Cloze Test (Miao-9&10-106)

Commuting can sometimes be agonizing, and it’s even more so for commuters in the northeast US. They experienced a longer trip when a train     16      on the tracks between New York City and Washington, DC, back in May.     17      patience and humor, however, they made the most of their situation by ordering pizza to the stranded train.

Commuters on the train started to get hungry     18      for the rescue train to arrive. Therefore, they called in     19      was probably the most unusual order (a pizza place can expect to get): delivery to a stranded train. Passengers took pictures and complimented the delivery man on Twitter as he slid down a small hill next to the tracks, pizza in hand, to hand over the meal. News websites that picked up the story didn’t report how much the man was given as a(n)      20     . However, commenters hoped it was as generous as his behavior.

16. (A) heated up	(B) counted down	(C) slipped away	(D) broke down
17. (A) Encountering	(B) Demonstrating	(C) Supervising	(D) Persisting
18. (A) and awaited	(B) to wait	(C) while waiting	(D) as they awaited
19. (A) it	(B) what	(C) which	(D) with which
20. (A) tip	(B) ash	(C) bow	(D) wit

1. commuting (n.) 通勤

commuter (n.) 通勤者

2. agonizing (adj.) 令人痛苦的

3. humor (n.) 幽默

4. stranded (adj.) 受困的；擱淺的

5. rescue (n.) 救援；拯救

6. unusual (adj.) 不尋常的

7. delivery (n.) 遞送；發表

8. compliment (v.) 稱讚；恭維

9. website  (n.) 網站

10. commenter (n.) 評論者；（網頁）留言者

11. generous (adj.) 慷慨的；大方的

12. behavior (n.) 行為；舉止

With lots of people and little land, Japan has to use space more efficiently than other countries do. That’s why some things, like apartments and restaurants, are much smaller there than in the West. However,     21      things that are bigger in Japan?

Sometimes, a Western musician or group will     22      little in their home country, but gain incredible popularity in Japan. Famous bands like Queen and Bon Jovi, before they were superstars around the world, were said to be “big in Japan” when they did well in the Japanese market. The band Cheap Trick wasn’t a big success in the West     23     , but a live album they recorded on a Japanese tour sold millions of copies. On the record, listeners could hear thousands of     24      Japanese fans screaming.

The Japanese music market is the second biggest in the world, so any artist would love to prosper there. The trick,     25      industry experts, is to carefully develop a band’s marketing approach, so it caters to the tastes and trends of the local market. If an artist’s management can do that, maybe they can join the ranks of those who are big in Japan.

21. (A) what about	(B) how many	(C) what if	(D) how come
22. (A) balance	(B) summon	(C) achieve	(D) repeat
23. (A) in turn	(B) by far	(C) at first	(D) on time
24. (A) passive	(B) terrified	(C) tiresome	(D) frantic
25. (A) speaking of	(B) according to	(C) judging from	(D) apart from

The Nobel Prize is the most famous scientific award in the world. Each year, the most      26    

 people in chemistry, economics, literature, peace, physics, and medicine are honored with a golden medal. Also, every year, a group of scientists get together to give out another set of awards: the Ig Nobel Prizes.

A     27      on the word “ignoble,” meaning not honorable in character or purpose, the Ig Nobel is given out only to scientific projects that are humorously pointless, absurd, or surprising.

    28      to make people laugh as well as think, prizes have been given to scientists who tested whether people could actually slip on banana peels and to those who tried to see if deer reacted differently to people when they were wearing bear costumes.

Some research of the Ig Nobel recipients     29      to be significant feats, however. In 2006, the Ig Nobel Prize for Chemistry went to a study proving that some mosquitoes are attracted to the smell of human feet just as much as they are to     30      of a particularly bad-smelling kind of cheese. That discovery is now used to effectively fight the spread of malaria.

26. (A) philosophical	(B) distinguished	(C) understandable	(D) disappointing
27. (A) play	(B) tag	(C) take	(D) catch
28. (A) Portrayed	(B) Hastened	(C) Perceived	(D) Intended
29. (A) put off	(B) went around	(C) turned out	(D) fitted in
30. (A) one	(B) that	(C) which	(D) those

No other American stunt performer is more celebrated than Evel Knievel. Born in 1938, Knievel enjoyed a promising, though perilous, career starting in 1965, when he jumped a motorcycle over a 20-foot-long box of snakes and mountain lions. He gained     16     attention for his failures as he did for his successes. For instance, in one of his most famous stunts, he jumped over the fountains in front of the Caesar’s Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. He     17     breaking his wrists and ankles, as well as some of his ribs and his hips. He spent a month     18      in the hospital, just one of many stays over his career. In     19     famous jump attempt, Knievel drove a steam-powered rocket over a canyon. He     20      the jump with only minor injuries. He still holds the world record for the most broken bones, with 433.

 16. (A) a lot of                       (B) much more                (C) far less               (D) as much

 17. (A) shut down                  (B) dressed up                 (C) moved on          (D) ended up

 18. (A) losing his temper        (B) making a recovery     (C) doing his part    (D) making a difference

 19. (A) one another                        (B) other                          (C) another              (D) the other

 20. (A) survived                     (B) stranded                    (C) founded            (D) targeted

伊弗尼弗是美國最著名的特技表演家。他生於

1938年，自1965年開始其前途看好（儘管深具危險

性）的表演生涯，當時他騎著摩托車躍過一個20英

尺長、裡面裝滿蛇和美洲獅的箱子。他的失敗經歷和

他的成功表演同樣受人矚目。例如，在其最著名的一

場特技表演中，他飛躍拉斯維加斯凱薩宮飯店前面的

噴泉，最後摔斷手腕和腳踝，以及幾根肋骨和髖關

節，在醫院待了一個月才完全復原，而這只是他表演

生涯中無數次住院的其中一次。在另一個著名的跳躍

嘗試中，尼弗搭乘蒸氣發動的火箭飛越峽谷，他只受

了點輕傷，僥倖存活了下來。他至今仍是斷過最多根

骨頭（433根）的世界紀錄保持人。

Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula is, in its own way, one of the most geographically active regions on Earth. More than half of the world’s mud volcanoes can be found there,     21     on the coast of the Caspian Sea. These bubbling mounds of hot mud are an attraction locals and tourists alike marvel at. They’re also a sign of one of Azerbaijan’s other natural treasures: copious natural gas reserves.

Underground methane deposits constantly bubble up toward the surface in the Absheron Peninsula, occasionally     22     flames. The constant pressure of gas emerging from the ground can feed flames for years. One patch of ground, called the Yanar Dag Hill, has been burning continuously for 70 years, as gas continues to      23      to the surface.

The mud volcanoes are mostly harmless,      24      you keep your distance. In February 2017, one of them caught fire, sending a 350-meter tower of flame into the sky. The sight was impressive and fortunately, no one was      25     . These volcanoes helped give Azerbaijan its name, which roughly translates to “Land of Fire.”

 21. (A) laid                             (B) lying                          (C) laying                (D) which lies

 22. (A) bursting into               (B) running across           (C) passing up         (D) stemming from

 23. (A) cast                             (B) pause                         (C) escape               (D) toast

 24. (A) no matter how            (B) as long as                  (C) by the time        (D) as soon as

 25. (A) devised                      (B) wondered                  (C) retained             (D) wounded

重要字詞

1. peninsula [p4'n6ns4l4] (n.) 半島

2. geographically [+d.i4'gr1f6ky6] (adv.) 在地理上

3. mud volcano [v3l'keno] 泥火山

4. bubbling ['b9by6;] (adj.) 冒泡泡的

5. mound [ma8nd] (n.) 土堆；土丘

6. attraction [4'tr1k]4n] (n.) 吸引人的事物；吸引（力）

7. copious ['kop64s] (adj.) 豐富的；大量的

8. reserve [r6'z-v] (n.) 儲存；保護區

9. methane ['m5qen] (n.) 甲烷；沼氣

10. deposit [d6'p3z6t] (n.) 沉積物；訂金；存款

11. constantly ['k3nst4ntl6] (adv.) 時常；不斷地

12. occasionally [4'ke.4ny6] (adv.) 偶而；有時

Scientists at York University in Toronto, Canada, have come up with an explanation for a mysterious phenomenon that goes back thousands of years: bright lights in the night sky. In some cases, people wrote that they could read in the middle of the night without any candles. In other cases, they said they could see distant features of the landscape lit up by the     26     sky. Now, we may know why it happens, but ironically, we simply might not notice when it does.

The scientists suggested that a coincidence of two     27     may give rise to these lights. Energy fluctuations called “zonal waves” travel through the atmosphere. At times, several waves can overlap. If they come together in the same place      28      oxygen atoms are recombining into molecules, the concentration of energy can give off light as a result.

The team estimates that in any given spot, the right combination might only happen once a year. Even then, people on the ground might not notice. The modern world is full of bright lights at night. This light pollution      29      other sources of light. This makes it hard to see stars,      30      detecting this peculiar phenomenon.

 26. (A) disgusting                  (B) apparent                    (C) glowing             (D) romantic

 27. (A) species                        (B) idioms                       (C) factors               (D) leagues

 28. (A) why                            (B) where                        (C) how                   (D) whose

 29. (A) blocks out                  (B) reflects on                 (C) catches up         (D) tracks down

 30. (A) on top of                    (B) in the meantime        (C) for the sake of   (D) not to mention