A. EXCURSION B. TRAVEL C. OUTING D. TRIP II. FILL EACH GAP IN T...

10. A. excursion B. travel C. outing D. trip

II. Fill each gap in the passage below with ONE appropriate word in the space provided. (10 points)

INTRODUCTION TO A NOVEL

Some years ago, I received a letter from a stranger, Joanna King. It seemed at first to be one of

those pleasant fan letters that authors are occasionally cheered (1)________, but which then turn out to be

something else. Joanna had an aunt, aged ninety-eight, who had kept a diary from the age of thirteen until

she was ninety-four. (2)_______ Joanna nor her husband had ever been allowed to read any of these

diaries, but because their relative was a woman (3)_______ strong opinions, they thought they would be

interesting.

The point of writing to me was to ask my advice. Joanna had read a memoir I’d written about my

own mother and grandmother, two ordinary women with (4)______ claim to fame, and it had made her

wonder if there was some value in the diaries (5)_______ a social document. Could I suggest

(6)________ might be done with them?

I suggested that a university might be interested and enclosed various names and addresses. I said

the thought of someone keeping a diary over such (7)______ length of time, so neatly covering most of a

century, was (8)________ itself extraordinary, and I would love to read them myself. Joanna replied

saying that this was what she had hoped. (9)________ is, that I myself might be intrigued enough to want

to (10)_______ something of them. I hadn’t, in fact, mean that, but once it had been suggested I began to

toy with the prospect.

III. Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question. (10 points)

If food is allowed to stand for some time, it putrefies. When the putrefied material is

examined microscopically, it is found to be teeming with bacteria. Where do these bacteria come from,

since they are not seen in fresh food? Even until the mid-nineteenth century, many people believed that

such microorganisms originated by spontaneous generation, a hypothetical process by which living

organisms develop from nonliving matter.

The most powerful opponent of the theory of spontaneous generation was the French chemist and

microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895).Pasteur showed that structures present in air closely resemble

the microorganisms seen in putrefying materials .He did this by passing air through guncotton filters, the

fibers of which stop solid particles. After the guncotton was dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether,

the particles that it had trapped fell to the bottom of the liquid and were examined on a microscope slide.

Pasteur found that in ordinary air these exists a variety of solid structures ranging in size from 0.01 mm to

more than 1.0mm. Many of these bodies resembled the reproductive structures of common molds, single-

celled animals, and various other microbial cells. As many as 20 to 30 of them were found in fifteen liters

of ordinary air, and they could not be distinguished from the organisms found in much larger numbers in

putrefying materials. Pasteur concluded that the organisms found in putrefying materials originated from

the organized bodies present in the air. He postulated that these bodies are constantly being deposited on

all objects.

Pasteur showed that if a nutrient solution was sealed in a glass flask and heated to boiling to destroy

all the living organisms contaminating it, it never putrefied. The proponents of spontaneous generation

declared that fresh air was necessary for spontaneous generation and that the air inside the sealed flask

was affected in some way by heating so that it would no longer support spontaneous generation. Pasteur

constructed a swan-necked flask in which putrefying materials could he heated to boiling, but air could

reenter. The bends in the neck prevented microorganisms from getting in the flask. Material sterilized in

such a flask did not putrefy.