lot was a rectangular area 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep – a shape perfectly suited for a row house. The lot could also accommodate a rectangular tenement, though it could not yield the square, well-lighted, and logically arranged rooms that great apartment buildings require. But even with th awkward interior configurations of the early apartment buildings, the idea caught on. It met the needs of a large and growing population that wanted something better than tenements but could not afford or did not want row house.

          So while the city’s newly emerging social leadership commissioned their mansions, apartment houses and hotels began to sprout in multiple lots, thus breaking the initial space constraints. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, large apartment houses began dotting the developed portions of New York City, and by the opening decades of the twentieth century, spacious buildings, such as the Dakota and the Ansonia finally transcended the tight confinement of row house building lots. From there it was only a small step to building luxury apartment houses on the newly created Park Avenue, right next to the fashionable Fifth Avenue shopping area.

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          Are organically grown foods the best food choices? The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and marketed food products are now being debated. Avocates of organic foods – a term whose meaning varies greatly – frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious then others.

          The growing interest of comsumers in the safety and more nutritional quality of the typical North American diet is a welcome development. However, much of this interst has been spraked by sweeping claims that the food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs. Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, the preponderance of written material advancing such claims makes it difficult for the general public to separate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting entirely of organically grown food prevents or cures disease or provides other benefits to health have become widely publicized and form the basis for folklore.

          Almost daily the public is besieged by claims for “no-aging” diets, new vitamins, and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are superior to synthetic ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than fumigated grains an the like.

          One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases consumers are misled if the believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those with limited incomes, distrust the regular food and buy only expensive organic foods instead.

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          Of all modern instruments, the violin is apparently one of the simplest. It consists in essence of a hollow, varnished wooden sound box, or resonator, and a long neck covered with a fingerboard, along which four strings are stretched at high tension. The beauty of design, shape, and decoration is no accident. The proportions of the instrument are determined almost entirely by acoustical; considerations. Its simplicity of appearance is deceptive. About 70 parts are involved in the construction of a violin. Its tone and its outstanding range of expressiveness make it an ideal solo instrument. No less important, however, is its role as an orchestral and chamber instrument. In combination with the larger and deeper-sounding members of the same family, the violins form the nucleus of the modern symphony orchestra.

          The violin has been in existence since about 1550. Its importance as an instrument in its own right dates from the early 1600’s, when it first became standard in Italian opera orchestras. Its stature as an orchestral instrument was raised further when in 1626 Louis XIII of France established at his court the orchestra known as Les vinq-quatre violons du Roy (The King’s 24 Violins), which was to become widely famous later in the century.

          In its early history, the violin had a dull and rather quiet tone resulting from the fact that the strings were thick and were attached to the body of the instrument very loosely. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, exciting technical changes were inspired by such composer-violinists as Vivaldi and Tartini. Their instrumental compositions demanded a fuller, clearer, and more brilliant tone that was produced by using thinner strings and a far higher string tension. Small changes had to be made to the violin’s internal structure and to the fingerboard so that they could withstand the extra strain. Accordingly, a higher standard of performance was achieved, in terms of both facility and interpretation. Left-hand technique was considerably elaborated, and new fingering patterns on the fingerboard were developed for very high notes.