Have you ever noticed that your fingertips are winked when you’ve just finished swimming or washing dishes? It seems as if your hands have aged 30 years in a second. But is this an accident? Or is it something that nature has built into our bodies?

If your finger’s wrinkling up had no use at all, “ it wouldn’t need to.” Professor Tom Smulders from Newcastle University, UK, told BBC News. By studying wet fingers closely, Smulders and his partners found that the wrinkles looked a bit like the patterns on the car tire or on the bottom of the running shoes. So they made a guess that wrinkles on fingers might be able to help the hand hold things more tightly.

To test this, researchers asked 20 people to pick up marbles from water with their hands. But before they started, some of the people had to keep their hands in water for half an hour.

The researchers found that the people with wrinkled fingers completed the task the task faster than those with dry hands. But when they were asked to move dry marbles, all the people performed equally well, no matter they had the wrinkled fingers or not.

Our ancestors might not have played with marbles, but wrinkled fingers could have made it easier for them to climb around in the wet forests and catch fish from rivers, researchers say.

Similarly, our toes also get wrinkled in water. This may have developed from our ancestor’s need to run on wet ground.

But the question is, if wrinkled fingers are so helpful, why don’t our hands just stay that way all the time? Researchers explained that wrinkling has its disadvantage: wet fingertips are far less sensitive than smooth ones, reducing our sense of touch.

1.What does the underlined world “this ” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. Whether fingers have wrinkles after they are put in water.

B. Whether wrinkled fingers can hold things more tightly.

C. Why keeping things in water makes them wrinkled.

D. Why wrinkles help hands hold things more tightly.

2.The test shows that ________.

A. winkled hands hold dry things more tightly than dry hands do.

B. dry hands hold dry things more tightly than wrinkled hands do.

C. winkled hands hold wet things more tightly than dry hands do.

D. dry hands hold wet things more tightly than wrinkled hands do.

3.What might be the disadvantage of wrinkled fingers?

A. They are too sensitive to be touched.

B. They might be more likely to get hurt.

C. They cannot hold things tightly enough.

D. They are not so sensitive as dry fingers.

Have you ever noticed that your fingertips are winked when you’ve just finished swimming or washing dishes? It seems as if your hands have aged 30 years i a second. But is this an accident? Or is it something that nature has built into our bodies?

If your finger’s wrinkling up had no use at all, “ it wouldn’t need to.” Professor Tom Smulders from Newcastle University, UK, told BBC News. By studying wet fingers closely, Smulders and his partners found that the wrinkles looked a bit like the patterns on the car tire or o the bottom of the running shoes. So they made a guess that wrinkles on fingers might be able to help the hand hold things more tightly.

To test this, researchers asked 20 people to pick up marbles from water with their hands. But before they started, some of the people had to keep their hands in water for half an hour.

The researchers found that the people with wrinkled fingers completed the task the task faster than those with dry hands. But when they were asked to move dry marbles, all the people performed equally well, no matter they had the wrinkled fingers or not.

Our ancestors might not have played with marbles, but wrinkled fingers could have made it easier for them to climb around in the wet forests and catch fish from rivers, researchers say.

Similarly, our toes also get wrinkled in water. This may have developed from our ancestor’s need to run on wet ground.

But the question is, if wrinkled fingers are so helpful, why don’t our hands just stay that way all the time? Researchers explained that wrinkling has its disadvantage: wet fingertips are far less sensitive than smooth ones, reducing our sense of touch.

26, What does the underlined world “this ” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. Wether fingers have wrinkles after they are put in water.

B. Wether wrinkled fingers can hold things more tightly.

C. Why keeping things in water makes them wrinkled.

D. Why wrinkles help hands hold things more tightly.

27, The test shows that ________.

A. winkled hands hold dry things more tightly than dry hands do.

B. dry hands hold dry things more tightly than wrinkled hands do.

C. winkled hands hold wet things more tightly than dry hands do.

D. dry hands hold wet things more tightly than wrinkled hands do.

28. What might be the disadvantage of wrinkled fingers?

A. They are too sensitive to be touched.

B. They might be more likely to get hurt.

C. They cannot hold things tightly enough.

D. They are not so sensitive as dry fingers.

Have you ever noticed that your fingertips are winked when you’ve just finished swimming or washing dishes? It seems as if your hands have aged 30 years in a second. But is this an accident? Or is it something that nature has built into our bodies?
If your finger’s wrinkling up had no use at all, “ it wouldn’t need to.” Professor Tom Smulders from Newcastle University, UK, told BBC News. By studying wet fingers closely, Smulders and his partners found that the wrinkles looked a bit like the patterns on the car tire or on the bottom of the running shoes. So they made a guess that wrinkles on fingers might be able to help the hand hold things more tightly.
To test this, researchers asked 20 people to pick up marbles from water with their hands. But before they started, some of the people had to keep their hands in water for half an hour.
The researchers found that the people with wrinkled fingers completed the task the task faster than those with dry hands. But when they were asked to move dry marbles, all the people performed equally well, no matter they had the wrinkled fingers or not.
Our ancestors might not have played with marbles, but wrinkled fingers could have made it easier for them to climb around in the wet forests and catch fish from rivers, researchers say.
Similarly, our toes also get wrinkled in water. This may have developed from our ancestor’s need to run on wet ground.
But the question is, if wrinkled fingers are so helpful, why don’t our hands just stay that way all the time? Researchers explained that wrinkling has its disadvantage: wet fingertips are far less sensitive than smooth ones, reducing our sense of touch

1. 1.

   What does the underlined world “this ” in the third paragraph refer to?

   1. A.
      Whether fingers have wrinkles after they are put in water
   2. B.
      Whether wrinkled fingers can hold things more tightly
   3. C.
      Why keeping things in water makes them wrinkled
   4. D.
      Why wrinkles help hands hold things more tightly
2. 2.

   The test shows that ________

   1. A.
      winkled hands hold dry things more tightly than dry hands do
   2. B.
      dry hands hold dry things more tightly than wrinkled hands do
   3. C.
      winkled hands hold wet things more tightly than dry hands do
   4. D.
      dry hands hold wet things more tightly than wrinkled hands do
3. 3.

   What might be the disadvantage of wrinkled fingers?

   1. A.
      They are too sensitive to be touched
   2. B.
      They might be more likely to get hurt
   3. C.
      They cannot hold things tightly enough
   4. D.
      They are not so sensitive as dry fingers

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon. They don’t feel hurt. If the same two people meet again, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand .Friendships between us develop more slowly but may become lifelong feelings, extending（延伸）deeply into both families.

There is another difficult point for us to understand. Although Americans treat friends warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to them if it requires a great deal of time. But in China, we are usually generous with our time. We, as hosts, will appear at an airport even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take a day off from our work to act as guides to our friends. It is opposite in America. Americans cannot manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily plans. They will probably expect the visitors to get themselves from the airport to the hotels. And they expect the visitors will phone them from there. Once the visitors arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real.

For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to restaurants, except for business matters. Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. So accept their hospitality（好客）at home and enjoy your visit in America!

1. The underlined phrase "pick up" in Paragraph 1may mean "_________________".

   A. put down     B. give up       C. pay no attention to    D. continue

2. From the passage, we can know_________________.

 A. Americans are always generous with their time.

B. Americans don't feel hurt if their friendships disappear soon.

C. Chinese friendships develop more slowly but will never disappear.

 D. Chinese friendships develop faster than American friendships.

3.This passage is most probably written for __________________.

A. American students                B. Chinese students

C. Chinese visitors to America         D. American visitors to China